Latvian CDI: methodology,developmental trends,and cross-linguistic comparison

ABSTRACT

In this article, we report the results of a large-scale population study based on the Latvian adaptation of Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) – a parental report tool aimed at mapping the lexical and grammatical development of children under the age of three. Two CDI forms are discussed: CDI I: ‘Words and Gestures’ (8–16 months), and CDI II: ‘Words and Sentences’ (17–36 months). This article discusses the Internet-based methodology used for the data collection, reports the main developmental trends of the lexical development of Latvian children, and compares these trends to analogous data from American English, Norwegian, and Russian.     

U.S. and Japan’s trends in attitudes toward the Korean peninsula

This article argues that Japan would not only be concerned about the creation of a united Korea, which could be a serious economic and political rival in her own backyard, but would actively fear the prospect of the extension of Chinese or Russian military influence to the Straits of Tsushima through a Korean regime that leaned towards either of these powers. For the U.S., too, while there might be political advantages in the appearance of a serious economic rival to Japan, these would be greatly outweighed by the possibility of the same extension of Chinese or Russian military influence feared by Japan. This is evident in the strategic, economic, and diplomatic objectives and interests of the powers in the peninsula. This article concludes that the coexistence of the two Koreas will be not only inevitable for the time being, but ultimately desirable for the external powers.     

冷战后美国维和政策的演变及特征

冷战结束以来,美国的维和政策经历了三次大的演变:从有效的国际主义到坚定的多边主义,从有选择的多边主义到美国式的国际主义,最后回归到有效的多边主义。虽然变动不居,但从本质上讲,美国的维和政策基本上遵循着一条主线,即美国对联合国维和行动的支持和参与程度,取决于美国政府对维和行动与美国国家利益的关系的认知,以及国内压力(国会、民众)与这一认知间的复杂互动。     

On exceptional stress assignment in Latvian: the case of prefixes

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine some previously understudied exceptions to the generalization that Latvian assigns stress to the left-most syllable in a prosodic word, specifically those that involve prefixation. We will show that these apparent exceptions in stress assignment follow from the internal structural properties of the word and are a result of attaching the prefix outside the domain where stress is assigned, which is up to the first functional head inside the hierarchy. Our treatment combines the syntactic structure of a neoconstructionist approach to word formation with an optimality theory formalization at the phonological level.     

The impact of homeland independence on the Latvian community in Great Britain

Abstract

The article examines the effects of homeland independence on the Latvian DP community in Great Britain. Although the most tangible effects of independence have been the new opportunities to re-establish physical links with the homeland — to visit, and for a tiny minority to return to live, there have also been significant consequences for the organised community and on conceptions of home and belonging. This paper suggests that for an overwhelming majority of Latvians in Britain, homeland independence has strengthened the bond to Britain and brought about shifts in identities. Rather than stimulating a large-scale return to the homeland, independence has somewhat ironically, led to the completion of the integration process in Great Britain.