The intuitive basis of implicature

A stochastic theory of community food webs. VI. Heterogeneous alternatives to the cascade model

With the use of the main assumptions of Relevance Theory (RT), the current research delved into three different Arabic versions of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet (named as Translations A, J and M) with regard to their methods used in treating explicit and implicit meanings. Firstly, concerning the explicit meanings, it was found that such meanings abound with transitional clauses. Although the three translations are, to some extent similar, they are also slightly different. Translation A attempts to use the structures and words with clear import for the hearers, not sticking to one-to-one correspondence. The other two translations (J and M) attempt to preserve the same structure. Secondly, concerning (the) implicit meanings, the study indicated that such meanings are a characteristic property of Hamlet. They render this play very difficult to deal with in terms of translation. By and large, it was found that Translation A and Translation J make use of the RT strategy Weakening the existing assumptions and combining with existing assumptions to generate the needed contextual implications as a tool to render Hamlet into Arabic, whereas Translation M uses the strategy of ‘Eliminating existing assumptions’ to render Hamlet into Arabic. In additions, the study argues that Translation A and Translation J are more faithful to the original text, since they keep mentioning all implicit meanings without omitting any, whilst Translation M is less faithful. Finally, the study found that RT strategy ‘Weakening the existing assumptions’ is mostly adopted according to its important role in keeping the translated text faithful without much loss of meanings and interpretation.

Percolation on the Fitness Hypercube and the Evolution of Reproductive Isolation

Scalar implicatures are inferences that arise when a weak expression is used instead of a stronger alternative. For example, when a speaker says, “Some of the children are in the classroom,” she often implies that not all of them are. Recent processing studies of scalar implicatures have argued that generating an implicature carries a cost. In this study we investigated this cost using a sentence verification task similar to that of Bott and Noveck (2004) combined with a response deadline procedure to estimate speed and accuracy independently. Experiment 1 compared implicit upper-bound interpretations (some [but not all]) with lower-bound interpretations (some [and possibly all]). Experiment 2 compared an implicit upper-bound meaning of some with the explicit upper-bound meaning of only some. Experiment 3 compared an implicit lower-bound meaning of some with the explicit lower-bound meaning of at least some. Sentences with implicatures required additional processing time that could not be attributed to retrieval probabilities or factors relating to semantic complexity. Our results provide evidence against several different types of processing models, including verification and nonverification default implicature models and cost-free contextual models. More generally, our data are the first to provide evidence of the costs associated with deriving implicatures per se.

The hypothesis that sexual selection promotes speciation has rarely been tested. We identified 70 evolutionarily independent events of feather ornaments in birds. For each focal species we noted the number of ornamented and nonornamented species belonging to its genus and its number of subspecies, as well as its mating system and the extent of its geographic range. For purposes of comparison, we randomly chose a second, nonornamented species for which we obtained information on the number of subspecies, and in cases in which the nonornamented species was in the same genus, we chose a third, nonornamented species in a related genus and obtained the same information. We then noted the number of species in each genus and the difference in numbers of species, or species richness, between paired genera. For the genera of the focal ornamented species, we regressed number of ornamented species on number of nonornamented species and found a positive relationship. As number of species per genus rose, number of ornamented species per genus rose more rapidly, indicating that more speciose genera have a higher proportion of ornamented species than less speciose genera. We then took the deviations from this regression, the residual number of species, and regressed them on the differences in species richness between the paired genera. This relationship was positive indicating that ornamented genera with more than the expected number of ornamented species were more speciose with respect to their paired genera than were genera with fewer than the expected number of ornamented species. Finally, we compared the deviations from this regression, the residual number of ornamented species, with species' mating system and found a greater residual number of ornamented species among species whose mating system is associated with greater skew in male mating success and thus more intense sexual selection. Ornamented species had more subspecies than nonornamented species, even when controlling for geographic range, suggesting an association between subspeciation and ornaments.

Macrophyte assemblages in fishponds under different fish farming management

This paper investigates the problematic nature of the explicit-implicit distinction in the theory of meaning. It reviews how this notion has been addressed in the two major theories of the inferential approach, namely, the Gricean semantics-pragmatics theory and Wilson and Sperber’s Relevance Theory (RT). The representation of meaning in terms of the explicit-implicit distinction is attributed to Gricean semantics-pragmatics, which is operationalised in terms of truth-conditions for the explicit meaning and implicatures for the implicit meaning. Although Gricean proposals have laid the foundations for most of the work in the theory of meaning, the paper highlights that such an explicit-implicit distinction cannot be a clear-cut division and identifies some irregularities in the interplay between Grice’s linguistic meaning and conversational implicatures. The paper then re-analyses Gricean pragmatics in the light of Relevance Theory (RT) and concludes by explaining the salient issues with the clear-cut distinction between explicit and implicit meaning. The study finds that Grice’s view—that the semantics-pragmatics distinction is based on the saying/implicating distinction—does not hold because conversational maxims play a significant role in reference assignment and in determining which of the logically possible senses of what is said the speaker could have intended.

Determinants of orchid species diversity in world islands.

A male child, maintained in a controlled environment, was monitored each month for bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi recovered from the mouth, nasal passages, feces, and nine body surface sites. Three natural microbial categories became apparent. Incident microorganisms were recovered from within the isolator but did not establish permanent residence. Of the 53 incident types isolated, 20 were filamentous fungi and 4 were yeasts. Some genera, such as Fusobacterium, Lactobacillus, Neisseria, and Rothia, which were commonly found in the reference group, did not become permanent inhabitants. Transient microorganisms were repeatedly recovered but could not be demonstrated within the isolated environment at the end of the study. The loss of only a few of the 19 transient species could be associated with antimicrobial therapy. Permanent microorganisms consisted of Pencillium citrinum and 17 bacterial types, of which alpha-hemolytic streptococci, Staphylococcus edpidermidis subgroups II and V, Micrococcus groups 1 and 2, Clostridium bifermentans, and Propionibacterium acnes were recovered throughout the entire 9 years of the study. The number of CFUs recovered from each sample type was generally not unlike that from the reference group of healthy male adults. Also, the number of different aerobic species recovered from the feces was within the normal range of that of the reference group. In contrast, the number of different species recovered from all other samples was less than that commonly found in the reference group.

Starting from temporality as the organizing principle of any communicative situation, the present study investigates the use of verbal paradigms in Spanish when expressing memory and forgetfulness in a fictional speech act, such as poetry. Every text, including poetic, is a pragmatic unit of interaction in which an enunciator transmits a linguistic fact in order to awaken certain effects in the addressee. Nevertheless, successful communication depends not only on what is actually said, but also and above all, on what a reader or listener can deduce from what is said. Linguistic communication is not only an encoding-decoding process, but mainly the complementary process of ostension and inference, as Sperber and Wilson (1986) show within the theory of relevance. The explicit and implicit meanings of statements can always be understood only through the context, which is constantly changing as the presumption in the process of communication. Subsequently, the presumption that poetic language provokes a specific implicit meaning in the reader enables the establishment of complex relations between the significance and plurality of contexts within the lyrical discourses.The study focuses on two collections of poems, Eternidades (1918) and Piedra y Cielo (1919), written by the great Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, and explores the possibilities of explicit and implicit meanings of time and memory that are incited by the verbal paradigms. Both collections, which represent the beginning of a new era in the poet’s creation, are characterized by intense self-reflection. Time, forgetfulness and memory are, similar to the poetic word itself, the essential means that enable the poet to establish individual moments of eternity within the implications of lyrical communication.

Starting from temporality as the organizing principle of any communicative situation, the present study investigates the use of verbal paradigms in Spanish when expressing memory and forgetfulness in a fictional speech act, such as poetry. Every text, including poetic, is a pragmatic unit of interaction in which an enunciator transmits a linguistic fact in order to awaken certain effects in the addressee. Nevertheless, successful communication depends not only on what is actually said, but also and above all, on what a reader or listener can deduce from what is said. Linguistic communication is not only an encoding-decoding process, but mainly the complementary process of ostension and inference, as Sperber and Wilson (1986) show within the theory of relevance. The explicit and implicit meanings of statements can always be understood only through the context, which is constantly changing as the presumption in the process of communication. Subsequently, the presumption that poetic language provokes a specific implicit meaning in the reader enables the establishment of complex relations between the significance and plurality of contexts within the lyrical discourses.The study focuses on two collections of poems, Eternidades (1918) and Piedra y Cielo (1919), written by the great Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, and explores the possibilities of explicit and implicit meanings of time and memory that are incited by the verbal paradigms. Both collections, which represent the beginning of a new era in the poet’s creation, are characterized by intense self-reflection. Time, forgetfulness and memory are, similar to the poetic word itself, the essential means that enable the poet to establish individual moments of eternity within the implications of lyrical communication.

IntroductionSarcopenia, an age-related disease, has become a major public health concern, threatening muscle health and daily functioning in older adults around the world. Changes in the gut microbiota can affect skeletal muscle metabolism, but the exact association is unclear. The richness of gut microbiota refers to the number of different species in a sample, while diversity not only considers the number of species but also the evenness of their abundances. Alpha diversity is a comprehensive metric that measures both the number of different species (richness) and the evenness of their abundances, thereby providing a thorough understanding of the species composition and structure of a community.MethodsThis meta-analysis explored the differences in intestinal microbiota diversity and richness between populations with sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia based on 16 s rRNA gene sequencing and identified new targets for the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched for cross-sectional studies on the differences in gut microbiota between sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia published from 1995 to September 2023 scale and funnel plot analysis assessed the risk of bias, and performed a meta-analysis with State v.15. 1.ResultsA total of 17 randomized controlled studies were included, involving 4,307 participants aged 43 to 87 years. The alpha diversity of intestinal flora in the sarcopenia group was significantly reduced compared to the non-sarcopenia group: At the richness level, the proportion of Actinobacteria and Fusobacteria decreased, although there was no significant change in other phyla. At the genus level, the abundance of f-Ruminococcaceae; g-Faecalibacterium, g-Prevotella, Lachnoclostridium, and other genera decreased, whereas the abundance of g-Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, and Shigella increased.DiscussionThis study showed that the richness of the gut microbiota decreased with age in patients with sarcopenia. Furthermore, the relative abundance of different microbiota changed related to age, comorbidity, participation in protein metabolism, and other factors. This study provides new ideas for targeting the gut microbiota for the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=475887, CRD475887.

Drought has a strong impact on the growth of plant populations, and the number of different species in a plant community plays an important role in the drought adaptation of the community's progeny. In this paper, a mathematical model is developed to analyze how the number of different species in a plant community under a long-term irregular drought cycle is adaptive to drought in future generations, and thus how the plant community benefits from it. This paper uses biomass to quantify the growth of plant populations and changes in plant communities, and uses a large amount of visual data for visual analysis. First, a logistic growth model of plant population biomass change is developed based on temperature accumulation, precipitation and interspecific competition as influencing factors. The correlation coefficients were then obtained using the collected plant population biomass to predict the changes in total plant biomass and species richness, and the interspecific competition model was then used to calculate the values of total community biomass after final stabilization based on logistic, and the system of differential equations was solved using the Runge-Kutta Methods was finally concluded that the biomass of the community after final stabilization showed a positive correlation with the number of species and species type, and showed a strong positive correlation with species type and a weak positive correlation with species number.

Distribution patterns of indigenous non‐volant terrestrial mammals on 257 Australian islands were examined in relation to environmental parameters and the effects of human‐induced disturbance during prehistoric and historic times on island species numbers. Species occurrence for individual species, for taxonomic and trophic groups, and for all species together was related to environmental parameters using regression analysis and the extreme‐value function model. Patterns of occurrence were examined separately within three major biogeographic regions derived by pattern analysis. The number of species known to have occurred on these islands during historic times was adequately predicted from area alone. No statistically significant improvement in predicted species number was gained by including island elevation, mean annual rainfall, isolation from the mainland or the number of potentially competing species present on the island. Similarly, no single factor other than area was found to influence consistently the presence of individual species. We conclude that the occurrence of indigenous non‐volant terrestrial mammal species on these islands indicates a relictual rather than equilibrial fauna. Visitation by Aboriginal people during prehistoric times did not significantly increase mammal extinctions on islands. Examination of patterns of species richness for a given area on a regional basis showed that islands in and around Bass Strait and Tasmania (Bass Region) were the most species‐rich, islands off the northern coasts were slightly less rich, and islands off the south western coasts had fewest species. This is in contrast to the usual latitudinal gradient in species richness patterns. However, islands off the northern and eastern coasts had an overall greater number of different species. When considered in relation to the number of different species of mammals occurring within each region, islands of a given size in Bass Region typically bore a higher proportion of this species pool than other regions. The Bass Region was found to be particularly rich in macropoid herbivores and dasyurid carnivores and insectivores. Analyses indicated that there is a very strong relationship between the presence of exotics as a whole and the local extinction of native mammals. Many mammal species formerly widespread on the Australian mainland are now restricted totally to islands (nine species) or are threatened with extinction on the mainland and have island populations of conservation significance (ten species). In all, thirty‐five islands protect eighteen taxa of Australian threatened mammals. The land‐use and management of these islands is of considerable importance to nature conservation. The introduction of exotic mammals to these islands should be prevented; any introductions that occur should be eradicated immediately.

This study aimed to investigate how often the English teacher uses explicit and implicit meanings during the teaching-learning process in primary school, and its impact on the students’ understanding of the English material. This study was a conversation analysis study that involved one class of grade four in a primary school in a city in Indonesia. This study employed qualitative methods, and used observations to collect data, namely by recording the teaching-learning interaction. The data were analyzed by interpreting the recorded script. The study revealed that the teacher used explicit meaning in the entire teaching-learning process, and these explicit meanings made the students understand the English material easily.
 Keywords: explicit, implicit, children’s cognitive development, EFL classroom