Greek in Contact project

instructions_curve_fitting_process.docx Greek_in_contact_project_information.doc

Phonetic imitation of t-glottalling by Czech speakers of English

The paper focuses on the ability of Czech speakers to explicitly imitate native English realizations of the phoneme /t/ as [ʔ] (t-glottalling). In Czech, glottalization occurs as a boundary signal of word-initial vocalic onsets. We hypothesize that this allows for a better imitative performance in the intervocalic context compared to non-prevocalic contexts. However, an alternative hypothesis based on language-external facts (frequency in the learners’ English input) predicts the opposite pattern. The experiment involves 30 participants in a shadowing task. In addition to words with /t/, words with /k/ are examined to establish if speakers can generalize to a phonologically similar category to which they have not been exposed. Speakers adapted their pronunciation after exposure to t-glottalling to some degree. Our hypothesis was confirmed for the shadowing task, while the alternative language-external hypothesis was confirmed for the post-test task, suggesting a different pattern of performance in terms of imitation versus learning

Echoes of past contact: Venetian influence on Cretan Greek intonation

Prosodic aspects of cross-linguistic contact are under-researched, especially past contact that has subsequently ceased. In this paper, we investigate declarative and polar question tunes of contemporary Cretan Greek, a regional variety of Greek whose speakers were in contact with Venetian speakers during the four and half centuries of Venetian rule on the island, from 1204 to 1669. The F0 contours of the Cretan tunes and alignment of peaks and troughs of interest with the nuclear vowel are compared to the corresponding tunes in Venetian dialect and Venetian Italian and to those in Athenian (Standard) Greek, which are used as control. The data (1610 declarative utterances and 698 polar questions) were drawn from natural speech corpora based on pragmatic criteria: broad focus for declaratives, broad focus, and information-seeking interpretation for polar questions. The pitch contour shapes of the tunes are modeled using polynomial basis functions, and the F0 alignment points are determined analytically. The results show the robustness of contact effects almost three and a half centuries after regular contact ceased and indicate that the shapes of the F0 contours of Cretan and Venetian declarative and polar question tunes are similar. In addition, Cretan alignment patterns are similar to Venetian and significantly different from Athenian. Insights are gained from research into how long prosodic characteristics may persist in a recipient language—decades or even centuries after the cessation of contact

Intonation of Greek in contact with Turkish: a diachronic study

Asia Minor Greek (AMG) speakers cohabited with Turkish speakers for 800 years until the 1923 Lausanne Convention, which forced a two-way mass population exchange between Turkey and Greece and severed their everyday contact. We compare the intonation of the continuation rise tune in the speech of first-generation AMG speakers born in Turkey with three subsequent generations born in Greece. We examine how long contact effects in intonation persist after contact has ceased, through comparison of the f0 patterns in four generations of AMG speakers with those of their Athenian Greek- and Turkish-speaking contemporaries. The speech of the first-generation of AMG speakers exhibits two patterns in the f0 curve shape and time alignment of the continuation rises, one Athenian-like and one Turkish-like. Over subsequent generations use of the latter diminishes, while the Athenian pattern becomes more frequent, indicating intergenerational change

Current and future role of three-dimensional modelling technology in rectal cancer surgery: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional (3D) modelling technology translates the patient-specific anatomical information derived from two-dimensional radiological images into virtual or physical 3D models, which more closely resemble the complex environment encountered during surgery. It has been successfully applied to surgical planning and navigation, as well as surgical training and patient education in several surgical specialties, but its uptake lags behind in colorectal surgery. Rectal cancer surgery poses specific challenges due to the complex anatomy of the pelvis, which is difficult to comprehend and visualise. AIM: To review the current and emerging applications of the 3D models, both virtual and physical, in rectal cancer surgery. METHODS: Medline/PubMed, Embase and Scopus databases were searched using the keywords "rectal surgery", "colorectal surgery", "three-dimensional", "3D", "modelling", "3D printing", "surgical planning", "surgical navigation", "surgical education", "patient education" to identify the eligible full-text studies published in English between 2001 and 2020. Reference list from each article was manually reviewed to identify additional relevant papers. The conference abstracts, animal and cadaveric studies and studies describing 3D pelvimetry or radiotherapy planning were excluded. Data were extracted from the retrieved manuscripts and summarised in a descriptive way. The manuscript was prepared and revised in accordance with PRISMA 2009 checklist. RESULTS: Sixteen studies, including 9 feasibility studies, were included in the systematic review. The studies were classified into four categories: feasibility of the use of 3D modelling technology in rectal cancer surgery, preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation, surgical education and surgical device design. Thirteen studies used virtual models, one 3D printed model and 2 both types of models. The construction of virtual and physical models depicting the normal pelvic anatomy and rectal cancer, was shown to be feasible. Within the clinical context, 3D models were used to identify vascular anomalies, for surgical planning and navigation in lateral pelvic wall lymph node dissection and in management of recurrent rectal cancer. Both physical and virtual 3D models were found to be valuable in surgical education, with a preference for 3D printed models. The main limitations of the current technology identified in the studies were related to the restrictions of the segmentation process and the lack of 3D printing materials that could mimic the soft and deformable tissues. CONCLUSION: 3D modelling technology has potential to be utilised in multiple aspects of rectal cancer surgery, however, it is still at the experimental stage of application in this setting