This study investigated the Internal State (IS) language input of parents, IS language use by children, and children’s performance on perspective taking and false belief Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks. Two groups of participants were included: children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (N = 12, M chronological age = 7; 4, M language age = 6;0) and typically-developing (TD) children (N = 13, M chronological age = 6;0, M language age= 6;5), matched on language age. Independent means samples t-tests showed that the transcripts of the two groups of parents or the two groups of children did not differ in regards to total number of words, utterances, or mean length of utterance. ANOVAs were used to test for differences in IS language category or elaboration in the two groups (ASD, TD), in parents and children. For the parent data, no statistically significant differences emerged. For the analysis of child talk the ANOVA revealed that the main effect of group approached significance, with a trend towards TD children using more IS language than children with ASD. ANOVAs were also used to test for differences in ToM task performance (perspective-taking, false belief) in the two groups of children; TD children performed significantly better on ToM Tasks overall than the children with ASD. Partial correlations found that for the TD group, there were no significant correlations between the parent’s or the child’s use of IS language with the child’s performance on ToM tasks when chronological age was controlled for. For the ASD group, after controlling for chronological age and language age, the parent’s use of elaborated affect terms was significantly positively correlated with their child’s performance score on perspective-taking tasks, and the parent’s use of elaborated cognitive terms was significantly negatively correlated with their child’s performance on false-belief tasks. Also for the ASD group, the child’s use of simple affect terms was significantly positively correlated with their performance on false belief tasks after controlling for chronological age and language age. Findings are discussed in relation to prior research and clinical implications.

One has paid attention to ethnic groups living in Lithuania since olden times. However, one began to more widely discuss the problems of integration of ethnic minorities only after the Independence Restoration. One of the important problems of aliens' integration would be an absence of proficiency in the official language. It is the reason why the matter is examined more widely in this paper, the data of the performed investigation making it possible to examine and to compare the social, legal, cultutural, and integrational situation of ethnic-minority representatives who have mastered or not mastered the official language. During the investigation it has been revealed that the aliens who have mastered the official language have been living in Lithuania at least 20 years or have been born and brought up in this country. These persons freely express their abilities and rely on their forces; once having lost their jobs, most of the respondents would look for another job at State-owned institutions or companies. They take an active part in political life and in that of their national communities, observe the changes that take place in the national TV and newspapers, while believing that they have successfully integrated themselves into the Lithuanian State. The aliens who have not mastered the language believe that the principal reason that has affected their absence of proficiency in the language is a lacking communication environment. These representatives of national... [to full text]

Convergent findings have elucidated the regions involved in semantic cognition. The anterior temporal lobes (ATL) act as a hub for multimodal semantic processing alongside modality-specific ‘spoke’ regions. In addition, areas of inferior parietal, posterior temporal and frontal cortex are necessary for semantic cognition. However, many questions remain. Little is known about the timing of the ATL or how distributed regions interact in order to perform semantic processing. In order to gain knowledge of the precise spatial and temporal dynamics of the ATL and semantic cognition network, a series of studies was performed. Chapter 3 investigated the time at which the ATL is necessary for a semantic judgement using chronometric TMS. The ATL was found to be necessary for semantic cognition from 400ms post-stimuli presentation. This is known to be a critical time for semantic processing. Processing of items presented in different modalities converges around this time. This supports the role of the ATL in multimodal semantic cognition. Chapter 4 used offline repetitive TMS to investigate the role of ATL subregions and posterior temporal cortex in semantic and phonological processing. However, no significant TMS effects were demonstrated. Chapter 5 employed dual echo fMRI to assess how different types of semantic relationships are instantiated within the brain. Association (spatially and temporally co-occurring concepts) and conceptual similarity (concepts sharing features) were shown to rely on the same cortical regions. This provides evidence against theories suggesting separate representational hubs for these different relationship types. Instead it supports the reliance of both relationship types on the ATL hub. These two kinds of relationship may be more similar than previously thought, with the hub-and-spoke model able to explain both. The semantic network identified here included ATL, posterior temporal, frontal and ventral parietal cortex. This network of semantic regions was shown to be interconnected in Chapter 6 during a semantic task (using a psychophysiological interaction analysis) and during rest (using a seed-based functional connectivity analysis). Differential connectivity was identified between the ventral ATL (to multimodal semantic regions) and the aSTG (to language-related regions). The semantic network overlapped with the default mode network (DMN) and involved regions previously found to constitute the frontoparietal network (FPN).Emergent questions related to the overlap between previously identified network and the semantic network were addressed with preliminary independent component analyses in Chapter 7. This showed the dynamic connectivity of the ATL in task and rest. The semantic network was found to be distinct from but overlapping with the DMN and FPN. The role of this network in semantic cognition was confirmed, whereas the DMN was not found to relate to semantic processing. The anterior DMN component appeared semantic based on activity alone, suggesting prior results relating the DMN to semantic cognition fail to take the dynamic connectivity of the regions in to account. The left FPN overlapped with semantic control regions but appeared to relate to more general control processes. When assessed with dual echo fMRI, the ATL appears to be highly connected in a dynamic fashion and may be an important region currently under-represented within studies of the connectome. Overall, these studies add to the hub-and-spoke model of semantic cognition, elucidating the types of relationship involved, how regions interact and the precise temporal and spatial dynamics of these areas.

After Lithuania had gained its independence, there arose the necessity for non-native speakers living in Lithuania to learn the state language. More and more other nationality families become interested in their children learning the state language. In connection with this, in the pre-school institutions as well as schools, the number of schoolchildren grows. Naturally, their education becomes problematic. Aim of the research: to reveal the difficulties bilingual children meet while learning the state language in the pre-school groups and try to forecast learning problems they may encounter in the first class. Moreover, to analyze their prognostic validity and to evidence the possible help. In the research took part 80 children who have bilingual or multilingual problems in the pre-school group and after three months in the first class. There were presented the analyses of the pre-school and the first class teachers. The tasks of the research: • to realize the abilities of bilingual, multilingual children in the state language; • to understand how has changed communication abilities of the same researched children in the primary school in comparison with the pre-school group; • to state the most often learning problems that bilingual and multilingual first class pupils face while learning the state language; • to understand the kind of methodological-practical help that is needed by the learners facing the difficulties... [to full text]

Background: The construct of alexithymia implies a deficit in symbolization for emotional, somatic, and mental states. However, the etiologic factors for alexithymia have not yet been fully elucidated. The present study investigated the use of mentalizing language, i.e. the utterance of internal states, from a developmental perspective according to attachment organization and disorganization. Methods: A longitudinal design across 4 time points was applied to a volunteer sample of 42 children. At 12 months, children were tested with the strange situation procedure, the standard measure of attachment at the optimal age, and attachment classifications were taken of videotapes. At ages 17, 23, 30 and 36 months, mother and child were observed in simplified separation episodes of 30 min duration. Transcripts of the sessions were subject to coding of internal state words. Results: During the investigated span, securely attached children rapidly acquired emotion, physiology, cognition and emotion-regulatory language, whereas insecurely attached and disorganized children either completely lacked internal state language or displayed a considerable time lag in the use of emotion and cognition vocabulary. Conclusion: The results raise the possibility that alexithymia might be a consequence of deficits in the development of internal state language in the context of insecure or disorganized childhood attachment relationships. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Background: The construct of alexithymia implies a deficit in symbolization for emotional, somatic, and mental states. However, the etiologic factors for alexithymia have not yet been fully elucidated. The present study investigated the use of mentalizing language, i.e. the utterance of internal states, from a developmental perspective according to attachment organization and disorganization. Methods: A longitudinal design across 4 time points was applied to a volunteer sample of 42 children. At 12 months, children were tested with the strange situation procedure, the standard measure of attachment at the optimal age, and attachment classifications were taken of videotapes. At ages 17, 23, 30 and 36 months, mother and child were observed in simplified separation episodes of 30 min duration. Transcripts of the sessions were subject to coding of internal state words. Results: During the investigated span, securely attached children rapidly acquired emotion, physiology, cognition and emotion-regulatory language, whereas insecurely attached and disorganized children either completely lacked internal state language or displayed a considerable time lag in the use of emotion and cognition vocabulary. Conclusion: The results raise the possibility that alexithymia might be a consequence of deficits in the development of internal state language in the context of insecure or disorganized childhood attachment relationships. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Communication)) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2015 / The central role of language in governance need not be argued; it is self-evident. Effective communication between the political leadership and the state administration, between individual government bodies and institutions, within these bodies and institutions, and between the government and its citizens, which is a prerequisite for good government, occurs mainly through language.

En 1989, la proclamation de l'indépendance de la République de Moldavie allait de pair avec les nouvelles lois linguistiques adoptées par le Parlement. L'institualisation de la dénomination de la langue officielle, « langue moldave » (Constitution 1994), rencontra une ferme opposition de la part des intellectuels qui approuvaient la nature linguistique identique du moldave et du roumain. Le glottonyme moldave renvoyait à la période soviétique de la promotion d'une « langue moldave » distincte du roumain, procédé aujourd'hui qualifié d'expérimentation linguistique ayant échouée. À présent, l’aménagement linguistique de la langue d’État exige de la part de la société moldave la recherche des réponses adaptées, en surmontant les contradictions de certaines représentations héritées du passé. La régulation des rapports entre les nouveaux États indépendants issus de l’ex-Union Soviétique connaît, elle aussi, une évolution. Cette évolution conduit à l’installation d’une nouvelle dynamique dans le rapport de différents groupes linguistiques à la langue d’État où ils résident. Nous allons observer comment se produit concrètement la reconnaissance d’une langue en tant que langue d’État (officielle). Quel est le cheminement dans l’aménagement linguistique de la République de Moldavie depuis son indépendance ? Qu’est-ce qui se passe dans l’espace symbolique et imaginaire d’un processus de reconnaissance d’une langue en tant que langue d’État ? Nous observerons la place de la langue d’État de la République de Moldavie dans la société à travers son status et les éléments constitutifs : la règlementation linguistique et les institutions de l’aménagement linguistique, les politiques linguistiques et éducatives, les forces sociolinguistiques en présence (et notamment les représentations qui sont assignées aux langues, etc.). Nous observerons son aménagement normatif, lexical, terminologique, graphique, etc., le rapport au roumain standard. / In 1989 the proclamation of independence of the Republic of Moldova came along new linguistic laws adopted by the Parliament. The institutionalization of the denomination of the official language, Moldavian language (Constitution of 1994), encountered a strong opposition from the intellectuals, who had approved the identical linguistic nature of the Romanian and Moldavian languages. The Moldavian glottonym refers to the Soviet period of the promotion of the Moldavian language distinct from the Romanian language; a conduct today qualified of political manipulation and failed linguistic experiment. From now on the linguistic planning of the State language requires the Moldavian society to look for adapted solutions, by overcoming some contradictions inherited from the past. Regulation of the relationships between the new independent States originated from the ex-Soviet Union is evolving as well. This evolution leads to the installation of a new relationship dynamic between the different ethnic groups and the language of the State they reside in. We will observe how a language is tangibly recognized as a State language (official). Which pathway followed linguistic planning in Republic of Moldova since its independence? What happens in the symbolic and imaginary space of a State language recognition process? We will observe the position of the State language in the Republic of Moldova in the society through its status and constitutive elements: linguistic reglementation and institutions of linguistic planning, linguistic and educational policies, present sociolinguistic forces (and notably the representations that are assigned to languages, etc.). We will observe its normative, lexical, terminological, graphical, etc. relationship to the standard Romanian.