Comparing vowel hiatus resolution in ciNsenga and chiShona: An Optimality Theory analysis

This article seeks to contribute to typology by presenting a formal comparative analysis of repair strategies used to resolve vowel hiatus in ciNsenga and chiShona. In these two languages, hiatus resolution is sensitive to phonology and morphosyntax such that hiatus resolution strategies apply differently depending on the phonological and morphosyntactic context. Across the prefix + noun stem boundary and within the Inflectional Stem, V1 undergoes “resyllabification” (Myers 1987:222) in the form of glide formation, secondary articulation and elision. An interlinguistic difference occurs when V2 is MacroStem-initial: in ciNsenga, hiatus resolution is blocked but in chiShona spreading is triggered. We follow Mudzingwa (2010) in proposing that resyllabification in chiShona is blocked at the Prosodic Stem edge by an alignment constraint (ALIGNL-PSTEM) that requires the left edge of a Prosodic Stem to align with the left edge of an onset-full syllable. We argue that resyllabification and glide epenthesis in ciNsenga are blocked when V2 is MacroStem-initial because ALIGN (ROOTVERB, L,σ,L) outranks ONSET and ALIGNL-PSTEM. Crucially, this article demonstrates that whilst vowel hiatus resolution is categorical in chiShona, it is domain-specific in ciNsenga.Keywords: CiNsenga, ChiShona, hiatus resolution, Optimality Theory, resyllabificatio

Change-of-state Paradigms and the middle in Kinyarwanda

This paper investigates the derivational relationships among members of verbal paradigms in Kinyarwanda (Bantu JD.61; Rwanda) by pursuing two interrelated goals. First, I describe a variety of derivational strategies for marking transitive and intransitive variants in change-of-state verb paradigms. Second, I focus on the detransitivizing morpheme –ik which serves as one possible marking for intransitive members of these paradigms. Ultimately, I argue that this morpheme is a marker of middle voice, and the variety of readings which appear with this form can be subsumed under a single operation of argument suppression. Finally, I provide a discussion of reflexives and the apparent lack of a reflexive reading with –ik by arguing that this reading is blocked by either lexical reflexives or the reflexive prefix i–

Encoding Present Situations in Mandarin Chinese and isiXhosa: A Comparative Study

This study sought to investigate how two typologically distinct languages, Mandarin and isiXhosa, deal with the encoding of temporal relations by focusing on a specific time frame – the present. The study revealed that both Mandarin and isiXhosa do not have overt grammatical features for locating situations in the present, suggesting that the present is the unmarked or default temporal location in both languages. However, the study also revealed that the two languages differ in at least two significant respects. First, the two languages differ with respect to the extent to which they distinguish ongoing situations from habitual ones when their temporal location overlaps with the present moment: it was found that whilst Mandarin makes this distinction unequivocal through the use of distinct particles, isiXhosa forms are generally (though not always) equivocal and the distinctions have to be made lexically (through the use of temporal adverbials) or through context. Second, the study revealed that the two languages differ in terms of how they encode the present state and its relation to a previous state. In Mandarin, a current state is invariably described in terms of its relation with a previous state, i.e. whether it is contrastive to some previous state or if the state has some duration which includes the present moment. In isiXhosa a current state is sometimes described in terms of the result of a previous event; in other cases, a current state is described without any indication of whether or not it is related to a previous state. The study concludes that Mandarin places more emphasis on situation-internal properties of states/events in conveying temporal relations, whereas isiXhosa places more emphasis on the temporal locations themselves.Keywords: Tense, Aspect, Bantu, Mandarin, Comparative Linguistic

An analysis of vowel harmony in ciNsenga and ciCewa: A comparative study

This article presents an analysis of vowel harmony that occurs in the verbal system of ciNsenga and ciCewa. In these languages the nature of suffix vowels is determined by the nature of the root: mid vowels trigger the vowel /ε/ on the suffixes, non-mid vowels, on the other hand, trigger the vowel /i/ on the suffixes. An examination of monosyllabic verbs which, by definition, have no root vowel, reveals interesting patterns between different Bantu languages: in some languages such verbs consistently select suffixes with the vowel /i/ whereas in other languages such verbs select suffixes with the vowel /ε/. Drawing on insights from Underspecification Theory (Archangeli, 1984, 1988; Archangeli and Pulleyblank, 1989, 1994) the article argues that a unified and coherent account of vowel harmony can be made for these languages by positing that the languages are parameterised with respect to the harmonic feature specified in their underlying representations and the concomitant default rule needed to derive the surface representation

Subject marking, coordination and noun classes in ciNsenga

Subject marking on the Bantu verb seems to be a straightforward process in clauses with simple subject noun phrases (NP) as the verb only has to agree with a single NP. With conjoined NPs, on the other hand, subject-verb agreement is more complicated as there are three possibilities for such agreement: (i) agreement with both conjuncts (total agreement); (ii) agreement with one of the conjuncts (partial agreement); (iii) no agreement at all (default agreement). This study reveals that in ciNsenga partial agreement with conjoined NPs is not permitted; that total agreement and default agreement are determined by a combination of number, human, and gender features. Total agreement is possible only if the conjuncts denote nouns from the same plural class. Default agreement comes in two different forms: (i) if two conjuncts from different noun classes denote humans then agreement is with Class 2; (ii) if the conjuncts denote singular non-humans or they conflict in noun class then agreement is with Class 8. The study also reveals that default agreement for non-humans is restricted by word order, which suggests that agreement patterns are restricted by a combination of semantic and syntactic factors

Novel Clade C-I Clostridium difficile strains escape diagnostic tests, differ in pathogenicity potential and carry toxins on extrachromosomal elements

The population structure of Clostridium difficile currently comprises eight major genomic clades. For the highly divergent C-I clade, only two toxigenic strains have been reported, which lack the tcdA and tcdC genes and carry a complete locus for the binary toxin (CDT) next to an atypical TcdB monotoxin pathogenicity locus (PaLoc). As part of a routine surveillance of C. difficile in stool samples from diarrheic human patients, we discovered three isolates that consistently gave negative results in a PCR-based screening for tcdC. Through phenotypic assays, whole-genome sequencing, experiments in cell cultures, and infection biomodels we show that these three isolates (i) escape common laboratory diagnostic procedures, (ii) represent new ribotypes, PFGE-types, and sequence types within the Clade C-I, (iii) carry chromosomal or plasmidal TcdBs that induce classical or variant cytopathic effects (CPE), and (iv) cause different levels of cytotoxicity and hamster mortality rates. These results show that new strains of C. difficile can be detected by more refined techniques and raise questions on the origin, evolution, and distribution of the toxin loci of C. difficile and the mechanisms by which this emerging pathogen causes disease.Federal State of Lower Saxony/[(VWZN2889/3215/3266]/FSLS/AlemaniaGerman Center for Infection Research/[BMBF grant 8000-105-3]/DZIF/AlemaniaUniversidad de Costa Rica/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Laboratorio de Ensayos Biológicos (LEBI

Effects of Different Soil Treatments on the Development of Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea in Potato Roots and Tubers in the Greenhouse

Powdery scab caused by Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea (Sss) causes extensive losses in potato production systems globally. Two pot experiments were established in the greenhouse in summer 2013 and winter 2014 to evaluate the effectiveness of different soil chemicals, fumigant, amendments and biological control agents (BCAs) against Sss in the rhizospheric soil, potato roots and tubers. The study used visual assessment methods to assess the effect of treatments on root galling and zoosporangia production, and qPCR to measure Sss concentration in the soil and in the potato roots and tubers. All six soil treatments, namely metam sodium, fluazinam, ZincMax, calcium cyanamide, Biocult and a combination of Bacillus subtilis and Trichoderma asperellum recorded significantly (P < 0.05) lower numbers of zoosporangia in the roots compared to the untreated control. The same effect was observed on the concentration of Sss DNA in the roots at tuber initiation. A more diverse picture was obtained when root gall scores at tuber initiation and Sss DNA in the rhizospheric soil at tuber initiation and harvesting were compared. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were also noted in disease severity, disease incidence, and tuber yield between metam sodium, fluazinam, ZincMax, calcium cyanamide and the untreated control. Calcium cyanamide gave the highest tuber yield. The study demonstrated the potential of soil treatments such as metam sodium, fluazinam, ZincMax and calcium cyanamide in managing Sss in potatoes by reducing the pathogen both in the rhizospheric soil and the roots of the potato plant.The National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa, and Potatoes South Africa.http://link.springer.com/journal/115402018-03-30hj2017Plant Production and Soil Scienc

Implementation of push notification using SignalR and WCF

Komunikacijo med strežniki in odjemalci lahko realiziramo na več načinov. Osnoven način je, da odjemalec povprašuje in strežnik odgovarja. V primeru, ko odjemalec ne ve, kdaj mu bo določena informacija na voljo, mora v intervalih spraševati strežnik. To je neučinkovito in boljša alternativa temu je, da strežnik obvešča odjemalce. Takemu načinu komunikacije pravimo potisno obveščanje. Implementacijo potisnega obveščanja smo izvedli s knjižnico SignalR in z ogrodjem WCF. Obe tehnologiji smo raziskali in ju primerjali. Za primerjavo tehnologij smo implementirali obveščanje o dogajanju v nadzoru različic kode. V našem primeru smo imeli dva tipa odjemalcev. En odjemalec je vmesnik za upravljanje z nadzorom različic kode Git. Ta obvešča strežnik o akcijah, ki se dogajajo nad kodo. Drugi tip odjemalca pa je namizna aplikacija in aplikacija za Windows Phone 8. Obe aplikaciji sprejemata obvestila o dogajanju v nadzoru različic kode, ki jim jih pošilja strežnik.Communication between servers and clients can be realised in several ways. A basic method is, when the client requests and the server responds. In case the client does not know, when the specific information will be available, it needs to ask the server in intervals. This is ineffective, and a better alternative is when the server informs the clients. Such communication is called server push. Server push was implemented with the SignalR library and with the WCF framework. Both technologies have been explored and compared. For comparison of technologies we implemented the notification of activity in revision control. In our case, we had two types of clients. The first client is an interface for managing the control of the Git revision control. It informs the server about actions, which take place over the code. The second client is a desktop application and an application for Windows Phone 8. Both applications receive notifications of activities in revision control