Tomas Riad: The Phonology of Swedish.

The Oxford University Press series âPhonology of the Worldâs Languagesâ has become an indispensable source for detailed, high-quality analyses of sound systems of individual languages. Tomas Riadâs volume on Swedish is a most welcome addition to the series. In this review, I will first sketch the bookâs contents, chapter by chapter, and then offer a few more general remarks with some overall evaluation

Obstruenters fonetikk og fonologi i amerikanorsk og norskamerikansk engelsk

Artikkelen er en første akustisk undersøkelse av språklyder i norsk og i noen grad engelsk produsert av norskspråklige i det øvre Midtvesten. Vi beskriver arbeid vedrørende noen akustiske forskjeller i obstruenter slik de uttales av nedarvingstalere (ââ¬Âheritage speakersââ¬Â). Deres L1 og L2, norsk og amerikansk-engelsk, er begge språk som har aspirasjon, men språkene skiller seg fonologisk på andre måter. Vi fokuserer spesielt på laryngale trekk, det vil si hvordan distinksjonen mellom konsonanter som er stemt (ââ¬Åvoicedââ¬Â) og ustemt (ââ¬Åvoicelessââ¬Â), eller lenis og fortis, blir realisert, samt det nært beslektede problemet med kontraster i konsonantlengde i norsk. Hypotesen vår er i utgangspunktet enkel, men testing viser at den egentlig er mer kompleks: Hypotesen er at både norsk og engelsk som blir snakket av norskamerikanske tospråklige vil vise påvirkning fra det andre språket, men på ulikt vis

Zur historischen Phonetik und Phonologie des Umlauts im Deutschen

Seit mehr als 60 Jahren dominiert in der historisch-phonologischen Umlaut-Landschaft EIN Aufsatz, eine vierseitige Skizze des althochdeutschen Umlauts von W. Freeman Twaddell. Keller (1978: 160) nennt diese Theorie 'one of the finest achievements of American linguists'. Ähnliche Lobsprüche findet man mehrmals in der Literatur und der Artikel bleibt bis heute noch DER Eckpfeiler der Umlaut-Debatte (s. Krygier 1997, Schulte 1998). In den letzten paar Jahren haben wir mit einigen Kollegen – Anthony Buccini, Garry Davis, David Fertig, Dave Holsinger, Robert Howell, Regina Smith – einen neuen Ansatz entwickelt, die wir "ingenerate Umlaut" nennen. "Ingenerate" heißt hier ungefähr 'vorprogrammiert, inhärent, angeboren' und deutet darauf hin, daß wir die Wurzeln vom Umlaut in der Phonetik – noch genauer: in der Koartikulation – suchen. Auch meinen wir, die allmähliche Entfaltung des Prozesses in den "Ausnahmen" zum Umlaut sehen zu können, mit anderen Worten genau in den umlautlosen Formen, die in der Twaddellschen Tradition als willkürliche Ergebnisse der Analogie gesehen werden müssen

How Deep is Your Syntax? Heritage Language Filler-Gap Dependencies

This paper explores transfer of parasitic gap (p-gap) constructions from English into German by heritage speakers in Wisconsin. Kathol (2001) argues that German lacks ‘true’ p-gap constructions compared to English. Engdahl (1983:73/2001) introduces an accessibility hierarchy of domains in which p-gaps are accepted: (1) Engdahl’s accessibility hierarchy for occurrence of MGCs (partial) most accessible least accessible manner adv. \u3e temp. adv. \u3e purpose clauses \u3e that, than \u3e when, because \u3e relative clause [untensed domains] [tensed domains] The licensing of p-gaps may thus be variable in several regards, including across complement vs. relative vs. adjunct clauses, and more basically between tensed and untensed domains. We probe whether the licensing strategies for p-gaps of a dominant L2 (English) can affect an incompletely-acquired L1 (German) that does not license such gaps and, if so, whether such strategies follow Engdahl’s hierarchy. The presence of p-gaps would support the work of Grosjean (2008), whose view predicts that English syntax may surface (i.e., ‘seep through’) in spoken German if English has become the dominant language for an individual. Our results support the theory of ‘grammatical seeping’, and our speakers in general behave in accordance with the predictions of Engdahl’s hierarchy. They produce p-gaps in English-to-German translations relatively frequently in manner clauses, often in temporal clauses and rarely in relative clauses. In temporal clauses we find considerable syntactic restructuring. In the least accessible context, relative clauses, speakers restructure more fundamentally, in order to eliminate the gapping environment altogether

Genetic contributors to risk of schizophrenia in the presence of a 22q11.2 deletion

Schizophrenia occurs in about one in four individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). The aim of this International Brain and Behavior 22q11.2DS Consortium (IBBC) study was to identify genetic factors that contribute to schizophrenia, in addition to the ~20-fold increased risk conveyed by the 22q11.2 deletion. Using whole-genome sequencing data from 519 unrelated individuals with 22q11.2DS, we conducted genome-wide comparisons of common and rare variants between those with schizophrenia and those with no psychotic disorder at age ≥25 years. Available microarray data enabled direct comparison of polygenic risk for schizophrenia between 22q11.2DS and independent population samples with no 22q11.2 deletion, with and without schizophrenia (total n = 35,182). Polygenic risk for schizophrenia within 22q11.2DS was significantly greater for those with schizophrenia (padj = 6.73 × 10−6). Novel reciprocal case–control comparisons between the 22q11.2DS and population-based cohorts showed that polygenic risk score was significantly greater in individuals with psychotic illness, regardless of the presence of the 22q11.2 deletion. Within the 22q11.2DS cohort, results of gene-set analyses showed some support for rare variants affecting synaptic genes. No common or rare variants within the 22q11.2 deletion region were significantly associated with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that in addition to the deletion conferring a greatly increased risk to schizophrenia, the risk is higher when the 22q11.2 deletion and common polygenic risk factors that contribute to schizophrenia in the general population are both present

American Norwegian discourse marking: Convergence, detachability, pragmatic change

This paper provides a first picture of discourse marking in American Norwegian, drawing on word order data and native speaker judgments. Like many others since Salmons (1990), we see convergence between the systems of bilinguals, increasing similarities at the expense of differences. Matras (1988) and Fuller (2001) argue that more ‘pragmatically detachable’ material is more easily borrowed, like well / vel vs. you know / vet du. Our results partially align with this expectation, but with a wrinkle: less pragmatically detachable material appears to be borrowed where the two languages have similar pre-existing markers (namely vet du / you know). We find more convergence, regardless of detachability, at points of similarity than of difference (e.g. English anyhow, which has no close Norwegian parallel.) This suggests that convergence may play the bigger role here, so that less detachable forms may be more borrowable in converging systems