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J'Fellers, J., and Theresa McGarry. "Language and Linguistics." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2009. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6151.
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Maciá, Fábrega Josep. "Natural language and formal languages." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10348.
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Atwell, Eric Steven. "Corpus linguistics and language learning : bootstrapping linguistic knowledge and resources from text." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2008. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/7504/.
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This submission for the award of the degree of PhD by published work must: “make a contribution to knowledge in a coherent and related subject area; demonstrate originality and independent critical ability; satisfy the examiners that it is of sufficient merit to qualify for the award of the degree of PhD.” It includes a selection of my work as a Lecturer (and later, Senior Lecturer) at Leeds University, from 1984 to the present. The overall theme of my research has been bootstrapping linguistic knowledge and resources from text. A persistent strand of interest has been unsupervised and semi-supervised machine learning of linguistic knowledge from textual sources; the attraction of this approach is that I could start with English, but go on to apply analogous techniques to other languages, in particular Arabic. This theme covers a broad range of research over more than 20 years at Leeds University which I have divided into 8 sub-topics: A: Constituent-Likelihood statistical modelling of English grammar; B: Machine Learning of grammatical patterns from a corpus; C: Detecting grammatical errors in English text; D: Evaluation of English grammatical annotation models; E: Machine Learning of semantic language models; F: Applications in English language teaching; G: Arabic corpus linguistics; H: Applications in Computing teaching and research. The first section builds on my early years as a lecturer at Leeds University, when my research was essentially a progression from my previous work at Lancaster University on the LOB Corpus Part-of-Speech Tagging project (which resulted in the Tagged LOB Corpus, a resource for Corpus Linguistics research still in use today); I investigated a range of ideas for extending and/or applying techniques related to Part-of-Speech tagging in Corpus Linguistics. The second section covers a range of co-authored papers representing grant-funded research projects in Corpus Linguistics; in this mode of research, I had to come up with the original ideas and guide the project, but much of the detailed implementation was down to research assistant staff. Another highly productive mode of research has been supervision of research students, leading to further jointly-authored research papers. I helped formulate the research plans, and guided and advised the students; as with research-grant projects, the detailed implementation of the research has been down to the research students. The third section includes a few of the most significant of these jointly-authored Corpus Linguistics research papers. A “standard” PhD generally includes a survey of the field to put the work in context; so as a fourth section, I include some survey papers aimed at introducing new developments in corpus linguistics to a wider audience.
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Daubney, Anna-Marie. "Language biographies and language repertoires : changes in language identity of indigenous African language speakers in a town in the Northern Cape." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/86596.
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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the language shift from isiXhosa to Afrikaans in a group of indigenous African language speakers in a rural Northern Cape community. It plots the process that took place over three generations and focuses on the language identity of some members of this community as portrayed by their language biographies and linguistic repertoires. This phenomenon was researched after preliminary enquiries into linguistic identities and bilingualism in the Hopetown area revealed that although most inhabitants use Afrikaans as L1 at home, at school and in public, a considerable number did not present the anticipated monolingual Afrikaans with minimal L2-English repertoires. People from indigenous ethnic groups like the Xhosa were also found to be speaking Afrikaans as home language rather than isiXhosa. The thesis gives a description and explanation of how a process of language shift from isiXhosa to Afrikaans took place. The findings suggest that a number of Xhosas started to migrate from the Eastern Cape to the Hopetown area in the Northern Cape during the 1960s when employment opportunities in the State‟s water and irrigation development scheme became available. The Afrikaans-speaking employers expected their workforce to speak Afrikaans and in the interest of economic survival, the disenfranchised workers learned to speak Afrikaans. In addition to the employment situation, the accommodation situation was unusual in that Hopetown‟s township was seen as a Coloured area. In the time when the Group Areas Act dictated that ethnic segregation had to be enforced, the influx of Xhosa and other ethnic groups was not expected. When it happened, it was either overlooked or remained unnoticed. The Xhosa workers, with their families, had to blend in with the Coloured population in order not to attract attention. The research follows the language shift based on information gained from questionnaires and by means of narrative analysis. Case studies of selected respondents reveal how the individuals gradually settled into a new language identity without complete loss of their traditional ties to language and cultural practices. A small story analysis sheds light on how selected members of the community experienced the shift and how they perceive their roles in the process. This thesis ultimately shows the contribution that language biographies can make to sociolinguistic research.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die taalverskuiwing van isiXhosa na Afrikaans in ʼn inheemse groep Afrikataalsprekers in ʼn plattelandse Noord-Kaapse gemeenskap. Dit volg die proses wat oor drie generasies plaasgevind het en fokus op die taalidentiteit van enkele lede van dié gemeenskap soos uitgebeeld in hulle taalbiografieë en taal repertoires. Hierdie verskynsel is nagevors nadat voorlopige navrae in verband met talige identiteit en tweetaligheid in die Hopetown-omgewing daarop gedui het dat alhoewel die meeste inwoners Afrikaans tuis, by die skool en in die openbaar as eerstetaal gebruik, ʼn aansienlike getal nie die verwagte profiel van ʼn eentalige Afrikaanse gemeenskap met minimale tweedetaal-Engels vertoon het nie. Mense van inheemse etniese afkoms soos die Xhosa het ook laat blyk dat hulle Afrikaans eerder as isiXhosa as huistaal gebruik. Die tesis gee ʼn beskrywing en verduideliking van hoe ʼn proses van taalverskuiwing van isiXhosa na Afrikaans plaasgevind het. Volgens die bevindinge het ʼn groeiende getal Xhosas in die 1960s uit die Oos-Kaap na die Hopetown-omgewing in die Noord-Kaap begin migreer toe werksgeleenthede in die Staat se water- en besproeiingskema beskikbaar gekom het. Die Afrikaanssprekende werkgewers het van hulle werkers verwag om Afrikaans te praat. In die belang van ekonomiese oorlewing het die werkers wat daar geen burgerregte gehad het nie, Afrikaans geleer. Bykomend tot die werksituasie was die behuisingsituasie in die Hopetown nedersettings ongewoon daarin dat dit as Kleurlinggebied geklassifiseer is maar ook mense van ander etniese herkoms gehuisves het. In die tyd toe die Groepsgebiedewet bepaal het dat etniese segregasie toegepas moes word, is daar geen voorsiening gemaak vir die instroming van Xhosa en ander etniese groepe nie. Toe dit gebeur het, is dit óf oor die hoof gesien, óf dit het ongemerk gebeur. Die Xhosa werkers, met hulle gesinne, moes inskakel by die Kleurlinggemeenskap ten einde nie die aandag van die gesaghebbers of hulleself te vestig nie. Die navorsing volg die taalverskuiwing op basis van inligting uit vraelyste en met behulp van narratiewe analise. Gevallestudies van uitgesoekte respondente wys hoe die individue geleidelik ʼn nuwe taalidentiteit aangeneem het sonder totale verlies van hulle tradisionele bande met taal en kulturele gebruike. ʼn Klein storie analise werp lig op hoe geselekteerde lede van die gemeenskap die verskuiwing ervaar het en wat hulle siening is van hulle rolle in die proses. Hierdie tesis werp ten slotte lig op die bydrae wat taalbiografie tot sosiolinguistiese navorsing kan maak.
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Stegu, Martin, Dennis R. Preston, Antje Wilton, and Claudia Finkbeiner. "Panel discussion: language awareness vs. folk linguistics vs. applied linguistics." Taylor & Francis, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2018.1434921.
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McGarry, Theresa. "Language Ideology and Second Language Learning." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2005. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6144.
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Perrott, Vanessa. "The language of risk and the risk of language." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3603.
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This mini-dissertation is written towards an MA in Linguistics. As such, it falls within the domain of Humanities. However, its author is a doctor and the subject matter is medical, which falls within the domain of Science. The mini-dissertation thus bridges these different domains, and the references and background reading as well as the application of the research reflect this hybrid nature. A glossary of medical terms and acronyms is thus given. In addition to being a doctor, the author is also a mother of two children. Thus the subject matter of pregnancy and its unknowns is close to her professional and personal realms of experience. For this reason, although the author has tried to be objective, she cannot pretend that true objectivity is always achieved.
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Shariati, Mohammad. "The relation between language awareness and language proficiency." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.311788.
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OÌ, hIfearnaÌin Tadhg. "Language minorisation : the Gaelic languages in European sociolinguistic perspective; English language abstract of Mionlu Teanga; An Ghaeilge i gComhtheacs Sochtheangeolaiochta na hEorpa." Thesis, Ulster University, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.242064.
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Morris, Adeline. "Mallarme and Linguistics : Towards a Perfect Language." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.508398.
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Shimizu, Katsumasa. "A cross-language study of voicing contrasts of stop consonants in Asian languages." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20185.
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Szink, Terrence L. "A computer-aided analysis of the Semitic of the Ebla tablets." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2005. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=888832061&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=48051&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Chan, Hoi-wuen Katherine, and 陳凱媛. "Consciousness of language." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B32020491.
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Pettit, Dean R. (Dean Reid) 1967. "Understanding language." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17560.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, February 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-140).
My dissertation concerns the nature of linguistic understanding. A standard view about linguistic understanding is that it is a propositional knowledge state. The following is an instance of this view: given a speaker S and an expression a that means M, S understand a just in case S knows that a means M. I refer to this as the epistemic view of linguistic understanding. The epistemic view would appear to be a mere conceptual truth about linguistic understanding, since it is entailed by the following two claims that themselves seem to be mere conceptual truths: (i) S understands a iff S knows what a means, and-given that a means M-(ii) S knows what a means iff S knows that a means M. I argue, however, that this is not a mere conceptual truth. Contrary to the epistemic view, propositional knowledge of the meaning of a is not necessary for understanding a. I argue that linguistic understanding does not even require belief. My positive proposal is that our understanding of language is typically realized, at least in native speakers, as a perceptual capacity. Evidence from cognitive neuropsychology suggests that our perceptual experience of language comes to us already semantically interpreted. We perceive a speaker's utterance as having content, and it is by perceiving the speaker's utterances as having the right content that we understand what the speaker says. We count as understanding language (roughly) in virtue of having this capacity to understand what speakers say when they use language. This notion of perceiving an utterance as having content gets analyzed in terms of Dretske's account of representation in terms of a teleological notion of function: you perceive a speaker's utterance as having content when the utterance produces in you a perceptual state that has a certain function in your psychology.
(cont.) I show how this view about the nature of linguistic understanding provides an attractive account of how identity claims can be semantically informative, as opposed to merely pragmatically informative, an account that avoids the standard difficulties for Fregean views that attempt to account for the informativeness of identity claims in terms of their semantics.
by Dean R. Pettit.
Ph.D.
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McGarry, Theresa, and J. Mwinyelle. "Using Language Corpora in Teaching." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2011. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6166.
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Loza, Christian E. Mihalcea Rada F. "Cross language information retrieval for languages with scarce resources." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12157.
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Otterstrom, Sarah. "Rovotlif: A Constructed Language." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2017. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1047.
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Rovotlif is a constructed language (conlang) made as a creative demonstration of linguistic concepts. The language's grammatical characteristics are influenced by Russian, German, English, and Mandarin. This document contains a description of the grammatical structure of the language, short translations of texts from English into Rovotlif, and a small lexicon of words and definitions for the language.
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Bissoonauth, Anu. "Language use, language choice and language attitudes among young Mauritian adolescents in secondary education." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1998. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10914/.
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The present study reports on a research project conducted in Mauritius in 1992/93. The project was designed to investigate patterns of language use, language choice and language attitudes of a subsection of the Mauritian population: adolescents in full-time education. Mauritius has been a French and British colony and therefore, both English and French are used in formal and official contexts. Furthermore, a French Creole is the lingua franca of the island and several Indian and Chinese languages, often called Oriental languages, are also spoken. The research was carried out in the field, and data was collected by means of a questionnaire and interview from a representative sample of the secondary school population. The basic questions raised in this study are the following: (i) Which language(s) is/are used in a given context, Creole, English, French, Indian or Chinese? (ii) What are the linguistic choices of this particular section of the population? (iii) What kind of attitudes do informants have towards Creole in education? (iv) What is the influence of social factors on the language use, language choice and language attitudes of the informants? The findings of this investigation are compared to the results of the 1990 census on language use. They reveal that although the present sample cannot be considered as representative of the whole Mauritian population, it is representative of the adolescent population in education. The responses indicate that Creole is the first language of the home, but that French and English, to a lesser extent, are also spoken. The majority of the sample seems to be against the idea of studying Creole in school, and yet, accept Creole as the national language of Mauritius. Despite the efforts of successive governments to promote Indian and Chinese languages as "ancestral languages", their use is generally declining, and the majority of informants see little or no use for them in practical terms. The statements made by informants interviewed appear to suggest that there are no conflicting attitudes relating to languages. There is a widespread feeling that Creole should not be used as the language of instruction, but should remain the national language for informal communication. English and French are more useful than Creole and Oriental languages, since they allow success in education and upward social mobility. Oriental languages are not important in daily life, but they represent cultural values, as such they are primarily used in religious practices and learnt as third languages in schools.
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Moffitt, Nina. "Pirahã, language universals and linguistic relativity." Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1316100344.
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Hinnebusch, Thomas. "What kind of language is Swahili?" Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2012. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-95543.
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Recently we have seen the appearance of an interesting and provocative book on the Swahili. This book, by Ali Amin Mazrui and Ibrahim Noor Shariff (1994), takes a serious look at the question of Swahili identity and origins. This paper has at least two goals. One is to help define the nature of the debate about origins, and in so doing I will explicate and critique the Mazrui and Shariff hypothesis. The second is to reiterate the theme of the study of Swahili by Derek Nurse and the present author (1993), entitled Swahili and Sabaki · A Linguistic History (hereafter N&H). The linking of Swahili and Sabaki in the title was deliberate: the history of Swahili is inextricably intertwined with that of Sabaki and we cannot speak of the former without direct reference to the latter. The paper is divided into several sections. The first reviews the position taken by Mazrui and Shariff, the second discusses the view of N&H, implicit in their work on Sabaki, that Swahili is an integrated development from its Afiican heritage, the Sabaki languages. Finally, a critique of the Mazrui and Shariff hypothesis will conclude the paper.
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Belk, Alan. "Language is instinct, a new paradigm in linguistics." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ35866.pdf.
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Jordan-Baker, Craig. "Agency, structure and realism in language and linguistics." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2013. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/44185/.
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This thesis considers the scientific status of linguistics and the historical and contemporary attempts to view linguistics as closely aligned to, or one of, the natural sciences. Such attempts share certain common features that make up what is identified here as the ‘Formalist Attitude'. The question ‘what is a language?' is central to the discussion of the scientific status of linguistics, so a central task of the thesis is to show how answers to this question display the features of the Formalist Attitude. In particular it is shown that attempts to constrict the theoretical purview of linguistics around a view of language that sustains claims to natural scientific status fail to account for the social ontology of language and the role of speakers within the creation and reproduction of language. A consequence of this failure is an inability to explain important language phenomena such as language change, arbitrariness and knowledge of language, which the alternative conception of language defended here successfully accounts for. ‘Language' is best seen as a power of speakers to communicate with one another, a view which emphasises the motivated, social, reproductive and transformative aspects of actual speech. The negative and positive arguments jointly defended, support the view that linguistics, considered with respect to its object of knowledge, methodology and ability to offer explanations and predictions, is not akin to natural science but should be considered a social science. Besides historical contextualisation of the problem, the thesis looks at current trends, such as cognitive and integrationist linguistics, that are broadly consistent with its criticisms and conclusions. The purpose of the thesis then is twofold; to identify, explain and criticise a problematic and influential tradition within linguistics and then to provide some Lockean underlabouring for contemporary linguistics that will be valuable to linguists and philosophers.
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Alruwaili, Awatif. "Integrating corpus linguistics in second language vocabulary acquisition." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51589/.
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Corpus linguistics has been used for over three decades in language teaching but not until now has it become a mainstream approach to language learning in the classroom. Thus, this thesis explores how the use of corpora can be successfully integrated into the English Foreign Language classroom, specifically in the Saudi classroom context. The integration is explored through two studies. Study One addresses the learners’ actual use of corpora in the classroom for learning general verbs patterns. General verbs patterns are selected through a multi-level approach which consists of a corpus-based approach as a first level, a phraseological approach as a second level and a pedagogical approach as a third level. The study relies on data collected from 51 participants who were at the intermediate level studying general English in the foundation year. The study ran for five weeks and included three training sessions, in which the learners were trained in how to use the corpus resource and how to read and analyse concordance lines and two testing sessions. The participants were tracked via software tracker in both training and testing sessions. The data were collected through tracking logs, activity sheets, reflective forms and interviews. The findings of Study One show that the intermediate-level learners were able to use the corpus resource in the same way as they had been trained, which indicates that the training was successful. The learners were also able to identify general verbs patterns through the use of concordance lines. Most participants had a positive attitude towards the use of corpora in the classroom besides identifying a few difficulties related to the use of corpora. Study Two investigates teachers’ attitudes towards the use of corpora in the classroom which included 56 in-service teachers who attended a training course on the uses of corpora in the classroom. The data collected included questionnaires (pre-course and post-course questionnaires) and interviews. The findings show that the questionnaires had a good reliability value and the teachers’ attitudes were moderately positive towards the use of corpora in the classroom. In addition, Study Two finds that there are some factors that seem to influence teachers’ attitudes, such as the training course, the level of computer literacy and the teachers’ perceptions of their role and learners’ roles within the communicative approach. The interviews constitute an in-depth investigation of teachers’ views about the use of corpora in the classroom by listing possible factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of corpora in everyday teaching practice. Through the discussion of these findings from Study One and Study Two, a full integration of corpus linguistics into the Saudi classroom is possible taking into consideration the hindrances. These difficulties can be overcome through the offered proposal for implementing the use of corpora in the classroom.
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Youngs, Marisa B. "THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC: LINGUISTICS IN TRUMPET PEDAGOGY." UKnowledge, 2018. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/music_etds/115.
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For decades, many brass teachers have relied heavily upon speech as a means of conveying pedagogical concepts. Additionally, a significant number of teachers in the brass community continue to use speech sounds to teach specific kinesthetic responses (i.e. using specific vowels for tone production, particular consonants for articulation, and variations of vowels for different pitch registers). These teaching concepts have been perpetuated over time, though many intricate aspects of human anatomy were yet to be understood at the inception of these methods, including the physiological processes used during speech. As technology has evolved, researchers in the field of linguistics have made significant discoveries regarding the production and perception of speech. As a result of these innovations, researchers now understand more about individual languages than ever before. This document aims to critique popular beliefs regarding speech directives often utilized in trumpet pedagogy, such as guiding a student by saying “tah,” “too,” “tee,” etc. to produce a desired sound concept.
A significant portion of this document also outlines an ultrasound experiment conducted by the author in the Phonetics Laboratory at the University of Kentucky, in which exercises were designed to determine if speech vowels are in fact used during trumpet playing. During this study, subjects wore a lightweight headset with an ultrasound probe placed under the chin. The ultrasound probe allowed the researcher a midsaggital (side) view of the subject’s oral cavity, displaying vowel placements and articulatory phenomena. While using the ultrasound imaging technology, subjects played a short selection of musical exercises on B-flat trumpet and then read aloud a pre-selected list of English words, designed to display multiple combinations of vowel and consonant pairings. Both the trumpet exercises and reading of the word list were audio recorded and simultaneously paired with the corresponding ultrasound video data. After playing the selected exercises, subjects completed a brief written questionnaire of personal language history to ascertain possible influences upon dialect. The ultrasound videos were then analyzed with the audio recordings to map each individual’s tongue placements during speech as compared to the placements utilized during trumpet playing. The author concluded that a majority of participants did not use the specific placements of speech vowels while playing the trumpet, although some participant data displayed a slightly stronger correlation than others. While many conclusions could be drawn from this research study, the corresponding data is intended for a purely observational understanding of the influence of linguistics upon trumpet performance and pedagogy. This document is presented in two parts: Part I contains introductory research material, as well as the process, analysis, and conclusions from the experiment outlined above. Part II contains recital programs and corresponding program notes in fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance, as well as a personal vita.
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Kembo, Jane Atieno. "Inferencing in a second language : how far is language proficiency a factor?" Thesis, University of Reading, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.363497.
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Hetherington, F. M. L. "Language and the body : Merleau-Ponty's critique of the philosophy of language." Thesis, University of Essex, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.371176.
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Reindl, Donald F. "The effects of historical German-Slovene language contact on the Slovene language." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3162281.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, 2005.Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 11, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-01, Section: A, page: 0165. Chair: Ronald Feldstein.
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Steyn, Jacques. "Language : a complex-systems approach." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19415.
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Mainstream twentieth-century linguistics, a segregational approach, cannot explain the most obvious characteristics of language. The reasons for this are investigated. It is concluded that linguistics suffers from an incoherent conceptual framework which is the result of influences from three major sources: 1. The desire to establish linguistics as a proper science which led to the acceptance of a mechanistic and positivistic view of science and a pre-quantum conception of matter. 2. The language myth: there are many notions about language and related issues which we have inherited from our ancestors and tacitly accepted without scrutiny. Contemporary ideas about language are biased by this inherited stock of 'knowledge'. 3. Saussure's theory of language, later adopted and adapted by Chomsky, in which the 'true object of linguistic investigation' is abstracted away from what we ordinarily view as language. Together these three sources resulted in a peculiar view of language which cannot explain the most obvious things about it. The proposed alternative view, an integrational approach, redefines language in the holistic terms of a complex-systems approach. Language is the outcome of the dynamic interaction between social and physiological systems -- particular attention is paid to consciousness. Neither language, society or culture is an 'object', but is created through the interaction between individuals in communicative situations. Language is not 'being', but results from 'becoming'. Meaning is not given in advance, but created in each event of communication. Meaning is not a static closed system, but an open system which is dynamically constructed from moment to moment. Concepts of mathematical topology (fractal geometry and catastrophe theory), non-linear, dynamic, open and complex systems, and of chaology are used as conceptual tools to break away from the stronghold our inherited view of language has on our contemporary thinking about it.
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Sakurai, Kazuhiro, and 櫻井和裕. "An OT-LFG analysis of language change." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2011. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B46732482.
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Hardy, Sylvia. "H.G. Wells and language." Thesis, University of Leicester, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/2381/34856.
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The thesis of this study is that H.G Wells had a coherent theory of language which derived from the most fundamental aspects of his thinking, and that this theory played an important part in his development as a writer. Throughout his life Wells was interested in the powers and limitations of language as a system of signification, and Chapter One traces the development of these ideas, particularly the way in which the psychology and philosophy of William James influenced his thinking, and suggests that in his early sociological writings, he anticipated later work in linguistics and psycholinguistics. The second chapter looks at Wells's approach to language as a social semiotic, and its importance in the communication of ideas, and it is argued that there was an unresolved conflict between Wells the social reformer, who wanted language to be unitary and universally comprehensible, and Wells the artist, who enjoyed the anarchic and subversive possibilities of linguistic diversity.;Chapters Three and Four explore this dichotomy in relation to the social and the subjective aspects of language use. Chapter Three draws on Marxist and sociolinguistic theories to examine the language of Wells's fictional characters in relation to social class. Chapter Four, looks at Wells's approach to psychoanalytic theory and the linguistic construction of the subject, and this is explored in relation to various theoretical approaches to discourse and narrative. In the last chapter, it is argued that Wells's style cannot be discussed in isolation from his ideas about language, and it must be seen, too, in the context of his dispute with Henry James and the development of literary Modernism.;The conclusion is that recent developments in narrative theory, particularly the work of Bakhtin, enable us to see qualities in Wells's realist prose which have been obscured by the Modernist aesthetic.
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Mauerman, Peggy S. "Language Attrition in French-Speaking Missionaries." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 1985. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4914.
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Neethling, Daphne Liezel. "Language attitudes and identity - influences on language use among two Coloured communities in Kensington-Factreton." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17938.
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Includes bibliographical references.An attitude study which made use of a cross-sectional survey design, and which obtained the responses of 60 coloured respondents living in the Kensington-Factreton area, Western Cape, is reported on. The probability stratified random sample was equally representative in terms of class (working- and middle class), home language (Afrikaans and English), and gender. The study attempted to record recent language attitudes towards the varieties of Afrikaans and English, plus Xhosa, the influence of societal changes on language attitudes and how they, in turn, influence the use and role of these languages. In addition, the significance of identity formation, home language, class, and gender was investigated. The contextual and theoretical background to this study include: (a) the presentation of the language situation in South Africa in general; that of the English and Afrikaans languages in particular; and the language situation in the Western Cape; (b) a review of previous language attitude studies conducted in the Western Cape; (c) the presentation of a social psychological framework which allows for the evaluation of language attitudes along the two dimensions of social status and group solidarity; and (d) an explanation of the formation of a coloured political identity by means of a theoretical framework which was combined with historical facts.
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vanCort, Tracy. "Computational Evolutionary Linguistics." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2001. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmc_theses/137.
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Languages and species both evolve by a process of repeated divergences, which can be described with the branching of a phylogenetic tree or phylogeny. Taking advantage of this fact, it is possible to study language change using computational tree building techniques developed for evolutionary biology. Mathematical approaches to the construction of phylogenies fall into two major categories: character based and distance based methods. Character based methods were used in prior work in the application of phylogenetic methods to the Indo-European family of languages by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. Discussion of the limitations of character-based models leads to a similar presentation of distance based models. We present an adaptation of these methods to linguistic data, and the phylogenies generated by applying these methods to several modern Germanic languages and Spanish. We conclude that distance based for phylogenies are useful for historical linguistic reconstruction, and that it would be useful to extend existing tree drawing methods to better model the evolutionary effects of language contact.
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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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Law, Yee Wah Mary. "The study of register differentiation of two types of press text : opinion article & feature news." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2003. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/488.
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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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Muller, Torsten. "Football, language and linguistics : time-critical utterances in unplanned spoken language, their structures and their relation to non-linguistic situations and events." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.510233.
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Chang, Chih-Hui. "Self-directed target language learning in an authentic target language environment : the Taiwanese experience." Thesis, University of York, 1999. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14027/.
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Luebbering, Candice Rae. "The Cartographic Representation of Language: Understanding language map construction and visualizing language diversity." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/37543.
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Language maps provide illustrations of linguistic and cultural diversity and distribution, appearing in outlets ranging from textbooks and news articles to websites and wall maps. They are valuable visual aids that accompany discussions of our cultural climate. Despite the prevalent use of language maps as educational tools, little recent research addresses the difficult task of map construction for this fluid cultural characteristic. The display and analysis capabilities of current geographic information systems (GIS) provide a new opportunity for revisiting and challenging the issues of language mapping. In an effort to renew language mapping research and explore the potential of GIS, this dissertation is composed of three studies that collectively present a progressive work on language mapping. The first study summarizes the language mapping literature, addressing the difficulties and limitations of assigning language to space before describing contemporary language mapping projects as well as future research possibilities with current technology. In an effort to identify common language mapping practices, the second study is a map survey documenting the cartographic characteristics of existing language maps. The survey not only consistently categorizes language map symbology, it also captures unique strategies observed for handling locations with linguistic plurality as well as representing language data uncertainty. A new typology of language map symbology is compiled based on the map survey results. Finally, the third study specifically addresses two gaps in the language mapping literature: the issue of visualizing linguistic diversity and the scarcity of GIS applications in language mapping research. The study uses census data for the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area to explore visualization possibilities for representing the linguistic diversity. After recreating mapping strategies already in use for showing linguistic diversity, the study applies an existing statistic (a linguistic diversity index) as a new mapping variable to generate a new visualization type: a linguistic diversity surface. The overall goal of this dissertation is to provide the impetus for continued language mapping research and contribute to the understanding and creation of language maps in education, research, politics, and other venues.Ph. D.
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Schaengold, Charlotte C. "Bilingual Navajo mixed codes, bilingualism, and language maintenance /." Connect to this title online, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1092425886.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004.Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 189 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 168-174).
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Lewkowicz, Jozefa Anna. "Investigating authenticity in language testing." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.360619.
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Ingham, Richard. "Verb subcategorization in children's language." Thesis, University of Reading, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.359302.
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Zhu, Zhongping. "Null arguments in child language." Thesis, University of York, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.326418.
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Aldosaree, Osamh M. "Language attitudes toward Saudi dialects." Thesis, California State University, Long Beach, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10141516.
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The aim of this study is to reveal and analyze language ideologies and stereotypes associated with the three main regional dialects of Saudi Arabia: Najdi, Hijazi, and Janoubi. The research questions were “How do Saudi speakers with different educational levels perceive other regional dialects?” and “Does experience and exposure to other dialects play a role in terms of their perception?” Since college students typically have more opportunities to interact with speakers of different dialects, I hypothesized that their evaluations of other dialects would be different from high school students’ perspectives. The study participants consisted of 66 college subjects and 69 high school subjects; they came from different regional backgrounds. Lambert's Matched-Guise Test (1960) was implemented in order to examine the language attitudes toward these dialects. Interviews were also conducted to probe participants’ reasons and justifications for their judgments and opinions and also to support statistical findings. I found significant difference between college and high school subjects in the measures of five items. High school subjects tended to have a hard time guessing the speaker’s background, which indicates they lack awareness of other dialects. College participants also applied more positive adjectives to Hijazi and Najdi speakers. On the other hand, high school subjects tended to judge the Hijazi speaker as a very slow speaker. In the interviews, I found that college interviewees tended to provide more details than high school interviewees, which showed college participants are more aware of other dialects. This study tried to determine whether or not discriminatory attitudes existed among the participants. The results indicate that certain dialect speakers could be judged negatively based on which dialect they speak, and that there are implications for their social and work lives. This study may help scholars better understand some of the language ideologies held by high school and college students in Saudi Arabia.
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Onnis, Luca. "Statistical language learning." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2003. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/54811/.
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Theoretical arguments based on the "poverty of the stimulus" have denied a priori the possibility that abstract linguistic representations can be learned inductively from exposure to the environment, given that the linguistic input available to the child is both underdetermined and degenerate. I reassess such learnability arguments by exploring a) the type and amount of statistical information implicitly available in the input in the form of distributional and phonological cues; b) psychologically plausible inductive mechanisms for constraining the search space; c) the nature of linguistic representations, algebraic or statistical. To do so I use three methodologies: experimental procedures, linguistic analyses based on large corpora of naturally occurring speech and text, and computational models implemented in computer simulations. In Chapters 1,2, and 5, I argue that long-distance structural dependencies - traditionally hard to explain with simple distributional analyses based on ngram statistics - can indeed be learned associatively provided the amount of intervening material is highly variable or invariant (the Variability effect). In Chapter 3, I show that simple associative mechanisms instantiated in Simple Recurrent Networks can replicate the experimental findings under the same conditions of variability. Chapter 4 presents successes and limits of such results across perceptual modalities (visual vs. auditory) and perceptual presentation (temporal vs. sequential), as well as the impact of long and short training procedures. In Chapter 5, I show that generalisation to abstract categories from stimuli framed in non-adjacent dependencies is also modulated by the Variability effect. In Chapter 6, I show that the putative separation of algebraic and statistical styles of computation based on successful speech segmentation versus unsuccessful generalisation experiments (as published in a recent Science paper) is premature and is the effect of a preference for phonological properties of the input. In chapter 7 computer simulations of learning irregular constructions suggest that it is possible to learn from positive evidence alone, despite Gold's celebrated arguments on the unlearnability of natural languages. Evolutionary simulations in Chapter 8 show that irregularities in natural languages can emerge from full regularity and remain stable across generations of simulated agents. In Chapter 9 I conclude that the brain may endowed with a powerful statistical device for detecting structure, generalising, segmenting speech, and recovering from overgeneralisations. The experimental and computational evidence gathered here suggests that statistical language learning is more powerful than heretofore acknowledged by the current literature.
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Lewey, Newell. "Peskotomuhkati latuwewakon (Passamaquoddy language)." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120682.
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Thesis: S.M. in Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 16).
Over the decades, Passamaquoddy has been taught in many ways and many forms. Some have tried using object identification and word(s) learning while others have tried teaching writing and reading via a phonetic form of English pronunciation. While all teaching methods and learning in any form is valid and valuable, we must first understand that the Passamaquoddy orthography is only a cut down version of the English orthography (using 17 characters plus an '). This cut down version of English characters with a Passamaquoddy grammar overlay is "still" English and can cause confusion for the adult learners of our language. And phonetic pronunciation and spelling is only as good as how we pronounce as set of letters in English. The spelling of words will vary by how our hearing processes the sounds. The methods I am presenting are not new to teaching but are new to teaching adult learner of Passamaquoddy here in our territory. I will outline the use of TPR (Total Physical Response), Picture method of discovering verb forms and practical sentences.
by Newell Lewey.
S.M. in Linguistics
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Almotahari, Mahrad. "Situating language and consciousness." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68909.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-104).
Language and consciousness enrich our lives. But they are rare commodities; most creatures are language-less and unconscious. This dissertation is about the conditions that distinguish the haves from the have-nots. The semantic properties of a natural language expression are determined by conventions governing the way speakers use the expression to communicate information. The capacity to speak a language involves highly specialized (perhaps even modular) cognition. Some authors think that one cannot consistently accept both views. In Chapter 1 ('Content and Competence') I explain why one can. According to the convention-based theory of content determination, propositions are fit to be the contents of both thought and speech. Recently, this view has been challenged. The challenge exploits a series of observations about what it takes to understand semantically incomplete sentences. In Chapter 2 ('Speaker Meaning in Context'), I explain how the challenge can be met. Physicalists seem to owe an explanatory debt. Why should psychophysical relations appear contingent? In Chapter 3 ('There Couldn't Have Been Zombies, but it's a Lucky Coincidence That There Aren't') I pay the debt on their behalf. My explanation proceeds in three steps. First, I observe that there are necessary coincidences, or accidents. Second, I show that traditional epistemological arguments for dualism merely establish that phenomenal states and corresponding physical states are accidentally, or coincidentally, related. Finally, I suggest that inattention to the distinction between coincidence/accidentality and contingency results in frequent equivocation. Thus the disposition to (correctly) judge that psychophysical relations are coincidences manifests itself as a disposition to (incorrectly) judge that psychophysical relations are contingent. In Chapter 4 ('Zombies are Inconceivable') I deny that psychophysical relations appear contingent. The chapter begins with an argument to the effect that zombies cannot be coherently conceived. I then consider and reject various ways of resisting the argument.
by Mahrad Almotahari.
Ph.D.
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Balcarras, David Alexander. "On what language is." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129124.
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Thesis: Ph. D. in Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, September, 2020Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-185).
What is language? I defend the view that language is the practical capacity for partaking in communication with linguistic signs. To have a language just is to know how to communicate with it. I argue that this view -- communicationism --
is compatible with its main rival: the view that we know our language by tacitly knowing a particular generative grammar, a set of rules and principles pairing sounds with meanings. But only communicationism gets at language's essence. Moreover, the rival view may be false, for there is in fact little reason to think we tacitly know grammars. In chapter 1, I argue that communicationism is compatible with the view that language is constituted by tacit knowledge of grammar because the brain states that realize grammatical knowledge do so because they enable us to know how to linguistically communicate. In chapter 2, I offer further reasons to accept communicationism. The starting thought that we know how to communicate by knowing how to use sentences in a particular rule-governed way in order to express our thoughts is developed into a use-based account of meaning, on which all expressions have their meanings because we know how we use them to mean things.
In chapter 3, I explore the extent to which language use is enabled by unconscious representations of grammatical rules. In particular, I consider whether linguistic understanding is enabled by tacit knowledge of compositional semantics. I argue that it is not. Language comprehension and production can be explained without appeal to tacit knowledge of semantics, by instead appealing to our subpersonal capacity to translate natural language sentences into the medium of thought. I conclude that there does not seem to be any reason to believe in tacit knowledge of grammar. Finally, in chapter 4, I survey proposals about what it would be for a speaker to tacitly know a grammar, and argue that they are all inadequate. I conclude that linguistic meaning cannot be explained in terms of tacit knowledge of grammar. Rather, it should be understood in terms of the practical knowledge that manifests in intentional linguistic action, rather than in terms of that which might underlie it.
by David Alexander Balcarras.
Ph. D. in Linguistics
Ph.D.inLinguistics Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
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Abdelhay, Ashraf K. "The politics of language planning in the Sudan : the case of the Naivasha language policy." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/3233.
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The National Congress Party (NCP), representing the government of the Sudan, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed key peace protocols on the 26th May 2004 in the Kenyan town of Naivasha. The Protocol on Power–sharing contains a significant section on language policy. Having a language policy interwoven within the very discoursal fabric of the Protocol on Power–sharing is an arena of intense power struggle between the south and the north. Indeed, it has been so since the emergence of the colonial Southern Policy. The historical social struggle between the south and the north of Sudan, which incorporates unequal power relations, is encoded in the linguistic signs of the language policy. The current Interim National Constitution has adopted the Naivasha Language Policy. The study has four main objectives. The first objective is to historicise the Naivasha Language Policy. The study aims to disinvent the ‘naturalised’ notions of ‘indigenous languages’, ‘north Sudan’, and ‘south Sudan’ by revealing their colonial constructedness. The social and semiotic processes involved in the colonial representation of the discursive differentiation of the ‘south’ from the ‘north’ are examined. The historical analysis of the colonial Southern Policy reveals the hidden agenda that lies behind what might be termed the ‘politics of linguistic indigenousness’. The analysis demonstrates that the technical phrase ‘indigenous languages’ is used as part of a metaphorical strategy of symbolic differentiation of the ‘African south’ from the ‘Arab north’. The fact that the south is to gain the right to external self–determination in four years’ time points to the political instrumentality of the notion of linguistic indigenousness in language planning. The second objective is to examine the language rights regime embodied in the Naivasha Language Policy. One of the central arguments is that the language rights embedded in the Naivasha Language Policy should not be conceptualised in essentialising and totalising terms as a set of abstract universal givens. Instead, the contention is that the notion of language rights should be treated as part of the ‘habitus’ of the concerned community of practice. The employment of the concept of habitus as an analytic tool can help us avoid the essentialist trap of the mainstream ‘language– rights’ paradigm by asserting the social constructedness of languages, identities, and rights. Thus, grounding the advocacy of language rights in the notion of habitus can provide a means of uncoupling language from religion and race in the Sudan. It is demonstrated that the colonial construction of identities in the Sudan involved, among other things, the invention of traditions, the construction of languages, the (re)creation of tribal boundaries, and the racial classification of people. The third objective of the study is a comparative analysis between the proposed structural political system and the discourse of the Naivasha Language Policy. The argument here is that a faithful implementation of the Naivasha Language Policy within a multinational democratic federation informed by the principle of active citizenship can act as both: 1) a strategic corrective to the divisive monolingual ideology of Arabicisation, and 2) a foundation for a new regime of language rights determined by a bottom–up approach. The fourth objective is to explore the relationship between the allocation of political power in the peace protocols and the language policy, and to investigate the ways in which power relations may influence the realisation of the language policy. The analysis shows that the proposed configuration of power relations would mainly affect the language situation in the south of Sudan. The thesis concludes with an assessment of the current status of the institutional implementation of the language policy text.
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Mohd, Omar Noor A. "VISION2020 and the English language : a study of the role of language in national development." Thesis, Aston University, 1996. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/14852/.
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The research reported here is an investigation into the problems of social and economic development of a multiethic and multicultural country which has the added challenge of adopting a non-indigenous code to facilitate the development process. Malaysia's power to negotiate outcomes favourable to the interest of the country is critical for the successful attainment of the goals and objectives of VISION2020. Therefore the mechanisms of the human resource development programme have to be efficacious. The three hypotheses of this study are as follows: 1. there is a fear that the problems and challenges posed by the development plans, have been conceptually trivialised; 2. based on (1) above there is a concern that solutions proposed are inadequate and inappropriate and 3. the outcome of both (1) and (2) can lead to the potential underachievement of national goals and objectives. The study proposes a complex model for conceptualising the problem which looks at the relationship between society and language, which any solutions proposed must take into proper consideration. The study looks at the mechanisms available for the smooth absorption of new Malaysian members to new and international communities. A large scale investigation was undertaken with the researcher functioning as a participant observer. An in-depth study of one particular educational ecology yielded approximately 38 hours of interviews and 100 questionnaires. These data were analysed both for explicit information and implicit implications. By some criteria national policies appear to be having the desired effect, and can be given a clean bill of health. By others it is clear that major adjustments would be necessary if the nation is to achieve its objectives in full.