TY - GEN A1 - Zimmermann, Malte T1 - The grammatical expression of focus in West Chadic BT - Variation and uniformity in and across languages N2 - The article provides an overview of the grammatical realization of focus in four West Chadic languages (Chadic, Afro-Asiatic). The languages discussed exhibit an intriguing crosslinguistic variation in the realization of focus, both among themselves as well as compared to European intonation languages. They also display language-internal variation in the formal realization of focus. The West Chadic languages differ widely in their ways of expressing focus, which range from syntactic over prosodic to morphological devices. In contrast to European intonation languages, the focus marking systems of the West Chadic languages are inconsistent in that focus is often not grammatically expressed, but these inconsistencies are shown to be systematic. Subject foci (contrastive or not) and contrastive nonsubject foci are always grammatically marked, whereas information focus on nonsubjects need not be marked as such. The absence of formal focus marking supports pragmatic theories of focus in terms of contextual resolution. The special status of focused subjects and contrastive foci is derived from the Contrastive Focus Hypothesis, which requires unexpected foci and unexpected focus contents to be marked as such, together with the assumption that canonical subjects in West Chadic receive a default interpretation as topics. Finally, I discuss certain focus ambiguities which are not attested in intonation languages, nor do they follow on standard accounts of focus marking, but which can be accounted for in terms of constraint interaction in the formal expression of focus. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 298 Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-93617 SP - 1163 EP - 1213 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wiese, Heike T1 - So as a focus marker in German T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe N2 - This paper discusses a hitherto undescribed usage of the particle so as a dedicated focus marker in contemporary German. I discuss grammatical and pragmatic characteristics of this focus marker, supporting my account with natural linguistic data and with controlled experimental evidence showing that so has a significant influence on speakers’ understanding of what the focus expression in a sentence is. Against this background, I sketch a possible pragmaticalization path from referential usages of so via hedging to a semantically bleached focus marker, which, unlike particles such as auch ‘also’/‘too’ or nur ‘only’, does not contribute any additional meaning. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe - 102 Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-93592 SN - 1866-8380 IS - 102 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wagner, Markus A1 - Pywell, Richard F. A1 - Knopp, Tatjana A1 - Bullock, James M. A1 - Heard, Matthew S. T1 - The germination niches of grassland species targeted for restoration BT - effects of seed pre-treatments T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Restoration of semi-natural grassland communities involves a combination of (1) sward disturbance to create a temporal window for establishment, and (2) target species introduction, the latter usually by seed sowing. With great regularity, particular species establish only poorly. More reliable establishment could improve outcome of restoration projects and increase cost-effectiveness. We investigated the abiotic germination niche of ten poorly establishing calcareous grassland species by simultaneously exploring the effects of moisture and light availability and temperature fluctuation on percentage germina- tion and speed of germination. We also investigated the effects of three different pre-treatments used to enhance seed germination – cold-stratification, osmo- tic priming and priming in combination with gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) – and how these affected abiotic germination niches. Species varied markedly in width of abiotic germination niche, ranging from Carex flacca with very strict abiotic requirements, to several species reliably germinating across the whole range of abiotic conditions. Our results suggest pronounced differ- ences between species in gap requirements for establishment. Germination was improved in most species by at least one pre-treatment. Evidence for positive effects of adding GA 3 to seed priming solutions was limited. In several species, pre-treated seeds germinated under a wider range of abiotic conditions than untreated seeds. Improved knowledge of species-specific germination niches and the effects of seed pre-treatments may help to improve species establishment by sowing, and to identify species for which sowing at a later stage of restoration or introduction as small plants may represent a more viable strategy. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 675 KW - abiotic germination niche KW - calcareous grassland species KW - cold-stratification KW - osmotic seed priming KW - seed sowing KW - temperature fluctuation Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-413438 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 675 SP - 117 EP - 131 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Vicente, Luis T1 - Ángel J. Gallego, Phase theory T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 539 Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-413116 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 539 SP - 719 EP - 724 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Van Donk, Ellen A1 - Ianora, Adrianna A1 - Vos, Matthijs T1 - Induced defences in marine and freshwater phytoplankton BT - a review T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Many organisms have developed defences to avoid predation by species at higher trophic levels. The capability of primary producers to defend themselves against herbivores affects their own survival, can modulate the strength of trophic cascades and changes rates of competitive exclusion in aquatic communities. Algal species are highly flexible in their morphology, growth form, biochemical composition and production of toxic and deterrent compounds. Several of these variable traits in phytoplankton have been interpreted as defence mechanisms against grazing. Zooplankton feed with differing success on various phytoplankton species, depending primarily on size, shape, cell wall structure and the production of toxins and deterrents. Chemical cues associated with (i) mechanical damage, (ii) herbivore presence and (iii) grazing are the main factors triggering induced defences in both marine and freshwater phytoplankton, but most studies have failed to disentangle the exact mechanism(s) governing defence induction in any particular species. Induced defences in phytoplankton include changes in morphology (e.g. the formation of spines, colonies and thicker cell walls), biochemistry (such as production of toxins, repellents) and in life history characteristics (formation of cysts, reduced recruitment rate). Our categorization of inducible defences in terms of the responsible induction mechanism provides guidance for future work, as hardly any of the available studies on marine or freshwater plankton have performed all the treatments that are required to pinpoint the actual cue(s) for induction. We discuss the ecology of inducible defences in marine and freshwater phytoplankton with a special focus on the mechanisms of induction, the types of defences, their costs and benefits, and their consequences at the community level. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 881 KW - defenses KW - algae KW - review KW - plankton community KW - cyanobacteria KW - toxins Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-435130 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 881 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Todt, Helge Tobias A1 - Peña, Miriam A1 - Zühlke, Julia A1 - Oskinova, Lidia M. A1 - Hamann, Wolf-Rainer A1 - Gräfener, Götz T1 - Weak emission line central stars of planetary nebulae T2 - Planetary Nebulae: an Eye to the Future N2 - To understand the evolution and morphology of planetary nebulae, a detailed knowledge of their central stars is required. Central stars that exhibit emission lines in their spectra, indicating stellar mass-loss allow to study the evolution of planetary nebulae in action. Emission line central stars constitute about 10 % of all central stars. Half of them are practically hydrogen-free Wolf-Rayet type central stars of the carbon sequence, [WC], that show strong emission lines of carbon and oxygen in their spectra. In this contribution we address the weak emission-lines central stars (wels). These stars are poorly analyzed and their hydrogen content is mostly unknown. We obtained optical spectra, that include the important Balmer lines of hydrogen, for four weak emission line central stars. We present the results of our analysis, provide spectral classification and discuss possible explanations for their formation and evolution. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 462 KW - stars: AGB and post-AGB KW - stars: Wolf-Rayet KW - stars: abundances Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-413775 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Terhalle, Maximilian T1 - Understanding the limits of power BT - America’s Middle East experience T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The main thread of this review article is to identify the reasons of how to account for the trajectory of American power in the region. Leaving behind the vast amount of highly politicised and hastily compiled volumes of recent years (notwithstanding valuable exceptions), the monographs composed by Lawrence Freedman, Trita Parsi and Oliver Roy attempt to subtly disentangle the intricacies of US involvement in the region from highly distinct perspectives. One caveat for International Relations theorists is that none of the aforementioned authors intends to provide theoretical frameworks for his examination. However, since IR theory has damagingly neglected history in the last decades, the works under review here, at least in part, compensate for this disciplinary and intellectual failure. In conclusion, Freedman’s in-depth approach as a diplomatic historian, with its under-lying reference to the various traditions in US foreign policy thinking, is most illuminating, while Parsi’s contestable account focuses too narrowly on the Iran-Israel relationship. Roy’s explications fail to show how and why the ‘ideological’ element in US foreign policy came to carry exceedingly more weight after 2001 than it did in the 1990s. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 102 Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-413722 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 102 SP - 631 EP - 640 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Straube, Arthur V. A1 - Pikovskij, Arkadij T1 - Pattern formation induced by time-dependent advection T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - We study pattern-forming instabilities in reaction-advection-diffusion systems. We develop an approach based on Lyapunov-Bloch exponents to figure out the impact of a spatially periodic mixing flow on the stability of a spatially homogeneous state. We deal with the flows periodic in space that may have arbitrary time dependence. We propose a discrete in time model, where reaction, advection, and diffusion act as successive operators, and show that a mixing advection can lead to a pattern-forming instability in a two-component system where only one of the species is advected. Physically, this can be explained as crossing a threshold of Turing instability due to effective increase of one of the diffusion constants. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 575 KW - pattern formation KW - reaction-advection-diffusion equation Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-413140 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 575 SP - 138-147 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Sinn, Petra A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Saccadic facilitation by modulation of microsaccades in natural backgrounds T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Saccades move objects of interest into the center of the visual field for high-acuity visual analysis. White, Stritzke, and Gegenfurtner (Current Biology, 18, 124–128, 2008) have shown that saccadic latencies in the context of a structured background are much shorter than those with an unstructured background at equal levels of visibility. This effect has been explained by possible preactivation of the saccadic circuitry whenever a structured background acts as a mask for potential saccade targets. Here, we show that background textures modulate rates of microsaccades during visual fixation. First, after a display change, structured backgrounds induce a stronger decrease of microsaccade rates than do uniform backgrounds. Second, we demonstrate that the occurrence of a microsaccade in a critical time window can delay a subsequent saccadic response. Taken together, our findings suggest that microsaccades contribute to the saccadic facilitation effect, due to a modulation of microsaccade rates by properties of the background. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 595 KW - eye movements KW - microsaccade KW - saccade latency KW - background texture KW - saccadic facilitation effect Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-431817 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 595 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Shaw, Jason A. A1 - Gafos, Adamantios I. A1 - Hoole, Philip A1 - Zeroual, Chakir T1 - Dynamic invariance in the phonetic expression of syllable structure BT - a case study of Moroccan Arabic consonant clusters T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - We asked whether invariant phonetic indices for syllable structure can be identified in a language where word-initial consonant clusters, regardless of their sonority profile, are claimed to be parsed heterosyllabically. Four speakers of Moroccan Arabic were recorded, using Electromagnetic Articulography. Pursuing previous work, we employed temporal diagnostics for syllable structure, consisting of static correspondences between any given phonological organisation and its presumed phonetic indices. We show that such correspondences offer only a partial understanding of the relation between syllabic organisation and continuous indices of that organisation. We analyse the failure of the diagnostics and put forth a new approach in which different phonological organisations prescribe different ways in which phonetic indices change as phonetic parameters are scaled. The main finding is that invariance is found in these patterns of change, rather than in static correspondences between phonological constructs and fixed values for their phonetic indices. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 516 KW - american english KW - perception KW - speech KW - organization KW - duration KW - patterns KW - syllabication KW - articulation KW - sequences KW - knowledge Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-412479 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 516 SP - 455 EP - 490 ER -