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PubMed2002

High levels of Y-chromosome differentiation among native Siberian populations and the genetic signature of a boreal hunter-gatherer way of life.

We examined genetic variation on the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY) to investigate the paternal population structure of indigenous Siberian groups and to reconstruct the historical events leading to the peopling of Siberia. A set of 62 biallelic markers on the NRY were genotyped in 1432 males representing 18 Siberian populations, as well as nine populations from Central and East Asia and one from European Russia. A subset of these markers defines the 18 major NRY haplogroups (A-R) recently described by the Y Chromosome Consortium (YCC 2002). While only four of these 18 major NRY haplogroups accounted for -95% of Siberian Y-chromosome variation, native Siberian populations differed greatly in their haplogroup composition and exhibited the highest phiST value for any region of the world. When we divided our Siberian sample into four geographic regions versus five major linguistic groupings, analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated higher phiST and phiCT values for linguistic groups than for geographic groups. Mantel tests also supported the existence of NRY genetic patterns that were correlated with language, indicating that language affiliation might be a better predictor of the genetic affinity among Siberians than their present geographic position. The combined results, including those from a nested cladistic analysis, underscored the important role of directed dispersals, range expansions, and long-distance colonizations bound by common ethnic and linguistic affiliation in shaping the genetic landscape of Siberia. The Siberian pattern of reduced haplogroup diversity within populations combined with high levels of differentiation among populations may be a general feature characteristic of indigenous groups that have small effective population sizes and that have been isolated for long periods of time.

Chromosomes, Human, Y↗
PubMed1996

Grammaticality judgments and sentence comprehension in Parkinson's disease: a comparison with Broca's aphasia.

In order to test the hypothesis that significant linguistic deficits could be associated with predominantly subcortical dopaminergic pathways which projected to the frontal lobes (in patients with Parkinson's Disease-PD), we compared language performance in PD patients to that of Broca's aphasics with linguistic deficits. On tests of grammaticality judgements and sentence comprehension, performance by patients with Parkinson's Disease did not vary with different types of sentence structure (as was the case with the aphasics) and was instead, uniformly high (about 75% correct). Comprehension performance, however, did significantly decline in a subgroup of patients with PD who were tested when withdrawn from their dopaminergic medications. We conclude that patients with treated Parkinson's Disease evidence no selective linguistic dysfunction. When, however, they are withdrawn from dopaminergic medication language functions suffer.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Inefficient conjunction search made efficient by concurrent spoken delivery of target identity.

Visual search based on a conjunction of two features typically elicits reaction times that increase linearly as a function of the number of distractors, whereas search based on a single feature is essentially unaffected by set size. These and related findings have often been interpreted as evidence of a serial search stage that follows a parallel search stage. However, a wide range of studies has been showing a form of blending of these two processes. For example, when a spoken instruction identifies the conjunction target concurrently with the visual display, the effect of set size is significantly reduced, suggesting that incremental linguistic processing of the first feature adjective and then the second feature adjective may facilitate something approximating a parallel extraction of objects during search for the target. Here, we extend these results to a variety of experimental designs. First, we replicate the result with a mixed-trials design (ruling out potential strategies associated with the blocked design of the original study). Second, in a mixed-trials experiment, the order of adjective types in the spoken query varies randomly across conditions. In a third experiment, we extend the effect to a triple-conjunction search task. A fourth (control) experiment demonstrates that these effects are not due to an efficient odd-one-out search that ignores the linguistic input. This series of experiments, along with attractor-network simulations of the phenomena, provide further evidence toward understanding linguistically mediated influences in real-time visual search processing.

Attention↗
PubMed1989

Language development from six to twelve.

This article has shown that the elementary school years are vital for the growth of linguistic skills. During this period children go from a relatively rudimentary understanding of syntax and grammar to a very sophisticated appreciation of the complexities of language. Syntactic skills also are increasing during these years, particularly the ability to understand factitive verbs and complicated prepositions and conjunctions. Additionally, the child is developing a greater awareness of what language is and how to manipulate and use it. This allows the youngster greater flexibility in dealing with metaphors, poetry, and linguistic interpretation. A child's expressive skills improve during the elementary years; both the ability to narrate events and to provide appropriate information is increasing dramatically. The child progresses from learning to write sentences to producing long term papers and sophisticated reports. Also, it has been shown that children who have problems in these areas are at risk for academic failure and social isolation. Pediatricians play a significant role in identifying children with such problems. Often children are not discovered by teachers who are overwhelmed by large classes or encumbered with a complicated curriculum. Fortunately, physicians come in contact with children regularly and, by asking the right questions and inquiring about school progress, they can often determine if a child needs further assessment. In addition, instruments have been specifically designed to enable physicians to assess the age-appropriateness of a child's linguistic skills. By using specific subtests physicians can quickly determine whether a child's receptive, expressive, or syntactical skills are intact.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Auditory Perceptual Disorders↗
PubMed1997

ADM-INDEX: an automated system for indexing and retrieval of medical texts.

ADM-INDEX is a system for indexing and retrieval of Patients Discharge Summaries (PDSs) by using linguistic methods (morphologic, syntaxic and semantic processing). The ADM-INDEX knowledge base is a restructuring of a diagnostic aid knowledge base (ADM) in order to allow the linguistic analysis of medical texts. The ADM system is a comprehensive medical knowledge base which has been developed since 1972 at the University Hospital of Rennes and which has been the first professional videotex medical diagnostic aid in France. After linguistic analysis, ADM-INDEX build the index table with thesaurus wording, medical words, concepts and phrases, unknown words contained in each PDS. The benefit of using those different elements is to improve information retrieval. Although our system is constructed with the ADM dictionary, it can be easily applied to other medical nomenclature or thesaurus. In this paper, we present on the one hand the ADM-INDEX knowledge base which is constituted by rules, a dictionary and a thesaurus, and on the other hand, the process of indexing and retrieval information.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Communication strategies used during pediatric dental treatment: a pilot study.

PURPOSE: Effective verbal communication is essential for successful dental treatment. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively and quantitatively examine communication techniques used by pediatric postdoctoral students during treatment. The operation of a communication model comprised of three linguistic approaches-permissive, empathic and personal-together with other strategies common to all three, was examined. METHODS: The study group consisted of 24 children (14 boys and 10 girls), 3 to 12 years of age. All four dentists were 2nd year residents in pediatric dentistry. Conversations were taped and analyzed linguistically and statistically. The frequency of use of each approach was tabulated and correlated to the children's reported anxiety, cooperation during treatment, success of treatment, and mood at the end of treatment. RESULTS: All dentists used the three approaches; the permissive approach, which supplied procedural information, was the most frequently used approach. The empathic approach was the least frequently used. Correlation tests showed that the empathic approach was most significantly related to the success of the treatment. Components of the permissive approach that contributed to the success of treatment were sensory information and supplying reasons. CONCLUSIONS: Although generalization is limited because of the small sample, improving verbal conversational skills, emphasizing certain strategies, and improving linguistic abilities will contribute to better communication between child and pediatric dentist and to better cooperation and success in treatment.

Affect↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Distinct neurolinguistic symptom clusters in Alzheimer's-type dementia and primary progressive aphasia.

Mesulam's (1982) report describing six patients with a slowly progressive aphasia without accompanying signs of dementia led to the recognition of a syndrome now known as Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Many more patients have been described since Mesulam's description was published (see Westbury & Bub, 1997, for a review). However, the published literature is both unsystematic and incomplete, making it difficult to place the findings into a coherent theoretical framework. In addition, little previous work (see Mesulam, 1987) has specifically attempted to specify the difference between PPA and dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT), although the two disorders are easily confused since many language deficits can masquerade on early presentation as memory or cognitive deficits. In this paper, the linguistic deficits of 11 PPA patients are analyzed, and contrasted with the linguistic deficits of a group of 11 DAT patients. Patients in both groups were tested using an extensive battery of language tests, the Psycholinguistic Assessment of Language Battery (Caplan & Bub, 1990; Caplan, 1992). We consider seven linguistic symptom clusters that differentiate the two groups.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Ethno-cultural heritage of the peoples of west Pamir.

The paper presents a study on the West Pamir communities (Badakhshan, Tajikistan) based on language data of the Pamir languages of East-Iranian origin. At present, the ethnic groups of the West Pamir: Shughni, Rushani, Bartangi, Roshorvi, Khufi, Ishkashimi and Wakhi are communities of the Ismaili Shia Islam faith. The underlying concept of the paper is that ethnic and cultural key-concepts take place in the origin of the traditional beliefs and rituals and can be reliably reconstructed from the vocabulary of a particular community. Pamir languages vocabulary of the Pamir ethnic communities that uses East and West Iranian culturally significant terms may serve as a basis for understanding the genesis of Pamir Ismailism, its particular way of absorbing external cultures, and its present specific form. The purely linguistic criteria, like temporal dimension (linguistic chronology), and geographic dispersion and mobility, are believed to be critical for linking etymology to broader socio-cultural development context of the Pamir communities socio-historical and cultural life. Contemporary social and linguistic dynamics in the relations between nation, religion and language in Tajikistan needs systematic research, and reasonable interpretation.

Anthropology, Cultural↗
PubMed1991

Deconstructing the DSM-III.

Deconstruction is a form of analysis that accounts for the unconscious elements in all human constructions, especially linguistic constructions. The theory derives its tenets from psychoanalysis and linguistics. Because the third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) facilitates communication among practitioners of differing theoretical backgrounds, deconstruction can be used to analyze the DSM-III. This article describes the basic ideas behind deconstruction, defines the linguistic dualities on which the DSM-III is based, and analyzes these dualities in the clinician-client relationship. The DSM-III and the DSM-III Case Book are used to examine the process of diagnosis; based on this analysis, practical considerations for clinicians are analyzed.

Humans↗
PubMed1985

[The speech of hebephrenic patients (maladjustment between assimilation and accommodation)].

Previous studies indicate that schizophrenic thought processes show a disturbance in the balance between assimilation and accommodation, as Piaget uses these terms. The authors postulated that this phenomenon could also account for the typical language disorders of hebephrenics, particularly semantic slippage. Every fourth word was deleted from linguistic material produced by eight controls and thirteen hebephrenics (Silverman). Three judges were then asked to fill in the blanks. The deleted words used by the subjects were compared with the replacement words chosen by the judges. The comparison revealed such disorders in hebephrenic speech as semantic alteration (metaphorical and metonymic) of the linguistic tropic type and syntax disorders including inhibition of the expansion of phrases introduced by functional monemes (morphemes), whether primary or secondary. These observations confirm those of other authors, more especially those of Roch Lecours et al. On the basis of Martinet's functional linguistics, Chomsky's generative grammar and Piaget's cognitive psychology, the authors conclude that the psychopathology underlying hebephrenic speech is a disturbance of language rather than of parole and that hebephrenic syntactical distortions are linked to the disturbance in the balance between assimilation and accommodation characteristic of schizophrenic thought processes.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

How two-year-old children interpret proper and common names for unfamiliar objects.

The linguistic form class of a word and the kind of object the word refers to both provide information for discovering whether a new noun refers to an object as a category member (e.g., a dog) or as an individual (e.g., Lassie). This study investigated children's use of both syntactic (i.e., form class) and semantic (i.e., type of referent) information, clarifying and extending work summarized by Macnamara. Although widely accepted, past results were inconclusive because (1) children were taught new words for objects they could already name, and (2) the earlier procedure lacked appropriate distractor items. This work eliminated these problems by using unfamiliar objects and a revised testing procedure. 32 2-year-olds were each taught 1 new noun. Linguistic form class (presence or absence of an article) and type of referent (animal-like or blocklike toy) were varied between groups. Children's interpretations of the new nouns were assessed by asking the subjects to select the named toy from an array of 4 toys (e.g., "Point to Zav"). With animal-like toys, Macnamara's claim that children interpret common nouns as category names, and proper nouns as individual names, was supported. With blocklike toys, children in our study interpreted a common noun as a category name, but there was a tendency for children in the proper noun condition to choose a particular stuffed animal as the new noun's referent rather than the named blocklike toy. These results show that 2-year-old children use both linguistic form class and their knowledge about real-world objects to interpret new words.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1980

UNIGEN - universal language of aviation.

In 1978, 12 million flights arose from nations where English is a foreign language. From these, crash-deaths averaged 200 per million flights. The Aerospace Linguistic Foundation is incorporated to further cooperative evolution of a suitable speech for universal air use as envisaged by I.C.A.O. The language is called UNIGEN, an acronym from Gensise 11:1. It reflects the paragmatic monitoring of collective air communications and universal linguistic developments. The foundation underwrites investigations by existing communication faculties of linguistic problems identified from accidents, etc. (e.g. Tenerife shows English phonemes "th" and "wh" are not internationally suitable). Optimum expressions may derive from the world languages. Phonetics may also be selected to monitor the human factor, e.g. plosives to spot hyperventilation or arousals for sleep. "As a man speaks, so is he." Future air communications must exploit hearing and sight concurrently to assure the million-to-one reliability required for perception transfer.

Aviation↗
PubMed1976

[Various current trends in the study and interpretation of asphasic disorders].

This review of the present tendencies in aphasiology intends to put in evidence some features of to-day's aphasiology, in relation both to the methods used to study the language disturbances and to the concepts advanced to explain the clinical and experimental findings. From the methodological point of view, two important novelties are to be stressed : 1) the clinical approach is gradually substituted by a more strict experimental method ; 2) the pathology of language is to-day generally studied by means of linguistic methods, models and techniques. In the interpretation and classification of the aphasic troubles many tendencies are to be noted :--some Authors tend to classify the aphasic disorders on the ground of empirical criteria (such as the distinction between a "fluent" and a "non-fluent" form of aphasia) ;--other writers tend to classify the aphasic disturbances on the ground of linguistic, of neuro-anatomic, or of neuro-linguistic criteria. The results of a few experimental investigations on some dimensions of auditory language comprehension in aphasia are reported and the implication of these results on the concepts advanced by various Authors are discussed.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1993

First person personal pronouns and their psychic referents.

This paper presents a psychoanalytic description of the psychic referents for the personal pronouns I, me, myself. The referents are related to memorial processes of experiences of satisfaction is early bodily dialogues. Later interpersonal dialogues, bodily and verbal, factual or fantazised, add to the memories available as potential referents for the pronouns. The linguistically spoken pronoun has a narrower referential field because a speech act can only tap a limited number of memories. The 'I'/'me' of each spoken sentence is a selected libidinal and narcissistically organised self-perception at the service of an exchange with the interlocutor at hand, the specific 'you' of that linguistic act. The linguistic 'I' is a transient pronominal function linked to memories about oneself and others. It reveals in the selection of referential sources, libidinal and narcissistic regulatory functions in the service of satisfaction of wishes, defence, and modulation of self-esteem.

Ego↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Word discrimination in the presence of competing speech with children.

This study was conducted to examine the auditory masking effects of classes of linguistic strings varying in syntactic and semantic constraints upon word discrimination abilities of children. Twelve fourth grade (age 9), normal hearing, native speakers of English served as subjects. Three half-lists of the Central Institute for the Deaf W-22 word lists were presented consecutively with one of three competing linguistic messages. Discrimination scores served as measures. A treatment-by-subject analysis of variance and t-tests for independent samples were used in the analysis of the data. No significant differences in word discrimination as a function of linguistic masker were found. Comparisons between the data obtained with the children of the present study and that of adult subjects of a similar investigation (Percept. Mot. Skills 41, 578-593, 1975) indicated no significant difference in mean discrimination scores under the grammatical and semantically anomalous conditions; however, significance was found for the ungrammatical masker. Selective listening and language processing were used in the discussion of the findings

Attention↗
PubMed1983

Language in the nondominant right hemisphere.

Language function was evaluated in the right nondominant hemisphere in three patients undergoing cortical resection for intractable seizures. Three linguistic tests were given during electrical stimulation of the cortex. They represented three different levels of language complexity from lowest to highest as follows: task 1, object naming; task 2, sentence completion; and task 3, responsive naming. The greatest number of linguistic errors occurred with sentence completion. No linguistic errors were made on the most complex task. Wada's test in the right nondominant hemisphere did not impair function, whereas in the left dominant hemisphere it did. To make these seemingly incompatible observations acceptable, we speculate that there is a right nondominant language system that is anatomically and functionally tied to the left dominant system. Under normal conditions it is passively involved and its integrity is not essential to the function of the left dominant language system.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Lateralized human brain language systems demonstrated by task subtraction functional magnetic resonance imaging.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a procedure for noninvasive measurement of language lateralization with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). DESIGN: Functional neuroimaging using time-series echo-planar MRI. SETTING: University medical center research facility. SUBJECTS: Five healthy, right-handed, young adults. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of MRI voxels in left and right hemispheres showing task-related signal increases during two contrasting auditory processing tasks. The nonlinguistic task involved processing of pure tones, while the linguistic task involved processing of single words based on semantic content. RESULTS: The pure-tone processing task activated temporal lobe auditory areas and dorsolateral frontal regions bilaterally. Using this task as a control condition, the semantic processing task resulted in lateralized activity in distributed regions of the left hemisphere. A significant effect of task on intrahemispheric activity pattern was demonstrated in every subject. Results were reproduced in preliminary studies of test-retest reliability. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate the lateralized anatomy of semantic linguistic systems in contrast to non-linguistic auditory sensory processors and introduce a task subtraction technique adapted for functional MRI as a noninvasive measure of language lateralization.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The peopling of sub-Saharan Africa: the case study of Cameroon.

This study analyzes the distribution of ten protein genetic polymorphisms in eighteen populations from the most densely inhabited areas of Cameroon. The languages spoken belong to three different linguistic families [Afro-Asiatic (AA), Nilo-Saharan (NS) and Niger-Kordofanian (NK)]. The analysis of variation of allele frequencies indicates that the level of genetic interpopulation differentiation is rather low (F(st) = 0.011 +/- 0.006) but statistically significant (p < 0.001). This result is not unexpected because of the relatively small geographic area covered by our survey. This value is also significantly lower than the one estimated for other groups of African populations. Among the factors responsible for this, we discuss the possible role of gene flow. There is a considerable genetic differentiation among the AA populations of north Cameroon as is to be expected because they all originated from the first agriculturists of the farming "savanna complex." The Podowko and Uldeme are considerably different from all the other AA groups, probably due to the combined effect of genetic drift and isolation. In the case of the Wandala and Massa, our analyses suggest that genetic admixture with allogeneous groups (especially with the Kanuri) played an important role in determining their genetic differentiation from other AA speaking groups. The Bantu speaking populations (Bakaka, Bamileke Bassa and Ewondo, NK family, Benué Congo subfamily) settled in western and southern Cameroon are more tightly clustered than AA speaking groups. This result shows that the linguistic affinity among these four populations coincides with a substantial genetic similarity despite their different origin. Finally, the Fulbe are genetically distinct from all the populations that belong to their same linguistic phylum (NK), and closer to the neighboring Fali and Tupuri, eastern Adamawa speaking groups of north Cameroon.

Cameroon↗