Usage-based Grammar

This article introduces two major approaches to usage-based study of syntax, Emergent Grammar and Interactional Linguistics. Grammarians studying human languages from these two approaches insist on basing their analyses on data from actual language use, especially everyday conversation in a range of languages. Grammar is viewed as emerging from language use in context, and thus grammatical structure is seen as provisional, negotiable, and ever changing. Linguistic units and categories need to be based on what is found in actual use. Traditional notions are not accepted a priori, unless it is shown that speakers actually orient to them in their everyday use. Findings are stated in terms of both form and function. Since the availability of videotaped data, there has been increasing attention paid to embodied behavior as a component of linguistic communication. Frequently used structures are seen as more basic than rarely used ones, and for this reason, quantitative approaches are common. Building carefully designed, balanced corpora of everyday speech in a range of contexts for multiple languages will be a next major step which would make this usage-based endeavor to human language a viable option.Peer reviewe

筋収縮はラット咬筋内でのIL-6の遺伝子発現を亢進する

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to determine if interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) mRNA expression increase in response to muscle contraction caused by repetitive electrical stimulation of the rat masseter muscle. METHODS: Male Wistar rats weighing 140-160 g were divided randomly into the following three groups: electrical stimulation (ES) group (n=21), carrageenan injection (CI) group (n=24), and ES under dantrolene sodium (muscle relaxant) injection (ESDI) group (n=7). ES or CI was done to the left masseter; and mock ES or mock CI to the right. Muscle tissues on both sides were sampled for total RNA isolation. Real-time RT-PCR was performed, with the cyclophilin A (CypA) mRNA level in each sample as an internal control. Mean relative IL-6 (il-6/cypA) and IL-1beta (il-1beta/cypA) mRNA levels were compared between the experimental and mock-treated sides within each group. RESULTS: Mean IL-6/CypA levels in the ES- or CI-treated muscle significantly increased, without any significant incremental change observed in either mock-treated muscle. Interestingly, the increase in the il-6/cypA level caused by the ES was suppressed by the injection of dantrolene sodium in the ESDI group. Furthermore, the mean il-1beta/cypA level in the CI-treated masseter also significantly increased without any significant incremental change observed in the mock-treated muscle. However, there was no significant difference in the mean il-1beta/cypA levels in the masseter between the ES- and the mock-treated sides. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that IL-6 mRNA expression in the rat masseter muscle was accelerated by the CI or by repetitive muscle contraction induced by ES. Since the mRNA level of IL-1beta, a well-known proinflammatory cytokine, was not altered by the contraction, the accelerated IL-6 mRNA expression elicited by the muscle contraction does not seem to be related to local inflammation

Questioning the clause as a crosslinguistic unit in grammar and interaction

Peer reviewe

Mismatch between theory and practice: Problem of determining base forms for Miyako verbs

In thinking about the relationships between linguistic practice, theory, and application, we typically assume that our theoretical understanding of grammatical structure matches the reality of linguistic practice (and speakers' intuition) and can be directly applicable to teaching and revitalization of the language. Unfortunately, this does not seem necessarily the case. In this presentation we will discuss the difficulty we encountered when we try to determine 'the base form' of a word in our work with Miyako, an endangered Ryukyuan language spoken in Okinawa, Japan. Verbs in Miyako exhibit multiple inflected forms (in the same way English verbs do, e.g. jump, jumped, jumping, etc.). When a word has variant forms, linguists identify the base form on the basis of the inflectional pattern and use it as the representative or reference form, e.g. as a dictionary headword. This notion of a representative form also seems to be very much in speakers' minds as they tend to talk about verbs using a single form rather than using different forms at different times. However, the problem is that the forms that linguists and speakers choose as representative are different in Miyako. Linguists working on Miyako typically represent verbs with the non-past form (e.g., fau 'eat'), but in contrast, native speakers consistently cite the verb in the converb form (e.g., fai ‘eating’), and in fact, word lists compiled by them list verbs in this form. Linguists' choice of the non-past form as the representative is most likely something that has been carried over from the research tradition of the more socially dominant language, Japanese. Native speaker intuition, on the other hand, likely stems from the fact that the converb form is the most frequently used in natural discourse. No matter what the sources are, this discrepancy raises a question about the identity and validity of the 'base form' of Miyako verbs. Although this may seem like a small problem, it nonetheless reveals a serious clash between the grammatical organization linguists would see and the way speakers would understand and use the grammar. We will explore in our presentation factors that contributed to this difference. It is important to be aware of such mismatches when we think about ways to relate theory, practice, and application

Looking Back at my Thirty-Year Life as a Lawyer : A Special Lecture by the President of the Yokohama Bar Association

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Unattached NPs in English Conversation

Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session Dedicated to the Contributions of Charles J. Fillmore (1994

Deconstructing "Zero Anaphora" in Japanese

Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Pragmatics and Grammatical Structure (1997

An Innovative Method to Identify Autoantigens Expressed on the Endothelial Cell Surface: Serological Identification System for Autoantigens Using a Retroviral Vector and Flow Cytometry (SARF)

Autoantibodies against integral membrane proteins are usually pathogenic. Although anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECAs) are considered to be critical, especially for vascular lesions in collagen diseases, most molecules identified as autoantigens for AECAs are localized within the cell and not expressed on the cell surface. For identification of autoantigens, proteomics and expression library analyses have been performed for many years with some success. To specifically target cell-surface molecules in identification of autoantigens, we constructed a serological identification system for autoantigens using a retroviral vector and flow cytometry (SARF). Here, we present an overview of recent research in AECAs and their target molecules and discuss the principle and the application of SARF. Using SARF, we successfully identified three different membrane proteins: fibronectin leucine-rich transmembrane protein 2 (FLRT2) from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) from a patient with rheumatoid arthritis, and Pk (Gb3/CD77) from an SLE patient with hemolytic anemia, as targets for AECAs. SARF is useful for specific identification of autoantigens expressed on the cell surface, and identification of such interactions of the cell-surface autoantigens and pathogenic autoantibodies may enable the development of more specific intervention strategies in autoimmune diseases