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This paper aims at highlighting the linguistic similarities between two languages which at first glance seem very different from each other for various reasons. These two languages are French and Hindi. There has been almost no comparative study between these two languages. The reason behind this is that there are probably very few speakers who have an adequate linguistic competence in both languages and even fewer who would think about undertaking linguistic research about how the two languages can be similar. In Mauritius, the linguistic situation is thriving thanks to its multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious status. While English and French are generally accepted as the country’s official languages, the lingua-franca remains Mauritian Creole. Also, quite a few Asian languages and Arabic are taught up to secondary level in schools. Mauritians who speak French and learn Hindi at school are thus among the few privileged speakers who develop competency in these two languages and can draw parallels between the two. This paper tries to explore some very interesting similarities in terms of vocabulary, grammar and syntax that speakers of both languages can detect and future learners of these two language will be able to perceive. The findings in this paper are based upon qualitative research from data provided by speakers of all ages from the Mauritian context, who have almost equal competence in both languages.

Experiments were designed to determine if a functional ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus was required for the activation of brown adipose tissue thermogenesis evoked by medial preoptic stimulation. Male, urethane-anesthetized Long–Evans rats, maintained at 37 °C, had temperatures (thermistor probes for gastrocnemius, Tm; intrascapular brown adipose tissue, 7IBAT; colonic, Tc; and tail, Tt), gastrocnemius electromyogram activity (via stainless steel recording electrodes), and systemic blood pressure and heart rate (via a femoral arterial catheter) measured before and after a series of unilateral medial preoptic electrical stimulations (monophasic 0.5-ms pulses of 300 μA at 50 Hz for 30 s). Measurements were made (i) after an initial control medial preoptic electrical stimulation, (ii) after medial preoptic stimulation was applied 1 min following an intracranial injection of 300 nL of sterile saline or buffered 2% Lidocaine into the ipsilateral posterior hypothalamic nucleus or the ipsilateral ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, and (iii) after recovery medial preoptic stimulation 45 min after Lidocaine was injected into the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. TIBAT and blood pressure rose significantly (p m and Tt did not significantly change from the corresponding prestimulation values. A recovery medial preoptic stimulation 45 min after Lidocaine treatment of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus again evoked significant increases in TIBAT above the core temperature, similar to the rise in TIBAT seen after the first control medial preoptic stimulation. Pretreatment with Lidocaine into the posterior hypothalamic nucleus before medial preoptic stimulation caused no suppression of blood pressure compared with treatments after the control medial preoptic stimulation; however, TIBAT was reduced (p IBAT seen after the control stimulation. Results indicate that a functional ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus is required for medial preoptic stimulation to activate brown adipose tissue thermogenesis.Key words: brown adipose tissue thermogenesis, medial preoptic stimulation, thermoregulation, heat production.