Mark Harvey

IGF-2 stimulates growth and metabolism of early mouse embryos

Recent reports indicate that the insulin gene family plays a significant role in early development. Both insulin and IGF-1 stimulate growth and metabolism in preimplantation mouse embryos, however, little is known of the physiological effects of IGF-2. In this study, addition of IGF-2 to defined culture medium for the culture of 2-cell embryos stimulated blastocyst formation by 15%, ICM mitogenesis by 37%, and protein synthesis by 35%. EC50s of 12-63 pM IGF-2 for these responses were in the range for mediation by IGF-2 receptors. These results coupled with the previously demonstrated presence and expression of the IGF-2 receptor from the 2-cell stage supports a role for this third member of the insulin gene family in early development.

Visualization of insulin receptors on mouse pre-embryos

Because insulin stimulates pre-embryonic protein metabolism and growth, the presence of insulin receptors on early mouse embryos was investigated immunohistochemically, using a specific anti-insulin receptor IgG. Staining was not present on fertilized eggs or on 2-cell, 4-cell or uncompacted 8-cell embryos, but insulin receptors were visible on compacting 8-cell embryos and on morulae and blastocysts. This ontogeny correlates with functional studies showing that insulin affects protein synthesis during these post-compaction stages. Insulin receptors were also present on isolated inner cell masses, which have also been shown to be responsive to insulin. Because the ontogeny of the appearance of insulin receptors and the presence of these receptors on both cell populations in the blastocyst coincide with the stimulatory effects of insulin observed in previously reported functional studies on pre-embryos, we believe that these insulin receptors mediate insulins regulatory actions during early mouse embryogenesis.

Complex Predicates: Cross-linguistic Perspectives on Event Structure

Complex predicates usually are defined as predicates which are multi-headed; they are composed of more than one grammatical element (either morphemes or words), each of which contributes part of the information ordinarily associated with a head. I discuss phenomena that were used to motivate complex predicate analyses. For instance in many languages certain predicates form a cluster, i.e. a topological unit. In free constituent order languages, the dependents of the predicates in the cluster sometimes can be permuted as if they were dependents of a single head. The matrix predicate sometimes determines the case of a dependend of an embedded predicate. I sketch several analyses of these phenomena that were suggested in various frameworks.1. Introduction: complex predicates Mengistu Amberber, Brett Baker and Mark Harvey 2. Complex predicate formation Brett Baker and Mark Harvey 3. The light verb jungle: still hacking away Miriam Butt 4. Events and serial verb constructions William A. Foley 5. Cotemporal serial verb constructions in White Hmong Nerida Jarkey 6. Activity incorporates in some Athabaskan languages Keren Rice 7. Warlpiri verbs of change and causation: the thematic core Mary Laughren 8. Complex predicates in Wambaya: detaching predicate composition from syntactic structure Rachel Nordlinger 9. Compound verbs and ideophones in Wolaitta revisited Azeb Amha 10. The structure of the light verb construction in Amharic Mengistu Amberber Author index Language index Subject index.

A grammar of Gaagudju

This grammar provides an overall description of Gaagudju, a now nearly extinct language of northern Australia. Gaagudju differs from most previously described Australian languages in a number of ways. It shows marked differences in the realizations of stressed and unstressed syllables. It has complex systems of prefixation as well as suffixation. There is a clear distinction between productive and unproductive morphology, with a large amount of the morphology being unproductive. While word order is generally free, strictly ordered phrasal compounding structures are important.

Word structure in Australian languages

In this paper we propose a new model for the analysis of complex word forms in Australian languages. We propose that complex words should be categorized in terms of their phonological patternings. We show that complex words exhibit two distinct types of phonological patternings. One type of complex word shows the same patterns as simplex words. We call morphological relations within this type of word, root-level relations. In the other type of complex word, at least one constituent itself has the characteristics of a simplex word. We call morphological relations within this type of word, word-level relations. We demonstrate that the distinction between root-level and word-level relations has clear correlates in morphological productivity. Our model provides a straightforward account of the relationship between phonology and morphology in complex words.

The genetic status of Garrwan

This paper reviews the evidence on the classification of the Garrwan language family, in terms of the Pama-Nyungan vs Non-Pama-Nyungan opposition. The Garrwan language family is the only family whose status has been analyzed as indeterminate or intermediate with respect to this opposition. This paper shows that Proto-Garrwan was characterized by a high degree of innovation in grammatical morphology. Consequently, there are only limited materials, restricted to the pronominals, which can serve to evaluate its genetic status. This paper shows that this evidence, though limited, is sufficient to classify Garrwan as a Pama-Nyungan family.

Vowel-length in Warray and weight identity

Correspondence is a relation between one representation and another (McCarthy & Prince 1993, 1994, 1995). This relationship may be between an underlying or lexical representation and a surface representation, that is: Input-Output forms; or between surface forms such as a reduplicant and its base (McCarthy & Prince 1995) or other derivationally related pairs (see for example Benua 1995, McCarthy 1995, Kenstowicz 1996) i.e. Output-Output. Correspondence constraints over related words in a paradigm ensure uniformity within the paradigm. In earlier theories this effect was ensured by the Strict Cycle Constraint, which forbade structurechanging operations except in immediately derived environments and thus ensured that most of the base word stayed the same in derivation. In this paper we show that correspondence between derivationally related output forms (Benua 1995) is essential for the proper analysis of vowel length in Warray, a language of Northern Australia spoken near Darwin, and superior to an account making use of cyclicity. Correspondence constraints ensuring identity between output forms explain the pattern of vowel length in nouns, predicting both where long vowels occur as well as the apparently anomalous appearance of short vowels where long vowels might be expected. One of the interesting results of Correspondence Theory is the fact that cyclic effects can be captured in the parallel system of Optimality Theory. Consider as an informal example the palatal [f] in the English word presidentiality. This segment is derived from the coronal obstruent [t] in president by the regular palatalisation process in English which palatalises coronal obstruents in the environment / jV. Palatalisation is presumably a response to a constraint on sequences *tjV. When the morpheme -ial [-jal] is attached to the word president this constraint is violated and a palatal appears in place of the /t/. However, in the word presidentiality there is no jod. The jod surfaces here as the corresponding vowel [i]. Furthermore the syllable following the palatal is stressed. [tiV] is an acceptable surface sequence (e.g. etiology, beauteous, tears), yet the

Place names and land‐language associations in the western top end∗

This paper examines how the patterning of place names may suggest comparatively greater or lesser time‐depths of association between particular languages and particular areas. Phonological patterning is of comparatively limited use, as languages in most areas of Australia show a high degree of surface phonological similarity. Regular morphological and semantic pattemings are also of comparatively limited use. Multi‐lingualism/‐lectalism is reported from throughout Australia, and meaningful place names commonly appear in variants from two or three different language varieties. On the other hand, irregular morphological and semantic pattemings, which are not uncommon in place names, appear to provide a good indication of comparatively greater time‐depths of association between a particular language and a particular area of land.

Prepalatals in Arandic

This paper considers the phonological analysis of a phonetic sequence [Vowel+High front vowel+Consonant], generally referred to under the term ‘prepalatal’, in Arandic. There are four hypotheses as to the possible phonological status of this sequence. Each of these hypotheses has advantages and disadvantages. This paper shows that the overall evidence favours one of the hypotheses. The ‘cost’ of this favoured hypothesis lies in an increase in the complexity and the irregularity of Arandic phonotactics. As such, this paper establishes that neither simplicity nor regularity in phonotactics are necessarily primary considerations in phonological analysis.

Reconstructing Long-Term Limits on Diffusion in Australia

There has been extensive research on precolonial and postcolonial diffusions in Australia, but little research concerning the limits on diffusion—something that is central to advancing analysis of diffusional processes. There is evidence that persistent and systematic limits can be reconstructed for some diffusions in precolonial Australia, and that colonization favored diffusion, altering limits. Precolonial limits and postcolonial changes are modeled using social network theory; weak ties favor diffusion, while strong ties do not. Precolonial limits on diffusion correlate with fewer weak ties; colonization increased the proportion of weak ties, favoring diffusion.