Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Kasua language'

Language maintenance and re-creation are burning issues for many indigenous communities around the world. Child language acquisition and socialization are processes integral to understanding these issues. In order to design realistic language recreation projects, research must first address the many factors impacting the acquisition and maintenance of a language by children. This dissertation shows how different contexts, historical, environmental, interactional, relate to Kaska language socialization and acquisition. Kaska is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in the Yukon Territory (Canada). In particular, it shows how the shift from Kaska being a language of everyday communication to one associated with authority and respect constrains children's Kaska production. To examine this shift, a combination of linguistic and ethnographic methods are used. Linguistic description identifies the grammatical structures of the target language. These are the structures that children need to acquire in order to be able to understand and speak the Kaska language. Additionally, grammatical description of adult utterances reveals that children are being exposed to a full Kaska grammar. This suggests that children may understand more Kaska than they produce. Ethnographic methods identify the social constraints on speaking the Kaska language and help establish links between interaction patterns and ideological constructs. They reveal that language choice is related to a speaker's age and social position. Older interlocutors may choose to speak Kaska while younger interlocutors typically choose English. Children have incorporated this pattern into their playgroups. By producing a Kaska utterance, a child may become leader of the playgroup. He or she uses Kaska to attain this social position. Speaking Kaska is also related to the concept of respect. Narratives on socialization emphasize this by instructing children on how to behave respectfully. While children are exposed to an adult Kaska grammar, they predominantly speak English. This pattern is not just the result of past assimilationist practices; it is part of Kaska language socialization.

Föremålet för denna uppsats är det fornsvenska verket Tungulus, sådant det föreligger i hand­skriften Cod. Holm. D 4a, daterad till 1457. Dess troliga tillkomstplats är Strängnäs. Vid tiden för denna handskrifts tillblivelse var det fornsvenska fyrkasussystemet i upplös­ning. Uppsatsen beskriver i vilken grad och hur kasussystemet används i Tungulus och jämför resul­tatet med vad forskningen säger om systemets status vid 1400-talets mitt. Analysen visar att texten bär tydligt vittnesbörd om bortfallsprocessen – att skrivaren var en del av den språkgemenskap som var på väg att lämna kasusbruket. Dock finns en viss konser­va­tiv tendens; delar av kasussystemet är alltjämt i bruk, om än vacklande, och enstaka exempel kan uppfat­tas som arkaiserande. Det vacklande bruket omfat­tar bl.a. maskulina nomina­tiv­än­delsen -er (eeldher, swarter), bestämda feminina ackusa­tiv­ändelsen -a (siälinä) och adjektivens ackusativ­än­del­se -an (diupan). Utjäm­ningen mellan nominativ och ackusativ är långt fram­skriden men inte undan­tags­lös; här finns flera exempel på former som inte skulle komma att överleva kasusbortfallet.

I den här uppsatsen presenteras en utgåva, d.v.s. en transkription och översättning, av Riksarkivets diplom SDHK-nr 21846. Därtill analyseras skrivarens kasusbruk i texten. Diplomet är utfärdat i Stockholm 1432 och tillhör en tid då kasusböjningen i Mälardals-området snart skulle komma att upphöra. Analysen visar att flera drag av fyrkasussystemet är bevarade i diplomet. Det främsta tecknet på dess försvagning är istället svårigheten att fastställa kasus morfologiskt. Om man borträknar förekomsten av dativ i vissa formuleringar med karaktären av stående uttryck, framstår dessutom ackusativ som det enda kasuset i prepositionsfraser. Detta skulle i sådana fall tyda på att brevets skrivare tagit ett steg mot upplöst kasussystem. Utifrån den begränsade undersökning som görs här, kan detta däremot inte fastställas.Nyckelord: språkhistoria,

Faroese is known to lie grammatically between Icelandic and the Mainland Scandinavian languages and dialects. One example of this is that, on the one hand, Faroese is like Icelandic in having a basically intact morphological four case system. On the other hand case-marking in Faroese is linked to clause function to a greater degree than in Icelandic – but to a lesser degree than in the Mainland Scandinavian standard languages. In Scandinavian Linguistics, it has long been an axiom that in the longer term the aforementioned four case system will be reduced in all varieties of the Scandinavian languages. The present thesis investigates if, and if so how, this expected development manifests itself in Senior High School graduation essays in Faroese from the period 1940–1999. A quantitative study forms the core of the thesis. The choice between the dative and other cases is related to eight syntactic variables whose effect on the choice of case is compared using methods from the variationist framework, among others. The results are partly surprising: the dative did not reduce in frequency from the 1940s to 1990s. There certainly is a tendency, however not a statistically significant one, that the dative is more often replaced by another case in contexts where the norm is to use the dative. On the other hand it also seems to become more common for the dative to be used hypercorrectly. Furthermore, the development is not linear, in that around the middle of the investigation period, the dative is used far more according to norms than otherwise. As expected, clause function is an important variable, but by the end of the period under investigation the placement of the nominal phrase within the clause becomes a surprisingly strong factor. It also becomes more important if the phrase takes the form of a first/second-person pronominal or not. The results are theoretically interpreted in the light of, firstly, Generative Grammar, and secondly Construction Grammar. The modification of certain terms is discussed, such as lexical case in Generative Grammar or usage-based model in Construction Grammar. The conclusion is that the linguistic descriptive models of these theories can only partly cover the tendencies to change that are observed. Other parts of the results are best explained using aspects of sociolinguistics. The conclusion is that case studies on a micro-level are valuable in order to evaluate and develop theories of linguistic variation and change at a macro-level.

Des travaux sur la littérature gabonaise en général et le roman en particulier, suscitent de l’étonnement, des exclamations du fait de leur rareté. Notre travail de thèse a eu pour objet de réajuster certaines approches de l’esthétique romanesque gabonaise. Il a été question de conjurer la notion du retard souvent utilisée pour présenter l’écriture romanesque gabonaise. L’esthétique romanesque gabonaise admet une identité d’isolement. Les systèmes de son élaboration découlent principalement de cet aspect. Dire les modalités de l’élaboration romanesque dans la littérature gabonaise à travers les écritures de Peter Ndemby et de Chantal Magalie Mbazoo Kassa, c’est d’une part, préciser les questions d’influences de la prose gabonaise et configurer le rapport entre le texte et la société. Un procédé qui a permis de révéler une redéfinition de la notion de littérarité au Gabon selon les travaux de Fortunat Obiang Essono. D’autre part, parler des modalités du Roman gabonais, c’est décliner la spécificité littéraire autour de la littérarité mimétique, de la littérarité autistique et de l’exiguïté. De l’histoire littéraire de Lanson en passant par la sociocritique de Claude Duchet et de Pierre Zima, le texte romanesque gabonais a révélé des spécificités qui imposent des nouvelles approches, une nouvelle conception du phénomène littéraire romanesque au Gabon
Gabonese literary works in general and the novel in particular raise amazement because of their being scarce. The goal of our dissertation has been to improve some aesthetical approaches of the Gabonese novel. It has consisted in turning down the common description of the Gabonese novel as being behind. The aesthetics of the Gabonese novel reveals an identity of isolation. The systems of its setting up result mainly from this aspect. Revealing how the novel has been built up in the Gabonese literature through the writings of Peter Ndemby and Chantal Magalie Mbazoo Kassa means, on the one hand, developing issues of influences in the Gabonese prose and shaping the relationship between text and society. This process helps to uncover a better definition of literariness in Gabon according to the works of Fortunat Obiang Essono. On the other hand, in dealing with the modalities of the Gabonese novel, we have had to develop its literary peculiarity through its mimetic and autistic literariness, and its ‘exiguousness’. From the literary story of Lanson through the sociocriticism of Claude Duchet and Pierre Zima, the Gabonese novel has unveiled peculiarities requiring new approaches, a new conception of literariness in the Gabonese novel

Aborder le roman féminin sous l‟angle d‟un énoncé discursif nécessite raisonnablement que l‟on prenne en compte, le contexte social, culturel et linguistique de production, les stratégies d‟énonciation, le champ de signification et les instances réceptrices qui déterminent ce discours. L‟approche sociopragmatique nous autorise pour ce faire à cette lecture plurielle qui, selon nous, mène incontestablement à une lisibilité optimale des textes. D‟abord, en tant que communication, le roman féminin implique des techniques discursives basées sur un environnement culturel et linguistique qui influence incontestablement le fonctionnement des énoncés en ce qui concerne les activités de production. Ensuite, la particularité des discours que nous étudions c‟est leur langage multiforme fait de paroles, d‟actes à valeur énonciatives, et d‟autres types de manifestations communicatives. C‟est un langage allégorique par essence, fait de sous-entendus, de diverses tournures imagées et aussi de silences parlants qui permettent d‟exprimer sans vraiment dire. Cette mise en scène théâtralisée du discours confère à l‟expression romanesque féminine un statut artistique particulier où la langue s‟enrichit d‟" accessoires linguistiques " d‟origine ethnique, régionale ou nationale. Enfin, la réception elle-même est fonction d‟un ensemble d‟éléments nécessaires à sa réalisation à savoir un espace, un temps, une orientation de réception intentionnellement glissée par l‟auteur. Ces éléments mis ensemble correspondent à ce que Kleiber nomme la "mémoire discursive" de l‟énonciateur et les "savoirs partagés" entre l‟émetteur et le récepteur

The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the ‘richness’ of the marking on personal names is an adequate indirect measure of a language’s case usage. The method uses parallel texts to identify, and group by lemma, names in over a thousand languages. These groupings are compared with data for case usage from a typological database for those languages for which it is available. This material is then used to test a method for assessing whether a language uses case or not. Results indicate that the maximum number of word types a proprial lemma is attested with in a text is a useful tool for inferring case usage. However, it only yielded clear results for a subset of the languages tested. It was not particularly useful for inferring the absence of case usage. Estimation of number of case categories was also performed. An entropy measure based on word types that a personal name lemma is attested with and the occurrences of these word types was used. It was found to be a fair indicator of number of case categories for languages, if somewhat inaccurate. Markings on languages which had no case were investigated. They were found to be of several types: pragmatic markers, non-case grammatical markers and case-like markers. Two languages with few markings on personal names and with case were investigated. They were found to not use any case marking on their personal names, but still use such markers on common nouns. This contrasts with a tentative generalization that this study is based on: ‘No languages have case marking exclusively in the domain of [personal names] or [common nouns].’ (Handschuh, 2017).
Denna studies syfte är att utvärdera om ’formrikedomen’ hos personnamnslexem är ett fungerande indirekt sätt att undersöka språks kasussystem. Parallella texter användes för att namnen hitta personnamn och gruppera dem efter lexem i över ett tusen språk. För den delmängd av språken där data om deras kasussystem fanns tillgänglig så jämfördes denna med grupperingarna. Resultaten indikerar att det maximala antalet ordformstyper som ett namnlemma observerades i är ett användbart verktyg för att hitta språk som använder kasus, men bara för en delmängd av testade språk. Det var däremot sämre på att hitta språk som inte använder kasus. En entropiuppskattning som var baserat på antalet ordformstyper ett personnamnslemma hittades med och antalet förekomster av dessa ordformstyper användes. Det var en okej indikator för antalet kasuskategorier, dock med något bristande träffsäkerhet. Personnamnsmarkeringar på språk utan kasus undersöktes. De funna typerna av markeringar var pragmatiska, kasuslika, och grammatiska icke-kasus. Två språk med kasus, men med få personnamns, undersöktes. De använder inte kasusmarkering på personnamn, men på sina substantiv, vilket bröt mot en hypotetisk generalisering som denna studie baserades på: Att inga språk har kasusmarkeringar endast på personnamn eller endast på substantiv.

This thesis concerns languages in the Greater Hindukush, the area in northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, where a total of about 50 languages are spoken. The thesis’ topic is case systems and case alignment systems of nouns in an areal-typological perspective. This is investigated by using a representative sample. The grammatical relations of S, A and P, and the cases marking these, are investigated. The three attested alignment systems are accusative, ergative and split, and are clearly geogra-phically distributed, which indicates that their status is areal-typological. Based on the sample, there seems to be a tendency for the languages in the Greater Hindukush to exhibit split align-ment systems built on tense-aspect. Most languages employ accusative alignment in imperfect-tive, and ergative alignment in perfective tense-aspects. A compa­rison with a worldwide sample (WALS) is only partly possible, as this sample uses more categories than accusative, ergative and split, but the present sample supports the results in those categories which can be compared. A predominant pattern in core case syncretism is observed, with an opposition of the nomi­native singular versus the nominative plural and the oblique in both numbers.
Denna uppsats behandlar språk i Hindukush i norra Afghanistan och Pakistan, där sammanlagt ca 50 språk talas. Ämnet för studien är kasussystem och kasusmarkeringssystem vid substantiv ur ett areal­typologiskt perspektiv, vilket undersöks utifrån grammatikor i ett representativt urval av språken. De grammatiska relationerna mellan S, A och P och de kasus som markerar dessa under­­söks. Belagda kasusmarkeringssystem är ackusativ- och ergativsystem samt kluvet system. Systemen uppvisar en distinkt geografisk distribution, vilket antyder att kasusmarkeringssystemen är ett arealtypologiskt drag. Vidare pekar resultaten på ett kluvet system baserat på klyvning i tempus-aspekt som det dominerande kasusmarkeringssystemet i Hindukush. De flesta av språken använder ett ackusativt kasusmarkeringssystem i imperfektiva, och ett ergativt kasusmarke-ringssystem i perfektiva tempus-aspekt. En jämförelse med ett globalt sampel (WALS) är bara till viss del möjlig, eftersom studien i WALS använder fler kategorier än ackusativa, ergativa och kluvna system, men den här studien bekräftar resultaten i de kategorier som kan jämföras. Ett dominerande mönster för kärnkasussynkretism kan observeras, med sammanfall av nominativ plural och oblik i båda numerus.
Språkkontakt och språksläktskap i Hindukushregionen, Vetenskapsrådet, Projektnummer: 421-2014-631

This work presents a preliminary analysis of the phonology of Kakua, an endangered language of the Kakua-Nukak family (formerly classified as Makú). Kakua is spoken by approximately 300 people living in the Vaupés region of the Amazon rain forest, in northwest Amazonia, Eastern Colombia. This analysis is based on data collected with Kakua speakers from the village of Wacará, a settlement of approximately 120 people, living along the basin of Caño Wacará, located between the Querarí and the Vaupés Rivers, to the east of Mitú, close to the Colombia-Brazil borders. The phonological inventory of Kakua includes five vowels and seventeen consonants. Kakua also presents contrastive prosodic features of nasalization and an inventory of three contrastive tones. Kakua phonology presents various interesting typological features from both areal and cross-linguistic perspective. The work presented here is a first attempt to provide a better illustration of a little-known endangered language of Amazonia.
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This essay examines the case of the direct object in Russian sentences with the negated verbs не видеть and не знать. For each verb, 50 contexts were downloaded from the newspaper corpus of the Russian National Corpus and analysed with respect to the semantic properties of the direct object and the negated verb. The theories and concepts used for the analysis have been outlined in Padutjeva, 2006. The analysis of не видеть suggests that the main difference between the genitive and the ac-cusative case is to be found in the notion of non-existence or absence implicated by the verb’s semantics. In utterances with не видеть as a predicate, this notion is always present and is expressed by the genitive case. The speaker may also choose to ignore it by using the accusa-tive and thus emphasize some other aspect of the described situation. The examined properties of reference, definiteness and denotative status of the direct object seem to play a secondary role for how case is used. Their influence is to delimit the meaning of the objective genitive to either non-existence or absence. No similar conclusions could be drawn from the examination of не знать. The reason for this is that the concept of private sphere, used by Padutjeva to explain the use of objective geni-tive with this verb, could not be properly established during the analysis. Just as the notion of absence is crucial for the understanding of the objective genitive when it occurs with не видеть, the concept private sphere seems to be the key to understand it when it occurs with не знать.

In the Northern Athabaskan languages Tlicho Yatiì, Dene and Dene Dzage, copulas and auxiliary verbs are based on reflexes of two Proto-Athabaskan roots, *-LII and *-T’E’. I propose that in the first two languages, copulas with nominal complements show distributional differences that derive from a stage-/individual-level predicate distinction, and that historically, this distinction in the proto-language motivated the development of auxiliaries marking tense/aspect/mode distinctions solely from the copulas based on *-LII. Further, I propose that subsequent to this development, the original stage-/individual-level predicate distinction between the copulas disappeared in Dene Dzage, leaving the TAM markers as evidence of its historical existence. I provide support for these contentions with data from fieldwork in Tlicho Yatiì and from textual sources in all three languages, grounding the work in current theories of syntax and of temporal grammar.