Syllable Length Research Articles

Investigation of comparative Nonword repetition performance in multiple sclerosis: Group differences, subtype variations, and disability effects

This study investigated Nonword Repetition (NWR) tasks in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) compared to healthy controls (HC), focusing on phonological working memory (WMP). Significant differences were found in NWR acurracy (NWRacc) score between MS subgroups and HC (H = 48.2, p < 0.001). NWRacc decreased as the number of syllables increased in both groups, indicating increased cognitive load. All MS subtypes showed lower NWRacc compared to HC across varying syllable lengths (Mann Whitney U Test: two syllables U = 64.5, p < 0.001; three syllables U = 183, p < 0.001; four syllables U = 248, p < 0.001; five syllables U = 283.5, p < 0.001). However, no significant differences were found within MS subtypes based on syllable length. NWRacc did not differ between mild and severe MS groups. Overall, the NWR test effectively assessed WMP in MS, highlighting its utility in diagnosing and addressing language-cognitive challenges in individuals with MS. This underscores the importance of tailored intervention strategies to mitigate these challenges.

Word Learning in Arabic Diglossia in Children With Typical Language Development and Developmental Language Disorder.

Word learning requires the creation of phonological and semantic representations and links in long-term memory. Phonological distance of a given word from the spoken language affects children's lexical-phonological representations and processing. The study investigates the role of the phonological distance of Modern Standard Arabic (StA) words from the child's Spoken Arabic (SpA) vernacular in word learning in Arabic diglossia. It also examines whether, given their vulnerable phonological skills, children with developmental language disorder (DLD) show a stronger impact of phonological distance on word learning than children with typical language development (TLD). One hundred children with TLD and DLD in kindergarten and in first grade (25 per group) were tested on comprehension and production word-learning probes manipulating phonological distance. Learning monosyllabic and disyllabic nonwords encoding only SpA phonemes was compared with the learning of parallel nonwords encoding one unique StA consonant each. Repeated-measures analyses of variance showed higher word learning scores in children with TLD on both probes and for both syllable lengths. Moreover, all children fared significantly lower, in both comprehension and production probes, when the target stimulus was phonologically distant from the spoken language. Finally, an interaction effect was observed on the production probes, revealing differences in the developmental dynamics of phonological distance effects between the groups: Phonological distance hindered word learning among children with TLD in kindergarten, but among children with DLD in the first grade. The results support the role of phonological distance as a phonological complexity factor in word learning in Arabic diglossia. Furthermore, they show that the effect of phonological distance is complex and it interacts with modality, language aptitude, and grade level. The theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Exploring vowel errors produced in nonword repetition in children with speech and language disorders.

Accurate nonword repetition (NWR) is contingent on many underlying skills, including encoding, memory and motor planning and programming. Though vowel errors are frequently associated with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), several recent studies have found that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) produce high rates of vowel errors in NWR tasks. This retrospective analysis explored whether the overall frequency and types of vowel errors produced in NWR distinguish children with DLD, children with CAS, children with speech sound disorder (SSD) and children with typical development (TD). We present data for 24 children (six per DLD, CAS, SSD and TD groups), ranging in age from 50-92 months. Children with DLD, CAS and SSD showed similar articulation scores and children with DLD and children with CAS showed similar expressive language scores. Total vowel errors, total monophthong errors, monophthong substitutions, diphthongization errors, total diphthong errors, diphthong substitutions and diphthong reduction errors were calculated by syllable length and group. Repeated measures analyses of variance were used to examine group differences. Children with DLD and children with CAS produced a higher frequency of total vowel errors compared to children with TD. Children with DLD produced more total monophthong errors than children with TD. Children with DLD and children with CAS produced more total diphthong errors than children with TD. For children with DLD, these were characterised by diphthong substitutions. For children with CAS, these were characterised by diphthong substitutions and diphthong reduction errors. For all measures, error rates in children with SSD did not significantly differ from any of the other three groups. Preliminary evidence indicates that children with DLD and children with CAS both show high rates of vowel errors in NWR tasks and weaknesses in encoding and memory. For children with CAS, additional motor planning difficulties are associated with an increased likelihood to reduce diphthongs. Children with SSD show more mild processing difficulties than children with DLD and children with CAS, though they do not perform as well as TD peers. Future work should replicate and further specify the processing weaknesses that affect vowel accuracy in NWR tasks in a larger sample. What is already known on the subject Nonword repetition (NWR) tasks are often included in diagnostic batteries to identify children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Poor performance on these tasks have historically been attributed to phonological working memory deficits in children with DLD. However, repeating nonwords relies on a number of underlying processing skills and many of these skills are affected to varying degrees in children with speech and language disorders. An in-depth analysis of vowel errors has the potential to reveal the shared as well as specific underlying processing weaknesses in children with DLD, children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and children with speech sound disorder (SSD). What this paper adds to existing knowledge We found that children with DLD and children with CAS show low vowel competence compared to children with typical development. A nuanced examination of vowel error types further revealed that children with DLD and children with CAS show weaknesses in encoding and memory. Motor planning and programming weaknesses were unique to CAS. Children with SSD show more mild processing deficits and their performance did not significantly differ from any of the other three groups. What are the clinical implications of this work? Examining the types of vowel errors produced by children with DLD, children with CAS and children with SSD in NWR allows us to further specify the underlying processing weaknesses that differentiate these three groups. This research informs theoretical accounts of language processing in children with different types of speech and language disorders and has the potential to improve the diagnostic utility of NWR tasks.

Patient-friendliness of ChatGPT responses: NSCLC targeted therapy.

231 Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) targeted therapies are complex, often requiring extensive patient education beyond what can be conveyed in a single provider visit. Given the average US reading level is at the 8th grade, and many patients seek additional information online, it is vital to evaluate the readability of online resources. This study aims to determine the patient friendliness of information provided by AI chatbots like ChatGPT in explaining NSCLC targeted therapies compared to other commonly accessed sources. Methods: This analysis included targeted therapies approved by the FDA for EGFR-mutated NSCLC: Afatinib, Erlotinib, Osimertinib, Dacomitinib, and Gefitinib. Information sources included ChatGPT 4, ChatGPT 3.5, the Patient Information section of the FDA label, and the Google featured snippet. Each version of ChatGPT was queried 10 times for each individual therapy – “My doctor is suggesting starting therapy with (Drug Name). What can I expect with this medication?”. All responses, labels, and snippets were examined by Microsoft Word for word count (WC) and Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), which considers average sentence length and number of syllables per word to assess readability. Data analysis was performed using ANOVA in SAS. Results: Across all therapies, Mean FRES for ChatGPT 4 was 31.21, ChatGPT 3.5 26.69, FDA labels 50.78, and Google snippets 33.1. Mean WC for ChatGPT 4 was 312.54, ChatGPT 3.5 355.78, FDA labels 1220, and Google snippets 42. Significant differences in FRES were found among sources for Afatinib (p-value &lt;0.0001), Erlotinib (p-value 0.0206), Osimertinib (p-value &lt;0.0001), Dacomitinib (p-value 0.0125), and Gefitinib (p-value &lt;0.0001). Significant differences in WC were also found among sources for Afatinib (p-value &lt;0.0001), Erlotinib (p-value &lt;0.0001), Osimertinib (p-value &lt;0.0001), and Gefitinib (p-value 0.0045). No significant difference in WC was found for Dacomitinib (p-value 0.2807). Conclusions: While the FDA label provided the most readable information, none of the sources aligned with the average 8th-grade reading level in the US, indicating a gap in accessible patient education for NSCLC targeted therapies. Notably, readability varies significantly between ChatGPT versions, affecting accessibility for users of the free version, ChatGPT 3.5. Although ChatGPT responses are more succinct compared to the verbose FDA labels, their higher education-level readability presents a barrier to comprehension. This study highlights the need for further research into optimizing AI-generated patient education materials to be both accurate and comprehensible at appropriate reading levels, thereby improving health communication strategies.

Reflections of Chinese character culture in nomenclature: A quantitative linguistic and geolinguistic examination of five-star hotel names in China

This study investigates the names of 801 five-star hotels across the Chinese mainland, quantitatively analyzing syllable length, geographical names (city and province names), and common terms within six regions and thirty-one provinces. The research aims to elucidate the lexical characteristics evident in the names of these luxury hotels from a geolinguistic perspective, thus offering insights into China’s linguistic culture. The analysis revealed that the prevalence of five-star hotels correlates significantly with economic size and geographical location. Notable regional differences were observed in the usage of syllable counts and geographical names, with marked distinctions between the north and south, and more subtle variations between the east and west. The employment of city names was particularly prominent. The term jiudian 酒店 emerged as the most frequently used common term, especially in the Central South and Northwest, while fandian 飯店 was more commonly used in the Southwest, North China, and Northeast. Additionally, a diverse array of common terms characterized the nomenclature in the East China region.

Factors associated with nonword repetition skills in 4-to 6-year-old deaf and hard-of-hearing and typically hearing children

ABSTRACT Children identified as deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) exhibit an increased risk of speech and language difficulties. Nonword repetition (NWR) is a potential tool for identifying language difficulties in children with limited experience with the target language. In this study, we explored associations between auditory, linguistic, demographic and cognitive factors and NWR performance in DHH children and their typically hearing (TH) peers. We also examined the effect of the group on NWR outcomes when different factors were statistically controlled for. Our study included 68 4- to 6-year-old children: 18 with bilateral hearing aids (BiHAs), 18 with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs) and 32 with TH. The participants completed the Finnish Nonword Repetition Test comprising 24 test items with varying syllable lengths. The assessment methods also included tests of phonological, lexical, language comprehension and sentence repetition skills, along with a measure of nonverbal intelligence. The results showed that none of the auditory, linguistic, demographic and cognitive factors examined in the present study were correlated with NWR performance in the BiHA group, while significant correlations between NWR skills and linguistic abilities were observed in the BiCI group. The DHH children showed extraordinary difficulties in NWR compared to their TH peers, and these group differences remained after controlling for linguistic and demographic variables. The NWR task may be a potential clinical tool for identifying DHH children at risk for poor language outcomes and in need of speech and language intervention.

Phonological processing in Chinese word repetition: Dementia effect and age effect

ABSTRACT This paper examined phonological processing as reflected in Mandarin word and non-word repetition. Issues related to dementia effects, age effects, and linguistic variables are discussed. Forty-five speakers of Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan took part in this study. Fourteen seniors with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 14 healthy adults, and 17 healthy seniors individually completed a task of word repetition. Scores of accurate repetition were calculated, and error types as well as error frequency were analysed. Linguistic variables, including lexicality, frequency, non-word, and syllable length, were discussed. Major findings were indicative of a significant dementia effect, in which participants with AD were significantly impaired in repeating words with more syllables, specifically 5-syllable non-words of low frequency. Numerous significant age effects were noted. Theoretical implications and directions for future study are discussed.

Goal-directed and flexible modulation of syllable sequence within birdsong

Songs constitute a complex system of vocal signals for inter-individual communication in songbirds. Here, we elucidate the flexibility which songbirds exhibit in the organizing and sequencing of syllables within their songs. Utilizing a newly devised song decoder for quasi-real-time annotation, we execute an operant conditioning paradigm, with rewards contingent upon specific syllable syntax. Our analysis reveals that birds possess the capacity to modify the contents of their songs, adjust the repetition length of particular syllables and employing specific motifs. Notably, birds altered their syllable sequence in a goal-directed manner to obtain rewards. We demonstrate that such modulation occurs within a distinct song segment, with adjustments made within 10 minutes after cue presentation. Additionally, we identify the involvement of the parietal-basal ganglia pathway in orchestrating these flexible modulations of syllable sequences. Our findings unveil an unappreciated aspect of songbird communication, drawing parallels with human speech.

Stability Over Time of Word Syllable Duration for Speakers With Acquired Apraxia of Speech.

Neurogenic speech and language disorders-such as acquired apraxia of speech (AOS) and aphasia with phonemic paraphasia (APP)-are often misdiagnosed due to similarities in clinical presentation. Word syllable duration (WSD)-a measure of average syllable length in multisyllabic words-serves as a proxy for speech rate, which is an important and arguably more objective clinical characteristic of AOS and APP. This study reports stability of WSD over time for speakers with AOS (and aphasia). Twenty-nine participants with AOS and aphasia (11 women and 18 men, Mage = 53.5 years, SD = 13.3) repeated 30 multisyllabic words (of three-, four-, and five-syllable lengths) on three occasions across 4 weeks. WSDs were calculated for each word and then averaged across each list (i.e., word length), as well as across combined lists (i.e., all 30 words) to yield four WSDs for each participant at each time point. Stability over time was calculated using Friedman's test for the group and using Spearman's rho for the individual level. Effects of time and word length were examined using robust mixed-effects linear regression. Friedman's tests and correlations indicated no significant difference in WSDs across sampling occasions for each word length separately or combined. WSD correlated positively with AOS severity and negatively with intelligibility but was not correlated with aphasia severity. Regression analyses confirmed WSD to be stable over time, while WSD calculated from only five tokens (i.e., WSD-5) was less stable over time. Results indicate that WSD can be a stable measure over time, at the individual and group level, providing support for its use in diagnosis and/or as an outcome measure, both clinically and for research. In general, WSD outperformed WSD-5, suggesting that it may be better to calculate WSD from more than five tokens. Stability of WSD in other populations and suitability for differential diagnosis need to be determined. Currently, differentiating disorders by speaking rate, alone, is not recommended. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25438735.

Signal Smoothing and Syntactic Choices: A Critical Reflection on the UID Hypothesis.

The Smooth Signal Redundancy Hypothesis explains variations in syllable length as a means to more uniformly distribute information throughout the speech signal. The Uniform Information Density hypothesis seeks to generalize this to choices on all linguistic levels, particularly syntactic choices. While there is some evidence for the Uniform Information Density hypothesis, it faces several challenges, four of which are discussed in this paper. First, it is not clear what exactly counts as uniform. Second, there are syntactic alternations that occur systematically but that can cause notable fluctuations in the information signature. Third, there is an increasing body of negative results. Fourth, there is a lack of large-scale evidence. As to the fourth point, this paper provides a broader array of data-936 sentence pairs for nine syntactic constructions-and analyzes them in a test setup that treats the hypothesis as a classifier. For our data, the Uniform Information Density hypothesis showed little predictive capacity. We explore ways to reconcile our data with theory.

Investigation of the Change in the Features of Turkish Items in the High School Entrance System 2018-2022

aim of this study is to examine in detail the structural features of the Turkish items in the High School Entrance System (LGS), which was first implemented in 2018, and to determine the changes in these features over the years. In this descriptive survey study, the changes in test difficulty, discrimination, and internal consistency of a total of 100 Turkish items in the LGS administered in 2018-2022 were examined first. Then, the textual (sentence, word, and syllable length; readability), contextual (visuality, meaning of the item stem, common stem) and purpose features (content domain, text type) of the items were determined and the changes in these features over the years were examined. As a result of the study, it was determined that the test difficulty of the LGS Turkish test decreased over the years; in other words, the items became more difficult over time. Although there was no general change in the test discrimination of the test, it was determined that there was a general decrease in the test discrimination of the test. In the study, it was also determined that the item lengths varied over the years and the average length of the test increased over the years. The texts in the items were mostly composed of informative texts; poetry and narrative texts were not included in the items in some years.

In the Echoes of Guarani: Exploring the Intonation of Statements in Paraguayan Spanish

This explorative study examines intonation contours in neutral and non-neutral statements of Paraguayan Spanish, a variety shaped by extensive contact with Guarani, a co-official language of Paraguay. Paraguayan Spanish displays both lexical and syntactic borrowings from Guarani, along with innovative intonation patterns not found in other Spanish varieties. Previous but still limited research on yes/no and wh-questions in this variety suggests the emergence of a unique intonational system, possibly of a hybrid nature, in both Spanish monolinguals and Spanish–Guarani bilinguals. To date, no comprehensive description of intonation patterns in Paraguayan Spanish statements exists. The present study addresses this gap by analyzing data obtained through a Discourse Completion Task, covering broad-focus statements, contrastive focus, exclamatives, and statements of the obvious. Data were collected in 2014 from two monolingual speakers, eleven bilingual Spanish-dominant speakers, and eight bilingual Guarani-dominant speakers. The intonation is formalized using the Autosegmental–Metrical model of intonational phonology and the Spanish Tones and Break Indices labeling system. The findings reveal three main realizations of nuclear accents (L+H*, H+L*, and innovative &gt;H+L*) in neutral and non-neutral declarative sentences, lengthening of syllables, diverse syntactical strategies, and lexical borrowings. The study contributes to the understanding of a lesser-studied Spanish variety and offers insights into theoretical aspects of contact linguistics.

Appropriate Syllable Length and its Fixation of Consecutive CV Syllables－3- Syllable and 4-Syllable Words May as be the Basis for Mastering Special Syllable－

&lt;p&gt;正確、流利的使用日語乃是所有外國人學習日語的目標。然而，以中文為母語的日語學習者（以下簡稱CNJ）對於五十音無法熟記等問題亦時有所聞。此問題恐與CNJ發話時日語的CV音節過長有關。該如何有效解決此問題乃當務之急。因此，本研究是以6名的CNJ與3名東京腔的日語母語者(以下簡稱JN)為對象，運用日語音聲的特徵以輕聲無義詞來指導，加以確認CNJ是否可利用連續的短CV音節發出日語適當的音節長。通過本實驗研究，比較CNJ（指導前後）和JN的差異，針對單詞、詞語、短句發話中的3音節和4音節無義詞，分析其是否可正確區分CV音節長度。研究結果顯示，指導前CNJ的3音節與4音節的音節長度分布與JN之間具有顯著差異，且音節的高低傾向與JN的音長伸縮率也呈現出差異性。然而，經筆者指導後，CNJ與JN之間的差異已不復見。換言之，我們認為與JN相近之CV音節長度，如在日語音節長度記憶的時間範圍內，則可視為連續短CV音節的日語發話基礎已確立。由此可見，以連續輕聲音節為主的無義詞為基準，並記住日語連續短CV音節長度，足以產出適當的音節長度，得知通過一連串的指導可盡早學習到日語的正確發音。日語連續短CV音節發話基礎的確立，是為解決CNJ與JN的CV音節長度認知差異的有效方法。另，掌握對立長音節間的語音差異，對日語特殊節拍的學習效果亦具一定成效。&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Accurate and fluent linguistic performance is the goal of language acquisition for foreign learners of Japanese. However, some native Chinese learners (hereinafter referred to as CNJ) complain that they cannot memorize the Japanese syllabary. This is related to the excessively long CV syllables of Japanese produced by CNJ, and prompt resolution of this issue is required.In this research, from the viewpoint of whether it is possible to reproduce the appropriate syllable length by short CV syllables using the meaningless words of 0 tone syllables. As a quasi-experimental study, using the three-syllable and four-syllable test words, including words, phrases, and short sentences by 6 CNJs and 3 native speakers of Tokyo dialect (hereafter referred to as JN) to conduct an experiment.As a result, the syllable length of CNJ (before instruction) for both three-syllable and four-syllable words was significantly more than JN and was also shown in the difference in expansion and contraction rate of syllable length from JN. But after instruction, no significant difference observed, which is close to JN. It shows that the basis of Japanese utterances based on consecutive short CV syllables has already been established.It was confirmed that it is possible to produce an appropriate syllable length by recalling the points of continuous short CV syllables of Japanese, based on meaningless words with continuous o tone syllables. Establishment of the base of utterances by consecutive short CV syllables of Japanese is a standard for resolving discrepancies in CV syllable lengths and grasping the phonetic differences between long syllables. It is also expected to serve as a basis for mastering special syllable.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

The Impact of Stimulus Length in Tongue and Lip Movement Pattern Stability in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of stimulus signal length on tongue and lip motion pattern stability in speakers diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared to healthy controls. Electromagnetic articulography was used to derive articulatory motion patterns from individuals with mild (n = 27) and severe (n = 16) ALS and healthy controls (n = 25). The spatiotemporal index (STI) was used as a measure of articulatory stability. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate signal length effects on the STI: (a) the effect of the number of syllables on STI values and (b) increasing lengths of subcomponents of a single phrase. Two-way mixed analyses of variance were conducted to assess the effects of syllable length and group on the STI for the tongue tip (TT), tongue back (TB), and lower lip (LL). Experiment 1 showed a significant main effect of syllable length (TT, p < .001; TB, p < .001; and LL, p < .001) and group (TT, p = .037; TB, p = .007; and LL, p = .017). TB and LL stability was generally higher with speech stimuli that included a greater number of syllables. Articulatory variability was significantly higher in speakers diagnosed with ALS compared to healthy controls. Experiment 2 showed a significant main effect of length (TT, p < .001; TB, p = .015; and LL, p < .001), providing additional support that STI values tend to be greater when calculated on longer speech signals. Articulatory stability is influenced by the length of speech signals and manifests similarly in both healthy speakers and persons with ALS. TT stability may be significantly impacted by phonemic content due to greater movement flexibility. Compared to healthy controls, there was an increase in articulatory variability in those with ALS, which likely reflects deviations in speech motor control. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24463924.

On the nature of Tone 4 alternation in Taiwan Mandarin: Insights from acoustic analysis of trisyllabic right-branching word productions

Tone 4 (T4) alternations refer to the phenomenon where the tone values of a T4 syllable reduces from ‘51' to ‘53' when it is followed by another T4 syllable in Mandarin Chinese. It is inconclusive if the nature of T4 alternations is tone sandhi (an abstract phonological rule) (Chao, 1948; Jang, 2021) or tonal coarticulation (an articulatory phenomenon in speech production) (Lin, 20007; Shen, 1990). The current study invited 30 Taiwan Mandarin speakers to produce 10 pairs of right-branching trisyllabic words, including sequences of [T4[T4-T4]] (e.g., dà diàn shì 'big television') and [T4[T4-Tone1]] syllables (e.g., dà diàn jiā ‘big store'). The T4 sandhi view predicted that the surface tone values of the first syllables in these two sequences would differ (“51i” vs. “53”), while the T4 coarticulation view predicted that the tone values would be the same (“53”). Results from the acoustic analysis on fundamental frequency (f0) contour, f0 slope and vowel length of the first T4 syllables indicated that the differences were not statistically significant. These results supported the tonal coarticulation view. Discussions pertaining to the mental grammar for the tone value distances of two adjacent T4 syllables and the typology of tonal coarticulation in Mandarin Chinese are formulated.

Word Length in Chinese: The Menzerath-Altmann Law is Valid After All

ABSTRACT According to the Menzerath-Altmann law, longer language constructs consist, on average, of shorter constituents. It is most often studied at the level of words and syllables (the mean syllable length gets shorter with the increasing word length). Its validity at this level was corroborated in several languages. However, it was claimed that Chinese is an exception with respect to the validity of the Menzerath-Altmann law. We show that the law is valid if word types are considered, while the behaviour of word tokens is different. This difference can be explained by the fact that the Zipf law of abbreviation is valid not only for words but also for syllables (shorter syllables are used more frequently).

Developmental patterns of non-word repetition by monolingual and bilingual school-aged children

Purpose The present study examines cross-sectional trends in performance on a quasi-universal non-word repetition (NWR) task. It also considers whether NWR performance is dependent on levels of exposure to a language and compares the performance of bilingual children across their two languages. Method A cross-sectional design was employed. The English and French quasi-universal NWR tasks, featuring stimuli from two to five syllables in length, was administered to Canadian school-aged monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals: those who encountered their second language in early childhood and those who encountered their second language at school entry. Result When evaluated in English, the early-exposure bilinguals produced significantly fewer errors than the school-entry exposure bilinguals and the English monolingual groups. When evaluated in French, the early-exposure bilinguals and the French monolinguals produced significantly fewer errors than the school-entry exposure bilinguals. Compared across languages, the French monolinguals produced fewer errors on the French version of the NWR task than the English monolinguals did on the English version of the same task. In both languages and across all analyses, the youngest age group (7–8 years) produced more errors than the two older groups (9–10 years and 11–12 years). Conclusion The quasi-universal NWR task showed sensitivity to improvements from 7 to 11 years of age in English and up to 9 years of age in French. Better performance in French may be due to the relatively greater frequency of multisyllabic words in that language. The development and use of this particular NWR task with monolinguals and bilinguals—in both of their languages—contribute to a deeper understanding of quasi-universal NWR performance in typically developing children.

The Development of a Poetic Tradition. A Study of a Dutch Renaissance Poetry Corpus

The present paper introduces a corpus of Dutch Renaissance poetry which was automatically annotated by using neural networks. The analysis of the annotations provides a clear picture of the process of implementing the new poetic form into Dutch poetic tradition, and of its different stages. The development of iambic metre was a gradual process that required various attempts; this can be well observed when comparing Dutch poems from a 100 year time window. While syllabic instances can be observed among the first attempts, most of the earlier poems are not isosyllabic and have a rather varied syllable length. This study shows that isosyllabicity developed together with iambicity. Finally, automatic poetry annotation allows for testing and validating theoretical hypotheses and for investigating literary questions with the aid of large amount of data.

Open syllable lengthening and diphthongisation in Upper Middle High German: evidence from verse

Despite a long history of scholarly interest, the relative chronologies (and even origins) of open syllable lengthening (OSL) and the diphthongisation of the Middle High German (MHG) high vowels remain unclear. This paper, drawing on orthographic evidence from a thirteenth-century Parzival MS, St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 857, provides new insights into these two key changes. The changes either maintained or increased the quantity of stressed vowels, leading to a net increase in the quantity of stressed syllables in MHG. Diphthongisation simply altered the segmental quality of already long monophthongs; only OSL increased the quantity of the vowels it affected. This paper argues that OSL was not a feature of the South Bavarian dialect of Cod. 857’s Hand III, although his dialect had certainly undergone diphthongisation. It is difficult to reconcile this picture with claims by Penzl, Kranzmayer and Wiesinger that OSL was present throughout the Bavarian dialect area by 1200. This paper challenges claims that diphthongisation was triggered by OSL via a phonological push-chain, maintaining that the two changes were independent. It is furthermore suggested that the scribe is uninterested in marking vocalic quantity, which—in the absence of OSL—was still consistent across inflexional paradigms. Instead, he uses the circumflex “length marker” to indicate diphthongal quality. The scribes’ dialect thus represents a key turning point: diphthongisation was well progressed, but OSL had yet to occur.

Bio-inspired camouflage communication in air imitating birds songs

Radio communication is the most common means of communication nowadays, however, radio interference technology is becoming mature. Once radio communications are disrupted in the forest, people would be left in a passive position without any effective communication method. Sound is an also effective carrier of information. To realize effective communication in the forest environment, we proposed a bio-inspired camouflage communication strategy(BCCS) by imitating bird songs and took the Verditer Flycatcher as an example to demonstrate the feasibility of BCCS. We proposed a compound characteristics grouping coding method based on the tree structure to divide syllables into 32 feature groups. And five time–frequency(T-F) characteristics of syllables were extracted as grouping layers: syllable length, average frequency, frequency trend, the standard deviation of global frequency, and the difference of local frequency standard deviations. Then the correlation was used as the unique identification of a syllable within the group. Syllables in the feature group were screened to ensure high autocorrelation and low cross-correlation, which are the key basis in decoding. Each individual syllable can encode 8 bits of binary information through compound characteristics coding and correlation coding. Since the communication sequence is completely composed of the original bird songs and follows the regularities of distribution, BCCS has a good camouflage ability. Experiments were carried out to verify the feasibility and camouflage ability of BCCS in the forest environment.