Less is more: possibility and necessity as centres of gravity in a usage-based classification of core modals in Polish

In this paper we present the results of an empirical study into the cognitive reality of existing classifications of modality using Polish data. We analyzed random samples of 250 independent observations for the 7 most frequent modal words (móc, można, musieć, należy, powinien, trzeba, wolno), extracted from the Polish national corpus. Observations were annotated for modal type according to a number of classifications, including van der Auwera and Plungian (1998), as well as for morphological, syntactic and semantic properties using the Behavioral Profiling approach (Divjak and Gries 2006). Multiple correspondence analysis and (polytomous) regression models were used to determine how well modal type and usage align. These corpus-based findings were validated experimentally. In a forced choice task, naive native speakers were exposed to definitions and prototypical examples of modal types or functions, then labeled a number of authentic corpus sentences accordingly. In the sorting task, naive native speakers sorted authentic corpus sentences into semantically coherent groups. We discuss the results of our empirical study as well as the issues involved in building usage-based accounts on traditional linguistic classifications

Abelian combinatorics on words: a survey

We survey known results and open problems in abelian combinatorics on words. Abelian combinatorics on words is the extension to the commutative setting of the classical theory of combinatorics on words. The extension is based on abelian equivalence, which is the equivalence relation defined in the set of words by having the same Parikh vector, that is, the same number of occurrences of each letter of the alphabet. In the past few years, there was a lot of research on abelian analogues of classical definitions and properties in combinatorics on words. This survey aims to gather these results.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Phenetic analysis of the animal population in the urban ecosystem

В работе проанализировано интегрированное влияние факторов урбанизации на фенетическую структуру популяций клопа-солдатика (Pyrrhocoris apterus L.) и мелких млекопитающих – красной полевки (Clethrionomys rutilus P.) и обыкновенной бурозубки (Sorex araneus L.). В популяциях клопа-солдатика г.Ишима показано возрастание фенетической изменчивости и, соответственно, частоты проявления редких фенов меланизированного рисунка надкрыльев по мере нарастания антропогенной нагрузки. Популяционные группы мелких млекопитающих, обитающие на территории лесопарка в пределах города отличаются от контрольных частотами фенов неметрических признаков черепа. Интегрированное воздействие факторов урбанизации приводит к усилению внутривидовой дифференциации. Фенетические дистанции (MMD) между выборкой зверьков из лесопарка и реликтового местообитания в 16 километрах от города, рассчитанные по комплексу 25 у красной полевки и 9 у обыкновенной бурозубки признаков, в 2 раза превышают уровень, определенный для относительно изолированных внутрипопуляционных поселений красной полевки в пределах сплошного ареала и соответствует уровню соседних популяций, изолированных 30-40 км ландшафтногеографической преградой.In the given work the integrated influence of the factors of urbanization on the phenetic structure of populations of firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus L.) and small mammals – red-backed voles (Clethrionomys rutilus P.) and common shrew (Sorex araneus L.) is analyzed. In the populations of firebugs in Ishim the increase in phonetic variability and, accordingly, the frequency of the development of rare phenes of the drawings on their backs according to the increase of anthropogenic load is shown. The population groups of small mammals, living on the territory of a forest park within the city boundaries, differ from the control ones by the frequencies of phenes of nonmetrical characters of skulls. The integrated influence of the factors of urbanization leads to strengthening of intraspecific differentiation of populations of small mammals. Phenetic distances (MMD) between the selections of small mammals from the forest park and the relic habitat not far from the city (16 kilometers), calculated according to the complex of 25 characters for the red-backed voles and 9 characters for the common shrew, twice exceed the level defined for rather isolated intrapopulation settlements of the red-backed vole within the continuous area and correspond to the level of the nearest populations isolated by a 30-40-km landscape and geographical barrier

Abelian Repetitions in Sturmian Words

Abstract. We investigate abelian repetitions in Sturmian words. We exploit a bijection between factors of Sturmian words and subintervals of the unitary segment that allows us to study the periods of abelian repetitions by using classical results of elementary Number Theory. If km denotes the maximal exponent of an abelian repetition of period m, we prove that lim sup km/m ≥ √ 5 for any Sturmian word, and the equality holds for the Fibonacci infinite word. We further prove that the longest prefix of the Fibonacci infinite word that is an abelian repetition of period Fj, j> 1, has length Fj(Fj+1 + Fj−1 + 1) − 2 if j is even or Fj(Fj+1 +Fj−1)−2 if j is odd. This allows us to give an exact formula for the smallest abelian periods of the Fibonacci finite words. More precisely, we prove that for j ≥ 3, the Fibonacci word fj has abelian period equal to Fn, where n = ⌊j/2 ⌋ if j = 0, 1, 2 mod 4, or n = 1 + ⌊j/2 ⌋ if j = 3 mod 4.