Word length and the location of primary word stress in Dutch, German, and English

This study addresses the extent to which the location of primary stress in Dutch, German, and English monomorphemic words is affected by the syllables preceding the three final syllables. We present analyses of the monomorphemic words in the CELEX lexical database, which showed that penultimate primary stress is less frequent in Dutch and English trisyllabic than quadrisyllabic words. In addition, we discuss paper-and-pencil experiments in which native speakers assigned primary stress to pseudowords. These experiments provided evidence that in all three languages penultimate stress is more likely in quadrisyllabic than in trisyllabic words. We explain this length effect with the preferences in these languages for word-initial stress and for alternating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. The experimental data also showed important intra- and interspeaker variation, and they thus form a challenging test case for theories of language variation

New machine learning methods demonstrate the existence of a human stylome

Earlier research has shown that established authors can be distinguished by measuring specific properties of their writings, their stylome as it were. Here, we examine writings of less experienced authors. We succeed in distinguishing between these authors with a very high probability, which implies that a stylome exists even in the general population. However, the number of traits needed for so successful a distinction is an order of magnitude larger than assumed so far. Furthermore, traits referring to syntactic patterns prove less distinctive than traits referring to vocabulary, but much more distinctive than expected on the basis of current generativist theories of language learning

Measuring psychological and physical distress in cancer patients: structure and application of the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist.

Use of the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSCL) to measure psychological and physical distress as experienced by cancer patients, is discussed in this paper. The stability of the structure of the RSCL was assessed in principal component analyses in three studies: one concerning cancer patients during either chemotherapy or follow-up (n = 86), one done in patients undergoing chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer (n = 56), and the third dealing with cancer patients under treatment, disease-free 'patients', and 'normal' controls (n = 611). The psychological dimension proved to be stable across populations. A scale based on this factor was highly reliable (Cronbach's alpha 0.88-0.94). The physical distress is reflected by several dimensions in a homogeneous population (pain, fatigue, gastrointestinal complaints) and undimensionally in a heterogeneous population. Reliability of the physical distress scales is good (0.71-0.88). The current components of the RSCL and the use of individual and disease specific symptoms are discussed

Rules and exceptions in Dutch word stress

Wetensch. publicatieFaculteit der Lettere

Mitoxantrone in metastatic apudomas: a phase II study of the EORTC Gastro-Intestinal Cancer Cooperative Group.

We performed a phase II study with mitoxantrone in patients with carcinoid tumours, islet cell tumours and medullary carcinomas of the thyroid. Thirty-five eligible patients received mitoxantrone 12 mg m-2 i.v. every 3 weeks. Among 18 previously untreated patients, three responded (17%, 95% CI = 4-41%); no responses were achieved in 17 previously treated patients. Of the 21 patients who had carcinoid tumours, 11 were previously untreated and two achieved a response (18%, 95% CI = 2-52%). Overall response rate was 9% (95% CI = 2-23%). At a median follow-up of 43 months, median overall survival was 16 months. The median survival of 21 patients with a normal alkaline phosphatase was 29 months and 9 months for 14 patients with elevated serum levels (P = 0.005). A similar observation was noticed for gamma-glutamyltransferase (P = 0.007). We concluded that mitoxantrone is not active in APUD tumours. Elevated alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyltransferase are associated with a poor prognosis