Francoprovençal: Documenting contact varieties in Europe and North America

This special issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language brings together articles from an international set of authors that situate the family of Francoprovençal (FP) dialects in terms of formal structures, contexts of contact, practice and policy. FP has been the subject of little scholarly attention. This dearth of research is largely the result of its ambiguous status. Ever since it was introduced by Ascoli (1878 [1874]), the notion of FP has been questioned. There has long been disagreement over its linguistic borders and the linguistic criteria used for demarcation. As late as 2007, scholars have asked: le francoprovençal existe-t-il ? [does FP exist?] (Tuaillon 2007: 9). This is the first collection describing FP across its entire geographical distribution and assembling varied sociolinguistic approaches. Previous collections include a dialectology volume focusing on the status and structure of FP (Marzys (1971); a posthumous volume focusing on Lyonnais (Gardette 1983); and Fréchet (2009), consisting of descriptions of both FP and Occitan. These works – though important contributions to FP linguistics – provide little quantitative substance. Moreover, little work on FP has been produced in English, which limits access to researchers worldwide who might be interested in the sociolinguistic context of FP or comparison with other minority-language contexts. To begin to fill this void, we introduce FP, then outline the key themes of this issue and the range of sociolinguistic traditions covered

Investigation of the composition of the Luna 16 lunar sample

The concentrations of aluminum, manganese, sodium, chromium, iron, cobalt, and 12 rare earth elements were determined by neutron activation analysis using slow neutrons. Oxygen and silicon were determined using a fast neutron generator. Mossbauer spectroscopy was used to investigate iron compounds in Luna 16 regolith samples from the upper part of the core

Ordering variable for parton showers

The parton splittings in a parton shower are ordered according to an ordering variable, for example the transverse momentum of the daughter partons relative to the direction of the mother, the virtuality of the splitting, or the angle between the daughter partons. We analyze the choice of the ordering variable and conclude that one particular choice has the advantage of factoring softer splittings from harder splittings graph by graph in a physical gauge.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

An overview of Francoprovençal vitality in Europe and North America

We review the current status of Francoprovençal (FP) in all regions where it is spoken. This article is the first of its kind, in that it reports on FP in both Europe and North America (for the latter this is the first demographic report). Figures cited for speaker numbers are therefore speculative. For each region, we present an overview of the linguistic history, current glottopolitical status of FP and demographic information. We describe each variety’s vitality, using Brenzinger et al.’s (2003, Language vitality and endangerment. Paris: UNESCO Expert Meeting on Safeguarding Endangered Languages) UNESCO scale