Several languages in the world alternate between marked and unmarked objects with respect to different properties of the noun, including animacy and specificity. This phenomenon is called...Show moreSeveral languages in the world alternate between marked and unmarked objects with respect to different properties of the noun, including animacy and specificity. This phenomenon is called differential object marking. In this thesis, I describe the differential object marking system of Cha’palaa, a Barbacoan language spoken in Ecuador, and compare this with the differential object marking systems of the related Barbacoan languages. It can be concluded that in three of the four languages, including Cha’palaa, differential object marking is only governed by specificity. In one language, namely Awa Pit, differential object marking is governed by both animacy and specificity.Show less
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess whether the psychometric properties of a new version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) for elderly migrants...Show moreObjective: The aim of this study was to assess whether the psychometric properties of a new version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) for elderly migrants(IQCODE-sf-M) has better predictive quality for dementia than the original version in short form (IQCODE-sf) for dementia in elderly migrants with low or no education. The original version IQCODE-sf contains 16 items and the IQCODE-sf-M contains 21 items, of which 11 items are newly added, assuming to be less culturally biased.Methods: This study is a case control design. In this study 111 patients of the memory clinic and 50 healthy participants with the age of 55 years or older were included. The patient group was divided in three groups; dementia (n = 49), MCI (n = 34) and cognitively healthy (n = 28). At least 50% of participants in the patient sample were illiterate. The informants of the participants filled out the IQCODE, for example a caregiver or relative. Results: The area under the curve (AUROC) of the IQCODE-sf was 0.86. A cut-off point of 3.69 yielded a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 74%. The AUROC of the IQCODE-sf-M was 0.87. A cut-off point of 3.57 yielded a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 86%. We found no statistically significant difference in the psychometric properties between the new modified IQCODE (IQCODE sf-M) and IQCODE in short form (IQCODE-sf).Conclusion: In this study it has been shown that the original version of the IQCODE in short form works fine for the elderly migrants in the clinical and community settings and could not be improved by adding 11 new itemsShow less
