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Studies on the transcriptional repressor LsrR and its potential interaction with DHAP
No full textBoth Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria use cell-to-cell communication to regulate a variety of multicellular functions such as bioluminescence, biofilm formation, and virulence. This process, termed quorum-sensing, requires the synthesis and recognition ofhormone-like molecules called autoinducers. A particular autoinducer, autoinducer 2 (AI-2), is synthesized and recognized by many species of bacteria. This study focuses on the binding properties of the protein LsrR: a transcriptional repressor of the lsr operon, which is regulated by AI-2. Previous research has suggested that dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP), a key metabolite, interacts directly with LsrR to repress transcription of the lsr operon. Here I report an optimized purification protocol for an N-terminal truncated version of LsrR (C-LsrR), attempt to crystallize C-LsrR, and begin to develop protocols to assess potential binding between C-LsrR and DHAP. Our initial approach of using intrinsic tyrosine fluorescence to quantify binding based on the protein's conformational changes was more difficult than expected. We then used a DHAP Assay Kit to measure unbound DHAP in solution before and after exposure to C-LsrR. Both methods seemed promising but need improvement before they will yield conclusive results
On the River, On the Road: Lower Mississippi Peddlers and their Judaism, 1820-1865
No full textScholars who study the Jews of the Southern United States often struggle to understand how Jewish identity affected the way in which Jews presented themselves, the way in which outsiders viewed them, and the extent to which they felt integrated into society. Many scholars believe that Jewish religious practice was not just adapted, but sacrificed, as part of the process of integration into Southern life and culture. Looking specifically at the region of the Lower Mississippi, this thesis offers a different approach to understanding Judaism in the context of adaptation and integration. This thesis begins with a historical review of the role of Jews as merchants in the United States and how social and economic factors in the early and mid-19th century encouraged their entry into American society as peddlers, creating the "typical peddler profile. More specifically, the thesis examines why the Lower Mississippi was a unique and advantageous setting during this time period for Jewish merchants. This thesis argues that in the Lower Mississippi during the early and mid-19th century, Jewish religious practices and spaces were not sacrificed, but rather reconceptualized. Judaism became integrated into the merchant profession, manifested through economic and familial networks that allowed Jews to practice their Judaism even in the most remote of locales. Judaism was also intertwined with the liminal position of Jews within Lower Mississippian society: not black, yet not seen as fully white, allowing Jews to sell to a customer base that was both black and white. With their economic and familial networks and adaptive Jewish practices, the Jews of the Lower Mississippi were able to become fully participating, though distinct, members of the larger society while maintaining a form of Judaism
Perspectives on Language Endangerment: Zapotec Community Members Navigate the Future of their Language
No full textAlthough the empirical process of language loss has been well documented\ud
through statistical analysis and population demographics, the personal narratives of the\ud
individuals who speak these dying languages are rarely taken into account. In order to\ud
learn more about the personal and emotional effects of language loss, nineteen members\ud
of the Zapotec community were interviewed with two simple questions: "What is\ud
happening to your language?" and "What does your language mean to you?" Older\ud
speakers, who have lived through fines and jail time for publicly speaking Zapotec, often\ud
struggle with the grief and loneliness of being among the last generation of fluent\ud
Zapotec speakers. Meanwhile, pervasive negative stereotypes that dismiss indigenous\ud
languages as antiquated or unnecessary continue to alienate younger speakers. These\ud
obstacles do not seem to diminish the deeply personal relationship that many interviewed\ud
Zapotec speakers maintain in regards to their language, however. Often referring to their\ud
language as a nurturing, anchoring presence in their lives, Zapotec is regarded by many\ud
speakers in this collection of interviews as a family inheritance: a treasure passed from\ud
parents or grandparents. In the face of a rapidly globalizing world, where hegemonic\ud
languages like Spanish or English dominate, remaining speakers struggle to document not\ud
only individual Zapotec words, but also the unique local knowledge these words often\ud
encode.\ud
The process of documenting and preserving an endangered language often\ud
complicates the warm personal relationships many interviewees maintain with Zapotec.\ud
In particular, each speaker's strong familial and personal ties the language provoke\ud
questions about the appropriate role of technology in language preservation. Should\ud
Zapotec be shared with global audiences through Y outube or Facebook, or should it\ud
remain spoken in the local Oaxacan communities where it originated? The role of nonZapotec\ud
linguists and academics are intensely involved in this debate as well. Although\ud
linguists from outside of the community can bring with them access to resources, like\ud
talking dictionaries, that can broadcast Zapotec to wider audiences, the goals of academia\ud
are not always in accord with the wishes of the speaking community, particularly those\ud
members who value local autonomy over global accessibility. There are no easy answers\ud
for these debates. However, by embedding the interview of Zapotec community members\ud
directly into the text, this thesis seeks to allow Zapotec speakers the space to freely\ud
represent their own ideas with minimal academic bias. It is clear from this testimony that,\ud
in order to be most effective, all language preservation efforts must be led primarily by\ud
native speakers. While there is still much work to be done to ensure that the voices of\ud
speakers of endangered languages are heard, the insightful comments in these interviews\ud
give academic linguists a place to start working
Headlines Explained
No full textThis week on War News Radio, Headlines: Explained. Reporters Haruka Ono, Anna Weber, and Sabrina Merold explain three headlines you may have seen in the news recently. They cover Taiwan's recent election, the Iran prisoner deal, and El Chapo's recent arrest. Have a listen
The Templatic Morphology of English Loan Verbs in Modern Hebrew
No full textThis thesis examines the phenomenon of English verbs borrowed into Modern Hebrew, and\ud
their integration into the Hebrew verbal system. Focusing on the difficulties which arise when\ud
borrowing from a stem-based language into a root-based language, I analyze my data using\ud
McCarthy's theory oftemplatic morphology (1989). 1 find that the vast majority of the verbs do\ud
not fall into any of the existing verbal templates in Hebrew, but rather select a different pattern,\ud
one which 1 argue is based on a historical version of the pi' el verbal template. Additionally, 1\ud
show that recognizability of the source in the Hebrew verb is a strong motivating factor in the\ud
borrowing process, and that to accommodate qualities of the source verb, the Hebrew template\ud
is acted on by natural phonetic processes, including metathesis
The Rabbit Hole of Fidelity: Trends for translating puns from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland into Russian
No full textThe notions of formal equivalence (fidelity to the text's linguistic aspects) and dynamic\ud
equivalence (fidelity to the text's effect on its reader) come to a critical intersection in the\ud
translation of puns, which convey both linguistic content and metalinguistic effects to the reader.\ud
This study analyzes the shifting relationship between formal and dynamic equivalence in the\ud
translation of what are called syntagmatic homonym (specifically homophone) puns from\ud
English into Russian, using data from four Russian translations of Lewis Carroll's Alice's\ud
Adventures in Wonderland. I posit that pun translation can be analyzed as involving three steps:\ud
the translator selects how many senses to maintain, the target language's structure determines\ud
available linguistic forms for the pun, and the translator implements individual stylistics. For\ud
Russian in particular, I predict which forms and what levels of graphemic and/or phonetic\ud
correspondence translated puns will exhibit, based on how many senses the translator selects to\ud
maintain. Lastly, I suggest that some pervasive trends exist for pun translation into Russian, such\ud
as the prevalence of homonymous roots and a preference for incorporating derivational\ud
morphology into puns prior to inflectional morphology. These trends suggest that some effects of\ud
Russian's linguistic structure may transcend a translator's individual preference in determining\ud
how puns are translated
Intraspeaker Variation: Stop Devoicing in Elderly Black Speakers
No full textThe current study looks at intraspeaker variation in the usage of final stop devoicing in\ud
elderly speakers of African American Vernacular English. The speakers were interviewed\ud
in one-on-one situations and a group-style situation. The results indicated that\ud
participants used final stop devoicing significantly more when they were in a group\ud
interview than when they were in a one-on-one interview. In addition to these findings,\ud
one of the speakers exhibited apparent differences between quoted speech and speech "as\ud
self." However, upon analysis, the difference in usage of final devoicing by itself was not\ud
statistically significant. While the feature alone may not be statistically significant, it\ud
could be a part of a larger pattern that is significant. Finally, when confronted with\ud
questions about language attitudes, participants varied in apparent metalinguistic\ud
awareness, discussing educational status as being a factor in how they were treated earlier\ud
in life, with one participant asserting that they recognize situations where they need to\ud
"speak well," and change their speech accordingly
Spanish/English Codeswitching in Young Adult Novels
No full textCodeswitching is the alternation of two different languages or language\ud
varieties within a given sentence or conversation. Among fluent bilinguals,\ud
codeswitching can be used to carry pragmatic or socio-psychological information\ud
as well (Myers-Scotton, 1998, 22). I examine with both qualitative and\ud
quantitative means the syntactic, discourse, and socio-psychological roles played\ud
by Spanish/English codeswitching in two young adult novels and determine\ud
whether these vary by the ethnicity of the author and the intended audience.\ud
Quantitative analyses were performed by categorizing all codeswitches\ud
into syntactic categories and discourse functions. Qualitative analyses included\ud
both an analysis of the association of codes witching with narrative themes and\ud
analysis of individual instances of codeswitching via the Markedness Model.\ud
These two frameworks were used to analyze two different young adult novels\ud
featuring codeswitching by Mexican-American characters, one by and for\ud
Mexican-Americans and one by a Chinese American author with a wider intended\ud
audience As a result, most potential differences in the use of codeswitching by\ud
those with a different relationship to the wider community of Spanish/English\ud
bilinguals should be evident in these two works.\ud
Both the quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that the MexicanAmerican\ud
author, Isabel Quintero, codeswitched a wider range of discourse\ud
functions, a more evenly distributed set of syntactic categories, and connected this\ud
codeswitching to a wider range of themes than Stacey Lee. These results indicate\ud
that an author's first-hand experience in a speech community that practices\ud
codeswitching allows for a more nuanced and diverse representation of\ud
codeswitching in their fiction writing
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“The Greatest Woman in History since the Mother of God”: Global Catholic Community in Contemporary Efforts to Canonize Isabel of Castile
No full textThis paper emerges from a lacuna in the historiography of Isabel of Castile. Numerous studies explore the rituals, art works, and language employed by Isabel’s medieval supporters, by the Queen’s imperial grandson, by nineteenth century historians, and by Franco’s regime in midnineteenth- century Spain, with the aim of elevating Isabel to mythic status. Isabel’s pending saintly status, however, has received far less scholarly attention. Exploring a contemporary website (c. 2010) and magazine (1996-2010) dedicated to the cause of Isabel’s canonization, media I refer to collectively as Isabel, I seek to shed light on recent appropriations of the multivalent figure of Isabel. I argue that Isabel’s historic relationship to gendered discourses of bodily integrity versus bodily corruption; her reputation as a crusader and converter in the Reconquista of Iberia; and her signification as unifier of Spain and mother of the Americas are valences Isabel recycles at the service of its vision of ‘global Christendom.’ Isabel of Castile’s body becomes a metonym for one, indivisible Catholic Church and one, indivisible transnational family of humanity. Yet Isabel’s effort to produce an all-encompassing Catholicization of the world most prominently serves to demonstrate the factions within the Catholic Church and the impossibility of such a project of world unification. In this way, the call for canonization does not concern the connections between heaven and earth, alone, but also calls into question the politics of the material world