Associations between Visual, Hearing Functioning and Cognitive Functioning among Hispanics/Latinos

Findings that visual impairment (VI) and hearing impairment (HI) are associated with cognitive functioning are drawn from studies that involved few Hispanic/Latino participants. We utilized data from the Miami Ocular SOL ancillary study to the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) with 1056 participants aged 45 and older. The outcomes were neurocognitive performances assessed by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST, executive function), Word Frequency Test (verbal fluency), Brief Spanish-English Verbal Learning Test-recall (B-SEVLT recall, episodic memory), and the Six-Item Screener (global cognitive functioning). Visual functioning was measured by National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ). Hearing function which was measured by Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults and Elderly (HHIA/HHIE) was available for all HCHS/SOL participants (n=9343). Multiple regression was performed for each cognitive outcome while controlling for age, gender, education, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity background, cardiovascular risk factors, depression and complex design. NEI-VFQ was associated with 3 of the 4 cognitive outcomes: DSST (β =0.14, se=0.027, p<0.01), Word Frequency Test (β=0.042, se=0.016, p<0.01), B-SEVLT-recall (β=0.021, se=0.007, p<0.03). HHIA/HHIE was not associated with any of the cognitive measures examined. The HHIA/HHIE analysis was repeated using data from all sites; similar results were observed. Visual functioning but not hearing functioning is associated with worse cognition in Hispanics/Latinos, although previous HCHS/SOL analysis indicated that hearing loss as assessed by pure tone audiometry was associated with worse cognitive functioning. Longitudinal assessment of both clinical and functional measures is needed to understand the impact of sensory impairment on cognition in Hispanics/Latinos.

Function Words at the Interface: A Two-Tier Approach

The distinction between function words and content words poses a challenge to theories of the syntax–prosody interface. On the one hand, function words are “ignored” by the mapping algorithms; that is, function words are not mapped to prosodic words. On the other hand, there are numerous accounts of function words which form prosodic words and can even be analysed as heads of larger prosodic units. Furthermore, function words seem to be a driving factor for the formation of prosodic structures in that they can largely be held accountable for the non-isomorphism between syntactic and prosodic constituency. This paper discusses these challenges with a focus on a particular function word, and the first-person nominative pronoun in Swabian, a Southern German dialect. By means of two corpus studies, it is shown that the pronoun occurs in two forms, the prosodic word [i:] and the enclitic [ə]. Depending on clause position and focus structure, the forms occur in complementary distribution. Occurrences of n-insertion allow for the establishment of a recursive prosodic word structure at the level of the phonological module. The findings support a new proposal in the form of a two-tier mapping approach to the interface between syntax and prosody.

Quantifiers in Natural Language: Efficient Communication and Degrees of Semantic Universals

While the languages of the world vary greatly, they exhibit systematic patterns, as well. Semantic universals are restrictions on the variation in meaning exhibit cross-linguistically (e.g., that, in all languages, expressions of a certain type can only denote meanings with a certain special property). This paper pursues an efficient communication analysis to explain the presence of semantic universals in a domain of function words: quantifiers. Two experiments measure how well languages do in optimally trading off between competing pressures of simplicity and informativeness. First, we show that artificial languages which more closely resemble natural languages are more optimal. Then, we introduce information-theoretic measures of degrees of semantic universals and show that these are not correlated with optimality in a random sample of artificial languages. These results suggest both that efficient communication shapes semantic typology in both content and function word domains, as well as that semantic universals may not stand in need of independent explanation.

Ambiguity Avoidance by Means of Function Words in English? Providing Additional Corpus-based Counterevidence

The present paper considers three types of constructions where optional function words have been claimed to be used primarily for the purpose of avoiding a global or local attachment ambiguity. a) In the absence of the complementiser in that-clauses, certain subject NPs might be (temporarily) misconstrued as direct objects of the superordinate verb. b) In the absence of the complementiser that, certain adverbials might be (wrongly) assigned to the subordinate or the superordinate clause. c) In the absence of a relativiser, certain combinations of the antecedent NP and the relative clause subject might be (temporarily) misconstrued as forming a single NP. The paper uses two corpus-based testing procedures to refute these claims. (i) Analysing otherwise comparable ambiguity-free and ambiguity-prone structures in a)–c) we find that they involve similar rates of function word use. (ii) Moreover, it is shown that a variety of other ambiguity-free constructions, containing the same or other optional grammatical markers, display similar distributional profiles.

Complexity/informativeness trade-off in the domain of indefinite pronouns

The vocabulary of human languages has been argued to support efficient communication by optimizing the trade-off between complexity and informativeness (Kemp & Regier 2012). The argument has been based on cross-linguistic analyses of vocabulary in semantic domains of content words such as kinship, color, and number terms. The present work extends this analysis to a category of function words: indefinite pronouns (e.g. someone, anyone, no-one, cf. Haspelmath 2001). We build on previous work to establish the meaning space and featural make-up for indefinite pronouns, and show that indefinite pronoun systems across languages optimize the complexity/informativeness trade-off. This demonstrates that pressures for efficient communication shape both content and function word categories, thus tying in with the conclusions of recent work on quantifiers by Steinert-Threlkeld (2019). Furthermore, we argue that the trade-off may explain some of the universal properties of indefinite pronouns, thus reducing the explanatory load for linguistic theories.

The Table of Grammar: Lqr't as Test Case

Biblical Hebrew lqr't is situated at the intersection of grammatical categories as a content item and a function word. The analysis of any given token is confounded by this diversity and its variously encoded denotations: the infinitive construct “to meet” and the polysemous prepositions, the directional TOWARD and the adversative AGAINST. The usage in Exodus 14:27 (wmsrym nsym lqr'tw) prompts a number of different analyses. Interpretations include: hoi de aigyptioi ephygon hypo to hydor (LXX); wmsry' -'rqyn lqwblh (Peshitta); fugientibusque Ægyptiis occurrerunt aquæ (Vulgate); “the Egyptians fled at its approach” (NJPS); “the Egyptians fled before it” (NRSV); and “the Egyptians were fleeing toward it” (NIV). This study examines lqr't by comparing a range of grammatical methods. These approaches centre evolutionary growth (philology), syntagmatic and paradigmatic features (structuralism), functional usage (eclectic linguistics), and cross-linguistic development (grammaticalisation) in order to explore questions of the origin, development, and usage of lqr't. The combined approaches help to situate and construct an archaeology of linguistic knowledge and a genealogy of philological change of language and text.

FEATURES OF TRANSLATION OF UKRAINIAN SERVICE PARTS OF SPEECH INTO ENGLISH

In the system of parts of speech functional words are important, because they serve as indicators of different relationships between words (prepositions), between words and sentences (conjunctions) or provide new words and sentence emotional shades (particles). Prepositions are function words that precede a noun or a word that replaces it, contributing to their joining phrases and sentences. Particles are functional words that are used to provide individual words or sentences more expressive and emotional connotations or creation morphological forms and new words. Conjunction is the functional part of speech that combines parts of a sentence or the sentence, expresses the semantic relations between homogeneous sentence members or parts of a complex sentence. The aim of this work is the analysis of Ukrainian functional parts of speech translation into English means. In order to illustrate translation of Ukrainian functional parts of speech in the artwork we’ve chosen a story written by V. Stefanyk «The stone cross» and its translation by A. Bilenko. This story is full of properly Ukrainian lexicon and complicated by using of Galytsky dialect. Researching the concept of functional parts of speech in modern linguistics, and the Ukrainian prepositions, particles and conjunctions dictionary translation, analysis of the Ukrainian functional words translation in the artwork allows doing the following conclusions. It was set that preposition is unchangable functional word that indicates syntactic subordination of noun (or its equivalent) to other words in the sentence or word-combination; not lexical but grammatical meaning is typical for preposition; the particle as a function word does not fulfill the nominative function, cannot be an independent member of sentences, but plays an important role in the communication process, because it provides new emotionally-expressive and semantic nuances to speech; conjunction is a word which connects two words or clauses or sentences and shows the relation between them. The study of Ukrainian functional parts of speech dictionary translation in English found that a large number of Ukrainian functional words have their equivalents in English. Particles often translated by adverbs or adjectives, prepositions and conjunctions – by their English equivalents.