Mann and gender in Old English prose : a pilot study

It has long been known that OE mann was used in gender-neutral as well as gender-specific contexts. Because of the enormous volume of its attestations in Old English prose, the more precise usage patterns of mann remain, however, largely uncharted, and existing lexicographical tools provide only a basic picture. This article aims to present a preliminary study of the various uses of mann as attested in Old English prose, particularly in its surprisingly consistent use by an individual author, namely that of the ninth-century Old English Martyrology. Patterns emerging from this text are then tested against other prose material. Particular attention is paid to gender-specific usage, examples of which are shown to be exceptional for a word which largely occurs in gender-neutral contexts.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A first cytomorphological and molecular characterization of a new Stigonematalean cyanobacterial morphotype isolated from Maltese catacombs.

Two heterocytous filamentous cyanobacterial strains were isolated from biofilms growing in separate palaeo-Christian catacombs dedicated to St Agatha and St Paul at Rabat in Malta. The strains are characterised by a heterotrichous habit, intercalary hetero-cytes, true T-type branches and the presence of hormogonia. The ultrastructure was studied. Phylogenetic trees constructed using both distance and parsimony methods on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolates cluster with the heterocytous cyanobateria, but there is no apparent close similarity with any Stigonematalean genera described so far. The taxonomic and phylogenetic position of the isolates is discussed

A morfologia no Brasil: indicadores e questões Morphological studies in Brazil: data and issues

<abstract language="eng">This work attempts to give an idea of current development of morphological studies in Brazil. After a brief introduction to the development of Linguistics and morphological studies in Brazil in the period characterized by the creation of ABRALIN, it presents an analyis of the contemporary scene and its relevant tendencies and, as an illustration of contemporary concerns on Morphology in Brazil it summarizes a discussion on research topics taken by the work group of Morphology in the Projeto Gramática do Português Falado