A classification of barycentrically associative polynomial functions

We describe the class of polynomial functions which are barycentrically associative over an infinite commutative integral domain

Word frequency, vowel length and vowel quality in speech production: An EMA study of the importance of experience

A frequently replicated finding is that higher frequency words tend to be shorter and contain more strongly reduced vowels. However, little is known about potential differences in the articulatory gestures for high vs. low frequency words. The present study made use of electromagnetic articulography to investigate the production of two German vowels, [i] and [a], embedded in high and low frequency words. We found that word frequency differently affected the production of [i] and [a] at the temporal as well as the gestural level. Higher frequency of use predicted greater acoustic durations for long vowels; reduced durations for short vowels; articulatory trajectories with greater tongue height for [i] and more pronounced downward articulatory trajectories for [a]. These results show that the phonological contrast between short and long vowels is learned better with experience, and challenge both the Smooth Signal Redundancy Hypothesis and current theories of German phonology

The Schwarzhorn Amphibolite (Eastern Ratikon, Austria): an Early Cambrian intrusion in the Lower Austroalpine basement

The Alpine nappe stack in the Penninic-Austroalpine boundary zone in the Ratikon (Austria) contains a 4x1 km tectonic sliver of meta-diorite, known as the Schwarzhorn Amphibolite. It was deformed and metamorphosed in the amphibolite facies and is unconformably overlain by unmetamorphic Lower Triassic sandstone, indicating pre-Triassic metamorphism. Cataclastic deformation and brecciation of the amphibolite is related to normal faulting and block tilting during Jurassic rifting. Zircon dating of the Schwarzhorn Amphibolite using LA-ICP-MS gave a U-Pb age of 529+9/-8 Ma, interpreted as the crystallization age of the protolith. Geochemical characteristics indicate formation of the magmatic protolith in a supra-subduction zone setting. The Cambrian protolith age identifies the Schwarzhorn Amphibolite as a pre-Variscan element within the Austroalpine basement. Similar calc-alkaline igneous rocks of Late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian age are found in the Upper Austroalpine Silvretta Nappe nearby and in several other Variscan basement units of the Alps, interpreted to have formed in a peri-Gondwanan active-margin or island-arc setting