What did you say just now, bitterness or wife? An ERP study on the interaction between tone, intonation and context in Cantonese Chinese

Contains fulltext : 86301.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access)Previous studies on Cantonese Chinese showed that rising question intonation contours on low-toned words lead to frequent misperceptions of the tones. Here we explored the processing consequences of this interaction between tone and intonation by comparing the processing and identification of monosyllabic critical words at the end of questions and statements, using a tone identification task, and ERPs as an online measure of speech comprehension. Experiment 1 yielded higher error rates for the identification of low tones at the end of questions and a larger N400-P600 pattern, reflecting processing difficulty and reanalysis, compared to other conditions. In Experiment 2, we investigated the effect of immediate lexical context on the tone by intonation interaction. Increasing contextual constraints led to a reduction in errors and the disappearance of the P600-effect. These results indicate that there is an immediate interaction between tone, intonation, and context in online speech comprehension. The difference in performance and activation patterns between the two experiments highlights the significance of context in understanding a tone language, like Cantonese-Chinese.Speech Prosody 2010, 11 mei 201

The interaction of lexical tone, intonation and semantic context in on-line spoken word recognition: An ERP study on Cantonese Chinese

Item does not contain fulltextIn two ERP experiments, we investigate the on-line interplay of lexical tone, intonation and semantic context during spoken word recognition in Cantonese Chinese. Experiment 1 shows that lexical tone and intonation interact immediately. Words with a low lexical tone at the end of questions (with a rising question intonation) lead to a processing conflict. This is reflected in a low accuracy in lexical identification and in a P600 effect compared to the same words at the end of a statement. Experiment 2 shows that a strongly biasing semantic context leads to much better lexical-identification performance for words with a low tone at the end of questions and to a disappearance of the P600 effect. These results support the claim that semantic context plays a major role in disentangling the tonal information from the intonational information, and thus, in resolving the on-line conflict between intonation and tone. However, the ERP data indicate that the introduction of a semantic context does not entirely eliminate on-line processing problems for words at the end of questions. This is revealed by the presence of an N400 effect for words with a low lexical tone and for words with a high-mid lexical tone at the end of questions. The ERP data thus show that, while semantic context helps in the eventual lexical identification, it makes the deviation of the contextually expected lexical tone from the actual acoustic signal more salient

Investigation of Electrical Properties of Thermally Annealed SiGe Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Capacitors Prepared by Liquid-Phase Deposition of Silicon Dioxide

Room-temperature (30 degrees C) silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) has been grown on strained SiGe layers by liquid-phase deposition (LPD). Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors have also been fabricated by annealing at various temperatures (200-400 degrees C) in nitrogen. A very low leakage current density of 3.25 x 10(-8) A/cm(2) was obtained at an electric field of 10 MV/cm for as-grown LPD-SiO(2) films. After annealing, the leakage current density decreased by one order of magnitude and the fixed oxide charge density also significantly decreased to 4.7 x 10(9) cm(-2) in the capacitor annealed at 400 degrees C. The mechanism by which this occurred is explained. (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physic

Low-temperature oxidation of SiGe by liquid-phase deposition

Low-temperature silicon dioxide (SiO(2))films were grown on silicon germanium (SiGe) surfaces using the liquid-phase deposition (LPD) method. The growth solutions of LPD-SiO(2) are hydrofluorosilicic acid (H(2)SiF(6)) and boric acid (H(3)BO(3)). It was found that the growth rate increases with increasing temperature and concentration of H(3)BO(3). The Auger electron spectroscopy profile shows that no pileup of Ge atoms occurs at the interface of SiO(2)/SiGe after the LPD-SiO(2) growth. Al/LPD-SiO(2)/p-SiGe MOS capacitors were prepared to determine capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. In our experiments, a low leakage current density of 8.69 x 10(-9) A/cm(2) under a 2 MV/cm electricfield was observed. Such a value is much smaller than those of plasma- and thermal-oxides as a result of no plasma damage and a lower growth temperature. Moreover, lower oxide charges and interface charge densities of 3.82 x 10(10) cm(-2) and 1.12 x 10(11) eV(1) cm(2), respectively, were achieved in our LPD-SiO2 compared to direct photochemical-vapor-deposition-SiO(2). (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Generation of Transgenic Papaya with Double Resistance to Papaya ringspot virus and Papaya leaf-distortion mosaic virus

During the field tests of coat protein (CP)-transgenic papaya lines resistant to Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV), another Potyvirus sp., Papaya leaf-distortion mosaic virus (PLDMV), appeared as an emerging threat to the transgenic papaya. In this investigation, an untranslatable chimeric construct containing the truncated CP coding region of the PLDMV P-TW-WF isolate and the truncated CP coding region with the complete 3' untranslated region of PRSV YK isolate was transferred into papaya (Carica papaya cv. Thailand) via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation to generate transgenic plants with resistance to PLDMV and PRSV. Seventy-five transgenic lines were obtained and challenged with PRSV YK or PLDMV P-TW-WF by mechanical inoculation under greenhouse conditions. Thirty-eight transgenic lines showing no symptoms 1 month after inoculation were regarded as highly resistant lines. Southern and Northern analyses revealed that four weakly resistant lines have one or two inserts of the construct and accumulate detectable amounts of transgene transcript, whereas nine resistant lines contain two or three inserts without significant accumulation of transgene transcript. The results indicated that double virus resistance in transgenic lines resulted from double or more copies of the insert through the mechanism of RNA-mediated posttranscriptional gene silencing. Furthermore, three of nine resistant lines showed high levels of resistance to heterologous PRSV strains originating from Hawaii, Thailand, and Mexico. Our transgenic lines have great potential for controlling a number of PRSV strains and PLDMV in Taiwan and elsewhere

Transgene-specific and event-specific molecular markers for characterization of transgenic papaya lines resistant to Papaya ringspot virus

The commercially valuable transgenic papaya lines carrying the coat protein (CP) gene of Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) and conferring virus resistance have been developed in Hawaii and Taiwan in the past decade. Prompt and sensitive protocols for transgene-specific and event-specific detections are essential for traceability of these lines to fulfill regulatory requirement in EU and some Asian countries. Here, based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approaches, we demonstrated different detection protocols for characterization of PRSV CP-transgenic papaya lines. Transgene-specific products were amplified using different specific primer pairs targeting the sequences of the promoter, the terminator, the selection marker, and the transgene, and the region across the promoter and transgene. Moreover, after cloning and sequencing the DNA fragments amplified by adaptor ligation-PCR, the junctions between plant genomic DNA and the T-DNA insert were elucidated. The event-specific method targeting the flanking sequences and the transgene was developed for identification of a specific transgenic line. The PCR patterns using primers designed from the left or the right flanking DNA sequence of the transgene insert in three selected transgenic papaya lines were specific and reproducible. Our results also verified that PRSV CP transgene is integrated into transgenic papaya genome in different loci. The copy number of inserted T-DNA was further confirmed by real-time PCR. The event-specific molecular markers developed in this investigation are crucial for regulatory requirement in some countries and intellectual protection. Also, these markers are helpful for prompt screening of a homozygote-transgenic progeny in the breeding program