Sex and Syntax: Subjacency Revisited

Despite the sustained effort of about forty years to analyze Subjacency, to date, there has been no principled account, with the most recent attempts faring not much better than the initial proposals. It is also significant that the seeming arbitrariness of Subjacency has been used to argue that syntax could not have evolved gradually: One does not see why evolution would target a grammar with Subjacency, when its contribution to grammar is not transparent, let alone its contribution to survival. As put in Lightfoot (1991), “Subjacency has many virtues, but … it could not have increased the chances of having fruitful sex”. This article turns the argument around, and proposes that subjecting syntax to a gradualist evolutionary approach can in fact shed light on the existence of Subjacency effects. It thereby offers a reconstruction of how communicative benefits may have been involved in shaping the formal design of language

Syntax: Its Evolution and Its Representation in the Brain

Poeppel (2008) observes that there is no clear correspondence between units of analysis in linguistics (especially the abstract and arbitrary-looking principles of syntax) and biological units of neuroscience, concluding that current neurolinguistic research presents a case of cross-sterilization, rather than cross-fertilization. Here the proposal is developed that decomposing syntax into intermediate evolutionary layers, into its evolutionary primitives, not only makes syntax compatible with gradualist accounts, but it also renders it more tangible and less abstract. In this approach, at least some complexities (and oddities) of syntax, such as Subjacency effects and the small clause core, can be seen as side-effects/by-products of evolutionary tinkering. It is conceivable that such evolutionary considerations are a necessary missing ingredient in any attempt to establish links between the postulates of syntax and the units of neuroscience. This article considers concrete linguistic data and suggestions as to where and how to look for neurobiological correlates of syntax

Compounds and commands in the evolution of human language

My conclusion is that the grammar behind VN compounds is the best candidate for a living fossil of proto-syntax. Little about these compounds makes sense except in the light of evolution. Their rudimentary flat combinatorial strategy, defying the most fundamental principles of modern morpho-syntax (e.g. headedness) is accompanied by the semantics and use that point to ritual insult and sexual selection, specializing for derogatory reference. Adding to the exotic nature of VN compounds, their verb surfaces in a(n) (proto-) imperative form. If VN compounds started to be coined in the ancient oneword stage of human language, a stage characterized by the use of imperative verb forms, it is to be expected that they would have been tinkered from what was already available, the imperative forms. These crude compounds, typically exhibiting the most basic of vocabulary, can nonetheless express abstract (human) traits not only with astounding succinctness, but also with humor and playfulness. Using this kind of compounding strategy at the dawn of language would have not only augmented the expressive power of human language enormously, but it would have also provided a foundation for future vocabulary and structure building

Parameter Identification And Fault Detection For Reliable Control Of Permanent Magnet Motors

The objective of this dissertation is to develop new fault detection, identification, estimation and control algorithms that will be used to detect winding stator fault, identify the motor parameters and optimally control machine during faulty condition. Quality or proposed algorithms for Fault detection, parameter identification and control under faulty condition will validated through analytical study (Cramer-Rao bound) and simulation. Simulation will be performed for three most applied control schemes: Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID), Direct Torque Control (DTC) and Field Oriented Control (FOC) for Permanent Magnet Machines. New detection schemes forfault detection, isolation and machine parameter identification are presented and analyzed. Different control schemes as PID, DTC, FOC for Control of PM machines have different control loops and therefore it is probable that fault detection and isolation will have different sensitivity. It is very probable that one of these control schemes (PID, DTC or FOC) are more convenient for fault detection and isolation which this dissertation will analyze through computer simulation and, if laboratory condition exist, also running a physical models

Interview Of Dr. Ken Warner, Dean Of The School Of Public Health

Articlehttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96995/1/UMURJ-Issue07_2010-AProgovac.pd

Protosyntax: A thetic (unaccusative) stage?

We have questioned the assumption that SV (agent-action) structures are basic and primary and have shown that thetic VS unaccusative structures, involving an event+theme unit, are better candidates for simple, primary proto-syntactic “fossils.” We have shown that thetic unaccusative structures are simpler syntactically, prosodically, semantically and informationally, and have suggested that this is due to the fact that syntactic evolution progressed from a stage with thetic statements (with no arguments, such as It is cold, or with only one argument, typically unaccusative, such as Spanish Ha llegado Juan (has arrived Juan) or Serbian Pao sneg (fallen.PP snow)), to more complex categorical assertions, involving agents and a syntactic and intonational separation between the subject and the predicate. Obviously, this raises many questions. How did thetic statements intergrade into categorical statements, and what were the evolutionary factors that facilitated this transition? Did both of the informational dichotomies (Topic-Comment and Focus-Background) develop from thetic statements or are F-B structures simpler than T-C? We leave these questions for future research

The relationship between psychological attitudes, health behaviors, and health care utilization in older women

Understanding the role of psychological attitudes in health behaviors and health care utilization has important implications for improving health and reducing health care costs. This is particularly important among the elderly, who require more and costlier health services. This dissertation explores the relationship between optimism (positive future expectation) and cynical hostility (mistrust of others) on smoking cessation, physical activity, and preventive service use in post-menopausal women. Chapter one assesses the relationship between optimism and cynical hostility on smoking cessation. Women with higher cynical hostility were less likely to quit smoking over time. Smoking cessation programs may consider incorporating attitudes measures to better target smokers who are less likely to quit on their own. Chapter two focuses on understanding the role of optimism and cynical hostility in use of screening mammograms and lipid screenings and in particular how these attitudes mediate or moderate the established relationships with race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Optimism predicts screening mammograms for some, but not all, racial/ethnic groups even when adjusting for various demographic, social, and health factors. Incorporating psychological factors such as optimism scores into health risk modeling may prove useful especially among specific racial and ethnic minority groups. Chapter three investigates the link between optimism and cynical hostility on strenuous physical activity. Women with higher optimism report higher levels of strenuous physical activity across the lifespan. Modeling reveals that much of this relationship is explained by other variables such as demographics and health status. Higher cynical hostility is associated with increased post-menopausal strenuous physical activity only in fully corrected models. This attitude may therefore play a particularly important role in activity levels depending on the presence or absence of barriers to physical activity. The public health relevance of this dissertation rests in identifying individuals at higher risk of developing illness burden due to health behaviors such as smoking and physical activity and potential under-use of preventive health services. Understanding how attitudes influence these behaviors may pave the way for physicians and health systems to employ novel approaches to improve health-related quality of life and ultimately reduce costs by reducing disease burden