We investigate acoustic correlates of the laryngeal contrast in intervocalic stops in three speech communities – homeland Polish speakers and first- and second-generation heritage Polish speakers in Toronto. Using a sample of 1,187 tokens extracted from conversational speech, we show that the employment of some parameters signaling laryngeal contrast differs between the homeland and heritage speakers. Some parameters are suppressed (i.e., closure phonation and duration) and some are amplified (i.e., vowel and release duration). We interpret these processes in light of proposals by Flege and Bohn (2021) and Polinsky (2018) regarding contact-induced interaction (i.e., assimilation versus dissimilation between languages). We propose that the interaction between systems occurs at a low level of granularity, that is, at the level of individual phonetic properties of a single phoneme.

This chapter introduces the concept of scientific remittances – the informational, reputational and cultural diffusion that occurs as a result of the brain circulation of scientists. The scientific remittances that returning Asian scientists bring back with them include, not just new scientific know-how and new network connections in the global scientific field, but also new norms and values regarding the social practice of scientific training and research. At the same time, this chapter acknowledges that the Asian societies where scientists returned had also undergone change during their time in the West. Partly in response to these societal changes, and their own positionality within their institutions, returnees tended to focus their own change efforts on their labs and classrooms. I highlight four key cultural dimensions where returnees were focusing their change efforts. These were:

1. 1. Encouraging a curiosity-driven approach to scientific learning

2. 2. Raising their students’ research passions and ambitions

3. 3. Leveling attitudes towards rank within their labs

4. 4. Broadening attitudes towards difference.

This chapter discusses the return decision-making process for Asian scientists trained in the West, to understand the factors driving the recent increase in return migrations. The factors which influence Asian scientists’ return decisions are organized along three axes of influence:

1. 1. Integration, meaning the degree of social exclusion and cultural belonging Asian scientists experienced in the West, compared to what they imagined they would feel back in Asia

2. 2. Familial obligation to their parents (often still in Asia) versus an obligation to their spouse and their children (in the West)

3. 3. Ambition, which references their particular scientific and professional goals for themselves as individual scientists versus as citizens pursuing science for their country.

The present contribution examines phonological processes attested in modern Germanic languages. Focus is placed on segmental changes belonging to one of the following types: assimilation, dissimilation, epenthesis, deletion, coalescence, vowel reduction, strengthening, and weakening. Although some reference is made to diachronic developments, the emphasis in the present article is on those processes that are active in the synchronic grammar.