The Comparative Method in Synchronic Linguistics: The Case of Word Order

In this article I discuss the comparative method in formal linguistics when applied to word order phenomena in Italian, English and German. I argue that the comparison has to rest on sound theoretical basis in order to reach interesting conclusions. These languages might prima facie all look Subject- Verb-Object – SVO – languages, with some puzzling issues arising in German. At a closer look however, I will show that English and Italian pattern together as their basic word order – i.e., SVO – goes, as opposed to German, an SOV language. Conversely, English and German pattern together with respect to a property typical, even if not exclusively so, of Germanic languages, i.e. Verb Second

An Evaluative Head in Romance: The Palermitan Verbal Affix -vu

In this work, we analyse the behaviour of a verbal suffix in Palermitan – the Romance language spoken in Palermo, Sicily – expressing an evaluative meaning with sentential scope. The suffix is (V)vu, where V is the thematic vowel of the verb. The Palermitan dialect we study here is the one spoken in the urban area, approximately by 250,000 speakers. This suffix is interesting for several reasons. In the first place, an evaluative morpheme with clausal scope is quite unusual in Romance and to our knowledge it has not been reported outside Sicily. In the second place, as we will illustrate later, its use is spreading among the youngest generation, showing that the dialect is productive and the form under scrutiny is adopted by larger segments of the population, even if it does not exist in Italian

Culture medium geometry. The dominant factor affecting in vitro RF exposure dosimetry

Biological experiments that expose living cells or tissues to RF energy must have an aqueous medium to provide essential water, ions, nutrients, and growth factors. However, as we show here, the medium inherently functions as a receiving antenna that conveys RF energy to the biological entity in a manner entirely determined by exposure vessel geometry, orientation to the incident RF flux, frequency, and dielectric properties of the medium. We show for two common experimental arrangements that basic antenna theory can predict electromagnetic energy patterns that agree well with those otherwise obtained by computationally intensive methods that require specialized resources

Quantification of zolpidem in canine plasma

Problem statement: Zolpidem is a non-benzodiazepine hypnotic agent currently used in human medicine. In contrast to benzodiazepines, zolpidem preferentially binds with the GABAA complex πvariant 1 receptors while poorly interacting with the other πvariant receptor complexes. Recent studies have suggested that ZP may be used to initiate sedation and diminish severe anxiety responses in dogs. The aim of the present study is to develop and validate a new HPLC-FL based method to quantify zolpidem in canine plasma. Approach: Several parameters both in the extraction and in the detection method were evaluated. The applicability of the method was determined by administering zolpidem to one dog. Results: The final mobile phase was acetonitrile: KH2PO4 (15 mM; pH 6.0) 40:60 v/v, with a flow rate of 1 mL min-1 and excitation and emission wave lengths of 254 and 400 nm, respectively. The best extraction solvent was CH2Cl2:Et2O (3:7 v/v), this gave recoveries ranging from 83-95%. The limit of quantification was 1 ng mL-1. The chromatographic runs were specific with no interfering peaks at the retention times of the analyte. The other validation parameters were in agreement with the EMEA. Conclusion/Recommendations: This method (extraction, separation and applied techniques) is simple and effective. This technique may have applications for pharmacokinetic or toxicological studies. © 2012 Science Publications

Abnormal findings in haemograms of Dachshund puppies: Presumptive (Immunodeficiency) familial disease

In a litter of seven Dachshund puppies, one subject was stillborn and six presented with diffuse skin infections characterized by dermatitis, abscessation, pustules, crusts and ulcers. Two of the puppies were referred for further evaluation. One male puppy was referred at four months of age and a sister litter mate was referred two months later. A complete blood count, biochemical and histological examination were performed on these puppies to identify the pathologic process. Clinical, biochemical, haematological and histological evaluation of subjects. This report characterizes quantitative and qualitative haematological abnormalities in two puppies that resulted in a diagnosis of dysmyelopoiesis. The existence of a familial immunodeficiency syndrome was speculated. This is the first report of such a syndrome in Dachshund puppie

Word order and information structure in Modern Eastern Armenian

In this article we analyze some characteristics of word order in Modern Eastern Armenian – henceforth MEA – which are especially interesting from a comparative point of view; in particular, we consider the position of the auxiliary. The auxiliary is in most sentences enclitic on the participle, but in certain contexts it can cliticize on other items as well, located at a distance from it. In these cases, the auxiliary may end up in a position not adjacent to the participle at all, on the left of its normal cliticization site. The analysis of the contexts allowing this peculiar order sheds light on the syntactic properties of MEA. We show that when the auxiliary is cliticized on something other than the participle, it obligatorily signals that the phrase in question is either a contrastive focus or an interrogative element. We argue that these structures are instances of a very well-known phenomenon concerning word order, namely Verb Second – henceforth V2. V2 is a property of several languages around the world, such as for instance Germanic languages and some Indo-Aryan languages, such as Kashmiri. We compare MEA with German and English on one side, and Kashmiri on the other, and show that MEA is an intermediate case, realizing properties of both types of languages. In particular, we argue that in MEA, as in Kashmiri, and to a lesser extent in English, V2 is sensitive to the information structure of the sentence, namely to the distinction between given and new information. This analysis can be relevant both from a descriptive and typological point of view, investigating properties of MEA not fully understood before, and from a theoretical one, providing insights on the very nature of V2 phenomena. This paper is organized as follows: in section 2 we present word order issues in very general terms, comparing evidence from English, German and Italian. In section 3 we consider the position of the auxiliary in MEA; in section 4 we compare MEA with Kashmiri. In the end we draw some conclusions