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1
Wolf, Göran. "Language contact, change of language status : ‘Celtic’ national languages in the British Isles and Ireland." Universität Potsdam, 2007. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2008/1936/.
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Contents:
Conceptual Clarifications
Contact Situations – a Brief Outline
Under Scrutiny I: Cornwall, Isle of Man and Scotland
Under scrutiny II: Wales
Under Scrutiny III: Ireland – a Lengthy Discourse
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Peters, Stephen. "Language, subjectivity, and meaningful change." Thesis, McGill University, 2010. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=95245.
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Drawing from analyses of both fiction (Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart and Franz Kafka's short story A Report to an Academy) and graduate student writing, this thesis discusses the relationship between individuals and language. I start from the premise that our attempts to make meaning of ourselves and the world around us depend on the cultural patterns of language use we either voluntarily or are obliged to acquire. In three independent but related chapters, I explore the implications of this premise for subjectivity formation, paying particular attention to the ways we know ourselves, our ability to engage in critical reflection, and the manner in which we represent ourselves in language. The overall goal of this thesis is to examine the possibilities and limitations of individual autonomy and agency in social discourse. Together, these three chapters serve to outline some considerations for conceptualizing the participation of the subject in social change by identifying the function of language learning to transition and integrate individuals into particular cultural contexts.Basée à la fois sur l'analyse d'uvres de fiction (Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, et Franz Kafka's « A Report to an Academy ») et sur des travaux rédigés par des étudiants de second cycle, cette thèse traite de la relation entre les individus et la langue. Je pars du postulat que les efforts que nous mettons pour tenter de comprendre qui nous sommes et le monde dans lequel nous vivons dépendent des schémas culturels d'usage linguistique que nous acquerrons volontairement ou sommes forcés d'acquérir. Dans trois chapitres indépendants mais interreliés, j'explore l'influence de ce postulat sur la formation de la subjectivité, en portant une attention particulière sur la manière dont nous nous connaissons nous-mêmes, sur notre capacité à faire preuve de réflexion critique et sur notre façon de nous représenter à travers la langue. L'objectif général de cette thèse est d'examiner les possibilités et les limitations du positionnement et de l'autonomie individuelle au sein du discours social. Ensemble, ces trois chapitres suggèrent certaines avenues permettant de conceptualiser la participation du sujet dans le changement social, en identifiant la fonction d'apprentissage de la langue afin de permettre aux individus de s'adapter et de s'intégrer dans des contextes culturels particuliers.
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Carroll, Tessa C. "Language planning and language change in Japan 1985-1995." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.321990.
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Rahmani, Monireh. "Ethnography of language change : an ethnolinguistic survey of the Gilaki language /." Full-text version available from OU Domain via ProQuest Digital Dissertations, 1985. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/42576051.html.
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Suzuki, Sakae. "Language Learners' Beliefs: Development and Change." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2012. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/175672.
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CITE/Language ArtsEd.D.
This longitudinal study was designed to provide an orderly account of how beliefs about English language learning develop among seven Japanese high school students, identify beliefs that are beneficial and interfering for language learning and the routes by which these beliefs are reached, and identify belief changes and their sources. Beliefs are defined as a cognitive representation about self and the world. They are situated in experiences and social context. Learner beliefs pertain to many aspects of language learning and come from multiple sources, including educational background, experience living overseas, peers, teachers, and persons met in chance encounters. The data for the study were collected from seven students attending a Japanese public high school. Beginning when the students were first-year high school students (10th graders), the data, which were drawn from in-depth interviews, journals, written reports, observations, and school records, form a qualitative multiple-case-study. Data gathering ended when the students chose a university in the third year of high school. There were five major findings. First, learners develop and modify their beliefs based on their life experiences inside and outside the classroom. This finding suggests that providing learning experiences is important, but teachers should be aware that learners with different learning backgrounds and personal traits will likely respond to those experiences differently. Experiences that most influence learners’ beliefs seem to be those that learners choose themselves. Second, beliefs are usually implicit, and thus, learners are not always aware of their beliefs until they are asked to verbalize them. Thus, one role for researchers and teachers is to find effective ways to elicit learner beliefs and make them explicit. Third, beliefs can be placed in three categories: beneficial beliefs, indeterminate beliefs, and interfering beliefs. Beneficial beliefs enhance learners’ motivation to learn, while interfering beliefs concern negative thoughts that hinder them from learning and from engaging in challenging tasks. Indeterminate beliefs can be either beneficial or interfering depending on the context in which they occur. Those beliefs are context-sensitive; thus, they are not necessarily shared by all learners. Individual learners have different beneficial and interfering beliefs depending on their learning context. Fourth, adolescent learners’ beliefs change over time because adolescents are in the process of growing and changing physically and mentally. This suggests that there is great potential for modifying their beliefs in positive ways. Fifth, learners develop personal theories about learning based on their beliefs. Considering that learners behave according to their theories of learning, eliciting learners’ beliefs can bring benefits for researchers and teachers because they can anticipate learners’ behavior by knowing their beliefs.
Temple University--Theses
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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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Fallon, Paul Ryan. "Synchronic variation and historical change in language." Thesis, Bangor University, 1992. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/synchronic-variation-and-historical-change-in-language(003fb6ff-0d9b-45c6-9258-08b0c6ec5b0b).html.
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Variation In the sequence /Cju/ (as In nubile, issue) Is manifested In the phonemic variants, gilded [Cj], ungLided ECI, coalesced ENJ)1. Of the 17 possible C, variation mainly occurs In the set of E+cor]E+antl consonants. The origins of the sequence are traced to OE and Angto French sources. The former created /Cju/,, the tatter began the modification to variants. The primary Linguistic causes of change were stress In borrowed suffixes shifting to native patterns, leading to some categorical variants with ECI In /t ds z/; and phonotactic constraints on word Initial clusters In /r I/ producing ungLLded ECL Lexical diffusion proceeds within the preceding consonant by subenvironments, defined by word Initial position or by suffix, rather than by frequency. Empirical, testing of Linguistic constraints on the distribution and selection of variants, took place In 2 boys schools In Liverpool, with 77 subjects aged 12-13 and 17-18 years. Elicitation was by reading passage and word list (k = 65). Dialects from the urban baslLect Scouse (used Largely In the city centre school), to adopted RP (found In the suburban school) were examined. Results confirmed the variability among coronat consonants but with categorical subenvIronments, mainly In the coatescents /t ds z/. In British English while the continuants /s z/ access aLL variants, stops are restricted to +gLide and C. The complex patterning of variants for /s z/ was resolved. After /1/, Loss was pervasive Lexically and socially. The presence of palatalized variants In 1h n I/ was noted. Glide loss was recorded In the basliect after word initial /n/. Minor areas of loss occurred in some non coronal, consonants, when /u/ reduced to shwa. Generally there was little Idiolectal variation In spread of variants, Of the synchronic Linguistic explanatory variables, (including syllabification and word position), stress was the most useful, sometimes working with the others. For the coalescents, i-stress] operates In conjunction with stress In contiguous syllables.
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Hughes, Sharon. "The change of language and the language of change : a consideration of some of the assumptions behind non-governmental language planning projects : implications for language in education policy." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16990.
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Bibliography: pages 70-80.Language planning and language policy are currently being debated by both politicians and educationists. Language policy is seen by both Afrikaner nationalists and some progressive educationists as the key to political and economic power. This dissertation argues that language policy-making alone cannot achieve political goals. It also proposes that the most successful and most democratic policies are those which are "facilitatory and enabling rather than compulsory and punitive" (Fishman, 1991: 82) and which are differentiated to take account of existing sociolinguistic contexts. Chapter 1 begins by looking at definitions of language planning and language policy. Following this, it examines some of the terms that people use to speak about language and languages in language planning. The concern here is not with establishing fixed meanings but with how the use of these terms constructs certain "realities", for example relationships amongst languages. This chapter also looks at some of the proposed relations between language and "reality". Chapter 2 briefly outlines the history of language planning in South Africa, focusing on language medium of instruction in education. It examines the Nationalists' and the ANC's language policy positions. A postscript discusses the agreement reached in November 1993. Chapter 3 looks at the role of various non-governmental associations in the language policy debate. It also examines the phenomenon of white advocacy of increased status for African languages. Chapter 4 deals with the process of language planning. Who decides on language goals and through what mechanisms are goals promoted? Chapter 5 asks questions about what bilingual or multilingual medium of instruction models would mean in terms of classroom practice and underlines the lack of consensus in bilingual education research about universally applicable solutions. Chapter 6 summarises the main arguments covered in the dissertation and makes some general recommendations about language-in-education policy.
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Marshall, Jonathan H. W. "Understanding language change : an investigation of the influence of social factors on language change in a Scottish farming community." Thesis, University of Reading, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.393910.
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Ó, Béarra Feargal. "Late Modern Irish and the Dynamics of Language Change and Language Death." Universität Potsdam, 2007. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2008/1933/.
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Contents:
Definition of Late Modern Irish
Lexical and Syntactic Equivalence
The Official Languages Act and the Translation Industry
Dynamics of Language Change and Language Death
Lack of Exposure and Critical Mass
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Hartisari. "Aspects of language change in Gayo : a language of Sumatra in Indonesia /." Title page, abstract and table of contents only, 1997. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ARM/09armh329.pdf.
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Roberts, Andrew Gareth Vaughan. "Cooperation, social selection, and language change : an experimental investigation of language divergence." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5852.
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In this thesis, I use an experimental model to investigate the role of social pressures in stimulating language divergence. Research into the evolution of cooperation has emphasised the usefulness of ingroup markers for swiftly identifying outsiders, who pose a threat to cooperative networks. Mechanisms for avoiding cheats and freeriders, which tend to rely on reputation, or on (explicit and implicit) contracts between individuals, are considerably less effective against short-term visitors. Outsiders, moreover, may behave according to different social norms, which may adversely affect cooperative interactions with them. There are many sources of markers by which insiders and outsiders can be distinguished, but language is a particularly impressive one. If human beings exploit linguistic variation for this purpose, we might expect the exploitation to have an influence on the cultural evolution of language, and to be involved in language divergence, since it introduces a selective pressure, by which linguistic variants are selected on the basis of their social significance. However, there is also a neutral, mechanistic model of dialect formation that relies on unconscious accommodation between interlocutors, coupled with variation in the frequency of interaction, to account for divergence. In studies of real-world communities, these factors are difficult to tease apart. The model described in this thesis put real speakers in the artificial environment of a computer game. A game consisted of a series of rounds in which players were paired up with each other in a pseudo-random order. During a round, pairs of players exchanged typed messages in a highly restricted artificial "alien language". Each player began the game with a certain number of points, distributed between various resources, and the purpose of sending messages was to negotiate to exchange these resources. Any points given away were worth double to the receiver, so, by exchanging resources, players could accumulate points for their team. However, the pairings were anonymous: until the end of a round, players were not told who they had been paired with. This basic paradigm allowed the investigation of the major factors influencing language divergence, as well as the small-scale individual strategies that contribute to it. Two major factors were manipulated: frequency of interaction and competitiveness. In one condition, all players in a game were working together; in another condition, players were put into teams, such that giving away resources to teammates was advantageous, but giving them to opponents was not. This put a pressure on players to use variation in the alien language to mark identity. A combination of this pressure and a minimum level of interaction between teammates was found to be sufficient for the alien language to diverge into "dialects". Neither factor was sufficient on its own. The results of these experiments suggest that a pressure for the socially based selection of linguistic variants can lead to divergence in a very short time, given sufficient levels of interaction between members of a group.
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Dickinson, Ethan Charles. "Analyzing Language Change and Cue Correlation Through an Iterated Language Learning Paradigm." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/144335.
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Simmonds, Helen Margaret. "Channelling change : evolution in Guernsey Norman French phonology." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/9246.
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This thesis examines evolution in the phonology of Guernesiais, the endangered variety of Norman French indigenous to the Channel Island of Guernsey. It identifies ways in which modern Guernesiais phonology differs from previous descriptions of the variety written between 1870 and 2008, and identifies new patterns of phonological variation which correlate with speaker place of origin within the island. This is accomplished through a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses of a new corpus of speech data. The relationship between the data and other extralinguistic variables such as age and gender is also explored. The Guernsey 2010 corpus was gathered during linguistic interviews held with forty-nine adult native speakers of Guernesiais between July and September 2010. The interviews featured a word list translation task (English > Guernesiais), a series of socio-biographical questions, and a self-assessment questionnaire which sought to elicit information about the participants’ use of Guernesiais as well as their responses to questions relating to language revitalisation issues. The interviews resulted in over 40 hours of recorded material in addition to a bank of written socio-biographical, behavioural and attitudinal data. Analysis of the phonetically transcribed data revealed that a number of phonological features of Guernesiais have evolved, perhaps owing to greater contact with English or through other processes of language change such as levelling. Shifting patterns of diatopic variation indicate that south-western Guernesiais forms are spreading northwards, and this is echoed in the findings of the socio-biographical data. New evidence of diatopic variation in final consonant devoicing and word-final post-obstruent liquid deletion was also found. This thesis concludes that there is still considerable variation in the pronunciation of modern native speakers of Guernesiais, and that this correlates with place of origin within the island. While northern Guernesiais forms have not disappeared entirely, south-western Guernesiais appears set to become the de facto standard for the variety, especially as the political impetus for revitalisation is generated from this area of the island.
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Crosland, Jeffrey Scott. "The Xiamen comparative : syntactic change in progress /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/11084.
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Hughes, Catrin. "Linguistic change and the attitudes to possible language change : a case study Dyfed." Thesis, Aberystwyth University, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.303983.
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Glenn, Tracy A. "The recategorization of "chaos" : a case study of language change and theory change /." Thesis, This resource online, 1990. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-11242009-020011/.
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Kempson, Ruth, and Ronnie Cann. "Dialogue pressures and syntactic change." Universität Potsdam, 2006. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2006/1046/.
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On the basis of the Dynamic Syntax
framework, this paper argues that the
production pressures in dialogue determining
alignment effects and given versus
new informational effects also drive
the shift from case-rich free word order
systems without clitic pronouns into systems
with clitic pronouns with rigid relative
ordering. The paper introduces assumptions of Dynamic Syntax, in particular the building up of interpretation through structural underspecification and update, sketches the attendant account of production with close coordination of parsing and production strategies, and shows how what was at the Latin stage a purely pragmatic, production-driven decision about linear ordering becomes encoded in the clitics in theMedieval Spanish system which then through successive steps of routinization yield the modern systems with immediately pre-verbal fixed clitic templates.
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Grenier, Mintenko Kimberley D. "eh-ani-pahkaanikiishweyank, approaching language change in Anihshininiimowin." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/MQ62738.pdf.
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Shearer, Samuel R. "Modeling second language change using skill retention theory." Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/34742.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedLoss of foreign language proficiency is a major concern for the Department of Defense (DoD). Despite significant expenditures to develop and sustain foreign language skills in the armed forces, the DoD has not been able to create a sufficient pool of qualified linguists. Many theories and hypotheses about the learning of foreign languages are not based on cognitive processes and lack the ability to explain how and why foreign language proficiency changes. This work analyzed 13 years of Defense Language Institute (DLI data) from over 16,000 military linguists to determine if cognitive-based skill retention theory can adequately explain foreign language change. Relationships between independent variables suggested by skill retention theory and second language change were investigated. Language proficiency and the length of time since DLI graduation demonstrated strong correlations with foreign language change. This research also affirms that decayed foreign language proficiency may be rapidly reacquired upon sufficient re-exposure to the target language. Additionally, this research proposes foreign language proficiency levels that must be attained to reduce language decay. The research findings are important since they may be used to determine a linguists language decay over time and will help schedule appropriate refresher training to reduce decay or maintain current foreign language proficiency.
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Kershaw, Daniel. "Language change and evolution in Online Social Networks." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2018. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/129787/.
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Language is in constant flux, whether through the creation of new terms or the changing meanings of existing words. The process by which language change happens is through complex reinforcing interactions between individuals and the social structures in which they exist. There has been much research into language change and evolution, though this has involved manual processes that are both time consuming and costly. However, with the growth in popularity of osn, for the first time, researchers have access to fine-grained records of language and user interactions that not only contain data on the creation of these language innovations but also reveal the inter-user and inter-community dynamics that influence their adoptions and rejections. Having access to these osn datasets means that language change and evolution can now be assessed and modelled through the application of computational and machine-learning-based methods. Therefore, this thesis looks at how one can detect and predict language change in osn, as well as the factors that language change depends on. The answer to this over-arching question lies in three core components: first, detecting the innovations; second, modelling the individual user adoption process; and third, looking at the collective adoption across a network of individuals. In the first question, we operationalise traditional language acceptance heuristics (used to detect the emergence of new words) into three classes of computation time-series measures computing the variation in frequency, form and/or meaning. The grounded methods are applied to two osn, with results demonstrating the ability to detect language change across both networks. By additionally applying the methods to communities within each network, e.g. geographical regions, on Twitter and Subreddits in Reddit, the results indicate that language variation and change can be dependent on the community memberships. The second question in this thesis focuses on the process of users adopting language innovations in relation to other users with whom they are in contact. By modelling influence between users as a function of past innovation cascades, we compute a global activation threshold at which users adopt new terms dependent on exposure to them from their neighbours. Additionally, by testing the user interaction networks through random shuffles, we show that the time at which a user adopts a term is dependent on the local structure; however, a large part of the influence comes from sources external to the observed osn. The final question looks at how the speakers of a language are embedded in social networks, and how the networks' resulting structures and dynamics influence language usage and adoption patterns. We show that language innovations diffuse across a network in a predictable manner, which can be modelled using structural, grammatical and temporal measures, using a logistic regression model to predict the vitality of the diffusion. With regard to network structure, we show how innovations that manifest across structural holes and weak ties diffuse deeper across the given network. Beyond network influence, our results demonstrate that the grammatical context through which innovations emerge also play an essential role in diffusion dynamics - this indicates that the adoption of new words is enabled by a complex interplay of both network and linguistic factors. The three questions are used to answer the over-arching question, showing that one can, indeed, model language change and forecast user and community adoption of language innovations. Additionally, we also show the ability to apply grounded models and methods and apply them within a scalable computational framework. However, it is a challenging process that is heavily influenced by the underlying processes that are not recorded within the data from the osns.
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Ross, William Alexander. "Septuagint lexicography and language change in Greek 'Judges'." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2019. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/290420.
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This dissertation identifies and addresses key issues in Septuagint lexicography using case studies from the Greek version of Judges. The first chapter outlines the state of the question on the textual history of Judges in Hebrew and Greek, and also presents my lexicographical method and related matters. Chapter two surveys the history of Septuagint lexicography. I demonstrate how data about the meaning of Septuagint vocabulary has been insufficiently or in appropriately derived, expressed, and/or documented. I also highlight debates over the nature of post-classical Greek and the language of the Septuagint, which has predisposed scholars against viewing the Septuagint corpus as part of post-classical Greek in general. By pointing out methodological flaws that have plagued Septuagint lexicography-as well as theoretical problems in a Hebrew-priority view of the language-I argue for a Greek-priority view that evaluates Septuagint vocabulary in light of contemporary sources and emphasizes the importance of documentary evidence. The following chapters provide case studies from Greek Judges that demonstrate the benefits of a Greek-priority view. Many cases of consistent vocabulary disagreement in the textual history of the book cannot be explained on the basis of the Hebrew text nor given the data available in current lexicons. Examination of post-classical Greek evidence demonstrates that the motivation for the language change is multifaceted, but clearly includes matters of style and semantics in Greek independent from the source text. Chapter three focuses on παρατάσσω and παράταξις; chapter four on παιδάριον, παιδίον, νεανίας, and νεάνισκος; and chapter five on ἀπάντησις and συνάντησις. Each chapter concludes by discussing the relevance of the evidence for Septuagint lexicography, the motivation underlying the revision of Greek Judges, and the potential of Septuagint vocabulary to inform Greek lexicography in general. Chapter six summarizes my lexical analysis and discusses the benefits of a Greek-priority approach and its value for Septuagint lexicography. I posit a time-frame for the translation and revision of Greek Judges based on linguistic evidence. I conclude by emphasizing the need for renewed efforts in Septuagint lexicography to incorporate literary and nonliterary post-classical Greek sources. To address this need, I provide several sample lexicon entries for words discussed in the preceding study.
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Nikitina, Tatiana V. "The mixing of syntactic properties and language change /." May be available electronically:, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTU1MTUmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=12498.
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Stamp, R. J. "Sociolinguistic variation, language change and contact in the British Sign Language (BSL) lexicon." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2013. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1393284/.
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BSL exhibits considerable regional lexical variation. Results from previous studies suggest that there has been a reduction in regional differences since the introduction of BSL on television (Woll et al., 1991) and increased regional contact (Woll, 1987). Based on these findings, this project aims to investigate lexical variation and change in BSL and its relationship to regional contact. Regional variation in the signs for colours, countries, numbers and UK place names were analysed from the BSL Corpus Project data (Schembri et al., under review) to consider their correlation with signers’ age, gender, school location, social class, ethnicity, teaching experience and language background (whether the signer has deaf or hearing parents). The results suggest that levelling may be taking place with younger signers using a decreasing variety of regionally distinct variants. Dialect contact and long-term linguistic accommodation are considered to be contributing factors in levelling (Trudgill, 1986). To investigate this as a possible explanation for language change, 25 pairs of BSL signers from different regional backgrounds were involved in a conversational ‘Diapix’ task (Van Engen et al., 2010) and a comprehension task. Observation of the conversational data reveals that, despite conflicting evidence as to the degree of comprehension of BSL regional varieties (e.g., Kyle & Allsop, 1982; Woll et al., 1991), participants had no difficulties understanding one another. It appears that signers from different regions often rely on English mouthing produced simultaneously with signing to disambiguate the meaning of regional signs. Results also suggest that participants performed best comprehending Birmingham and London varieties. Lexical accommodation was found to be minimal suggesting that language change in BSL is not influenced primarily by contact with other varieties but rather that language change appears to be the result of recent changes in language transmission (i.e., the closure of schools for deaf children)
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Friðriksson, Finnur. "Language change vs. stability in conservative language communities a case study of Icelandic /." Göteborg : Humanistiska fakulteten, Göteborgs universitet, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2077/18713.
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Ratte, Alexander Takenobu. "Contact-Induced Phonological Change in Taiwanese." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313497239.
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Griffiths, Sascha Sebastian. "The Effects of language ecology in Wawa : change in a minority language of Cameroon." Thesis, University of Kent, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.604007.
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Woodman, Karen. "A study of linguistic, perceptual and pedagogical change in a short-term intensive language program." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq36654.pdf.
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Rusch, Michaela. "Changing Northern Ireland – Reflections in Language Usage and Change." Doctoral thesis, Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz, 2017. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:ch1-qucosa-229791.
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With respect to its troubled past Northern Ireland has constantly been a field of interest, academic research and discourse. Certain periods in this past, like for example the “Troubles” (a time of violent struggle that began in 1969/70), sooner or later tend to create a particular approach towards language usage. As research has already been carried out on the “Troubles” and its language usage the question now remains in how far the application of lexical items would be changing through the impact of the so called peace process. Examining the language use surrounding this process a wide range of phenomena in the field of politics and social affairs but also in society could be analysed and discussed, assuming that change for some reason developed here.
Investigating such circumstances further this empirical interdisciplinary study in the shape of a corpus analysis addresses the presumed language change in Northern Ireland by employing news texts (Belfast Telegraph, BBC Northern Ireland and An Phoblacht) of the period from 1995 to 2009 (i.e. before and after the Good Friday Agreement a negotiated settlement between Catholics and Protestants in 1998) for the analysis to attempt to establish a link between changing semantic and lexical units, and to some extend to even find a relation to alleged gradual social change. The evaluation is based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of thematically pre-selected keywords in the areas of politics, social affairs, and society.
Generally it could therefore be concluded that change – though marginal in numbers – appears perceivable. Despite a detailed examination and evaluation (qualitative and quantitative) it needs to be pointed out, however, that the findings of correlating social and linguistic variables could in the end only imply a kind of relation – contrary to the expectations in the beginning. Perhaps, in some cases, gradual change could be illustrated like for example with the name change of the police (RUC to PSNI) or changed social terminology. Nevertheless this study created an important contribution of research on post-“Troubles” Northern Ireland as it brings this statelet back into focus on the one hand and in addition prompts questions on the challenges of future language usage in societies that experienced violent conflict on the other.
Corpus and Appendix on CD-Rom for printed copy available at University Library Chemnitz and German National Library
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Marquez, Gabriel L. "Refactoring for paradigm change in the interactive data language." To access this resource online via ProQuest Dissertations and Theses @ UTEP, 2007. http://0-proquest.umi.com.lib.utep.edu/login?COPT=REJTPTU0YmImSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=2515.
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Rohrdantz, Christian [Verfasser]. "Visual Analytics of Change in Natural Language / Christian Rohrdantz." Konstanz : Bibliothek der Universität Konstanz, 2014. http://d-nb.info/1047063166/34.
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Langstrof, Christian. "Vowel Change in New Zealand English - Patterns and Implications." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Linguistics, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/930.
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This thesis investigates change in a number of phonological variables in New Zealand English (NZE) during a formative period of its development. The variables under analysis are the short front vowels /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, the front centring diphthongs /ɪə/ and /ɛə/, and the so-called 'broad A' vowel. The sample includes 30 NZE speakers born between the 1890s and the 1930s (the 'Intermediate period'). Acoustic analysis reveals that the short front vowel system develops into one with two front vowels and one central vowel over the intermediate period via a push chain shift. There is evidence for complex allophonisation in the speech of early intermediate speakers. I argue that duration plays an important role in resolving overlap between vowel distributions during this time. With regard to the front centring diphthongs there is approximation of the nuclei of the two vowels in F1/F2 space over the intermediate period as well as incipient merger in the speech of late intermediate speakers. Although the merger is mainly one of gradual approximation, it is argued that patterns of expansion of the vowel space available to both vowels are also found. The analysis carried out on the 'broad A' vowel reveals that whereas flat A was still present in the speech of the earlier speakers from the sample, broad A had become categorical toward the end of the intermediate period. It is shown that, by and large, the process involves discrete transfer of words across etymological categories. The final chapters discuss a number of theoretical implications. Processes such as the NZE front vowel shift suggest that a number of previously recognised concepts, such as 'tracks' and 'subsystems', may either have to be relaxed or abandoned altogether. It is argued that chain shifts of this type come about by rather simple mechanisms that have a strong resemblance to functional principles found in the evolution of organisms. A case for 'fitness' of variants of a given vowel will be made. Phonological optimisation, on the other hand, is not a driving force in this type of sound change.
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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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Schulte, Kim. "Prepositional infinitives in Romance : a usage-based approach to syntactic change /." Oxford [u.a.] : Lang, 2007. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=016327219&line_number=0004&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.
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Dede, Keith Randall Sean. "Language contact, variation and change : the locative in Xining, Qinghai /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/11076.
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Chan, Ping-kwan Walter. "Evaluation of the tailoring scheme in Chinese language : a case study /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1996. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B17599271.
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Lynch, Michael Patrick. "Target language use in Modern Language classrooms : perception and change among newly qualified teachers in Scotland." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20424.
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In this thesis I investigate the practices and perceptions of some Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) of modern foreign languages (MFL) in Scotland in relation to how they use the target language (L2). I seek to answer the questions “In what different ways do student teachers of modern languages use the target language in Scottish secondary school classrooms?’, ‘What reasons do they give for how they use it?” and “In what way(s), if any, do newly qualified teachers of modern languages change teaching pedagogy in their initial stages of teaching in relation to the use of the target language and what reasons do they give for any changes they make?”. The issue arises because of the continuing gap between what initial teacher education (ITE) advocates in respect of L2 use and what qualified teachers say they do, in so far as there is evidence in this area. There is little empirical evidence relating to how and why MFL NQTs develop the practices and perceptions of qualified teachers. Data was gathered through an online questionnaire issued to all modern languages teachers in Scotland and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a small group of PGDE (Secondary) Modern Languages students at the end of their PGDE year and at the end of their first year of teaching as NQTs. Audio-recordings of the NQTs were also made during this first year of teaching. Data from the four sources were analysed using an inductive approach, remaining flexible in terms of extending, modifying and discarding categories. The findings revealed that the NQTs used considerably less target language during their NQT year and had changed their views on the target language substantially since their PGDE year. They reported that they found it difficult to use L2 for discipline, grammar teaching, explaining things and for social chat. At the same time there were huge changes in their practice and big changes in their views vis-à-vis L2 use. Significantly, the data revealed that these changes in practice and views happened very quickly, were a lot starker and occurred a lot faster than previously thought. This situation seems to have many causes – influences from experienced colleagues, survival tactics, how teachers develop their own pedagogy and identity as teachers. This thesis recommends that those involved in ITE and Career Long Professional Learning look particularly at the two areas of situated learning and teacher cognition in relation to the use of the target language. It further recommends collaborative research between teachers in schools and other agencies, such as Education Scotland and local authority quality improvement officers, together with teacher educators to develop an understanding of how to promote effective learning and teaching strategies in relation to the use of the target language in class.
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Cunha, Maria Jandyra. "The Yudja of Xingu : language, literacy and social change among speakers of an endangered language." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.242836.
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Geeslin, Kimberly Louise. "The second language acquisition of copula choice in Spanish and its relationship to language change." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288962.
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While many linguists point to the value of using data from second language acquisition (SLA) to explore theories of language change, few conduct work in this area. The primary objective of this dissertation is to bridge the gap between these fields by examining the SLA of copula choice before adjectives in Spanish. Historically, the copulas 'ser' and 'estar' have been in competition as the latter has been adopted in new contexts with a wider variety of adjectives. Current sociolinguistic research shows that this change has been accelerated by contact with English (Silva-Corvalan, 1986) but that the change itself was already present in Mexico where contact with English is unlikely Gutierrez, 1992). Gutierrez (1992) identifies classes of adjectives which appear to undergo change first, and based on his findings, makes predictions about the direction of future changes. The classification scheme which enabled Gutierrez (1992) to show how the extension of 'estar˚' progressed also allows for a new approach to classification of SLA data. Previous studies on the SLA of 'ser' and 'estar' (Ryan and Lafford, 1992, Briscoe, 1995) have focused on stages of acquisition, but not within the context 'copula + adjective'. By using data from conversations, picture descriptions and contextualized judgment tasks with English speaking high school students of Spanish at various proficiency levels, the predictions in Gutierrez (1992) can be tested on the order of SLA of the copula+adjective structure. In so doing, the results are expected to shed light on the relationship between SLA and language change.
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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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De, Smit Merlijn. "Language contact and structural change : An Old Finnish case study." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för baltiska språk, finska och tyska, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-1402.
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The object of this study is to shed new light on both the influence exerted on Finnish by the Swedish language, and on the mechanisms by which language contact in structural domains takes place. It is argued that syntactic borrowing should be regarded as a subtype of reanalysis and extension rather than as an independent mechanism. Also, the need to regard linguistic structural change as teleologically motivated rather than deterministically caused is stressed. Possibilities to apply a framework based on A.N. Whitehead’s process philosophy to language change are explored. The corpus consists of six legal translations from the 1580s to 1759. The areas studied, all relating to Finnish object and subject marking, are those of the Finnish passive, which under foreign influence has shown tendencies to change from a typically non-promotional passive to a promotional passive; Finnish necessitive constructions, which form an active-stative subsystem within Finnish with marked active subjects and unmarked objects/non-active subjects but have shown tendencies to develop a nominative-accusative system in dialects influenced by Swedish; and the Finnish relative word "kuin", which has been taken to be a Swedish calque modelled on "som". The result is a complex interplay of reanalyses and extensions with foreign model patterns involved to a varying degree. Development of a promotional passive seems to involve both internal semantic factors and Swedish models. Necessitive subjects appear to be marked or unmarked on the basis of a merger between constructions involving active subjects and passive objects, possibly modelled on Swedish. And the relative word "kuin" has been integrated into Old Finnish in a way at odds with the usage of the model pattern. This vindicates abandoning the dichotomy between “internal” and “external” changes, and regarding language contact as a background factor rather than as an independent cause.
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Ehala, Martin. "Self-organisation and language change : the theory of linguistic bifurcations." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1995. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/252057.
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Smit, Merlijn de. "Language contact and structural change an old Finnish case study /." Stockholm : Stockholm University, 2007. http://www.diva-portal.org/su/abstract.xsql?dbid=1402.
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Rose, Veronica. "Predicting Expressive Language Change in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder." Thesis, Griffith University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/378077.
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Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show differences in their communication development when compared to children who are typically developing and other clinical populations. In addition, children with ASD show divergence and delays in their expressive language when compared to each other, and a reported 30% do not develop spoken language even with access to early intervention. In order to support children with ASD in their communication development, there is a critical need for (a) detailed accounts of the emergence of expressive language for children receiving early intervention, (b) investigation of factors that might explain differences in expressive language abilities, and (c) investigation of sensitive predictors of expressive language change for children receiving early intervention.
Children with ASD are often recommended augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) as part of early intervention to augment existing communication abilities, thus providing a complementary communication system while supporting early language development. Augmentative and alternative communication can be introduced as a focused intervention to target communication specifically, or it can be introduced as part of a comprehensive intervention program targeting multiple domains of learning. When used as part of a comprehensive intervention program, AAC is believed to support communication development broadly, including children’s use of spoken language.
Despite emerging evidence for its effectiveness as a focused intervention and potential to support spoken language development within the context of comprehensive interventions, little research exists examining the mechanisms underpinning outcomes of AAC interventions. The current project aimed to address this gap by investigating both the emergence of expressive language in children with ASD, and factors underpinning concurrent and longitudinal expressive language abilities for children receiving an AAC-infused comprehensive intervention program.
This research was conducted as a series of three studies: Study 1 investigated the communication profiles of 246 children with ASD upon entry and exit to a comprehensive early intervention program; Study 2 investigated mechanisms underpinning concurrent expressive language abilities, and Study 3 investigated predictors of longitudinal expressive language abilities, in 48 children with ASD receiving an AAC-infused comprehensive intervention program. The findings from Study 1 documented that 58.7% of children who started early intervention as minimally verbal remained minimally verbal after approximately 12 months of intervention, while 41.3% went on to develop phrase speech (using two-word phrases), highlighting an as yet unmet clinical need, as well as research need to understand these differences. The findings from Study 2 challenged previously held beliefs regarding word learning abilities in children with ASD, and extended on previous research by investigating the relationship between symbolic word learning and expressive language level. By focusing on processes that might be relevant to children’s development within interventions incorporating AAC, the findings from Study 3 provided preliminary data on the characteristics of children who might experience the largest gains in spoken language within AAC-infused comprehensive interventions.
This research demonstrated a novel approach to investigating variability in expressive language development in children with ASD. The findings from this research demonstrate potential to explain some of the variability through analysis of social-cognitive learning processes that might help predict change within intervention. Finally, the findings of this research have potential to inform how researchers and clinicians approach individual differences in all children who present with complex developmental profiles.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School Allied Health Sciences
Griffith Health
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Wada, Tazuru. "TEACHER CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2016. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/389700.
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Teaching & LearningEd.D.
This study is a qualitative inquiry of eight mid-career second language (L2) teachers’ identity evolution. These teachers have or had full-time or tenured teaching experience in secondary schools in Japan. Since they were mid- and later career teachers, they have explored their development, what they are now, and why they keep growing. They have all made meaningful voluntary changes in their professional lives. To make meaningful voluntary changes at moments of transitions, the teachers have made choices and negotiated, or juggled, their identities. They are successful teachers who have tenaciously pursued what matters to themselves professionally throughout their lives. One unfilled niche in the L2 teacher development and education is research on redefining L2 teachers who began their careers in secondary education in Japan, make meaningful voluntary changes in mid-career, and make apparently difficult work situations negotiable. The three purposes of this study are to (a) explore why and how L2 teachers’ identity evolution and their professional growth at mid-career happen; (b) learn more about the complexity of teacher change mechanisms at mid-career, and; (c) highlight ways that teachers whose professional development has stalled can grow out of their stagnation by examining the lives of successful mid-career and later career teachers. Eight L2 teachers participated in this study, recruited between 2005 and 2010. Interviews are the main source of data collection. I triangulated the data with email exchanges, class visits, and public documents such as Curriculum Vitae, syllabi, and curriculum descriptions given to students in a current or former class, handouts used in class, and published research articles. The data analysis was grounded in Riessman’s (2008) thematic and structural narrative analysis for identity evolution. Using these frameworks, I analyzed the data by(a) looking for stories and events in the telling as well as searching for identity negotiation and evolution with the participants with thematic analysis, which applied to all the participants, and (b) seeking contextual, discursive, and interpersonal cohesion and meanings with structural narrative analysis, which was applied to one participant. What each participant deemed important determined what kind of L2 teacher they wanted to become. With their efforts to keep evolving as L2 teachers through reflection, action, and negotiation they became consciously aware of what mattered to them. Their conscious awareness prompted them to exercise agency to plan meaningful changes.
Temple University--Theses
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Brackney, Noel C. "The origins of Slavonic : language contact and language change in ancient eastern Europe and western Eurasia." Thesis, Muenchen LINCOM Europa, 2004. http://d-nb.info/985960000/04.
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Goodfellow, Anne Marie. "Language, culture, and identity, social and cultural aspects of language change in two Kwak'wala-speaking communities." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ38891.pdf.
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Toyota, Junichi. "Diachronic change in the English passive /." Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. http://opac.nebis.ch/cgi-bin/showAbstract.pl?u20=9780230553453.
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Tristram, Anna Carolyn. "Variation and change in verbal agreement with collective nouns in French." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.610195.
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Oshiro, Tokiko. "Aspects of semantic change in honorific verbs of the Okinawan language." Connect to resource, 1987. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1226942508.
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