Pitch range modulations in an edge-marking language

Prosodic phrasing is a topic that has received considerable attention over the last decades. However, most research has dealt with well studied (mostly European) languages, and quantitative production studies of under-resourced languages are under-represented. To better inform the field of intonational phonology, more data from a more diverse set of languages is needed. This study investigates pitch range modulations in Drehu, an Oceanic language from New Caledonia. Recent experimental work suggests Drehu is edge-marking and the right-edge is prosodically salient. In this study, the phonological and phonetic realisation of prosodic boundary marking is investigated. To determine whether pitch range modulations contribute to phrasing, the intonational marking of noun phrases of different sizes is analysed. An experiment was conducted to examine the extent to which fundamental frequency (F0) modulations contribute to the signalling of right-boundaries and if these are associated with the marking of different prosodic levels. The results show evidence for pitch range adjustments between a phrase initial low tone and a phrase final high tone depending on the position in the noun phrase. These modulations show a blocking of downstep and suggest pitch range adjustments could be indicative of an intermediate phrase (ip) level

Portuguese and German Intonation Contours in a Two-Way Immersion School

This study investigates the intonation contours of neutral yes–no interrogatives produced by simultaneous bilingual children in their two native languages. Previous studies have shown prosodic transfer from one language to another, either from the dominant into the non-dominant language or vice versa, but little is known about what specifically triggers this behaviour. This study explores how bilingual children make use of phonetic–phonological resources while interacting with peers. Three child speakers of German (ambient language) and Portuguese (heritage language) were recorded as they performed a modified version of a map task. Natural and spontaneous data were collected and the speech was analysed. The results indicate that to some degree, bilingual children produce all intonational contours specific to their language variety. When speaking German, they produced the syntax and contour consistent with the structure of yes–no interrogatives in German. When speaking Portuguese, the children displayed variation in their choice of tune, depending on the variety of Portuguese and the language proficiency of their interlocutor. This behaviour is interpreted as prosodic convergence resulting from the high variability of prosodic structures in the different varieties of Portuguese present in the classroom

Women’s Network behind Frances Perkins’s Appointment

This article explores and analyses a particular group of middle-class social reformers who, sharing a mutual kinship directed towards social welfare during the Progressive era, achieved political prominence during the New Deal period, developing powerful networks as a means of transcending and defying the limited domestic sphere, and acquiring a larger voice in the public arena, a male-dominated realm for years. Looking back to the first women’s groups from the antebellum period to demonstrate the origin of the first political organization and the outset of a new concept about female friendship, this article maintains the hypothesis that Frances Perkins’s unprecedented appointment as the first female Secretary of Labor in 1933 was due to a two-fold reason: the response Florence Kelley aroused in her and the women’s web tactics, having Mary Dewson at the center, to deconstruct the politics of the time empowering her in an androcentric world.El presente artículo explora un grupo minoritario de mujeres reformistas de clase media, las cuales, unidas por una afinidad mutua basada en el bienestar social durante la época Progresista, lograron alcanzar prominencia política durante el período denominado New Deal, desarrollando redes poderosas de mujeres como medio para poder adquirir mayor protagonismo en la esfera pública, para poder así trascender y desafiar la esfera limitada de domesticidad. Remontándose a los primeros grupos de mujeres que se formaron en el período anterior a la Guerra Civil americana para así demostrar cómo, a través de los primeros intentos de organización política, floreció también un nuevo concepto de amistad femenina, este artículo mantiene la hipótesis de que el nombramiento sin precedentes de Frances Perkins como la primera mujer Secretaria de Trabajo en 1933 fue debido a dos razones: la respuesta que la activista Florence Kelley despertó en Perkins y las diferentes tácticas que las mujeres, dentro de la red, emplearon, orquestadas principalmente por Mary Dewson, para deconstruir la política de la época, empoderándola en un mundo androcéntrico

A corpus study of word (root) prominence in Vera'a

This study presents an acoustic investigation of word level prosody in the Oceanic language Vera'a. The analysis is based on a corpus of speech data collected during fieldwork from multiple speakers. A previous description of Vera'a suggests the language has lexical stress but its acoustic realisation was not further investigated. This study provides the first instrumental examination of five acoustic measures and their relation to prominence marking. The evidence indicates that vowels in the last syllable of the root are more prominent. However, these observations are restricted to some acoustic parameters

Phrase-level and edge marking in Drehu

This study investigates prosodic correlates of phrasing in Drehu, an Oceanic language from New Caledonia. The analysis is concerned with the demarcation of prosodic levels in the language, namely the Accentual Phrase and the Intonation Phrase. First impressionistic descriptions of Drehu state there is fixed word initial stress, however recent experimental evidence does not support this claim. Instead, it has been suggested that Drehu could be an edge-marking language which relies on right boundary marking. To determine whether the patterns recorded in the literature are borne out, the phonological and phonetic realisation of post-lexical word level prosody is investigated. An experiment was conducted to examine the extent to which fundamental frequency (F0) and duration contribute to boundary marking in Drehu. The results show that F0 cues mark the right boundary of two prosodic levels, the AP and IP, and that the strength of the boundary is related to its level in the prosodic hierarchy. Preboundary lengthening also cues IP boundaries but not AP boundaries

Stop voicing in Drehu: Effects of place of articulation, speaker sex, and language attitudes

This study investigates a potential ongoing sound change in the language Drehu [>dZehu], spoken by a small community in the South Pacific. We focus on the voiceless and voiced stop series in the language. Data from teenage female and male speakers was analysed in relation to voice onset time (VOT), percent voicing, and self reported language proficiency and attitudes. We find that the velar stops show substantial aspiration and de-voicing, led by female speakers. The voiceless velar stop shows the greatest VOT duration whereas voiced velars display the greatest devoicing. Interestingly, female and male speakers’ increased use of VOT and devoicing are differently correlated to their language attitudes. This shows that in this small and rural community, the same features may have different socio-linguistic associations

Stationary Reflection on Pₖ (λ)

Treballs Finals del Màster de Lògica Pura i Aplicada, Facultat de Filosofia, Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2021-2022. Tutor: Joan Bagaria PigrauThroughout history, mathematicians have had to deal with infinity, always considering it in the “potential” sense, rather than an actual object. It was not until the late nineteenth century that actual infinity was the subject matter. In 1874 George Cantor published “On a Property of the Collection of All Real Algebraic Numbers”. From the results he proved in that paper, he concluded that there were larger infinites than others, giving birth in this way to Set Theory, the study of infinite sets and the set-theoretic foundations of mathematics. The study of infinite sets, and in particular their combinatorial properties, is not only of interest in itself, but it has numerous applications in areas such as analysis, algebra and topology (see e.g. [1; 2; 3]). Even possible applications to mathematical biology have being studied [4]. Combinatorics is always concerned about sizes, and when dealing with infinite sets there are different ways to capture the idea of how large a set is. For example, the notion of “filter” on a set A corresponds to “big” subsets of A, while positive subsets in the sense of a given filter corresponds to the notion of “not small”. Stationary subsets of a cardinal k are those that are not small in the sense of the closed and unbounded filter of k

Exploring the influence of flipped learning strategy on tenth graders writing process at two public schools in Bogota : a route towards differentiation

140 p. Francia Catalina Torres Velandia (Tesis).pdfFrancia Catalina Torres Velandia (R.A.I.).xlsxEsta investigación acción examinó el impacto de la enseñanza invertida y diferenciada en el proceso de escritura en inglés. El estudio se realizó con alumnos de nivel de inglés A1 en grado décimo de dos colegios públicos de Bogotá, quienes demostraron dificultades con el vocabulario y la organización de ideas al producir textos escritos. Muy pocos estudios se han realizado en el contexto colombiano sobre el efecto de las estrategias de aprendizaje invertido en la escritura, en diferenciación y en el proceso de escritura, pero se han aplicado principalmente a nivel universitario. Por esta razón, no fue posible encontrar ningún estudio anterior en el que todos estos factores estuvieran integrados en el desarrollo de la escritura a nivel escolar. Los datos fueron recogidos mediante una prueba de escritura de entrada y una de salida, cuestionarios (encuestas de análisis de necesidades y encuesta final), artefactos de los alumnos (dos productos escritos resultantes de talleres de proceso de escritura) y registros escritos de las docentes investigadoras los cuales fueron analizados a través del método de la teoría fundamentada. Después de analizar los datos, se evidenció que la enseñanza diferenciada e invertida ayudó a mejorar la escritura de los estudiantes ya que hubo una mejora notable en la calidad, complejidad y claridad de sus textos escritos. La implementación de esta estrategia contribuyó en el desempeño de profesores y alumnos, el interés de los estudiantes por el aprendizaje del inglés y el fomento de la autonomía en los alumnosThis action research examined the impact of differentiated flipped instruction on English process writing. The study was conducted with A1 English level tenth graders from two public schools in Bogota, who demonstrated difficulties with vocabulary and ideas organization when producing written texts. Very few studies have been carried out in the Colombian context on the effect of flipped learning strategies on writing, and on differentiation and the writing process, but they have been applied mainly at university level. For this reason, it was not possible to find any previous study in which all these factors were integrated towards writing development at the school level. Data were collected by means of an entry and exit writing test, questionnaires (needs analysis surveys and final survey), learners’ artifacts (two writing products resulting from the writing process workshops) and teachers-researchers memoirs, which were analyzed through the grounded theory method. After analyzing the data, it was evidenced that flipperentiated instruction helped enhance students’ writing as learners had a remarkable improvement in the quality, complexity and clarity of their written texts. The implementation of this strategy contributed to teacher and learners’ performance, students’ interest towards English learning, and fostering learners’ autonomous behaviorsMagister en didáctica del inglés para el aprendizaje autodirigidoMaestríaBásica secundariaMedia (10 y 11)Humanidades, lengua castellana e idiomas extranjerosEstudiantesMixtoDidácticaEvaluaciónRecursos educativos físicos o virtualesTecnologías de la Información y la ComunicaciónAulaEste trabajo se puede extender a la mayoria de las áreas del conocimiento, y se puede trabajar en todos los niveles de educación ya que ofrece grandes posibilidades de acceder de forma autónoma al conocimiento

Segments as carriers of prosodic information in word onsets

Research has shown that listeners exploit prosodic cues to carry out word segmentation, and that the choice of cues and how these are weighted are language specific. French accentual phrases are demarcated to the left edge with a phrase initial rising (LHi) accent. Listeners are sensitive to the start of the rise (from L to Hi) which is used for word segmentation and to disambiguate between segmentally identical pairs. However, it is unclear whether prosodic cues are only used when disambiguation is required or if they play a more general role. Additionally, it remains an open question as to how sensitive listeners are to prosodic information of the initial rise encoded at the segmental level. This study examines whether microprosodic variations influence word recognition in less well studied segmental environments such as consonant clusters. A manipulation of duration and fundamental frequency cues at the word onset was performed. Results show that lexical activation was significantly delayed for words with onsets containing voiced consonant clusters of the type /bl/. Lexical access was also delayed for onsets of the type /pl/, although the effect was weaker. These results provide preliminary evidence that French listeners are sensitive to fine-grained prosodic information on segments

The Impact of the Post-Liberalisation Growth of LCCs on the Tourism Trends in Spain

This paper describes the basic characteristics of low cost companies (LCCs) and their expansion in Spain, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world according to the World Tourism Organization. Using a demand perspective, the evolution of LCCs and the main implications for the tourism marked between 2000 and 2005 are analysed. The evident tendency of Low-Cost companies towards a marked growth in the number of passengers is contrasted with the evident stagnation of traditional or full service companies. The results of the analysis also show that highly significant trends related to the development of LCCs include the growing use of the Internet as an information search engine and tool for booking and paying for tourist services, the substitution of traditional holiday packages (travel and transport) for direct booking systems and a reduction in the length of stays at a destination.