The copular subschema [become/devenir + past participle] in English and French : productivity and degrees of passivity

This article presents a contrastive analysis of the English copular subschema [become + past participle] and the equivalent copular subschema [devenir + past participle] in French, based on web data. It is shown that both patterns are almost equally productive at the subject complement level. Furthermore, a more in-depth analysis demonstrates that, in the segment of participles with a high adjectival potential, devenir accumulates more participle tokens than become. Conversely, the reverse holds true for participles with a high verbal potential, in which case become is characterized by more participle tokens than devenir. This high amount of combinations between become and eventive participles also suggests a higher degree of passivity for become. However, in the segment of participles with an intermediate verbal potential, devenir is slightly more type frequent than become, which hints at an emerging productivity in this area for devenir as well

La micro-constructionalization in tandem : the copularization of tourner and virer

This article explores “the pathways of incipient grammaticalization” of a pair of change-of-state semi-copulas tourner/virer ‘become’ (< ‘turn’), within a Diachronic construction grammar - framework. Crucially, two mechanisms of SC-constructionalization play an important role in the process of copularization : (1) the interaction between oblique micro-constructions of an already bleached usage of the verb and their corresponding semi-copular micro-construction and (2) the lexical attraction exerted by a synonymic verb that attracts new verbs into the semi-copular construction (cf. analogization)

Virer et tourner attributifs : de l’analyse quantitative des cooccurrences à la sémantique

La présente contribution porte sur tourner et virer, deux verbes attributifs (p. ex. elle a viré/ tourné folle) qui ne sont pas encore reconnus pleinement par la tradition grammaticale normative ni dans les travaux des linguistes. Elle vise à établir le profil distributionnel / collocationnel de ces deux verbes qui semblent opérer dans le même domaine sémantico-fonctionnel, afin de mettre à nu les subtiles divergences au niveau de leur profil sémantique. Celles-ci sont rattachées à la sémantique de base du verbe lexical, laissant entrevoir dans ces emplois grammaticalisés des effets dus à la « persistance lexicale » (lexical persistence). Afin d’objectiver au maximum les profils distributionnels des deux verbes (et partant leur profil sémantique), les outils statistiques offerts par la méthode collostructionnelle (Stefanowitsch et Gries 2003; Gries et Stefanowitsch 2004) sont mis à profit. En outre, la combinaison de l’approche collocationnelle et de l’analyse morphosyntaxique amène à distinguer l’emploi proprement attributif des deux verbes d’un emploi directionnel abstrait homonymique (l’entreprise a viré solaire), qui est encore proche de la construction prépositionnelle (virer à / tourner à).This article deals with tourner and virer, two attributive verbs (e.g., elle a vire/tourne folle 'she went crazy') that have not yet been fully recognized by prescriptive grammar or in linguistic work. We aim to establish the distributional/collocational profile of these two verbs, which seem to operate in the same semantic-functional domain, in order to reveal the subtle differences in their semantic properties. These differences have to do with the basic semantics of the lexical verb, and allow one to discern, in grammaticalized uses, effects due to lexical persistence. In order to make the distributional properties of the two verbs as objective as possible, (and thus their semantic properties), the statistical tools provided by the collostructional method (Stefanowitsch et Gries 2003; Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004) are used to advantage. In addition, the combination of the collocational approach and morphosyntactic analysis leads us to distinguish between the properly attributive use of the two verbs, and a homonymic abstract directional use (l'entreprise a vire solaire 'the business went solar'), which remains close to the prepositional construction (virer a / tourner a)

L’attribut du sujet de (dés)intensification : un indice révélateur du profil aspectuel contraint des semi-copules ?

La présente étude mettra en évidence que les semi-copules tomber, tourner et virer, issues de verbes de mouvement, ne se combinent guère avec les attributs du sujet comparatifs et scalaires de (dés)intensification (p. ex. ??il tombe plus amoureux), contrairement à la copule prototypique exprimant le changement d’état, à savoir devenir. La compatibilité avec l’attribut de (dés)intensification constitue donc un critère de copularité au sein de ce sous-ensemble de verbes attributifs. Cette contrainte caractérisant les semi-copules examinées est à mettre en rapport avec leur profil aspectuel, qui ne couvre pas l’intensification d’un état déjà atteint. Nous pouvons expliquer ce profil aspectuel plus réduit, en comparaison avec devenir, par la persistance lexicale du sens de mouvement qui est à l’origine de l’emploi attributif du verbe. Concrètement, la trajectoire du mouvement se termine par une «position finale» au-delà de laquelle on ne peut pas continuer à poursuivre le mouvement. Dans l’emploi attributif du verbe de mouvement, l’AS correspond à l’atteinte de cette position finale cible, d’où une contrainte similaire qui s’impose à ce niveau plus abstrait: à partir du moment où l’état cible est atteint, il devient quasiment impossible de diminuer ou d’augmenter l’intensité de cet état déjà réalisé qui caractérise le sujet

Incomplete Urethral Duplication Associated with a Dermoid Cyst within a Vascular Hamartoma in a Female Dog

A seven-year-old spayed female Labrador retriever presented for necropsy following an acute history of thrombocytopenia, anemia, leukocytosis and abdominal effusion. A 2 × 3 × 10 cm, cylindrical to tubular, mottled red-to-tan mass extended from the caudal pelvic cavity caudally and ventrally under the dermis along the caudal aspect of the left pelvic limb adjacent to the semimembranosus and semitendinosus musculature. Histologic examination of the mass revealed a singular central lumen lined by urothelium that multifocally transitioned into non-keratinizing, stratified squamous epithelium associated with few hair follicles and sweat glands. The lumen was surrounded by a dense collagenous stroma containing numerous, variably sized blood vessels. The combination of lesions was consistent with a diagnosis of incomplete urethral duplication associated with a dermoid cyst and vascular hamartoma. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of an incomplete urethral duplication associated with a dermoid cyst within a vascular hamartoma

Collection Procedure for Submitting PCR Samples to Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for Avian Influenza Testing in Turkeys, Chickens, and Game Birds

This fact sheets gives information on collecting procedures for PCR samples to be sent to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, for avian influenza testing of turkeys, chickens, and game birds. It includes needed supplies, how to collect samples, and how to ship the samples

Intestinal angioneurotic edema

Background: This 38-year-old female patient presented at the emergency department with subacute low abdominal pain for 3 days. There was little abdominal tenderness, but no signs of peritonitis. Her blood results showed little inflammation with mild leukocytosis 13.0 (3.5-11.0 x 10*3/µL) and mild CRP elevation 44 (< 5 mg/L). The patient had a CT scan of the abdomen on the same day. The day after, a colonoscopy was performed which was perfectly normal. Because the discrepancy between the findings on CT scan, biochemistry and colonoscopy, the patient underwent an explorative laparoscopy, which showed a normal colon. Two days after the initial CT scan, a control CT scan was performed

Effect of oral progesterone and caffeine at the end of gestation on farrowing duration and piglet growth and survival

The profitability of pig production is constrained by high incidences of peri-parturient and pre-weaning piglet mortality. Supplementing sows with either progesterone or caffeine during the last week of gestation can reduce stillbirths and improve piglet performance. However, the consequences of combining these two substances has not been investigated. The aim of the current study was to determine the effect of oral supplementation of sows with progesterone (regumate) and caffeine at the end of gestation on the timing and progression of farrowing, as well as piglet survival and growth to weaning. From days 111 to 113 of gestation, 20 Large White pregnant sows (parity 3.0±0.45) received 5 ml of Regumate Porcine (0.4 w/v oral solution; MSD Animal Health) daily on top of their morning ration. Sows were stratified according to parity and predicted farrowing date, and allocated at random to receive a diet supplemented with either 0 g caffeine/kg diet (CONT) or 2.4 g of caffeine/kg diet (CAFF) from day 113 of gestation until parturition (n=10 sows/treatment). Treatment did not affect total litter size; however, CONT sows gave birth to more live and fewer dead piglets compared with CAFF sows; 14.5±0.73 v. 11.7±1.03 and 0.7±0.20 v. 3.2±0.77; P<0.05). Mean, minimum and maximum piglet birthweight were unaffected by treatment. Compared with the control, caffeine increased the proportion of piglets with a birthweight <1 kg (0.16±0.05 v. 0.05±0.02; P=0.072) and decreased the proportion of live born piglets surviving to day 5 postpartum (0.77±0.06 v. 0.90±0.02; P<0.05) and to weaning (0.74±0.06 v. 0.90±0.02; P<0.05). Overall, the current data provided the first evidence that caffeine supplementation of sows receiving progesterone to prevent premature farrowing impaired piglet survival during, and shortly after parturition. This negative outcome may be linked to extended farrowing durations and an increase in the proportion of very light piglets at birth. These data provide compelling, albeit preliminary, evidence that caffeine and progesterone should not be used together at the end of gestation

Polyarteritis nodosa of the spleen

Background: A 64-year-old male presented with pain in his right lower leg and progressive swelling of the right ankle, without history of previous trauma. Further anamnesis revealed fever, anorexia and weight loss over the past few weeks. Laboratory results showed increased inflammatory parameters (CRP 203 mg/l). A lower extremity ultrasonographic examination ruled out deep venous thrombosis. A contrast-enhanced CT scan of the abdomen revealed multiple splenic infarctions