The Early Evolution of Biting–Chewing Performance in Hexapoda

Insects show a plethora of different mandible shapes. It was advocated that these mandible shapes are mainly a function of different feeding habits. This hypothesis was tested on a larger sampling of non-holometabolan biting–chewing insects with additional tests to understand the interplay of mandible function, feeding guild, and phylogeny. The results show that at the studied systematic level, variation in mandible biting–chewing effectivity is regulated to a large extent by phylogenetic history and the configuration of the mandible joints rather than the food preference of a given taxon. Additionally, lineages with multiple mandibular joints such as primary wingless hexapods show a wider functional space occupation of mandibular effectivity than dicondylic insects (= silverfish + winged insects) at significantly different evolutionary rates. The evolution and occupation of a comparably narrow functional performance space of dicondylic insects is surprising given the low effectivity values of this food uptake solution. Possible reasons for this relative evolutionary “stasis” are discussed

Credit Crisis and Grand Rapids Housing Prices

It is common knowledge that the housing market in Michigan has been in turmoil for several years. The primary problem for Michigan has been the loss of 147,000 jobs in transportation manufacturing. The loss of these jobs has resulted in the loss of many others that were linked to the 147,000. Since the end of 2005 the loss of jobs has been impacting the Michigan housing market, as fewer people have jobs that allow them to buy houses

Weakness In Grand Rapids Housing Prices

The weak housing market has been one of the most important business stories of 2007. A weak housing market decreases the value of a house. As a result, the wealth of the individual consumer drops, decreasing their financial security. There are many ways to measure the weakness in the housing market such as the number of house sales, foreclosure rates, and median house prices. However, for the homeowner the most important value should be the quality adjusted price index for housing in their area. A price index gives an idea of how prices are changing for houses with the same size, building materials, location, and many other characteristics

Le rôle de l’immersion dans l’apprentissage du schwa chez les apprenants alémaniques avancés de FLE

Mastering ‘schwa’ is one of the major challenges that non-native speakers face when learning French as a foreign language. The present study, set within the framework of the IPFC project (“Interphonologie du Français Contemporain”), describes the schwa-coding system applied to the IPFC corpus data and is illustrated here with data from Alemannic-speaking Swiss learners of French (two tasks: text reading and guided conversation). Our results show that, even though studying abroad in a French-speaking area alone does not have a direct significant impact on schwa’s behavior, it does interact with two variables: the type of task (more schwa deletion after studying abroad observed in the conversation but not in the reading task) and the type of word (more schwa deletion after studying abroad observed in monosyllabic words but not in polysyllabic words, both in word-initial or word-medial syllabic positions). In this respect, studying abroad seems to help learners achieve native-like sociolinguistic proficiency. These first results pave the way for the development of in-class pedagogical material which could help learners achieve such a level of proficiency, whether or not they have the opportunity to study abroad in a French-speaking area

Le traitement du schwa dans IPFC : codage, décodage et illustration avec des données du projet IPFC-Suisse

Presentation from "Journées IPFC 2017", FMSH–Paris, 27 - 28 november 201

Le rôle de l’immersion dans l’apprentissage du schwa chez les apprenants alémaniques avancés de FLE

Mastering ‘schwa’ is one of the major challenges that non-native speakers face when learning French as a foreign language. The present study, set within the framework of the IPFC project (“Interphonologie du Français Contemporain”), describes the schwa-coding system applied to the IPFC corpus data and is illustrated here with data from Alemannic-speaking Swiss learners of French (two tasks: text reading and guided conversation). Our results show that, even though studying abroad in a French-speaking area alone does not have a direct significant impact on schwa’s behavior, it does interact with two variables: the type of task (more schwa deletion after studying abroad observed in the conversation but not in the reading task) and the type of word (more schwa deletion after studying abroad observed in monosyllabic words but not in polysyllabic words, both in word-initial or word-medial syllabic positions). In this respect, studying abroad seems to help learners achieve native-like sociolinguistic proficiency. These first results pave the way for the development of in-class pedagogical material which could help learners achieve such a level of proficiency, whether or not they have the opportunity to study abroad in a French-speaking area

Le rôle de l’immersion dans l’apprentissage du schwa chez les apprenants alémaniques avancés de FLE

Dans l’apprentissage du français, le schwa constitue un v éritable défi pour les apprenants. Dans ce travail, effectué dans le cadre du projcet « Interphonologie du Français Contemporain » (IPFC), nous proposons un système de codage alphanumérique des réalisations du schwa d’apprenants de FLE et en illustrons la pertinence à l’aide de données d’apprenants suisses alémaniques avancés, issues de deux des tâches du protocole IPFC (lecture d’un texte et conversation guidée). Les résultats montrent que, si un séjour de longue durée en milieu francophone ne semble pas avoir d’effet à lui seul sur le comportement du schwa, il interagit néanmoins avec la tâche – plus de chute du schwa après un séjour dans les conversations mais pas en lecture – ainsi qu’avec le type de mots – après un séjour, le schwa chute davantage dans les monosyllabes mais n’a pas d’effet sur les polysyllabes, que le schwa soit en syllabe initiale ou interne. Le séjour semble ainsi aider les apprenants à acquérir une compétence sociolinguistique se rapprochant de celle des natifs. Ces résultats préliminaires ouvrent des pistes didactiques afin de fournir du matériel pédagogique permettant de ne pas laisser l’appropriation de cette compétence à la portée des seuls apprenants pouvant effectuer un séjour en immersion mais de la travailler également de manière efficace en classe