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Objective While postpartum depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) is a highly effective form of contraception, some data suggest an association with depressive symptoms. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between receipt of DMPA in the immediate postpartum period and postpartum depressive symptoms. Study Design This retrospective cohort study included all women who received prenatal and postpartum care at academic obstetric clinics affiliated with a tertiary care institution between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2014. All women were counseled on contraception prior to hospital discharge. DMPA was available in the hospital pharmacy, and its utilization was documented in the electronic health record. The Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) was used to screen for postpartum depression for all women at all postpartum visits. A score of 10 or greater was categorized as positive. Bivariable and multivariable analyses were used to identify the association between immediate postpartum DMPA use and a positive postpartum depression screen. Results Of the 5,073 women who met inclusion criteria, 410 (8.1%) received DMPA prior to hospital discharge. Compared with women who did not receive DMPA, women who received DMPA prior to hospital discharge were younger, more likely to identify as Black race or Latinx ethnicity, and more likely to be publicly insured. Clinical characteristics also differed. Women who received DMPA were more likely to be obese and to have experienced prenatal depressive symptoms, been diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, delivered preterm, and delivered vaginally. Receipt of immediate postpartum DMPA was not associated with having a positive screen for postpartum depression in bivariable (5.4 vs. 6.0%, p = 0.29) or multivariable (adjusted odds ratio 0.94, confidence interval 0.53–1.68) analyses. Conclusion Receipt of postpartum DMPA is not associated with a positive postpartum PHQ-9 screen. Concerns about precipitating postpartum depression should not preclude the utilization of DMPA as a contraceptive agent. Key Points Contraception is an important issue for obstetricians to address with postpartum patients. Concerns have been raised over the relationship between DMPA and depression. Our study shows that DMPA is not associated with a positive postpartum depression screen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second language (L2) learning has been promoted as a promising intervention to stave off age-related cognitive decline. While previous studies based on mean trends showed inconclusive results, this study is the first to investigate nonlinear cognitive trajectories across a 30-week training period. German-speaking older participants (aged 64–75 years) enrolled for a Spanish course, strategy game training (active control) or movie screenings (passive control). We assessed cognitive performance in working memory, alertness, divided attention, and verbal fluency on a weekly basis. Trajectories were modeled using Generalized Additive Mixed Models to account for temporally limited transfer effects and intra-individual variation in cognitive performance. Our results provide no evidence of cognitive improvement differing between the Spanish and either of the control groups during any phase of the training period. We did, however, observe an effect of baseline cognition, such that individuals with low cognitive baselines increased their performance more in the L2 group than comparable individuals in the control groups. We discuss these findings against the backdrop of the cognitive training literature and Complex Dynamic Systems Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution seeks to add to our knowledge on 'partitive articles' (like the French element du in Je bois du vin, 'I drink (some) wine') in a highly endangered language spoken in France, Switzerland and Italy, namely Francoprovençal. Based on recent fieldwork data (2017) from the Aosta Valley and data from the ALAVAL atlas project, we will discuss outliers in a geographical and syntactic perspective, i.e. occurrences of 'partitive articles' where they should not appear. This either because the regions and their respective varieties do not feature them according to the existing literature or because syntactic regularities known from Standard French do not admit them (under the scope of negation and after quantifying expressions). We will try to propose some explanations for the existence of these unexpected elements, both internal and external, i.e. via language contact, and argue more generally in favour of a more systematic consideration of rare elements in fieldwork data, which should not too readily be "explained away". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective  To understand whether maternal, perinatal, and systems-level factors can be identified to explain racial/ethnic disparities in cesarean delivery rates. Study Design  This retrospective cohort study included nulliparous women with singleton gestations who delivered at a tertiary care center from 2015 to 2017. Maternal, perinatal, and systems-level factors were compared by race/ethnicity. Multilevel multivariable logistic regression was used to identify whether race/ethnicity was independently associated with cesarean. Effect modification was evaluated using interaction terms. Bivariable analyses and multinomial logistic regression were used to determine differences in indication for cesarean. Results  Of 9,865 eligible women, 2,126 (21.5%) delivered via cesarean. The frequency of cesarean was lowest in non-Hispanic white women (19.2%) and highest in non-Hispanic black women (28.2%; p  < 0.001). Accounting for factors associated with cesarean delivery did not lessen the odds of cesarean associated with non-Hispanic black race (aOR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.31–1.91). Compared with non-Hispanic white women, non-Hispanic black women were more likely to undergo cesarean for nonreassuring fetal status (aOR: 2.73, 95% CI: 2.06–3.61). Conclusion  Examined maternal, perinatal, and systems-level risk factors for cesarean delivery did not explain the racial/ethnic disparities observed in cesarean delivery rates. Increased cesarean delivery for nonreassuring fetal status contributed substantially to this disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective  This study was aimed to determine the association between antenatal depression and breastfeeding initiation and continuation at 6 weeks postpartum. Study Design  This retrospective cohort study included all live-born deliveries after 24weeks' gestation at a single tertiary care institution between 2009 and 2014 with a documented antenatal depression screen using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). During the study period, it was recommended that routine screening occur during both the first and third trimesters. A positive screen was defined as a PHQ-9 score ≥ 10. Breastfeeding initiation and continuation until 6 weeks' postpartum were compared between women with and without a positive screen using bivariable analyses. Stepwise backward elimination regressions were used to identify whether a positive screen was independently associated with breastfeeding rates after controlling for confounders. Results  Among the 2,871 women meeting inclusion criteria, 302 (10.5%) were screened positive for antenatal depression. After adjusting for confounders, there were no differences in breastfeeding initiation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52–1.16), but women with a positive antenatal depression screen were significantly less likely to continue breastfeeding at 6 weeks' postpartum (aOR= 0.67, 95% CI: 0.48–0.96). Conclusion  A positive antenatal depression, screened in the first or third trimester, is a significant risk factor for early breastfeeding cessation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss a potential case of borrowing in this paper: Breton a- 'of', 'from' marking of (internal) verbal arguments, unique in Insular Celtic languages, and reminiscent of Gallo-Romance de/du- (and en-) arguments. Looking at potential Gallo-Romance parallels of three Middle Breton constructions analyzed in some detail (a with indefinite mass nominals in direct object position, a-marking of internal arguments under the scope of negation, a [allomorphs an(ez)-/ahan-] with personal pronouns for internal arguments, subjects (mainly of predicative constructions) and as expletive subjects of existential constructions), we demonstrate that even if there are some semantic parallels and one strong structural overlap (a and de under the scope of negation), the amount of divergences in morphology, syntax and semantics and the only partially fitting relative chronology of the different constructions do not allow to conclude with certainty that language-contact is an explanation of the Breton facts, which might have come into being also because of internal change (bound to restructuring of the pronominal system in Breton). More research is necessary to complete our knowledge of a-marking in Middle Breton and Modern Breton varieties and on the precise history of French en, in order to decide for one or the other explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the heart of this special issue are partitive elements (i. e., partitive articles, partitive pronouns, and partitive case markers) which can express different "shades" of partitivity, namely true partitivity, pseudopartitivity, or indefiniteness, that is, the absence of a part-whole relation in the meaning, in contrast to (pseudo)partitivity. Since these partitive elements express (at least) two such notions, as they can be truly partitive but often are not, the questions around partitivity are complex, interrelated and challenging. This special issue, with a strong and wide crosslinguistic (typological) coverage, deals with two overarching topics: first, the geographical distribution of partitive elements and the identification of potential instances of language contact, and, second, sometimes in combination with the first topic, the formal description and explanation of different partitive constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liaison consonant [z] in French noun phrases has traditionally been assumed to function as a plural marker. The realization of "plural [z]" in N(oun)-A(djective)-combinations is becoming, however, very rare in naturalistic data – except for contexts which allow a proper-name reading. On the one hand, one might think that we are dealing with a recent phenomenon, the beginning of a potential linguistic change in French in the sense of exaptation, reuse of former morphophonological material such as plural markers to signal proper-namehood in the sense of 'frozen morphology'. If this turns out correct, we expect the productivity of the new synchronic function to increase: New NA-combinations which function as proper names should be realized systematically with liaison, and proper name-marking via liaison should also become possible with other liaison consonants. On the other hand, we may be dealing with a (completed) diachronic process, in that only those NA-combinations which allowed liaison at the relevant point in time may have a liaison consonant in their univerbalized form. That is, new NA-combinations, even though they are used as proper names, do not display a liaison consonant, because liaison is no longer possible. The purpose of this paper was to investigate, based on empirical studies, whether liaison productively marks NA-combinations which function as proper names and distinguishes them from NA-combinations that count as common nouns, or whether we are dealing with a completed diachronic process. In view of the poor productivity observed, we argue that we are dealing with cases of univerbation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective  We sought to evaluate whether antenatal depression was associated with postpartum visit nonattendance. Study Design  This retrospective cohort study included women who received prenatal care at the academic outpatient offices of a single tertiary care center between March 1, 2009, and December 31, 2014. Women were screened for antenatal depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Attendance at the postpartum visit was compared between women with and without antenatal depressive symptomatology using bivariate and multivariable analyses. Results  Of the 2,870 women who met the inclusion criteria, 566 (19.7%) did not attend the postpartum visit. Women who did not attend a postpartum visit were younger and more likely to be a racial/ethnic minority, publicly insured, or multiparous; they were more likely to have a higher body mass index, as well as a vaginal delivery. Compared with those without antenatal depressive symptomatology, women with antenatal depressive symptomatology were significantly less likely to attend their postpartum visit (18.6 vs. 29.2%, p  < 0.001). This association persisted even after controlling for potential confounders (adjusted odds ratio: 0.69, 95% confidence interval: 0.48–0.99). Conclusion  Antenatal depressive symptomatology is significantly associated with nonattendance at the postpartum visit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this contribution is to reposition a key notion to the centre of Wulf Oesterreicher's theoretical disciplinary reasoning: grammar, or more generally, 'rules and norms' specific to single languages and varieties the linguist deals with. This includes contingent, non-motivated structures, and claiming the necessity to analyse their existence 'as such' (i.e., also independently of communicative, social etc. factors) as the core task of linguistics. This point is illustrated with a much debated variable in French descriptive linguistics: past participle agreement. Combining theoretical and corpus linguistic observations, the distribution of the two variants (absence vs. realization of agreement) in constructions with the auxiliary avoir shows that a grammatical analysis interested in the derivation of certain rules and their application in actual language usage permits to understand the logic of linguistic variation - at least the one observable alongside the standard - non-standard opposition in French. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this contribution is to reposition a key notion to the centre of Wulf Oesterreicher's theoretical disciplinary reasoning: grammar, or more generally, 'rules and norms' specific to single languages and varieties the linguist deals with. This includes contingent, non-motivated structures, and claiming the necessity to analyse their existence 'as such' (i.e., also independently of communicative, social etc. factors) as the core task of linguistics. This point is illustrated with a much debated variable in French descriptive linguistics: past participle agreement. Combining theoretical and corpus linguistic observations, the distribution of the two variants (absence vs. realization of agreement) in constructions with the auxiliary avoir shows that a grammatical analysis interested in the derivation of certain rules and their application in actual language usage permits to understand the logic of linguistic variation -- at least the one observable alongside the standard -- non-standard opposition in French. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction presents very briefly some of the main issues currently discussed around negation particles and clitics in contemporary French and taken up by the six contributions it assembles, namely language change (grammaticalisation of clitics into agreement markers, completion of the Jespersen Cycle) vs. stable variation, and external (sociolinguistic) or internal (phonotactic, prosodic, or syntactic) factors triggering variation in both cases; the hypothesis of a potential diglossia in French opposing two grammars with considerable syntactic differences. Five out of six contributions focus on modern standard and non-standard varieties of French, with a formal theoretical background, while one shows a more philological-descriptive approach and is dedicated to Old French manuscripts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers some initial insights into the first large-scale and multilingual corpus of WhatsApp messages for linguistic research and the related research project "What's up, Switzerland?". Data was gathered in Switzerland in the summer of 2014 and will be made available to the academic public online at the end of the project (end of 2018). This article presents facts and figures about the corpus and the participants' demographic data as well as an overview of (the lack of) existing linguistic research in the field and the research intended in the SNSF-funded research project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present evidence in favour of a syntactic approach to subject drop in Swiss French text messages. Subject drop in our corpus follows patterns found in various so-called "written abbreviated registers" such as diaries, notes etc.: it occurs at the beginning of main sentences and after preposed adjuncts. Based on a corpus of 1100 text messages, collected in 2009/10 (www.sms4science.ch), we test predictions put forward by two approaches to argument drop in abbreviated registers, i.e. the "Avoid Weak Start" hypothesis by Weir (2012a) and the "Truncated CP hypothesis" by Haegeman (2013). While for our data the first approach cannot be excluded, our results more strongly support the syntactic one, despite the fact that some data, especially preposed strong subject moi without clitic resumption, challenge existing analyses. These data suggest that dropped referential subjects can be analysed as instances of familiar topic drop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our contribution is dedicated to the empirical testing of alleged regional variants of object clitic clusters in modern French in France, Belgium and Switzerland. We provide some intriguing new insights into the regional distribution of non-standard variants and discuss one hypothesis on their nature and two hypotheses to explain their coming into being: language-contact (with Francoprovençal, Occitan and Oïl dialects, H1) and/or analogical leveling (H2), on the one hand, and their postsyntactic, rather than syntactic, nature, on the other (H3). Our main results reveal that the three non-standard variants where order in object clitic clusters is concerned are not regionally well-distributed, i.e. the observed distribution does not correspond to any cohesive area. In contrast, only one variant where the selection of the form (me vs. moi) is at issue seems to be regionally confined: it is found in French-speaking Switzerland, in Gascony, plus some rare attestations of it in the North of France. All in all, variation in object clitic clusters indicates a genuinely new geographical articulation of regional French that does not coincide with traditional dialectal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper discusses different patterns of plural marking in N(oun)A(djective)/A(djective)N(oun)-combinations in phonic French. We first show, based on previous observations, that French has incomplete plural agreement in complex nominal phrases and that there is a striking asymmetry between AN-combinations (plural marking on the determiner and prenominal adjectives via liaison, where possible) and NA-combinations (usually, only plural marking on the determiner and infrequent liaison between N and postnominal A). In order to understand this discrepancy, we have analyzed all the occurrences of AN and NA in two French corpora and found a strong tendency for liaison in NA only to appear systematically and independently from register variation in 'proper-name like' expressions such as Jeux Olympiques 'Olympic Games' ([ʒøzolɛ̃pik]). In a third step, we discuss this empirical finding and consider it synchronically as a case of morphophonological 'proper name marking' (cf. Nübling 2005). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This JAMA Patient Page describes types of long-acting reversible contraception, how they are placed and removed, and their potential side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with Differential Object Marking in Corsican. After a short introduction, it gives an overview of the main local triggering factors for marking direct objects in general (animacy, referentiality). It then presents the few main assumptions about Corsican DOM in the literature as well as findings of a new corpus study, based on written Corsican texts. Strong personal pronouns and proper names for human referents are consistently marked by the DOM marker à, but toponyms and metonymically used proper names are marked as well. Universal and negative quantifiers with a human denotation are also DOM-marked, whereas all other pronouns are not; thus animacy plays only a minor role in Corsican. The presence of determiners, quantifiers or numerals within nominals excludes the presence of à, irrespective of the nominals' denotation. Non-specific bare nominals are never DOM-marked, also irrespective of the nominals' denotation. The discussion then explains that the Corsican DOM is triggered much more by syntactic definiteness than animacy, a hypothesis strengthened by the most prominent morphosyntactic regularity at work in Corsican: nominals in combination with determiners and quantifiers cannot be marked by the DOM-marker à, even if they denote human beings. The complementary distribution of à and prenominal functional elements requires a further detailed syntactic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Old French sentential negation (NEG) represents an important morphosyntactic change that has been investigated by a large number of scholars from different theoretical approaches. From the 12th to the 14th (and mainly in the 13th) century, there are two variants of this variable in competition: NEG with only ne (the older variant) and NEG with ne + pas/mie/point, etc. The research presented in this paper has been motivated by the wish to find relevant factors for this variation in Old French. In order to identify factors of influence on the variable NEG with or without pas, mie and point, we analyse two subcorpora containing two different text types. The choice of the tested factors is rooted both in variational linguistics and in previous studies on Old French negation, implying (extralinguistic) diasystematic factors like diatopic and diastratic ones as well as intralinguistic factors like transitivity of the verb, word order and clause type. Main findings are the probable relevance of clause type and the influence of socially definable (diastratic) groups. Beyond this, the results across the two different text type are predominantly similar, but we found differences as well. This leads us to plead in favour of the importance of considering the factor text type while working on diachronic corpora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the behaviour of negation and clitics in the context of French imperatives. Standard descriptions contrast positive Fais-le ! (with enclisis) with negative (Ne) le fais pas ! (with proclisis). I adopt a view of imperatives in terms of a pragmatic irrealis mood feature associated with Rizzi's (1997) exploded CP and defective/impoverished morphology which allows inflection and irrealis mood features to be checked on a single functional head. Thus, positive imperatives can check all their grammatical features before merger of any clitics, which (following Shlonsky, 2004) will therefore be enclitic. The presence of negation, when realised as a grammatical feature on an (overt or null) functional head within the clausal trunk, prevents this from happening because negation intervenes between the relevant inflection and mood features in the universal hierarchy underlying the Rizzi/Cinque exploded CP/IP. Outside cliticisation contexts, the difference has no surface impact: Viens ! vs. (Ne) viens pas ! In cliticisation contexts, in contrast, there is a surface difference: negative imperatives cannot check all their inflectional features at the point at which clitics are merged, and clitics will not therefore be enclitic. Regionally/stylistically marked forms like Fais-le pas !, in which proclisis and negation co-occur, must be deemed to have a radically different structure, with no negative feature projected within the inflectional domain. Such forms are argued to be a natural (and therefore expected) innovation within Jespersen's cycle of diachronic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Spoken Continental French, the subject clitic il can in some cases be dropped – for example in certain impersonal construction (e.g. faut que ‘is necessary that’). This phenomenon is of particular interest in the context of claims that this variety of French is in fact a null subject language, with subject clitics acting as agreement affixes rather than true arguments (e.g. Roberge, 1990; Auger, 1994; Culbertson, 2010, among others). Under this view, the il in impersonals (and other constructions with less than fully referential subjects) is likewise an agreement marker, which can be dropped under some circumstances. Here we report the results of a controlled acceptability judgement task designed to probe features which affect the availability of il-drop. Our findings suggest that verb frequency, subcategorisation by the verb for a quasi-argument vs. true expletive, and modal vs. non-modal status influence il-drop. We discuss implications of this variation for an analysis of subject clitics as agreement affixes in Spoken French. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses ne-variation in French sentential negation based on the phonologically transcribed corpus T-zéro (cf. Meisner, in preparation) which allows a new interpretation of the facts. In the last decades, sociolinguistic and stylistic approaches to linguistic variation in French (cf. Armstrong, 2001) have shown that extra-linguistic factors, such as the speaker's age, sex, social background or geographic origin as well as the communication situation may have considerable influence on variable ne-omission. However, in contrast to most sociolinguistic studies dedicated to this phenomenon (cf. Ashby, 1976, 1981, 2001; Armstrong and Smith, 2002; Coveney, 2002) we will focus on the linguistic factors influencing ne-variation, since their importance is empirically evident but not yet fully exploited on a theoretical level.One leading assumption with respect to ne-variation in literature is that the particle ne is most frequently retained in combination with a proper name or a full DP and is commonly omitted when combined with clitic subjects. However, there are many exceptions to this rule which, as we argue, can be better explained by considering the phonological form of the involved subject. Ne-realisation is treated here as an inner-grammatical phenomenon that is triggered by context sensitivity with regard to the element to its left, i.e. usually the grammatical subject, and not as a consequence of ‘code-switching’ between two grammars nor as a sociolinguistic variable characterising certain groups of speakers in the Labovian sense (cf. Labov, 1972), since we seek to describe general variational tendencies, present in nearly all speakers of contemporary European French. Our analysis, which is implemented in a Distributed Morphology framework (Halle & Marantz, 1994), is compatible, however, with stylistic approaches to ne-variation, such as audience design (cf. Bell, 1984, 2001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to contribute to the debate on the morpho-syntactic status of phonologically weak or clitic subject pronouns in Colloquial French by discussing finite impersonal constructions in which the expletive subject pronoun is non-expressed. The paper provides arguments against an approach in terms of inflectional affixes, showing that the non-expression of this pronoun is in fact syntactically restricted. On the basis of the further finding that the non-expression of the expletive represents the continuation of a grammatical trait of older stages of the language in which the non-expression of subject pronouns was generally possible, a tentative proposal is put forward which crucially draws on information structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that there is compelling evidence that French ne, even in dialects that still have this particle, is no longer negative, does not determine the scope of negation with respect to other operators, does not have properties of a head (optionality), and therefore cannot be analysed as the head of NEGP in Modern Standard French. Rather, ne should be considered as an affix merged to a Tense projection (TNSP) endowed with sub-label features of polarity. This article argues that this proposal provides a unified solution for the distributional properties of ne in finite and non-finite contexts alike. It especially provides an explanation for the structure of French negative imperatives, which are characterised by the proclisis of argument clitics (ne le prends pas ‘don't take it’), crucially linked to properties of Tense, as opposed to their enclisis in positive imperatives (prends-le ‘take it’) and in spoken registers where ne is absent (prends-le pas ‘don't take it’). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "Le Changement En Français: Etudes De Linguistique Diachronique," edited by Céline Guillot, Bernard Combettes, Amalia Rodríguez Somolinos, Evelyne Oppermann-Marsaux, and Sophie Prévost.

Based on a quantitative empirical analysis of more than 4600 French text messages from the newly established Swiss reference corpus of text messages (cf. www.sms4science.ch), we show that the (graphic) realization of past participle agreement, often considered to be particularly prone to orthographic errors and indicative of more formal registers of contemporary French, is realized in the overwhelming majority of cases in our data (89,9 %). This holds independently of the sometimes heavily deviant graphic character of the respective text messages and the (very rare) phonic realization of past participle agreement in contemporary French. Significant triggering linguistic factors for the absence of (full) past participle agreement are type and distance of the controller of the agreement (more deviant realizations with relative pronouns than with cliticized objects, more deviant realizations with the controller following the past participle in constructions with être as the auxiliary), and the features of agreement (more deviant realizations of gender than of number features on the past participle), this being in line with important universal typological and theoretical findings. External factors such as sex and education play a certain role, too, which makes past participle agreement in French a sociolinguistic rather than a stylistic variable bound to graphic forms of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the drop of the first clitic element, ne, of French sentential negation. It is based on 4,628 French text messages taken from the newly established corpus sms4science.th. It shows that regional or stylistic factors do not play a major role in triggering ne deletion or ne retention, and that the only relevant language-internal factor is subject type, more precisely clitic subjects (also in subject doubling structures) and subject drop, which seem to favour or even trigger categorically ne deletion. Our findings are in keeping with those by R. van Compernolle (2008) on European French in online chats, and thereby indicate partially specific regularities in French computer-mediated communication (CMC). The findings question traditional assumptions on ne drop as a variety marker in French, irrespective of the phonic or graphic nature of the data (cf. P. Koch and W. Oesterreicher 2011). In fact, even in graphically deviant data, ne drop seems to follow the observed robust language-internal regularities. Some data seem to indicate that the graphic nature of SMSes plays a role also in ne-drop (cf. similar conclusions by R. van Compemolle 2008 for chats); this has to be checked by examining a larger number of French text messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the semantic features of the so-called “neuter” in the demonstrative system of Modern Spanish and presents a diachronic analysis of the semantic as well as morphophonological changes which have taken place from Latin to Spanish. We show that the semantic features commonly assumed as being associated with gender (or classification), and more particularly, with the “neuter”, (e.g., [(in)animate]), are not able to capture the semantic difference between “neuter” and feminine / masculine, neither in Latin nor in Spanish. For Latin, we argue that the relevant difference for this classification is based on the fact that the neuter is underspecified for a feature [discrete] (vs. presence of the feature [discrete] for masculine / feminine) and elaborate a feature geometry for demonstratives which captures this fact. As the opposition between [discrete] and [non-discrete] is strictly speaking not a matter of classification, i.e., one of gender, but a specification of the operation of individuation, this leads ultimately to the reduction of the Latin classification-node in the geometry and to the Modern Spanish feature geometry. There, the absence of [individuation] results in what mistakenly is called “neuter”, i.e., in expressions whose referent does not have to be individuated (vs. feminine/masculine, with a specified feature [individuation]). We present a detailed morphophonological analysis of the Latin pronominal morphology, which is based on a realizational approach and which uses case feature decomposition and the morphological schemes proposed by Wiese (Zur lateinischen Nominalflexion: Die Form-Funktions-Beziehung, IDS Mannheim, 2003). This analysis leads us to the conclusion that there are no specific morphological schemes for the neuter in the Latin demonstratives (Vd, i.e., /ud/, being the mere default in our analysis). The most intriguing fact here is the absence of genuine neuter endings in the plural, both in Latin and in Modern Spanish. We do not consider this a mere coincidence, but as a hint at the fundamental semantic change mentioned above, the feature [individuation] being superordinate to [group] (for plural). Finally, we describe the important morphological change in the pronominal system from Latin to Spanish, i.e., the reduction from a five-case-system to a two case-system, in detail and argue, based on the notions of underspecification and default, that Spanish /o/ just preserves the default status of Latin /ud/, being thus no “neuter” gender marker at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study shows the necessity to assume, in the process of nominal determiner grammaticalization, an intermediate period between the early facultative marking of important referents and fully grammaticalized article systems. In this intermediate period, especially indefinite determiners seem to be distributed in a quite clearcut way according to the specificity of the referents introduced by the respective noun phrases. Statistical evidence for this is drawn from the distribution of the indefinites uno, alcuno, certo and bare noun phrases in a corpus of three Old Tuscan novella collections. Specificity, understood as the semantic property of non‐varying, operator independent interpretation of the variable introduced by an indefinite noun phrase, which makes a continuous anaphoric reference to the respective discourse referent possible, is conceived as a phenomenon of information organization in texts. It seems to be, at this intermediate stage of nominal determiner grammaticalization, a lexical feature of indefinites rather than an effect of syntactic or pragmatic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The cover page of the journal "Journal of French Language Studies" is presented along with the information on editorial board objectives and subscriptions.