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Copyright of Akofena is the property of Universite Felix Houphouet Boigny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This systematic replication was designed to teach nonvocal children with autism to mand for missing items using an Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) system. Consistent with Rodriguez et al. (2017) and Wójcik et al. (2020), we used the interrupted chain procedure with EO‐present and EO‐absent trials. Consistent with Wójcik et al., 2020, we used sufficient exemplar training and activity schedules to establish manding for missing items. Participants were three children with autism, and the design was a nonconcurrent multiple‐baseline design across participants. Following training, all participants requested the missing items during EO‐present trials correctly and refrained from making requests during EO‐absent trials, suggesting that requesting using the AAC system was established as a verbal operant controlled by the appropriate EO, hence, was established as a mand. Correct requesting behavior transferred to new tasks, across skill domains, across people, to new settings, and across time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Availability of big electronic annotated corpora for Maninka and Bamana languages lets us think about development of corpus-driven dictionaries, i.e. dictionaries of a new generation. In a corpus-driven dictionary, elaboration of the polysemy, collocations, syntactic valencies, stylistic, regional and dialectal characteristics of each lexeme (and of each sense of a lexeme) will be based on the analysis of a concordance extracted from the corpus. Henceforth, it becomes possible to evaluate statistically each feature. Two sample examples of lexicographic analysis of Bambara lexemes, bánban and jàhadi, are given.

We analyze representations of water in relation to wells among certain groups in the Mande area who are struggling with desertification. These representations span the period dating from the formation of the Wagadu-Ghana kingdom to its decline (eighth to thirteenth centuries), the settlement of Mande populations in the Senegambian area from the thirteenth century (under the domination of the Mali Empire), and the fall of the Kaabu kingdom in the nineteenth century. We demonstrate that during the migrations of Soninke and Manding populations from the Sahel the well as a symbol played as much a role in the constitution of power as in its destruction. Our historical and anthropological approach captures the multiple symbolic dimensions of the well, including those associated with the cult of the serpent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Behavioural skills training (BST) has demonstrated effectiveness in training teachers in evidence‐based interventions to increase communication for children with limited repertoires. However, research has yet to extend to youth with developmental disabilities who are learning to communicate using speech‐generating devices. The emergent use of telehealth technology in applied behaviour analysis has been associated with greater access to therapeutic services. Although the use of telehealth has been extended as an avenue for parents to access behavioural intervention services for their child, fewer studies have evaluated the use of telehealth for teacher behavioural consultation or with adolescents and young adults with complex communication needs. Method: In the present study, four teaching staff were trained via telehealth to implement communication facilitation strategies with augmentative and alterative communication users in a high school functional skills classroom. During the coaching sessions, the staff were provided BST on the basic behaviour analytic teaching strategies (e.g. assessing preference, environmental arrangement, and reinforcement strategies). Independent adapted ABAB designs were used to evaluate the effectiveness of modified BST delivered via telehealth on increased teaching staff‐implemented communication opportunities within the functional skills classroom and the effectiveness of staff‐implemented communication intervention on increased speech‐generating device mands for four adolescents/young adults with developmental disabilities. Results: The results indicated that the improved staff fidelity of the communication interventions was associated with the increased level of independent student mands for each dyad. Lastly, social validity data suggest that the procedures were acceptable and feasible. These data indicate that the use of telehealth may be a viable model for specialised classroom consultation. Conclusion: The use of a telehealth delivery model to train classroom staff may be a viable option when specialised support is necessary, but access is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cahiers d'Études Africaines is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article describes the tonal system of Pakaawu Mandinka. This Manding variety is characterized by the importance of syllable weight in the conditioning of tonal phenomena, and by systematic tonal alternations affecting the last syllable of words that differ in important respects from what has been described so far for other Manding varieties, leading to posit that words ending with a light syllable cannot have a basic tonal contour ending with two successive H-toned syllables, and that the possible basic tonal contours of verbal lexemes ending with a heavy syllable are different from those possible for the nominal lexemes having the same syllabic structure.

Keywords: Chérif Keïta; Massa Makan Diabaté; Mande; hermeneutics; multi-modality; orality; dozos; Manding; Mandé; herméneutique; multimodalité; oralité; mandingue EN Chérif Keïta Massa Makan Diabaté Mande hermeneutics multi-modality orality dozos Manding Mandé herméneutique multimodalité oralité mandingue 181 191 11 05/27/21 20200101 NES 200101 Re-Encountering Chérif In October of 2010, standing outside a conference center (Point Sud) in Bamako, Mali, with other participants, I heard a familiar voice from across the grounds. Instead of claiming this perspective as the result of his own scholarly insight, Chérif documents it as the self-conscious position of griots themselves, such as Banzumana Sissoko and, in particular, Massa Makan Diabaté, "who always proclaimed himself to be a griot" (Keïta 1995b: 188). The genius of Chérif's approach to the work of Massa Makan Diabaté lies in Cherif's use of the supposedly "oral" aesthetics of Mande griots - I jaliw i or I jeliw i in the Bamanankan of Mali - as a hermeneutic with which to interpret Diabaté's writing. Chérif has also produced three films about two pivotal couples who played key roles in the genesis of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle: Nokutela and John Dube of South Africa, and William and Ida Belle Wilcox of Northfield, Minnesota (Keïta 2005, 2009b, 2013; see also Hughes & Keïta 2013). [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: To conduct a follow-up assessment of the maintenance of communication skills of a 7-year-old child with autism spectrum disorder, 3 years 7 months post PECS training; and investigate the effects of environmental adaptations on the child's PECS and vocal communications. Methods: An alternating-treatments design enabled comparison of the effects of two treatment conditions (an environmental adaptation to increase need and opportunities for communication, versus a continuation of baseline procedures) on the child's PECS and vocal communications in the child's home. Results: Baseline data demonstrated decreased levels of PECS and vocal communication at follow-up, compared to post PECS training 3 years 7 months prior. The environmental adaptation had no observable effect on the participant's use of PECS, but vocal manding increased in this condition. Conclusion: These results suggest ongoing need for motivating environments with ample opportunities to practice post PECS training. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of an audio model faded by volume on manding for materials was evaluated within an interrupted behavior chain with two children with autism. Behavior chains were interrupted to contrive an establishing operation (EO) by providing broken items and were interspersed with abolishing operation (AO) trials. An auditory model to teach mands was faded systematically by volume. Using a multiple probe design across three preferred activities, it was found that both participants were manded for some items in the absence of an audio prompt after it was faded systematically. Following the introduction of a prompt delay, participants learned to mand across remaining targets. Across participants, manding generalized to a novel interruption form (i.e., in sight but out of reach materials), to novel materials, and were maintained. Goals, procedures, and outcomes of the intervention were rated socially valid by clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Evaluate the effects of a Lag 1 schedule of reinforcement and progressive time delay (TD) on topographical mand variability in children with autism. Methods: Using single-subject design methodology, a multiple baseline across behaviors with embedded reversal design was employed. During Lag 0, reinforcement was delivered contingent on any independent instances of manding. During Lag 1 + TD, prompts were faded and reinforcement was delivered contingent on independent or prompted variant mand topographies. Results: Higher levels of topographical mand variability were observed during Lag 1 + TD for both participants. Conclusions: A Lag 1 schedule of reinforcement with progressive TD increased variability across functionally equivalent vocal mand topographies for both participants. This finding extends prior literature by providing a novel model for studying reinforced mand variability in children, and by demonstrating how practitioners could use prompts and differential reinforcement to increase topographical mand variability in children with autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex relationship between phonological processes and the morphological domains in which they apply has been of persistent interest to linguists (e.g. Kiparsky 1985 2010; McCarthy & Prince 1995; Inkelas & Zoll 2007; Inkelas 2014). The present study addresses one pertinent issue related to morphophonology by examining nominal inflection in the Safané Dialect of Dafing (an East Manding language of Burkina Faso). The existence of overlong vowels and a derived ternary vowel length distinction are central to the inflectional paradigm. They are described and quantified in an elicitation. The inflectional paradigm is also compared to that of other Manding languages, with attention paid to how related languages conform to putative constraints on syllable structure. Of theoretical interest is how morphological categories, even internal to a given inflectional paradigm, engender different phonological operations and restrictions on syllable content. Morphologically dependent phonological processes exist in a diverse set of languages and domains (e.g. Inkelas & Zoll 2007), but the role that markedness plays, and the representation of morphologically dependent phonology within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993) remain a topic of debate, with the two leading approaches being the indexed constraint approach (e.g. McCarthy & Prince 1995; Pater 2000) and the cophonological approach (e.g. Orgun 2000; Anttila 2000 2002). The current study addresses the Dafing data in terms of these two theories of representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is direct evidence of an inverse functional relation between children's rate of problem behaviors and their social interactions. This research was conducted with two children with autism interacting with each other and has two different purposes: the first to explore the emergence of spontaneous social behaviors in children with autism, the second to demonstrate the efficacy of a social skills training in decreasing challenging behaviors. Procedures based on ABA principles (prompting and reinforcement) were used. No specific intervention on problem behaviors was applied. Data showed a significant increase in spontaneous manding to peer, approach to peer, and parallel play. Problem behaviors decreased significantly as a side effect of increased social abilities. These preliminary data corroborate the use of ABA procedures with ASD children in promoting the emergence of spontaneity in social behavior in peer-to-peer and child-to-adult interactions and are also in line with data in the literature that relate the acquisition of more complex social repertoires to significant reduction in problem behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the strategies of building interrogative phrases in Guinean Maninka are analyzed, in comparison with Bambara. A general question is marked, by default, only by a raising intonation. There are also several particles of general question, these particles express, at the same time, some modal meanings. Constituent questions are formed by interrogative pro-formes which appear strictly in situ, the original syntactic structure of the phrase remaining intact. Pluralization of certain interrogative pro‑formes is carried out through "ní‑reduplication" (i.e., according to the coordinative model) or by adding the standard plural morpheme –lu. Special attention is paid to the focalization in interrogative constructions. It turns out that the focalization of an interrogative pro‑forme expresses a presupposition of verity of the open proposition. A negative correlation is attested between interrogation and verbal perfect construction.

The present paper provides a detailed description of the semantic potential offered by the si-construction in Basse Mandinka (a regional variety of the Gambian Mandinka language), by enumerating all temporal, aspectual, taxis and modal values which this verbal form may convey. The study demonstrates that the si-construction offers a wide range of senses. Most commonly, the construction introduces the idea of futurity, regularly accompanied by modal tones of necessity and obligation. More specifically, in the first person, it expresses desires and promises, obligation and necessity, as well as, permission and deliberation; in the second person, it functions as an imperative; and in the third person, it approximates the category of a jussive. The si-construction also introduces modal ideas of obligation and necessity situated in a past time frame, being additionally able to function as a future in the past category. The si-construction can likewise convey the sense of epistemic possibility with no evident future undertones. Finally, it can denote present habitual and customary activities. A profoundly modal nature of the si-construction additionally justifies its common use with the verb noo "be able, can". In such cases, it introduces various modal nuances, typically bereaved of any future sense.

In this study, we extended the literature on negatively-reinforced mands by teaching multiple novel, socially appropriate alternative mands to two young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). First, we replaced existing mands (e.g., pushing away) with two novel, socially appropriate, negatively-reinforced mands. Next, we examined responding under immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions to assess resurgence to existing mands and to determine whether the function of the communicative behavior influences the consistency with which different mands are emitted. Finally, we examined generalization to different social partners. Our data suggest that both children acquired the new mands and used them to avoid nonpreferred items. Resurgence to existing mands during delayed-reinforcement conditions was documented for one child, and the sequence in which mands were emitted within a response class was not influenced by the function of the communicative behavior. Generalization data indicate that both children emitted the new mands and one of the two children alternated between the two mands with a social partner who was not involved in the training. We discuss the importance of teaching multiple negatively-reinforced alternative mands to children with autism in applied settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study conducted to examine the effect of conditional discrimination training on decreasing high-rate mands in two young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and language delays. Topics discussed include effect of alternative activities during extended delays when reinforcement was unavailable on children's response allocation and language interventions for young children with ASD is to enhance their communicative repertoire.

Our primary purpose in this study was to examine the structure of a response class when new members are acquired through mand training. To do this, we replaced existing mands (e.g., reaching) in three children with autism with two new functionally equivalent mands. Next, we examined their responding under immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions. Then, we assessed generalization to novel social partners. We employed a reversal design to examine the effectiveness of mand training and to assess responding under both immediate- and delayed-reinforcement conditions. Our results suggest that all children acquired the new mands and that two of the children emitted these responses as replacements when the social partner did not provide access to the reinforcer contingent on the child’s first mand. Generalization data indicate that all three children emitted the new mands and two of the children alternated between the new mands with novel social partners. We discuss the clinical implications and the conceptual significance of teaching multiple replacement mands to children with autism and severe language delays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments were conducted employing derived relational responding and conditioned motivating operations to establish untaught mands with 11 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who lacked a vocal repertoire. Following formal language assessments and preference assessments, a multi-stage automated protocol was implemented on touchscreen tablet computers. Children were first taught to mand by picture exchange for missing items necessary to play with a toy and then learned to conditionally relate the dictated names of the items to the corresponding pictures of the items (A-B training) and to relate the dictated names to the corresponding printed words (A-C training). Test probes, in the absence of reinforcement, were presented to determine whether or not participants would mand for the missing items using text exchange (hence demonstrating derived manding/requesting). Probes for spontaneous matching (B-C and C-B) and labeling (B-A and C-A) were also presented in both experiments, one of which employed a pretest/posttest design and the other a multiple probe across participants design. Across both experiments, all but one of the participants showed evidence of derived requesting and derived stimulus relations. Implications for research on high-tech devices for facilitating independent communication skills of children with ASD and for derived relational responding approaches to verbal operants are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each day, people encounter stimuli they find unpleasant. Some children with autism may require systematic instruction to acquire the communication skills necessary to request the termination of such aversive stimuli. We taught 2 school-aged boys with autism a mand (e.g., signing "stop") that could be used to escape a variety of aversive stimuli. First, we employed a systematic assessment to identify aversive stimuli to use during training. We then conducted mand training sequentially across those stimuli until sufficient exemplars were trained for generalization to occur to untrained stimuli. For both participants, cross-stimulus generalization was observed after training with 2 stimuli. Participants manded for escape in the presence of aversive stimuli, but almost never manded in the presence of preferred stimuli or when the programmed stimuli were absent. In addition, we found an inverse relation between acquisition of the mand and engagement in problem behavior and evidence of generalization to nontraining contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]