Syntactic variation and diglossia in French

The present article addresses syntactic variation within French, and is an example of a relatively recent shift in attitude towards variation in this language. It considers the status of the variation with respect to the mental grammars of speakers, in particular in the light of Massot’s work suggesting that contemporary metropolitan France is characterised by diglossia, that is, a community of speakers with two (in this case massively overlapping but not entirely identical) ‘French’ grammars which co-exist in their minds, one stylistically marked High, the other Low. The article reviews one particular instance of variation and argues that Massot’s model needs to be revised in order to account for the particular phenomenon of surface forms which can be generated by both putative grammars but which have a different linguistic status in each

Pas de deux: further thoughts on the syntax of sentential negation in French

This article supports earlier work by arguing that French negative pas functions as the specifier of NegP at S-structure (at the earliest) rather than at D-structure, as proposed in Pollock's (1989) original formulation of the NegP hypothesis. After reviewing the NegP hypothesis, the author offers additional syntactic evidence to support the refinement proposed in Rowlett (1993a). He goes on to investigate parallels between the revised model and work by Williams (1991) and Fillmore (1963). Finally, he explores theoretical avenues opened up by the refined hypothesis, considering, for example, whether the distinction drawn between constituent and sentential negation is as significant as has traditionally been assumed

The Natural History of The Silkewormes and their Flies

Images published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.Images published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.Images published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.Images published with permission of The British Library Board (434.f.10), the Huntington Library and Proquest. Further reproduction is prohibited.This study examines the overlap between natural philosophy and humanist imitation in two works by Thomas Moffet: his reference work Insectorum sive Minimorum Animalum Theatrum (written c.1589) and his poem The Silkewormes, and their Flies (1599). Both works draw extensively on contemporary and classical authors in order to create intertextual collages that look backwards towards the natural unity found in the Garden of Eden. This leads me to argue that The Silkewormes’ compositional style shares more in common with Guillaume de Saluste, Sieur Du Bartas's Sepmaine (1578, 1584) than with Virgilian didactic poetry. I consider throughout Elizabethan notions of authority, composition and originality, and conclude that Silkewormes merits critical attention for its skilful synthesis of diverse material in creating a work appropriate for Mary Herbert and her household at Wilton.Arts and Humanities Research Counci

Are textbook references to Darwin close to extinction?

The textbooks used to teach GCE A-level biology 30 years ago tended to concentrate on traditional zoology and botany, with just a passing reference to evolution. As biology established itself as a new discipline, books (and syllabuses) began to take an integrated approach, and evolution became an important theme that helped students to appreciate the interrelationships between plants and animals, cells and molecules, biochemistry and physiology, systematics and genetics, and ecology and behaviour. With the modularisation of modern specifications this theme has all but disappeared from textbooks and a detailed discussion of Darwin and the evidence for evolution has been replaced by perfunctory references to variation and selection and, in some cases, politically correct acknowledgements of creationism

The role of attitudes and behaviours in explaining socio-economic differences in attainment at age 11

This paper explores the correlates of the socio-economic gradient in children’s educational performance through the primary school years. Thus it sits between the companion papers on pre-school cognitive outcomes and attainment in the secondary school years in this Special Issue. The poorest 20% of children score, on average 14 percentile points lower than the middle 20% in Key Stage 2 tests at age 11, and 31 percentile points lower than the richest 20%. Overall around one third of the attainment gaps by socio-economic background at age 11 are found to emerge after age 7. The evolution of attainment gaps over this period is found to be related a range of attitudes to education and behavioural patterns of the study children. Low maternal aspirations for the child’s final educational attainment are strongly linked to the widening socio-economic gap during these years, over and above their influence on the child’s own measured attitudes and behaviours.This paper explores the correlates of the socio-economic gradient in children’s educational performance through the primary school years. Thus it sits between the companion papers on pre-school cognitive outcomes and attainment in the secondary school years in this Special Issue. The poorest 20% of children score, on average 14 percentile points lower than the middle 20% in Key Stage 2 tests at age 11, and 31 percentile points lower than the richest 20%. Overall around one third of the attainment gaps by socio-economic background at age 11 are found to emerge after age 7. The evolution of attainment gaps over this period is found to be related a range of attitudes to education and behavioural patterns of the study children. Low maternal aspirations for the child’s final educational attainment are strongly linked to the widening socio-economic gap during these years, over and above their influence on the child’s own measured attitudes and behaviours

Antibody-resistant mutants of Borrelia burgdorferi: in vitro selection and characterization.

We used polyclonal antisera and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to inhibit the growth of clonal populations of two strains of Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent, and thereby select for antibody-resistant mutants. mAbs were directed at the outer membrane proteins, OspA or OspB. Mutants resistant to the growth-inhibiting properties of the antibodies were present in the populations at frequencies ranging from 10(-5) to 10(-2). The several escape variants that were examined were of four classes. Class I mutants were resistant to all mAbs; they lacked OspA and OspB and the linear plasmid that encodes them. Two other proteins were expressed in larger amounts in class I mutants; mAbs to these proteins inhibited the mutant but not the wild-type cells. Class II mutants were resistant to some but not all mAbs; they had truncated OspA and/or OspB proteins. Class III mutants were resistant only to the selecting mAb; they had full-length Osp proteins that were not bound by the selecting antibody in Western blots. In two class III mutants resistant to different anti-OspA mAbs, missense mutations were demonstrated in the ospA genes. Class IV mutants were likewise resistant only to selecting antibody, but in this case the selecting antibody still bound in Western blots