Gradient categories in lexically-conditioned phonology: An example from sound symbolism

There are many approaches to modeling lexically-conditioned phonology in current formal theories, including lexically-indexed constraints and cophonologies. Nearly all of these existing approaches assume categorical membership in the lexical classes that condition differential phonotactics or phonological behaviours: for example, a lexical item is either a noun or a verb, or of one gender class or another. This paper proposes an implementation of Maximum Entropy Harmonic Grammar with lexically-indexed constraints and gradient symbolic activations over classes that allows us to model differences in phonological patterns over both discrete and gradient class membership. This theoretical implementation is a natural extension of the scales and gradient activations that have been shown to be necessary in recent phonological theory: sound symbolic evidence highlights the necessity for such increased explanatory power in our phonological models. Crucially, we find gradient lexically-conditioned patterns not only in sound symbolism—where they are often most obvious—but also in what is considered “core” language (e.g., morphosyntactic classes), and allowing gradient class structures in our phonological models may ultimately make for cleaner interfaces with other parts of grammar such as morphosyntax

Effects of Fluoxetine on Social and Startle Behavior in the African Cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni

The commonly prescribed antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) is found in waste water and affects aquatic animals. Here we ask how social hierarchy and startle behavior in an African cichlid fish community is impacted by chronic fluoxetine exposure. Results indicate reduced aggression and startle rates, implying possible ecological consequences

Skin Manifestations of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a disease that affects the intestinal tract via an inflammatory process. Patients who suffer from IBD often have diseases that affect multiple other organ systems as well. These are called extraintestinal manifestations and can be just as, if not more debilitating than the intestinal inflammation itself. The skin is one of the most commonly affected organ systems in patients who suffer from IBD. The scientific literature suggests that a disturbance of the equilibrium between host defense and tolerance, and the subsequent over-activity of certain immune pathways are responsible for the cutaneous disorders seen so frequently in IBD patients. The purpose of this review article is to give an overview of the types of skin diseases that are typically seen with IBD and their respective pathogenesis, proposed mechanisms, and treatments. These cutaneous disorders can manifest as metastatic lesions, reactive processes to the intestinal inflammation, complications of IBD itself, or side effects from IBD treatments; these can be associated with IBD via genetic linkage, common autoimmune processes, or other mechanisms that will be discussed in this article. Ultimately, it is important for healthcare providers to understand that skin manifestations should always be checked and evaluated for in patients with IBD. Furthermore, skin disorders can predate gastrointestinal symptoms and thus may serve as important clinical indicators leading physicians to earlier diagnosis of IBD

Phonological contrasts are maintained despite neutralization: an intracranial EEG study

The existence of language-specific abstract sound-structure units (such as the phoneme) is largely uncontroversial in phonology. However, whether the brain performs abstractions comparable to those assumed in phonology has been difficult to ascertain. Using intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) recorded during a passive listening task, this study investigates the representation of phonological units in the brain and the relationship between those units, auditory sensory input, and higher levels of language organization, namely  morphology. Leveraging the phonological neutralization of coronal stops to tap in English, this study provides evidence of a dissociation between acoustic similarity and phonemic identity in the neural response to speech. Moreover, leveraging morphophonological alternations of the regular plural and past tense, this study further demonstrates early (<500ms) evidence of dissociation between phonological form and morphological exponence. Together these results highlight the central nature of language-specific knowledge in sublexical language processing and improve our understanding of the ways language-specific knowledge structures and organizes speech perception in the brain

Subsegments and the emergence of segments

Q Theory proposes that the most granular and basic temporal unit of abstract phonological representation is not the segment, as widely assumed in classic generative phonology, but the quantized subsegment. With a more granular quantization of the speech stream, Q Theory provides phonological grammar with the representational capability to model behaviors that affect both the parts and the wholes of segments. In Q Theory, segments are emergent from strings of subsegments and from subsegmental interactions based on the principles of similarity, proximity, and co-occurrence that already underlie phonological operations. Evidence is presented from linguistic typology, and mechanics are drawn from speech segmentation and recognition. Q Theory makes it possible to develop an advanced theory of complex segments

Morphologically-conditioned tonotactics in multilevel Maximum Entropy grammar

This paper presents a novel approach to probabilistic morphologically-conditioned tonotactics, featuring a case study of Mende, in which tonotactics vary by lexical category. This variation in surface tone patterns is modeled via indexed weight adjustments (i.e., varying slopes) for each constraint in a Maximum Entropy Harmonic Grammar, quantifying the degree to which each lexical class follows basic tonotactic principles in a common base grammar. Approaching morphologically-conditioned phonotactics as indexed weight adjustments of a base grammar offers a solution to the existing stalemate between single grammar (e.g., indexed constraints) and multiple grammar (e.g., Stratal OT; cophonologies) models of lexically-sensitive phonological patterns

Looking into Segments

This paper outlines Q theory, in which the traditional segment (consonant, vowel) is decomposed into a string of three ordered subsegments, or q, representing the onset, target, and offset of the segment. The postulation of subsegmental structure permits the representation of complex (contour) segments as well as subtle contrasts in segment-internal changes of state. Q Theory synthesizes insights from Autosegmental Phonology, Aperture Theory, and Articulatory Phonology in a representation that standard phonological constraints can refer to. Q theory is supported by arguments that subsegments act independently and need to be independently referenced by the phonological grammar. Embedded into Agreement by Correspondence Theory, Q theory permits the analysis of contour assimilation as well as contour formation, both in the tonal and segmental domains.