What do English speakers know about gera-gera and yota-yota?: A cross-linguistic investigation of mimetic words for laughing and walking

The relation between word form and meaning is considered arbitrary; however, Japanese mimetic words, giseigo and gitaigo , are exceptions. For giseigo (words mimicking voices), there is a direct resemblance(‘iconicity’) between the sound of the word and the sound it refers to; for gitaigo (words that mimic manners/states) there is a symbolic relationship (‘sound symbolism’) between the sound and the manner/state to which the word refers. While native speakers intuitively recognize these relationships, it is questionable whether speakers of other languages are able to access the meaning of Japanese mimetic words from their sounds. In the current study, we asked native English speakers with no prior experience with the Japanese language to listen to Japanese mimetic words for laughing (giseigo) and for walking (gitaigo), and rate each word’s meaning on semantic differential scales (e.g.,“GRACEFUL-VULGAR”(laughing,“GRACEFUL-CLUMSY”(walking). We compared English and Japanese speakers’ ratings and found that English speakers construed many of the features of laughing in a similar manner as Japanese native speakers (e.g., words containing /a/ were rated as more amused, cheerful, nice and pleasant laughs). They differed only with regard to a few sound-meaning relationships of an evaluative nature (e.g., words for laughing containing /u/ were rated as more feminine and graceful, and those containing /e/ were rated as less graceful and unpleasant). In contrast, for the words referring to walking, English speakers’ ratings differed greatly from native Japanese speakers’. Native Japanese speakers rated words beginning with voiced consonants as referring to a big person walking with big strides, and words beginning with voiceless consonants as more even-paced, feminine and formal walking; English speakers were sensitive only to the relation between voiced consonants and a big person walking. Hence, some sound-meaning associations were language-specific. This study also confirmed the more conventional and lexicalized nature of the mimetic words of manner

Processing advantage for emotional words in bilingual speakers

Effects of emotion on word processing are well established in monolingual speakers. However, studies that have assessed whether affective features of words undergo the same processing in a native and non-native language have provided mixed results: studies that have found differences between L1 and L2 processing, attributed it to the fact that a second language (L2) learned late in life would not be processed affectively, because affective associations are established during childhood. Other studies suggest that adult learners show similar effects of emotional features in L1 and L2. Differences in affective processing of L2 words can be linked to age and context of learning, proficiency, language dominance, and degree of similarity between the L2 and the L1. Here, in a lexical decision task on tightly matched negative, positive and neutral words, highly proficient English speakers from typologically different L1 showed the same facilitation in processing emotionally valenced words as native English speakers, regardless of their L1, the age of English acquisition or the frequency and context of English use

A faster path between meaning and form? Iconicity facilitates sign recognition and production in British Sign Language

A standard view of language processing holds that lexical forms are arbitrary, and that non-arbitrary relationships between meaning and form such as onomatopoeias are unusual cases with little relevance to language processing in general. Here we capitalize on the greater availability of iconic lexical forms in a signed language (British Sign Language, BSL), to test how iconic relationships between meaning and form affect lexical processing. In three experiments, we found that iconicity in BSL facilitated picture-sign matching, phonological decision, and picture naming. In comprehension the effect of iconicity did not interact with other factors, but in production it was observed only for later-learned signs. These findings suggest that iconicity serves to activate conceptual features related to perception and action during lexical processing. We suggest that the same should be true for iconicity in spoken languages (e.g., onomatopoeias), and discuss the implications this has for general theories of lexical processing

The writing, reading and chromatin signatures of histone H3K23 on mammalian chromatin

The DNA of eukaryotes is wrapped around histone proteins to form the nucleosome, the fundamental repeating unit of chromatin. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) on histone proteins can act to regulate chromatin compaction by shifting towards a permissive/open state in which DNA is accessible to the environment (euchromatin) or towards a transcriptionally repressive/closed state that restricts access of the DNA to the environment (heterochromatin). Lysine methylation is a prominent histone PTM that has been implicated in the formation of both repressive and permissive chromatin states. Methylation of histone H3K23, a novel yet poorly understood class of histone methylation, has proven critical for preserving genomic integrity in T. thermophila, maintaining RNAi pathways in C. elegans, and transposon silencing in A. thaliana, but very little information is known about the function of H3K23 methylation on mammalian chromatin. Here, we performed in vitro histone methyltransferase assays to screen canonical H3K9 writers, and identified EHMT1/GLP and EHMT2/G9a as writers of H3K23 methylation. To follow up, we used a combination of in vitro and in vivo tools to perturb both enzymes at the protein and DNA level, and we identified differential activity between the two enzymes on H3K23. While both enzymes can mediate mono- and di-methylation of histone H3K23, only EHMT1/GLP can catalyze tri-methylation of H3K23. Interestingly, our studies also identified H3K18 as a target for mono-, di- and tri-methylation, de novo, by both EHMT1/GLP and EHMT2/G9a in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, we performed nChIP-Seq on H3K23me3 and found it to be a promoter mark that is often heavily bivalent with H3K4me3 at promoters. Our data also shows that monovalent H3K23me3 occupies transcription start sites (TSSs) while bivalent H3K23me3 (with H3K4me3) occupies gene promoters. Additionally, we have evidence that H3K23me3 dampens gene expression relative to H3K4me3, suggesting that H3K23me3 might serve to silence gene expression on mammalian chromatin. Lastly, we found that perturbations in H3K4me3 effect H3K23me3, but not vice versa. This suggests unique one directional cross-talk between H3K4me3 and H3K23me3 and future studies should aim to elucidate the functional interplay of these bivalent chromatin modifications

Geochemical Controls On Naturally-Occurring Radionuclides In Private Well Water Of The North Carolina Piedmont

We present detailed results of natural contaminant occurrence for about 150 wells on the Piedmont of North Carolina, mostly drilled into granite, gneiss, metasedimentary rocks, and metavolcanic rocks. Our results suggest that the overall occurrence of radionuclides in water is highest where rocks containing elevated levels of uranium and thorium, such as granite, are present. However, localized spots exhibit high radionuclides in water in other rock types as well

Comparative genomics of Drosophila and human core promoters

BACKGROUND: The core promoter region plays a critical role in the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. We have determined the non-random distribution of DNA sequences relative to the transcriptional start site in Drosophila melanogaster promoters to identify sequences that may be biologically significant. We compare these results with those obtained for human promoters. RESULTS: We determined the distribution of all 65,536 octamer (8-mers) DNA sequences in 10,914 Drosophila promoters and two sets of human promoters aligned relative to the transcriptional start site. In Drosophila, 298 8-mers have highly significant (p ≤ 1 × 10(-16)) non-random distributions peaking within 100 base-pairs of the transcriptional start site. These sequences were grouped into 15 DNA motifs. Ten motifs, termed directional motifs, occur only on the positive strand while the remaining five motifs, termed non-directional motifs, occur on both strands. The only directional motifs to localize in human promoters are TATA, INR, and DPE. The directional motifs were further subdivided into those precisely positioned relative to the transcriptional start site and those that are positioned more loosely relative to the transcriptional start site. Similar numbers of non-directional motifs were identified in both species and most are different. The genes associated with all 15 DNA motifs, when they occur in the peak, are enriched in specific Gene Ontology categories and show a distinct mRNA expression pattern, suggesting that there is a core promoter code in Drosophila. CONCLUSION: Drosophila and human promoters use different DNA sequences to regulate gene expression, supporting the idea that evolution occurs by the modulation of gene regulation