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This article deals with the problem of different distributions of the Spanish pronouns le and lo ‘him, her, polite you’ (and their morphological variants les, los, la and las) that may be observed in different realms of the Spanish speaking world (geography, sociologically etc.). In this paper, as a starting point, the more established and traditional case theory will be compared with the Control System Hypothesis in a particular corpus of a non-standard, Peninsular variant of Spanish. The hypothesis that will then be tested is that the use of the pronouns under focus in this particular variant, as well as in all variants, is based on one and the same semantic substance, but that (groups of) speakers may apply this substance for different communicative needs, resulting in different distributions of the forms in different language samples of the respective (groups of) speakers. These differences, then, are not representative of different meanings, but may be representing cultural differences of the respective speech group. The case in focus is middle-class Spanish of the 60s as represented in a novel by Miguel Delibes, and particularly how men and women are addressed. This corpus was chosen because of its particular, non-standard distribution of the pronouns in question, being therefore of particular interest to test the hypothesis.

In this study the journeys are investigated that words undertake from Italian to Brasilian Portuguese while travelling with the Italian immigrants to Brasil. Italian loan words show a different distribution with respect to loan words from other languages, like the indigenous ones, due to the differences in contact between the speakers of the respective languages. These differences reflect the journeys that the words have made with the immigrants.

The Netherlands, a country of 16 million people, is home to eight university medical centers (UMCs), institutions that are closely analogous to U.S. academic health centers and play in important role in Dutch society. The authors' purpose was to test the extent to which an analytical framework developed in one setting can be transferred to another and to yield fresh insights into the value and limitations of different theoretical perspectives on organizational design in the specific context of the academic-clinical enterprise.The authors applied a conceptual framework originally developed in the U.S. context to analyze UMC structure, governance, and organizational dynamics. Three UMCs, selected for their differences, were used as case studies, and data were gathered through interviews and document review.A multilevel approach is used to present the data. At the highest level, an overview of the composition, functions, and accountabilities of UMC boards is provided. Below this, the authors describe how functional integration for delivery of the tripartite mission is achieved at the sub-board level. Finally, the authors describe some of the detailed mechanisms used to bind together different interest groups within the UMCs.The authors found that the U.S.-derived framework for analysis required modification for the context of the Netherlands, but that the study validates the view that many challenges involved in the management of the academic-clinical enterprise are international.

International audience