1,721,816 research outputs found
Loss of Morphology in Alorese (Austronesian): Simplification in Adult Language Contact
Full text linkThis paper discusses historical and ongoing morphological simplification in Alorese,
an Austronesian language spoken in eastern Indonesia. From comparative evidence,
it is clear that Alorese lost almost all of its morphology over several hundred years as
a consequence of language contact (Klamer, 2012, to appear). By providing both linguistic
and cultural-historical evidence, this paper shows that Alorese has historically
undergone morphological simplification as a result of second language (L2) learning.
The first part of the paper presents a case study comparing the use of subject agreement
prefixes in Alorese L1 speakers (n=6) and Alorese L2 speakers (n=12). The results
show that L2 speakers deviate from the native norm, and tend to use one prefix as
default agreement. The variation found among L2 speakers reveals an ongoing change
possibly leading to the restructuring of the Alorese agreement system. The second part
of the paper applies models of linguistic change (Kusters, 2003; Trudgill, 2011) to the
Alorese community and shows that Alorese has been, and still is, spoken in a community
with a large number of L2 speakers, where morphological simplification is expected
to occur
Aspectual distinctions in Dutch-Ambon Malay bilingual heritage speakers
Full text linkAims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This paper investigates the effects of Dutch
on the tense-aspect system of heritage Ambon Malay, a variety spoken by Dutch-Ambon Malay bilinguals
in the Netherlands. The study asks whether the cross-linguistic contrasts between the two languages
– Dutch obligatorily marks past/non-past and finiteness, whereas Ambon Malay lacks a grammaticalized
expression of these distinctions – has an effect on the aspectual system of heritage Ambon Malay.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The database for the study consists of video descriptions
provided by 32 bilingual speakers (the experimental groups) and by three control groups:
27 homeland speakers of Ambon Malay, 5 first generation speakers of Ambon Malay in the
Netherlands (late bilinguals), and 10 monolingual speakers of Dutch.
Data and Analysis: The frequency and distribution of aspect markers is analysed statistically in
the four groups.
Findings/Conclusions: The analysis of the data reveals that, under the influence of Dutch, the
Ambon Malay progressive marker ada has undergone a shift in temporal status and frequency and
it is now interpreted as a marker of present tense, as well as of progressive aspect. The other two
aspect markers, the iamitive/perfective su and verbal reduplication (iterative) are used significantly
less by heritage speakers.
Originality: This study shows that when a grammatical category is present and productive in
the dominant language of a bilingual heritage speaker, but not in the heritage language, there is a
great likelihood that it will undergo contact-induced grammaticalization, even in a relatively short
time contact situation. The study also shows that input-related factors, such as transparency and
phonological salience, contribute to the (in)stability of aspectual forms in the heritage language.
Significance/Implications: This finding has implication for the incomplete acquisition
perspective on heritage languages, which sees these languages as grammatically simplified systems
(see, e.g., Montrul, 2009; Polinsky, 2008), because it shows that heritage languages can also gain
grammatical distinctions previously absent in the (homeland) language
Modal Categories in Contact: The Case of Heritage Ambon Malay in the Netherlands
Full text linkThis article reports the preliminary findings of a study examining the semantics of modal verbs in heritage Ambon Malay, a language variety spoken by Dutch-Ambon Malay bilinguals in the Netherlands whose dominant language is Dutch. In this study, I examined the use of the necessity modal musti [must] in the speech of heritage language (HL) speakers and compared it to that of monolingual homeland Ambon Malay speakers and monolingual Dutch speakers. The findings show convergence between the modal system of the heritage language (Ambon Malay) and that of the dominant language (Dutch). More precisely, the heritage necessity modal musti [must] has extended its semantic range to resemble its Dutch equivalent moeten [must.] I discuss three main factors that account for this innovation, namely (i) psychological factors – semantic convergence is one of the strategies adopted by bilinguals to reduce their cognitive load, (ii) universal principles of language development in contact settings ̶ conceptual naturalness facilitates semantic influence from Dutch, and (iii) social factors ̶ the language history of HL speakers shows that the innovation correlates with type of bilingualism and amount of exposure to Ambon Malay. Finally, the findings of this study support the Functional Discourse Grammar hierarchy of language change and, to a lesser extent, the typological hierarchy of Matras (2007)
The Genesis of Sri Lanka Malay : a case of extreme language contact
No full textItem does not contain fulltextS. Nordhoff The Genesis of Sri Lanka Malay : a case of extreme language contact Leiden:Brill ,2013 978900423413
Shutdown dose rates at ITER equatorial ports considering radiation cross-talk from torus cryopump lower port
No full textShutdown dose rates for planned maintenance purposes is an active research field in ITER. In this work the radiation (neutron and gamma) cross-talk between ports in the most conservative case foreseen in ITER is investigated: the presence of a torus cryopump lower port, mostly empty for pumping efficiency reasons. There will be six of those ports: #4, #6, #10, #12, #16 and #18. The equatorial ports placed above them will receive a significant amount of additional radiation affecting the shutdown dose rates during in situ maintenance activities inside the cryostat, and particularly in the port interspace area. In this study a general situation to all the equatorial ports placed above torus cryopump lower ports is considered: a generic diagnostics equatorial port placed above the torus cryopump lower port (LP#4). In terms of shutdown dose rates at equatorial port interspace after 106 s of cooling time, 405 μSv/h has been obtained, of which 160 μSv/h (40%) are exclusively due to radiation cross-talk from a torus cryopump lower port. Equatorial port activation due to only "local neutrons" contributes 166 μSv/h at port interspace, showing that radiation cross-talk from such a lower port is a phenomenon comparable in magnitude to the neutron leakage though the equatorial port plug. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Shielding proposal to reduce cross-talk from ITER lower port to equatorial port
No full textRadiation cross-talk from Torus Cryopump LP to EP was found to be a phenomenon driving Shutdown Dose Rates at EP Port Interspace after 12 days of cooling time, as relevant as neutron permeation through EP itself. In this work three different shields are proposed to mitigate the radiation cross-talk: two neutron shields placed inside LP, and a temporary gamma shield placed at EP PI during maintenance activities. Contributions from different reactor regions to Shutdown Dose Rates are computed, for the unshielded design, as long as the different shielded cases. The Rigorous-Two-Steps (R2S) method was used. The neutron shields inside TCP-LP are found to reduce SDR at EP PI 43 μSv/h and 99 μSv/h, while the gamma shield inside EP PI offers a reduction of 157 μSv/h in its heaviest configuration. Among these relevant reductions, the gamma shield inside the EP PI offers the best shielding option, as it reduces gamma cross-talk from TCP-LP and also protects EP PI from Port Duct and EP bellows activation, while it does not interfere with TCP performance. © 2015 Elsevier B.V
Neutronic analyses and tools development efforts in the European DEMO programme
No full textThe European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) recently launched a programme on Power Plant Physics and Technology (PPPT) with the aim to develop a conceptual design of a fusion demonstration reactor (DEMO) addressing key technology and physics issues. A dedicated part of the PPPT programme is devoted to the neutronics which, among others, has to define and verify requirements and boundary conditions for the DEMO systems. The quality of the provided data depends on the capabilities and the reliability of the computational tools. Accordingly, the PPPT activities in the area of neutronics include both DEMO nuclear analyses and development efforts on neutronic tools including their verification and validation. This paper reports on first neutronics studies performed for DEMO, and on the evaluation and further development of neutronic tools. � 2014 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
The Plural Word hire in Alorese: Contact-Induced Change from Neighboring Alor-Pantar Languages
Full text linkThis article discusses the plural word hire in Alorese, an Austronesian language
spoken on the islands of Alor and Pantar, in eastern Indonesia. Following
the methodological requisites for contact-induced change, I claim that the
plural word hire emerged through contact with Papuan Alor-Pantar languages,
because (i) Alorese was and still is spoken in close contact with Alor-Pantar
languages; (ii) Alorese and the neighboring Alor-Pantar languages share the
presence of a plural word, and their plural words have similar syntactic and
semantic properties; (iii) Alor-Pantar languages had plural words before they
came into contact with Alorese; and (iv) Alorese did not have the plural word
hire before it came into contact with Alor-Pantar languages. The innovation of
hire is a case of contact-induced grammaticalization, whereby the form is
inherited and developed from an original third person plural pronoun going
back to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *si-ida, while the function of the plural word is borrowed from the neighboring Alor-Pantar languages
Divergence in heritage Ambon Malay in the Netherlands: The role of social-psychological factors
Full text linkAims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This article examines the role of
social-psychological factors in the development of heritage Ambon Malay in the Netherlands.
More specifically, it aims to answer this question: Can social-psychological factors account for the
different frequency of Dutch-like structures among heritage speakers?
Design/Methodology/Approach: Data from 32 Ambon Malay heritage speakers and 27 Ambon
Malay homeland speakers were collected by means of video stimuli and a sociolinguistic interview.
Data and Analysis: The database provides six linguistic variables and three social-psychological
factors. The linguistic variables are as follows: the pre-verbal marker ada; the definite marker
=nya; the double object construction; the prepositional phrase and adjectival phrase in resultative
constructions; the pre-nominal order for the demonstrative itu and the numeral satu ‘one’. The
social-psychological factors are where the speaker lives, onset of Dutch bilingualism and attitude.
The effect of the social-psychological factors on the linguistic variables was assessed using a
multivariate general linear model.
Findings/Conclusions: The results show that place where the speaker lives is the best predictor.
Heritage speakers living outside a Moluccan ward have a higher rate of Dutch-like features than
speakers living inside a Moluccan ward. In some cases, sequential bilinguals are more innovative
than simultaneous bilinguals. Finally, speakers with only a mild positive attitude towards the
heritage language have a higher rate of Dutch-like features.
Originality: Unlike previous studies, this article does not test the role of social-psychological
factors against self-ratings of heritage language proficiency, but it uses real language data.
Significance/Implications: The theoretical significance of this study is to bridge the gap
between the sphere of language structure and the sphere of language use and language attitude.
An additional value lies in its findings that frequent use of the heritage language means not only a
higher rate of maintenance but also accelerated change
La gestione attiva dei fondi immobiliari italiani
No full textLa misurazione del contributo del gestore alla performance del fondo viene solitamente realizzata considerando indicatori di mercato che permettono di approssimare il rendimento atteso dal fondo sulla base della performance storica. Nel caso del mercato immobiliare indiretto esistono numerosi contributi sulla realtà dei Reits focalizzati sui mercati più sviluppati e liquidi.
Le evidenze empiriche sui mercati in cui vengono negoziati veicoli differenti sono limitate e non esistono studi sul mercato dei fondi immobiliari italiani. L’articolo considera i diversi approcci di misurazione della gestione attiva solitamente utilizzati nel mercato mobiliare e ne valuta l’efficacia per la costruzione di strategie di investimento in fondi immobiliari. I risultati evidenziano come la performance di una strategia di investimento basata su tali indici è superiore rispetto a una semplice diversificazione naif e non esistono chiari vantaggi legati all’utilizzo di un particolare criterioThe performance analysis aimed to evaluate the fund manager’s contribution is normally based on historical market data. In the real estate industry the active management analysis is mainly focused on Reits traded in developed and liquid markets. Empirical analyses on not Reit regimes is still limited and there are no studies focused on the Italian real estate funds. The article considers the standard active performance measures proposed for the asset management industry and evaluates their effectiveness for constructing an investment strategy on Italian real estate funds. Results show that portfolios constructed selecting only the top active performers funds outperform with respect to a standard naïve diversification strategy and there is no clear difference among portfolios constructed using different measures of active performance
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