This paper presents a method for building genetic language taxonomies based on a new approach to comparing lexical forms. Instead of comparing forms cross-linguistically, a matrix of languageinternal similarities between forms is calculated. These matrices are then compared to give distances between languages. We argue that this coheres better with current thinking in linguistics and psycholing...

The paper considers the vexing issues of the homeland and dispersal of the Austroasiatic languages. A critical analysis finds little firm support for nested sub-groupings among a dozen recognised branches, while lexical analyses suggest a long-term pattern of contact and convergence within mainland Southeast Asia. These facts are interpreted as consistent with a stable long-term presence in Ind...

The computer-assisted learning of spoken language is closely tied to automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology which, as is well known, is challenging with non-native speech. By focusing on specific phonological differences between the target and source languages of non-native speakers, pronunciation assessment can be made more reliable. Aspiration, an important phonemic attribute in plosiv...

[1] The anomalously strong hurricane activity in the Atlantic sector during the recent years led to a controversy about the impact of global warming on hurricane activity in the Atlantic sector. Here we show that the temperature difference between the tropical North Atlantic and the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans (IndoPacific) is a key parameter in controlling the vertical wind shear over t...

1 Introduction The familiar paradigm of Latin first declension nouns in (1) illustrates case syncretism: although at least five cases are recognised, neither the singular nor the plural has five distinct forms: in the singular the genitive and dative are identical, and in the plural the dative and ablative are identical.

In most Indo-European languages, many biomedical terms are rich morphological structures composed of several constituents mainly originating from Greek or Latin. The interpretation of these compounds are keystones to access information. In this paper, we present morphological resources aiming at coping with these biomedical morphological compounds. Following previous work (Claveau and Kijak, 20...

J. C. Maréchal*, M. P. Sarma, S. Ahmed and P. Lachassagne Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières–French Geological Survey, Service EAU, Unite RMD, 1039 avenue de Pinville, F-34000 Montpellie...

We investigated the role of prostaglandins in the renal vascular response to exogenous and endogenous adenosine in control and streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic rats. Exogenous adenosine (0.01-100 nmol) injected into the abdominal aorta decreased renal blood flow (RBF) in a dose-dependent manner to a much greater extent in STZ rats than in control rats ( P < 0.001). Inhibition of prostaglandin synt...