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In this paper, we focus on partitive articles (PAs), i.e., determiners which, generally, have an indefinite interpretation, and on one of their potential correlates, i.e., invariable de, in Francoprovençal, a non-standardized, highly endangered Gallo-Romance language (cf. Zulato, Kasstan & Nagy 2018), and show the fine-grained spatial distribution of these elements in the Swiss and Aosta Valley (Italy) varieties. Presenting several maps based on fieldwork data from Valais (Switzerland) and the Aosta Valley (Italy), we demonstrate that the spatial distribution of PAs and de is more complex than reported in the literature: we complement the basic subdivision of Francoprovençal into two types, Francoprovençal A and B (cf. Kristol 2014, 2016), with a more nuanced picture, in which the morphosyntactic features of PAs play a crucial role: in Francoprovençal A, the presence of PAs depends on the syntactic context whereas, in Francoprovençal B, their presence is limited mainly to two areas, in which singular and plural PAs do not occur together (one area only has singular PAs whereas the other one only has plural PAs). We also show that there is no correlation between phonologically overt plural marking on nouns and absence of PAs; however, we found a correlation between overt sigmatic number marking on nouns and absence of PAs.

Die vorliegende Arbeit nimmt theoretisch-konzeptuelle Parallelen zwischen dem Projekt „StoP – Stadtteile ohne Partnergewalt“ und communitybasierten Ansätzen in der Sozialen Arbeit (z.B.: Gemeinwesenarbeit) in den Blick. In Zusammenhang mit der hohen Zahl an Femi(ni)ziden und häuslicher Gewalt sowie Partnergewalt scheinen Maßnahmen wie das gemeinwesenorientierte Gewaltpräventionsprojekt StoP an Relevanz zu gewinnen. Im Jahr 2019 startete das Projekt auch in Wien und hat mittlerweile insgesamt 25 Standorte in Österreich. Ziel von StoP ist es durch die Aktivierung der Nachbar*innenschaft, Gewalt zu enttabuisieren und gemeinsam Handlungsansätze zu entwickeln. Gewalt im Geschlechterverhältnis wird hierbei als Ausdruck eines patriarchalen Machtsystems verortet. Zwar gibt es in Österreich bereits umfangreiche Maßnahmen und Gesetze im Bereich des Gewaltschutzes, doch fehlt oft der Bezug zu der unmittelbaren Umgebung von Opfern häuslicher Gewalt. Ein Projekt, das in der lokalen Community – also der Nachbar*innenschaft – ansetzt erscheint so als sinnvolle Erweiterung bereits bestehender Gewaltpräventionsmaßnahmen. Das StoP-Projekt in Wien, Margareten, dient als Praxisbeispiel und war Objekt der empirischen Feldforschung. Diese wurde vordergründig mittels qualitativer Interviews sowie teilnehmender Beobachtung durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das StoP-Projekt in Margareten verschiedene community-basierte Ansätze und Methoden – gemäß dem Konzept von Stövesand – umsetzt. Entsprechend konnte sich hier eine aktive Community bilden, die sich zwar nicht vordergründig aus Nachbarinnen, aber engagierten Frauen zusammensetzt. Die Ergebnisse werden schließlich auch in einen größeren gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhang gesetzt und einer kritischen Perspektive unterzogen. This thesis examines theoretical-conceptual parallels between the project “StoP – Neighborhoods without Partner Violence” and community-based approaches in the discipline of social work. In context of the high number of femi(ni)cides and domestic and partner violence, community-oriented violence prevention projects like StoP seem to be gaining in relevance. In Vienna the project also started in 2019 and has currently a total of 25 locations in Austria. The aim of StoP is to mobilize the neighborhood to break the taboo on violence and to develop approaches together. Violence in gender relations is located here as an expression of a patriarchal power system. Although there are already extensive measures and laws in the field of violence protection in Austria, few of these measures involve the immediate environment of victims of gender-based violence. A project that starts in the local community - i.e. the neighborhood - appears to be an innovative extension of existing violence prevention measures. The StoP project in Vienna, Margareten, serves as a practical example and was the object of empirical research. It was primarily carried out by means of qualitative interviews and participatory observation. The results show that the StoP project in Margareten is based on different community-based approaches and methods and therefore corresponding to the concept of Stövesand. Accordingly, an active community was able to form here, which is not primarily made up of neighbors, but of dedicated women. Finally, the results are placed in a larger social context and criticized. Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des Verfassers Masterarbeit Wien, FH Campus Wien 2023

Mainly based on data from Old Spanish and Modern Francoprovençal, this paper discusses a hitherto underresearched use of the Romance definite article that cannot straightforwardly be explained by recurring to any of the standard analyses of semantic definiteness, i.e., maximality and/or familiarity. We show that such weakly referential definites are definites with representative object interpretations licensed by the kind-oriented mode of talk and not short weak definites. They denote inherently non-specific, semantically number neutral regular objects whose only co(n)textual relevance is their being typical instantiations of their corresponding kind. Representative object definites are shown to be favored by ‘habitual’ readings of the predicate (and text genres like recipes, treatises, narratives about what people used to do in former times, etc.). In Francoprovençal, this is the case especially in the scope of non-perfective verb tenses in prepositional or presentational complements and sometimes in direct objects. In Old Spanish, non-maximal definites often occur in the scope of non-assertive mood (imperative/subjunctive, due to the genre of recipes), while, at the same time, introducing important discourse referents. In addition, in the latter language such definites are demonstrated to be positively susceptible to priming by preceding non-maximal definites.

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.

Nutzen und Kultur der Geisteswissenschaften., Cite as: Zürcher, Markus et al. (2011): Bulletin 4/11 «Nutzen und Kultur der Geisteswissenschaften».