The historical reality of biolinguistic diversity

Goals. Arguing that the historical application of the biolinguistic model can complement molecular antrhopology to model out a ‘grammatical anthropology’ as a new discipline at the crossroads of cognitive, biological and historical sciences

Incontro di Grammatica Generativa 39 - [Organizzazione]

L'Incontro di Grammatica Generativa (IGG) è un congresso internazionale che si svolge su base annuale in una sede universitaria italiana e che riunisce gli studiosi che si occupano di grammatica formale in Italia e in Europa. Prevede un gruppo di relazioni selezionate da un comitato anonimo di revisori, e alcune relazioni su invito. I relatori invitati all'incontro di Modena-Reggio Emilia sono: Melita Stavrou (Thessaloniki), Theresa Biberauer (Cambridge), Hilda Koopman (UCLA), Maria Rita Manzini (Firenze), Guido Barbujani (Ferrara), Giuseppe Longobardi (Trieste). Durante l'incontro si sono inoltre svolti 3 workshop tematici su sintassi dialettale, acquisizione del linguaggio, cambiamento linguistico

Reference and Definiteness

It has become increasingly clear since Longobardi (1994, 2003) that certain languages (e.g.Romance, but also Classical and Modern Greek, Bulgarian, Arabic (Fassi-Fehri 2003)…;henceforth 'strong D' languages) exhibit overt association of the referential content of nouns(proper names and referential generics) with D (either by overt N-to-D raising, e.g. of propernames, or by an arguably expletive article), others do not (e.g. English, but also probably therest of Germanic, Celtic…; 'weak D' languages). From a number of scattered observation itcan be suspected that a roughly analogous phenomenon arises with respect to anothersemantic property of DPs, namely definiteness: in certain constructions of some languages,but crucially not in the closely comparable constructions of others, the definite reading ofnominal arguments seems to depend on the overt association of some morphosyntacticmaterial with D (fronting to D° or SpecD)

The underlying unity of Reference and Quantification

The mapping of nominal arguments to semantic interpretation exhibits a certain amount ofintriguing empirical variation across languages; it has become increasingly clear, at least sinceLongobardi (1994), that a good deal of such polymorphy depends on a major parametricdivide, separating two types of languages: certain languages (e.g. Romance, but also Classicaland Modern Greek, Bulgarian, Arabic (Fassi-Fehri 2003)…; henceforth 'strong D' languages)exhibit overt association of nouns functioning as referential constants (proper names andreferential generics) with D (either by overt N-to-D raising, e.g. of proper names, or by anarguably expletive article), others do not (e.g. English, but also probably the rest of Germanic,Celtic…; 'weak D' languages)

Wireless Sensor Network Modeling and Deployment Challenges in Oil and Gas Refinery Plants

Wireless sensor networks for critical industrial applications are becoming a remarkable technological paradigm. Large-scale adoption of the wireless connectivity in the field of industrial monitoring and process control is mandatorily paired with the development of tools for the prediction of the wireless link quality to mimic network planning procedures similar to conventional wired systems. In industrial sites, the radio signals are prone to blockage due to dense metallic structures. The layout of scattering objects from the existing infrastructure influences the received signal strength observed over the link and thus the quality of service (QoS). This paper surveys the most promising wireless technologies for industrial monitoring and control and proposes a novel channel model specifically tailored to predict the quality of the radio signals in environments affected by highly dense metallic building blockage. The propagation model is based on the diffraction theory, and it makes use of the 3D model of the plant to classify the links based on the number and density of the obstructions surrounding each individual radio device. Accurate link classification opens the way to the optimization of the network deployment to guarantee full end-to-end connectivity with minimal on-site redesign. The link-quality prediction method based on the classification of propagation conditions is validated by experimental measurements in two oil refinery sites using industry standard ISA SP100.11a compliant devices operating at 2.4 GHz

Comparing patterns of adjectival modification in Greek: a diachronic approach

This paper investigates the distribution of adjectives in Ancient Greek, with the aim of comparing it to Standard Modern Greek. We use a selection of texts from Classical Attic and New Testament koiné. In Ancient Greek, like in Standard Modern Greek, all types of adjectives are allowed in prenominal position, and there is no evidence of movement of the noun over prenominal adjectives. As far as postnominal adjectives are concerned, in Classical and New Testament Greek they are systematically articulated in definite DPs, in a structure similar to the so-called polydefinite construction, that is typical of Standard Modern Greek. There is little evidence, in the texts explored, of structures of the type Article Adjective Article Noun, which are instead very common in Standard Modern Greek, and have been assumed to follow from fronting of the constituent [Article+Adjective] from a postnominal position. Finally, in Ancient Greek, there are cases of postnominal articulated non-adjectival modifiers of the noun, which are impossible in Standard Modern Greek. The paper explores these patterns, with particular attention to the mechanisms responsible for polydefiniteness

Number Morphology and Bare Nouns in Some Romance Dialects of Italy

This paper explores aspects of microvariation concerning the morphological realization of the feature Number within nominal structures in a selected subset of Romance dialects of Italy. First, the different strategies adopted in the dialects of the dataset for the realization of number alternations on various nominal categories (nouns/adjectives, articles, demonstratives, and possessives) are presented. Then, the relation between the latter and the distribution of “bare” argument nominals (i.e., of nominal structures which, in argument position, occur without any lexicalized determiner) is explored. It will be observed that the distribution of bare arguments in the dialects of the dataset is consistent with the hypotheses made in the literature, which suggest that there is a correlation between the realization of number alternations on nouns and the possibility for “null” (i.e., unpronounced) determiners to be licensed

Perceptive social support among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

Introduction Social support, especially as provided by close family and friends, has been consistently identified as one of the most powerful predictors of psychological adjustment among parents raising children with ASD. Material and methods A cross-sectional study including 51 parents of children with ASD was carried out in our pediatric development department. The objective of the study was to verify the degree of satisfaction of the participants regarding their family, friends, intimacy, and social activities. Results There was a negative correlation between the childrens age and the degree of parental satisfaction. There was a statistically significant association between the parents' educational level and the degree of satisfaction reported by them in all domains, except for the family domain. Conclusion Based on study findings regarding the importance of help from parents informal social network, special attention in this regard should be focused on developing services that assist parents in making more effective use of existing sources of support from family members, friends, and other parents of children with ASD.</jats:p

Perturbação alimentar: uma história antiga, um diagnóstico recente

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