377 research outputs found
Situating Language in the Real-World: The Role of Multimodal Iconicity and Indexicality
In the last decade, a growing body of work has convincingly demonstrated that languages embed a certain degree of non-arbitrariness (mostly in the form of iconicity, namely the presence of imagistic links between linguistic form and meaning). Most of this previous work has been limited to assessing the degree (and role) of non-arbitrariness in the speech (for spoken languages) or manual components of signs (for sign languages). When approached in this way, non-arbitrariness is acknowledged but still considered to have little presence and purpose, showing a diachronic movement towards more arbitrary forms. However, this perspective is limited as it does not take into account the situated nature of language use in face-to-face interactions, where language comprises categorical components of speech and signs, but also multimodal cues such as prosody, gestures, eye gaze etc. We review work concerning the role of context-dependent iconic and indexical cues in language acquisition and processing to demonstrate the pervasiveness of non-arbitrary multimodal cues in language use and we discuss their function. We then move to argue that the online omnipresence of multimodal non-arbitrary cues supports children and adults in dynamically developing situational models
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Regularisation, Systematicity and Naturalness in a Silent Gesture Learning Task
Typological analysis of the world’s language shows that, of the 6 possible basic word orders, SOV and SVO orders are predominant, a preference supported by experimental studies in which participants improvise gestures to describe events. Silent gesture studies have also provided evidence for natural ordering patterns, where SOV and SVO orders are used selectively depending on the semantics of the event, a finding recently supported by data from natural sign languages. We present an artificial language learning task using gesture to ask to what extent preferences for natural ordering patterns, in addition to biases for regular languages, are at play during learning in the manual modality
Diorganotin(IV) complexes with 2-furancarboxylic acid hydrazone derivative of benzoylacetone : synthesis, X-ray structure, antibacterial activity, DNA cleavage and molecular docking
Two new diorganotin(IV) complexes, Me2SnL and Ph2SnL, have been synthesized from the reaction of
Me2SnCl2 and Ph2SnCl2 with the hydrazone H2L [H2L \ubc (Furan-2-yl) (5-hydroxy-3-methyl-5-phenyl-4,5-
dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-methanone] derived from furan-2-carbohydrazide and benzoylacetone. The
new compounds have been characterized by elemental and spectroscopic analyses. The crystal structures
of the monohydrate form of the ligand and of the Me2SnL derivative have been also determined by X-ray
crystallography. Experimental evidences confirm the existence of the hydrazone ligand exclusively in
cyclic form in both solution and solid state. On coordination to tin the hydrazone undergoes a ring
opening reaction and a doubly deprotonation to act as a tridentate ligand via imine nitrogen and enolic
oxygens. The tin atom in the complexes is five coordinate with geometry between square-pyramidal and
trigonal-bipyramidal. The in vitro antibacterial activity of ligand and its complexes has been evaluated
against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli
and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. The interaction between compounds with bacterial DNA was also
studied by molecular docking. Our findings indicate that diphenyltin(IV) complex, by binding to DNA via
minor groove to TATA sequence in genes upstream, has good activities along with the standard antibacterial
drugs. Our agarose-gel electrophoresis experiments show that the ligand exert DNA cleavage,
while Me2SnL and Ph2SnL did not
Onomatopoeia, gestures, actions and words: How do caregivers use multimodal cues to communicate with their children
Most research on how children learn the mapping between
words and world has assumed that language is arbitrary, and
has investigated language learning in contexts in which objects
referred to are present in the environment. Here, we report
analyses of a semi-naturalistic corpus of caregivers talking to
their 2-3 year-old. We focus on caregivers’ use of non-arbitrary
cues across different expressive channels: both iconic
(onomatopoeia and representational gestures) and indexical
(points and actions with objects). We ask if these cues are used
differently when talking about objects known or unknown to
the child, and when the referred objects are present or absent.
We hypothesize that caregivers would use these cues more
often with objects novel to the child. Moreover, they would use
the iconic cues especially when objects are absent because
iconic cues bring to the mind’s eye properties of referents. We
find that cue distribution differs: all cues except points are more
common for unknown objects indicating their potential role in
learning; onomatopoeia and representational gestures are more
common for displaced contexts whereas indexical cues are
more common when objects are present. Thus, caregivers
provide multimodal non-arbitrary cues to support children’s
vocabulary learning and iconicity – specifically – can support
linking mental representations for objects and labels
Onomatopoeia, gestures, actions and words: how do caregivers use multimodal cues in their communication to children?
Most research on how children learn the mapping between words and world has assumed that language is arbitrary, and has investigated language learning in contexts in which objects referred to are present in the environment. Here, we report analyses of a semi-naturalistic corpus of caregivers talking to their 2-3 year-old. We focus on caregivers’ use of non-arbitrary cues across different expressive channels: both iconic (onomatopoeia and representational gestures) and indexical (points and actions with objects). We ask if these cues are used differently when talking about objects known or unknown to the child, and when the referred objects are present or absent. We hypothesize that caregivers would use these cues more often with objects novel to the child. Moreover, they would use the iconic cues especially when objects are absent because iconic cues bring to the mind’s eye properties of referents. We find that cue distribution differs: all cues except points are more common for unknown objects indicating their potential role in learning; onomatopoeia and representational gestures are more common for displaced contexts whereas indexical cues are more common when objects are present. Thus, caregivers provide multimodal non-arbitrary cues to support children’s vocabulary learning and iconicity – specifically – can support linking mental representations for objects and labels
Antireflection silicon structures with hydrophobic property fabricated by three-beam laser interference
This paper demonstrates antireflective structures on silicon wafer surfaces with hydrophobic property fabricated by three-beam laser interference. In this work, a three-beam laser interference system was set up to generate periodic micro-nano hole structures with hexagonal distributions. Compared with the existing technologies, the array of hexagonally-distributed hole structures fabricated by three-beam laser interference reveals a design guideline to achieve considerably low solar-weighted reflectance (SWR) in the wavelength range of 300-780 nm. The resulting periodic hexagonally-distributed hole structures have shown extremely low SWR (1.86%) and relatively large contact angle (140°) providing with a self-cleaning capability on the solar cell surface
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