Norwegian retroflexion : licensing by cue or prosody?

A common topic in recent literature on phonology is the question of whether phonological processes and segments are licensed by prosodic position or by perceptual cues. The former is the traditional view, as represented by e.g. Lombardi (1995) and Beckman (1998), and holds that segments occur in specific prosodic positions such as the coda. In a licensing by cue approach, as represented by Steriade (1995, 1999), on the other hand, segments are assumed to occur in those positions only where their perceptual cues are prominent, independent of the prosodic position. In positions where the cues are not salient, neutralization occurs

Retroflexion and retraction revised

Arguing against Bhat’s (1974) claim that retroflexion cannot be correlated with retraction, the present article illustrates that retroflexes are always retracted, though retraction is not claimed to be a sufficient criterion for retroflexion. The cooccurrence of retraction with retroflexion is shown to make two further implications; first, that non-velarized retroflexes do not exist, and second, that secondary palatalization of retroflexes is phonetically impossible. The process of palatalization is shown to trigger a change in the primary place of articulation to non-retroflex. Phonologically, retraction has to be represented by the feature specification [+back] for all retroflex segments

Variation in the perception of an L2 contrast : a combined phonetic and phonological account

The present study argues that variation across listeners in the perception of a non-native contrast is due to two factors: the listener-specic weighting of auditory dimensions and the listener-specic construction of new segmental representations. The interaction of both factors is shown to take place in the perception grammar, which can be modelled within an OT framework. These points are illustrated with the acquisition of the Dutch three-member labiodental contrast [V v f] by German learners of Dutch, focussing on four types of learners from the perception study by Hamann and Sennema (2005a)

Dynamical Screening Effects in Correlated Electron Materials -- A Progress Report on Combined Many-Body Perturbation and Dynamical Mean Field Theory: "GW+DMFT"

We give a summary of recent progress in the field of electronic structure calculations for materials with strong electronic Coulomb correlations. The discussion focuses on developments beyond the by now well established combination of density functional and dynamical mean field theory dubbed "LDA+DMFT". It is organized around the description of dynamical screening effects in the solid. Indeed, screening in the solid gives rise to dynamical local Coulomb interactions U(w) (Aryasetiawan et al 2004 Phys. Rev. B 70 195104), and this frequency-dependence leads to effects that cannot be neglected in a truly first principles description. We review the recently introduced extension of LDA+DMFT to dynamical local Coulomb interactions "LDA+U(w)+DMFT" (Casula et al. Phys. Rev. B 85 035115 (2012), Werner et al. Nature Phys. 8 331 (2012)). A reliable description of dynamical screening effects is also a central ingredient of the "GW+DMFT" scheme (Biermann et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 086402 (2003)), a combination of many-body perturbation theory in Hedin's GW approximation and dynamical mean field theory. Recently, the first GW+DMFT calculations including dynamical screening effects for real materials have been achieved, with applications to SrVO3 (Tomczak et al. Europhys. Lett. 100 67001 (2012); Phys. Rev. B 90 165138 (2014)) and adatom systems on surfaces (Hansmann et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 166401 (2013)). We review these and comment on further perspectives in the field. This review is an attempt to put elements of the original works (Refs. 1-11) into the broad perspective of the development of truly first principles techniques for correlated electron materials.Comment: 40 pages, 12 figures. First published as "Highlight of the Month" (June 2013), of the Psi-k Network on "Ab initio calculation of complex processes in materials", see http://www.psi-k.org/newsletters/News_117/Highlight_117.pd

On the necessity of wonder: how to explain an artwork to a committee

This essay emerged from an exhibition in 2006 in which notions of the Wunderkammer became central in the curation of the show. It brought together work by Anna Boggon, Silke Dettmers and Helen Maurer, three artists employing the language of what one could call the 'contemporary surreal' ('The Wrong End of the Telescope', Three Colts Gallery, London). The history and concept of the Wunderkammer is critical for the argument pursued in this article, which calls for the re-instatement of 'wonder' and the idea of 'the marvellous'. These are vital ingredients for visual arts practice but are unacknowledged in today's art academies. It takes on board the current debate of 'visual arts practice as research' and extends the argument of authors such as Sullivan (Art Practice as Research, 2005) and Barone, by demonstrating conventional academic definitions of 'knowledge' and artistic practice to be irreconcilable. The importance of not knowing. Wunderkammern and Curiosity Cabinets. Some thoughts on the real, the surreal and the contemporary surreal. The aspirations of words and the difficulties with 'proof'. Heterotopias. Questions rather than answers

Postalveolar fricatives in Slavic languages as retroflexes

The present study poses the question on what phonetic and phonological grounds postalveolar fricatives in Polish can be analyzed as retroflex and whether postalveolar fricatives in other Slavic languages are retroflex as well. Velarization and incompatibility with front vowels are introduced as articulatory criteria for retroflexion, based on crosslinguistic data. According to these criteria, Polish and Russian have retroflex fricatives, whereas Bulgarian and Czech do not. In a phonological representation of these Slavic retroflexes, the necessity of perceptual features is shown. Lastly, it is illustrated that palatalization of retroflex fricatives both in Slavic languages and more generally causes a phonetic and phonological change to a non-retroflex sound

The diachronic emergence of retroflex segments in three languages

The present study shows that though retroflex segments can be considered articulatorily marked, there are perceptual reasons why languages introduce this class into their phoneme inventory. This observation is illustrated with the diachronic developments of retroflexes in Norwegian (North- Germanic), Nyawaygi (Australian) and Minto-Nenana (Athapaskan). The developments in these three languages are modelled in a perceptually oriented phonological theory, since traditional articulatorily-based features cannot deal with such processes

Victims’ experiences of short-and long-term safety and wellbeing: findings from an examination of an integrated response to domestic violence

Introduction This paper examines victims’ short and long-term experiences of safety and wellbeing after being supported through a six week police-led integrated response to domestic violence in Caboolture, Southeast Queensland. The overarching objective of this integrated response was to create safer home environments for women and children affected by domestic violence. The response was run as a pilot project from January 2010 until December 2011 and received subsequent funding for continuation after the initial pilot period. Findings presented in this paper are based on the last six months of the pilot period and illustrate women’s perceived safety and wellbeing during and after their initial state of crisis