Slower-than-normal syntactic processing in agrammatic Broca's aphasia: Evidence from Dutch

Studies of agrammatic Broca's aphasia reveal a diverging pattern of performance in the comprehension of reflexive elements: offline, performance seems unimpaired, whereas online—and in contrast to both matching controls and Wernicke's patients—no antecedent reactivation is observed at the reflexive. Here we propose that this difference characterizes the agrammatic comprehension deficit as a result of slower-than-normal syntactic structure formation. To test this characterization, the comprehension of three Dutch agrammatic patients and matching control participants was investigated utilizing the cross-modal lexical decision (CMLD) interference task. Two types of reflexive-antecedent dependencies were tested, which have already been shown to exert distinct processing demands on the comprehension system as a function of the level at which the dependency was formed. Our hypothesis predicts that if the agrammatic system has a processing limitation such that syntactic structure is built in a protracted manner, this limitation will be reflected in delayed interpretation. Confirming previous findings, the Dutch patients show an effect of distinct processing demands for the two types of reflexive-antecedent dependencies but with a temporal delay. We argue that this delayed syntactic structure formation is the result of limited processing capacity that specifically affects the syntactic system

Solving the elusiveness of word meanings: two arguments for a continuous meaning space for language

I explore the hypothesis that the experience of meaning discreteness when we think about the “meaning” of a word is a “communicative” illusion. The illusion is created by processing-contextual constraints that impose disambiguation on the semantic input making salient a specific interpretation within a conceptual space that is otherwise continuous. It is this salience that we experience as discreteness. The understanding of word meaning as non-discrete raises the question of what is context; what are the mechanisms of constraint that it imposes and what is the nature of the conceptual space with which pronunciations (i.e., visual/oral signs) associate themselves. I address these questions by leveraging an algebraic continuous system for word meaning that is itself constrained by two fundamental parameters: control-asymmetry and connectedness. I evaluate this model by meeting two challenges to word meaning discreteness (1) cases where the same pronunciation is associated with multiple senses that are nonetheless interdependent, e.g., English “smoke,” and (2) cases where the same pronunciation is associated with a family of meanings, minimally distinct from each other organized as a “cline,” e.g., English “have.” These cases are not marginal–they are ubiquitous in languages across the world. Any model that captures them is accounting for the meaning system for language. At the heart of the argumentation is the demonstration of how the parameterized space naturally organizes these kinds of cases without appeal for further categorization or segmentation of any kind. From this, I conclude that discreteness in word meaning is epiphenomenal: it is the experience of salience produced by contextual constraints. And that this is possible because, by and large, every time that we become consciously aware of the conceptual structure associated with a pronunciation, i.e., its meaning, we do so under real-time processing conditions which are biased toward producing a specific interpretation in reference to a specific situation in the world. Supporting it is a parameterized space that gives rise to lexico-conceptual representations: generalized algebraic structures necessary for the identification, processing, and encoding of an individual's understanding of the world

Institutional framework and institutional practice for the study of intercultural communication : a case study of Amy Chua's "Chinese' parenting style in the United States

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Filología, Departamento de Filología Inglesa I (Lengua y Lingüística Inglesa), leída el 18-11-2015Este trabajo aspira a proporcionar herramientas adicionales en el ámbito de la comunicación y la pragmática intercultural mediante la propuesta de dos constructos: “Marco Institucional” y “Práctica Institucional”. Estos dos constructos se apoyan sobre las ideas desarrolladas por el filósofo John Searle en su teoría de la realidad institucional (1995, 2010) que se basa en el supuesto de que la asignación de significado es un fenómeno intrínsecamente humano. Por lo tanto, la realidad social es una construcción social: es ontológicamente subjetiva. Según Searle, un atributo clave que capacita a los seres humanos para crear la realidad social es el lenguaje, lo que implica que la realidad social es esencialmente lingüística: Constituida por representaciones basadas en estados intencionales intrínsecamente humanos, impuestas de manera colectiva sobre acciones, objetos y situaciones. La realidad social es lingüística en el sentido de que existe en tanto que nuestra capacidad humana lingüística nos permite crear y representar entidades de cosas como teniendo significado y funciones que no tendrían si no fuera por nosotros. ¿De qué manera es esto relevante ayudar a para comprender mejor la comunicación y la pragmática intercultural? Pretendemos justificar que nuestro campo de estudio comprenda análisis que vayan más allá de aquello se dice o se pronuncia (beyond utterances). Para responder a esta necesidad, tendremos que, en primer lugar, abordar la cuestión de qué es la cultura y explorar lo que significa cultura dentro del alcance de este trabajo. Según el antropólogo Clifford Geertz, "el hombre es un animal suspendido en redes de significación que él mismo ha tejido" y él asume que "la cultura es esas redes" (1973: 5). Esta definición es relevante en el ámbito de esta investigación porque con ella podemos empezar a juntar piezas, y comprender que la cultura –siendo redes de significación hiladas por el hombre– corresponde con la noción, mencionada anteriormente, de la intervención humana en la constitución de la realidad social. Cultura, con todas sus redes de significación y simbología, viene a ser un componente fundamental de la realidad social que creamos y habitamos. Así, un análisis que va más allá de lo pronunciado (utterances) cobra sentido al intentar comprender aspectos de la interacción en la comunicación intercultural. La cultura y la sociedad, al estar constituidas por un conjunto de convenciones de significado y representaciones simbólicas vienen a ser un tipo de lenguaje, por así decirlo, y llegan a tener grados de inteligibilidad. En lingüística "cuando los hablantes de diferentes entidades lingüísticas pueden entenderse unos a otros" (Campbell 2004:191) se dice que sus lenguas son mutuamente inteligibles: Sin embargo, "las entidades que son totalmente incomprensible para los hablantes de otras entidades claramente son mutuamente ininteligibles" (2004: 217)...This work aspires to provide additional tools to the field of intercultural communication and pragmatics by proposing two constructs: Institutional Framework and Institutional Practice. These two constructs rest on the ideas developed by John Searle in his theory of institutional reality (1995, 2010) which centers on the assumption that the assignment of meaning is an inherently human phenomenon. Therefore, social reality is socially constructed and ontologically subjective. According to Searle, a key attribute that capacitates humans to create social reality is language, implying that social reality is essentially linguistic: Constituted by representations based on human intentional states, collectively imposed on actions, objects and states of affairs. Social reality is linguistic in that it exists insofar as our linguistic human capacity enables us to create and represent things as having meaning and functions that they wouldn’t ordinarily have if it weren’t for us. How is this relevant to better understand intercultural communication and pragmatics, and justifying going beyond utterance analysis in this field? To answer this we will need to approach the matter of culture and explore what culture is within the scope of this work. According to anthropologist Clifford Geertz, “man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun” and he takes “culture to be those webs” (1973:5). This definition is relevant here because we can start piecing together that culture, being webs of significance spun by man, corresponds with the notion of human intervention in the constitution of social reality. Culture, with all its webs of significance and representations accounts for a primary constituent of the social reality that we create and inhabit. So, going beyond analyzing utterances makes sense in understanding the interaction in intercultural communication because culture and society, being constituted by an array of conventions of meaning and symbolic representations become a type of language, so to speak, and they come to have degrees of intelligibility. In linguistics “when speakers of different linguistic entities can understand one another” (Campbell 2004:191) their languages are said to be mutually intelligible: However, “entities which are totally incomprehensible to speakers of other entities clearly are mutually unintelligible” (2004:217). In this sense Kristeva is insightful when she says, “the law governing…. affecting any social practice lies in the fact that it signifies; i.e. that it is articulated like a language” (1973:1249)...Depto. de Estudios Ingleses: Lingüística y LiteraturaFac. de FilologíaTRUEunpu

Anaphora Resolution in Near-Native Speakers of Italian

This study presents data from an experiment on the interpretation of intrasentential anaphora in Italian by native Italian speakers and by English speakers who have learned Italian as adults and have reached a near-native level of proficiency in this language. The two groups of speakers were presented with complex sentences consist-ing of a main clause and a subordinate clause, in which the subor-dinate clause had either an overt pronoun or a null subject pronoun. In half of the sentences the main clause preceded the subordinate clause (forward anaphora) and in the other half the subordinate clause preceded the main clause (backward anaphora). Participants performed in a picture verification task in which they had to indi-cate the picture(s) that corresponded to the meaning of the subor-dinate clause, thus identifying the possible antecedents of the null or overt subject pronouns. The patterns of responses of the two groups were very similar with respect to the null subject pronouns in both the forward and backward anaphora conditions. Compared to native monolingual speakers, however, the near-natives had a significantly higher preference for the subject of the matrix clause as a possible antecedent of overt subject pronouns, particularly in the backward anaphora condition. The results indicate that near-native speakers have acquired the syntactic constraints on pronom-inal subjects in Italian, but may have residual indeterminacy in the interface processing strategies they employ in interpreting pronom-inal forms

Reproducibility matters: intra- and inter-sample variation of the point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen test (POC-CCA) in two Schistosoma mansoni endemic areas in Uganda

Over 240 million people are infected with schistosomiasis. Detecting Schistosoma mansoni eggs in stool using Kato–Katz thick smears (Kato-Katzs) is highly specific but lacks sensitivity. The urine-based point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen test (POC-CCA) has higher sensitivity, but issues include specificity, discrepancy between batches and interpretation of trace results. A semi-quantitative G-score and latent class analyses making no assumptions about trace readings have helped address some of these issues. However, intra-sample and inter-sample variation remains unknown for POC-CCAs. We collected 3 days of stool and urine from 349 and 621 participants, from high- and moderate-endemicity areas, respectively. We performed duplicate Kato-Katzs and one POC-CCA per sample. In the high-endemicity community, we also performed three POC-CCA technical replicates on one urine sample per participant. Latent class analysis was performed to estimate the relative contribution of intra- (test technical reproducibility) and inter-sample (day-to-day) variation on sensitivity and specificity. Within-sample variation for Kato-Katzs was higher than between-sample, with the opposite true for POC-CCAs. A POC-CCA G3 threshold most accurately assesses individual infections. However, to reach the WHO target product profile of the required 95% specificity for prevalence and monitoring and evaluation, a threshold of G4 is needed, but at the cost of reducing sensitivity. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Challenges and opportunities in the fight against neglected tropical diseases: a decade from the London Declaration on NTDs’