Assimilation,antigemination, and contingent optionality: the phonology of monoconsonantal proclitics in Polish

Baković (2005) analyzes the avoidance of ‘sufficiently similar’ adjacent consonants as the interaction of independent antigemination and assimilation processes. We present evidence from the phonology of monoconsonantal proclitics in Polish in support of the primary consequence of this analysis, that any conditions on antigemination or assimilation will also be conditions on ‘sufficient similarity’ avoidance. These conditions concern the segmental contexts in which geminates are disallowed in Polish and the variability of one of the assimilation processes involved. The analysis is further corroborated by the coincidence of two changes in progress: as the rate of variable assimilation has gone down, so has the rate of ‘sufficient similarity’ avoidance.     

Актуальный счет, или Двушка, трёшка, пятак…

The article considers the semantic asymmetry of nouns carrying a meaning related to numbers; such as dvu?ka, tre?ka, trojak, pjatak. The words dvu?ka and pjatak are primarily associated with coins while tre?ka and trojak are associated with banknotes. These words also have other meanings; the sets of those meanings do not coincide (‘grades’, ‘term of confinement’, ‘apartment with the corresponding number of bedrooms’, etc.). This semantic asymmetry receives a cultural interpretation. The choice of a particular meaning is stipulated by the cultural value of concepts such as, e.g., money. The most important and relevant meanings for a given period of time consolidate their influence on a numerical noun. E.g. the relevance of the ‘money’ meaning is determined, first of all, by the existence of a corresponding monetary unit and by the existence of a permanent function for such a unit (or for an equivalent amount of money). For these types of nouns we should also discuss the special semantic potential that exists, that is, the possibility of new meanings arising.     

Larra y el carlismo: El rechazo de un liberal hacia las clases populares campesinas

This study analyzes the five articles that Mariano José de Larra wrote at the beginning of the First Carlist War, first of a serie of three Civil Wars in Spain provoked by a dynastic problem during the XIXth Century. The Carlist movement, similar to the American Confederacy in its social constitution and aims, is also defined and analyzed in the light of the most recent studies on the topic. Through the analysis of the five journalistic texts by Larra I intend to analyze his ideological background and his perception of the popular classes and their role in XIX century Spain, and other prominent authors of the time such as José de Espronceda.     

Oral stereognosis and diadokokinetic tests in children and young adults

Data on oral stereognostic ability and lip and tongue diadokokinetic tests are presented for a range of ages from eight years to young adults. As anticipated, there is a general improvement in performance with age, but this is not a simple linear function except for the percentage of shapes correctly identified. No evidence could be found to support the theory that improvements in stereognostic skills are related to the onset of the adolescent growth spurt or the cessation of cranio-facial skeletal development. Sex differences for oral stereognostic ability suggest that ‘oral discriminatory function’ is superior in females, but diadokokinetic tests are apparently at odds with accepted thought; explanations for this are offered. ‘Normal’ values for the diadokokinetic tests (which form part of the Frenchay Dysarthria Test) over the age range studied are presented, information hitherto unavailable.     

Twenty-Five Years after “Did Plato Coin Rhêtorikê?”: An Episodic Memoir

Edward Schiappa published a series of articles and a book in 1990 and 1991 that, collectively, challenged the dominant narrative concerning the Older Sophists and early Greek Rhetorical Theory as well as calling into question certain revisionist historical accounts. In this essay the author provides a narrative about those projects and the responses they elicited in the hope that it provides insights about the production of those publications, as well as an opportunity to revisit certain theoretical and methodological concerns that continue to be relevant to historians of rhetoric and philosophy.     

When do children avoid backwards coreference?

This study investigated the claim that very young children avoid backwards coreference in their interpretation of sentences containing pronouns. Eighty-one children ranging in age from 3;1 to 8;0 and eight adults acted out four types of pronominal sentences. Cross-sectional data and individual response patterns reveal that children initially prefer internal coreference even when such a response is disallowed for structural reasons. Avoidance of backwards coreference appears to be a late developing phenomenon characteristic of six-year-olds. Adult response patterns, which are manifested by some very young children, emerge as the dominant pattern by age seven.