Inaug.-Diss.--Bern. / "Verzeichnis der im text erwähnten werke": p. [112].

Inaug.-Diss.--Bern. / "Verzeichnis der im text erwähnten werke": p. [112].

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska, 1925. / Without thesis note. Bibliography: p. 135-138.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009. / Originally issued in electronic format. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-167).

In Middle English and Scots, instances of gan and can behave differently from etymologically related beginnen in that they are mainly, or exclusively, found with the plain infinitive and with a non-ingressive meaning. They also occur in narrative verse (rhymed and non-alliterative), where they have a metrical, intensive-descriptive or textual function. All of this suggests that gan and can are more advanced in the divergence of their development towards auxiliation than the verb beginnen. Earlier studies mainly concentrate on the meaning and/or function of gan and can in verse (Wuth 1915, Beschorner 1920, Funke 1922, Mustanoja 1960, Kerkhof 1966, Visser 1969 and Brinton 1981; 1983; 1988 amongst others), whereas investigations by Brinton (1981; 1988; 1996), Ogura (1997; 1998; 2013) and Sims (2008; 2014) address the divergence in the development of this verb and its variant in terms of grammaticalization, but with references to Middle English in general. Studies by Los (2000; 2005), on the other hand, deal with the grammaticalization of onginnan and beginnan with the plain infinitive in Ælfric’s works. However, no studies have been carried out on whether gan and can, as well as beginnen develop differently in terms of grammaticalization in the ‘English’ of the six northern counties of England and of Scotland in the late 14th and the 15th centuries, conventionally referred to as Northern Middle English and Early Scots, respectively. With the aid of Northern Middle English and Early Scots texts from computerised corpora (The Helsinki Corpus of English Texts, The Innsbruck Corpus of Middle English Prose and The Teaching Association for Medieval Studies, as well as The Helsinki Corpus of Older Scots and A Linguistic Atlas of Older Scots), this study looks into whether: a) gan and can, as well as beginnen differ with respect to their morphological paradigms, in view of what we know about grammaticalization and the development of invariant forms? b) these verbs differ with respect to their complements, in view of claims in the literature that the more grammaticalized variant takes the plain infinitive; and c) gan and can are a development from onginnan and aginnan, originally expressing ingression but shown in the literature to have undergone semantic bleaching in Old English and in early Middle English period? This study shows that in Northern Middle English and Early Scots, gan and can display characteristics of grammaticalization, while beginnen participates in global language changes affecting the category of the verb in ME and Scots.

No description available.

Drought-induced tree mortality is a phenomenon affecting many forest ecosystems and is predicted to increase under ongoing climate change. Forest stability partly depends on regeneration: the process of renewing mature forest with subsequent generations. As seedlings are more susceptible to drought effects than mature trees, mortality of the seedling bank can represent a major bottleneck controlling forest structure and species composition. Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is the most widely distributed of the Pinus species, covering a broad latitudinal gradient of ecological conditions. The thesis aims to deepen understanding of drought-induced mortality, while analysing intra-specific variation in the phenotypic and metabolic profile of Pinus sylvestris seedlings subjected to drought stress. I also consider the relevance of the results to the broader conceptual framework of drought-induced mortality. The experiments utilise seeds from different populations of origin (provenances) across the north-south axis of the European range of Pinus sylvestris, in order to determine the extent of regeneration capacity in this species under drought. Seeds were collected from different populations (provenances) that, along with other climatic and edaphic differences, span a gradient of water availability: from wet (Scotland) to intermediate (Austria, Poland) to dry (Spain). In Chapter 2, the effects of osmotic stress on the initial seedling establishment stage were studied by comparing phenotypic responses across provenances. Seedling germination, early growth, osmotic stress tolerance and survival were investigated using a polyethylene glycol irrigation treatment as a proxy for rapid and severe drought. Treatment, provenance and interaction effects were found for rate of germination, final proportion of seeds germinated, seedling size, and superoxide dismutase activity (an antioxidant enzyme). Root investment was affected by both provenance and time to germination. Although there was no significant effect of provenance on survival, a trend towards increased probability of survival under osmotic stress was indicated for the southernmost (driest) as compared with the northernmost (wettest) provenance. Chapter 3 investigates the responses of older seedlings (at 10 months) to a drying down of soil moisture for 40 days. Morphological and physiological data were collected to assess intra-specific and intra-population variation in the seedling stress response under drought. A metabolomics analysis using Ultra performance Liquid chromatography followed by mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS) was carried out to investigate whether metabolic markers could be identified that are suggestive of heightened oxidative stress and whether populations in different climatic and edaphic environments show variation in metabolic activity under drought. Preliminary results suggest large intra-population variability yet clear differentiation in metabolic responses to drought over the time course of the experiment. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that among the most significant increases in response to drought were those involved in osmoprotective and antioxidant capabilities, including the free amino acid proline and a quercetin derivative (a flavonoid). Interestingly, provenances, either under experimental drought or not, did not show significantly different metabolite profiles, even though provenance and its interaction with drought treatment did significantly affect seedling biomass and photochemical efficiency. In Chapter 4 the effects of provenance, maternal parentage and seed weight on germination rate, final germination percentage, as well as seedling drought responses in biomass allocation and the expression of selected antioxidant genes were analysed. Seed weights were measured individually and seed weight was found to have a strong positive effect on: germination rate, seedling dry weights, and number of needles. Expression of two antioxidant enzymes increased under drought. Seed weight was strongly determined by provenance and maternal parentage as well as their interaction. However, root to shoot biomass allocation depended on provenance and maternal effects that were not mediated by seed weight effects. Principal component analysis indicated that the Spanish provenances could be characterised by a higher root to shoot ratio and stem weight. Specific leaf area was also found to be lowest for the Spanish provenances.

Abstract The genetic basis of large adaptive differences in timing of bud set and frost hardiness between natural populations of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was studied with the aid of RAPD markers and quantitative genetic tools. Steep clinal variation was found for both traits among Finnish Scots pine populations, and the differences between populations were found to be largely genetic. QTL mapping with Bayesian analysis revealed four potential QTLs for timing of bud set, and seven for frost hardiness. The QTLs were mostly different between the two traits. The potential QTLs included loci with large effects, and additionally smaller QTLs. The largest QTLs for bud set date accounted for about a fourth of the mean difference between populations. Thus, natural selection during adaptation has resulted in fixation of genes of large effect. This result is in conflict with the classical infinitesimal model, but agrees with the results of Orr (1998), suggesting fixation of large effects during adaptation. The applicability of RAPD and SSCP markers in quantitative genetic studies was also studied. The SSCP technique was found to be efficient in finding polymorphic markers. SSCP polymorphism in coding genes may provide candidate genes for QTL mapping studies. RAPDs were found to be useful for many descriptive analyses, but specific analyses would require more caution.

No description available.

Several definitions exist that offer to identify the boundaries between languages and dialects, yet these distinctions are inconsistent and are often as political as they are linguistic (Chambers & Trudgill, 1998). A different perspective is offered in this thesis, by investigating how closely related linguistic varieties are represented in the brain and whether they engender similar cognitive effects as is often reported for bilingual speakers of recognised independent languages, based on the principles of Green’s (1998) model of bilingual language control. Study 1 investigated whether bidialectal speakers exhibit similar benefits in non-linguistic inhibitory control as a result of the maintenance and use of two dialects, as has been proposed for bilinguals who regularly employ inhibitory control mechanisms, in order to suppress one language while speaking the other. The results revealed virtually identical performance across all monolingual, bidialectal and bilingual participant groups, thereby not just failing to find a cognitive control advantage in bidialectal speakers over monodialectals/monolinguals, but also in bilinguals; adding to a growing body of evidence which challenges this bilingual advantage in non-linguistic inhibitory control. Study 2 investigated the cognitive representation of dialects using an adaptation of a Language Switching Paradigm to determine if the effort required to switch between dialects is similar to the effort required to switch between languages. The results closely replicated what is typically shown for bilinguals: Bidialectal speakers exhibited a symmetrical switch cost like balanced bilinguals while monodialectal speakers, who were taught to use the dialect words before the experiment, showed the asymmetrical switch cost typically displayed by second language learners. These findings augment Green’s (1998) model by suggesting that words from different dialects are also tagged in the mental lexicon, just like words from different languages, and as a consequence, it takes cognitive effort to switch between these mental settings. Study 3 explored an additional explanation for language switching costs by investigating whether changes in articulatory settings when switching between different linguistic varieties could - at least in part – be responsible for these previously reported switching costs. Using a paradigm which required participants to switch between using different articulatory settings, e.g. glottal stops/aspirated /t/ and whispers/normal phonation, the results also demonstrated the presence of switch costs, suggesting that switching between linguistic varieties has a motor task-switching component which is independent of representations in the mental lexicon. Finally, Study 4 investigated how much exposure is needed to be able to distinguish between different varieties using two novel language categorisation tasks which compared German vs Russian cognates, and Standard Scottish English vs Dundonian Scots cognates. The results showed that even a small amount of exposure (i.e. a couple of days’ worth) is required to enable listeners to distinguish between different languages, dialects or accents based on general phonetic and phonological characteristics, suggesting that the general sound template of a language variety can be represented before exact lexical representations have been formed. Overall, these results show that bidialectal use of typologically closely related linguistic varieties employs similar cognitive mechanisms as bilingual language use. This thesis is the first to explore the cognitive representations and mechanisms that underpin the use of typologically closely related varieties. It offers a few novel insights and serves as the starting point for a research agenda that can yield a more fine-grained understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that may operate when speakers use closely related varieties. In doing so, it urges caution when making assumptions about differences in the mechanisms used by individuals commonly categorised as monolinguals, to avoid potentially confounding any comparisons made with bilinguals.