Indo-European Research Articles

The Auxiliary Verb in Contemporary Jordanian Arabic: A Historical Descriptive Study

Objectives: The present study proceeds from the idea that many of the contemporary Arabic phenomena that modern linguists experience are linguistic phenomena that existed in classical Arabic or ancient Semitic languages. This study, therefore, has argued that the hypothesis stating Arabic is different from Indo-European languages in not considering the auxiliary verb in its structure is inaccurate. Furthermore, the idea that syntactic structure contains auxiliary verbs as a native construction transmitted to Arabic through translation is hasty. Methods: The study set itself an approach to prove this theory by describing the auxiliary verb in contemporary Arabic, focused on the Jordanian dialect and more specifically on the two auxiliary verbs ﻛﺎﻥ 'was' and ﻗﻌﺪ 'sit.' It also provided evidence from classical Arabic as Quran, poetry, and Semitic languages. Conclusions: The study concluded that the two auxiliary verbs ﻛﺎﻥ 'was' and ﻗﻌﺪ 'sit' have their roots in classical Arabic and Semitic languages.

Dalbavancina como tratamiento antibiótico de consolidación en endocarditis infecciosa, infección de dispositivos de estimulación cardiaca y bacteriemia: experiencia clínica de 7 años

IntroductionDalbavancin (DBV), a novel lipoglycopeptide with activity against Gram-positive bacterial infections, is approved for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. It has linear dose-related pharmacokinetics allowing a prolonged interval between doses. It would be a good option for the treatment of patients with Gram-positive cardiovascular infections. Material and methodsRetrospective analysis of patients with cardiovascular infection (bacteremia, implantable electronic device infection and infective endocarditis [IE]) treated with DBV at Hospital Clínico San Carlos (Madrid) for 7 years (2016-2022). Patients were divided into 2 study groups: 1) IE, and 2) bacteremia. Epidemiological, clinical, microbiological and therapeutic data were analyzed. ResultsA total of 25 patients were treated with DBV for cardiovascular infection. IE was the most common indication (68%), followed by bacteremia (32%) with male predominance in both groups (64 vs. 62%) and median age of 67,7 and 57,5 years, respectively. Hundred percent of blood cultures were positive to Gram-positive microorganisms (Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp. or Enterococcus spp.) in both study groups. Previously to DBV, all patients received other antibiotic therapy, both in the group of IE (median: 80 days) as in bacteremia (14,8 days). The main reason for the administration of DBV was to continue intravenous antimicrobial therapy outside the hospital in both the EI group (n=15) and the bacteremia group (n=8). DBV was used as consolidation therapy in a once- or twice-weekly regimen. Microbiological and clinical successes were reached in 84% of cases (n=21), 76,4% in IE group and 100% in bacteremia group. No patient documented adverse effects during long-term DBV treatment. ConclusionDBV is an effective and safety treatment as consolidation antibiotic therapy in IE and bacteremia produced by Gram-positive microorganisms.

The Origin of the Scythians and the Identity of the Scythians and the Alans in John Tzetzes’ Work

Much has been said about the origin of the Scythians, but no academician or researcher has ever been able to provide evidence to reveal the identity of the Scythians. Today, the prevailing view about the origin of the Scythians is the view that they are of Indo-European origin. And this argument is supported by Western academics. No written sources say that the Scythians were of Indo-European origin or spoke an Indo-European language. The only thing that makes those a community of Indo-European origin is the arbitrary explanations of the personal names belonging to their language in Indo-European languages and the kinship relationship established between the Ossetians and Alans. No consistent explanation of the words of the Scythian language in Indo-European languages has been provided to date. However, very recently, in the light of written sources, more than one piece of evidence has been presented to shed light on the origins of the Scythians. This article aims to reveal the true identity of the Scythians and Alans in the work of the 12th-century Byzantine writer John Tzetzes in the ligt of these new evidences.

TURKISH COLOR TERMS AS A LINGUISTIC CHOICE OF ALBANIAN SPEAKERS

: It has been ascertained that Turkish loanwords have an important place and status in the Albanian language. Color terms are an interesting part of this category of the Albanian lexicon, which plays an important role as a carrier of cultural and lingual inheritance. This paper studies color names and their meanings as well as their role as a linguistic choice of different varieties of the Albanian language. Lexicalization patterns of color naming in Albanian are examined with special emphasis on Turkish loanwords. The meaning, function, and role of Turkish loanwords are observed based on relevant dictionaries and the Albanian National Corpus. The attitude of Albanian speakers towards Turkish loanwords was investigated based on a survey conducted with students at the University of Prishtina. This study presents valuable data collected from different sources. Their analysis has shown that Turkish loanwords are used to name different categories of the color spectrum; they fit all lexicalization models of Indo-European languages, they can be the only term used to name the focal color category in different dialects, and the change in the meanings of these words has led to the emergence of new focal colors. Therefore, this paper argues that the existence of Turkish color terms in Albanian cannot be explained only with the universalist approach and that the relativist approach should not be ignored, due to the linguistic choice speakers make in different varieties of Albanian language.

The effects of word and beat priming on Mandarin lexical stress recognition: an event-related potential study

Abstract Music and language are unique communication tools in human society, where stress plays a crucial role. Many studies have examined the recognition of lexical stress in Indo-European languages using beat/rhythm priming, but few studies have examined the cross-domain relationship between musical and linguistic stress in tonal languages. The current study investigates how musical stress and lexical stress influence lexical stress recognition in Mandarin. In the auditory priming experiment, disyllabic Mandarin words with initial or final stress were primed by disyllabic words or beats with either congruent or incongruent stress patterns. Results showed that the incongruent condition elicited larger P2 and the late positive component (LPC) amplitudes than the congruent condition. Moreover, the Strong-Weak primes elicited larger N400 amplitudes than the Weak-Strong primes, and the Weak-Strong primes yielded larger LPC amplitudes than the Strong-Weak primes. The findings reveal the neural correlates of the cross-domain influence between music and language during lexical stress recognition in Mandarin.

Taboo zoonyms: What do 'bear', 'lynx' and 'wolf' have in common?

The aim of this paper is to trace the etymologies of the English words bear, lynx and wolf and their Polish equivalents niedźwiedź, ryś and wilk within the context of Indo-European languages in terms of the mechanisms for creating euphemisms to denote animals subject to the phenomenon of linguistic tabooization. The methodology comprises the following stages: selection of cognates (to determine the scope of attestation); examination of the semantic features of the selected vocabulary; and an attempt to outline the problem of the functional features of euphemisms to denote tabooed vocabulary. The results of these considerations can contribute to concretising our ideas about the linguistic constitution of the surrounding world by past language users and linguistic interrelationships, as well as help reveal the peculiarities of euphemistic vocabulary conditioned by the functioning of linguistic taboos.

Afanas’ev’s Poetic Views of the Slavs’ on Nature and Its Role in Understanding Paganism and Mythology

The article analyzes the mythological concept of Slavic paganism developed by Alexander Afanas’ev in his three-volume study Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature: An Attempt at a Comparative Study of Slavic Traditions and Beliefs in Connection with the Mythical Tales of Other Related Peoples (1865–1869). In this book, Afanas’ev established numerous parallels between the pagan myths of the Slavs and other Indo-European peoples and reconstructed mythological images of the world tree, the tree of life, and the world egg. He also reconstructed myths about the sacred marriage between heaven and earth; the creation of the world from the body of the first man and the creation of man from the natural elements; the dying and resurrected god of vegetation and fertility; and the duel between the god of thunderstorms and his earthly adversary; as well as dualistic myths about the struggle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness and about the creation of the earth. Afanas’ev also explored enduring metaphorical pairs such as death–dream, battle–wedding feast, thunderstorm–battle, and so on. Depending on the readers’ points of view, they can appreciate the book as a grandiose compendium of folklore and historical-ethnographic materials; as a scholarly work devoted to Slavic mythology; as a symbolarium of folk culture; and as a beautiful fairy tale about the pagan past. Although Afanas’ev’s book has all the attributes of a scholarly publication, it can also be read as a work of fiction in which the author does not so much analyze mythology as he tries to present the point of view of a primitive poet–artist.

Changes in splenic tissue and immune response profile of Schistosoma mansoni infected mice submitted to chronic ethanol intake.

In Schistosoma mansoni infection, the spleen is one of the organs affected, causing its enlargement (splenomegaly). Intake of ethanol through alcoholic beverages can cause spleen atrophy and interfere with immune activity. To gain knowledge of this association on the spleen and on the immune response profile, male mice were used as an experimental model. These animals were divided into four groups: C. control; EC. uninfected/ethanol gavage; I. infected; and IE. infected/ethanol gavage. Groups I and IE were infected with about 100 cercariae (BH strain) of S. mansoni and in the fifth week of infection, gavage 200 μL/day/animal of 18 % ethanol was started for 28 consecutive days. At the end of the gavage (9th week of infection) all animals were euthanized. The spleen was removed and longitudinally divided in two parts. After histological processing, the sections were stained with H&E and Gomori's Reticulin for histopathological and stereological analyses, white pulp morphometry and quantification of megakaryocytes. The other fragment was macerated (in laminar flow) and the cell suspension, after adjusting the concentration (2 × 106), was plated to obtain cytokines produced by spleen cells that were measured by flow cytometry (Citometric Bead Array). Histopathological and quantitative analyzes in the spleen of the IE group showed an increase in the number of trabeculae and megakaryocytes, a decrease in reticular fibers, as well as important organizational changes in the white pulp and red pulp. Due to the decrease in the levels of cytokines measured and the result of the calculation of the ratio between the IFN-y and IL-10 cytokines (p = 0.0079) of the infected groups, we suggest that ethanol decreased the inflammatory and anti-inflammatory response generated by the infection (group IE, the production of cytokines was significantly decreased (p < 0.01). These changes demonstrate that ethanol ingestion interferes with some parameters of experimental S. mansoni infection, such as changes in splenic tissue and in the pattern of cytokine production.

Present Perfect Tense in Arabic and English: A comparative Analysis

Arabic and English are members of distinct linguistic families. Arabic is a member of the Semitic group. This language has been synthesized. The Indo-European language family includes English. Commonly, it is an analytical and synthetic language. This study delves into an analytical analysis of the forms and usage of the present perfect tense (PPT) in Arabic and English based on the contrastive analysis theory (CA). The study utilized the descriptive-qualitative method to compare and analyze the data in this tense. The data utilized in this study were obtained from both prior and recent research. Based on the analysis, a tensional discrepancy exists between the Arabic and English languages, specifically concerning the present perfect tense. In Arabic, in contrast to English, it employs a variety of particles and adverbials to denote temporal reference. The perfective aspect in Arabic conveys abstract temporal characteristics. The formation of the present perfect tense in Arabic involves the use of the particles /qad or laqad/ before the perfective verb. On the other hand, English present perfect tense is constructed by combining the subject with the auxiliary verb “have” or “has” and the past participle form of the main verb. Finally, the realization of this particular tense in the English language poses a significant challenge due to the absence of a clear translation or equivalent in other linguistic systems, especially Arabic.

Глоттогенез Г. Гийома в свете данных общего, индоевропейского и романского языкознания. Часть 1

In this article, the phenomenon of linguistic glottogenesis is studied, which in G. Guillaume's psychosystematic theory is interpreted not as the oldest process of formation of a natural sound language, but as a linguistic change that took place at a short cut of the evolution "Latin – French", and in the works of his followers is considered as a "phenomenon of the development of French analyticism". The article analyzes three concepts of the word-sentence in modern linguistics (none of them coincide with the interpretation of this term in the works of G. Guillaume's followers): 1) as an undifferentiated unit, that goes back to the "diffuse syntax", which fits in with the ideas of syncretism of the "primitive" culture of A.N. Veselovsky; 2) as one-part (nominative and impersonal) sentences; 3) as situational statements that perform the function of remarks in dialogical communication. The syntactic studies of the 20 th – 21 st centuries have shown that the core of the Indo-European utterance is not the nominality defended by G. Guillaume and his followers, but verbal predicativity (argumentative-and-predicate structure). The research into the process of the Indo-European language type evolution elicits the "pre-inflectional" character of Indo-European languages at the "initial" stage of the development, contrary to Guillaume's basic position. Empirical evidence suggests that, synthetism and analyticism, not being the main characteristics in typological classification, are shown to explicate its two types – inflectional and agglutinative. In the history of Indo-European languages, in addition to the shift from synthetic constructions to analytical ones, there was often a reverse process as well.

More than a piece of cake: Noun classifier processing in primary progressive aphasia.

Clinical understanding of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) has been primarily derived from Indo-European languages. Generalizing certain linguistic findings across languages is unfitting due to contrasting linguistic structures. While PPA patients showed noun classes impairments, Chinese languages lack noun classes. Instead, Chinese languages are classifier language, and how PPA patients manipulate classifiers is unknown. We included 74 native Chinese speakers (22 controls, 52 PPA). For classifier production task, participants were asked to produce the classifiers of high-frequency items. In a classifier recognition task, participants were asked to choose the correct classifier. Both semantic variant (sv) PPA and logopenic variant (lv) PPA scored significantly lower in classifier production task. In classifier recognition task, lvPPA patients outperformed svPPA patients. The classifier production scores were correlated to cortical volume over left temporal and visual association cortices. This study highlights noun classifiers as linguistic markers to discriminate PPA syndromes in Chinese speakers. Noun classifier processing varies in the different primary progressive aphasia (PPA) variants. Specifically, semantic variant PPA (svPPA) and logopenic variant PPA (lvPPA) patients showed significantly lower ability in producing specific classifiers. Compared to lvPPA, svPPA patients were less able to choose the accurate classifiers when presented with choices. In svPPA, classifier production score was positively correlated with gray matter volume over bilateral temporal and left visual association cortices in svPPA. Conversely, classifier production performance was correlated with volumetric changes over left ventral temporal and bilateral frontal regions in lvPPA. Comparable performance of mass and count classifier were noted in Chinese PPA patients, suggesting a common cognitive process between mass and count classifiers in Chinese languages.

Type-shifting in headless relative clauses

Research on the (in)definiteness of bare nouns has developed various proposals regarding which type-shifters exist in human language and which principles are needed to govern their distribution (Carlson 1977; Partee 1987; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; i.a.). At the same time, literature on headless relative clauses (HRCs), primarily focusing on free relatives (FRs) in Indo-European languages, has also developed type-shifting principles (Jacobson 1995; Caponigro 2003, 2004). The type-shifting principles from the FR literature, however, are fundamentally different than those found in proposals for bare nouns. Here, we present case studies from two Mayan languages which diverge from one another in the behavior of bare nouns, and which possess several different kinds of headless relative clauses. We show that “super-free relative clauses” (Caponigro et al. 2021; Caponigro 2022), which lack a wh-word, pattern in ways parallel to bare nouns in the respective languages. We also demonstrate that HRCs headed by a wh-word—i.e., FRs—diverge from bare nouns; they pattern similarly to one another across the languages under investigation, and in ways similar to what has been reported for FRs crosslinguistically. We provide evidence that there is a dedicated FR type-shifter (FR-ι) used as a post-syntactic mechanism to repair a type-mismatch at the CP level, building on work by Caponigro (2004). Our novel contribution is that this type-shifter is available regardless of the presence or absence of other type-shifters in a language. This paper adds new data to our understanding of the range and applicability of different definiteness-related type-shifters as well as captures certain typological tendencies regarding HRCs.

Preschool Mandarin-speaking children’s comprehension of associative anaphora

Associative anaphora refers to a discourse operation that links a definite determiner phrase (DP) to an antecedent that acts as an indirect referent of the definite DP. For example, in the sequence ‘I bought a laptop. The keyboard was black’, the definite DP ‘the keyboard’ is linked to ‘a laptop’, meaning ‘the keyboard of the laptop’. The development of children’s knowledge of associative anaphora has long been investigated in child language research, as it provides a unique window into the interaction between linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive abilities. However, most prior research focused on Indo-European languages without looking at typologically distinct languages. To fill the gap, this study investigated children’s knowledge of associative anaphora in Mandarin Chinese, a typologically distinct language, thus allowing for a better cross-linguistic understanding of the phenomenon. Ninety-one 3- to 5-year-olds were investigated using a truth-value judgment task. The findings were that Mandarin-speaking children exhibited a similar developmental trajectory and were impacted by the same cognitive factors as observed in children speaking Indo-European languages. The implications of the findings were then discussed in relation to the role of processing factors and language-specific properties.

Exploring the Temporal Expressions in Chinese from the Linguistics Perspectives

Chinese offers an intriguing linguistic terrain for temporal expressions that is vastly distinct from many Indo-European languages, which use verb conjugation structures for this purpose. This paper delves deep into China's nuanced temporal nuances, exploring their implications on time delineation using uninflected verbs. Focusing on contextual clues, adverbs, particles and sentence structure we observe the interaction among these components that ensure clarity and precision when conveying temporal information. Notably, temporal adverbs such as "Gang Gang" and "Gang Cai", when used with aspect markers, create layers of temporal ambiguity which underline how language's inherent flexibility relies on shared contextual understanding. By conducting a comprehensive analysis of Chinese temporal expressions, this paper highlights the adaptability of languages, as well as their mutually reinforcing relationship between grammar and pragmatics, and culture and cognition in communicating time's complexity.

KONTRASTIVNA ANALIZA UPOTREBE ČLANOVA SA ANTROPONIMIMA U ALBANSKOM I ENGLESKOM JEZIKU

This paper undertakes a comparative examination of the usage of articles within the contexts of Albanian and English languages, focusing particularly on anthroponyms ‒ personal names, surnames, and nicknames. Employing a contrastive analysis methodology, the study presents a selection of examples to illustrate the syntactic nuances of article usage with anthroponyms in both languages. Through extracted instances from grammatical literature, the analysis not only delineates the degree of equivalence but also elucidates fundamental characteristics governing the use of articles. The study aims to elucidate the distinct roles and functions of articles in anthroponymic constructions, which exhibit notable disparities between Albanian, an isolate language within the indo-european language family and English, a Germanic language. While syntactic norms and the inherent functions of anthroponyms contribute to these disparities, there are discernible semantic similarities between the two languages in terms of the determinative values of anthroponomic phrases. This research sheds light on the intricate interplay between syntax, semantics, and pragmatics in shaping article usage within anthroponymic structures.

From coordination to subordination and back again: multiclausal causal constructions in Indo-European languages

From coordination to subordination and back again: multiclausal causal constructions in Indo-European languages

Machine Learning-Based Prediction Models for Cognitive Decline Progression: A Comparative Study in Multilingual Settings Using Speech Analysis.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a condition commonly associated with dementia. Therefore, early prediction of progression from MCI to dementia is essential for preventing or alleviating cognitive decline. Given that dementia affects cognitive functions like language and speech, detecting disease progression through speech analysis can provide a cost-effective solution for patients and caregivers. In our study, we examined spontaneous speech (SS) and written Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scores from a 60-patient dataset obtained from the Mugla University Dementia Outpatient Clinic (MUDC) and a 153-patient dataset from the Alzheimer's Dementia Recognition through Spontaneous Speech (ADRess) challenge. Our study, for the first time, analyzed the impact of audio features extracted from SS in distinguishing between different degrees of cognitive impairment using both an Indo-European language and a Turkic language, which exhibit distinct word order, agglutination, noun cases, and grammatical markers. When each machine learning model was tested on its respective trained language, we attained a 95% accuracy using the random forest classifier on the ADRess dataset and a 94% accuracy on the MUDC dataset employing the multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network algorithm. In our second experiment, we evaluated the effectiveness of each language-specific machine learning model on the dataset of the other language. We achieved accuracies of 72% for English and 76% for Turkish, respectively. These findings underscore the cross-language potential of audio features for automated tracking of cognitive impairment progression in MCI patients, offering a convenient and cost-effective option for clinicians or patients.

ІНДОЄВРОПЕЙСЬКЕ КОРІННЯ ЯЗИЧНИЦЬКИХ БОЖЕСТВ СХІДНИХ СЛОВ’ЯН

The article reveals that the pagan deities of European nations come from more ancient images – the deities of the Indo-Europeans. ItIt is known that along with the disintegration of the Indo-European language community into smaller language families and languages, images of Indo-European deities continued to exist, spread and change. Nevertheless, several main deities were identified in which Indo-Europeans believed: the Heavenly Father – the main deity, the Thunderer God – the god of the warriors, the God of Earthly Forces – the god of the underworld, wealth and abundance, the Great Goddess, the River Goddess and the Wild Deity. Furthermore, the information about the pagan deities of the Eastern Slavs: Perun, Veles, Stribog, Veles, Khors, Dazhbog, Svarog, Simargl and Mokosh, was analyzed in order to reveal similar features with Indo-European deities. During the analysis, it was found that Perun is the same Thunder God. In turn, the Eastern Slavs have Strybog as their Heavenly Father, and Veles is the God of Earthly forces. At the same time, there are reasons to believe that Khors, Dazhbog, and Svarog were formed during the Iranian influence on the Proto-Slavs in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Regarding Simargl and Mokosh, we can state that we do not have enough information to confidently state that or other origin of these deities. However, we assume that Mokosh is a Indo-European River Goddess, and Simargl is the so-called «Wild Deity». The study concluded that the Indo-European language community believed in several deities before its disintegration: the Heavenly Father, the God of Thunder, the God of Earthly Forces, the Great Goddess, the River Goddess and the Wild Deity. Later on, their images changed along with the process of settlement and development of new languages. In the case of the Eastern Slavs, these deities appeared as Stribog, Perun, Veles. At the same time, it was found out that some of the deities: Khors, Dazhbog, Svarog were formed as a result of Slavic-Iranian contacts. About the last considered deities: Simargla and Mokosh, tthere is insufficient information to assert a certain origin of these deities.

Walter Belardi lessicografo, ladino e non solo

Although Walter Belardi did not publish real dictionaries except for a Basic ­dictionary of applied informatics (2000), his work in the fields of lexicography and lexicology is extremely extensive. It stretches from the ancient Indo-European languages to the Romance languages, with specific attention paid to Sella Ladin, notably Gardenese. While tracing the path of Belardi’s lexicographical research, anyone will find reason to be fascinated. This article tries to follow Belardi’s itinerary up to its last stage – the books on Armenian –, looking for a focal point of a research while driven by untamed curiosity.

ОБ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИИ "НАСТОЯЩЕГО ИСТОРИЧЕСКОГО" (PRAESENS HISTORICUM) ВРЕМЕНИ В ИСЛАНДСКИХ САГАХ

The article examines the phenomenon of alternation of tenses in the Icelandic sagas, or more precisely, the inclusion into a narrative of past events, as the sagas are, along with the normal forms of the past tense, forms of the so-called “present historical”. This practice is not an exclusive feature of the Old Icelandic language but is found in Indo-European languages of different historical eras and geographical locations. Saga scholars, whose works are discussed here, have paid much attention to this phenomenon and put forward numerous interpretations of this narrative mode, both grammatical and stylistic. The author of the article adheres to the view that the alternation of tenses was so extensively used by the saga authors because it enabled them, within the framework of the stylistic objectivity inherent in the saga genre, to make the narrative more lively and emotional, as if the events described were happening before the eyes of their listeners/readers.