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ItemGrammar notes on Siraya, an extinct Formosan language(University of Hawaii Press, 1997-12-01)This is an attempt to unravel the grammar of a gospel text in Siraya, an extinct West Formosan language. It includes a discussion of the historical setting, the spelling, phonological features, function words, relation markers, morphosyntax of the verb, and the use of deictic verbs as prepositions. Regarding verbal morphosyntax, special attention is given to case marking suffixes, verbal classifiers, compound verbs, and anticipating sequences. Verbal classifiers are lexical elements prefixed to a root (a verb, adverb, or noun) with which they constitute the overall meaning of the resulting verb (mattäy- ‘talking, saying’ + vli ‘reciprocating, doing in return’ mattäy-vli ‘to answer’; mattäy- + rĭx ‘mind’ mattäy- rĭx ‘talk to oneself’). Compound verb constructions are constructions in which auxiliaries assume the functions of adverbs in English. These auxiliaries form an open class and are in fact the head of the verb phrase, as they carry most of the marking. An anticipating sequence is an element of a verb that is prefixed to the preceding auxiliary.
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ItemSiraya reduplication (West Formosa, roots, lexical properties of wordbases, disyllabic reduplication)(University of Hawaii Press, 2000-06-01)The main patterns of reduplication in Siraya (West Formosa) include monosyllabic root reduplication, an inherent lexical property of certain wordbases, and disyllabic reduplication, which adds the notion of diffuseness (including plurality, variety, similarity) to nominal wordbases, and the notion of diffusenes (repetition of action, plurality of actants) or continuity (including state, process) to verbal wordbases. The same meanings are conveyed by rightward reduplication, which applies when the last three or four segments of a root are copied at the end (losing the final consonant if there is one). First-syllable reduplication basically forms cardinal numbers with nonhuman referents. Ca- reduplication is part of verbal morphosyntax indicating progressive aspect, generic aspect, or a state, but it also forms deverbal nouns; it is, moreover, used with ordinal numerals, and with cardinal numerals and other count words having a human referent. Contrary to the general pattern found in other Austronesian languages (Blust 1998), the meaning of Siraya nouns derived through Ca- reduplication is not restricted to that of instrument but also includes that of agent, abstract noun, undergoer, and (in combination with the suffix -an) location. Finally, pa- reduplication is a morphosyntactic device forming causative verbs.
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ItemNatural Conversation Reconstruction Tasks: The Language Classroom as a Meeting Place(University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), 2009)This paper, drawing on Pratt’s notion of ‘transculturation’ and Bhabha’s ‘third space’, presents an example of language learning tasks that empower learners’ agency and promote their cross-cultural awareness and sensitivities to a different set of cultural expectations, using a naturally occurred Japanese thanking episodes. The paper discusses the merits of Natural Conversation Reconstruction Tasks (NCRTs) as a practical method for helping L2 learners develop this ‘intercultural competence’. It is based on a qualitative study of the results of one NCRT created for use in the context of teaching Japanese as a L2 in a multicultural society. It suggests the NCRT encourages the learners to explore the intersection where language use, speaker intention and L1 and L2 cultural norms meet. Such a process helps the learners become aware of socially expected patterns of communication in L1 and L2 in terms of the choices of speech act, formulaic expressions, sequential organization and politeness orientation. The learners’ comments suggest that the NCRT helps learners transcend their cultural boundaries by overcoming their narrow understanding of ‘thanking’ as ‘expressions of gratitude and appreciation’ and by cross-culturally widening their views of what counts as thanking. The NCRT with rich contextual information promotes the learners’ intercultural awareness, sensitivity to context and intercultural exploration in the space between L1 and L2, where they have authority and freedom of making sense of conversations, and pragmatics is fully integrated into language pedagogy.
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ItemThe Fragmented Self: Cross-cultural Difference, Conflict and the Lessons of Ethnographic Experience(Frobenius Institute, 2006)
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ItemArriving in the Future: The Utopia of Here and Now in the Work of Modern-Day Mystics From Eric Fromm to Eckhart Tolle(MONASH UNIV, CENTRE COMPARATIVE LITERATURE & CULTURAL STUDIES, 2009-12)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableACE1 polymorphism and progression of SARS.(Elsevier BV, 2004-10-22)We have hypothesized that genetic predisposition influences the progression of SARS. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE1) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism was previously reported to show association with the adult respiratory distress syndrome, which is also thought to play a key role in damaging the lung tissues in SARS cases. This time, the polymorphism was genotyped in 44 Vietnamese SARS cases, with 103 healthy controls who had had a contact with the SARS patients and 50 controls without any contact history. SARS cases were divided into either non-hypoxemic or hypoxemic groups. Despite the small sample size, the frequency of the D allele was significantly higher in the hypoxemic group than in the non-hypoxemic group (p=0.013), whereas there was no significant difference between the SARS cases and controls, irrespective of a contact history. ACE1 might be one of the candidate genes that influence the progression of pneumonia in SARS.
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ItemNo Preview AvailablePolymorphisms of human leucocyte antigen genes in Maonan people in China.(Wiley, 2007-02)We examined human leucocyte antigen (HLA) gene polymorphisms in the Maonan people from southern China. HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 alleles were determined in 108 healthy unrelated Maonan individuals by the polymerase chain reaction-Luminex method, and haplotype frequencies for HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 loci were estimated. The most frequent HLA-A alleles were A*1101 (35.2%), A*0203 (17.6%), A*0207 (13.4%) and A*2402 (13.4%); HLA-B alleles were B*1301(19.9%), B*1502 (14.8%), B*4601 (13.4%) and B*4001 (13.4%); HLA-DRB1 alleles were DRB1*1202 (17.1%), DRB1*1602 (13.0%) and DRB1*1401 (10.7%). The most common haplotypes were A*0207-B*4601 (10.6%), A*1101-B*1301 (10.0%), A*1101-B*4001 (8.4%), B*1502-DRB1*1202 (12.0%), B*4601-DRB1*1401 (5.8%), A*1101-B*1502-DRB1*1202 (7.1%) and A*0207-B*4601-DRB1*1401 (5.3%), profiles that are also found in populations from the southern region of East Asia. Phylogenetic and principal component analyses revealed that the Maonan people belong to the southeastern Asian group and are most closely related to the Buyi people.
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ItemAssociation of TNFAIP3 interacting protein 1, TNIP1 with systemic lupus erythematosus in a Japanese population: a case-control association study.(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2010)INTRODUCTION: TNFAIP3 interacting protein 1, TNIP1 (ABIN-1) is involved in inhibition of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation by interacting with TNF alpha-induced protein 3, A20 (TNFAIP3), an established susceptibility gene to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent genome-wide association studies revealed association of TNIP1 with SLE in the Caucasian and Chinese populations. In this study, we investigated whether the association of TNIP1 with SLE was replicated in a Japanese population. In addition, association of TNIP1 with RA was also examined. METHODS: A case-control association study was conducted on the TNIP1 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs7708392 in 364 Japanese SLE patients, 553 RA patients and 513 healthy controls. RESULTS: Association of TNIP1 rs7708392C was replicated in Japanese SLE (allele frequency in SLE: 76.5%, control: 69.9%, P = 0.0022, odds ratio [OR] 1.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13-1.74). Notably, the risk allele frequency in the healthy controls was considerably greater in Japanese (69.9%) than in Caucasians (24.3%). A tendency of stronger association was observed in the SLE patients with renal disorder (P = 0.00065, OR 1.60 [95%CI 1.22-2.10]) than in all SLE patients (P = 0.0022, OR 1.40 [95%CI 1.13-1.74]). Significant association with RA was not observed, regardless of the carriage of human leukocyte antigen DR β1 (HLA-DRB1) shared epitope. Significant gene-gene interaction between TNIP1 and TNFAIP3 was detected neither in SLE nor RA. CONCLUSIONS: Association of TNIP1 with SLE was confirmed in a Japanese population. TNIP1 is a shared SLE susceptibility gene in the Caucasian and Asian populations, but the genetic contribution appeared to be greater in the Japanese and Chinese populations because of the higher risk allele frequency. Taken together with the association of TNFAIP3, these observations underscore the crucial role of NF-κB regulation in the pathogenesis of SLE.
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ItemA at single nucleotide polymorphism-358 is required for G at -420 to confer the highest plasma resistin in the general Japanese population.(Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2010-03-16)Insulin resistance is a feature of type 2 diabetes. Resistin, secreted from adipocytes, causes insulin resistance in mice. We previously reported that the G/G genotype of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at -420 (rs1862513) in the human resistin gene (RETN) increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes by enhancing its promoter activity. Plasma resistin was highest in Japanese subjects with G/G genotype, followed by C/G, and C/C. In this study, we cross-sectionally analyzed plasma resistin and SNPs in the RETN region in 2,019 community-dwelling Japanese subjects. Plasma resistin was associated with SNP-638 (rs34861192), SNP-537 (rs34124816), SNP-420, SNP-358 (rs3219175), SNP+299 (rs3745367), and SNP+1263 (rs3745369) (P<10(-13) in all cases). SNP-638, SNP -420, SNP-358, and SNP+157 were in the same linkage disequilibrium (LD) block. SNP-358 and SNP-638 were nearly in complete LD (r(2) = 0.98), and were tightly correlated with SNP-420 (r(2) = 0.50, and 0.51, respectively). The correlation between either SNP-358 (or SNP-638) or SNP-420 and plasma resistin appeared to be strong (risk alleles for high plasma resistin; A at SNP-358, r(2) = 0.5224, P = 4.94x10(-324); G at SNP-420, r(2) = 0.2616, P = 1.71x10(-133)). In haplotypes determined by SNP-420 and SNP-358, the estimated frequencies for C-G, G-A, and G-G were 0.6700, 0.2005, and 0.1284, respectively, and C-A was rare (0.0011), suggesting that subjects with A at -358, generally had G at -420. This G-A haplotype conferred the highest plasma resistin (8.24 ng/ml difference/allele compared to C-G, P<0.0001). In THP-1 cells, the RETN promoter with the G-A haplotype showed the highest activity. Nuclear proteins specifically recognized one base difference at SNP-358, but not at SNP-638. Therefore, A at -358 is required for G at -420 to confer the highest plasma resistin in the general Japanese population. In Caucasians, the association between SNP-420 and plasma resistin is not strong, and A at -358 may not exist, suggesting that SNP-358 could explain this ethnic difference.
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ItemIs rs34861192 or rs1862513 a more promising variant for determining plasma resistin in an aged Japanese population?(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2010-04)