The Evolution of an Oral Tradition: Race-Calling in Canterbury, New Zealand

The roots of the contemporary study of oral tradition lie in the German Romantic movement, for example in the work of great collectors of oral folklore such as the Grimms. But collecting folklore is one thing; understanding exactly what an oral tradition is and how oral traditions are transmitted is another. The most significant contribution to such an understanding has been made by Milman Parry and Albert Lord. Their seminal theory of oral-formulaic performance has given rise to a great deal of scholarly activity

On the linguistic properties of formulaic speech

In the study of oral-formulaic performance the formula has always been understood as playing a pivotal role (Lord 1960, Foley 1995). But although it is clearly a linguistic unit, the technical study of formulae by linguists has been slight. This paper intends to remedy this lack by proposing some linguistic theories as to the nature of the formula. They will take the form of formal and testable proposals. By formal I mean mathematically modelled./

Individual differences in the acquisition of restricted collocations

The acquisition of verb-noun collocations (e.g. make a mistake) causes great difficulties to (adult) L2 learners for several reasons (Boers, Demecheleer, Coxhead and Webb, 2014). Thus, investigating the use of collocation in English language learning is important as such study may inform us on the use of restricted collocations in English language teaching and learning including in the Malaysian context. Apart from the difficulties in the acquisition of collocations, Dornyei and Skehan (2003), and Sawyer and Ranta (2001), have found that individual difference factors have significant impacts on language learning in general. Apart from that, Schmitt, Dornyei, Adolphs & Durow (2004) argue that these individual differences might also influence the acquisition of formulaic language. The results of this study provide support for the above finding. Individual differences are indeed a factor. A new testing approach is proposed; the semantic plausibility metric, which is used as a tool for this study, and is shown to be useful as a measure of vocabulary acquisition as well as for looking at learners’ test taking strategies (Halim, 2014). This study also suggests that malformed collocational choices should be viewed positively

E-lectures within an integrated multimedia course design

Course design should be student-centred in that courses are designed for students. But the consequences of that imperative differ from course to course and from student to student. This paper describes two courses that take student-centredness seriously. It also contextualises the way in which these courses are presented. Since students have different cognitive and affective styles and different social and personal backgrounds and approaches, a variety of presentational approaches are outlined which are integrated in each course. The courses are presented traditionally in lectures, practical workshops, and tutorials, but also in a textbook, downloadable PowerPoint slides, and, innovatively, as QuickTime movies in which the PowerPoint is integrated with a voiceover from the lecture. Online quizzes and surveys are also provided so that students can receive feedback on their progress and on communal views. None of this is possible without accommodating presentation vehicles. These are also described

E-lectures within an integrated multimedia course design

Course design should be student-centred in that courses are designed for students. But the consequences of that imperative differ from course to course and from student to student. This paper describes two courses that take student-centredness seriously. It also contextualises the way in which these courses are presented. Since students have different cognitive and affective styles and different social and personal backgrounds and approaches, a variety of presentational approaches are outlined which are integrated in each course. The courses are presented traditionally in lectures, practical workshops, and tutorials, but also in a textbook, downloadable PowerPoint slides, and, innovatively, as QuickTime movies in which the PowerPoint is integrated with a voiceover from the lecture. Online quizzes and surveys are also provided so that students can receive feedback on their progress and on communal views. None of this is possible without accommodating presentation vehicles. These are also described

Validating module network learning algorithms using simulated data

In recent years, several authors have used probabilistic graphical models to learn expression modules and their regulatory programs from gene expression data. Here, we demonstrate the use of the synthetic data generator SynTReN for the purpose of testing and comparing module network learning algorithms. We introduce a software package for learning module networks, called LeMoNe, which incorporates a novel strategy for learning regulatory programs. Novelties include the use of a bottom-up Bayesian hierarchical clustering to construct the regulatory programs, and the use of a conditional entropy measure to assign regulators to the regulation program nodes. Using SynTReN data, we test the performance of LeMoNe in a completely controlled situation and assess the effect of the methodological changes we made with respect to an existing software package, namely Genomica. Additionally, we assess the effect of various parameters, such as the size of the data set and the amount of noise, on the inference performance. Overall, application of Genomica and LeMoNe to simulated data sets gave comparable results. However, LeMoNe offers some advantages, one of them being that the learning process is considerably faster for larger data sets. Additionally, we show that the location of the regulators in the LeMoNe regulation programs and their conditional entropy may be used to prioritize regulators for functional validation, and that the combination of the bottom-up clustering strategy with the conditional entropy-based assignment of regulators improves the handling of missing or hidden regulators.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures + 2 pages, 2 figures supplementary informatio

Flexible network reconstruction from relational databases with Cytoscape and CytoSQL

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Molecular interaction networks can be efficiently studied using network visualization software such as Cytoscape. The relevant nodes, edges and their attributes can be imported in Cytoscape in various file formats, or directly from external databases through specialized third party plugins. However, molecular data are often stored in relational databases with their own specific structure, for which dedicated plugins do not exist. Therefore, a more generic solution is presented.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A new Cytoscape plugin 'CytoSQL' is developed to connect Cytoscape to any relational database. It allows to launch SQL ('Structured Query Language') queries from within Cytoscape, with the option to inject node or edge features of an existing network as SQL arguments, and to convert the retrieved data to Cytoscape network components. Supported by a set of case studies we demonstrate the flexibility and the power of the CytoSQL plugin in converting specific data subsets into meaningful network representations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CytoSQL offers a unified approach to let Cytoscape interact with relational databases. Thanks to the power of the SQL syntax, this tool can rapidly generate and enrich networks according to very complex criteria. The plugin is available at <url>http://www.ptools.ua.ac.be/CytoSQL</url>.</p

Multiword expressions: Insights from a multi-lingual perspective

Multiword expressions (MWEs) are a challenge for both the natural language applications and the linguistic theory because they often defy the application of the machinery developed for free combinations where the default is that the meaning of an utterance can be predicted from its structure. There is a rich body of primarily descriptive work on MWEs for many European languages but comparative work is little. The volume brings together MWE experts to explore the benefits of a multilingual perspective on MWEs. The ten contributions in this volume look at MWEs in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Maori, Modern Greek, Romanian, Serbian, and Spanish. They discuss prominent issues in MWE research such as classification of MWEs, their formal grammatical modeling, and the description of individual MWE types from the point of view of different theoretical frameworks, such as Dependency Grammar, Generative Grammar, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Lexicon Grammar

Multiword expressions: Insights from a multi-lingual perspective

Multiword expressions (MWEs) are a challenge for both the natural language applications and the linguistic theory because they often defy the application of the machinery developed for free combinations where the default is that the meaning of an utterance can be predicted from its structure. There is a rich body of primarily descriptive work on MWEs for many European languages but comparative work is little. The volume brings together MWE experts to explore the benefits of a multilingual perspective on MWEs. The ten contributions in this volume look at MWEs in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Maori, Modern Greek, Romanian, Serbian, and Spanish. They discuss prominent issues in MWE research such as classification of MWEs, their formal grammatical modeling, and the description of individual MWE types from the point of view of different theoretical frameworks, such as Dependency Grammar, Generative Grammar, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Lexicon Grammar

Multiword expressions: Insights from a multi-lingual perspective

Multiword expressions (MWEs) are a challenge for both the natural language applications and the linguistic theory because they often defy the application of the machinery developed for free combinations where the default is that the meaning of an utterance can be predicted from its structure. There is a rich body of primarily descriptive work on MWEs for many European languages but comparative work is little. The volume brings together MWE experts to explore the benefits of a multilingual perspective on MWEs. The ten contributions in this volume look at MWEs in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Maori, Modern Greek, Romanian, Serbian, and Spanish. They discuss prominent issues in MWE research such as classification of MWEs, their formal grammatical modeling, and the description of individual MWE types from the point of view of different theoretical frameworks, such as Dependency Grammar, Generative Grammar, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical Functional Grammar, Lexicon Grammar