Modulating grammar trough modality : a discourse approach.

This paper argues for a dynamic, discourse-based approach to modality which departs from the traditional, monolithic account of modality in a number of interesting respects: (i) modality is characterized as conveying the speaker’s involvement in the propositional content of a given utterance (either in the form of agency or subjectivity) (ii) modality can be said to ramify across the whole lexico-grammatical architecture of the language, (iii) many of the meanings usually ascribed to individual modal verbs are in fact derived either from the verb’s sentential environment or from some wider context of utterance, and (iv) modal meaning in discourse can be said to arise out of the interaction of two closely connected layers of meaning: one embracing the inherent linguistic meaning of the modal verb in conjunction with that of other neighbouring modal devices, and another concerned with principles connected with politeness and face-saving strategies

What can pragmatic inference tell us about the syntax and semantics of secondaty predication?

This paper addresses the theoretical and descriptive relevance of pragmatic inference with the purpose of exploring the syntax-semantics interface in secondary predication in English. Most standard syntactic analyses proceed on the assumption that there is a uniform, one-to-one correspondence of the postverbal NP (NP2 henceforth) and the following XP with the semantic interpretation of these phrases as direct object and complement/modifier (or adjunct), respectively. However, upon closer examination of sentences like “I found John gone/out of sight” or “I have a tooth missing”, it appears that such an assumption can be challenged on both theoretical and descriptive grounds. Since these pragmatically marked predication structures involve the cancellation of the conventional implicature of the NP1 V NP2 string, it is suggested that the syntactic analysis of these instances cannot be established solely on the basis of formal properties alone, but rather needs to be seen in terms of the interaction of the inherent meaning and form properties of the syntactic constituents of the construction with the actual interpretation of these properties by the subject/speaker in a given discourse scenario. At a descriptive level, it is argued that these marked instances of secondary predication can be more aptly analyzed, both syntactically and semantically, as involving complex predicates taking the postverbal NP2 as their sole object argument.Xunta de Galicia (España) PGIDT00PXI20402PRMinisterio de Ciencia y Tecnología (España) BFF 2000-127

WHAT CAN PRAGMATIC INFERENCE TELL US ABOUT THE SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS OF SECONDARY PREDICATION?

AbstractThis paper addresses the theoretical and descriptive relevance of pragmatic inference with the purpose of exploring the syntax-semantics interface in secondary predication in English. Most standard syntactic analyses proceed on the assumption that there is a uniform, one-to-one correspondence of the postverbal NP (NP2 henceforth) and the following XP with the semantic interpretation of these phrases as direct object and complement/modifier (or adjunct), respectively. However, upon closer examination of sentences like “I found John gone/out of sight” or “I have a tooth missing”, it appears that such an assumption can be challenged on both theoretical and descriptive grounds. Since these pragmatically marked predication structures involve the cancellation of the conventional implicature of the NP1 V NP2 string, it is suggested that the syntactic analysis of these instances cannot be established solely on the basis of formal properties alone, but rather needs to be seen in terms of the interaction of the inherent meaning and form properties of the syntactic constituents of the construction with the actual interpretation of these properties by the subject/speaker in a given discourse scenario. At a descriptive level, it is argued that these marked instances of secondary predication can be more aptly analyzed, both syntactically and semantically, as involving complex predicates taking the postverbal NP2 as their sole object argument

MODULATING GRAMMAR THROUGH MODALITY: A DISCOURSE APPROACH

AbstractThis paper argues for a dynamic, discourse-based approach to modality which departs from the traditional, monolithic account of modality in a number of interesting respects: (i) modality is characterized as conveying the speaker’s involvement in the propositional content of a given utterance (either in the form of agency or subjectivity) (ii) modality can be said to ramify across the whole lexico-grammatical architecture of the language, (iii) many of the meanings usually ascribed to individual modal verbs are in fact derived either from the verb’s sentential environment or from some wider context of utterance, and (iv) modal meaning in discourse can be said to arise out of the interaction of two closely connected layers of meaning: one embracing the inherent linguistic meaning of the modal verb in conjunction with that of other neighbouring modal devices, and another concerned with principles connected with politeness and face-saving strategie

Towards a constructionist, usage-based reappraisal of interpersonal manipulation: evidence from secondary predication in English and Spanish

Este artículo defiende un análisis construccionista, basado en datos reales extraídos de corpora, de los rasgos semántico-pragmáticos más destacados de la predicación secundaria con verbos causativos, de volición y de preferencia en inglés y español. Se afirma que las regularidades e idiosincrasias de estas configuraciones pueden explicarse satisfactoriamente prestando especial atención a: (i) el grado de efectividad del control ejercido por el sujeto de la cláusula principal (Agonista) y la entidad/persona codificada en el objeto directo (Antagonista), concebido en sentido lato, y a (ii) la interacción dinámica de las propiedades semántico-pragmáticas de la entidad/persona designada por el objeto directo y las de la frase predicativa orientada hacia el objeto (XPCOMP)This paper argues for a constructionist analysis à la Goldberg (Constructions, Work, “Nature”) of the most distinctive semantico-pragmatic hallmarks of secondary predication after verbs of causation, volition and preference in English and Spanish. Specifically, it is demonstrated that the commonalities and idiosyncratic particulars of these configurations can be felicitously captured taking into account: (i) the degree of felicity of the control exerted by the main clause subject (the Agonist) and the entity/person in the object slot (the Antagonist), broadly construed, as well as the (ii) the dynamic interaction of the semantico-pragmatic properties of the entity/person in the object slot with those of the object-related predicative phrase (XPCOMP)

Grape Resveratrol Increases Serum Adiponectin and Downregulates Inflammatory Genes in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells: A Triple-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, One-Year Clinical Trial in Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.[Purpose] The grape and wine polyphenol resveratrol exerts cardiovascular benefits but evidence from randomized human clinical trials is very limited. We investigated dose-depending effects of a resveratrol-containing grape supplement on stable patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) treated according to currently accepted guidelines for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.[Methods] In a triple-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, one-year follow-up, 3-arm pilot clinical trial, 75 stable-CAD patients received 350 mg/day of placebo, resveratrol-containing grape extract (grape phenolics plus 8 mg resveratrol) or conventional grape extract lacking resveratrol during 6 months, and a double dose for the following 6 months. Changes in circulating inflammatory and fibrinolytic biomarkers were analyzed. Moreover, the transcriptional profiling of inflammatory genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was explored using microarrays and functional gene expression analysis.[Results] After 1 year, in contrast to the placebo and conventional grape extract groups, the resveratrol-containing grape extract group showed an increase of the anti-inflammatory serum adiponectin (9.6 %, p = 0.01) and a decrease of the thrombogenic plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) (−18.6 %, p = 0.05). In addition, 6 key inflammation-related transcription factors were predicted to be significantly activated or inhibited, with 27 extracellular-space acting genes involved in inflammation, cell migration and T-cell interaction signals presenting downregulation (p < 0.05) in PBMCs. No adverse effects were detected in relation to the study products.[Conclusions] Chronic daily consumption of a resveratrol-containing grape nutraceutical could exert cardiovascular benefits in stable-CAD patients treated according to current evidence-based standards, by increasing serum adiponectin, preventing PAI-1 increase and inhibiting atherothrombotic signals in PBMCs.This study was supported by public funds: Projects CICYT-BFU2007-60576 and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CSD2007-00063, Fun-C-Food) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) and GERM-06-04486 (Fundación Séneca, Murcia, Spain). Dr. Tomé-Carneiro received a FPI grant from MICINN and Dr. Larrosa received a JAE-DOC contract from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC, Spain).Peer reviewe

Consecuencias conductuales derivadas del proceso atencional en el aula de aprendizaje: propuestas de detección

Uno de los factores fundamentales a tener en cuenta en el proceso de aprendizaje es la atención, máxime si consideramos que se trata del primer paso que debe darse en todo proceso de aprendizaje. Derivado de una falta de atención, inatención o dificultad para mantenerla o focalizarla, pueden surgir otros problemas con frecuencia asociados a ellos, como son un bajo rendimiento, problemas de comprensión, inadecuado desarrollo de las competencias esperadas e incluso conductas asociadas que dificultan el progreso del grupo-clase. Elevado al grado de trastorno nos podemos encontrar con el TDAH, se trata de un trastorno de origen biológico con base neurológica que afecta en gran medida al comportamiento, la atención y el aprendizaje, asociado con frecuencia a la impulsividad y/o hiperactividad. En nuestra propuesta apostamos por una intervención eficaz, que pasa por la evaluación de la situación completa y ajustada al contexto de aprendizaje, así como a las circunstancias que lo definen. Intervención que se planifica a partir del trabajo cooperativo de un equipo de profesionales de carácter multidisciplinar. Partiendo de esta perspectiva se pretende identificar, inicialmente, aquellos indicios que al menos en un primer momento, pueden ser descriptivos del alumno y la alumna con problemas de atención

Un trabajo colaborativo y de acompañamiento tutorial: el Plan de Acción Tutorial en la Facultad de Educación

El trabajo que se presenta refleja el trabajo colaborativo de la RED PAT-Educación en la que ha participado el profesorado integrante del Programa de Acción Tutorial (PAT) de la Facultad de Educación, dentro del Programa de REDES de investigación en docencia universitaria del ICE de la Universidad de Alicante. El objetivo del mismo es describir el Programa de acción tutorial (PAT) llevado a cabo durante el curso 2013/2014 en la Facultad de Educación así como analizar el desarrollo del mismo, desde la perspectiva de trabajo colaborativo entre el profesorado tutor participante y la puesta en práctica de un proceso de acompañamiento tutorial hacia el alumnado tutorado. Al mismo tiempo, se ha generado un trabajo conjunto con la inclusión de las TIC tanto para el profesorado tutor como para el alumnado tutorado a través de la creación del blog: http://edupatua.blogspot.com.es/ como recurso didáctico en el desarrollo de las tareas tutoriales, permitiéndonos conocer y analizar las necesidades y demandas del alumnado en este proceso de implementación del PAT. Los resultados obtenidos constatan fortalezas y debilidades que nos hacen reflexionar sobre las posibles propuestas de mejora que favorecerían el proceso de acompañamiento tutorial implementado

El Plan de Acción Tutorial en la Facultad de Educación: trabajo colaborativo y acompañamiento tutorial

El trabajo que se presenta está enmarcado en la RED PAT-Educación en la que participa el profesorado que forma parte del Programa de Acción Tutorial (PAT) de la Facultad de Educación, dentro del Programa de REDES de investigación en docencia universitaria del ICE de la Universidad de Alicante. El objetivo es describir el plan de actuación llevado a cabo entre el profesorado participante y las tareas realizadas con el grupo de alumnado tutorado. La metodología utilizada se ha centrado en el trabajo colaborativo entre el profesorado tutor y las sesiones grupales con el alumnado tutorado, así como la creación del blog: http://edupatua.blogspot.com.es/ como recurso didáctico en el desarrollo de las tareas tutoriales, permitiéndonos conocer y analizar las necesidades y demandas del alumnado en este proceso de acompañamiento y desarrollo del PAT. Los primeros resultados obtenidos muestran una serie de fortalezas y debilidades en la implementación del PAT y las posibles propuestas de mejora que son necesarias abordar para el próximo curso