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1
Flynn, Michael. "Linguistics and General Process Learning Theory." University of Arizona Linguistics Circle, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/226547.
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This paper is sort of an extended footnote, with a faint Borgesian flavor. What I'm going to do is show how one rather prominent argument in the linguistics literature against one aspect of the research program of behaviorism fails to go through. But I'll also observe that this argument appears to have had no practical effect on linguistic investigations, and that many people seem to assume (tacitly, at least) that this argument fails anyway. So my remarks here don't move the field forward any, but what I hope they do is help to get us all a bit clearer about where we are. The argument I'll be examining, given by Noam Chomsky in Reflections on Language (Chomsky 1975), is against a point of view called "general process learning theory ", a view that regards one goal of psychological theorizing to be the discovery of laws of learning that hold across species and across domains of acquisition. Psychological theorizing is by no means a new development on the linguistics scene. It is true, I think, that in most cases the people who have thought about language (including but not limited to people we would call linguists) have done so against the backdrop of a psychological theory that they assumed to be at least on the right track, and the idea was often to see what you could make of language by applying the analytical tools that the given psychological theory made available. Bloomfield (1926) is an example of this. (For some discussion of Bloomfield's views on psychology, see Lyons 1978, chapter 3.) One also in this context thinks of Piaget, Skinner of course, as well as philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries of both the continental Cartesian variety and the so-called British Empiricists. I also think it's true that Chomsky's impact on psychology is somewhat unusual in that the flow of influence is in the other direction; that is, the question is, "If human language is like this, then what must the mind be like ?" rather than the other way around. Be that as it may, Chomsky has been, by far and away, the leading expositor of the implications of linguistics for the study of the structure of the human mind. It goes without saying that the ramifications of this work have been very rich, the pivotal role of linguistics in the "cognitive sciences" being just one indication of its influence. One of the earliest engagements at discipline boundaries was Chomsky's forceful assault on B.F. Skinner's attempt to extend the domain of behaviorist psychology to human languages. It's this argument that I want to have another look at. To do this it will be useful to try to isolate several facets of the discussion. I should perhaps reiterate, for the connoisseurs of counterrevolution who I know are out there, that my conclusion will be a modest one. I will not be concluding that after all Skinner was right and Chomsky was wrong. On the contrary, I'm going to assume that this game is over, and has been for quite some time. My goal is to call attention to what I think is an Unsolved problem which acquires its interest because it bears on how we regard linguistics as influencing our judgment about the structure of the human mind.
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Runsewe, O. I. "Communication in general Nigerian English : An intonational study." Thesis, University of Essex, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.375724.
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Jessen, Annette. "The presence and treatment of terms in general dictionaries." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/mq21992.pdf.
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Müller, Torsten. "Football, language and linguistics time-critical utterances in unplanned spoken language, their structures and their relation to non-linguistic situations and events /." Tübingen : Narr, 2007. http://books.google.com/books?id=mlhiAAAAMAAJ.
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Brown, Dunstan. "From the general to the exceptional : a network morphology account of Russian nominal inflection." Thesis, University of Surrey, 1998. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/994/.
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Martin, Teresa Ann. "A Curriculum for General Academic Preparation." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2010. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2199.
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The curriculum at the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University (BYU) currently has two programs: Foundations and Academic. In order for students to progress from Foundations to the Academic Program, they must pass their Level Achievement Tests (LATs), which are administered as final exams. Each semester there are students who do not pass their LATs. The question then is what should happen to these students? Should they be asked to leave the ELC, should they have to repeat the same level until they pass, or should they be promoted without passing their LATs? This project presents an alternative solution to this situation through a curriculum specifically designed for these students. Outlined in this document are the analysis, design, development, and results of implementing that curriculum. The main elements of the course consist of 3 main classes: Reading, Listening/Speaking, Writing/Grammar, and an individualized Language Learning Plan (LLP) that allows the curriculum to be tailored to meet the individual student needs. These LLPs are an integral part of the curriculum and both the problems and benefits associated with them are set out in this paper. The course is woven together using a themed textbook series, which recycles vocabulary and helps to ensure that the students experience an integrated system despite having 3 separate classes. Budgeting is always a consideration for any school, and methods to increase the cost effectiveness of the curriculum are also discussed at various points of the document. Finally, the outcomes and value of the program to the different stakeholders and lessons learned are outlined in order to provide a summary of the overall usefulness and effectiveness of the General Academic Prep (GAP) curriculum.
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Berker, A. Selim. "The particular and the general : essays at the interface of ethics and epistemology." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/41702.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-138).
This dissertation consists of three chapters exploring the nature of normativity in ethics and epistemology, with an emphasis on insights that can be gleaned by comparing and contrasting debates within those two fields. In chapter 1, I consider particularism, a relatively recent view which holds that, because reasons for action and belief are irreducibly context-dependent, the traditional quest for a general theory of what one ought to do or believe is doomed for failure. In making these claims, particularists assume a general framework according to which reasons are the ground floor normative units undergirding all other normative relations. However, I argue that the claims particularists make about the behavior of reasons undermines the very framework within which they make those claims, thus leaving them without a coherent notion of a reason for action or belief. Chapter 2 concerns a problem arising for certain theories that take the opposite extreme of particularism and posit a fully general theory of what one ought to believe or do. In the epistemic realm, one such theory is process reliabilism. A well-known difficulty for process reliabilism is the generality problem: the problem of determining how broadly or narrowly to individuate the process by which a given belief is formed. Interestingly, an exactly parallel problem faces one of the most dominant contemporary ethical theories, namely Kantianism. I show how, despite their seeming differences, process reliabilism and Kantianism possess a markedly similar structure, and then use this similarity in structure to assess the prospects that each has of ever solving its version of the generality problem.
(cont.) Finally, in chapter 3, I consider a recent argument by Timothy Williamson that what it would be rational for one to do or believe is not luminous, in the following sense: it can be rational for one to do or believe something, without one's being in a position to know that it is. Careful attention to the details of Williamson's argument reveals that he can only establish this limit to our knowledge by taking for granted certain controversial claims about the limits of belief.
by A. Selim Berker.
Ph.D.
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Baron-Schmitt, Nathaniel. "Doing : an essay on causation, events, and action in the most general sense." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129123.
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Thesis: Ph. D. in Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, September, 2020Page 163 blank. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 149-162).
Our world is populated not just by things, such as bombs, matches, and people, but also by events, like explosions, ignitions, and decisions. Part I, "Doings", is centered around my attempt to capture the nature of events. Events straddle the realms of thing and fact, eluding analysis, making this a difficult task. Yet it is an important one, because events play crucial roles in so many places: in philosophy of action and mind, in syntax and semantics, and particularly in metaphysics, where they are widely supposed to be the only true causes and effects. Part II, "Thing Causation", argues that the true causes are things. I first argue that previous theories have failed to capture the nature of events. Jaegwon Kim's well-known view takes every event to be associated with a triple of a thing, a repeatable that the thing instantiates, and a time of instantiation. Kim uses this one-to-one association to give existence and identity criteria for events.
I argue that Kim's "events" are not really events at all; insofar as we can make sense of them, they are more like facts or propositions. But Kim's approach should not be abandoned altogether; the problem is not with association itself, but rather with Kim's assumption that association is one-to-one. Dropping this assumption results in a moderately coarse-grained conception of events that better matches our ordinary conception. It shares most of the theoretical virtues that Kim's view enjoys; most importantly, association can still be used to give existence and identity criteria. And it has a number of significant theoretical advantages over Kim's view, two of which I develop in depth : these moderately coarse-grained events are robust enough to support a version of token physicalism that does not collapse into type physicalism, and they illuminate the logical structure of the determinate-determinable relation. A second topic in Part I is the distinction between events and states.
This distinction usually is either ignored, or else captured by taking events, but not states, to be changes in things over time. The latter approach is too narrow, for it precludes instantaneous events, and it forecloses a "dynamic" picture of fundamental reality, on which there are goings-on that (unlike changes) do not consist merely in reality being one way and then another. Instead, events are best understood as cases of things doing something, or simply "doings". Rockslides, for instance, are cases of rocks sliding, and sliding is something rocks can do. Things done, like sliding, are a special sort of repeatable. Thus I say that events are associated with triples of a thing, a repeatable that can be done , and a time. I develop this very broad notion of "doing something" by appealing to a linguistic distinction between dynamic and stative verbs.
This distinction is central to the linguistics literature on aspect, and it is also philosophically important, since dynamic verbs stand for things done, whereas stative verbs stand for properties. Once we understand what events are, it emerges that events are not the sorts of entities that could cause, except in a derivative sense. In Part II, "Thing Causation", I argue that causation most fundamentally involves a thing causing another thing to do something. It is most fundamentally people and explosive substances, not actions and explosions, that cause. Causation between events is reducible to thing causation, but no reverse reduction is possible. I also touch on a number of other questions, including whether causation is partly normative, whether causation can occur even when no particular entity does any causing, and whether free agency involves causation by an agent.
Regarding the last of these, I argue that agent causation is coherent and real, and the best-known objections to it fail completely, but agent causation on its own does not do the heavy lifting some agent-causal theorists expect from it. What is needed for agent-causal freedom is not just any causing done by an agent, but causing that is basic -- that the agent does not do by doing anything further.
by Nathaniel Baron-Schmitt.
Ph. D. in Linguistics
Ph.D.inLinguistics Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
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Hewitt, Heather Mary. "Front desk talk : a study of interaction between receptionists and patients in general practice surgeries." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/1482.
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Receptionists who work in general practice surgeries in Great Britain are part of a large, state-funded organisation, the National Health Service. Their duties include registering patients with practices, arranging appointments for them and checking them in for consultations, as well as administration of the ordering and collection of repeat prescriptions. In this study the talk-in-interaction through which these activity types are accomplished at three general practice surgeries in Scotland is analysed and the discursive construction of roles and identities by receptionists and patients in the three separate, but related, institutional contexts explored. The discourse through which front desk activity types are accomplished at all three sites is found to consist of a maximum of four stages. These are present in varying combinations in different activity types but are always constructed through predictable combinations of moves, which, except in encounters in which problems are resolved or errors remedied, are realised through a limited range of speech acts and conversational routines. Different choices of act or routine encode differing levels and styles of face protection, which appear to be determined by factors such as the social environment of each practice, the preferred relational approach of individual participants and the perceived level of imposition which an activity type entails. In addition, participants are found to adopt varying stances towards personal agency. While some assume full responsibility for their actions, in others agency is either disguised, for example when receptionists attribute decisions to other practice sources, or downplayed, for example when patients present themselves as needy or inexpert. Although there are variations both in the discourse at different practices and the positioning of individual receptionists and patients, both groups of participants are found to orient strongly to their institutional roles, only rarely drawing on the wider identity resources available to them. Receptionists seem intent on task completion, while patients are focused on attaining service goals, in both cases at the expense of interpersonal communication. As a result, relative to service encounters in other contexts, levels of remedial action are low and there is very little small talk. Thus, paradoxically, although general practice surgeries provide intimate personal care for patients, at their front desks relational matters do not appear to be a primary concern. A narrow focus on transactional goals and a neglect of the relational function of discourse may give rise to negative perceptions among both receptionists and patients. It is therefore proposed that the findings from this study be used in receptionist training programmes to raise awareness of patterns of discourse behaviour at the front desk, with a view to improving both the professional experience of receptionists and the quality of service which patients receive.
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Nchai, Tlali Pius. "The comprehension by factory workers of English technical terms in Ministry of Employment and Labour Radio Broadcasts in Lesotho." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/18062.
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Thesis (MPhil )--Stellenbosch University, 2011.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the advent of the information age, government ministries in Lesotho, as well as nongovernmental agencies, are trying to gain publicity in terms of services they offer to the general public. The Ministry of Employment and Labour (MEL), for example, resorted to using radio programmes in order to inform the public about the services it offers. These range from career guidance and counselling, pre- and post-employment advice, information about occupational health and safety and HIV/AIDS, providing facts about what type of vacancies are available locally and internationally, to instilling the spirit of dialogue among relevant stakeholders in matters related to labour, employers and employees. During various weekly radio presentations, presented in Sesotho, several departments are able to go on-air and present services that their departments offer to the general public and what the public can do in the event they are given a disservice by the concerned department. In the process of doing so, many technical terms are used. These often take the form of code switches into English, translations from English into Sesotho and borrowings from English. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the use of code switching, translation and borrowing makes it possible for factory workers in Lesotho to understand the message that is being delivered to them in a clear and unmistakable manner that will influence a change of behaviour on the part of factory workers. In order to ascertain the level of comprehension of technical terms, participants completed a questionnaire in which they gave their understanding of various technical terms selected from transcribed MEL radio broadcasts. The findings of this study show that the use of code switching, translation and borrowing from English limit the understanding of what is being communicated, making the radio broadcasts less effective in disseminating information on matters related to HIV/AIDS, the plight of factory workers according to the ratified conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), legal terms related to contracts of employment, their commencement and termination, conditions of work, the level of the unemployed versus the employed, skills needed to venture into the country’s labour market and occupational health and safety guidelines as reflected in the Labour Code of Lesotho.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Met die aanbreek van die inligtingsera probeer staatsministeries in Lesotho, asook nieregeringsorganisasies, om publisiteit te verkry vir die openbare dienste wat hul lewer. Die Ministerie van Werksverskaffing en Arbeid (MWA) het byvoorbeeld besluit om gebruik te maak van radioprogramme om die publiek in te lig aangaande sy dienste. Hierdie dienste wissel van beroepsvoorligting en -berading, voor- en na-indiensnemingsadvies, inligting oor bedryfsgesondheid en -veiligheid en HIV/VIGS, die verskaffing van feite oor beskikbare plaaslike en internasionale vakaturetipes, tot die kweek van ’n dialoog-gees onder relevante belanghebbendes in arbeid-, werkgewer- en werknemersake. Tydens verskeie weeklikse radio-aanbiedings, aangebied in Sesotho, kan ’n aantal departemente hulle openbare dienste adverteer, asook die prosedure wat gevolg kan word deur lede van die publiek wat veronreg is deur die gegewe departement. Hierdie boodskappe bevat verskeie tegniese terme, dikwels aangebied in die vorm van kodewisselings na Engels, vertalings uit Engels na Sesotho, asook Engelse leenwoorde. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om vas te stel of die gebruik van kodewisseling, vertaling en woordleen fabriekswerkers in Lesotho daartoe in staat stel om die boodskap wat gekommunikeer word te verstaan in ’n duidelike, ondubbelsinnige wyse wat tot ’n gedragsverandering onder die fabriekswerkers sal lei. Ten einde die begripsvlak vir tegniese terme vas te stel, het deelnemers ’n vraelys voltooi waarin hulle hul begrip van verskeie tegniese terme (geselekteer uit getranskribeerde MWA-radiouitsendings), weergegee het. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie dui daarop dat die gebruik van kodewisseling, vertaling en woordleen uit Engels die begrip van wat gekommunikeer word, beperk. Dít maak die radiouitsendings minder effektief in die verspreiding van inligting oor HIV/VIGS; die saak van fabriekwerkers (met inagname van die gesanksioneerde konvensies van die Internasionale Arbeidsorganisasie); regsterme wat verband hou met arbeidskontrakte, spesifiek hul aanvang en terminasie, asook werksomstandighede; die vlak van werkloses teenoor werkendes; die vaardighede wat benodig word om die land se arbeidsmark te betree; en bedryfsgesondheid en –veiligheidsriglyne, soos gereflekteer in die Arbeidswet van Lesotho.
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Kruger, Erin. "A nanosyntactic analysis of passive participles in Afrikaans." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/17783.
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Thesis (MA (General Linguistics))--Stellenbosch University, 2011.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the internal structure of the passive participle in Afrikaans from within the framework of Nanosyntax. The ternary mode of classification, adopted by Caha (2007), Embick (2003;2004) and Kratzer (2000), is taken as background for the analysis of the Afrikaans passive participle; the analysis is done according to the nanosyntactic account of verb event structure which was first proposed by Ramchand (2008), and adopted by Lundquist (2008) in his study of the passive participle in Swedish. The aim of the study is to determine whether the ternary classification of passive participles and the general nanosyntactic structure proposed by Lundquist for the passive participle in Swedish provide an adequate framework for the analysis of such participles in Afrikaans. Two alternative proposals, namely for a binary and a quaternary classification of passive participles, are also critically examined. The morphological difference between predicative and attributive passive participles in Afrikaans suggests that, if both the ternary classification and Lundquist.s proposal for the internal structure of passive participles are to be maintained, a structural account for this difference should be provided from within the Nanosyntactic framework. In this regard, a possible structure is suggested and discussed in Chapter 4.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die interne struktuur van die passiewe deelwoord in Afrikaans binne die raamwerk van Nanosintaksis. Die drieledige klassifikasie, wat gevolg word deur Caha (2007), Embick (2003; 2004) en Kratzer (2000), dien as agtergrond vir die analise van die Afrikaanse passiewe deelwoord. Die analise is gebaseer op Ramchand (2008) se voorstelle oor die nanosintaktiese struktuur van werkwoorde; hierdie voorstelle word ook gevolg deur Lundquist (2008) in sy analise van die passiewe deelwoord in Sweeds. Die hoofoogmerk van hierdie studie is om te bepaal of die drieledige klassifikasie van passiewe deelwoorde en die algemene nanosintaktiese struktuur wat deur Lundquist voorgestel word, 'n toereikende raamwerk bied vir die analise van die verskillende Afrikaanse passiewe deelwoorde. Twee alternatiewe voorstelle, naamlik vir 'n tweeledige en vierledige klassifikasie, word ook krities ondersoek. Die morfologiese verskil tussen predikatiewe en attributiewe passiewe deelwoorde in Afrikaans dui daarop dat, indien beide die drieledige klassifikasie en Lundquist se voorstel vir die interne struktuur van passiewe deelwoorde gehandhaaf sou word, 'n strukturele verklaring van hierdie verskil gebied moet word binne die Nanosintaktiese raamwerk. In die verband word 'n moontlike struktuur voorgestel en bespreek in Hoofstuk 4.
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De, Bruin Jeané. "A minimalist analysis of expletive daar (“there”) and dit (“it”) constructions in Afrikaans." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/6513.
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Thesis (MA (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.Bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study deals with syntactic aspects of expletive daar (“there”) and dit (“it”) constructions in Afrikaans. Previous analyses of these constructions have mostly been of a non-formalistic nature (e.g. Barnes 1984; Donaldson 1993; Du Plessis 1977; Ponelis 1979, 1993). The present study investigates the properties of Afrikaans expletive constructions within the broad theoretical framework of Minimalist Syntax. Four recent minimalist analyses of expletive constructions in English, Dutch and German are set out, namely those proposed by Bowers (2002), Felser and Rupp (2001), Richards and Biberauer (2005), and Radford (2009). Against this background, an analysis is proposed of transitive, non-passive unaccusative, passive unaccusative, and unergative expletive constructions in Afrikaans. Throughout, the focus is on whether the devices available within Minimalist Syntax, and specifically the Expletive Conditions proposed by Radford (2009), provide an adequate framework in which the relevant facts of Afrikaans can be described and explained. Where required, modifications to the devices in question are proposed.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie handel oor sintaktiese aspekte van ekspletiewe daar- en dit-konstruksies in Afrikaans. Vorige analises van dié konstruksies was grootliks nie-formalisties van aard (bv. Barnes 1984; Donaldson 1993; Du Plessis 1977; Ponelis 1979, 1993). Die huidige studie ondersoek die eienskappe van Afrikaanse ekspletiewe konstruksies binne die breë teoretiese raamwerk van Minimalistiese Sintaksis. Vier onlangse minimalistiese analises van ekspletiewe konstruksies in Engels, Nederlands en Duits word uiteengesit, naamlik dié wat voorgestel is deur Bowers (2002), Felser en Rupp (2001), Richards en Biberauer (2005), en Radford (2009). Teen hierdie agtergrond word ’n analise voorgestel van transitiewe, nie-passiewe onakkusatiewe, passiewe onakkusatiewe, en onergatiewe ekspletiewe konstruksies in Afrikaans. Die fokus is deurgaans op die vraag of die meganismes wat beskikbaar is binne Minimalistiese Sintaksis, en spesifiek die drie Ekspletiewe Voorwaardes wat voorgestel word deur Radford (2009), ’n toereikende raamwerk bied waarbinne die tersaaklike feite van Afrikaans beskryf en verklaar kan word. Waar nodig, word aanpassings aan die betrokke meganismes voorgestel.
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Matsuno, Yuko. "A study of Okinawan language shift and ideology." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/291630.
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Ryukyuan, the Indigenous language of Okinawa, Japan, is in danger of being lost within a generation or two. There has been a rapid shift from Ryukyuan to Japanese and Uchina-Yamatoguchi, consisting of both Ryukyuan and Japanese. This linguistic situation has been brought on by many years of colonization by foreign nations and most recently by massive wave of globalization and modernization. This research examines language loss and shift in one Okinawan village, Henna, through an examination of its history and by exploring the people's language attitudes and ideologies. This study seeks to understand the multidimensional factors that contribute to language choice of the Okinawan people. In the case of Okinawa, it may be said that one's perspective toward Okinawan culture is a key to the future of the Ryukyuan language. With this understanding, it is hoped that the Okinawans can then determine themselves what their futures may be and what language they embrace.
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Keogh, Jennifer. "A Survey of Those in the U.S. Deaf Community about Reading and Writing ASL." Thesis, The University of North Dakota, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1552203.
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On average, students who are deaf do not develop English literacy skills as well as their hearing peers. The linguistic interdependence principle suggests that literacy in American Sign Language (ASL) may improve literacy in English for students who are deaf. However, the Deaf community in the United States has not widely adopted a written form of ASL. This research surveys individuals in the U.S. Deaf community to better understand the opinions surrounding literacy in ASL.
The survey was presented online, containing both ASL in embedded videos and written English. The survey asked for the participants' demographic information, language and educational background, opinions about reading and writing ASL, and opinions on specific writing systems. Sixty-two surveys were analyzed using Chi-square Goodness of Fit tests and Tests of Independence.
The results show that those who desire to read and write ASL are in the minority. The respondents were evenly divided among those who supported literacy in ASL, those who opposed it, and those who felt ambivalent about it. The factors that influenced their opinions were (1) the widespread use of a written form of ASL; (2) the value of literacy in ASL; (3) the style of a writing system; (4) writing with other Deaf individuals; (5) the face-to-face culture in the Deaf community; (6) video technology; and (7) the dominance of English. The respondents were highly educated, which may have influenced these results. Surveying a more representative population is necessary to better understand the opinions about literacy in ASL in the U.S. Deaf community.
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Farrow, Stephen John. "Wittgenstein and grammar : a study of the theoretical implications of Wittgenstein's philosophical investigations for general linguistics." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.315892.
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Cowles, Heidi Wind. "Processing information structure : evidence from comprehension and production /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2003. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3100373.
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Mitchell, Alison. "Failure of substitutivity in intensional contexts : a linguistic solution." Thesis, McGill University, 1990. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=59418.
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In this thesis, I attempt to provide a linguistic solution to the problem of failure of substitutivity in intensional contexts, with specific emphasis on sentences containing verbs of propositional attitude, for example, "believe", "say", "think", "realize", etc. Many solutions to this problem have been proposed in the philosophical literature (the major ones will be reviewed in this thesis) and most of the linguistic analyses to date have been based upon the logical concepts invoked in the former. Using the pragmatic notion of "point of view" as defined by Reinhart (1975), I provide an alternate solution that takes into account the intuitions of speakers of natural language. My solution is based on the fact that different points of view can result in different referents for an expression, and that this difference is essential to the semantic interpretation and truth value of intensional sentences. I also discuss so-called identity statements of the form 'a = b' (where 'a' and 'b' stand for coreferential expressions), arguing that there is both semantic and syntactic evidence for the claim that natural language utterances of this form do not express identity.
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Davis, Shanna Dee. "The role of decontextualized narrative discourse in the development of general spoken language /." view abstract or download file of text, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3055683.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002.Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-130). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.
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Brookes, Gavin John. "The discursive construction of diabulimia : a corpus linguistic examination of online health communication." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37621/.
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This study is the first of its kind to examine the discursive construction of diabulimia. Diabulimia is a contested disease characterised by the deliberate restriction of insulin dosage by people with insulin-dependent diabetes in order to control their weight. The analysis takes a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative corpus linguistic techniques with qualitative discourse analytic methods to examine how diabulimia is discursively constructed in three English-speaking diabetes internet fora. By examining the discursive construction of diabulimia in this context, this study explores this emerging health phenomenon from the perspectives of those individuals who, in many cases, have lived, first-hand experience of it. The corpus analysis reveals the discursive construction of diabulimia in this context to be deeply influenced by medicalisation and the neoliberal imperative of autonomous diabetes self-management. Individuals with diabetes who restrict their insulin dosage to control their weight are likely to articulate their experiences and concerns using decidedly medicalising language, construing these experiences as the symptoms of a disease (diabulimia). It is also found that the demands of diabetes self-management figure in and shape individuals’ experiences and understandings of diabulimia in varying and conflicting ways. By providing novel insight into subjective experiences and understandings of diabulimia, the findings reported in this study give voice to those individuals affected by it, findings which also bear important implications for health care practitioners likely to encounter such individuals in the future.
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Levi, Susannah V. "The representation of underlying glides : a cross-linguistic study /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8406.
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Rysiew, Patrick William. "Contextualism in epistemology." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289063.
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Traditional epistemology is universalistic, in that it proceeds on the assumption that we can fully specify conditions making for the correctness of attributions of knowledge (/justified belief) without adverting to 'context'. In Chapter 1 examples are adduced which cast doubt on this assumption, since they seem to show that the very 'contents' of such attributions are 'context-dependent'. But even if some form of 'contextualism' is thereby shown to be correct, if we are to avoid resting content with the foregoing near-platitudinous observation, we need to address the following two questions: How exactly should we conceive of "context"? And in what way, exactly, does context affect the 'content' of those attributions? More precisely, does context affect what is literally expressed by a given knowledge-attributing sentence (as the semantic contextualist claims) or does it affect what the speaker means by the utterance of that sentence (as the pragmatic contextualist maintains)? Here it is argued that 'context' is a psychological notion, referring to the psychology of the speaker (perhaps qua member of some larger group). Further, it is argued that in addition to its being favored both by a correct understanding of the notion of context itself and by methodological considerations, pragmatic contextualism avoids the intractable problems faced by the semantic contextualist. Finally, the broader implications for epistemology of the foregoing results are explored, and their application to non-epistemological theories/areas are indicated.
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Hilliard, Amanda. "Using cognitive linguistics to teach metaphor and metonymy in an EFL and an ESL context." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2017. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/7830/.
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Developing an ability to understand and use metaphor is essential for successful language learning. While teachers/researchers have examined the effects of metaphor training in language classrooms, they have rarely embedded the instruction into a four skills language curriculum. To fill this gap, this study explores the effectiveness of metaphor instruction in developing reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills for both EFL and ESL learners. During this two-part study, the pre-test and post-test scores of an experimental group of 11 EFL students who received metaphor and metonymy instruction in the four skills were compared with a control group of 10 EFL students. Next, the test scores of two experimental groups of 11-12 ESL students who received metaphor and metonymy instruction in either reading and writing or listening and speaking were compared with two control groups of 12 ESL students. The thesis finds that explicit metaphor instruction can lead to modest improvements for some aspects of metaphor use. However, as different task types, genres, and topics were found to require different types and amounts of metaphor and metonymy use, the thesis also finds that it is essential to consider the nature of the communicative task when developing metaphor instruction.
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Bådagård, Elsa. "Dialectal Speech in Literature and Translation : Bachelor Degree Thesis in English Linguistics." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Engelska, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-10126.
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This essay studies how dialectal speech is reflected in written literature and how this phenomenon functions in translation. With this purpose in mind, Styron's Sophie's Choice and Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are analysed using samples of non-standard orthography which have been applied in order to reflect the dialect, or accent, of certain characters. In the same way, Lundgren's Swedish translation of Sophie's Choice and Ferres and Rolfe's Spanish version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are analysed. The method consists of linguistically analysing a few text samples from each novel, establishing how dialect is represented through non-standard orthography, and thereafter, comparing the same samples with their translation into another language in order to establish whether dialectal features are visible also in the translated novels. It is concluded that non-standard orthography is applied in the novels in order to represent each possible linguistic level, including pronunciation, morphosyntax, and vocabulary. Furthermore, it is concluded that while Lundgren's translation intends to orthographically represent dialectal speech on most occasions where the original does so, Ferres and Rolfe's translation pays no attention to dialectology. The discussion following the data analysis establishes some possible reasons for the exclusion of dialectal features in the Spanish translation considered here. Finally, the reason for which this study contributes to the study of dialectology is declared.
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Swanepoel, Lehahn Searle. "Positioning in Somali narratives in the Saldanha bay municipality area on the west coast of South Africa." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/17879.
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Thesis (MPhil )--Stellenbosch University, 2011.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is interested in discourses of displacement in which migrants articulate the experience of seeking improved life chances in a community considerably removed from their place of origin. Not only physical and environmental distance, but also distance related to cultural, linguistic and religious differences distinguish the (im)migrants from the local indigenous population, which is already a culturally and linguistically diverse community. This study investigates how histories of displacement and experiences of alienation or integration may be discursively managed among a group of young Somali males aged between 15 and 35 who entered South Africa in their late teens or early twenties. Specifically, this thesis considers how young Somali men who relocated to a rural Western Cape town and make a living through trading, present themselves in English-language narratives elicited during informal interviews. The study was conducted in Vredenburg, the administrative centre and economic hub of the Saldanha Bay Municipal area on the West Coast of South Africa. The data for the study was collected by means of audio recorded interviews. To supplement this data and gain more perspective on the situatedness of the discourses, the researcher further relied on field notes as well as additional informal conversations with the participants. The data was collected over a period of five months in 2007. To analyse the data, the researcher draws on the theoretical frameworks of Labov's structural analysis of narratives and Wodak and Reisigl's (2001) discourse-historical approach, and Bamberg's (1997) narrative constructivist perspective. The research aims to determine (i) how the narrators construct themselves in their narratives, and (ii) how speakers position themselves towards the content of their narratives, and towards their actual and imagined audiences. This study shows that displacement brings about new contexts characterised by uncertainty, conflict and inequalities, and this influences the way narrators orient themselves. The Somali narrators, in interviews conducted in English with a community outsider, position themselves as displaced and marginalised. During their narratives, the participants used several linguistic strategies to present themselves in various ways to actual or imagined audiences, which lead to negative otherpresentation and positive self-presentation and construction of in-group and out-group membership.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op diskoerse van ontworteling waarin migrante hul ervaring verwoord van ’n soeke na beter lewensgeleenthede in ’n gemeenskap ver verwyderd van hul plek van herkoms. Buiten vir die fisiese en omgewingsafstand, is daar ook afstand daargestel deur kulturele, linguistiese en godsdiensverskille, wat die (im)migrante onderskei van die plaaslike bevolking – op sigself ’n kultureel en linguisties diverse gemeenskap. Hierdie studie doen ondersoek na hoe geskiedenisverhale oor ontworteling en ervarings van vervreemding of integrasie diskursief bestuur kan word binne ’n groep jong Somaliese mans van 15 tot 35 jaar wat Suid-Afrika in hul laat tienerjare of vroeë twintigerjare binnegekom het. Die tesis fokus spesifiek op hoe jong Somaliese mans wat na ’n plattelandse Wes-Kaapse dorp migreer het en ’n handelsbestaan voer, hulself voorstel in Engelstalige narratiewe wat ontlok is tydens informele onderhoude. Die studie is gedoen in Vredenburg, die administratiewe en ekonomiese kern van die Saldanhabaai Munisipale Area aan die Weskus van Suid-Afrika. Die data vir die studie is ingesamel deur middel van klankopnames van onderhoude. Ten einde dié data aan te vul en meer perspektief te verkry ten opsigte van die plasing van die diskoerse, het die navorser verder gesteun op veldnotas sowel as bykomende informele gesprekke met die deelnemers. Die data is oor ’n tydperk van vyf maande in 2007 versamel. In die ontleding van die data maak die navorser gebruik van die teoretiese raamwerke van Labov se strukturele analise van narratiewe en Wodak en Reisigl (2001) se diskoers-historiese benadering, asook Bamberg (1997) se narratief-konstruktivistiese perspektief. Die navorsing het ten doel om vas te stel (i) hoe die vertellers hulself in hul narratiewe konstrueer, en (ii) hoe sprekers hulself posisioneer ten opsigte van die inhoud van hul narratiewe en ten opsigte van hul werklike en denkbeeldige gehore. Hierdie studie toon dat ontworteling nuwe kontekste skep wat gekenmerk word deur onsekerheid, konflik en ongelykhede en ’n invloed het op die wyse waarop vertellers hulself orienteer. Tydens onderhoude met ’n gemeenskapsbuitestaander, uitgevoer in Engels, posisioneer die Somaliese vertellers hulself as ontwortel en gemarginaliseer. In hul narratiewe gebruik hulle verskeie linguistiese strategieë om hulself op verskillende maniere voor te stel aan werklike en denkbeeldige gehore wat lei tot ’n negatiewe voorstelling van die Ander, ’n positiewe voorstelling van die Self en die daarstelling van binne- en buite-groep lidmaatskap.
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Ellis, Carla. "Die verwerwing van grammatikale geslag in tweedetaal Duits deur leerders met Afrikaans, Engels of Italiaans as eerstetaal." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/6826.
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Thesis (MA (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.Bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis reports on an investigation into the acquisition of grammatical gender in second language (L2) German by learners with Afrikaans, English or Italian as their first language (L1). The aim of the study was to determine how similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 in terms of grammatical gender affect the acquisition of this aspect of the target L2. Previous research has shown that the L2 acquisition of grammatical gender is influenced by the morphological similarities and differences between gender marking in the L1 and L2 (see, for example, Sabourin, Stowe and De Haan 2006). Two experimental tasks were designed to determine to which extent the grammatical gender of nouns is accurately reflected on determiners and adjectives. Throughout, the L1 Italian group performed better than the other two groups. Since Italian (like German) expresses grammatical gender on determiners and nouns, while neither English nor Afrikaans does, the results indicate that the acquisition of grammatical gender in an L2 is easier for learners whose L1 also expresses grammatical gender.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis lewer verslag oor ’n ondersoek na die verwerwing van grammatikale geslag in Duits as tweedetaal (T2) deur volwasse beginnerleerders met Afrikaans, Engels of Italiaans as moedertaal (T1). Die doel van die ondersoek was om vas te stel hoe ooreenkomste en verskille tussen die T1 en T2 in terme van grammatikale geslag die verwerwing van hierdie betrokke aspek van die teikentaal beïnvloed. Vorige navorsing het bevind dat die T2-verwerwing van grammatikale geslag beïnvloed word deur die morfologiese ooreenkomste en verskille tussen geslagsmarkering in die T1 en T2 (sien byvoorbeeld Sabourin, Stowe en De Haan 2006). Twee eksperimentele take is ontwerp om vas te stel tot watter mate die grammatikale geslag van naamwoorde akkuraat uitgedruk word op determineerders en adjektiewe. Die T1 Italiaanse groep het deurgaans beter gevaar as die ander twee groepe. Aangesien Italiaans (soos Duits) grammatikale geslag uitdruk op determineerders en adjektiewe, terwyl dit nie die geval in Engels en Afrikaans is nie, dui die resultate daarop dat die verwerwing van grammatikale geslag in 'n T2 makliker is vir leerders wie se T1 ook grammatikale geslag uitdruk.
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Zushi, Mihoko. "Long-distance dependencies." Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28974.
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This thesis proposes a modification of Chomsky's (1992) theory of locality to deal with restructuring phenomena which allow an apparent violation of the locality condition on certain local processes. Various restructuring phenomena including long-distance NP movement exemplified by long-distance Object Preposing (Chapter 2) and long-distance head movement exemplified by clitic climbing (Chapter 3) are examined cross linguistically. Long-distance anaphora (Chapter 4) are also examined based on the view the locality on various types of anaphor-antecedent relationships follow from the theory of movement.It is argued that the peculiar behavior of restructuring constructions in terms of locality follows from the lexical properties of restructuring verbs that allows a defective Tense to occur in the complement clause. The following effects result: (i) Case checking within the embedded clause becomes impossible; (ii) the defective Tense triggers incorporation of the infinitive verb into the matrix verb. As a result, the embedded element that requires Case is forced to raise into the matrix clause as a last resort operation, hence motivation long-distance movement.
In order to reconcile long-distance movement with the economy principle which requires chain links to be minimal, this thesis refines Chomsky's (1992) theory of locality. The proposed hypothesis claims that the locality condition on certain operations such as NP movement and head movement follows from the economy principle in such a way that an element can move to the closest position in which its morphological requirement can be satisfied. This notion of the shortest movement is further clarified in that the domain in which the shortest movement requirement is satisfied can be extended if there is an appropriate linked chain formed by head movement. The proposed system not only provides principled account for the phenomena of restructuring, but also has some important implications for the notion of economy of derivation.
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Taylor, Juliette. "Foreign music : linguistic estrangement and its textual effects in Joyce, Beckett, Nabokov and Rushdie." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2003. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/2582/.
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This thesis examines the relationship between multilingualism and defamiliarisation in Joyce, Beckett, Nabokov and Rushdie. Focusing on Joyce’s Ulysses, Beckett’s Trilogy, Nabokov’s Bend Sinister, Pale Fire and Ada, and Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, the study considers the reasons for these authors’ uses a foreign languages and examines their specialised compositional processes. It evaluates the textual effects produced by these processes, and compares overtly multilingual effects (such as multilingual puns and the hybridisation of language) to more general characteristics of the authors’ prose-styles, including monolingual forms of defamiliarisation. The prose of all four authors is characterised by extreme forms of defamiliarisation, and the thesis develops the concept of ‘linguistic estrangement’ to elucidate a perceived relationship between each author’s perspective of ideological or literal estrangement from language and his subsequent estrangement of that language. In particular, these writers tend to turn the distinctive features of the foreigner’s perspective on language - semantic ambiguity and linguistic materiality - to positive effect: semantic ambiguity is used to produce puns, plays on words and linguistic overdetermination, while in focus on the material characteristics of language is fundamental to the construction of phonetic and rhythmic linguistic patterns. As a result, the work under scrutiny is often characterised by high levels of musicality, iconicity and textual performativity. Apparently ‘negative’ aspects of language - interlingual confusion, distortion, mistranslation, misunderstanding and misuse - thus form the basis of some of the most productive stylistic aspects, and indeed the radically innovative nature, of each author’s work. The thesis explores a wide array of evident intentions associated with such processes including, among others, mimetic, aesthetic, literary historical and socio-political concerns. Translational processes, interlingual contact and linguistic estrangement are thus demonstrated to be fundamental to the particular thematic and stylistic features of the work of each individual author. This study can also, more generally, be seen to address a central dynamic within modernist (and subsequent late-modernist and postmodernist) literary production.
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Perold, Anneke. "Identifying potential grammatical features for explicit instruction to isiXhosa-speaking learners of English." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/17789.
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Thesis (MA )--Stellenbosch University, 2011.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Given the promise of upward socio-economic mobility that English is currently deemed to hold in South Africa, it is a matter of egalitarian principle that the schooling system provides all learners in this country with a fair chance at acquiring English to a high level of proficiency. There exists a common misconception, however, that such a chance is necessarily provided in the form of English medium education for all learners, regardless of what their mother tongue may be. As a result, the majority of learners are caught in a system that cites English as medium of instruction, despite their and often also their teachers’ low overall proficiency in this language; the little opportunity many have for the naturalistic acquisition of English; and the national Language-in-Education Policy of 1997’s advice to the contrary, in promoting additive bilingualism with the home language serving as foundation through the use thereof as medium of instruction. As an interim solution, it is suggested that English-as-an-additional-language be developed to serve as a strong support subject in explicitly teaching learners the grammar of English. In order to identify grammatical features for explicit instruction, an initial step was taken in analysing the free speech of eight first language speakers of isiXhosa, the African language most commonly spoken in the Western Cape. The grammatical intuitions of these speakers, who had all reached a near-native level of proficiency in English, were tested in an English grammaticality judgement task. Collectively, results revealed syntactic, semantic and morphological features of English, in that order, to prove most problematic to these speakers. More specifically, in terms of syntax, the omission of especially prepositions and articles was identified as a candidate topic for explicit instruction, along with the syntactic positioning of adverbs and particles. In terms of semantics, incorrect lexical selection, especially of prepositions / prepositional phrases and pronouns, proved the most common non-native feature to be suggested for explicit teaching. Lastly, in terms of morphology, inflection proved most problematic, with the accurate formulation (especially in terms of tense and / or aspect forms) of past tense, progressive and irrealis structures being the features suggested for explicit instruction, along with the third person singular feature.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Aangesien Engels tans vir baie Suid-Afrikaners die belofte van opwaartse sosio-ekonomiese mobiliteit inhou, is dit ’n egalitêre beginselsaak dat die skoolsisteem alle leerders in hierdie land voorsien van ’n regverdige kans op die verwerwing van Engels tot op ’n hoë vaardigheidsvlak. Daar bestaan egter ’n algemene wanopvatting dat só ’n kans homself noodwendig voordoen in die vorm van Engels-medium onderrig vir alle leerders, ongeag wat hul moedertaal ook al mag wees. Gevolglik is die meerderheid leerders vandag vasgevang in ’n sisteem wat Engels as onderrigmedium voorhou, ten spyte van hul en dikwels ook hul onderwysers se algehele lae vaardigheidsvlak in Engels én vele se beperkte geleenthede om Engels op ’n naturalistiese wyse te verwerf. Hierdie sisteem is verder ook teenstrydig met die nasionale Taal-in-Onderrigbeleid van 1997 se bevordering van toevoegende tweetaligheid met die huistaal as fondasie in die gebruik daarvan as onderrigmedium. As ’n interim-oplossing word daar voorgestel dat English-as-an-additional-language ontwikkel word tot ’n sterk ondersteunende vak deurdat dit leerders die grammatika van Engels eksplisiet leer. Ten einde grammatikale eienskappe vir eksplisiete instruksie te identifiseer, is ’n eerste stap geneem in die analise van die vrye spraak van agt eerstetaalsprekers van isiXhosa, die Afrikataal wat die algemeenste gebesig word in die Wes- Kaap. Hierdie sprekers, wat almal ’n naby-eerstetaalsprekervlak van vaardigheid bereik het in Engels, se grammatikale intuïsies is deur middel van ’n grammatikaliteitsoordeel-taak getoets. Resultate het gesamentlik daarop gedui dat sintaktiese, semantiese en morfologiese eienskappe van Engels, in hierdie volgorde, die grootste probleme ingehou het vir hierdie sprekers. Meer spesifiek, ten opsigte van sintaksis, is die weglating van veral voorsetsels en lidwoorde as kandidaatonderwerpe vir eksplisiete instruksie geïdentifiseer, tesame met die sintaktiese posisionering van bywoorde en partikels. Ten opsigte van semantiek, was onakkurate leksikale seleksie, veral in die geval van voorsetsels / voorsetselfrases en voornaamwoorde, die algemeenste problematiese eienskap wat gevolglik vir eksplisiete instruksie voorgestel is. Laastens, ten opsigte van morfologie, het infleksie die grootste uitdaging blyk te wees, en is die akkurate formulering (veral ingevolge tempus- en / of aspekvorme) van verledetyds-, progressiewe en irrealisstrukture voorgestel as kandidaatonderwerpe vir eksplisiete instruksie, tesame met die derdepersoon-enkelvoudeienskap.
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Ganchi, Fatima. "An analysis of requests produced by second language speakers of English and how these requests are received by English first language speakers." Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/71918.
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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During the course of my work as Communications lecturer at a multicultural university, I have noticed differences in the manners in which Sesotho-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking students make the same requests to me while speaking English. There exists a possibility that these second language (L2) requests could be deemed inappropriate and/or unintelligible by first language (L1) speakers of English. It is possible that miscommunication may result when requests by one culture group is judged as inappropriate and/or unintelligible by another. The aims of my study were to investigate (i) whether there are indeed differences in the manners in which L1 Sesotho and L1 Afrikaans speakers make requests when speaking English and (ii) how the differences in the (a) politeness, (b) formalness, (c) appropriateness, (d) grammaticality and (e) intelligibility of these requests made by the above-mentioned two groups manifest, as judged by L1 speakers of English. In terms of research methodology, I elicited requests in English from two culturally and linguistically different groups of students (17 L1 Afrikaans and 17 L1 Sesotho) by means of a written scenario completion task. One scenario involved a high imposition situation and the other a low imposition. The requests made by the two groups were then analysed using the Cross Cultural Speech Act Realisation Project (CCSARP) framework of Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989a). Each request was also judged by eight L1 English speakers. Data analysis showed that there are indeed differences in the way in which Afrikaans- and Sesotho-speaking people put forth English requests. In terms of CCSARP categories, the Sesotho speakers used more alerters and more politeness markers than the Afrikaans speakers did. Sesotho and Afrikaans speakers also differed in their responses to high and low imposition situations – for example, Sesotho speakers used more grounders in the low imposition request than in the high imposition request, whereas Afrikaans speakers’ requests showed the reverse pattern. In terms of ratings received by L1 speakers, although Sesotho speakers’ requests were judged as more polite, Afrikaans speakers’ requests were judged as more appropriate and grammatically correct. The findings have implications for curriculum design: By being mindful of the workings of intercultural verbal and nonverbal communication and by acknowledging that people from different cultural backgrounds bring to a conversation certain culturally inherited factors which influence them and the interlocutors, I can use the results of this study to better inform the different L1 groups in my classes how to change their requesting behaviour so as to make requests that are judged by L1 English speakers as being appropriate.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tydens my werk as Kommunikasie-dosent aan ‘n multikulturele universiteit het ek verskille opgelet in die manier waarop Sesotho-sprekende en Afrikaanssprekende studente dieselfde versoeke aan my rig wanneer hulle Engels praat. Die moontlikheid bestaan dat hierdie tweedetaal- (T2) versoeke as ontoepaslik en/of onverstaanbaar beskou kan word deur eerstetaal- (T1) sprekers van Engels. Dit is moontlik dat miskommunikasie kan ontstaan wanneer versoeke deur een kultuurgroep as ontoepaslik en/of onverstaanbaar beoordeel word deur ‘n ander kultuurgroep. Die doelstellings van my studie was om die volgende te ondersoek: (i) of daar inderdaad verskille bestaan in die manier waarop T1 Sesotho- en T1 Afrikaanssprekendes versoeke in Engels rig en (ii) hoe verskille in die (a) hoflikheid, (b) formeelheid, (c) toepaslikheid, (d) grammatikaliteit en (e) verstaanbaarheid van hierdie versoeke deur bogenoemde twee groepe manifesteer, soos beoordeel deur T1-sprekers van Engels. In terme van navorsingsmetodologie het ek versoeke in Engels van twee kultureel en talig verskillende groepe studente (17 T1 Afrikaans en 17 T1 Sesotho) ontlok deur gebruik te maak van ‘n geskrewe scenario-voltooiingstaak. Een scenario het ‘n versoek met ‘n hoë afdwingingsvlak (imposition) behels en die ander met ‘n lae afdwingingsvlak. Die versoeke gerig deur die twee groepe is toe geanaliseer deur gebruik te maak van die sogenaamde Cross Cultural Speech Act Realisation Project (CCSARP)-raamwerk van Blum-Kulka, House en Kasper (1989a). Elke versoek is ook deur agt T1-sprekers van Engels beoordeel. Data-analise het aangedui dat daar wel verskille is in die manier waarop Afrikaans- en Sesotho-sprekendes versoeke in Engels rig. In terme van CCSARP-kategorieë het die Sesotho-sprekendes meer attentmakers (alerters) en meer hoflikheidsmerkers as die Afrikaanssprekendes gebruik. Sesotho- en Afrikaanssprekendes het ook verskil in hul reaksie op hoë en lae imposisie-situasies – Sesotho-sprekendes het meer redeverskaffers (grounders) in die lae afdwingingsversoek as in die hoë afdwingingsversoek gebruik terwyl Afrikaanssprekendes die teenoorgestelde gedoen het. Alhoewel die Sesotho-sprekendes se versoeke as meer hoflik beskou is deur die T1-sprekende beoordelaars, is Afrikaanssprekendes se versoeke as meer toepaslik en grammatikaal korrek beskou. Die bevindinge het implikasies vir kurrikulum-ontwerp: Deur bewus te bly van die aard van interkulturele verbale en nie-verbale kommunikasie en deur te erken dat persone van verskillende kulturele agtergronde sekere kultuur-inherente faktore na ‘n gesprek toe bring wat hulle en hulle gespreksgenote beïnvloed, kan ek die resultate van hierdie studie gebruik om die verskillende T1-groepe in my klasse beter in te lig hoe om hul versoekgedrag aan te pas om versoeke te kan rig wat as toepaslik beskou word deur T1-sprekers van Engels.
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Menkabu, Ahlam. "Stance and engagement in postgraduate writing : a comparative study of English NS and Arab EFL student writers in Linguistics and Literature." Thesis, University of Essex, 2017. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/19115/.
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This study investigated the ways English native and Arab EFL student writers in a UK university from two disciplines (i.e. Linguistics and Literature) use language in their master’s dissertations to interact with readers. How they present themselves and convey judgements and opinions, and how they connect with readers and establish rapport were examined by the employment of Hyland’s (2005b) model of stance and engagement, which encompasses nine categories: hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mentions, reader references, directives, asides, questions, and references to shared knowledge. The primary data used consisted of a corpus of 39 master’s dissertations and discourse-based semi-structured interviews with 15 of the writers. While a corpus analysis helped to reveal which features were overused and which ones were underused, interviews were conducted to discover more about how and why the writer participants used such features in their academic writing. The findings suggest that while it is true that both disciplinary community and cultural background are very likely to have an impact on the way writers position themselves and their readers, there are other factors related to the students’ conceptions of academic writing in general and their audience in particular which appear to have a more vital role in the writers’ use of stance and engagement markers. These include personality differences, stylistic preferences, previous education, and supervisors’ comments and advice. The thesis closes by exploring the implications of this study for both EAP writing pedagogy and dissertation supervision and proposing some new directions for future research.
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Coopmans, Peter. "Language types, continua or parameters? Taaltypen, continua of parameters? : (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) /." Utrecht : Drukkerij Elinkwijk BV, 1985. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/54192013.html.
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Fellin, Luciana. "Language ideologies, language socialization and language revival in an Italian alpine community." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279819.
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This study is set within a national context which pointed to "a drastic decay of dialects" on the Italian peninsula, and a broader European one which indicated a resurgence of minority languages on the continent. It investigates the ideologies and practices of child language socialization of speakers belonging to a small multilingual community in the Italian Alps to determine if the community is experiencing a dialect revival, and if so, what forms such a process is taking. My analysis focuses on (1) community members' explicit theories on the community codes' values, functions, and roles in child language socialization; (2) caretaker-child interactions in Italian-oriented homes and in the schools. After years of convergence towards Italian, the community is witnessing a resurgence of its local vernacular Nones. The revival phenomenon is sustained by overt and covert communicative practices. The former include explicit support of the dialect as marker of a rediscovered cultural heritage and local identity, and the promotion of Italian-Nones bilingualism as a cognitive advantage. The latter include practices whereby in Italian contexts speakers switch to the dialect to index authority, community-mandated rights and responsibilities, and both positive and negative affect. Also, the community has witnessed the rise of "prestigious practices" which elevate the status of Nones from dialect to language. These consist in speakers' use of the dialect in more prestigious domains and for higher order functions that in a recent past were strictly reserved to Italian. Finally, the sum of overt and covert practices contribute to a resurgence of the dialect supporting its vitality and transmission.
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Courtney, Ellen Hazlehurst. "Child acquisition of Quechua morphosyntax." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288857.
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The goal of this study is to inform child language acquisition theory by accomplishing a description of morphosyntactic development in Quechua speakers between the approximate ages of two and four years. The data analysis yields a description of language acquisition in two major areas: (1) overall development of syntax and of morphology directly relevant to the syntax; (2) development of verb morphology. No attempt is made to support any particular theory of language development. Instead, a number of theoretical perspectives are considered. Fieldwork was carried out in the community of Chalhuanca in the department of Arequipa, Peru, in 1996. The study relies largely on the naturalistic production of six Chalhuancan children between the ages of 2;0 years and 3;9 years. Five children were recorded for five to six hours over a period of four months; the sixth child was recorded for eleven hours over a period of six months. The child corpora, as well as child-directed adult speech, were transcribed by native speakers of Quechua. Also presented is the outcome of an elicitation procedure undertaken with few subjects. The description of overall syntactic development focuses on four topics: (1) the representation of arguments, both analytic and morphological; (2) case- and object-marking; (3) reduplication, ellipsis, and evidential focus; and (4) coordination and subordination. The analysis of the development of verb morphology considers the role of several factors in the acquisition of the verb suffixes: meaning, homophony, phonological aspects, frequency of occurrence, and processing constraints. This description also sheds light on the acquisition of causatives, especially change-of-state verbs, with data presented from naturalistic corpora and the experimental procedure. The analysis favors Strong Continuity: functional projections are available to children before they acquire full productivity of the corresponding morphology. Meaning is foremost in the development of verb morphology, with children seeking unique form-function correspondences. As children begin producing complex verbs, they tend initially to attach a small set of suffixes and their combinations to a wide variety of roots. Finally, the data suggest that children may initially assume that change-of-state verbs are basically transitive.
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Kato, Akiko. "Interlanguage variation in pitch and forms of English negatives: The case of Japanese speakers of English." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289766.
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This study investigates systematic L2 variation in the level of prosody through analysis on six Japanese advanced ESL speakers' variable use of pitch prominence/non-prominence on and the contraction forms of not negatives (e.g., it isn't, it's not, it is not). Variable use of pitch and the forms of negatives was analyzed in terms of sociolinguistic strategies that fluent English L2 speakers should use to differentiate emphasis on negatives according to social contexts. The study examined the effects of 16 linguistic and sociolinguistic variables/factors on the L2 negative variation, and compared the results with equivalent data shown by L1 American-English speakers (Deckert & Yaeger-Dror, 1999; Yaeger-Dror, 1985, 1996, 1997), and by L1 Japanese speakers (Takano, 2001). Each ESL participant had interview conversations with four L1 American-English speakers who were varied by sex and status. The participants also read aloud passages from two American novels. These speech samples (approximately 27-hour speech) were audio-taped and transcribed to extract not negative tokens. In all, 1,329 negative tokens were used for analysis. Pitch was analyzed using a speech analysis computer program, and coded tokens were processed by the VARBRUL program for the variable rule analysis. The results showed that the L2 negative variation was constrained by immediate linguistic environments but not by sociolinguistic variables except for the reading versus conversation variable. This finding exhibited a sharp contrast with the variation patterns of both L1 English and L1 Japanese, where social contexts such as the interactive uses (pragmatic meanings) of negatives, interactional situations, and social identities of speakers and interlocutors clearly constrain the negative variation. The results also suggested that the L2 speakers' negative variation patterns were influenced by language developmental processes rather than by language or cultural transfer. The study concludes that it is important to have L2 English speakers notice sociolinguistic strategies in negative use through instruction, since development of competence in this feature will not otherwise be acquired.
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Saunders, Benjamin. "Young adults' discursive constructions of chronic illness experience : accounts of Type 1 Diabetes and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2011. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/22313/.
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This thesis investigates the experiences of young adults living with either Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) or Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), two chronic conditions which are prevalent among this age-group. This is set against the long tradition of research into chronic illness experience; however, young adults are commonly underrepresented in this area, in spite of the contention that the new-found pressures and responsibilities associated with this life-stage may be especially difficult to manage alongside a chronic condition (Arber and Ginn, 1998). Semi-structured interviews were carried out with respondents aged 18-29 (n = 30). Transcribed interviews were subject to open-coding using qualitative software, which led to the systematic identification of predominant themes for analysis. Data was considered primarily as 'accounts' (Radley and Billig, 1996), with a focus on the moral-underpinnings of the respondents‟ talk. These accounts were examined from a rhetorical discourse analysis perspective (Arribas-Ayllon et al., 2011), which entailed micro-investigation of the discursive devices drawn upon by the respondents in representing their experiences as part of situated identity-performances (Riessman, 1990). Across the predominant themes identified (self, other and control), some similar trends were identified, but also considerable variation, most significantly across the two conditions. In relation to self, accounts of T1DM showed respondents constructing greater levels of agency regarding the integration or distancing of illness vis-à-vis selfhood, whereas in accounts of IBD 'loss of self' (Charmaz, 1983) was more prominent. In accounts of other-orientation, those with IBD more commonly constructed 'felt stigma' and 'enacted stigma' (Scambler and Hopkins, 1986) than T1DM-respondents, which had implications for reported disclosure practices vis-à-vis the two conditions. Within the theme of control, T1DM-respondents generally constructed greater condition control and lifestyle control than IBD-respondents. Variation was also observed in reported management-strategies, which reflected the respondents‟ differing conceptions of their 'healthy bodies' (Balfe, 2009) – those with T1DM focused on future health concerns, their 'longer-term' healthy body, whereas IBD-respondents' concerns centred primarily on more immediate health consequences, their 'short-term' healthy body. These differing conceptions of the 'healthy body' influenced how respondents accounted for their 'risky' social drinking practices, with IBD-respondents producing 'justifications', and those with T1DM primarily constructing 'excuses' (Scott and Lyman, 1968). In spite of this variation, a consistent thread running throughout the data was the constitution of the morally-driven self. A range of different moral figures were constructed by the respondents, allowing them to perform positive identities throughout. This eased the tension borne out of the conflict between the priorities, desires and demands of young adulthood and the complex considerations surrounding chronic illness.
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Pan, Junlin 1957. "Occurrence/nonoccurrence, distribution, and interpretation of zero anaphora in Chinese conversational discourse." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282125.
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This study investigates the occurrence/nonoccurrence, distribution, and interpretation of zero anaphora (ZA) in Chinese conversational discourse. It explores three major questions: (1) what factors account for the occurrence of ZA, and the nonoccurrence of ZA in potential positions; (2) whether there are differences in occurrence and nonoccurrence by genre and style; and (3) what linguistic research approaches are most appropriate for the analysis of ZA in Chinese. The database consists of complete dialogues from the two-hour Chinese film, Li, Shuang-shuang, and an uninterrupted one-hour recording of spontaneous conversations among three adult Chinese speakers. The analysis employs a taxonomy adapted from Halliday and Hasan (1976), and Givon's (1989) discourse measures, and involves investigation of linguistic (syntactic and semantic) and extralinguistic (social and cultural) variables, and linear versus hierarchical discourse structure. Difference levels between the scripted and spontaneous conversations were assessed using independent t-tests and chi-square tests. The study revealed the following major findings. First, knowledge sources, linguistic and/or extralinguistic, that were shared by the conversational participants formed the basis for the occurrence of ZA; in the absence of adequate shared knowledge, ZA could potentially be used to attract attention by inviting clarification questions from addressees. Second, overt referents in positions of potential ZA had the function of enhancing referent saliency by specific means including rhetorical, interactional, and stylistic devices. Third, there were great differences between conversational data from this study and narrative discourse from prior research in the proportion of syntactically shifted ZA and in referential distance. Fourth, referent continuity was not subject to linear factors in hierarchical discourse structure. There was a statistically significant difference between the planned and unplanned conversations in: (1) clause type and discourse context in terms of event boundary, role, and person; and (2) referential distance, potential interference, and referential persistence. The overall results of the study revealed the highly variable nature of the ZA phenomenon in Chinese, which suggests the need for multiple perspectives in the analysis of ZA in typologically similar languages, and questions the adequacy of the Government and Binding Theory account of Empty Categories as a universal explanation for ZA.
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Rankinen, Wil A. "The Sociophonetic and Acoustic Vowel Dynamics of Michigan's Upper Peninsula English." Thesis, Indiana University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3635760.
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The present sociophonetic study examines the English variety in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP) based upon a 130-speaker sample from Marquette County. The linguistic variables of interest include seven monophthongs and four diphthongs: 1) front lax, 2) low back, and 3) high back monophthongs and 4) short and 5) long diphthongs. The sample is stratified by the predictor variables of heritage-location, bilingualism, age, sex and class. The aim of the thesis is two fold: 1) to determine the extent of potential substrate effects on a 71-speaker older-aged bilingual and monolingual subset of these UP English speakers focusing on the predictor variables of heritage-location and bilingualism, and 2) to determine the extent of potential exogenous influences on an 85-speaker subset of UP English monolingual speakers by focusing on the predictor variables of heritage-location, age, sex and class. All data were extracted from a reading passage task collected during a sociolinguistic interview and measured instrumentally. The findings of this apparent-time data reveal the presence of lingering effects from substrate sources and developing effects from exogenous sources based upon American and Canadian models of diffusion. The linguistic changes-in-progress from above, led by middle-class females, are taking shape in the speech of UP residents of whom are propagating linguistic phenomena typically associated with varieties of Canadian English (i.e., low-back merger, Canadian shift, and Canadian raising); however, the findings also report resistance of such norms by working-class females. Finally, the data also reveal substrate effects demonstrating cases of dialect leveling and maintenance. As a result, the speech spoken in Michigan's Upper Peninsula can presently be described as a unique variety of English comprised of lingering substrate effects as well as exogenous effects modeled from both American and Canadian English linguistic norms.
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Alghannam, Manal Saleh Mohammad. "Teacher rating of class essays written by students of English as a Second Language : a qualitative study of criteria and process." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/22871/.
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This study is concerned with a neglected aspect of the study of L2 English writing: the processes which teachers engage in when rating essays written by their own students for class practice, not exams, with no imposed rating/assessment scheme. It draws on writing assessment process research literature, although, apart from Huot (1993) and Wolfe et al. (1998), most work has been done on scoring writing in exam conditions using a set scoring rubric, where all raters rate the same essays. Eight research questions were answered from data gathered from six teachers, with a wide range of relevant training, but all teaching university pre-sessional or equivalent classes. Instruments used were general interviews, think aloud reports while rating their own students' essays, and follow up immediate retrospective interviews. Extensive qualitative coding was undertaken using NVivo. It was found that the teachers did not vary much in the core features that they claimed to recognise in general as typical of ‘good writing’, but varied more in what criteria they highlighted in practice when rating essays, though all used a form of analytic rating. Two thirds of the separate criteria coded were used by all the teachers but there were differences in preference for higher versus lower level criteria. Teachers also differed a great deal in the scales they used to sum up their evaluations, ranging from IELTS scores to just evaluative adjectives, and most claimed to use personal criteria, with concern for the consequential pedagogical value of their rating for the students more than achieving a test-like reliable score. A wide range of information sources was used to support and justify the rating decisions made, beyond the essay text, including background information about the writer and classmates, and teacher prior instruction. Teacher comments also evidenced concern with issues arguably not central to rating itself but rather exploring implications for the teacher and writer. Similar to Cumming et al. (2002), three broad stages of the rating process were identified: reading and exploiting information such as the writer’s name and the task prompt as well as perhaps skimming the text; reading and rereading parts of the essay, associated with interpretation and judgment; achievement of a summary judgment. In detail, however, each teacher had their own individual style of reading and of choice and use of criteria.
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Collinson, Craig. "Lexism : beyond the social model of dyslexia." Thesis, Edge Hill University, 2017. http://repository.edgehill.ac.uk/9888/.
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In this thesis a new concept called ‘Lexism’ (the Othering and discrimination of dyslexics) is proposed, outlined and defended. The dyslexia debate is currently in a state of deadlock. The origin of this stalemate is not an empirical problem but a conceptual one. The conceptual problems with dyslexia, and the existence of dyslexics, are both recognised, but the contradictions between them remain unresolved. For this reason a philosophical approach (influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Gilbert Ryle) has been adopted. First, the conceptual foundations are set out to enable the recognition of Lexism as a concept, and to reject the concept of dyslexia whilst recognising the existence of dyslexics. Second, Lexism as a concept, is evaluated, compared and contrasted with what some might consider to be the strongest existing account of dyslexics’ social experiences, that of Riddick’s (2001) social model of dyslexia. Third, the key aspects and features of Lexism as a new concept are set out. The original contribution to knowledge is that Lexism enables us to see that dyslexics are defined by Lexism not dyslexia. Lexism, it is argued, in a certain sense, is comparable to, though not the same as, racism, sexism and homophobia. This enables us break the current deadlock and move away from sterile debates over dyslexia’s existence, to how dyslexics are Othered by a literate society. Lexism raises new and significant implications for the dyslexia debate, but also government policy, educational practice, assessments and reasonable adjustments for dyslexics.
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Zilber-Izhar, Katia. "Acoustic Characteristics of Phonological Development in a Juvenile African Grey Parrot (Psittacus Erithacus) Who Is Learning Referential Speech." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:24078346.
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Although young children can sometimes produce words in a near perfect form at a very early stage, several diary studies revealed that these correct first productions are usually followed by less faithful renditions, only to be returned later to relative accuracy. In order to investigate if this nonlinear pattern of children vocal production called “phonological regression” might also be shared with birds, we examined here the trajectory of vocal development of a young African Grey parrot (Athena) who is learning referential English. Parrots are excellent model systems for the study of speech acquisition as they possess advanced cognitive skills and are expert imitators of the human voice. By tracking Athena’s acquisition of vowel-like sounds over the course of fifteen months using audio recordings and acoustic software programs, we analyzed her vocal development over time, from her first squeaks to her more distinct pronunciations, and compared her progress with human children and other parrots in the lab. Not one, but multiple U-shaped curves characterized her acquisition of isolated labels. Our results indicate that, like human children, parrots can experience the phenomenon of phonological regression.
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Meier, Thomas [Verfasser], and Carlos Ulises [Akademischer Betreuer] Moulines. "Theory change and structural realism : a general discussion and an application to linguistics / Thomas Meier. Betreuer: Carlos Ulises Moulines." München : Universitätsbibliothek der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 2015. http://d-nb.info/1067752501/34.
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Shwayder, Kobey. "The best binary split algorithm a deterministic method for dividing vowel inventories into contrastive distinctive features /." Waltham, Mass. : Brandeis University, 2009. http://dcoll.brandeis.edu/handle/10192/23254.
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Juzek, Thomas Stephan. "Acceptability judgement tasks and grammatical theory." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b276ec98-5f65-468b-b481-f3d9356d86a2.
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This thesis considers various questions about acceptability judgement tasks (AJTs). In Chapter 1, we compare the prevalent informal method of syntactic enquiry, researcher introspection, to formal judgement tasks. We randomly sample 200 sentences from Linguistic Inquiry and then compare the original author judgements to online AJT ratings. Sprouse et al., 2013, provided a similar comparison, but they limited their analysis to the comparison of sentence pairs and to extreme cases. We think a comparison at large, i.e. involving all items, is more sensible. We find only a moderate match between informal author judgements and formal online ratings and argue that the formal judgements are more reliable than the informal judgements. Further, the fact that many syntactic theories rely on questionable informal data calls the adequacy of those theories into question. In Chapter 2, we test whether ratings for constructions from spoken language and constructions from written language differ if presented as speech vs as text and if presented informally vs formally. We analyse the results with an LME model and find that neither mode of presentation nor formality are significant factors. Our results suggest that a speaker's grammatical intuition is fairly robust. In Chapter 3, we quantitatively compare regular AJT data to their Z-scores and ranked data. For our analysis, we test resampled data for significant differences in statistical power. We find that Z-scores and ranked data are more powerful than raw data across most common measurement methods. Chapter 4 examines issues surrounding a common similarity test, the TOST. It has long been unclear how to set its controlling parameter d. Based on data simulations, we outline a way to objectively set d. Further results suggest that our guidelines hold for any kind of data. The thesis concludes with an appendix on non-cooperative participants in AJTs.
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Legge, Nils. "A Survey of The Linguistic Landscape of Stockholm University." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Engelska institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-126043.
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There is a great prevalence of English in Swedish society, education as well as the research community. Recently, Stockholm University has revised its language policy in order to promote parallel use of Swedish and English. With this background, the current thesis aims to survey the linguistic landscape of Stockholm University in order to find out if there are any patterns that can be observed within it. Some inspiration was drawn from previous research into linguistic landscapes. The main discussion points of the current thesis are the linguistic landscape of Stockholm University, the relation between top-down and bottom-up signs as well as the relation between language use and language policy in light of the data gathered. In order to analyse and discuss this, data was gathered on two separate occasions in the form of signs placed into different categories. The first set of data was gathered in February and March of 2013 and the second set of data was gathered in October of 2015. There are visible patterns in the data, especially when making comparisons over time. Generally, Swedish is the most prevalent language in the linguistic landscape of Stockholm University, the lowest instance being just over 70%, but this prevalence shows a small decrease along with an increase in English and mixed language items going from 2013 to 2015. Also, mixed and English items are more common in bottom-up signs than they are in top-down signs. These English and mixed signs also increase or decrease locally from 2013 to 2015. There was also a local anomaly in that there was one area with a majority of bottom-up signs when the other areas had a majority of top-down signs. Given that this survey was explorative in its nature, it is difficult to draw many firm conclusions based upon the discussion points. However, it appears that there is a difference between language practices and the language policy documents at Stockholm University. The communications policy appears more close to reality however. Swedish also appears to be the language associated with power at said university.
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Chryssafidou, Evangelia. "Argument diagramming and planning cognition in argumentative writing." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2014. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/5048/.
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Argument diagramming can scaffold the process of argumentation but only a few studies have investigated its impact on the quality of argumentative writing. This research contributed to this direction with two studies. An exploratory study investigated the impact of argument diagramming, applied as a paper-based or a computer-based method, on the quality of argumentative text. The computer method increased the refutations and overall quality of essays. The study highlights the significance of writers’ argumentative ability for interpreting improvement. A qualitative study looked into the impact of argument diagramming on the process of writing cognition through analysis of online process data, diagrams and essays of sixteen undergraduate students. Writers with myside bias schema used the method to increase counterarguments and refutations. Writers at lower level of pseudo-integration adopted more advanced strategies like weighing, and writers at middle level of pseudo-integration formed positions with qualifications. Needs at higher levels of argumentative ability are not met. The support of writing planning processes through argument diagramming affects mainly the semantic aspects of the text while the support of linearization processes affects mainly the rhetorical aspects. The analysis of interviews revealed that interacting with argument diagramming can improve awareness of argumentation schema, hence, a writer can progress from unaware, to aware-and-lost and aware-but-oriented. Improvement is signified as being sensitised to limitations, gaining knowledge of writing processes and the ability to self-regulate.
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Newby-Rose, Heidi. "Fanakalo as a trade language in Kwazulu-Natal." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/18083.
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ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the use of the pidgin Fanakalo as a trade language in rural
KwaZulu-Natal: its birth under certain historical circumstances; its spread; its
apparent growth, post-1990, as new immigrants continue to enter the country and
acquire and use Fanakalo out of expediency; and the reasons why Fanakalo
continues to thrive in certain contexts. It focuses specifically on similarities between
the relations between Gujarati traders and their customers in the 19th century and
the relations that exist between Gujarati and Pakistani traders and their Zuluspeaking
customers today. Data was collected primarily through semi-structured
interviews with nine Gujarati traders – two born in South Africa and the others
recent immigrants – five Pakistani traders and ten Zulu speakers, of which two were
employees of traders while the others were customers. The results of the data
analysis suggest the principles of expediency and non-intimacy may provide a space
where Fanakalo can continue to flourish. Pidgins are a neglected element in the
study of intercultural communication and the study endeavours to provide pointers
for further research in this field.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die gebruik van die kontaktaal Fanakalo as ‘n handelstaal in nie-stedelike KwaZulu-Natal: die ontstaan daarvan onder sekere historiese omstandighede; die verspreiding daarvan; die waarskynlike groei daarvan, na 1990 met die arrivering van nuwe immigrante wat Fanakalo aanleer en gebruik uit gerief; en die redes waarom Fanakalo voortbestaan en floreer in sekere kontekste. Die spesifieke fokus is die soortgelyke verhoudinge tussen Gujarati-handelaars en hulle klante in die negentiende eeu, en tussen Gujarati- en Pakistani-handelaars en hulle Zoeloesprekende klante vandag. Inligting is hoofsaaklik deur semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude ingewin met nege Gujarati-handelaars – twee in Suid-Afrika gebore en die ander onlangse immigrante – vyf Pakistani-handelaars en tien Zoeloesprekendes, waarvan twee werknemers van handelaars en agt klante was. ‘n Analise van die gegewens dui daarop dat die beginsels van gerief of doelmatigheid, en ongemeensaamheid ‘n ruimte mag skep waarin Fanakalo sal voortbestaan. Die studie van kontaktale behoort meer aandag te geniet in die veld van interkulturele kommunikasie, en hierdie tesis poog om ‘n bydrae daartoe te lewer.
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Nkomo, Dion. "Towards a theoretical model for LSP lexicography in Ndebele with special reference to a dictionary of linguistic and literary terms." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1954.
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Thesis (MPhil (Afrikaans and Dutch))—Stellenbosch University, 2008.This thesis discusses pertinent issues which should be taken into account in the production of LSP dictionaries in Ndebele. Special reference is made to a prospective Ndebele Linguistic and Literary Terms Dictionary, henceforth the NLLTD. The issues discussed include lexicographic planning, data collection, data processing, lemma selection, the provision of data categories and the utilisation of dictionary structures. The thesis demonstrates and emphasises the need for theoretical guidance in the execution of all lexicographic tasks. Two main theories are used to formulate a theoretical framework for this study. A general theory of lexicography developed by Herbert Ernst Wiegand is used to affirm the status of lexicography as separate from linguistics and other fields from which it draws theoretical and methodological insights. Lexicography is, according to Wiegand (1984), a scientific field concerned with the production of reference works on language. As a typical reference product, a dictionary is regarded as a utility tool with a genuine purpose. These two postulates of the general theory of lexicography enable lexicographers to carry out their tasks in a systematic and efficient way. The postulates are emphasised in the theory of lexicographic functions, which was developed by Danish lexicographers of the Aarhus School of Business, mainly under the direction of Henning Bergenholtz and Sven Tarp. Because of this, the theories are employed in a complementary way. Since lexicography is regarded by these theories as a separate discipline, it follows that the production of user-friendly dictionaries may not be guided exclusively by linguistic theories or other theories developed in disciplines with which lexicography comes into contact. It is important to reiterate this regarding terminological theories and special subject field theories in the case of LSP lexicography. The theory of lexicographic functions requires lexicographers to identify the target users of their dictionaries, and the situations in which the users may experience problems that may be addressed by means of lexicographic data. It determines dictionary typological choices, lemma selection policies, the provision of lexicographic data for individual lemmata, and the planning and utilisation of dictionary structures in a user-friendly way. The main motivation for the complementary use of the general theory of lexicography and the theory of lexicographic functions in this thesis was to ensure that efficiency is achieved on the part of the lexicographer carrying out his/her various lexicographic tasks and also on the part of the user consulting the final product. Although this is demonstrated in the thesis using the prospective NLLTD, the criticism of some published dictionaries indicates that their quality could have been improved if their production occurred under such a strong theoretical guidance. An attempt is also made to show that similar theoretical applications are definitely required in the production of LSP dictionaries other than the NLLTD in Ndebele and other languages.
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Gerdin, Göran. "The use of the general nouns people and thing by L2 learners of English : A corpus-based study." Thesis, Växjö University, School of Humanities, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:vxu:diva-620.
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With the advent of corpora documenting learner English, a new and interesting field of research has become available. Learner corpora provide a new type of data which can inform thinking both in second language acquisition research and in foreign language teaching research. Analyses of learner corpora normally report on features which are typically ‘overused’ and ‘underused’, when contrasted to comparable native speaker corpora, in addition to those which are ‘misused’ by the learners. Ringbom (1998) conducted a study in which he identified one common aspect of non-native speaker corpora: the high frequency of general nouns, such as people and thing.
The aim of this paper was to test Ringbom’s findings and attempt to identify how English as a second language learners’ usage of these particular nouns in written production differ from that of native speakers by conducting a corpus comparison of comparable learner and native speaker corpora. The results of this study clearly support Ringbom’s findings; additionally, it was found that the learners’ written production does not appear vaguer and ‘non-native like’ merely because they overuse the general nouns people and thing, but it also seems as if the learners use these nouns in a more restricted range of meanings whereas the natives’ usage is more diversified. Moreover, this study has identified some of the issues that teachers of English as a second language should be aware of when helping their students to avoid using the general nouns people and thing in a non-native like manner.
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Nell, Karin. "Investigating the effect of enhanced input on the use of English passive in Afrikaans-speaking adolescent learners of English as L2." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/17817.
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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: When English as a second language (L2) is learnt via classroom instruction, the extent to which learners become proficient depends, in part, on the education system in place and, more specifically, on the methods of instruction. This study set out to compare the efficacy of two focus-on-form methods of L2 instruction, namely enhanced input and traditional teacher-centred instruction, in teaching one typically problematic aspect of English grammar for L2 learners, namely the use of the passive form. The participants comprised two groups of grade 11 Afrikaans-speaking learners in a secondary, Afrikaans-English parallel medium school in the southern region of Gauteng, South Africa. One day before the onset of instruction on the English passive, all potential participants completed a pre-test to assess their existing knowledge of the English passive, in order to allow the members of one group to be paired with the members of the other group. Eight pairs could be found; a total of 16 learners thus participated in the study. Both groups then received 14 lessons (7 hours in total) on the English passive: The Enhanced group received (written) input enhancement in groups, whereas the Traditional group as a whole did copying exercises and received explanations on the formation of the passive structure. Participants wrote a post-test immediately after the end of the instruction period and a delayed post-test nine weeks later. The results of the immediate and delayed post-tests did not indicate a significant difference between the two groups; neither did the learners’ scores improve significantly from the pre-test to the post-tests. Reasons for this lack of improvement are suggested. Classroom observation indicated that learners in the Enhanced group enthusiastically participated in the activities, whereas the Traditional group appeared to be bored after a few lessons. The study also set out to ascertain whether different methods of assessment on the English passive lead to different test marks. It seemed that assessment tasks requiring little writing (such as multiple choice questions) result in higher marks than tasks requiring learners to formulate answers on their own. Although this was a small-scale study, the results suggest that under better circumstances (e.g., more time for instruction and a larger group of participants) it might be useful to conduct similar types of studies to test the effects of enhanced input and/or assessment methods when South African schools change from Outcomes Based Education to the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement system in 2012.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wanneer Engels as tweede taal (T2) deur middel van die klaskameronderrig aangeleer word, hang die vaardigheid wat die leerder verwerf gedeeltelik af van die opvoedkundige sisteem waarbinne T2- onderrig geskied en, meer spesifiek, van die metodes van onderrig wat gebruik word. Die doel van hierdie studie was om die effektiwiteit van twee fokus-op-vorm-metodes van T2-onderrig met mekaar te vergelyk, naamlik verrykte toevoer en tradisionele onderwysergesentreerde onderrig, in die onderrig van een tipies problematiese aspek van die Engelse grammatika, naamlik die gebruik van die passiefvorm. Die deelnemers het bestaan uit twee groepe Afrikaanssprekende graad 11- leerders in ‘n sekondêre, Afrikaans-Engels parallel-medium skool in Suid-Gauteng. Alle deelnemers het een dag voor die aanvang van die onderrig oor Engelse passiefvorme ‘n voortoets afgelê sodat hul bestaande kennis aangaande sulke vorme gemeet kon word. Op grond van hul toetsresultate is die lede van die een groep daarna met die lede van die ander groepe afgepaar. Agt pare is geïdentifiseer; in totaal was daar dus 16 deelnemers. Beide groepe het 14 klasse (7 ure in totaal) se onderrig oor die Engelse passiefkonstruksie ontvang: Die Verrykte groep het geskrewe toevoer in groepsverband ontvang, terwyl die Tradisionele groep verduidelikings oor die vorming van die passief asook afskryf-oefeninge ontvang het. Deelnemers het onmiddellik ná die 14 klasse ‘n na-toets geskryf en nege weke ná instruksie ‘n uitgestelde na-toets. Die resultate van die onmiddellike en uitgestelde na-toets het nie beduidende verskille tussen die groepe aangedui nie. Die leerders se uitslae het ook nie beduidende verskille tussen die onmiddellike- en uitgestelde na-toets getoon nie. Redes vir die gebrek aan meetbare vordering word aangevoer. Klaskamer-observasie het egter getoon dat leerders wat die verrykte toevoer ontvang het, meer entoesiasties aan klaskameraktiwiteite deelgeneem het teenoor die groep wat tradisioneel onderrig is en verveeld voorgekom het. Die studie het ook gepoog om te bepaal of verskillende assesseringsmetodes vir Engelse passiewe lei tot verskillende toetsuitslae. Dit het voorgekom asof assesseringstake wat minimale skryfwerk vereis het (bv. veelvuldige keuse-vrae) tot beter resultate gelei het as die vrae wat van leerders verwag het om self antwoorde te formuleer. Alhoewel die studie van beperkte omvang was, is daar aanduidings dat dit – onder meer geskikte toestande (bv. meer tyd vir instruksie en groter deelnemergroepe) – nuttig sal wees om soortgelyke studies oor verrykte toevoer en/of verskillende assesseringsmetodes uit te voer, veral wanneer Suid-Afrikaanse skole in 2012 van Uitkomsgebaseerde Onderrig na die Assessment Policy Statement-sisteem toe verander.
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Hung, Yueh-Nu. "What is writing and what is Chinese writing: A historical, linguistic, and social literacies perspective." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280352.
Full textAbstract:
Many misconceptions and misunderstandings about what writing is pervade in the field of literacy research and practice, and often school children from almost every household bear the brunt of misguided literacy research and inappropriate literacy practice. This dissertation examined the nature of written language generally and the nature of Chinese writing specifically from historical, linguistic, and social literacies perspectives. The problems with the evolutionary concept of writing development are discussed in depth. Several possible explanations for this evolutionary account of writing are discussed, and these are followed by some alternative ways to understand the historical change of writing. The Chinese writing system is examined in detail in order to present a prime example of a non-alphabetic writing system that has been in use and serving its language users effectively for thousands of years. The unique strategies of character formation and word formation of Chinese writing make it possible to create new vocabulary without increasing the number of signs. The use of phonetic component in semantic-phonetic compound characters builds the connection between oral and written Chinese. Chinese writing is a modern logograph that works, and it is a proof that the alphabet is not necessarily the final stage towards which all written languages must proceed. The choice of a writing system has to be understood from the linguistic and socio-cultural background of the language community. Every written language is ambiguous as it is redundant, and every written language has both phonographic and logographic elements. There is no pure written language. Different writing systems represent different linguistic levels, but all written languages of different writing principles are semiotic system in which symbols are used to communicate meaning. A distinction between word or character recognition and reading whole real text is made, and it is argued that using the experimental results of the former to suggest the process and teaching of the latter which resembles the reading in real life is misleading and very inappropriate. When researchers focus on the word or character level of reading, there are more dissimilarities than similarities among different written languages. However, when the reading of whole text in real life situation is studied, the process of making sense of print is similar across all different writings. At the end of this study, research on Chinese word recognition and reading process is reviewed, and some suggestions for literacy practice are made.