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Code-switching is a complete shift to another language for a word, phrase, sentence, or utterance or borrowing a word from another language and integrating it into the base language. Munhoa (1997) studied pragmatic functions among normal Basque-Spanish bilinguals and concluded that Basque-Spanish bilinguals use code-switching for a wide variety of purposes. The present study focuses on the discourse functions of code-switching among normal Kannada-English and Malayalam-English bilingual adults. Six Kannada-English and 6 Malayalam-English bilingual speakers were studied. Speech samples were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for the presence of different code-switching patterns, such as intersentential code-switching, intrasentential code-switching, tag-switching, and borrowing. Results revealed intrasentential code-switching is commonly seen among the subjects followed by borrowing, tag-switching, and intersentential switching. These types of switching to L2 could be due to the English educationa...

Mazes are defined as a series of words, initial parts of words, or unattached fragments of an utterance that do not contribute meaning to the ongoing flow of language. Maze production is considered as an important variable to investigate and identify problems underlying formulation of speech and language and is influenced by the speaker's linguistic knowledge. The present study focused on comparison of types and percentage of maze words over total words produced by typically developing monolingual (functionally) Kannada and Kannada-English bilingual children in the age range of 6 to 8 years. The Kannada-English bilingual group obtained higher mean percentage scores when compared to the monolingual group. Within-group comparison reported overall mazes to be higher for Kannada monolinguals in the Kannada monolingual context. However, bilingual children demonstrated a higher percentage of mazes in the English context.

Acute administration of ethanol to 7-day-old mice is known to cause robust apoptotic neurodegeneration in the brain. Our previous studies have shown that such ethanol-induced neurodegeneration is accompanied by increases in lipids, including ceramide, triglyceride (TG), cholesterol ester (ChE), and N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE) in the brain. In this study, the effects of ethanol on lipid profiles as well as caspase 3 activation were examined in the cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, and inferior colliculus of the postnatal day 7 mouse brain. We found that the cortex, hippocampus, and inferior colliculus, which showed substantial caspase 3 activation by ethanol, manifested significant elevations in ceramide, TG, and NAPE. In contrast, the cerebellum, with the least caspase 3 activation, failed to show significant changes in ceramide and TG, and exhibits much smaller increases in NAPE than other brain regions. Ethanol-induced increases in ChE were observed in all brain regions tested. Inhibitors of serine palmitoyltransferase effectively blocked ethanol-induced caspase 3 activation as well as elevations in ceramide, ChE, and NAPE. Immunohistochemical studies indicated that the expression of serine palmitoyltransferase was mainly localized in neurons and was enhanced in activated caspase 3-positive neurons generated by ethanol. These results indicate that de novo ceramide synthesis has a vital role in ethanol-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration in the developing brain.

Acute administration of ethanol to 7-day-old mice is known to cause robust apoptotic neurodegeneration in the brain. Our previous studies have shown that such ethanol-induced neurodegeneration is accompanied by increases in lipids including ceramide, triglyceride, cholesterol ester, and N-acyl phosphatidylethanolamine in the brain. In this study, the effects of ethanol on lipid profiles as well as caspase-3 activation were examined in the cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, and inferior colliculus of the P7 mouse brain. We found that the cortex, hippocampus, and inferior colliculus, which showed substantial caspase-3 activation by ethanol, manifested significant elevations in ceramide, triglyceride, and N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine. In contrast, the cerebellum, with the least caspase-3 activation, failed to show significant changes in ceramide and triglyceride, and exhibits much smaller increases in N-acyl phosphatidylethanolamine than other brain regions. Ethanol-induced increases in cholesterol ester were observed in all brain regions tested. Inhibitors of serine palmitoyltransferase effectively blocked ethanol-induced caspase-3 activation as well as elevations in ceramide, cholesterol ester, and N-acyl phosphatidylethanolamine. Immunohistochemical studies indicated that the expression of serine palmitoyltransferase was mainly localized in neurons and was enhanced in activated caspase-3-positive neurons generated by ethanol. These results indicate that de novo ceramide synthesis has a vital role in ethanol-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration in the developing brain.