Perspectives on linguistic documentation from sociolinguistic research on dialects

The goal of the paper is to demonstrate how sociolinguistic research can be applied to endangered language documentation field linguistics. It first provides an overview of the techniques and practices of sociolinguistic fieldwork and the ensuring corpus compilation methods. The discussion is framed with examples from research projects focused on European-heritage English-speaking communities in the UK and Canada that have documented and analyzed English dialects from the far reaches of Scotland to the wilds of Northern Ontario, Canada. The main focus lies on morpho-syntactic and discourse-pragmatic variation; however, the same techniques could be applied to other types of variation. The discussion includes examples from a broad range of research studies in order to illustrate how sociolinguistic analyses are conducted and what they offer for understanding language variation and change.National Foreign Language Resource Cente

A Really Interesting Story: The Influence of Narrative in Linguistic Change

The intensifier system is well known for its perpetual recycling of fresh innovations; however, neither qualitative nor quantitative analyses have offered a consensus on which social factors are involved in the increased use of one variant at the expense of another, nor do we know much about sites of innovation. In this paper, we delve deep into the intensifier system by considering the distinction between narrative and non-narrative discourse contexts (Labov and Waletsky 1967) and using a “small-within-large” methodology wherein a subset of data from a broad sociolinguistic study is our foundation (Tagliamonte 2008). Our results reveal that narratives have significantly higher intensification rates than non-narratives, which we interpret as a linguistic resource to increase affective meaning when performing the identity work inherent in storytelling (Schiffrin 1996). Further, the statistically significant predictors for intensifier use in narratives are predominantly semantic, involving adjective type and emotional value with no significant social factors. Yet in non-narrative discourse, syntactic factors predominate and both gender and age are statistically significant effects. Partitioning the data by discourse context uncovers additional sociolinguistic bifurcation. Indeed, a more detailed examination of the interaction of speaker age and gender reveals how critical the narrative/non-narrative contrast is in the ebb and flow of changes within this system. While younger speakers of both genders show an increase in really in narratives, in non-narratives younger women exhibit a heightened usage compared to older women (4% vs. 21%). The results for very are equally suggestive: younger women use less very in both registers but there is a sharp decline in non-narratives in particular. This suggests that innovations rise first in narratives for all speakers and then diffuse to non-narratives lead by younger women. Taken together, the findings from this study support earlier observations that greater care should be placed on the discourse embedding linguistic variation and change (see e.g., Cheshire 2005 et seq). We have demonstrated that language change actually begins and ends in stories

Lactic acid fermentation improves nutritional and functional properties of chickpea flours

Consumption of healthy diets with low environmental impact is crucial for improving global health. Legumes, like chickpeas, serve as valuable meat alternatives due to their nutritional profile, which may be improved through fermentation. This study aimed to develop innovative fermented chickpea flours using lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains from diverse ecosystems and evaluate their nutritional and functional properties in vitro. Fourteen batches of 20% chickpea-based puree were produced and fermented with 14 LAB isolated from different ecosystems. After fermentation, flours were obtained by freeze-drying. Most LAB grew well and reduced the pH of chickpea purees below 5 within 48 h. The flours were characterized for the content of polyphenols, bioactive peptides (BAPs), free amino groups (FAG), and phytic acid along with the total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Results showed that flours fermented by four LAB strains, including Enterococcus hirae and Enterococcus fae cium had higher FAG and BAPs, including inhibitors of Dipeptidyl peptidase-IV and Angiotensin-converting enzyme. Flours fermented by Leuconostoc mesenteroides OM94, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 299v, Lactiplantiba cillus plantarum E75, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LPPB, and Lacticaseibacillus casei LBC491 contained higher amounts of polyphenols, had soluble TAC that was 10-fold and direct TAC 3-fold higher, and lower phytic acid content than the control flour. Pyrogallol was detected in fermented products for the first time, and proto catechuic 4-O-glucoside increased three times in chickpea flours fermented by Leuconostoc mesenteroides OM94 compared to the control. In conclusion, fermentation improved the nutritional and functional qualities of chickpea flour, identifying promising LAB strains to enhance antioxidant capacity and polyphenols availability

Obviously undergoing change: Adverbs of evidentiality across time and space

Increasingly globalized communication networks in the modern world may influence traditional patterns of linguistic change: in contrast to an orderly sequential pathway of change, more recently a number of “mega trends” have been identified, which accelerate simultaneously in time and space. The rise of obviously within the cohort of adverbs of evidentiality—naturally, evidently, clearly, and of course—may be one such trend. To examine this possibility, we conduct a large-scale sociolinguistic analysis of c12,000 adverbs of evidentiality across over thirty communities in the UK and Canada. The results reveal parallel development across time and space: obviously advances rapidly among individuals born in the 1960s in both countries. The rise of obviously illustrates key attributes that are beginning to emerge from other rapidly innovating features: “off the shelf” changes that (1) are easily borrowed, (2) receptive to global trends, but (3) exhibit parallel patterns as the change progresses

The scope of language contact as a constraint factor in language change: The periphrasis haber de plus infinitive in a corpus of language immediacy in modern Spanish

In this work an empirical study grounded in the principles and methods of the comparative variationist framework is conducted to measure the scope of language contact as a factor constraining some potentially diverging uses of a Spanish verbal periphrasis that has undergone a sharp decline over the last century (haber de plus infinitive). The analysis is based on three independent samples of text that correspond to three dialectal areas of peninsular Spanish (monolingual zones, Catalan-speaking linguistic territories and the north-western linguistic area). These samples, extracted from a corpus made up of texts of communicative immediacy from the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, confirm the existence of a certain linguistic convergence in the expressive habits of the speakers in the bilingual communities. In each region, however, the outcomes are different, due to parallel differences in the structural position of the periphrasis in each language. However, a thorough analysis of the variable context that surrounds the periphrasis shows that the observed differences do not affect the essence of the underlying grammar of this variant, whose decline (which favours tener que plus infinitive and becomes faster as the 20th century advances) is constrained by identical linguistic and extralinguistic conditioning factors in all the dialectal areas

Grammatical convergence or microvariation? Subject doubling in English in a French dominant town

In French, subject doubling is “quite common” (e.g. Nadasdi 1995, Auger 1998, Thibault 1983, Zahler 2014) but in English it is rare (Southard & Muller 1998). Yet when anglophones speak French, they use subject doubling with French patterns (Nagy et al. 2003). In this paper, we analyze subject doubling in English in a bilingual French-English town. Usinga large corpus and statistical modelling, we show that thereis no difference between language groups, and neither sex, education nor job type are significant. The nature of the subject is the major predictor of doubling and there is a significant decrease among middle-aged speakers, suggesting mid-life social pressures on vernacular norms. Although subject doubling is low frequency, it is not stable across generations in the different language origin groups. While subject doubling may be a feature of vernacular dialects more generally, involving marking focus or topic marking as reported in other languages, in Kapuskasing when anglophones use it, they are accommodating to French patterns

Expert consensus document: A 'diamond' approach to personalized treatment of angina.

In clinical guidelines, drugs for symptomatic angina are classified as being first choice (β-blockers, calcium-channel blockers, short-acting nitrates) or second choice (ivabradine, nicorandil, ranolazine, trimetazidine), with the recommendation to reserve second-choice medications for patients who have contraindications to first-choice agents, do not tolerate them, or remain symptomatic. No direct comparisons between first-choice and second-choice treatments have demonstrated the superiority of one group of drugs over the other. Meta-analyses show that all antianginal drugs have similar efficacy in reducing symptoms, but provide no evidence for improvement in survival. The newer, second-choice drugs have more evidence-based clinical data that are more contemporary than is available for traditional first-choice drugs. Considering some drugs, but not others, to be first choice is, therefore, difficult. Moreover, double or triple therapy is often needed to control angina. Patients with angina can have several comorbidities, and symptoms can result from various underlying pathophysiologies. Some agents, in addition to having antianginal effects, have properties that could be useful depending on the comorbidities present and the mechanisms of angina, but the guidelines do not provide recommendations on the optimal combinations of drugs. In this Consensus Statement, we propose an individualized approach to angina treatment, which takes into consideration the patient, their comorbidities, and the underlying mechanism of disease

A simple tool to measure spasticity in spinal cord injury subjects.

This work presents a wearable device and the algorithms for quantitative modelling of joint spasticity and its application in a pilot group of subjects with different levels of spinal cord injury. The device comprises light-weight instrumented handles to measure the interaction force between the subject and the physical therapist performing the tests, EMG sensors and inertial measurement units to measure muscle activity and joint kinematics. Experimental tests included the passive movement of different body segments, where the spasticity was expected, at different velocities. Tonic stretch reflex thresholds and their velocity modulation factor are computed, as a quantitative index of spasticity, by using the kinematics data at the onset of spasm detected through thresholding the EMG data. This technique was applied to two spinal cord injury subjects. The proposed method allowed the analysis of spasticity at muscle and joint levels. The obtained results are in line with the expert diagnosis and qualitative spasticity characterisation on each individual

A ‘Mediterranean ice-cream’: Sensory and nutritional aspects of replacing milk cream with extra virgin olive oil

In this study, we explored the sensory and nutritional properties of innovative ice-creams designed totally replacing cow’s milk cream with extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Milk and chocolate flavored ice-creams containing 14.1% and 10.2% milk cream or 5.1% and 3.6% of EVOO were produced. In a triangle test, only the milk-flavored ice-cream with EVOO was distinguished from its traditional counterpart whereas in a quantitative descriptive sensory analysis EVOO ice-creams showed an increased intensity of the descriptor “grassy” that was supported by the greater concentrations of specific volatile organic compounds coming from EVOO, compared to traditional ice-creams. Moreover, EVOO ice-creams contained less saturated fatty acids and more mono- and poly- unsaturated fatty acids along an increased concentration of bioaccessible polyphenols and antioxidant activity measured after an in vitro digestion, which was more pronounced in milkflavored sample. Data showed that EVOO can be a functional fat replacer in ice-cream recipes to produce healthier products

Neuromuscular Controller Embedded in a Powered Ankle Exoskeleton:Effects on Gait, Clinical Features and Subjective Perspective of Incomplete Spinal Cord Injured Subjects

Powered exoskeletons are among the emerging technologies claiming to assist functional ambulation. The potential to adapt robotic assistance based on specific motor abilities of incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) subjects, is crucial to optimize Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Achilles, an autonomous wearable robot able to assist ankle during walking, was developed for iSCI subjects and utilizes a NeuroMuscular Controller (NMC). NMC can be used to adapt robotic assistance based on specific residual functional abilities of subjects. The main aim of this pilot study was to analyze the effects of the NMC-controlled Achilles, used as an assistive device, on chronic iSCI participants' performance, by assessing gait speed during 10-session training of robot-aided walking. Secondary aims were to assess training impact on participants' motion, clinical and functional features and to evaluate subjective perspective in terms of attitude towards technology, workload, usability and satisfaction. Results showed that 5 training sessions were necessary to significantly improve robot-aided gait speed on short paths and consequently to optimize HRI. Moreover, the training allowed participants who initially were not able to walk for 6 minutes, to improve gait endurance during Achilles-aided walking and to reduce perceived fatigue. Improvements were obtained also in gait speed during free walking, thus suggesting a potential rehabilitative impact, even if Achilles-aided walking was not faster than free walking. Participants' subjective evaluations indicated a positive experience