434 research outputs found
Ophthalmic segment of internal carotid artery aneurysm mimicking normal tension glaucoma.
No full textA 41-year-old caucasian male was referred to the Glaucoma clinic at our tertiary referral centre with a diagnosis of normal tension glaucoma after the finding of increased bilateral asymmetrical cup/disc ratios, with normal intraocular pressures. On examination, the authors confirmed the presence of bilateral reduced optic disc rims alongside a left pale residual rim, and a further discovered a positive dyschromatopsia with a bilateral visual field alteration. The left visual field showed a relative scotoma confined to the vertical midline. After initiating investigation for suspected glaucoma, the authors ordered a magnetic resonance imaging that evidenced an internal carotid aneurysm along the ophthalmic segment, stretching across the optic chiasm with a major involvement of the left optic nerve and partial involvement of the right optic nerve. Aneurysm embolisation was performed with complete resolution of signs and symptoms achieved 5 months post-operatively. Despite glaucoma being the most frequent condition causing optic disc atrophy and visual field loss, it is not the only cause. Any atypical visual field defect not in keeping with a glaucomatous field loss should be further investigated. The ophthalmologist should thoroughly assess all signs that could lead to different diagnosis
The role of language typology on L2 acquisition and learning, Special Issue
No full textThis special issue of the I-LanD Journal aims to explore the role of
language typology on second language acquisition (SLA) and learning.
The contributions to this special issue address the question as to
whether and in which ways typological contrasts of languages play a
crucial role in how events are expressed in adult second language (L2).
In this regard, Slobin (1996), by means of his Thinking for Speaking
hypothesis, argues that differences across languages predispose native
speakers to view and to talk about events differently and this seems to
have important consequences in discourse conceptualisation and
production even at very advanced levels of L2 proficiency.
Research on typological variation across languages has been
conducted for decades and important advances have been made in the
domain. For instance, it is well known that Germanic vs Romance
native speakers differ in the ways they conceptualise and verbalise
events. Consequently, speakers diverge in the preferred perspective
selected with respect to conceptual domains such as aspect, time,
motion, modality, both at the sentence level (von Stutterheim 2003)
and at discourse level (Klein/von Stutterheim 2002; Carroll/Lambert
2006) and this is partly due to the typological properties of languages.
Most studies show the challenges adult L2 learners face in restructuring
these patterns in the process of acquisition of another language with a
different set of patterns. This hard task for learners implies full or
partial crosslinguistic influence (CLI, cf. McManus 2022 for a more
recent overview). The latter, often used interchangeably with transfer
(cf. Odlin 1989, 2003, 2005), refers to the search for similarities/
differences between one’s prior linguistic knowledge (from the L1 or
any other previously acquired languages) and learning, knowledge
and use of the new language (Jarvis/Pavlenko 2010: 1). CLI is a key
component of the L2 learning process, and it seems particularly
relevant when learners try to map L2 words into the concepts of their
L1. In this sense, SLA can be seen as cognitive restructuring (HijazoGascón 2021: 2), since learners can experience a cognitive dissonance
between the L2 lexical items and the L1 notions. The question of
whether L1 typological properties may be transferred or not in the L2
discourse has been largely explored for the cognitive domains of time
(e.g. von Stutterheim 2003 for ongoingness vs boundness; McManus/
Marsden 2017, Giuliano/Anastasio 2021a for time and aspect) and
Introduction: The Role
of Language Typology
on L2 Acquisition and Learning
Simona Anastasio
University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France
[email protected]
Patrizia Giuliano
University of Naples ‘Federico II’, Italy
[email protected]
DOI: 10.26379/IL2022002_000
4 I-LanD Journal. The role of language typology on L2 acquisiti on and learning · n. 2/2022 · eISSN 2532-764X
Simona Anastasio - Patrizia Giuliano
space (e.g. Cadierno/Ruiz 2006; Hendriks et al. 2008; Carroll et al.
2012; Hijazo-Gascón 2021) and, to a lesser extent, for syntax (e.g.
Giuliano/Anastasio 2021b). More recently, research has also focused
on the co-speech gestures in the expression of events. As such, the
literature shows that the ways L2 learners’ gestures can reveal how
they keep on gesturing as in their L1 rather than in the L2 native-like
manner (e.g. Gullberg 2009; Stam 2018, 2023).
In spite of the evident role of inter-typological contrasts during the
process of SLA (along with other important variables such as the L2
input exposure, the L2 proficiency level, individual factors) in terms of
CLI, there is little research that focuses on the impact of intratypological variation, i.e. typological differences or similarities
between languages of the same type (except for Ibarretxe-Antuñano
2009, 2015; Anastasio 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). Additionally, the
impact of language typology is still far from being fully understood
and this is due to several reasons: a) native speakers’ preferences go
beyond the clear-cut typological classification when encoding the
intended message (Slobin 2006; von Stutterheim et al. 2009; Beavers
etal. 2010); b) most studies look at learners with an L1/L2 combination
belonging to different genetic and typological families and very few
consider the impact of the L1 when the learners’ languages in contact
are typologically close (except for Benazzo/Andorno 2017; Anastasio
2019, 2021, 2022; Saturno 2020; Hijazo-Gascón 2021) and can,
however, lack equivalent form-function categories.
This special issue brings together recent empirical research on
inter- and intratypological contrasts and their role on L2 acquisition
and learning. Specifically, drawing upon a functional perspective, this
special issue aims to add to the SLA field by offering recent empirical
studies relying on original data, involving: different types of tasks;
quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches; learners at
all stages of learning.
The key themes under focus explore morphological, syntactic, and
semantics differences between languages with their consequences for
framing events in L1 as well as in L2. In particular, three main domains
are investigated: a) affectedness; b) differential object marking; c)
space (static and dynamic location events). The data collected
represent a diversified selection of L1-L2 pairs: a) learners whose L1
and L2 are typologically and genetically closely-related (Isabel Repiso;
Jacopo Saturno); b) learners with an L1-L2 combination considered as
typologically distant (Christina Piot, Maria Hellerstedt); c) learners
whose L1 and L2 belong to different typological types but present
similarities in the linguistic devices for conveying events (Delia
Airoldi).
The first paper of this special issue deals with a still underexplored
domain in SLA functional approach, i.e. affectedness within Romance
languages. Specifically, Isabel Repiso examines the syntactic and
morphological realisation of affected arguments across two
typologically and genetically-related languages, French and Spanish,
and in L2 French of Spanish learners (A2-B2 levels of CEFR). The
crosslinguistic findings show different morpho-syntactic preferences
in French and Spanish productions to mark affectedness. As to L2
I-LanD Journal. The role of language typology on L2 acquisiti on and learning · n. 2/2022 · eISSN 2532-764X 5
Introduction: The Role of Language Typology on L2 Acquisition and Learning
results, CLI arises in terms of under/overuse of non-native like use of
L2 structures especially at less advanced stage. The author hypothesises
that, when confronting to the L2 verbalisation of a universal domain,
learners tend to rely on L2 constructions similar to those of the L1 as
a strategy to compensate lack of knowledge regarding TL uses.
Jacopo Saturno’s contribution also explores the morphosyntax
domain, by focusing on the differential object marking in nominal
morphology in L2 Polish of East Slavic learners (L1: Belorussian,
Russian, Ukrainian) of A1-B1 proficiency (CEFR). By means of a
quantitative study, the author confirms that CLI and universal
tendencies, such as markedness, may coexist as explanatory factors in
the differential object marking in an intercomprehension situation.
The subsequent three papers concern the role of typological
diversity in the expression of space in language. Christina Piot focuses
on multimodality in motion event construal. She first examines how
native speakers (French vs Dutch) express the same motion events in
their speech and co-speech gestures and then to what extent
multimodal and inter-/intralinguistic differences impact performances
of CLIL French learners of L2 Dutch (A1-B2 proficiency levels).
Participants were recruited in Belgium, whose context is not
particularly favourable for monolingual speakers, since it offers three
official languages: Flemish/Dutch speaking; Walloon/French speaking;
and, to a lesser extent, Ostbelgien German speaking. Analysis of
language use and gesture by native speakers shows not only
prototypical features of typological classifications, but also patterns
which are less typical of their language-category. As for L2 performance,
learners have their own thinking-for-speaking pattern which is inbetween the French and the Dutch tendencies. Moreover, the study
also highlights that gestures give information on event
conceptualisation.
With respect to a different language combination, Delia Airoldi’s
contribution also focuses on the expression of motion. Specifically, the
author compares the productions of native speakers of Italian and
German to the productions of German learners of L2 Italian
(intermediate and advanced) by using different types of stimuli. The
aim is to study inter- and intra-linguistic differences between German
and Italian and to see whether learners’ productions are target-like in
L2 motion event construal or still influenced by the L1 patterns.
In the final paper, Maria Hellerstedt discusses two types of space:
location and caused motion, as described by French and Swedish
native speakers and by intermediate and advanced French learners of
L2 Swedish. The larger goal is to investigate the semantic components
selected to describe static and dynamic location in L2 Swedish, namely
by means of posture verbs, and to identify learners’ strategies
(avoidance, over-using) justifying learners’ linguistic choices. On the
one hand, the paper shows the developmental trajectory of L2 Swedish
learners in the use of posture verbs in spatial events. On the other
hand, it highlights traces of CLI and other interlanguage strategies in
producing idiomatic posture verbs.
Taken together, the above contributions bring a timely update within
the research field of typology and L2 acquisition and learning by
6 I-LanD Journal. The role of language typology on L2 acquisiti on and learning · n. 2/2022 · eISSN 2532-764X
Simona Anastasio - Patrizia Giuliano
building on and complementing previous literature on the subject. In
particular, these papers provide empirical studies on different
linguistic domains, while offering new avenues for future research on
the issues under investigation in this special issue
F. Mariano, A. Giuliano, Il Castello d’Aquino a Rocchetta Sant’Antonio tra storia e restauro, Andrea Livi editore, Fermo 2016. ISBN 8879693727
No full textAlthough small, the village of Sant'Antonio Rocchetta has a long history documented as a part of the territories of these political transformations, from the Middle Ages to the dilution of the Kingdom of Naples. Evolution itself of its place names - from the ancient Rocca Antimo, around which it was developed, the original urban core, in Rocchetta S. Antonio - you can re-read the history of the country at least since at least the eleventh century.
From the early years of the sixteenth century this story is closely linked to the presence of the Castle, built by Ladislaus II of Aquino in 1507.
It can not say that The Castle Aquinas is an unknown fortification; its particular shape planimetric with a triangular base with three bastions of “almond shape” or, if you will, to “bec d'éperon” (a spur beak) - as the origin of form is due to the French castles of the XI-XII century - has always struck the military architecture scholars, and particularly for its formal similarity with the fortifications of the greatest architect and military writer of the Renaissance in the second half of the fifteenth century, that is the Sienese architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
The importance of the architect, also commissioned by the major short and noble age - and especially for us by the Aragonese court of Naples - is witnessed by the operating result which had its original and updated works obsidional to new posts to the benchmarks with the technological improvement of firearms and the use of gunpowder, more devastating and feared. A retinue of followers architects and military engineers engaged in the fortification of the Kingdom under the constant threat of the Muslim enemy. Among these, among which we remember especially the florentine Antonio Marchesi from Settignano, must lie the author or at least the implementer of Castello d'Aquino on the model pioneered and popularized by Francesco di Giorgio
How to contrast and maintain information in Spanish and Italian, as L1s and L2s
No full textThe purpose of the paper is to analyse the way informants change or contrast information in the Topic Entity and Topic Time domains (Klein 2008) in Italian and Spanish, as L1s and L2s. In the narrative task proposed, informants also have to maintain predicative information, since a process claimed to hold for some Topic Entities and Topic Times is actually ma
intained from previous discourse.
The data have been elicited using the video clip The Finite Story (Dimroth 2006) and are divided in four groups: Spanish L1, Italian L1, Spanish L2 of Italian learners, Italian L2 of Spanish learners.
Dimroth et al. (2010) have analysed Finite Story narrations of German, Dutch, French and Italian adult native speakers, identifying the type of items signalling which parts of the information are maintained and which parts have been changed or contrasted. The anaphoric linking devices range from additive particles to polarity or temporal contrasting markings and to prosodic devices. The same authors suggest that: when a polarity contrast is present, Dutch and German mark this polarity contrast much more frequently than Romance languages, which prefer to mark the contrast on the topic component (entity or time).
Benazzo & Andorno (2010) extended the debate to Italian and French as L2s. Giuliano (2012) tested Dimroth et al.’s hypothesis on English, both as L1 and L2 (all the author used The Finite Story task), suggesting that English native speakers select cohesive means much closer to those preferred by Romance than Germanic speakers. All the authors explored crosslinguistic interferences.
Now, our purpose in the present paper is to furtherly extend the debate to Spanish, as L1 and L2, and to Spanish of Italian learners. We shall demonstrate that Spanish is in many ways closer to Germanic than to Romance languages since its native speakers tend to often highlight the polarity contrast, despite the absence in their L1 of specifically grammaticised means for this purpose; they also tend to transfer this type of contrast in Italian L2, whereas the polarity contrast is absent in the Spanish L2 of Italian speakers.
Bibliography
Benazzo, S. & Andorno, C. 2010. Discourse cohesion and topic discontinuity in native and learner production: changing topic entities on maintained predicates. In L. Roberts, M. Howard, M. O'Laoire & D. Singleton (éds.) Eurosla Yearbook 10 (92-118). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Dimroth, Christine, 2006. The Finite Story. Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics, http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser?openpath=MPI560350%23
Dimroth, Christine / Andorno, Cecilia / Benazzo, Sandra / Verhagen, Josie (2010), “Given claims about new topics. The distribution of contrastive and maintained information in Romance and Germanic Languages”, Journal of Pragmatics 42: 3328-3344.
Giuliano, P. (2012), “Contrasted and maintained information in a narrative task: analysis of texts in English and Italian as L1s and L2s”, EUROSLA Yearbook 2012, Amsterdam, John Benjamins, vol. 12: 30-62.
Klein, Wolfgang, 2008, “The topic situation”. In: Ahrenholz, B. et al. (Eds.), Empirische Forschung
und Theoriebildung. Festschrift für Norbert Dittmar zum 65. Geburtstag. Frankfurt a.M., Peter Lang, pp. 287-306
Turks and Caicos rock iguana (Cyclura carinata) : conservation and management plan 2020–2024
No full textThe Endangered Turks and Caicos rock iguana, Cyclura carinata, is found only on the islands and cays of Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), and on Booby Cay in The Bahamas, northwest of Providenciales. These iguanas now occupy less than 10 percent of their historic range largely due to the impact of invasive mammalian predators. Although conservation efforts have led to stabilisation of the population resulting in the 2020 down-listing of this species from Critically Endangered to Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, threats persist and management efforts are needed. This document presents a comprehensive four-year plan for the conservation and management actions considered essential to ensuring the long-term survival of Cyclura carinata in the wild. This document combines knowledge and expertise from local government, local and international NGOs, the tourism industry, educators, homeowners, private island managers, civil society, and members of the IUCN SSC Iguana Specialist Group working in the TCI
Giuliano Amato, Antitrust and the Bounds of Power
No full textBarry E. Hawk reviews Giuliano Amato, Antitrust and the Bounds of Power. This Book Review states that Professor Giuliano Amato has successfully written a refreshing and insightful book on antitrust policy after more than a century of US debate and almost half a century of European debate. In his highly enlightening opus on Antitrust and the Bounds of Power, Professor Amato writes from the Olympian heights as the former head of the well respected Italian Antitrust Authority, a former Prime Minister of Italy, and a present professor at the European University Institute in Florence. The book places antitrust law in the broader context of political theory and history. Although the author modestly states that the book is written for young people embarking on an immersion in antitrust law, seasoned antitrust veterans will greatly benefit from Professor Amato\u27s measured wisdom
Scienza militare e cultura dell’Antico nella Cittadella Nuova di Pisa di Giuliano da Sangallo
No full textAmong the many fortresses built by Giuliano da Sangallo and his brother Antonio the Elder, the Cittadella Nuova in Pisa is the one where Giuliano was more autonomous. This is, moreover, the last important building whose construction was directly followed by the architect. Between 1509 and 1512 the architect reworked deeply a former military structure devised by Filippo Brunelleschi and Antonio Manetti in the previous century, designing also a new keep with four bastions watching the via Fiorentina, a great bulwark watching the river, and other substantial improvements of the fortress. In Scienza militare e cultura dell’Antico nella Cittadella Nuova di Pisa di Giuliano da Sangallo, the Author discusses the features of the above mentioned military structures, and particularly those of the new keep added by Giuliano, with its many interior rooms and passages, showing that it was not only a masterpiece of the military architecture, with a central role in the development of the modern bastion forts, but also a masterwork of Renaissance architecture in a general sense. Realized in a period of professional misfortune for Giuliano, which was at the time sidelined from the great Roman Commissions because of competition from Bramante and engaged as a mere engineer by the authorities of the Florentine Republic, the commission to renovate the Cittadella Nuova became for him the occasion to give vent to creative needs and antiquarian interests seemingly incompatible with the military function of the building
Individual scientific credit in occupational medicine research: ethical and technical issues
No full textThe mechanism of competition requires the evaluation of scientific performance of research institutes, departments, research groups, and individuals through the assessment of scientific credit. The evaluation of credit in academic performance includes ethical and technical aspects, which are subjected to constructive criticism by the scientific community and require constant updating. There are a number of ethical criteria authors need to meet when submitting their scientific publications to journals. These are the declaration of potential conflicts of interest, avoidance of redundant publication of data or duplication of contributions, copying or manipulation of data, and communicating the funding source amongst others. There is also the important consideration of defining individual contributions by each author. Whereas the criteria for the definition of authorship and for the inclusion of researchers among the authors of the publication are now well defined, there is greater uncertainty on how to apportion credit to each author of a paper. In fact, usually co-authors do not equally contribute to a paper and their list establishes accountability as well credit to them. Indeed, there is a different perception of the scientific credit of the author in relation to their position in the paper’s title and, in general, the authors in the first or last position are regarded as deserving greatest scientific credit. Regarding the author position in the paper, it has been observed that only about 20% of occupational medicine researchers always appear as the first or last author and that about half (52%) of publications list an academic’s name as first or last, thus suggesting a possible if limited participation in the study. This finding is consistent with the observation that authorship of professors and chairperson, especially in key positions, has grown with time, suggesting an increasing hierarchical influence by the academics, whose names are included among the authors even in the absence of a significant contribution (the so-called phenomenon of gift authorship). although the criteria for attribution of authorship are well defined, it is more difficult to attribute relative credit for the contribution of individual authors, whose position in the publication’s title is associated with a different perception of scientific credit. However, in addition to the traditional indicators used to measure a paper’s quality and a journal’s prestige, the scientific community is providing new tools to allow a fair, transparent and objective assessment and apportionment of the relative contribution of each author, without forgetting that there is no substitute than reading the papers themselves in assessing the value of researchers
Interview with Justin Giuliano by David Smith, June 12, 2023
No full textJustin Giuliano shares about gardening and his work with biochar and soil research. He talks about the growing practices he follows, crops he grows, and foods he enjoys. Justin likewise discusses factors that have influenced his work, as well as other black farmers, such as racial dynamics and land access
As engrenagens do novo populismo: Os engenheiros do caos, de Giuliano da Empoli
No full textGiuliano da Empoli is a French journalist and thinker who has spent much of his life in Italy. Graduated in Law at Sapienza Università di Roma, with subsequent master degree in Political Science at Sciences Po (Paris). The author intersects the intellectual and political universes through his role as CEO of the think tank Volta, based in Milan. Giuliano also held the positions of Secretary of Culture in Florence and Political Adviser to Matteo Renzi, Former Italian Prime Minister.Giuliano da Empoli es un periodista y pensador francés que ha pasado gran parte de su vida en Italia. Licenciado en Derecho por la Sapienza Università di Roma, con posterior maestría en Ciencias Políticas por Sciences Po (París). El autor cruza los universos intelectual y político a través de su papel como director general del think tank Volta, con sede en Milán. Giuliano también ocupó los cargos de secretario de Cultura en Florencia y asesor político de Matteo Renzi, ex primer ministro italiano.Giuliano da Empoli é um jornalista e pensador francês que passou boa parte de sua vida na Itália. Formado em Direito pela Sapienza Università di Roma, com posterior mestrado em Ciência Política pela Sciences Po (Paris). O autor intersecciona os universos intelectual e político através de sua atuação enquanto CEO do think tank Volta, sediado em Milão. Giuliano ainda ocupou os cargos de Secretário da Cultura de Florença e de Conselheiro Político de Matteo Renzi, Ex-Primeiro Ministro italiano
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