Grammaticality,acceptability, possible words and large corpora

The related notions of possible word, actual word and productivity are difficult to work with because of the difficulty with the notion of actual word. When large corpora are used as a source of data, there are some benefits for the practising morphologist, but the notion of actual word becomes even more difficult. This is because it rapidly becomes clear that in corpora there may be more than one form for the same morphosemantic complex, so that rules may have multiple outputs. One of the factors that may help determine the output of a variable rule in morphology is the productivity of the process involved. If that is the case, the notion of productivity has to be reevaluated.     

Phonological,grammatical, and written words in Wichi

This article aims at investigating the linguistic criteria to determine what a word is in Wichi (Matacoan), a polysynthetic and agglutinative language spoken in the Gran Chaco Region, in South America. The main phonological criteria proposed are phonological rules and stress. We also apply some grammatical criteria that have been proposed cross linguistically, some of which are useful to determine the boundaries of grammatical words in Wichi. Finally, we explore the relationship between the phonological and grammatical word with the written word. We base our analysis of written words on a textbook (Tsalanawu) used in many bilingual schools in Northeastern Argentina.     

Promiscuous words

Promiscuity is frequently used to describe animal mating behaviour, and especially to describe multiple mating by females. Yet this use of the term is incorrect, perhaps reflecting an erroneous adoption of common language to pique reader interest. We evaluated the patterns of use and misuse of the word ‘promiscuity’ in a representative journal of animal behaviour. This survey highlights how inappropriately the term is used, and how it can conceal critical features of animal mating strategies with intriguing evolutionary significance. Further analysis of the scientific impact of papers identified by the term promiscuous or polyandrous revealed that the former were cited less frequently. We argue that using promiscuity to describe animal mating strategies is anthropomorphic, inaccurate, and potentially misleading. Consistent with other biological disciplines, the word promiscuity should be used to describe indiscriminate mating behaviour only, and that polygyny and polyandry should be used to describe male and female mating frequency respectively.     

一株金黄蓝状菌解磷特性及其对毛竹的促生效应

为深入了解毛竹根际微生物金黄蓝状菌(JXBR04)的解磷特性并评价其促生效应,采用液体发酵培养法研究碳源、氮源、pH、装液量及盐离子等因素对金黄蓝状菌解磷能力的影响,以及该菌株对不同难溶性磷酸盐的溶解能力,并应用温室盆栽法研究该菌株对毛竹幼苗生长的促进效应.结果表明: 金黄蓝状菌(JXBR04)分别在碳源为蔗糖、氮源为酵母粉、初始pH值3.5、装液量1/5或2/5、盐离子浓度为0 或1.0 g·L^-1时解磷能力最强;对Ca₃(PO₄)₂、CaHPO₄、FePO₄均具有较好的解磷作用,其中对CaHPO₄表现最佳,达1304.04 mg·L^-1.施用金黄蓝状菌(JXBR04)菌剂180 d后显著提高了毛竹实生苗根际土壤养分和植株体内磷含量,且地径、苗高及生物量分别比对照增长了28.1%、28.3%和51.5%.可见,金黄蓝状菌具有成为我国南方酸性土壤毛竹林环境友好型生物肥料的潜力.