Structural similarity in third language acquisition

Language learners typically experience cross-linguistic influence (CLI) from one or several previously acquired languages when acquiring an additional language. Learners of a second language (L2) are influenced by their native languages in all language domains ranging from phonology, lexicon, and morphosyntax, to semantics, discourse, and pragmatics. In third (and subsequent) language (L3/Ln) acquisition, however, there is more than one potential source of influence, as the learner already knows at least two languages, which both have the potential to influence subsequent language acquisition. This is the reason why existing models of L3/Ln language acquisition have mainly focused on issues related to CLI: (i) the source of CLI (L1, L2, both languages, typologically closest language, language of communication), (ii) the type of CLI (only facilitative or both facilitative and non-facilitative), and (iii) the extent of CLI (wholesale or property-by-property or hybrid). Different models attribute CLI to different factors, and there is still no consensus in multilingual acquisition research. According to existing models of L3 acquisition, the following factors may be the source of CLI: Order and/or manner of acquisition (The L2 Status Factor, e.g., Bardel & Falk 2007; L1 Transfer, e.g., Jin 2009), language use (The Language of Communication Model, e.g., Fallah et al., 2016; Fallah & Jabbari 2018) or some kind of structural similarity (The Typological Primacy Model, Rothman, 2015; The Linguistic Proximity Model, Westergaard et al., 2017; Westergaard 2021a, b; The Scalpel Model, Slabakova, 2017). The five articles in this issue zoom in on this last factor, structural similarity, specifically in phonology and morphosyntax, which are examined at early stages of L3 acquisition as well as in L3 development.publishedVersio

Sensitivity to microvariation in bilingual acquisition: Morphophonological gender cues in Russian heritage language

Previous research on the acquisition of grammatical gender has shown that this property is acquired early in transparent gender systems such as Russian. However, it is not clear to what extent children are sensitive to the assignment cues and to what extent they simply memorize correspondences between frequent lexical items. Furthermore, we do not know if bilingual children are different from monolingual children in this respect. This article reports on a study investigating bilingual children’s sensitivity to gender assignment cues in Russian. A group of 64 bilingual German–Russian children living in Germany participated in the study, as well as 107 monolingual controls in Russia. The elicitation experiments used both real and nonce words, as well as noun phrases with mismatched cues (where the morphophonological shape of the noun cued one gender and the agreement on the modifying adjective another). The results show that both bilinguals and monolinguals are highly sensitive to cues, both to the frequent transparent cues and to more fine-grained gender regularities in situations where there is ambiguity. There is also an age effect, showing that younger children pay more attention to the cue on the noun itself, thus displaying a preference for regular patterns, while older children are more sensitive to gender agreement on other targets

Russian heritage language development in narrative contexts: Evidence from pre- and primary-school children in Norway, Germany, and the UK

The present study aims at obtaining a comprehensive picture of language development in Russian heritage language (RHL) by bringing together evidence from previous investigations focusing on morphosyntax and global accent as well as from a newly conducted analysis of a less-studied domain–lexical development. Our investigation is based on a narrative sample of 143 pre- and primary-school bilinguals acquiring RHL in Norway, Germany, and the United Kingdom. We performed a multiple-way analysis of lexical production in RHL across the different national contexts, across both languages (heritage and societal), also comparing bilinguals and monolinguals. The results revealed a clear and steady increase with age in narrative length and lexical diversity for all bilingual groups in both of their languages. The variation in lexical productivity as well as the differences between the bilingual groups and between bilinguals and monolinguals were attributed to input factors with language exposure in the home and age of starting preschool as the major predictors. We conclude that, overall, the results from lexical, grammatical, and phonological acquisition in RHL support the view that having longer exclusive or uninterrupted exposure to a heritage language in early childhood is beneficial for its development across domains

Ecological and epidemiological features nosocomial infections in intensive care unit

Head of the department of Microbiology, epidemiology and infectious diseases, Medical institute, Penza State University, Penza, Russian FederationIntroduction: Nosocomial infections complicate carrying out medical and diagnostic process, sharply reduce efficiency and enlarge hospitalization duration, raise lethality, leading as a whole to augmentation of economic expenses and causing essential social damage. Purpose and Objectives: To analyze the ecological and epidemiological characteristics of pathogens causing nosocomial infections in the intensive care unit. Material and methods: We examined analysis of 122 isolates from 42 patients aged 10 to 71 years, treated in an intensive care unit multidisciplinary hospital. The research materials are tracheal swabs, wounds, pressure sores, washouts from drainage tubes. Results: In etiological structure of hospital infection in the ICU prevail gram-negative microorganisms (76,23%): Enterobacter cloacae (32,79%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (21,31%) and Acinetobacter lwoflfi (18,03%), predominantly in the form of monocultures. The microbial associations were found. Associations, circulating at the hospital, have low coefficient of associativity (kA = 25,66%), between microorganisms exist opposing relationship, therefore, they are unstable and capable to exist short time (Jaccard coefficient - 7,66%). To reduce the frequency of infectious complications must take into account the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance leading pathogens. Particular attention should be paid to resistance to Cefotaxime, Ceftazidime and Cefepime at the leading number of microorganisms. To Pseudomonas aeruginosa pay attention to resistance to Ciprofloxacin, as well as resistance to Imipenem, Meropenem and Carbenicillin. Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of nosocomial infections in ICU patients were: the senior age group of risk (50 years and over); leading purulent septic complications-purulent tracheobronchitis, bilateral pneumonia; higher frequency surgical interventions and the intensity of antibiotic therapy; prolonged hospitalization; the later dates of occurrence; conducted a large number of invasive procedures. Conclusion: Nosocomial infections are one of the most serious problems in epidemiology. The epidemiological situation demands attentive studying and introduction of new systems of infectious control for modification in the style and operating mode in departments of resuscitation and intensive care

Crosslinguistic influence in L3 acquisition across linguistic modules

In this study, we investigated crosslinguistic influence (CLI) at developmental stages of third language (L3) acquisition of English by Russian–Norwegian children (N = 31). We tested seven linguistic properties within three linguistic modules (morphology, syntax and syntax-semantics). We compared the L3 learners to Norwegian (N = 90) and Russian (N = 74) second language (L2) learners of English. We predicted simultaneous facilitative and non-facilitative CLI in the L3 group within all modules, as the previously acquired languages offered conflicting options. Our predictions were partly supported. On one property, the L3 learners were different from both L2 groups, which is in line with cumulative CLI from both previously acquired languages. On four conditions, the L3 learners performed like the more accurate L2 group, indicating facilitative influence. On two conditions, all groups performed alike, showing high rates of accuracy. Taken together, the results indicate that CLI obtains on a property-by-property basis, with none of the L1s being the sole or primary source of CLI. Finally, we found CLI in all linguistic domains, but the developmental slopes for the properties were not equal, which suggests that factors such as complexity and saliency needs to be taken into account when we compare CLI

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of cultivated Prunus persica cv. ‘Sovetskiy’

publishedVersio

Genetic variability in local and imported germplasm chicken populations as revealed by analyzing runs of homozygosity

Simple Summary To maintain the uniqueness of conserved chicken populations of local and imported breeds is of great importance. In this study, we genotyped small populations belonging to 14 breeds and 7 crossbreds using an Illumina Chicken 60K SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) BeadChip and looked for appropriate methods to characterize their purity/variability. It was not straightforward to identify crossbred individuals, and the best approach was based on calculating the length and number of homozygous regions, or runs of homozygosity (ROH), in the populations studied. The latter enabled most accurate identification of crossbreds and can be served as an effective tool in testing genome-wide purity of chicken breeds. Abstract Preserving breed uniqueness and purity is vitally important in developing conservation/breeding programs for a germplasm collection of rare and endangered chicken breeds. The present study was aimed at analyzing SNP genetic variability of 21 small local and imported purebred and F1 crossbred populations and identifying crossbreeding events via whole-genome evaluation of runs of homozygosity (ROH). The admixture models more efficiently reflected population structure, pinpointing crossbreeding events in the presence of ancestral populations but not in their absence. Multidimensional scaling and FST-based analyses did not discriminate properly between purebred populations and F1 crossbreds, especially when comparing related breeds. When applying the ROH-based approach, more and longer ROHs were revealed in purebred individuals/populations, suggesting this as an effective implement in genome-wide analysis of germplasm breed purity

Genome-wide association studies targeting the yield of extraembryonic fluid and production traits in Russian White chickens

Background: The Russian White is a gene pool breed, registered in 1953 after crossing White Leghorns with local populations and, for 50 years, selected for cold tolerance and high egg production (EL). The breed has great potential in meeting demands of local food producers, commercial farmers and biotechnology sector of specific pathogen-free (SPF) eggs, the former valuing the breed for its egg weight (EW), EL, age at first egg (AFE), body weight (BW), and the latter for its yield of extraembryonic fluid (YEF) in 12.5-day embryos, ratio of extraembryonic fluid to egg weight, and embryo mass. Moreover, its cold tolerance has been presumably associated with day-old chick down colour (DOCDC) white rather than yellow, the genetic basis of these traits being however poorly understood. Results: We undertook genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for eight performance traits using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping of 146 birds and an Illumina 60KBeadChip. Several suggestive associations (p <5.16*10(-5)) were found for YEF, AFE, BW and EW. Moreover, on chromosome 2, an association with the white DOCDC was found where there is an linkage disequilibrium block of SNPs including genes that are responsible not for colour, but for immune resistance. Conclusions: The obtained GWAS data can be used to explore the genetics of immunity and carry out selection for increasing YEF for SPF eggs production.Peer reviewe

Comparative analysis of molecular RFLP and SNP markers in assessing and understanding the genetic diversity of various chicken breeds

Monitoring the genetic diversity of small populations is important with respect to conserving rare and valuable chicken breeds, as well as discovery and innovation in germplasm research and application. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), the molecular markers that underlie multilocus DNA fingerprinting (MLDF), have historically been employed for this purpose, but over the past two decades, there has been an irreversible shift toward high-throughput single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In this study, we conducted a comparative analysis of archived MLDF results and new data from whole-genome SNP genotyping (SNPg) among 18 divergently selected breeds representing a large sample of the world gene pool. As a result, we obtained data that fit the general concept of the phylogenetic distribution of the studied breeds and compared them with RFLP and SNP markers. RFLPs were found to be useful markers for retrospective assessment of changes in the genetic architecture and variability underlying the phenotypic variation in chicken populations, especially when samples from previous generations used for MLDF are unavailable for SNPg. These results can facilitate further research necessary to assess the possibility of extrapolating previous MLDF results to study the long-term dynamics of genetic diversity in various small chicken germplasm populations over time. In general, the whole-genome characterization of populations and breeds by multiple SNP loci will further form the basis for the development and implementation of genomic selection with the aim of effective use of the genetic potential of the domestic gene pool in the poultry industry