The Languages of Atauro Island

The Polystira clade (here comprising Polystira and Pleuroliria) is a poorly known but hyper-diverse clade within the neogastropod family Turridae (sensu stricto). It has extensively radiated within the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, to which it is endemic. In this paper we present a synthetic overview of existing information on this radiation together with new information on estimated species diversity, systematic relationships, a species-level molecular phylogenetic analysis and preliminary macroecological and diversification analyses, to serve as a platform for further study. We currently estimate that about 300 species (122 extant) are known from its 36 million year history but this number will undoubtedly increase as we extend our studies. We discuss the relationships of Polystira to other Neotropical Turridae (s.s.) and examine the taxonomy and systematics of the geologically oldest described members of the clade. To aid taxonomic description of shells we introduce a new notation for homologous major spiral cords. Focusing on key publications, we discuss in detail the changing historical understanding of the taxonomy of the clade and the relationships of its component genus-level taxa: Polystira Woodring, 1928, Pleuroliria de Gregorio, 1890, Josephina Gardner, 1945 and Oxytropa Glibert, 1955. We designate a neotype for Pleurotoma (Pleuroliria) supramirifica de Gregorio, 1890, to stabilize our understanding of this, the type species of Pleuroliria. Application of the name Oxytropa is restricted to the type species. The genus Polystira is conchologically re-described and for the first time we synthesize available information on the anatomy, feeding and toxinology, reproduction and life history, larval modes and life habits, and geographic and bathymetric ranges of its species. We give an updated list of the 19 formally described living species and present the pitfalls of the currently poor species-level taxonomy of Polystira using case examples. We present a molecular phylogenetic analysis of 22 extant species using three mitochondrial gene fragments (COI, 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA). This reveals undescribed species and indicates that Recent genetic clades ('biospecies') are consistent with finely divided conchological 'morphospecies'. Historically, there has been a slow realisation of the high species diversity of the Polystira clade and we consider that this may be due to inadequate precision of morphological description of shells and a lack of clear homology statements. We suggest how these both might be improved. Finally, using a data compilation based on museum specimens we examine species range-size distributions and species abundance distributions for 85 of the 112 extant western Atlantic species that we have delimited to date. Our results indicate that the majority of species are rare and have short geographic ranges; only a few are wide-ranging and abundant. This has important implications for surveys of biodiversity.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to discuss the linguistic situation around East Flores and Alor-Pantar islands in terms of language change and contact within the area, including Austronesian languages and Papuan languages.
 Methodology: The linguistic features discussed in this research were based on data collected directly by paying a visit to the village of Baranusa in West Pantar; Tanjung Bunga, in East Flores; and Lewoleba in Lembata. The instruments include 200 Swadesh word list and 646 words referring to cultural vocabulary.
 Results: Results shows that it is based on research that has been conducted since 2014 which covers identification on the genetic identity and historical relations of Alorese, Kedang, and Lamaholot. These three languages are spoken in many different locations in East Flores-Pantar-Alor. We compare their phonological and lexical evidence to reveal their historical relations which leads to the historical changes from the protoforms as reflected in the present languages. We also consider the fact that there are also some contacts with Papuan speakers and the role of Indonesian as the national language and as the new lingua franca.
 Implications: Thus, East Indonesia has been known for its unique linguistic situation. Its geographical condition enables every language and its varieties to develop their own DNA. Linguists from all over the world see this area as a major contact area that is defined by a single wave diffusion heading in various directions. It shaped the linguistic area in East Indonesia as it is now. This situation reflects some patterns that can be seen from certain changes in terms of phonological and lexical aspects through some languages that exist in the present. This situation covers languages spoken in certain areas, such as languages spoken in the area of Lesser Sunda islands.

From the introduction: "A lexicostatistic survey was conducted in early 1985 as part of a comprehensive study of the languages spoken in the Zambales Mountains of the Philippines. The survey involved the collection and analysis of some forty word lists, resulting in the definition of six distinct languages in an area whose linguistic situation had previously been relatively unknown. This paper presents these survey findings in the form of a language tree, and introduces a general-use computer program which greatly enhanced the accuracy and speed of the lexicostatistic analysis."

ABSTRACT. The historical development of understanding pulmonary hypertension (PH) demonstrates the evolution from descriptive morphology to precise molecular medicine, resulting in the creation of effective therapeutic strategies for a previously fatal disease. Key scientific publications, clinical trials, and historical milestones in the study of PH for the period 1886-2020 were reviewed. Six major stages in the development of knowledge about PH such as early morphological descriptions (1886-1891), the formation of clinical concepts (1901-1938), the development of diagnostic methods (1930-1970), epidemiological studies and classification (1965-1980), molecular discoveries (1980-2000), and modern targeted therapy (2000 – present) were identified. Among key milestones, there were the first clinical description by Romberg (1891), the epidemic due to taking aminorex (1965-1968), the use of cardiac catheterization with the Forssmann – Cournand – Richards technique (1929-1944), and the discovery of the role of nitric oxide (1980-1987). The transformation from descriptive pathology to molecular understanding has led to the creation of three major therapeutic classes: prostacyclin analogues, endothelin receptor antagonists, and phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors.

On representations in morphology case, agreement and inversion in Georgian

The project aims at documenting the Indo-Aryan Kullui language. This unwritten minor language of the Himachali Pahari group is common in Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh (India). The core objective of the project is to describe Kullui through field methods in linguistics. The study includes the collection of sociolinguistic information, grammar description, compi­ling a dictionary, as well as recording texts. The project run by A.S. Krylova, Yu.V. Mazurova, E.A. Renkovskaya, E.M. Shuvannikova (Knyazeva) is carried out under the auspices of the Institute of Linguistics, the Russian Academy of Sciences. 
 During the linguistic expeditions to Himachal Pradesh, the researchers collected insights into the sociolinguistic situation: types of multilingualism, areas of use of the main languages in the region — Kullui, Hindi, English, etc.; studied the language features of different generations. The research shows the dynamics of the linguistic situation: in the older generation, especially, among women, there are cases of monolingual language — knowledge of the local language alone; the middle generation, as a rule, speaks several languages — Hindi, one or several local languages/dialects, some also know English (its Indian version). In addition, some people know Punjabi, Urdu, Nepali to some extent, which is associated with the geographic location and history of Himachal Pradesh. Young people and schoolchildren demonstrate the onset of a language shift: many people know Himachali languages and use them in everyday life; however, the use of minor languages is gradually restricted to communication with older family members. The key communication tool for the younger generation is Hindi, for educated youth — both Hindi and English.
 A detailed description of minor languages is relevant right now, while they still retain their authenticity and used by all generations. It is crucial to document them using new modern technologies (voiced dictionaries, gloss texts with audio and video recordings). Existing as a means of oral communication, Kullui and other minor languages of Himachal Pradesh currently lack standardized writing. The research team has developed a phonological transcription based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for recording oral speech, as well as morphological parsing for grammatical material.

This study examined the ability of Indonesian students in producing the third person /s/ in speaking. Seven respondents were presented with two speaking tasks and questions related to their daily activity and picture descriptions. Overall, results showed that the majority of the respondents were able to produce agreement in speaking, although only five respondents could produce agreement correctly above 30%. Therefore, the study suggested that strategies other than speaking should be examined if they could better facilitate students’ production of the third person singular /s/. In the last decade, psycho linguistics has shown strong interest in the production of subject-verb agreement. Several studies have identified the types of errors that most frequently occur in language production. These studies report observations on agreement errors in oral English (Haskel & Macdonald 2005; Hartsuiker & Barkhusyen 2006; Johnson, Villiers & Seymour 2005; Johnson 2005), written French (Hupet, Fayol & Schelstraete 1998; Fayol, Hupet &Largy 1999; Largy & Fayol 2001) and written German (Hemforth & Konieczny 2003). One example of a study which observed agreement errors in oral English was conducted by Haskel and Macdonald (2005). They examined agreement with disjunctive subjects which contained plurality nouns (singular-plural noun and plural- singular noun, e.g. have/has the president or the senators read the documents yet?). The research proved that in relation to agreement with disjunctions like „the president or the senators‟, English speakers tend to prefer a verb form that agrees with the nearer of the two nouns (Haskel & Macdonald, 2005). An investigation of working memory affecting the production of agreement errors in speaking was conducted by Hartsuiker & Barkhusyen (2006). To manipulate the availability of working memory, half of the participants had to remember the list of words while performing the primary (load condition) and half of the others performed the primary task without a memory load. All participants were given the speaking span test and had to perform under specific time constraints. The researchers assumed that agreement errors would occur more frequently in the load condition than in the no-load condition. In this study, there were 64 subjects from the University of Nijmegen participating; they were all native speakers of Dutch. In the presentation of the speaking span test in the load condition, the participants were presented with an adjective (e.g. large) that was followed by a sentence fragment (e.g. the cup for the winners). In the no-load condition, the adjective and sentence fragment were presented at the same time. Then, the participants were instructed to repeat and complete each fragment so they berita terkini indonesia had a full sentence, using the adjective (e.g. the cup for the winners was large) before the deadline. In this experiment, the result confirmed the researchers’ hypothesis that agreement errors were more common in the load condition than in the no-load condition, and the errors occurred more frequently when the head noun was mismatched in the number with the local noun (e.g. the colour on the canvasses). Though there are many research studies on verb agreement, in my study, a different attempt was made to elicit the respondents’ ability in producing the third person /s/ in speaking. I chose not to use complex subjects (which have plurality of the head noun and the local noun). I preferred obvious subjects, for example, ‘she, he, the girl, the boy’ (from which the number of the subjects is clear). The goal of the study was to examine the ability of Indonesian students to produce third person singular /s/ in speaking. I analyzed only the productive of agreement markers (there is /s/ inflection), such as, she walks, the girl works, he cleans. In conjunction with this stated purpose, the following research questions guide the current study: 1. Do advanced learners produce third person /s/ in speaking? 2. How well do they produce the third person /s/ in speaking?

Two experiments are reported in which participants were orally presented with French sentences that they were required to write down. In a single‐task condition, only single sentences were presented and the written recall concerned only these sentences. In a dual‐task condition, a second task was added: to memorize an additional list of words or to do mental addition while writing down the sentences. The experimental sentences were all of the type ‘Prep. + N1 + verb + subject’ (e.g. Dans les trains passe le controleur, Along the trains comes the inspector) in which the preverbal noun constituted either a plausible or an implausible subject for the verb following. Results showed that: (a) number agreement was more likely to be correct when the preverbal noun was implausible as the subject of the sentence, (b) but when they had to transcribe sentences with an implausible preverbal noun, the participants' performance at a concurrent task was poorer. These two findings indicate that the plausibility of the subject role of the preverbal noun provides information that can be used to control the procedures which underlie the construction of the agreement.