Academic literature on the topic 'Linguistic primacy'

The prescriptive approach has been prevalent in discussions about the linguistic norm for many decades. Many linguists question the primacy of social custom and make many arbitrary changes to establish the subjective form of the norm. In connection with the planned The Dictionary of Proper Uses of Languagethe author of the article presents the best structuralist traditions and calls for research on the linguistic norm which is based on descriptive methods. It is necessary to completely break away from all manifestations of arbitrariness and subjectivity in contemporary prescriptive linguistics. The fundamental premise that the linguistic norm is a fact based on usus must be reflected in relevant procedures aimed at analyzing corpora consisting of millions of words. Such an approach will make it possible to establish a model that comprises more than just individual language uses. As far as dictionary definitions are concerned, the most frequent, widespread and thus typical linguistic units should be primarily considered to be normative. Typicality, determined by frequency, as well as textual, social and territorial conditions, is the most important category.

In the first section of this paper I review the notion of Radical Interpretation, introduced by Donald Davidson in order to account for linguistic meaning and propositional thought. It is then argued that this concept, as embedded in Davidson's whole philosophical system, gives rise to a view of communication as a key explanatory concept in the social sciences. In the second section of the paper it is shown how this view bears upon the question as to what the bounds of linguistic behaviour are. As opposed to major psychological and sociological perspectives on language, Davidson's communication-centred position gives rise to an inclusive, context-dependent answer to this question.

Summary This paper deals with the linguistic subjects in Theophrastus redivivus (1659?), an anonymous masterpiece of French Free-thinkers movement. Attention is paid, firstly, to the criticism of the concept of god, whose existence is denied mainly on linguistic grounds; secondly, to the anti-Cartesian discussion of the alleged ‘primacy’ of humans, which also is denied with the argument that all animals share both reason and extrinsic discourse, although in forms different from ours. Particular attention is given to the argumentative structure of TR, which reveals an original fusion of Epicurean epistemology and of suggestions borrowed from the ancient Naturalism, notably as found in Aristotle’s Historia animalium

Some explanations of abstract word learning suggest that these words are learnt primarily from the linguistic input, using statistical co-occurrences of words in language, whereas concrete words can also rely on non-linguistic, experiential information. According to this hypothesis, we expect that, if the learner is not able to fully exploit the information in the linguistic input, abstract words should be affected more than concrete ones. Embodied approaches instead argue that both abstract and concrete words can rely on experiential information and, therefore, there might not be any linguistic primacy. Here, we test the role of linguistic input in the development of abstract knowledge with children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing children aged 8–13. We show that DLD children, who by definition have impoverished language, do not show a disproportionate impairment for abstract words in lexical decision and definition tasks. These results indicate that linguistic information does not have a primary role in the learning of abstract concepts and words; rather, it would play a significant role in semantic development across all domains of knowledge. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.

Offered is the author’s philosophical understanding of the linguistic heritage of two iconic figures of philology science Ferdinand de Saussure and Nikolai Sergeevich Trubetskoy in search of foundations of the worldview of the era. A look at formation of post-modern in retrospect makes obvious importance of the strategy of structural linguistics and phonology, which in fact became the methodology of structuring history, ethnography, anthropology, poetry, geography, literature, mythology, etc. These strategies offer a fundamentally different view of the world and are definitely marked by the primacy of the language both before and after the post-modernism.

AbstractOver the last two decades, corpus analysis has been used as the basis for several important reference grammars and dictionaries of English. While these reference works have made major contributions to our understanding of English lexis and grammar, most of them share a major limitation: the failure to consider register differences. Instead, most reference works describe lexico-grammatical patterns as if they applied generally to English.The main goal of the present paper is to challenge this practice and the underlying assumption that the patterns of lexical-grammatical use in English can be described in general/global terms. Specifically, I argue that descriptions of the average patterns of use in a general corpus do not accurately describe any register. Rather, the patterns of use in speech are dramatically different from the patterns in writing (especially academic writing), and so minimally an adequate description must recognize the two major poles in this continuum (i.e., conversation versus informational written prose).The paper begins by comparing two general corpus approaches to the study of language use: variationist and text-linguistic. Although both approaches can be used to investigate the use of words, grammatical features, and registers, the two approaches differ in their bases: the first gives primacy to each linguistic token, while the second gives primacy to each text. This difference has important consequences for the overall research design, the kinds of variables that can be measured, the statistical techniques that can be applied, and the particular research questions that can be asked. As a result, the importance of register has been more apparent in text-linguistic studies than in studies of linguistic variation.The bulk of the paper, then, argues for the importance of register at all linguistic levels: lexical, grammatical, and lexico-grammatical. Analyses comparing conversation and academic writing are discussed for each level, showing how a general ‘average’ description includes some characteristics that are not applicable to one or the other register, while also omitting other important patterns of use found in particular registers.

In this paper, I develop a holistic framework for an anti-disciplinary project based in and encompassing the intellectual critiques of colonialism, imperialism, and racism within linguistics in addition to subsuming queer and trans programs of linguistic thought in queering the science of language. This anti-disciplinary project presents a defense of iconoclastic forms of knowledge production that explicitly reject a priori assumptions of the orthodox linguistic canon’s primacy as a body of knowledge and seeks to engage ulterior and auxiliary modes of language science. In rejecting the notion of linear scientific progression – the humanist notion of progress as forward-facing – this project furthermore seeks to move beyond simple critiques, apologetics, and hagiographies and work toward a true repositioning of the field and a productive reimagination of the discipline. To that end, I outline four anti-disciplinary concepts – hetero-cistoriography, transcriptivism, decentralization, and systamatic professionalism – which I argue are productive points of departure from the institution of discipline.

While previous research has shown that bilinguals are able to effectively maintain two sets of phonetic norms, these two phonetic systems experience varying degrees of cross-linguistic influence, driven by both long-term (e.g., proficiency, immersion) and short-term (e.g., bilingual language contexts, code-switching, sociolinguistic) factors. This study examines the potential for linguistic environment, or the language norms of the broader community in which an interaction takes place, to serve as a source of short-term cross-linguistic phonetic influence. To investigate the role of linguistic environment, late bilinguals (L1 English—L2 Spanish) produced Spanish utterances in two sessions that differed in their linguistic environments: an English-dominant linguistic environment (Indiana, USA) and a Spanish-dominant linguistic environment (Madrid, Spain). Productions were analyzed at the fine-grained acoustic level, through an acoustic analysis of voice onset time, as well as more holistically through native speaker global accent ratings. Results showed that linguistic environment did not significantly impact either measure of phonetic production, regardless of a speaker’s second language proficiency. These results, in conjunction with previous results on long- and short-term sources of phonetic influence, suggest a possible primacy of the immediate context of an interaction, rather than broader community norms, in determining language mode and cross-linguistic influence.

Abstract Capone and Bucca argue that legal interpretation can go significantly wrong when founded upon a false conception of language and linguistic practices. This claim is correct. Specifically, semantic-based theories of linguistic meaning that are based upon the idea that a “core” semantic meaning can be identified outside of context and then needs to be “pragmatically enriched” for specific applications get the project of understanding language use in the legal context profoundly backwards. This paper emphasizes the primacy of an embedded pragmatics over other conceptions of linguistic meaning and practice in law. Herman Oliphant, in “A Return to Stare Decisis” offers an argument that helps strengthen the claim for the “primacy of pragmatics” in law. His work also shows that if the primacy of pragmatics is accepted, not only does this have significant impact upon actual legal practice, but it also highlights worrisome blind spots in currently dominant philosophical theories of law. His argument is that a conception of law that is centered upon such an appeal to principle, stare dictis, leads to a legal practice based upon distorting abstractions and a false conception of language use in law pulled out of its worldly roots. Because of this, he argues that stare dictis is detrimental to a living and empirically effective and informed legal system. Hence the need for a return of stare decisis properly understood. His article gives some grounds for critiquing many dominant philosophical theories of law. Oliphant’s theory is, importantly, compatible with, and supported by, a picture of language use offered by Jaszczolt and recent work in neuropragmatism. This, in turn, can be thought as further verification of Capone and Buccas’ assertion that the adoption of a false theory of language can have far ranging and detrimental effects upon legal practice and legal theory.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates teachers' language practices in multilingual classrooms with regard to their attitudes, skills and strategies in their management of linguistic diversity among learners in their first year of primary school. Both the critical interpretive theoretical paradigm adopted and the qualitative research approach employed in the execution of the study presupposed gathering rich data, which a case study design of research assured. The data for the study was gathered from four year one classrooms purposively selected based on parameters that were deemed of interest in this study. These included, but were not limited to, the location of the school, the linguistic diversity among learners in the classrooms and the literacy traditions of the first languages spoken by the learners in the target classrooms. Although the specific context provided real input to the study, the findings may be relevant to language-in-education issues in many other African countries, and even in multilingual communities beyond. The study reveals yawning discrepancies between language policy and practice; between teachers' beliefs about linguistic diversity and their actual language behaviour in the classrooms; and between the definitions of mother tongue provided by the Ministry of Education and teachers' re-interpretations of these definitions in the various contexts studied. The study further indicates that teachers are working in an environment that is not supportive of effective policy implementation. This very limited policy implementation support is reflected in teacher training and preparation, teacher placement criteria, text book production and school examinations. This study indicates that even a sound understanding of linguistic diversity among teachers and their best intentions to give learners a sound foundation, is only the beginning of literacy development of young learners in Kenya. It recommends a new and incisive look at critical aspects of the education system in an effort to synchronise the different levels at which policy and practice need to meet. Various well-informed choices need to be made in the creation of a supportive environment for effective policy implementation. This should include among other things a change in the language-in-education policy to move away from early-exit to late-exit mother tongue education, and more first language maintenance in bilingual or multilingual classrooms. If learners are to benefit from mother tongue instruction in line with current research in the field, much needs to be done. Based on the insights gained in this study, a revision of teacher education curricula to include the management of linguistically diverse learners and improved language awareness is suggested, as is flexible curriculum delivery, scrapping of formal examinations in the early years and introduction of alternative assessment methods in these levels. In later years, bilingual (in some cases even multilingual) tests are bound to lower the drop-out rate and produce more understanding and less rote learning. The aim should be to assure multilingual, multiliteracy development and academic achievement for all learners regardless of their particular linguistic backgrounds.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek onderwysers se taalpraktyke in veeltalige klaskamers ten opsigte van hulle houdings, vaardighede en strategieë in die hantering van talige diversiteit onder leerders in hulle eerste jaar van primêre onderrig. Sowel die vertolkende teoretiese paradigma wat gevolg word as die kwalitatiewe navorsingsbenadering wat die studie aanneem, het daarop gereken dat ingesamelde data ryk sou wees aan inligting; die navorsingsontwerp, naamlik dié van gevallestudie, verseker die verkryging van sulke data. Die studie is gebasseer op inligting wat ingesamel is in vier klaskamers van leerlinge in die eerste skooljaar. Die betrokke navorsingsterreine is telkens doelbewus gekies op grond van die parameters wat belangrik was vir die studie. Dit sluit in, maar is nie beperk tot, die ligging van die skool, die talige diversiteit van die leerders in die klaskamers en die geletterdheidstradisies van die onderskeie eerstetale van die leerders in die geteikende klaskamers. Alhoewel hierdie spesifieke konteks verseker het dat die studie in 'n werklike situasie geanker is, is die bevindinge waarskynlik relevant tov taal-in-onderrig kwessies in verskeie ander Afrikalande, en selfs ook in veeltalige gemeenskappe elders. Hierdie studie onthul gapende ongerymdhede in die verhouding tussen taalbeleid en praktyk; tussen onderwysers se oortuigings rakende talige diversiteit en hulle werklike taalgebruik in die klaskamers; en tussen die omskrywings van moedertaal wat deur die Ministerie van Onderwys voorsien word en die onderwysers se herinterpretasie van hierdie omskrywings binne die verskillende kontekste wat ondersoek word. Die studie dui verder daarop dat onderwysers in ʼn omgewing werk wat nie die effektiewe implementering van beleid ondersteun nie. Sodanige beperkte ondersteuning in die implementering van die beleid word weerspiëel in die opleiding en voorbereiding van onderwysers, die plasingkriteria van onderwysers, die publikasie van handboeke en skooleksamens. Hierdie studie toon aan dat selfs 'n goeie begrip van talige diversiteit onder onderwysers en hulle beste voornemens om aan leerders ʼn vaste grondslag te bied, net 'n eerste tree is in die geletterdheidsontwikkeling van jong leerders in Kenia. Dit stel ʼn nuwe en indringende ondersoek van kritiese aspekte van die onderwyssisteem voor as ʼn poging om die verskillende vlakke waar beleid en praktyk mekaar behoort te ontmoet, te sinchroniseer. Verskeie goed ingeligte besluite sal geneem moet word in die skep van ʼn omgewing wat bevorderlik is vir effektiewe beleidimplementering. Dit sou onder andere ʼn verandering in die taal-in-onderwys beleid insluit om weg te beweeg van die vroeë wegbeweeg moedertaalonderrig na later wegbeweeg van moedertaalonderrig, sowel as meer instandhouding van die eerstetaal in twee- of veeltalige klaskamers. Vir leerders om baat te vind by moedertaalonderrig in oorstemming met huidige insigte uit navorsing in die veld, moet nog baie gedoen word. Gebaseer op die insigte wat in hierdie studie verkry is, word onder andere hersiening van die onderrigkurrikula vir onderwysers voorgestel sodat die hantering van talig-diverse groepe leerders asook verbeterde taalbewustheid daarby ingesluit is. Dieselfde geld ontwikkeling van buigbare kurrikula, die skrapping van formele eksaminering in die vroeë skooljare en die instelling van alternatiewe assesseringsmetodes op hierdie vlakke. In die later jare sal tweetalige (in sommige gevalle selfs veeltalige) toetse beslis die uitvalsyfer verlaag, asook meer begrip en minder leë memorisering tot gevolg te hê. Die doel moet wees om veeltalige, multi-geletterheidsontwikkeling en akademiese prestasie vir alle leerders te verseker ongeag hulle spesifieke talige agtergrond.
The African Doctoral Academy (ADA) at Stellenbosch University through the Partnership for Africa's Next Generation of Academics (PANGEA), for providing the funds

Throughout the English-speaking world, minority language children (LMC) or children who speak English as an additional language (EAL) are being educated in mainstream classrooms where they have little or no opportunity to use their mother tongue. This study investigates how educators at primary schools in Merseyside, where English is usually the only language in the classroom, respond to the educational and academic needs (linguistic, cognitive) of LMC/EAL children. It addresses socio-linguistic issues, teaching strategies and instructional approaches related to linguistic development and academic achievement of LMCIEAL pupils. It outlines the background to policy and practice in relation to LMCIEAL pupils in Britain. School districts across the United Kingdom are serving increasing number of children from varied cultural and social-linguistic backgrounds in mainstream classrooms. While the population of LMC/EAL will continue to increase, the majority of teachers and those in teacher programs are mainly from a white British background with limited awareness, knowledge and understanding of linguistic needs of LMC/EAL children in mainstream classrooms. Thus, a major challenge for educators is to develop and provide resources that enable teaching such diverse populations to become more effective. The research investigates in particular, how well local authorities and schools can raise standards for all learners in mainstream primary classrooms and examines the ways in which mainstream educational policy and practice has attempted to adapt in recognising that linguistic diversity is the norm rather than the exception in modem British society. The research focuses on what instructional strategies that schools employ in order to provide the best support for language minority children in the classroom in term of the individually focused approaches to learning, closer link between school and home and resources available for schools serving LMC/EAL pupils. The focus of this research is on the experience of staff from 20 primary schools within two local authorities in Merseyside. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews with the primary schools staff and local authority advisers and government/school policy documents were used as data sources. The results of the study showed that the institution and community (use of first language) play a role in academic achievement of LMC/EAL pupils. The study revealed that teachers within mainstream classrooms recognise the importance of bilingualism, but due to the lack of resources and support, they found it hard to put it into practice. The results indicated that most participants were from a dominant language (English) background, which lack the awareness and experience needed to be effective in multi cultural classrooms. Suggestions are made for improved content delivery and further research including bilingualism as a teaching approach should become a legitimate topic for discussion and further research.

Includes bibliographical references.
This ethnographic, sociolinguistic study describes the writing practices of teachers and students in a Portuguese-language primary school in Mozambique. In the classroom, teachers and students engage in a text-chain ritual in which the teacher copies a text from the textbook onto the chalkboard, which is then copied by the students into their notebooks. Using the theoretical framework of social semiotics, this study situates classroom writing within a range of multimodal practices which scaffold the written texts. This study employs the notion of resemiotization in order to describe the ways in which signs are transformed as they move between different sites of display. This resemiotization is framed by educational ritual with the language of instruction, Portuguese, being a second language (hereafter ‘L2’) to most of the students. Because of the linguistic constraints of the L2, rote- copying practices predominate in the classroom. Copying allows lessons to move forward despite the comprehension difficulties of the students. The text-chain is shown to be simultaneously reductive and expansive. Subsequent links tend to be reduced representations of their originating signs even while these signs serve as the basis for expansive multimodal ensembles which include speech, drawing and gesture, as well as the use of the students’ home language. This study employ s the notion of mimesis in order to account for the ways in which the resemiotization observed in the classroom is both imitative and creative. Each instance of writing imitates a previous link in the text-chain but also shows evidence of teachers and students creatively shaping their texts. In order to study these writing practices, more than 40 classroom lessons were observed during two research trips to Tete, Mozambique. This study used observation and photographic data-records to trace the movement of texts over the course of a lesson. Photographs of the chalkboard were taken as the chalkboard text grew and changed. In each classroom, six students were selected and their notebook writing photographed. The photographing of the chalkboard and notebooks allowed for the comparison of these texts as they were produced in the classroom. Additionally, teachers and educators were interviewed to provide insight on classroom writing practices. During these interviews, teachers were asked to describe their schooling experience and compare it with schooling today. Teachers and educators also provided background information on bilingual education and their use of a technique known as currículo local , ‘local curriculum’ , in which teachers use local language and culture to create connections between classroom knowledge and students’ existing knowledge. This thesis draws attention to the complexity of writing practices in L2 classrooms. Writing is shown to be a term that covers a wide range of practices including rote copying, drawing, doodling, and pseudo-writing. These writing practices take place in an environment marked by linguistic and semiotic diversity. This thesis expands the use of the term resemiotization by looking in detail at the material and social processes that occur in the classroom. Additionally, this thesis draws attention to ritual as an organizing principle for resemiotizing processes in which institutional forces and authorized language influence and shape local practices. The use of the notion of mimesis allows this analysis to account for the ways in which resemiotization involves both imitation and creativity in a text-chain that exhibits signs of semiotic reduction while simultaneously facilitating instances of profuse multimodal communication.

This dissertation presents the linguistic ecology of a Spanish-English, bilingual first grade classroom. The term linguistic ecology refers to the communicative behaviors of a group, as well as the physical and social contexts in which their communication occurs. In addition, a linguistic ecology includes the reciprocal influences of persons and environment on each other. Two questions guided this study: (1) How do the children interpret the roles of English and Spanish in their classroom environment? and (2) What resources, human and material, are made available to support the development of both languages in this bilingual classroom? Three over-arching categories were used to describe and analyze the linguistic ecology as viewed by the children: (1) the materials available in the school to support Spanish development; (2) the staffing for bilingual instruction; and (3) the dynamics of language use within the school, especially within one first-grade classroom. The results of this inquiry study strongly suggest that children of bilingual classrooms discern that (1) more time is devoted to English instruction; (2) more communication occurs in English; (3) few teachers have high levels of Spanish proficiency; (4) the personnel of bilingual schools utilize more English than Spanish in the school environment; and (5) Spanish language resource materials are fewer in number and often less appealing than their English-language counterparts. In effect, this case study documents and interprets the social and educational processes through which bilingual children in one U.S. school come to appreciate the prestige and power of English versus Spanish.

A central question in second language acquisition (SLA) is the interaction of internal and external variables, and this dissertation contributes to the field by investigating the effects of bilingualism and aging on language development under different instructional conditions. Prior research suggests that bilingual young adults generally have an advantage over monolinguals in learning a non-primary language (e.g., Cenoz & Valencia, 1994; Sanz, 2000, 2007), an advantage that is more evident in less explicit instructional conditions (e.g., Lado, 2008; Lin, 2009). In addition, research suggests that older adults are better able to learn non-primary languages under less explicit than explicit conditions (Midford & Kirsner, 2005; Lenet et al., 2011). To aid in explaining the role of bilingualism, aging, and instructional conditions on development, this study also measures attentional control (ANT and Simon task), language aptitude (MLAT), and non-linguistic implicit sequence learning (ASRT).

Ninety-four participants who were either young adults (age 18-27) or older adults (age 60+) and either monolingual English speakers or bilingual English/Spanish speakers completed the Latin Project (Sanz, Stafford, & Bowden), targeting the assignment of thematic roles to nouns in Latin, which differs in cues from that of English or Spanish. Participants completed a vocabulary lesson and quiz, a battery of four assessments as pre, immediate post, and delayed posttests, and task-essential practice either with or without previous grammar explanation (more and less explicit instruction). Language development was measured via accuracy and reaction time. Results revealed a bilingual advantage in accuracy, largely due to increased aptitude compared to monolinguals, and especially for bilinguals in the more explicit condition, a finding that differs from studies that used metalinguistic feedback as explicit instruction (e.g., Lado, 2008). In addition, older adults' accuracy did not vary by condition, suggesting that grammar explanations prior to practice are not as disruptive as is metalinguistic feedback (Lenet et al., 2011), nor did it generally differ from young adults' accuracy. Attentional control and non-linguistic implicit sequence learning predicted changes in latency rather than accuracy. These findings add to our understanding of bilingual effects on cognition, mitigate negative stereotypes of aging and learning, and have implications for foreign language pedagogy.

Motivated primarily by a cognitive approach, with consideration of interactional processes from a sociocultural perspective, the present study examined the use of linguistic assistance and peer interaction to facilitate second language (L2) writing of young ESL learners. A total of 257 Year 5 children (age 10) from twelve intact classes (from six different schools) took part in this eight-week intervention-based study. Using a quasi-experimental design, the classes were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups or the control group. Pretests, interim tests, immediate posttests and delayed posttests were administered. As the study concerned both the processes and products of L2 development, peer interaction and children's written production were taken as the two primary sources of data for this study. For the written production, four criteria were used to rate learners’ writings: Quality of ideas, Story shape and structure, Vocabulary and spelling and Implicit grammar. Partial correlation was employed to examine if there were any statistical relationships between treatment and learners’ written performance while controlling for prior attainment. Results show that the provision of enhanced and basic linguistic assistance may have a positive influence on only certain aspects of L2 writing, while opportunities for peer interaction does not appear to have an impact on learners’ L2 performance. For peer interaction, a subset of 60 learners were selected from the two treatment groups which received basic and enhanced linguistic assistance, to compare their dialogic performance. Based on quantitative analyses of their recorded interactions, the findings suggest that the provision of varying degrees of linguistic assistance may affect, not the content of peer discussions, but how peer assistance is given during task. The results also show that through the provision of linguistic assistance, peer interaction mediates the participants’ performance on Quality of ideas, Story shape and structure and Implicit grammar in their subsequent individual writing.

This thesis uses a multimodal approach to explore how three lower primary teachers manage dialogic space in their respective classrooms during the Shared Book Approach (SBA) lessons, where they read big books to their students while holding whole class discussions. Against the backdrop of recent policies and initiatives by Ministry of Education, Singapore and the aims of the 2010 English Language Syllabus, interactions between teacher and students have received much attention. The body of work on classroom discourse in Singapore mostly focuses on speech, to the exclusion of other semiotic resources that make meaning in the classroom. This study finds that during SBA lessons in the lower primary, teachers use a variety of other semiotic resources such as gestures, space, written words and images. Through a detailed consideration of these semiotic resources, the aims of this research are to investigate how three teachers manage dialogic space during whole class discussions in SBA lessons, the issues arising from their practice and insights specifically given by the use of the Systemic Functional - Multimodal Discourse Analysis or SF-MDA (O’Halloran, 2007, 2011) adopted in this study. The employment of the SF-MDA has proven to be productive in establishing the way the teachers combine the different semiotic resources of speech and gesture to expand dialogic space by asking open-ended questions while gesturing with the supine hand position; and contracting dialogic space by, for example, asking seemingly open-ended questions while pointing to the answers in the big books. This could be seen as a scaffolding technique in reducing the options available to students. Teachers are found to be less reliant on the prone hand gesture in contracting dialogic space.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
This thesis traces the trajectories of a group of young Cameroonian learners as they engage in new social and educational spaces in two South African primary schools. Designed as a Linguistic Ethnography and using data from observations, interviews and more than 50 hours of recorded interaction, it illustrates the ways in which these learners position themselves and are differentially positioned within evolving discourses of inclusion and exclusion. As a current study in a multilingual African context, it joins a growing body of literature in Europe which points to the ways in which young people’s language choices and practices are socially and politically embedded in their histories of migration and implicated in relations of power, social difference and social inequality. The study is a Linguistic Ethnography of young school learners’ language experience, which falls outside the scope of much mainstream research. It is one of very few studies to focus on migrant children in contexts of the South where multilingualism is the reality yet where language-in-education policies tend to follow monoglossic norms. The focus is on how a group of 10-16 year old Cameroonian children use their multilingual repertoires to construct and negotiate identities both inside and outside the classroom. It also investigates in more detail the acts of identity of two individuals entering the same school with different linguistic profiles, who are positioned in differentiated ways in relation to transnational and local flows and interconnections. The context is a low socio-economic suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, where Cameroonian practices of language, class, and ethnicity become entangled with local economies of meaning. The study also contributes to an emerging body of qualitative research that seeks to develop greater understanding of the relationships between language learners, their socio-cultural worlds and processes of identity construction (Cummins, 1996; Gee, 2001; Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998). ; Rampton, 1995, 2006). Recent international and South African studies tend to focus on secondary school learners, showing how they are struggling to negotiate the currents of a complex society (Adebanji, 2010; Sayed, 2002; Sookrajh, Gopal & Maharaj, 2005), although there is a recent and rapidly growing body of Scandinavian research on primary school children (for example, Cekaite & Evaldsson, 2008; Madsen, 2008; Møller, 2009; Møller, Holmen & Jørgensen, 2012). In contrast, the children in this study are negotiating the transition between childhood and adolescence, faced with issues of race, linguistic competence and discrimination at a time when moving from one age group to the next should have been relatively unproblematic. They are thus entangled in different levels of transition: emotional, physical and spatial. These issues of transition and negotiation will be highlighted through the lens of positioning. The concepts of ‘position’ and ‘positioning’ (Davis & Harré, 1990) appear to have origins in marketing, where position refers to the communication strategies that allow certain products to be placed in a market among their competitors (Tirado & Gálvez, 2007, p. 20). Holloway (1984) first used the concept of positioning in the social sciences to analyse the construction of subjectivity in the area of heterosexual relationships (Tirado & Gálvez, 2007). Positioning here was explained as relational processes that constitute interaction with other individuals. The present study focuses on how ‘interactants’ position themselves vis-à-vis their words and texts, their audiences and the contexts they both "respond to and construct linguistically" (Jaffe, 2009, p.3). As they make use of lexical and grammatical tools available to them in interaction, it becomes apparent that the process of identity construction through positioning does not "reside within the individual but in intersubjective relations of sameness and difference, […] power and disempowerment" (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005, p. 607). Thus to interpret multilingual children’s positioning requires a recursive process, using a double perspective: it means looking at the day-to-day moments of interactional and other practices, and also the wider political discourses in which these practices may be embedded and historically rooted (Maguire, 2005) and which they index in different ways. These day-to-day moments of practice thus involve different “acts of identity” (Le Page & Tabouret-Keller, 1985) which can also be described as acts of stance-taking (Jaffe, 2009). A stance may index multiple selves and social identities. However, not all stances are open to everyone: those whose who have their social, cultural or linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1991, 1997) recognized in a particular space will be able to position themselves more strongly there than those who do not. Moreover, stances are not successful unless 'taken up' by interactants (Jaffe, 2009): this uptake may take the form of interlocutors’ stances of alignment, realignment, or misalignment (C. Goodwin, 2007; Matoesian, 2005). Uptake in multilingual contexts is influenced by the prevailing "linguistic market" (Bourdieu, 1991, pp.55-67): day to-day acts of positioning take place in inequitable markets. These ‘markets’ are fertile grounds for social stratification where speech acts and the languages in which they are realized are assigned different symbolic values (Bourdieu, 1991, 1997). Mastery of the 'legitimate' language or languages is then often a pre-condition for claiming symbolic and material resources. New institutional spaces in South Africa become interesting here, because they are characterized by new formations of class, changes in gender roles and relations and other instances of macro-structural shifts. In such spaces, linguistic hierarchies and patterns of distribution of linguistic resources are rapidly changing (Kerfoot & Bello-Nonjengele, 2014). The school as a key institution in the distribution of social, cultural and linguistic capital is thus an important site for exploring the role of language and multilingualism in social and educational change. This thesis sets out to answer the following research questions: a) How do immigrant learners use their linguistic repertoires to construct, negotiate or contest identities in new school spaces? b) How do different spaces enable or constrain the new identities negotiated? c) What are the implications for language learning policy and practice? Data collection took place over two years between February 2010 and June 2013, and followed participants from grades 5 to 7 in the English medium and Afrikaans language classrooms. Participants were 10-16 year old Cameroonian children in two Cape Town schools, ten in each. The study contains nine chapters, with chapter 1 providing an overview of the background, rationale, and conceptual and methodological framework. Chapter 2 traces the shift towards the social in language studies, considering frameworks for understanding the differential values placed on linguistic resources as actors move across social spaces, both local and transnational. Here interaction is viewed as a crucial site for identity construction, generating a social stage through which reality is constructed, shared, and made meaningful. Chapter 3 reviews studies of interactional positioning amongst multilingual learners in social and educational contexts in South Africa and more globally. Chapter 4 focuses on the methodology used in the study, discussing the research design based on Linguistic Ethnography, a qualitative approach which is based on the two broad planks of ethnography and Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS) and which enables an analytical framework combining Conversation Analysis (CA), Discourse Analysis (DA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Together, these analytical tools enable a multifaceted illumination of the construction of identity in discourse. The various tools used in data collection are discussed in depth followed by comment on reflexivity, challenges in the field and limitations of the study. Chapter 5 delineates the researcher’s trajectory in the field. This comprises profiles of the study schools (including the schools’ socio-economic, ethnic and linguistic make-up in relation to teachers and learners), perspectives on why the schools were chosen, the differing receptions to a research presence there, and some reflections on the researcher’s identity construction. The chapter further explores different techniques of data collection within this context: field notes and thick description, interviews, and audio recordings of interactions in and out of schools. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 present and analyse findings from classroom observation and interview data, together with audio-recordings of a group of Cameroonian learners interacting with each other and with children of other nationalities in classrooms, community and home spaces. These chapters aim to illustrate how these learners used linguistic resources to position themselves and others, to build, maintain and negotiate identities, and to assert or negate identifications. Chapters 7 and 8 build on the analysis presented in chapter 6 by focusing respectively on two key emergent themes: owning participatory spaces and defying positioning in multilingual spaces. Chapter 7 centres on the interactional and other means by which a 12 year old Anglophone learner, James, navigated his way increasingly successfully through new social and educational spaces, expanding his linguistic repertoire. Chapter 8 focuses on a 12 year old Francophone learner, Aline, and the ways in which she tried to convert her linguistic capital on new linguistic markets. Her efforts were more often than not met with negative evaluation, leading to a loss of both social and academic identities. The analysis of data thus serves as a rich point of entry for understanding the connections between linguistic repertoires, relations between ethnic groups, youth culture, and the experience of social change. Through their discursive production of selves, these adolescent learners supposed to be negotiating only the normal transition from one age group to the next) are here negotiating the currents of a complex society and dealing with issues of race, language and segregation. Findings suggest that participants had multiple identity options that were negotiated through different practices, from food choices to language and interactional norms. These different identity options were however constrained by existing norms and linguistic hierarchies in each space, allowing some to accommodate new linguistic practices and ways of doing things, while others experienced more ambivalent and contradictory processes of adaptation. In informal settings there was evidence of a third space characterized by a mélange of languages in which both formal and informal versions of English and French, along with Cameroonian Pidgin English (CPE) and other Cameroonian languages, were used. However, even in these settings there was a gradual shift to English, indicating the penetration of macrosocial and institutional discourses into private spaces. The thesis concludes with a set of recommendations for caregivers, teachers and policymakers seeking to create schools more welcoming of diversity. It is hoped, then, that this study will help families and schools to realize the variety of ways in which linguistic repertoires influence school success, both social and educational, and to find ways of using these repertoires for development and learning. In this way, they might contribute to immigrant youngsters’ ability to construct strong identities as learners and valued social beings.

I saggi qui pubblicati documentano le più recenti ricerche linguistiche svolte nell’ambito della slavistica italiana. I contributi raccolti nella prima parte del volume studiano le strutture morfologiche e sintattiche di varie lingue slave; la seconda parte è dedicata all'uso linguistico; l'ultima contiene tre studi sperimentali sull’acquisizione delle lingue slave, un ambito di ricerca particolarmente promettente sia per le applicazioni glottodidattiche, sia per il contributo agli studi sul rapporto fra pensiero e linguaggio. Diverse sono le lingue slave studiate (il ceco, il polacco, il russo, lo sloveno, i dialetti ucraini, le lingue slave meridionali, tra cui le parlate dei pomacchi nei monti Rodopi), diverse le prospettive (diacronica e sincronica) e vari gli approcci metodologici, a testimonianza della ricchezza e della progressiva maturazione degli studi linguistici all’interno della slavistica italiana.

Giovan Girolamo Carli, a Sienese scholar (1719-1786), focused on the language of the Letters, usually considered a secondary aspect compared to their historical and theological value. Probably pushed by an anonimous client, Carli was planning to publish the first critical edition of the Letters, strictly philological, supported by insights on the life of the Blessed and a dictionary. His manuscript drafts, even incomplete, are however a precious source for reconstructing the original documents tradition, since he directly consulted and compared different and authoritative copies. Carli's purpose was to celebrate a fellow citizen, but also to prove the Sienese linguistic primacy instead of the Florentine one – as in art historiography –, and propose an authentic style against the contemporary mediocrity.

The definition of orthoepy as “a branch of linguistics that studies pronunciation norms” tends to determine the understanding of its tasks as exclusively prescriptive, and that of orthoepy as a whole as an applied area, par excellence. Its other component, purely linguistic, is present in the problem of the correlation between the system and the norm, traditionally central to the school of Lev Shcherba. In essence, this problem is a particular case of the Saussurian “language — speech” dichotomy, which is the reason for regarding orthoepy as a purely linguistic discipline and for discerning two points of view on its object, those “from within” and “from without.” The latter implies a conscious attitude towards the choice, from several possibilities, of one unit as a normative or “correct” with the establishment of the systemic status of this unit. This point of view on language, which emerged almost simultaneously with the awareness of it as an inherently human capacity (Plato), is reflected both in the early evidence of “language prestige” (Catullus, Cicero) and in the works of “intuitive linguists,” either relying on a certain norm (Alexandrian grammarians) or creating it (English orthoepists). In turn, the norm is synonymous to speech, which exists at a given synchronic stage; it changes either as a result of the alternative possibilities offered by the system (language dynamics) or due to the transition of the system to another synchronic stage (linguistic change per se), cf. Ludmila Verbitskaya’s formulation in The Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary: “The phonological system of a language completely determines the pronunciation norm. The norm can change within the system provided new forms gradually replace the old ones under the influence of extralinguistic factors or as a result of changes that have taken place in the system.” In this context, the primary task of interpreters of early orthoepic evidence (first of all, historians of language) is to identify factors belonging to two fundamentally different spheres. Ignoring this circumstance in the research procedures, characteristic of (chronologically or ideologically) pre–Saussurian (pre–Baudouin de Courtenay) linguistics, leads to a confusion of factors, including systemic and extra–linguistic ones, and, moreover, of the fundamental notions, (diachronic) change and (synchronic) variation, which, among other things, is reflected in the idea of ‘recent changes’ in the system (in fact, in the norm) and in the popular notion of “language in the state of (constant) flux.” On the contrary, the consistent differentiation, in research procedures, of different factors interacting in the functioning of language system, and thus discerning between the two points of view on it, “from within” and “from without,” makes orthoepy an integral part of linguistics as a fundamental science of language, providing theoretical justification for its applied component, the latter’s goals having been formulated, for all times, as a maxime to “speak properly and correctly.” Refs 29.

Designers bring individual knowledge and perspectives to the team. The hypothesis tested in this research is that semantic and grammatical structures (the language through which concepts are expressed) enable designers to bridge relations among ideas stored in each designer’s mind and from this to generate design concepts. This paper describes a linguistic and a computational method to examine the grammatical and semantic structure of design conversations and the linguistic processes by which individuals bridge their knowledge to the group’s ongoing knowledge accumulation. To test the hypothesis, we conducted a linguistic (systemic functional linguistics) and computational linguistic (lexical chain analysis) analysis of a design team conversation The computational analysis revealed hypernym relations as the primary lexico-syntactic pattern by which designers offer, interrelate and develop concepts. The linguistic analysis highlighted the grammatical linguistic features that actively contribute to the generation of design content by teams. These analyses point to the prospect of a functional correspondence between language use and a team’s ability to construct knowledge for design. This interrelation has implications both for computational systems that assess design teams and design teamwork education.

Signed languages are the primary means of communication for many deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Since signed languages exhibit all the fundamental linguistic properties of natural language, we believe that tools and theories of Natural Language Processing (NLP) are crucial towards its modeling. However, existing research in Sign Language Processing (SLP) seldom attempt to explore and leverage the linguistic organization of signed languages. This position paper calls on the NLP community to include signed languages as a research area with high social and scientific impact. We first discuss the linguistic properties of signed languages to consider during their modeling. Then, we review the limitations of current SLP models and identify the open challenges to extend NLP to signed languages. Finally, we urge (1) the adoption of an efficient tokenization method; (2) the development of linguistically-informed models; (3) the collection of real-world signed language data; (4) the inclusion of local signed language communities as an active and leading voice in research.

This report considers linguistic analyses as matters of ethical practice and quality assurance in the anonymization of recordings of spoken language for deposit in a digital language archive. Ethically, researchers must be committed to protecting the identities of primary data providers. Accordingly, conducting pragmatic analyses before initiating technical anonymization procedures can aid in determining exactly what discourse, in what contexts, might constitute identifying information in need of anonymization. Qualitatively, one of the main goals of language documentation is to preserve as much primary data as possible for future research. Accordingly, conducting phonotactic analyses with the help of computer software can aid in determining precise chronometer readings for each tonal insertion to excise as little primary data as possible during anonymizations. These findings warrant further research on anonymization protocols in digital language archive projects.

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is caused by selective neurodegeneration of the specific language areas in the brain. Until recently, this area had been dominated by impairment-focused interventions, more specifically, word-retrieval therapies. The compensatory-based approach targets everyday use of conversation between a people with PPA (pwPPA) and the family member or carer, and is underpinned by an assessment of those strategies which facilitate communication and those that act as a barrier. Objective: To analyze the feasibility of an intensive SLT program for pwPPA. Methods: Three patients with PPA (1 with PPA-S, 1 PPA-NF and 1 PPA-L) received the treatment (2 by face-to-face format and one by videoconference/telerehabilitation). The program comprised an initial evaluation of 2 hours (day 1), five 1-hour treatment sessions on consecutive days (days 2 to 6), followed by a post-treatment evaluation (day 7) to determine the results of the intensive therapy. Results: The treatment provided a greater load of cognitive-linguistic stimuli, which promoted some gains in speech intelligibility, functional communication improving general desire to engage in communicative exchanges relative to baseline. Conclusions: The intensive program was feasible and that some gains in functional communication can be made after five consecutive sessions in the same week.

"Philosophical games provide an innovative transformative structure in the learning process for all levels of formal education. The motivation is to provide elementary school teachers with an innovative methodology for Game-based-Learning of Philosophy/in Philosophy teaching. A combination and attentive collaboration of Philosophy, Art and games/ Game-based Learning provides new tools in approaching and solving the problems that education faces today. Since Game-based Learning constitutes a strong trend in technologically enhanced learning, is the, where/with the employment of gaming elements both in learning content and learning pathways, the proposed methodology leads to a series of novel applications about teaching philosophy that enable young agents to cultivate hypothetic-deductive and critical thinking with a positive attitude towards others and developing feelings of constructive antagonism. The teaching scenario proposed aims at cultivating hypothetic – deductive and critical thought/moreover, enhances the linguistic ability in the vocabulary of ancient Greek philosophy as well. The scenario is part of a game suite entitled “Entering the Socratic school” and targets 10–12-year-old children. It is easy to implement on any digital platform with open-source tools used by almost every teacher. The game elements rely on the structure of the learning content rather than on the digital tools themselves. The methodology consists in designing a concept map and defining the game narrative, the game levels and transitions between levels, the mechanics to be used, such as polls, badges, and leaderboards. Online activities include digital games such as quizzes and crossword puzzles, student generated comic stories, and a digital guide. They are complemented by physical activities involving movement and dialogue using fishbowl techniques and Socratic circles. The proposed teaching scenario will be implemented in the classroom in the following academic year and our work team applies interdisciplinary approaches inspired by at least three different fields of expertise."

The article analyzes the scientific sources on the problem of augmented reality in the educational field. There is a fragmentary rationale for new technology in primary school, to a greater extent the experience of scientists and practitioners relate to the integrated course “I am exploring the world”. The peculiarities of Ukrainian and foreign writers’ works with AR applications, which are appropriate to use during the classes of literary reading, are analyzed. The authors substantiated the prospect of augmented reality technology for mastering the artistic image of the world of literary work, the relevance of use of AR to modern educational challenges, and also demonstrated the possibility of immersion into the space of artistic creation and activation of students’ imagination with the help of AR applications. The article demonstrates the possibilities of use AR-technology for the development of emotional intelligence and creative thinking, solving educational tasks by setting up an active dialogue with literary heroes. The basic stages of the application of AR technologies in the literary reading lessons in accordance with the opportunities of the electronic resource are described: involvement; interaction; listening, reading and audition; research; creative work; evaluation. It is confirmed that in the process of using augmented reality technology during the reading lessons, the qualitative changes in the process of formation of the reader’s culture of the students of experimental classes appears, as well as the increase of motivation, development of emotional intelligence and creative thinking.

The article substantiates the importance of training future teachers to use AR technologies in the educational process of preschool and primary education. Scientific sources on the problem of AR application in education are analyzed. Possibilities of using AR in work with preschoolers and junior schoolchildren are considered. Aspects of research of the problem of introduction of AR in education carried out by modern foreign and domestic scientists are defined, namely: use of AR-applications in education; introduction of 3D technologies, virtual and augmented reality in the educational process of preschool and primary school; 3D, virtual and augmented reality technologies in higher education; increase of the efficiency of learning and motivating students through the use of AR-applications on smartphones; formation of reading culture by means of augmented reality technology; prospects for the use of augmented reality within the linguistic and literary field of preschool and primary education. The authors analyzed the specifics of toys with AR-applications, interactive alphabets, coloring books, encyclopedias and art books of Ukrainian and foreign writers, which should be used in working with children of preschool and primary school age; the possibilities of books for preschool children created with the help of augmented reality technologies are demonstrated. The relevance of the use of AR for the effective education and development of preschoolers and primary school children is determined. Problems in the application of AR in the educational process of modern domestic preschool education institutions are outlined. A method of diagnostic research of the level and features of readiness of future teachers to use AR in the educational process of preschool and primary education has been developed. Criteria, indicators are defined, the levels of development of the main components of the studied readiness (motivational, cognitive, activity) are characterized. The insufficiency of its formation in future teachers in the field of preschool and primary education; inconsistency between the peculiarities of training future teachers to use AR in professional activities and modern requirements for the quality of the educational process; the need to develop and implement a holistic system of formation of the studied readiness of future teachers in the conditions of higher pedagogical education are proved. A model of forming the readiness of future teachers to use AR in the educational process of preschool and primary education has been developed.

Access to books is key to learning to read and sustaining a love of reading. Yet many low- and middle-income countries struggle to provide their students with reading materials of sufficient quality and quantity. Since 2008, RTI International has provided technical assistance in early reading assessment and instruction to ministries of education in dozens of low- and middle-income countries. The central objective of many of these programs has been to improve learning outcomes—in particular, reading—for students in the early grades of primary school. Under these programs, RTI has partnered with ministry staff to produce and distribute evidence-based instructional materials at a regional or national scale, in quantities that increase the likelihood that children will have ample opportunities to practice reading skills, and at a cost that can be sustained in the long term by the education system. In this paper, we seek to capture the practices RTI has developed and refined over the last decade, particularly in response to the challenges inherent in contexts with high linguistic diversity and low operational capacity for producing and distributing instructional materials. These practices constitute our approach to developing and producing instructional materials for early grade literacy. We also touch upon effective planning for printing and distribution procurement, but we do not consider the printing and distribution processes in depth in this paper. We expect this volume will be useful for donors, policymakers, and practitioners interested in improving access to cost-effective, high-quality teaching and learning materials for the early grades.