On the Semantics and Syntax of Persian ‘become’

In the present study, we investigate the aspectual properties and the syntactic nature of Persian ‘become’. Based on the careful examination of degree-achievement predicates (including motion verbs and gradual change-of-state predicates), we show that Persian ‘become’ is not inherently telic (contra what has been proposed in the literature) and that resultativity, brought about by the preverb or a secondary predicate, gives rise to telicity in Persian complex predicates with ‘become’. Further, we argue, based on the so-called passive form of Persian complex predicates, that Voice and little v are two distinct projections and that Persian ‘become’ is a Non-Active Voice head above vP

Functional tooth restoration by next-generation bio-hybrid implant as a bio-hybrid artificial organ replacement therapy

Bio-hybrid artificial organs are an attractive concept to restore organ function through precise biological cooperation with surrounding tissues in vivo. However, in bio-hybrid artificial organs, an artificial organ with fibrous connective tissues, including muscles, tendons and ligaments, has not been developed. Here, we have enveloped with embryonic dental follicle tissue around a HA-coated dental implant, and transplanted into the lower first molar region of a murine tooth-loss model. We successfully developed a novel fibrous connected tooth implant using a HA-coated dental implant and dental follicle stem cells as a bio-hybrid organ. This bio-hybrid implant restored physiological functions, including bone remodelling, regeneration of severe bone-defect and responsiveness to noxious stimuli, through regeneration with periodontal tissues, such as periodontal ligament and cementum. Thus, this study represents the potential for a next-generation bio-hybrid implant for tooth loss as a future bio-hybrid artificial organ replacement therapy

Role of QAC in child language and adult sentence processing

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-169).This dissertation investigates experimentally the role of Question-Answer Congruence (QAC, von Stechow 1990, Rooth 1985, 1992) in child language acquisition and adult sentence processing. Specifically, I present two case studies: sentences with "only" and sentences with the Rise-Fall-Rise contour (RFR, Jackendoff 1972). Case study 1 investigates a long-standing puzzle concerning the acquisition of "only." Since Crain et al. (1994), many studies report children display difficulties understanding sentences with pre-subject "only" while having no difficulty with pre-verbal "only." The current study manipulates the levels of QAC to study the puzzle. The results show that QAC plays a significant role in the asymmetry between Subject-only vs. VP-only, and more generally, both children and adults are sensitive to QAC, with congruence facilitating processing, and incongruence interfering with processing. We conclude that the cost of the accommodation of a sub-question to obey QAC is different for Subject-only and VP-only. I propose that the way information is packaged makes it easier to accommodate a set of questions asking about the object of the sentence, which makes it easier to process VP-only. We also showed that the extent to which QAC influences comprehension is different for children and adults. For children, QAC has a stronger influence than the syntactic condition on only. For adults, the syntactic condition is not violated. We suggest that the status of the syntactic condition regarding only is a factor that distinguishes children from adults in processing only. Case study 2 investigates whether children can construe the inverse scope interpretation, which children are reported to disfavor (Musolino 1998), with the RFR prosody, which is standardly taken to require inverse scope. The results show that both children and adults are sensitive to RFR and able to compute the implicature associated with RFR to disambiguate the inverse scope interpretation. As in the "only" study, QAC levels varied in the RFR experiment. However, the results revealed no effect of question type. This leaves an important open question: why QAC seems more active in children in determining the associate of only than in the determination of quantifier scope when the prosody makes the scope clear.by Ayaka Sugawara.Ph. D

An Analysis of Split Topicalization in Japanese

Split Topicalization, which has been investigated mainly in German, is a phenomenon where a part of a constituent is topicalized at the sentence-initial position. There has been little research on Split Topicalization in Japanese. This paper argues that Japanese also has Split Topicalization, and that the examples of Japanese Split Topicalization are divided into five types according to their properties. This paper investigates the three of the five types, namely NP no NP Type, Adjective NP Type and N-N (Compound) Type. I propose that -no, which is obligatorily present in these three types, is the pronominal -no as default. Under certain circumstances where pronominal -nos are not allowed, genitive -nos may be used

The effect of previously acquired languages on third language acquisition

Our study explores how previously acquired languages affect third language (L3) acquisition. The learning and control groups composed adpositional phrases and relative clauses, and then judged sentences with strict/sloppy readings presented in their L3. The results showed that native Japanese learners of Chinese were more influenced by the second language (English) for adpositional phrases and relative clauses than were native Chinese learners of Japanese, although both were influenced more by their native than second language (English) in strict/sloppy interpretation. This indicates that L3 acquisition can be influenced by all previously acquired languages and that the interrelationship between the positions of subgrammars in a sentence structure may influence learners’ assessment of the structural similarity of the selected subgrammars, making it an important trigger for non-facilitative transfer. Overall, structural similarities played a stronger role than did typological proximity. This study differs from traditional models of L3 acquisition that focus on wholesale or property transfer by beginning with an investigation of the conditions under which non-facilitative transfers occur. These two perspectives are integrated in terms of cognitive economy, pointing to a more promising direction for L3 acquisition research in the future

凍結融解作用によるコンクリートのひずみ挙動と凍害劣化に及ぼす鉄筋拘束の影響

application/pd