Search

All languages in the world use different mechanisms to create new words. compounding is a morphological process whose main function is the formation of new word -forms. In Persian, compounding is the most productive morphological process. One of the compound words is numeral ones; a numeral in the broadest sense is a word or phrase that describes a numerical quantity. The main purpose of this research is to study the compound numeral construction [Num X] in Persian within the framework of Construction Morphology (CM) to investigate its semantic variations, the most general schema and subschemas. The data analyzed in this study has been gathered from six sources: Reverse Dictionary (Zansu) (Keshani, 1993), Persian Linguistic Database (PLDB), FarsNet, Farhang -e Bozorg -e Sokhan (Anvari, 2002), Google and Persian Wikipedia. The findings of the research show that [Num X] has different meanings (functions) and thus we can consider it as a polysemous construct. Its polysemy is not explainable at the level of words, but at the level of abstract schemas; hence, it is called ‘constructional/ logical polysemy’. The results of this study indicate that ‘distinctive property of an entity related to SEM Number and X” is the prototypical meaning of [Num X] which is the most abstract correlation among meaning and form in Persian language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of estimating the number and distribution of reptiles (which are poorly studied in this regard as compared with birds and mammals in general and, in particular, with hunting and commercial species) are presented. Consequently, data on the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the reptile assemblage are unique and are of a particular value. This study was conducted on the West Siberian Plain and on the territory of the Altai–Sayan mountain country. The number of reptiles was calculated, and the dynamics on the territory of Western Siberia is given. At the same time, the method of bootstrap analysis was used, which allows us to obtain more reliable conclusions on the dynamics of animal numbers in the absence of sufficient data. However, the main aim of this study was to detect the main trends in the variability of the reptile assemblage in general. Information about the numbers of these animals is used only as a basis for solving this main problem. In addition, the collected data allow us to judge the dynamics of the number of reptiles for certain periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State Early Learning Standards (ELS) are multi-function tools that inform early childhood instruction and practices. Using an established framework of early numerical development, this study assessed the prevalence of number, number relations, and number operations indicators in ELS, specifically indicators of counting, numeral knowledge, cardinality, relations among quantity and number, and operations. The type of quantity representation and the set sizes, or upper limits, assigned to counting, subitizing, and cardinality were also summarized. State ELS were organized into two groups: Group 1 (n = 23) included states with one set of indicators for preschool (e.g., ages three to five years) and Group 2 (n = 27) included states with at least two sets of indicators for preschool (e.g., 36 to 48 months and 48 to 60 months). Key findings include: (1) how states organize their ELS is associated with level of consensus for the upper limits and set sizes associated with counting and cardinality; (2) notable variability in the prevalence of early number indicators with gaps for indicators of advanced counting, cardinal principle knowledge, symbolic number relations, and ordering; and, (3) differences in how ELS address the type of quantity representation. Results are intended to highlight strengths and shortcomings of state ELS for number, number relations, and number operations and to offer considerations for future revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In languages with an article such as in English, anaphoric definiteness is expressed by an article. However, in an article-less language like Korean, demonstratives indicate anaphoric definiteness. Although there are substantial number of studies on the semantics or pragmatics of anaphoric demonstratives, a syntactic analysis of demonstrative as anaphoric definite is scarce. This paper addresses the syntax of demonstrative ku in Korean as anaphoric definite by situating it in a cross-linguistic context. It is shown that ku is obligatory to indicate anaphoric definite and it does not indicate unique definite, similar to a strong article in German. This paper proposes that the syntactic role of demonstrative ku is to make a DP referentially visible by occupying the spec-DP position. Under this view, ku is similar to an article in Italian or nP in Icelandic that has to be present for a referential DP, either on D or in Spec-DP respectively. An interesting consequence is that the proposed syntax of ku can be implemented to account for a special interaction between number and anaphoric definite, which has been observed in a wide range of languages. In Korean, for example, plural -tul is obligatory in an anaphoric context in contrast to an indefinite context. This paper proposes that in an anaphoric context licensed by ku, plural -tul is a realization of grammatical number such as Num head with binary features [±plural] that value uninterpretable number feature on D [uNum]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa and in many other parts of the world, decolonising the curriculum has become a valued goal, while frameworks that would systematically support the decolonising project through instructional design are not broadly available. In this conceptual paper we bring readers to consider one framework for instructional design, the theory of Realistic Mathematics Education, and discuss how it can aid in decolonising education in primary years. We exemplify our conceptual position through an instructional design for teaching length measurement—a key grounding practice in both early years mathematics and science throughout the world. We propose that the resulting decolonised narratives are not only useful in marginalised contexts of countries with a history of colonisation. Due to their positioning of mathematics as a human endeavour, these narratives are capable of generating meaningful, equitable engagement with mathematics for diverse student groups in a variety of educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is not to clarify the authenticity and various features of Pythagoreanism, but to trace whether it has an influence on different philosophical currents on how the human being is perceived as two incompatible alternatives-as a transitory form of the animal or as a divine creature. The fact is that there is no clear and consensual definition of what constitutes a person. The separation of soul and body in man as two separate entities belonging to different dimensions is also a concept inherited from antiquity. Matter as evil and soul as good has been a philosophical maxim since the time of Pythagoras. Thus, the human being remains outside the unity of nature as torn into two different entities. They relate to the being, matter and time differently. They express his different natures - the low and the high, the small and the large, matter and ether. The interpretation that soul and body are connected only indirectly and that this makes man imperfect is the root of an erroneous but established notion. In this sense, it is important to rethink from a modern perspective where human perfection lies, such as the right to choose and freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest edges are ecotones on the boundary of closed (forest) and open (meadow, field) ecosystems. These are peculiar habitats for a variety of insects which can traverse these boundaries and influence the functioning of adjacent ecosystems. They have become more prevalent in recent years due to anthropogenic fragmentation. Using beer traps, we investigated the number of insects in three locations. Each location represented an open natural ecosystem (a large glade in a forest, a meadow) or an artificially created ecosystem (agroecosystem) and a nearby deciduous forest. The traps were placed on trees at two levels (1.5 and 7.5 m above the soil) at the edges and in the forest interior (300–350 m from the edge). A total of 46116 specimens were collected from ten orders. At the edges in all locations, the total abundance of all orders of insects is higher than inside the forest areas. Dermaptera, Mecoptera and Trichoptera dominated at the edge. The number of Hemiptera in the traps was small, with predominance in the lower traps. Blattodea in all locations dominated at the bottom (the total abundance in the lower traps was 12.5 times higher than in the upper traps). At the edges, the abundance of Blattodea was 3.3 times higher than in the forest interior. The total abundance of Coleoptera at the edges was lower (with the exception of one location). The number of Hymenoptera at the edges and in the forest interior, as well as in the lower and upper traps, did not differ. The number of Diptera in all locations was higher at the edges and always in the lower layer. At the level of 7.5 m, the number of Neuroptera was higher both at the edges and in the forest interior.

Introduction. The processes of reforming the education system in the USSR in the second half of the 1950s – early 1960s had a certain impact on the system of secondary specialized education, including in the Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR. This, in turn, affected the dynamics of saturation of the national economy with mid-level personnel. The aim of the study is to examine the dynamics of the number of specialists with secondary vocational education and their proportion among all workers and employees within the specified territory in the context of the ongoing education reform and in the subsequent years. Materials and Methods. The basis of the research presented in the article was statistical data that made it possible to trace the dynamics of changes in the number of mid-level specialists and their share in the national economy of the Finno-Ugric Republics of the RSFSR in the mid-1950s – mid-1970s. The research is based on comparative historical and systematic approaches, using the method of statistical information analysis. Results and Discussion. The conducted study of the dynamics of changes in the number and proportion of middle-level specialists with secondary specialized education in the national economy of the five Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR revealed a positive trend that persisted throughout the studied period. The overall growth in the number of middle-level specialists was recorded at more than 4 times. The proportion of this group in the total number of workers and employees increased by more than 6%. Available statistical data showed the highest growth both in terms of number and proportion of these specialists in the early years of the education reform in the country, when there was a maximum influx of graduates who had completed their education before the reform. From 1960 to 1965, the dynamics of these indicators significantly slowed down, indicating the impact of negative factors from the ongoing reform. In the post-reform period, there was an observed acceleration in the growth rate of both the number and proportion of middle-level specialists. Conclusion. The results obtained from this study can be used both as a basis for examining issues related to state policy on staffing the national economy with professional personnel during the specified period and for researching the history of the system of secondary specialized education in general. The general patterns identified in the study regarding changes in the number of mid-level staff employed in the national economy of the five Finno-Ugric republics of the RSFSR from 1955 to 1975, as well as the noted peculiarities of this process in individual republics against the backdrop of educational reforms in the country and the post-reform years, allow for further analysis of similar processes in other regions of the country.

The number zero holds a special status among numbers, indispensable for developing a comprehensive number theory. 1,2,3,4 Despite its importance in mathematics, the neuronal foundation of zero in the human brain is unknown. We conducted single-neuron recordings in neurosurgical patients 5,6,7 while they made judgments involving nonsymbolic number representations (dot numerosity), including the empty set, and symbolic numbers (Arabic numerals), including numeral zero. Neurons showed responsiveness to either the empty set or numeral zero, but not both. Neuronal activity to zero in both nonsymbolic and symbolic formats exhibited a numerical distance effect, indicating that zero representations are integrated together with countable numerosities and positive integers at the low end of the number line. 8,9 A boundary in neuronal coding existed between the nonsymbolic empty set and small numerosities, correlating with the relative difficulty in discriminating numerosity zero behaviorally. Conversely, no such boundary was found for symbolic zero activity, suggesting that symbolic representations integrate zero with other numerals along the number line, reconciling its outlier role. The status of zero as a special nonsymbolic numerical quantity is reflected in the activity of neurons in the human brain, which seems to serve as a scaffold for more advanced representations of zero as a symbolic number. • Single-neuron recordings in the medial temporal lobe of patients • Neurons signal both nonsymbolic and symbolic zero • Neuronal representations of zero integrated along the number line • Nonsymbolic empty sets distinctly encoded from other small numbers Kutter et al. identify and characterize single-neuron activity in the human brain correlated with the representation of both nonsymbolic (dot numerosities) and symbolic (Arabic numerals) number zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the principle of informativity, more useful information is more likely to be coded than less useful information. This principle underlies Greenberg's Universals 37 and 45, which state that a larger number of (sex-based) gender contrasts are on average found in singular than in non-singular forms. As an increase in group size lowers the probability of same sex groups, gender-specific personal pronouns are less useful in the non-singular than in the singular. Curiously enough, the principle of informativity also makes the opposite prediction: in the first person, non-singular forms are predicted to show a gender contrast more frequently than singular forms do. Moreover, exclusive forms are predicted to develop gender distinctions more often than inclusive forms. In this paper, these predictions are put to a typological test. A total of 51 languages from 17 different families and 24 different genera has been found in which the first person singular personal pronoun is gender-neutral while one or more of its non-singular counterparts inflect for gender. It is argued that Universals 37 and 45, as well as their counterclaim, are empirically adequate. This apparent paradox dissolves in a three-way interaction of gender, number and person in pronominal paradigms. In keeping with the principle of informativity, there is a bias in favour of gender marking in the third person singular but also a bias in favour of gender marking in the first person non-singular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When expressing comparisons of magnitude, Pitjantjatjara, a language indigenous to the land now known as Australia, employs contextually driven comparators (e.g., Anyupa is tall. Uma is short) rather than a dedicated morphological or syntactic comparative construction (e.g., Anyupa is taller than Uma). Pitjantjatjara also has a small number of lexicalized numerals, employing 'one', 'two', 'three', then 'many'. It is hypothesized that having dedicated comparatives in language and elaborated number systems aid comparisons of magnitudes. Fluent Pitjantjatjara-English bilinguals participated in tasks assessing their accuracy and reaction times when comparing two types of magnitude: numerosity (quantities of dots), and extent (line lengths). They repeated the comparisons in both languages on different days, allowing for the effect of language being spoken on responses to be assessed. No differences were found for numerosity; however, participants were less accurate when making comparisons of extent using Pitjantjatjara. Accuracy when using Pitjantjatjara decreased as the magnitude of the comparison increased and as differences between the comparators decreased. This result suggests a potential influence of linguistic comparison strategy on comparison behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soil nematode communities in typical tundra soils of southern Chukotka have been analyzed. Five types of shrub and grass-shrub biotopes on Cryosols, Fluvisols, Histosols, Gleysols, and Cambisols were examined. The animals were extracted from the soil by the Baermann technique with subsequent determination of taxonomic diversity, total and relative abundance, and trophic groups. The highest number (7044 individuals/100 g of soil) and biomass (12.15 mg) of nematodes were found in the Histosol, and the minimum one (1000 individuals/100 g of soil; 1.96 mg) of nematodes in the Cryosol. Bacterivorous nematodes dominated in all soil types. The maximum percentage of bacterivorous nematodes (94%) were found in the Cambisol. The percentages of fungivorous nematodes in the studied soils ranged from 1 to 42%. Predatory and omnivorous nematodes were present in all soils except for the litter of the Cambisol. Their percentage ranged from 2 to 32%. Phytonematodes were few, their highest number was found in the Gleysol (18%). The nematode fauna of the soils under analysis differed significantly. The greatest diversity of nematodes was found in the peat horizon of the Fluvisol, and the smallest diversity of nematodes was recorded in the litter of the Cambisol. The values of Sigma Maturity Index ranged between 2 and 3. The Enrichment Index had low and moderate (1.40–41.02) values, and the Structure Index had high values (59.51–84.07). The Eudorylaimus and Plectus genera were eudominants in all soil types. The soil food webs formed in the biocenoses under consideration can be characterized as stable and structured except for the alder biocenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017 a seemingly small change in Pakistan's questionnaire for the upcoming national census sparked vociferous debates about religious identity and the politics of recognition. The questionnaire added "Scheduled Caste" as a separate religion, whereas previously it had appeared as a Hindu subcategory. Some saw this bureaucratic shift as a cynical attempt to further diminish Pakistan's precarious Hindu minority, reopening old wounds about religious nationalism. Anti‐caste progressives, however, saw an opportunity to imagine alternative political horizons for minority citizenship. How do untimely state projects render new political aspirations legible? As shown through ethnographic attention to rumors, enumerative practices, and census campaigns, the tools of bureaucratic documentation can reactivate unsettled histories, helping people imagine new possibilities from the state's margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the syntactic parsing abilities of children and infants exposed to Catalan as their first language. Focusing first on ages 3 to 6, we conducted two sentence-picture matching tasks. In experiment 1, 3 to 4-year-old children failed in identifying singular third-person subjects within null-subject sentences, although they performed above chance in all other scenarios, including plural third-person subjects and sentences with overt full DP subjects. This is reminiscent of the results of Pérez-Leroux for Spanish. In experiment 2, with the same design but involving numeral distractors, children's performance was above chance level across all conditions from age 3 to 4. Then, in experiment 3, we moved to a younger age range with the help of eye-tracking techniques. The findings revealed that infants at 22 months had the ability to parse subject–verb agreement in sentences with third-person null subjects, and at 19 months there was evidence of parsing for third-person plural null subjects. These findings are inconsistent with the perception of children grappling with syntactic agreement computation. We argue that instances of underperformance in subject–verb agreement parsing identified in the literature often stem from task-related and pragmatic issues rather than core syntactic delay. If so, the putative asymmetry between early production of verbal inflection and late comprehension disappears; rather, the results suggest early establishment of matching operations and mastery of language-specific agreement properties before production starts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant said that cognition (objective perception) is acquired in the unity of sensibility (the receptivity of the mind to receive empirical representations of things, which yields intuitions) and the understanding (in which concepts – general representations of things – arise), and is mediated by the imagination. Here, it is shown that numbers, either pure or denominate, are cognized in the synthesis of intuition and mathematical concept, and that the phenomenal world of the cognizer is shaped accordingly. Any number can be related to any other number through a general mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer for the purpose. The judgment of the cognizer is manifest in the specifics of the mathematical relationship established between the two numbers in cognition. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical constant then in the (consistent) phenomenal world it will always have been of the value found in cognition, which explains why the universe seems to be fine-tuned for life. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical variable, then the number will be subject to change in accordance with physical laws. Symmetry is a recurrent feature of the phenomenology. A mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer may also relate, one to one, the numerical values of quantities in one set with the numerical values of quantities of different dimensionality in another set, which suggests that physical laws are human inventions and that causality is a pure concept of the understanding.

This research examines the production of subject-verb agreement inflection in person, number, and gender in Urban Jordanian Arabic-speaking individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Third person singular masculine, third person singular feminine, and third person plural suffixes (3MS/3FS/3P) were investigated to achieve this objective. The research involved 60 participants, 30 males and 30 females, enrolled in Nazik Al Hariri Welfare Center for Special Education in Amman. The participants were divided into three groups by age, kindergarten 2 (7.1 to 12.5), school-age (13.10 to 17.6), and vocational training (18.3 to 27.3). Data were collected via a picture-naming task. The results showed that verb agreement constitutes a severe problem in individuals with DS. All three age groups showed some degree of language decline. The 3MS form was the most used and the most accurate form by the three DS groups (48.5%), followed by the 3FS (35.3%) and the 3P (22.8%). A significant finding of this study is that the acquisition of agreement for person, number, and gender by the DS groups is associated with inconsistency and atypical asynchrony. In addition, the results show that age significantly affects the DS groups' production of subject-verb agreement. Thus, the study recommends early intervention for the verb system and subject-verb agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we present the results of our study on the seasonal dynamics and altitudinal distribution of Vespidae in forest ecosystems of central European Russia. To conduct this study, we utilized beer traps. Our findings include the recording of 32 species from 4 families of Hymenoptera. The most numerous family was Vespidae. The dominant species from this order were Vespula vulgaris, Vespa crabro, Dolichovespula media, and Vespula germanica. The occurrence of these species was quite high, including species from the Crabronidae, Chrysididae, and Pompilidae families. These species are known to frequently visit flowers of various plants and feed on nectar and pollen. In five different biotopes, the highest number of Vespidae was found in oak forests, while the lowest number was observed in pine forests. Vespula vulgaris was the dominant species in birch and oak forests, while Vespa crabro was more prevalent in pine and linden forests. The seasonal dynamics of the number showed a large peak in early July, likely due to a significant increase in air temperature during the day and night. This peak may have been caused by a large number of new-generation workers leaving the nests at this time. Additionally, the number of Vespidae in traps located in the undergrowth was slightly higher than those in traps in the canopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In one of the most famous but equally obscure passages in the Timaeus , Plato describes the generation of time and the heavens. The "moving image of eternity" (37d5) is commonly read as Plato's most general characterisation of time. Rémi Brague famously challenged the traditional interpretation on linguistic grounds by claiming that Plato actually did not conceive of time as an image (εἰκών) but rather as a number (ἀριθμός). In this paper, I shall claim that this controversy is by no means a modern one. The traditional interpretation is mostly owed to Plato's most prominent reader, Plotinus, who famously conceives of time in relation to eternity (Enn. III.7.13.24-25). Brague's alternative reading, however, is anticipated by Simplicius' attempt to refute the Plotinian interpretation, as I shall show. According to my reconstruction, Simplicius' reading of the Timaeus not only shows why the traditional interpretation falls short, but it also offers a systematic argument that bolsters Brague's alternative reading. Finally, I shall show that this is consistent with Plato's text. It shall become clear that current interpretative problems are essentially prefigured in the late ancient debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents computational methods for separating oncogenic mutations from neutral mutations of the p53 protein using mathematical processing of the following calculated values for each sample: W d , T Δ S , Δ H , lg [ K d ] , machine learning methods were used to determine the main physical quantities for predicting experimental values [Urea]50%, Kd, Δ Δ G , which determine the stability of mutant monomers of the p53 protein in various denatured alcohol concentrations and when bound to the p53-Bcl-Xl biocomplex, as well as RNA expression; machine learning methods are presented to determine key calculated quantities and dependencies, which will thus help predict experimental results. The description of the software package that implements the presented algorithm is given on the website https://binomlabs.com/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant said that cognition (objective perception) is acquired in the unity of sensibility (the receptivity of the mind to receive empirical representations of things, which yields intuitions) and the understanding (in which concepts - general representations of things - arise) and is mediated by the imagination. Here, it is shown that numbers, either pure or denominate, are cognized in the synthesis of intuition and mathematical concept, and that the phenomenal world of the cognizer is shaped accordingly. Any number can be related to any other number through a general mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer for the purpose. The judgment of the cognizer is manifest in the specifics of the mathematical relationship established between the two numbers in cognition. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical constant, then in the (consistent) phenomenal world it will always have been of the value found in cognition, which explains why the universe seems to be fine-tuned for life. If the cognized number is the numerical value of a physical variable, then the number will be subject to change in accordance with physical laws. Symmetry is a recurrent feature of the phenomenology. A mathematical formula conceived by the cognizer may also relate, one to one, the numerical values of quantities in one set with the numerical values of quantities of different dimensionality in another set, which suggests that physical laws are human inventions and that causality is a pure concept of the understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed and trained a prototype AI-based object-recognition app, blockplay.ai, to recognise Cuisenaire rods placed on a tabletop, and speak the rods' lengths. We challenged 6-year-olds in a primary school in England to play a 'game': can you make the app say the two times table? Drawing methodologically on theories of embodiment, we analyse two videoclips, each of a child interacting with rods, the app and the task set by the researchers, as a dynamic, complex child-rods-app-task body-artefact system. Theoretically we draw on Davydovian concepts of learning as a concrete-to-abstract-to-new-concrete cycle, using abstract artefacts such as mathematical language to coordinate new perceptually-guided actions on concrete objects. In one videoclip the child's pattern of actions are consistent with a change, within a few minutes, from perceiving and acting on rods as counters, to perceiving and acting on rods as lengths; in the other videoclip, this does not happen. We analyse the changes in patterns of interactions as shifts to new stable attractors in a dynamic child-rods-app-task body-artefact system, driven by tensions generated by unexpected concrete-to-abstract relationships. We end by looking forward to the range of possible uses of object-recognition technology in the learning of mathematics, for example, provoking algebraic awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Often illustrated with the examples of melody, Bergson's key concept of durée is best known for its qualitative, heterogeneous, and thus immeasurable multiplicity. However, the examples he gives in Time and Free Will-such as "the regular oscillations of a pendulum" or "the successive strokes of a distant bell"--suggest rather periodic phenomena that would require another perspective in terms of rhythm. When we "get into a rhythm," we perceive a numerical quality without counting. Rhythm makes glimpse "Otherwise than Measuring". Focusing on the "rhythmic organization of the whole" within duration could reveal the secret of Bergson's enigmatic phrase: "this heterogeneity contains number only potentially." This paper reexamines the theoretical scope of rhythmeasure in two ways. First, it shows how this image médiatrice we forged is going to be renewed by recent studies emphasizing duration-number (Miravete) or multi-time scale theory (Hirai). Second, it explores the ethico-political implications of rhythmeasure. Bergson, in his last book Two Sources of Morality and Religion, multiplies images of "a justice (...) which no longer evokes ideas of relativity and proportion, but, on the contrary, of the incommensurable and the absolute". The very ambiguity of démesuré revitalizes the famous opposition of "the closed/the open". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals make faster left responses to small/er numbers and faster right responses to large/r numbers than vice versa. This "spatial–numerical association of response codes" (SNARC) effect represents evidence for an overlap between the cognitive representations of number and space. Theories of the SNARC effect differ in whether they predict bidirectional S-R associations between number and space or not. We investigated the reciprocity of S-R priming effects between number and location in three experiments with vocal responses. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants completed a number–location task, with digits as stimuli and location words as responses, and a location–number task, with physical locations as stimuli and number words as responses. In addition, we varied the S-R mapping in each task. Results revealed a strong SNARC effect in the number–location task, but no reciprocal SNARC effect in the location–number task. In Experiment 3, we replaced physical location stimuli with location words and digit stimuli with number words. Results revealed a regular and a reciprocal SNARC effect of similar size. Reciprocal SNARC effects thus seem to emerge with verbal location stimuli and vocal responses, but not with physical location stimuli and vocal responses. The S-R associations underlying the SNARC effect with vocal responses thus appear bidirectional and symmetrical for some combinations of stimulus and response sets, but not for others. This has implications for theoretical accounts of the SNARC effect which need to explain how stimulus mode affects the emergence of reciprocal but not regular SNARC effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speakers have been shown to find sentences with erroneous agreement acceptable under certain conditions. This so-called agreement attraction effect has also been found in genitive-possessive structures such as "the teacher's brother" in Turkish [Lago et al. (2019). Straight from the horsefs mouth: Agreement attraction effects with Turkish possessors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9(3), 398–426. ], which is in contrast to its absence in similar constructions in English [Nicol et al. (2016). Minimal interference from possessor phrases in the production of subject-verb agreement. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 548. ]. It has been hypothesised that this discrepancy is a result of the association between genitive case marking and being a controller in Turkish. We test an alternative explanation according to which Lago et al.'s findings are due to a potential confound in their experiment, as the morphology on all agreement controllers were locally ambiguous between possessive and accusative case. The results of our speeded acceptability judgment experiment suggest that the presence of case syncretism does not affect agreement attraction contrary to previous findings in the literature. Abbreviations: ACC, accusative; DAT, dative; GEN, genitive; NMLZ, nominaliser; PASS , passive; PL, plural; POSS, possessive; PST, past; SG, singular; WHEN, when. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do customers convert values to a familiar currency (rescaling hypothesis) or do they learn item‐price pairs (relearning hypothesis) when they estimate the prices of consumer goods and services in a currency they are unfamiliar with? We addressed this question by replicating the study conducted in Portugal and Austria in 2001 and 2002, around the time when these countries switched to the euro (Marques & Dehaene, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2004, 10, 148–155). The study was made in Croatia where university students (N = 181) were asked to estimate the typical price of a set of 60 items from November 2022 to June 2023, around the time at which changeover to the euro took place. The results support the rescaling hypothesis by showing concurrent improvements in the precision of price estimates for frequently and rarely bought items. The reliance on rescaling is probably caused by a high inflation that accompanied a changeover to the euro in Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Productive engagement in fractional reasoning is essential for abstracting fundamental algebraic concepts vital to college and career success. Yet, data suggest students with learning disabilities (LDs), in particular, display pervasive shortfalls in learning and mastering fraction content. We argue that shortfalls in understanding are in fact issues of access in terms of opportunities that students have to productively engage with learning objects (i.e., tasks) that meaningfully bring forward and promote students' fractions understanding. In this study, we define engagement as a state and take up a single case study methodology to illustrate behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement of Bob, a student with a LD, as he works with a series of fraction tasks designed to support his engagement. Results reveal patterns of productive engagement as regards this student's fractional reasoning as they relate to the tasks he was given over time. Contributions of this work include insights into Bob's engagement within tasks and provide considerations for teaching practice seeking to promote productive engagement by design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When expressing comparisons of magnitude, Pitjantjatjara, a language indigenous to the land now known as Australia, employs contextually driven comparators (e.g., Anyupa is tall. Uma is short) rather than a dedicated morphological or syntactic comparative construction (e.g., Anyupa is taller than Uma). Pitjantjatjara also has a small number of lexicalized numerals, employing ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’, then ‘many’. It is hypothesized that having dedicated comparatives in language and elaborated number systems aid comparisons of magnitudes. Fluent Pitjantjatjara-English bilinguals participated in tasks assessing their accuracy and reaction times when comparing two types of magnitude: numerosity (quantities of dots), and extent (line lengths). They repeated the comparisons in both languages on different days, allowing for the effect of language being spoken on responses to be assessed. No differences were found for numerosity; however, participants were less accurate when making comparisons of extent using Pitjantjatjara. Accuracy when using Pitjantjatjara decreased as the magnitude of the comparison increased and as differences between the comparators decreased. This result suggests a potential influence of linguistic comparison strategy on comparison behavior.

Abstract In New Western Iranian languages, plurality is an obligatory category, and it is marked both morphologically and syntactically; however, Bâdrudi, as a central Iranian language, has a special status among Iranian languages. Insofar as the plural number is not an obligatory category and only appears alongside the plural suffix and verb agreement, this language uses other ways to mark plurality. This article examines some features of plurality in the Bâdrudi. Findings indicate that in Bâdrudi, the plurality is marked by the suffix -u, but mostly noun plurality is marked syntactically by verb agreement and pronominal agreement. The reduplication of noun stem is another way to mark plurality in animate nouns. In all the ways through which the plural number of nouns is marked, the verb agreement is always obligatory. This is but the use of the plural suffix, pronominal agreement, and reduplication are optional. There are also cases where the noun is not plurally marked in any way. This means that the distinction of number is not an obligatory category in Bâdrudi. Keywords: number, plurality, noun, Bâdrudi, Iranian languages Introduction Number is one of the most common features of nouns in world’s languages. For example, English makes a semantic and a formal distinction between, for instance, dog and dogs, or child and children. In English, the number feature can also be realized on verbs and pronouns through agreement with a subject, as in: ‘these children were playing together’. In this example, the verb and the demonstrative pronoun are plural and indicate the number of children. This is by no means to state that they point to the number of ‘playing’ events. While Number is an obligatory category in English, there are many other languages in which the use of the plural marker is called upon only when it is important to mark number. Unlike English, and similar languages in which the majority of nouns, from the personal pronouns and nouns denoting persons to those inanimate objects and abstract entities, can mark number, there are many languages that restrict the number opposition to fewer situations, namely those which are high in animacy. In terms of the number values, most number systems have only the two singular and plural polarities. But there are other degrees of numerosity that occur in different languages. The most frequent form of such number system is duality, which designates only two instances of one thing. Another one is the trial system which refers to three distinct real-world entities. Finally, ‘paucal’ stands for a small number of distinct real-world entities. Given the different ways that the number is expressed, some languages have special ‘number words’ which are employed merely for the purpose of indicating number. This includes morphological expression of number which manifests widely in terms of affixes. Stems can show changes from minor stress alternations to major restructuring to show number. The way in which number is marked syntactically is through agreement. Agreement is often in addition to other morphological means of marking plurality. Demonstratives and verbs are relatively frequent agreement targets, showing agreement in number either uniquely or combined with other categories, notably gender. Reduplication is a frequent and iconic way of indicating plurality. This may involve the whole stem, more frequently, or part of the stem; the relevant part may appear at beginning, or end of the noun. Materials and Methods This article examines some features of plurality in the Bâdrudi language, a central Iranian language spoken in central Iran. Part of the data used in this article are taken from Bâdrudi and Arismani corpuses, archived at ‘Corpus of Iranian Languages’. It is to note that another part of the data is collected by the author from the Fami village, where a variety of Badrudi is spoken. The data are transcribed based on the APA phonetic transcription and glossed in a semi-Persian way of glossing. Through this approach, the meanings are in Persian but the grammatical features are shown in English. Discussion of results and Conclusion The analyses suggest that Bâdrudi uses three methods to mark plurality: 1. Morphological Marking: In this marking system, the plural number is indicated by adding the plural suffix ‘–u’ to the noun stem, which is not obligatory and can be used along with the syntactic ways of verb agreement and pronominal agreement. Verb agreement: Through such a strategy, the plurality is shown by the agreement between the plural noun and the verb. In this connection, the noun can also have a plural suffix: jen-u vo mir-u ru kade de âx-en “Men and women are sitting at home”. Verb agreement marks the noun that is a subject or an agent: sang baalaa cinu de darkat-en “The stones fell from the wall”. But in the sentences with ergative structure, it marks a noun that serves as an object: ču-šun ataš xossen “They burned the wood”. Pronominal agreement: In this way, the plural number is marked on the demonstrative pronouns and comes in a noun phrase. In this case, the verb of the sentence is also used in plural form: nome izom bâ tabar amariy-en “these woods are broken by an ax”. reduplicating: This involves the use of material from the noun stem and suffixing it at the end of the noun, like dot ‘girl’ > dotmot ‘girls’ in nin dotmot čerâ namden? “Why did not these girls come?” It can be said that in Bâdrudi while the use of morphological suffix is not obligatory to indicate the plurality of noun, the use of pronominal agreement is also not obligatory as long as there is a verb agreement. On the other hand, in all the examined examples, the use of verb agreement is an obligatory way of marking plurality. The results show that in Bâdrudi, the verb agreement is a necessary and imperative way of marking the plurality of nouns. It is interesting to note that other markers are compulsory to be used. There are also cases where the plurality is not marked in any way. Considering that the verb agreement generally marks subject or agent, a noun serving as an indirect object, is not marked by any of the morphological or syntactical ways. In general, it can be said that although Bâdrudi marks plurality morphologically and syntactically, plurality is not an obligatory category in Bâdrudi, and there are still degrees of splitness in marking the plurality.

The amount of information that can be concurrently maintained in the focus of attention is strongly restricted (Broadbent, 1958). The goal of this study was to test whether this restriction was functionally significant for language comprehension. We examined the time course dynamics of processing determiner-head agreement in English demonstrative phrases. We found evidence that agreement processing was slowed when determiner and head were no longer adjacent, but separated by modifiers. We argue that some information is shunted nearly immediately from the focus of attention, necessitating its later retrieval. Plural, the marked feature value for number, exhibits better preservation in the focus of attention, however, than the unmarked value, singular.

Whether estimating the size of a crowd or rating a restaurant on a five-star scale, humans frequently navigate between subjective sensory experiences and shared formal systems. Here we ask how people manage this in the case of estimating number. We present participants with arrays of dots and ask them to report how many dots there are. Our results produce two novel findings. First, people's estimates are best fit by a bilinear function in log space, rather than the traditional power law described in previous literature. Second, we find that people's estimates do not have a stable coefficient of variation at higher magnitudes, and that the likely cause of this is a "drift" in people's estimate calibration over many trials which has not previously been identified. Building on these results, we present a model of the mapping function from subjective numerosity to symbolic number that relies primarily on a constrained set of previous estimates and familiar numerosities, rather than the robust internal scale used in existing models. Our model is able to generate an accurate mapping with limited data and reproduce notable aspects of estimation seen in our experimental results. This suggests that human number estimation, and perhaps other domains in which we must navigate between subjective representations and formal systems, is governed by a relatively simple decision process that primarily seeks to maintain consistency with previous estimates. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Many studies have shown that the brain can process subliminal numerals, i.e., participants can categorize a subliminal number into two categories: greater than 5 or less than 5. In the context of many studies on the unconscious integration of multiple subliminal stimuli, the issue of whether multiple subliminal numbers can be integrated is contentious. The same-different task is regarded as a perfect tool to explore unconscious integration. In the two experiments reported, we used a same-different task in which a pair of masked prime numbers was followed by a pair of target numbers, and participants were asked to decide whether the two target numbers were on the same (both smaller or larger than 5) or different sides (one smaller, the other larger than 5) of 5 in magnitude. The results indicated that the prime numbers could be categorized unconsciously, which was reflected by the category priming effect, and that the unconscious category relationship of the two prime numbers could affect the judgment on the category relationship of the two target numbers, as reflected by the response priming effect. The duration of the prime-to-target interstimulus interval (ISI) was also manipulated, showing a positive compatibility effect (PCE) of category priming and a negative compatibility effect (NCE) of response priming no matter whether the ISI was short (50 ms) or long (150 ms). The NCE, which occurred when the prime-to-target ISI was relatively short in this study, contradicted the conventional view but was consistent with previous results of unconscious integration based on an attention modulation mechanism. Importantly, this study provided evidence for the still-under-debate issue of numerical information integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Comparative Literature is the property of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Department of Persian Language & Literature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Grammaticalization has long been understood as a process that takes place gradually, but within it, discrete and abrupt changes take place. This tension has been reconciled by claiming that the semblance of a gradual process is given by different parts of a construction undergoing changes at different points in time. Focusing on synchronic microvariation as gradience, this article discusses cases of clitic loss in four Romance varieties (Brazilian Portuguese, Raeto-Romance, some northeastern Italo-Romance varieties, and French), and identifies common patterns in the cells of the paradigms that are most vulnerable to the process of loss. Relating the grammatical and semantic properties of these cells to established typological hierarchies, the paper explores how general cognitive principles can account for the key properties of gradualness and gradience and, ultimately, language change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where does arithmetic come from, and why are addition and multiplication its fundamental operations? Although we know that arithmetic is true, no explanation that meets standards of scientific rigor is available from philosophy, mathematical logic, or the cognitive sciences. We propose a new approach based on the assumption that arithmetic has a biological origin: Many examples of adaptive behavior such as spatial navigation suggest that organisms can perform arithmetic-like operations on represented magnitudes. If so, these operations—nonsymbolic precursors of addition and multiplication—might be optimal due to evolution and thus identifiable according to an appropriate criterion. We frame this as a metamathematical question, and using an order-theoretic criterion, prove that four qualitative conditions—monotonicity, convexity, continuity, and isomorphism—are sufficient to identify addition and multiplication over the real numbers uniquely from the uncountably infinite class of possible operations. Our results show that numbers and algebraic structure emerge from purely qualitative conditions, and as a construction of arithmetic, provide a rigorous explanation for why addition and multiplication are its fundamental operations. We argue that these conditions are preverbal psychological intuitions or principles of perceptual organization that are biologically based and shape how humans and nonhumans alike perceive the world. This is a Kantian view and suggests that arithmetic need not be regarded as an immutable truth of the universe but rather as a natural consequence of our perception. Algebraic structure may be inherent in the representations of the world formed by our perceptual system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human languages vary in terms of which meanings they lexicalize, but this variation is constrained. It has been argued that languages are under two competing pressures: the pressure to be simple (e.g., to have a small lexicon) and to allow for informative (i.e., precise) communication, and that which meanings get lexicalized may be explained by languages finding a good way to trade off between these two pressures. However, in certain semantic domains, languages can reach very high levels of informativeness even if they lexicalize very few meanings in that domain. This is due to productive morphosyntax and compositional semantics, which may allow for construction of meanings which are not lexicalized. Consider the semantic domain of natural numbers: many languages lexicalize few natural number meanings as monomorphemic expressions, but can precisely convey very many natural number meanings using morphosyntactically complex numerals. In such semantic domains, lexicon size is not in direct competition with informativeness. What explains which meanings are lexicalized in such semantic domains? We will propose that in such cases, languages need to solve a different kind of trade‐off problem: the trade‐off between the pressure to lexicalize as few meanings as possible (i.e, to minimize lexicon size) and the pressure to produce as morphosyntactically simple utterances as possible (i.e, to minimize average morphosyntactic complexity of utterances). To support this claim, we will present a case study of 128 natural languages' numeral systems, and show computationally that they achieve a near‐optimal trade‐off between lexicon size and average morphosyntactic complexity of numerals. This study in conjunction with previous work on communicative efficiency suggests that languages' lexicons are shaped by a trade‐off between not two but three pressures: be simple, be informative, and minimize average morphosyntactic complexity of utterances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]