Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Text World Theory'

This thesis investigates the emotional experience of literary discourse from a cognitivepoetic perspective. In doing so, it combines detailed Text World Theory analysis with an examination of naturalistic reader response data in the form of book group discussions and internet postings. Three novels by contemporary author Kazuo Ishiguro form the analytical focus of this investigation: The Remains of the Dt!)' (1989), The Unconso/ed (1995) and Never Let Me Go (2005), chosen due to their thematic engagement with emotion and their ability to evoke emotion in readers. The central aims of this thesis are to develop cognitive-poetic understanding of the emotional experience of literature, and to advance cognitive-poetic and literary-critical understanding of the works of Ishiguro. As a result of the analytical investigations of the three novels, this thesis proposes several enhancements to the discourse-world level of the Text World Theory framework. In particular, this thesis argues for a more detailed and nuanced account of deictic projection and identification, proposes a means of including readers' hopes and preferences in text-world analyses, and reconceptualises processes of knowledge activation as inherently emotional. Detailed, cognitive-poetic analyses of Ishiguro's novels elucidate literary-critical observations regarding Ishiguro's shifting style, and present new insights into the cognitive and emotional aspects of the interaction between the texts and their readers. This thesis aims primarily to be a contribution to the fields of stylistics and cognitive poetics. It approaches this theoretically through the application and enhancement of cognitive poetic frameworks, analytically through the investigation of Ishiguro, and methodologically through the utilisation of reader response data in order to direct and support the investigations. However, incidental contributions are also made to cognitive and social emotion theories, and the discussion raises several suggestions for continued interdisciplinary research in the future.

This thesis offers a text-worlds-approach to the study of linguistic identity in discursive interaction. It focuses on how settled Chinese migrants in Sheffield, who migrated predominantly from Hong Kong and the New Territories, construct their identities linguistically. To this extent, linguistic interview data is analysed with the use of the conceptual framework Text World Theory (e.g. Gavins 2007a; Werth 1999). As such, this thesis has three central aims: to extend the use of Text World Theory by applying it to spoken discourse; to examine the ways in which people linguistically represent themselves and talk about their life experiences; and to provide insight into the narratives of Chinese migrants and their families in Sheffield in particular. The linguistic data used in this thesis has been collected through 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork at a Chinese complementary school in Sheffield, UK. Based on the outcome of the analytical investigations of linguistic interview data, I aim to offer several original contributions. Firstly, I hope to provide a better understanding of migrant lives, by investigating the narrated experiences of Chinese migrants and their families. Secondly, I offer Text World Theory as a suitable framework for the study of linguistic identity. I extend the framework to the relatively unexplored domain of spoken discourse, synthesising a discursive approach to identity (e.g. Bucholtz and Hall 2005) with a Text World Theory approach (e.g. Gavins 2007a; Werth 1999). I demonstrate that Text World Theory can explain the complex and multi-layered nature of identity through the scope it provides for tracing linguistic self-representation across multiple worlds. Finally, I show that the framework is particularly adept at synthesising macro-level analysis of discursive interaction with detailed micro-level analysis of linguistic choices and their conceptual consequences.

This thesis presents a unified and systematic Text World Theory, tested and refined under practical application. It draws on a variety of linguistic, psychological, critical theoretical and cognitive scientific models, principally the cognitive discourse grammar originally developed by Paul Werth. The thesis delineates the critical and philosophical inheritance out of which Text World Theory evolved, in order to evaluate and engage critically with the theoretical framework in the light of recent developments in literary linguistics and cognitive poetics. This inheritance includes the fields of possible worlds semantics and narratology, artificial intelligence research and cognitive psychology. Essential modifications, revisions and crucial adjustments are made to Werth's approach in order to produce a refined model of Text World Theory. The augmented framework is tested through several practical and inter-related analyses. These centre around Absurd prose fiction, selected in order to highlight the adaptability of the new Text World Theory especially in the context of literary environments that are often judged to be challenging on a cognitive dimension. Extensive analyses of Paul Auster's The Music of Chance, Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman, Emmanuel Carrere's The Mustache, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and Donald Barthelme's Snow White are undertaken over the course of the thesis. Further adaptations to the model are proposed as a result of these applications. The thesis aims primarily to be a contribution to the field of cognitive discourse study. However, incidental contributions are also made to the areas of the critical study of Absurd prose fiction, pragmatics and semantics, cognitive poetics and literary critical theory in general.

This study uses and develops text world theory to explore the use of desire and dream states in four poems by the nineteenth century poet John Keats. Text world theory as it currently stands has yet to be sufficiently developed to account for the representation and conceptualisation of desire and dream states. This study aims to provide a framework for accounting for these phenomena by proposing a continuum of mentation, classifying distinct desire and dream worlds by differences in speaker volition, distance to reality and the degrees of modal force. The study also proposes that the nightmare world, an extreme type of dream world characterised by negative colouring and inherent world-switching potential, offers a more developed way of accounting for the conceptualisation of nightmare experiences in text world theory. This model is then applied in detailed cognitive poetic analyses of four of Keats's poems. In each case, a reading of the poem is provided that explores the setting up of and interplay between different kinds of desire and dream states. Within these analyses, the study firstly demonstrates how Keats positions his reader into adopting particular vantage points from which conflicting types of love and desire are explored. Secondly, it provides evidence to show that nightmare worlds in Keats's poems emulate a nightmare experience both stylistically and in their intended impact. Thirdly, it accounts for the ways in which the nightmare world is functionally significant when considered in the context of the poems in their entirety. This study therefore aims to both augment current work in text world theory to allow for a systematic exploration of desire, dreams and nightmares and to provide focused and innovative readings of a major English poet. Since there has been little work on either dreams or Keats's poetry in the field of cognitive poetics, this study is a timely response to a gap in existing stylistic and literary critical research.

Syftet med studien har varit att introducera den kognitiva receptionsteorin om textvärldar (Text World Theory) samt undersöka utifrån vilka textvärldar barnen på en förskola i Mellansverige interagerar med upplästa texter. Studien har genomförts på avancerad nivå inom Högskolan Dalarnas lärarprogram där huvudområdet varit pedagogiskt arbete. Detta är en kvalitativ studie i vilken två observationer samt två samtal med barngrupp med åldersintervallen tre till sex år har dokumenterats och därefter analyserats i relation till ovan nämnda teori. Av analyser framkommer att öppna frågor i större utsträckning leder till ett byggande av föreställningsvärldar och även en mer avancerad dialog med den diskurs författaren utgår från, än då givna ingångar är utgångspunkten. Studien visar även på att barnen redan tidigt har en avancerad förmåga till textrörlighet samt att de är multimodala i sitt tolkande av texter beroende på vilka textvärldar de relaterar till.

Every day, individuals commit acts which are considered immoral, unethical, even criminal, often to gain material advantage. Many people consider cheating on taxes, cheating on tests, claiming false benefits, or avoiding transport fare to be wrong, but they do them anyway. While some of these acts may not be formally illegal, they are, at best, considered morally dubious and is labeled “everyday crime.” Anomie theory holds that individuals make decisions based on socialized values, which separately may be contradictory but together, balances each other out, producing behavior considered “normal” by society. When one holds an imbalanced set of values, decisions made on that set may produce deviant behavior, such as everyday crime. RD theory holds that individuals who perceive their own deprivation, relative to someone else, will feel frustration and injustice, and may attempt to ameliorate that feeling with deviant behavior. Data from the 2006 World Values Survey were analyzed using logistic regression, testing both constructs concurrently. An individual was 1.55 times more likely to justify everyday crime for each calculated unit of anomie; and 1.10 times more likely for each calculated unit of RD. It was concluded from this study that anomie and relative deprivation were both associated with the tendency towards everyday crime.

The rather novel phenomenon of cybergrooming, or the solicitation of minors for sex via the Internet, has yet to be fully explored. This is a problem because such predatory behavior can lead to psychological and/or physical abuse of minors. The present study seeks to fill this knowledge by performing a qualitative, grounded theory analysis of naturally-occurring cybergrooming discourse. Data were drawn from the website of the online watchdog group, Perverted Justice. The first 20 lines of talk transmitted by the adults in these chat conversations were sampled from 100 transcripts published by Perverted Justice.Multi-step coding, facilitated by the qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti, revealed 11 themes of social action that discursively emerged in at least 25% of said transcripts: (1) conversational openings; (2) initial solicitation of age, sex and/or location; (3) specific questions regarding 'child's' life; (4) follow-up topicalization of 'child's' location; (5) seeking visual images of 'child;' (6) complimenting 'child's' appearance; (7) soliciting topic for discussion; (8) explicitly sexual statements; (9) soliciting 'child's' age preference for sex/romance; (10) arranging further contact; and (11) disclosing personal activities. These themes are then explored in their own context, in relation to each other, and as elements of the broad behavioral framework of cybergrooming.

This thesis is a work of creative practice-led research comprising two components. The first component is a speculative thriller novel, entitled Diamond Eyes. (Contracted for publication in 2009 by Harper Collins: Voyager as the first in a trilogy, under the name AA Bell.) The second component is an exegesis exploring the notion of re-visioning a novel. Re-visioning, not to be confused with revision, refers to advance editing strategies required when the original vision of a novel changes during development.

The aim of the essay is to investigate how the historical societal context is presented in curricula and textbooks. The studied material consists of the curricula Lpf 94 and Gy 11, and four textbooks on literature intended for teaching the subject of Swedish in upper secondary school. The literary eras that are studied are the Enlightenment and the Romantic period. The study of the textbooks proceeds from the analytical schema of the historian Niklas Ammert. Theories of literary and social conceptual worlds are applied to analyse the textbooks and a curriculum-theory perspective is used to analyse the steering documents.     The analysis shows that there is a greater focus on the relationship between literature and societal development in Gy 11 and that there are stricter learning requirements. One difference between the textbooks is the approach they have chosen to get at the historical societal context. Den levande litteraturen and Texter och tankar från antiken till 1900 do this chiefly through a type of presentation that uses explanations and sometimes simple statements of fact. Svenska impulser 2 establishes connections with the present day in a reflective way. Människans texter – litteraturen gives the biggest allround picture based on different societal contexts. This textbook is also the one that most clearly corresponds to the current subject plans for teaching Swedish.

Textual data is one of the most widespread forms of data and the amount of such data available in the world increases at a rapid rate. Text can be understood as either a sequence of characters or words, where the latter approach is the most common. With the breakthroughs within the area of applied artificial intelligence in recent years, more and more tasks are aided by automatic processing of text in various applications. The models introduced in the following sections rely on deep-learning sequence-processing in order to process and text to produce a regression algorithm for classification of what the text input refers to. We investigate and compare the performance of several model architectures along with different hyperparameters. The data set was provided by e-Avrop, a Swedish company which hosts a web platform for posting and bidding of public procurements. It consists of titles and descriptions of Swedish public procurements posted on the website of e-Avrop, along with the respective category/categories of each text. When the texts are described by several categories (multi label case) we suggest a deep learning sequence-processing regression algorithm, where a set of deep learning classifiers are used. Each model uses one of the several labels in the multi label case, along with the text input to produce a set of text - label observation pairs. The goal becomes to investigate whether these classifiers can carry out different levels of intent, an intent which should theoretically be imposed by the different training data sets used by each of the individual deep learning classifiers.
Data i form av text är en av de mest utbredda formerna av data och mängden tillgänglig textdata runt om i världen ökar i snabb takt. Text kan tolkas som en följd av bokstäver eller ord, där tolkning av text i form av ordföljder är absolut vanligast. Genombrott inom artificiell intelligens under de senaste åren har medfört att fler och fler arbetsuppgifter med koppling till text assisteras av automatisk textbearbetning. Modellerna som introduceras i denna uppsats är baserade på djupa artificiella neuronnät med sekventiell bearbetning av textdata, som med hjälp av regression förutspår tillhörande ämnesområde för den inmatade texten. Flera modeller och tillhörande hyperparametrar utreds och jämförs enligt prestanda. Datamängden som använts är tillhandahållet av e-Avrop, ett svenskt företag som erbjuder en webbtjänst för offentliggörande och budgivning av offentliga upphandlingar. Datamängden består av titlar, beskrivningar samt tillhörande ämneskategorier för offentliga upphandlingar inom Sverige, tagna från e-Avrops webtjänst. När texterna är märkta med ett flertal kategorier, föreslås en algoritm baserad på ett djupt artificiellt neuronnät med sekventiell bearbetning, där en mängd klassificeringsmodeller används. Varje sådan modell använder en av de märkta kategorierna tillsammans med den tillhörande texten, som skapar en mängd av text - kategori par. Målet är att utreda huruvida dessa klassificerare kan uppvisa olika former av uppsåt som teoretiskt sett borde vara medfört från de olika datamängderna modellerna mottagit.

Esta Tesis Doctoral tiene como objeto de estudio la significación de los videojuegos.
Si la forma en la que, desde niños, construimos universos de valores y damos sentido a nuestras vidas está indisolublemente unida a los medios y las obras de la cultura de masas, el estudio de los modos de significación del videojuego requiere, hoy en día, un desarrollo en profundidad.
En relación con ello, el principal resultado de esta investigación consiste en la fundamentación teórica y metodológica de tres modelos de análisis del videojuego como discurso: un modelo de estructuras lúdicas, un modelo del discurso como universo narrativo y un modelo de enunciación interactiva. Asimismo, se ofrece una sistematización de los códigos de significación que conforman el lenguaje del diseño de videojuegos. Estos modelos constituyen una aportación metodológica innovadora a la Teoría del Videojuego y al Análisis del Discurso.
Las fuentes teóricas y metodológicas fundamentales del trabajo son la Semiótica, la Ludología y la Narratología.
La aplicación empírica de los modelos de análisis propuestos se centra en ejemplos y estudios de caso de videojuegos figurativos/narrativos, pero los modelos han sido construidos pensando en su posible utilidad para el análisis de un amplio espectro de videojuegos y otro tipo de textualidades colindantes, como los mundos narrativos de la literatura y las series televisivas.
Finalmente, se cierra la investigación con dos estudios de caso donde se prueba el sistema teórico en su conjunto, sobre los videojuegos Ico (2001) y Shadow of the Colossus (2005), ambos del diseñador Fumito Ueda.
The object of study in this Doctoral Dissertation is the signification of videogames.
Since early childhood, the way we construct universes of values and make sense of our lifes is closely related to the media and works of mass culture. Therefore, the study of the modes of signification of videogames requires to be fully developed.
According to that, this research provides the theoretical and methodological fundamentals of three models of analysis of videogame as discourse: a model of ludic structures, a model of discourse as narrative universe and a model of interactive "énonciation". Besides that, a systematization of the main signification codes which compose the language of videogame design is carried out. These models constitute an innovative methodological contribution to Videogame Theory and Discourse Analysis.
The theoretical and methodological framework of the research is built upon Semiotics, Ludology and Narratology.
The empirical application of the proposed analytical models is focused on examples and case studies of figurative/narrative videogames. Nevertheless, the models have been constructed bearing in mind their possible utility for the analysis of a broad spectrum of videogames and other kinds of close textualities, like the narrative worlds from literature or television series.
At the end of the research, the theoretical system is tested as a whole in two case studies: Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005). Both videogames have been designed by Fumito Ueda.

Differentes approches du probleme et leurs limitations sont examinees. Le modele du systeme vortex comporte 4 sources de connaissances : une source lexicale, un codeur orthographique, un canal typographique et un canal de permutation. La taille des lexiques est optimisee par decomposition morphologique. Une double articulation orthographique et typographique est utilisee. La strategie de decodage met en oeuvre un modele stochastique et une pile de situations ordonnees. Les resultats experimentaux montrent l'interet de quelques heuristiques. Le systeme vortex est utilise pour l'acces tolerant aux fautes a une base de donnees lexicales qui comprend un vocabulaire de 6000 mots engendrant 150000 formes flechies

Prvotním cílem tohoto projektu bylo prostudovat problematiku jazykového modelování pro rozpoznávání řeči a techniky pro získávání textových dat z Webu. Text představuje základní techniky rozpoznávání řeči a detailněji popisuje jazykové modely založené na statistických metodách. Zvláště se práce zabývá kriterii pro vyhodnocení kvality jazykových modelů a systémů pro rozpoznávání řeči. Text dále popisuje modely a techniky dolování dat, zvláště vyhledávání informací. Dále jsou představeny problémy spojené se získávání dat z webu, a v kontrastu s tím je představen vyhledávač Google. Součástí projektu byl návrh a implementace systému pro získávání textu z webu, jehož detailnímu popisu je věnována náležitá pozornost. Nicméně, hlavním cílem práce bylo ověřit, zda data získaná z Webu mohou mít nějaký přínos pro rozpoznávání řeči. Popsané techniky se tak snaží najít optimální způsob, jak data získaná z Webu použít pro zlepšení ukázkových jazykových modelů, ale i modelů nasazených v reálných rozpoznávacích systémech.

La present tesi doctoral s’ha centrat en el repte d’aconseguir, mitjançant Fabricació Additiva (FA), models per a assaig quirúrgic, sota la premissa que els equips per fer-los haurien de ser accessibles a l’àmbit hospitalari. L’objectiu és facilitar l’extensió de l’ús dels prototips com a eina de preparació d’operacions quirúrgiques, transformant la pràctica mèdica actual de la mateixa manera que en el seu moment ho van fer tecnologies com les que van facilitar l’ús de radiografies. El motiu d’utilitzar FA, en lloc de tecnologies més tradicionals, és la seva capacitat de materialitzar de forma directa les dades digitals obtingudes de l’anatomia del pacient mitjançant sistemes d’escanejat tridimensional, fent possible l’obtenció de models personalitzats. Els resultats es centren en la generació de nou coneixement sobre com aconseguir equipaments d’impressió 3D multimaterials accessibles que permetin l’obtenció de models mimètics respecte als teixits vius. Per facilitar aquesta buscada extensió de la tecnologia, s’ha focalitzat en les tecnologies de codi obert com la Fabricació per Filament Fos (FFF) i similars basades en líquids catalitzables. La recerca s’alinea dins l’activitat de desenvolupament de la FA al CIM UPC, i en aquest àmbit concret amb la col·laboració amb l’Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Barcelona (HSJD). El primer bloc de la tesi inclou la descripció de l’estat de l’art, detallant les tecnologies existents i la seva aplicació a l’entorn mèdic. S’han establert per primer cop unes bases de caracterització dels teixits vius -sobretot tous- per donar suport a la selecció de materials que els puguin mimetitzar en un procés de FA, a efectes de millorar l’experiència d’assaig dels cirurgians. El caràcter rígid dels materials majoritàriament usats en impressió 3D els fa poc útils per simular tumors i altres referències anatòmiques. De forma successiva, es tracten paràmetres com la densitat, la viscoelasticitat, la caracterització dels materials tous a la indústria, l’estudi del mòdul elàstic de teixits tous i vasos, la duresa d’aquests, i requeriments com l’esterilització dels models. El segon bloc comença explorant la impressió 3D mitjançant FFF. Es classifiquen les variants del procés des del punt de vista de la multimaterialitat, essencial per fer models d’assaig quirúrgic, diferenciant entre solucions multibroquet i de barreja al capçal. S’ha inclòs l’estudi de materials (filaments i líquids) que serien més útils per mimetitzar teixits tous. Es constata com en els líquids, en comparació amb els filaments, la complexitat del treball en processos de FA és més elevada, i es determinen formes d’imprimir materials molt tous. Per acabar, s’exposen sis casos reals de col·laboració amb l’HJSD, una selecció d’aquells en els que el doctorand ha intervingut en els darrers anys. L’origen es troba en la dificultat de l’abordatge d’operacions de resecció de tumors infantils com el neuroblastoma, i a la iniciativa del Dr. Lucas Krauel. Finalment, el Bloc 3 té per objecte explorar nombrosos conceptes (fins a 8), activitat completada al llarg dels darrers cinc anys amb el suport dels mitjans del CIM UPC i de l’activitat associada a treballs finals d’estudis d’estudiants de la UPC, arribant-se a materialitzar equipaments experimentals per validar-los. La recerca ampla i sistemàtica al respecte fa que s’estigui més a prop de disposar d’una solució d’impressió 3D multimaterial de sobretaula. Es determina que la millor via de progrés és la de disposar d’una pluralitat de capçals independents a fi de capacitar la impressora 3D per integrar diversos conceptes estudiats, materialitzant-se una possible solució. Cloent la tesi, es planteja com seria un equipament d’impressió 3D per a models d’assaig quirúrgic, a fi de servir de base per a futurs desenvolupaments.
La presente tesis doctoral se ha centrado en el reto de conseguir, mediante Fabricación Aditiva (FA), modelos para ensayo quirúrgico, bajo la premisa que los equipos para obtenerlos tendrían que ser accesibles al ámbito hospitalario. El objetivo es facilitar la extensión del uso de modelos como herramienta de preparación de operaciones quirúrgicas, transformando la práctica médica actual de la misma manera que, en su momento, lo hicieron tecnologías como las que facilitaron el uso de radiografías. El motivo de utilizar FA, en lugar de tecnologías más tradicionales, es su capacidad de materializar de forma directa los datos digitales obtenidos de la anatomía del paciente mediante sistemas de escaneado tridimensional, haciendo posible la obtención de modelos personalizados. Los resultados se centran en la generación de nuevo conocimiento para conseguir equipamientos de impresión 3D multimateriales accesibles que permitan la obtención de modelos miméticos respecto a los tejidos vivos. Para facilitar la buscada extensión de la tecnología, se ha focalizado en las tecnologías de código abierto como la Fabricación por Hilo Fundido (FFF) y similares basadas en líquidos catalizables. Esta investigación se alinea dentro de la actividad de desarrollo de la FA en el CIM UPC, y en este ámbito concreto con la colaboración con el Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Barcelona (HSJD). El primer bloque de la tesis incluye la descripción del estado del arte, detallando las tecnologías existentes y su aplicación al entorno médico. Se han establecido por primera vez unas bases de caracterización de los tejidos vivos – principalmente blandos – para dar apoyo a la selección de materiales que los puedan mimetizar en un proceso de FA, a efectos de mejorar la experiencia de ensayo de los cirujanos. El carácter rígido de los materiales mayoritariamente usados en impresión 3D los hace poco útiles para simular tumores y otras referencias anatómicas. De forma sucesiva, se tratan parámetros como la densidad, la viscoelasticidad, la caracterización de materiales blandos en la industria, el estudio del módulo elástico de tejidos blandos y vasos, la dureza de los mismos, y requerimientos como la esterilización de los modelos. El segundo bloque empieza explorando la impresión 3D mediante FFF. Se clasifican las variantes del proceso desde el punto de vista de la multimaterialidad, esencial para hacer modelos de ensayo quirúrgico, diferenciando entre soluciones multiboquilla y de mezcla en el cabezal. Se ha incluido el estudio de materiales (filamentos y líquidos) que serían más útiles para mimetizar tejidos blandos. Se constata como en los líquidos, en comparación con los filamentos, la complejidad del trabajo en procesos de FA es más elevada, y se determinan formas de imprimir materiales muy blandos. Para acabar, se exponen seis casos reales de colaboración con el HJSD, una selección de aquellos en los que el doctorando ha intervenido en los últimos años. El origen se encuentra en la dificultad del abordaje de operaciones de resección de tumores infantiles como el neuroblastoma, y en la iniciativa del Dr. Lucas Krauel. Finalmente, el Bloque 3 desarrolla numerosos conceptos (hasta 8), actividad completada a lo largo de los últimos cinco años con el apoyo de los medios del CIM UPC y de la actividad asociada a trabajos finales de estudios de estudiantes de la UPC, llegándose a materializar equipamientos experimentales para validarlos. La investigación amplia y sistemática al respecto hace que se esté más cerca de disponer de una solución de impresión 3D multimaterial de sobremesa. Se determina que la mejor vía de progreso es la de disponer de una pluralidad de cabezales independientes, a fin de capacitar la impresora 3D para integrar diversos conceptos estudiados, materializándose una posible solución. Para cerrar la tesis, se plantea cómo sería un equipamiento de impresión 3D para modelos de ensayo quirúrgico, a fin de servir de base para futuros desarrollos.

Expressed Silence: A Study of the Metaphorics of Word in Selected Nineteenth-Century American Texts This dissertation explores the patterned use of certain “metaphors of word”——images of reading, writing, listening, and speaking——in four American texts: Emerson’s Nature, Thoreau’s Walden, Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, and Melville’s Moby Dick. Assumed in my discussion is the modern view of metaphor as a cognitive device used, not for mere stylistic ornament, but for creating a certain mental perspective. Based on the perspectival view and on the experiential—gestalt account of metaphor, the structures of these metaphors of word are examined in order to discern the systematic nature of their argument and to determine the cultural and historical reasons why language imagery, and not some other type of imagery, was chosen to represent this argument. After surveying the cultural influences of democracy, mercantilism, Romanticism, and Calvinism, I characterize the metaphoric systems of each text and then move on to a closer study of the role of silence within these systems. From this analysis, I conclude that these nineteenth— century texts reflect a shift away from the book toward the voice as a predominant symbol, and away from writing toward speaking as a privileged metaphor. Language imagery works to represent ways of knowing, so that linguistic and epistemic concerns become inextricably intertwined. The process of using language operates as a metaphor for the process of gaining knowledge. In this metaphorics of word, silence emerges as a particularly striking metaphor in the way that it expresses the coalescence of being and knowing, the realization that we know what we know. In this scheme, metaphors of word structure ways of understanding, and the expressed silence metaphor highlights the way interior speech can function in the discernment of knowledge. Ultimately, I contend that the perspective provided by this nineteenth—century metaphorics of word forecasts the modern view of rhetoric as epistemic. By employing linguistic action as a figure for representing epistemic action, a metaphorics of word promotes an understanding of rhetoric’s primary purpose as the interrogation of truth.

The thesis analyzes the possibilities of application of the fictional worlds theory as a possible basis for a different literary-theoretical approach to the study of literary texts. Not being a mere literature research, the thesis inquires into issues which are necessarily connected with the fictional worlds theory and which have been so far rarely dealt with, if discussed at all. It contributes to the discussion on advantages and drawbacks of the mimetic approach and of the fiction theory, it analyzes the possible applicability of the fictional worlds theory in literary history, it attempts to determine the correlation between the Seymour Chatman's textual types and the fiction theory nomenclature, and last but not least the thesis deals with the possibilities of this theory in the fictional worlds of lyrical poetry. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

A presente tese investiga os poemas figurados compostos entre c. 780 e c. 814, por Alcuíno, Josefo Escoto, Teodulfo e Rábano Mauro, na sua relação com o funcionamento político, social, cultural e religioso coevo. Verifica-se que estas obras não testemunham apenas um projecto ideológico de fôlego, mas constroem-no. É notório um comprometimento com a elite que detém o poder, mas os poemas – por certo pela presença das imagens que lhes confere originalidade – não só resistem às suas circunstâncias, como manifestam a sua vida própria, uma capaz de gerar efeitos no espaço do comum. Assiste-se a uma produção excepcionalmente numerosa de poemas figurados no mesmo período em que a corte carolíngia se pronuncia sobre a querela das imagens bizantina. Investigam-se aqui os argumentos dos francos nos Libri Carolini, cujos contornos de redacção e (quase) proclamação oficial permitem aventar a hipótese de configurarem uma ‘teoria de Estado’ sobre a imagem, para a qual convergiriam os poemas figurados, designadamente os de Rábano Mauro. De acordo com interpretações historiográficas, em causa estaria a valorização das Escrituras e da cultura escrita em detrimento das imagens, subordinando a visualidade dos poemas à Palavra, ao texto, ao seu significado e vocação espiritual. A figuração, destituída da sua materialidade, actuaria fundamentalmente como apelo ao invisível e à vivência da religiosidade, ideia que se discute. Tendo presente a investigação sobre a eventual origem e linhagem poética dos poemas figurados, bem como a sua recepção em momentos particulares da história, explora-se como a tendente desvalorização do visual a que estas composições estão sujeitas tem antecedentes históricos. Isto é, contextos onde se formula uma antinomia entre texto e imagem – nomeadamente através da altercação, moderna, entre pintura e poesia e do desenvolvimento de paradigmas epistemológicos logocêntricos (de origem teológica, cultural ou política) – que condicionam, ainda hoje, os nossos modelos de análise. Neste sentido, procura-se também expor a imagem como irredutível às múltiplas soluções que a ‘textualizam’, vendo o que os poemas figurados mostram juntamente com o que dizem. Suspende-se a rasura da sua pictorialidade para acolher, enfim, o imperativo de unicidade que portam e os diferencia quer de um poema, quer de uma imagem, permitindo que aconteçam, com o texto, nesse espaço de pintura-poesia / texto-imagem. A reflexão exposta nas obras destes autores constitui um momento assinalável para discutir concepções sobre a imagem medieva, cujos contributos conceptuais e teóricos nos estudos crítico da relação entre texto e imagem, que nutriram esta investigação, são inegáveis; e são-no muito além da sua assinatura temporal.
The thesis focuses on the figured poems composed between c. 780 and c. 814, by Alcuin, Josephus Scottus, Theodulf and Rabanus Maurus, related with their contemporary political, social, cultural and religious circumstances. These works not only reverberate a comprehensive ideological project, but also build it. Despite the fact they are engaged with the dominant elite, the poems – surely by the existence of images that bestow their originality – express their own life, their presence, and one capable of generating effects in the common space. There is a remarkably numerous production of figured poems in the very same period in which the Carolingian court addresses the Byzantine quarrel of the images. Some of the Franks’ arguments of the Libri Carolini are considered in order to ponder if they formulate a sort of ‘image state theory’, to which the figured poems, namely the ones composed by Rabanus Maurus, would respond. According to some historiographical approaches, under appreciation would be the value of the Scriptures and of the writing culture over the image, a notion also confirmed in Rabanus Maurus poem “Ad Bonosum”. Hence, the Carolingian figured poetry would be subordinating its full visuality to the Word, to the text, to its meaning and spiritual vocation. Figuration, devoided of its materiality, would act primarily as an appeal to the invisible and to an experience of religiosity. An idea that is under discussion in this research, along with the difficulty in stabilizing one single conception of image. Bearing in mind the origin and poetic lineage of the figured poems, as well as their reception at specific moments in history, it is explored how the resistance to the full acknowledgment of their pictorial features has its own historical background. That is, contexts where an antinomy between text and image is formed – namely through the modern period dispute between painting and poetry or through the development of logocentric epistemological paradigms (of theological, cultural or political origin) – constrain, even today, our models of analysis of the carmina figurata. In this sense, the image is presented as irreducible to multiple textualizing solutions, in order to see what the figured poems show, alongside with what they say. The goal is also to focus on the effects of the image, harbouring the unique qualities of figured poetry well beyond the strict opposition between word and image, and the discussions about the supremacy of the word. The reflection on image presented in Rabanus Maurus’ and Theodulf’s works offers a remarkable opportunity to discuss notions of the medieval image. Its conceptual and theoretical contributions to Art History and to the critical studies of the relation between word and image are undeniable, and they are so besides their temporal circumstance.

American jurisprudence currently applies two incompatible validity standards to determine which laws are enforceable. The natural law tradition evaluates validity by an uncertain standard of divine law, and its methodology relies on contradictory views of human reason. Legal positivism, on the other hand, relies on a methodology that commits the analytic fallacy, separates law from its application, and produces an incomplete model of law. These incompatible standards have created a schism in American jurisprudence that impairs the delivery of justice. This dissertation therefore formulates a new standard for legal validity. This new standard rejects the uncertainties and inconsistencies inherent in natural law theory. It also rejects the narrow linguistic methodology of legal positivism. In their stead, this dissertation adopts a pragmatic methodology that develops a standard for legal validity based on actual legal experience. This approach focuses on the operations of law and its effects upon ongoing human activities, and it evaluates legal principles by applying the experimental method to the social consequences they produce. Because legal history provides a long record of past experimentation with legal principles, legal history is an essential feature of this method. This new validity standard contains three principles. The principle of reason requires legal systems to respect every subject as a rational creature with a free will. The principle of reason also requires procedural due process to protect against the punishment of the innocent and the tyranny of the majority. Legal systems that respect their subjects' status as rational creatures with free wills permit their subjects to orient their own behavior. The principle of reason therefore requires substantive due process to ensure that laws provide dependable guideposts to individuals in orienting their behavior. The principle of consent recognizes that the legitimacy of law derives from the consent of those subject to its power. Common law custom, the doctrine of stare decisis, and legislation sanctioned by the subjects' legitimate representatives all evidence consent. The principle of autonomy establishes the authority of law. Laws must wield supremacy over political rulers, and political rulers must be subject to the same laws as other citizens. Political rulers may not arbitrarily alter the law to accord to their will. Legal history demonstrates that, in the absence of a validity standard based on these principles, legal systems will not treat their subjects as ends in themselves. They will inevitably treat their subjects as mere means to other ends. Once laws do this, men have no rest from evil.