The maluma/takete effect is late: No longitudinal evidence for shape sound symbolism in the first year.

The maluma/takete effect refers to an association between certain language sounds (e.g., /m/ and /o/) and round shapes, and other language sounds (e.g., /t/ and /i/) and spiky shapes. This is an example of sound symbolism and stands in opposition to arbitrariness of language. It is still unknown when sensitivity to sound symbolism emerges. In the present series of studies, we first confirmed that the classic maluma/takete effect would be observed in adults using our novel 3-D object stimuli (Experiments 1a and 1b). We then conducted the first longitudinal test of the maluma/takete effect, testing infants at 4-, 8- and 12-months of age (Experiment 2). Sensitivity to sound symbolism was measured with a looking time preference task, in which infants were shown images of a round and a spiky 3-D object while hearing either a round- or spiky-sounding nonword. We did not detect a significant difference in looking time based on nonword type. We also collected a series of individual difference measures including measures of vocabulary, movement ability and babbling. Analyses of these measures revealed that 12-month olds who babbled more showed a greater sensitivity to sound symbolism. Finally, in Experiment 3, we had parents take home round or spiky 3-D printed objects, to present to 7- to 8-month-old infants paired with either congruent or incongruent nonwords. This language experience had no effect on subsequent measures of sound symbolism sensitivity. Taken together these studies demonstrate that sound symbolism is elusive in the first year, and shed light on the mechanisms that may contribute to its eventual emergence.

Utterance-Initial Prosodic Differences Between Statements and Questions in Infant-Directed Speech.

Cross-linguistically, statements and questions broadly differ in syntactic organization. To learn the syntactic properties of each sentence type, learners might first rely on non-syntactic information. This paper analyzed prosodic differences between infant-directed wh-questions and statements to determine what kinds of cues might be available. We predicted there would be a significant difference depending on the first words that appear in wh-questions (e.g., two closed-class words; meaning words from a category that rarely changes) compared to the variety of first words found in statements. We measured F0, duration, and intensity of the first two words in statements and wh-questions in naturalistic speech from 13 mother-child dyads in the Brent corpus of the CHILDES database. Results found larger differences between sentence-types when the second word was an open-class not a closed-class word, suggesting a relationship between prosodic and syntactic information in an utterance-initial position that infants may use to make sentence-type distinctions.

Click chemistry as a route to the synthesis of structurally new and magnetically interesting coordination clusters: a {Ni} complex with a trapezoidal prismatic topology.

The synthesis of a new {Ni8} cluster bearing tetrazolate- and azido-bridging ligands, and supported by chelating α-methyl-2-pyridine-methanol (mpmH) groups, is described herein. The reported compound has a unique trapezoidal prismatic topology, resulting from an unexpected in situ click reaction between the MeCN reaction solvent and the N3- ions under mild, room-temperature conditions. Such a click chemistry approach to the preparation of 0-D compounds is relatively unexplored and represents a fruitful strategy for the synthesis of new coordination clusters and molecule-based magnetic materials.

Field-induced slow magnetic relaxation in the first Dy(iii)-centered 12-metallacrown-4 double-decker.

The reaction of Dy(O2CMe)3·xH2O and Ga(NO3)3·xH2O led to the isolation of (nBu4N)[GaDyIII(OH)4(shi)8] (1). The compound possesses a unique chemical structure enclosing the central magnetic DyIII ion between diamagnetic GaIII-based metallacrown 12-MC-4 ligands. The double-decker complex exhibits field-induced single-molecule magnet (SMM) behaviour with an effective energy barrier (Ueff) of 39 K (27.1 cm-1). Consistent with the observed slow relaxation of magnetization, theoretical calculations suggest a ground state mainly determined by |±11/2> in the easy axis direction.

{Ni4} Cubanes from enantiomerically pure 2-(1-hydroxyethyl)pyridine ligands: supramolecular chirality.

Homometallic {NiII4} cubane-like clusters with a rare chiral core have been prepared via the employment of enantiomerically pure 2-(1-hydroxyethyl)pyridine (Hmpm). Comparison with the achiral cubanes derived from the related 2-pyridinemethanol (Hpym) ligand reveals drastic structural changes as a consequence of the transfer of chirality from the ligands to the whole structure. Their magnetic properties have been related to the structural features of their cubane-type cores.

Slow relaxation of magnetization in a {Fe6Dy} complex deriving from a family of highly symmetric metallacryptands.

The synthesis and characterization of a new family of isostructural {Fe6Ln} complexes, (pipH)3{Fe6Ln(shiH)3(shi)6}·1.5 pip·xH2O (Ln = Gd (1), Dy (2), Tb (3) and Y (4), pip = piperidine, and shi3- = salicylhydroxamic acid) is reported. The resulting compounds possess an exceptionally unique structure of a metallacrown-like motif while the overall complexes feature more the structure of metallacryptates. Magnetic studies are reported and reveal that the {Fe6Dy} analogue belongs to the single-molecule magnet (SMM) family.

Shape up: An eye-tracking study of preschoolers' shape name processing and spatial development.

Learning the names of geometric shapes is at the intersection of early spatial, mathematical, and language skills, all important for school-readiness and predictors of later abilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We investigated whether socioeconomic status (SES) influenced children's processing of shape names and whether differences in processing were predictive of later spatial skills. Three-year-olds (N = 79) with mothers of varying education levels participated in an eye-tracking task that required them to look at named shapes. Lower SES children took longer to fixate target shapes and spent less time looking at them than higher SES children. Gaze variables measured at age 3 were predictive of spatial skills measured at age 5 even though the spatial measures did not require shape-related vocabulary. Early efficiency in the processing of shape names may contribute to the development of a foundation for spatial learning in the preschool years. (PsycINFO Database Record

Structural and magnetic variations in tetranuclear Ni(II) clusters: the effect of the reaction solvent and ligand substitution on product identity.

Three structurally and magnetically different tetranuclear Ni(II) complexes have been isolated and magnetically characterized, emphasizing the effect of the reaction solvent and organic ligand substitution on the chemical identity of cluster compounds.

Structural aesthetics in molecular nanoscience: a unique Ni26 cluster with a 'rabbit-face' topology and a discrete Ni18 'molecular chain'.

The use of a previously unexplored Schiff-base ligand in Ni(II) carboxylate chemistry has afforded a Ni26 cluster with a record nuclearity that crystallizes with a unique 'rabbit-face'-like topology, and a Ni18 compound that adopts an unusual 'molecular chain' structure.