Linguistics Commons^™

Integrating Cultural Knowledge Into Artificially Intelligent Systems: Human Experiments And Computational Implementations, Anurag Acharya

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, it seems as if every aspect of our lives is impacted by AI in one way or the other. As AI is used for everything from driving vehicles to criminal justice, it becomes crucial that it overcome any biases that might hinder its fair application. We are constantly trying to make AI be more like humans. But most AI systems so far fail to address one of the main aspects of humanity: our culture and the differences between cultures. We cannot truly consider AI to have understood human reasoning without understanding culture. So it …

Automatic Learning Of Document Section Structure For Ontology-Based Semantic Search, Deya Banisakher

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modeling natural human behavior in understanding written language is crucial for developing true artificial intelligence. For people, words convey certain semantic concepts. While documents represent an abstract concept---they are collections of text organized in some logical structure, that is, sentences, paragraphs, sections, and so on. Similar to words, these document structures, are used to convey a logical flow of semantic concepts. Machines however, only view words as spans of characters and documents as mere collections of free-text, missing any underlying meanings behind words and the logical structure of those documents.

Automatic semantic concept detection is the process by which the …

A Lexicon-Grammar Analysis Of "Away" Expressions, Sydney G. La Valley

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

The goal of a Lexicon-Grammar is to systematically compose an exhaustive collection of particular linguistic structures to more accurately reveal patterns of language. Recent lexicon-grammar analyses such as “Transitive verbs with the particleout : a lexicon-grammar analysis” by Michelle Garcia-Vega (2011) and “Disambiguating phrasal verbs” by Dr. Peter Machonis (2008) respectively contain a plethora of entries for their particles. However, formal lexicon models would benefit from more in-depth exploration of away expressions. This research consists of collection, classification, and analysis of phrasal verbs with the particle away, following the lexicon-grammar model outlined by Maurice Gross in “The argument structure of …

Politics And Its Impact On Code-Switching In Puerto Rico, Juliette Marie Acosta-Santiago

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

Puerto Rico is considered a bilingual community for having English imposed to it as a result of the Spanish-American war. However, a notable difference between the perception of code-switching (a natural phenomenon after language contact) in Puerto Rico, and other bilingual communities such as Miami seems to take place. Research states that a considerable amount of Puerto Ricans have a negative perception against code-switching, while the limited research on code-switching in Miami states that Miami Cubans have a more positive perception towards code-switching. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the ways in which listeners perceive and …

Macarthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventories (Cdi): A Research Synthesis Evaluating Children At 2-36 Months,, Nicholas Giammarco

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

This synthesis will touch on the current parent-based assessments available while focusing specifically on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Inventory English and Spanish versions. It will analyze studies that have used this test to predict language delays in infants from 2-36 months and look at its validity and effectiveness. It will use the PRISMA method to narrow search results. The PRISMA method is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Areas of concern were socioeconomic status, level of parent education, race, design, and effects of disability on CDI performance. 26 studies met the criteria to be …

The Notions Of The "Closet" And The "Secret" In Oscar Wilde's, The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Jessica Maria Oliveira

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will discuss the notions of the “closet” and “secret” within Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray, as well as offer a clear and precise definition of queer theory to assist in elucidating many of the concepts being discussed. Close reading techniques will be utilized to further uncover the metaphoric, symbolic, and otherwise figurative importance of certain aspects of The Picture of Dorian Gray and supporting texts. Through Judith Butler’s conceptualization of sex and gender, as well as Jacques Derrida’s interpretation of the “secret”, this paper will explicate the intricacies of Wilde’s work and unveil queered aspects …

Phonological Interaction In Spanish-English Bilinguals: Effects Of Cognate Usage On Voice Onset Time Of Voiced Stops, Sophia Andrea Younes

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

This study compared Spanish-English bilinguals’ and English monolinguals’ VOT values for voiced stops /b, d, g/ in cognates and non-cognates. The data support cross-linguistic interaction in bilinguals' phonologies, and indicate that cognates can interfere with bilinguals’ phonemic distinctions, realized in their phonetic productions.

For voiced stops, English VOT norms generally average 0 to +35 ms, while Spanish VOT norms average -235 to -45 ms. Twenty-six participants (twelve English monolinguals and fourteen early Spanish-English bilinguals) were administered a picture-naming task, balanced for cognate and non-cognate forms. The VOT values of 30 target words per participant and per language were measured.

In …

Spatial Prepositions In Arabic And English, Maha Alshammari

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

The acquisition of English prepositions is particularly challenging for students learning English as a second language. This project explores the acquisition of English spatial expressions by Arab ESL learners. This study examines several issues that may affect the processes of acquiring the English prepositions among Arab ESL learners such as the age of acquisition, learning transfer, and frequency. Furthermore, it considers the difficulties that Arab learners may encounter when learning English spatial locatives via transfer phenomena. These phenomena involve possible positive transfer and negative transfer in second language acquisition. This is especially problematic in the case of the lack of …

Processing Of The English Verb Particle Construction In Persons With Aphasia, David Lopez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined comprehension of verb particle constructions in persons with aphasia (PWA) and young and older typical adults according to the semantic classes by Jackendoff (2002). The experimental task focused on the following three classes of verb particle constructions: idiomatic, directional, and aspectual verb particles. Movement of the object NP also was examined. The study involved a picture-matching task counterbalanced for each participant. The results revealed that PWAs showed slower than normal overall processing, slower processing of aspectual verb forms, and slower processing of syntactic form regardless of movement. Error analysis revealed a bias toward the meaning of the …

The Processing Of Aspect, J. C. Urbana

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

A topic in linguistics that requires more psycholinguistic research is that of aspect. In particular, we are interested in how speakers process aspectual structures in terms of telicity and atelicity. For this project, we examine monolingual English speakers and their processing times linked to aspectual interpretation of telic vs. atelic constructions. Our methodology utilizes Response Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) (Rayner & Sereno, 1994; Garrod, 2006), which presents readers with sequences on a computer screen, and measures their reading times. The subjects are instructed to complete an additional task, such as a comprehension task. We investigate the distinctions in processing time …

Incidental Learning Of Chinese Vocabulary Via English Context Reading, Kay-Ann Linton

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

Two research questions were posed to assess the potential of a new pedagogical tool, L1-context reading, for learning Chinese as a second language: 1) Can an alphabetic text context be used to facilitate incidental learning of logographic vocabulary? 2) Is there a difference between L1-context reading and rote memorization in acquisition of form and meaning? Twenty four Florida International University students with no knowledge of a logographic language were assigned to the L1-context Reading Group or the Rote Memorisation Group. For five minutes, the Reading Group read a list of English sentences, each containing a Chinese word, while the Rote …

Acquisition Of English /S/-Clusters By Brazilian Portuguese Speakers, Carolyn June Baker

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

This research examines the error patterns of two member /s/ + consonant clusters (sC) in word initial position by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese learning English. Previous research has found that not all sC clusters are modified at the same rate and studies involving native Brazilian Portuguese speakers have produced conflicting findings (Cardoso, 2008; Major, 1996; Rebello & Baptista, 2006; Rauber, 2006). The current study aims to clarify which markedness relationships influence the frequency of prothesis in sC clusters and test the opposing predictions made by two phonological principles, Sonority Sequencing and Obligatory Contour Principle for [continuant] (OCP [cont]), to …

A Linguistic Landscape Of Two Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Miami, Florida And Fresno, California, Gina Marie Ailanjian

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

Linguistic Landscape (LL) is the study of public signage. Landry & Bourhis (1997) defined LL as “the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region.” These signs can be billboards, street signs, warnings, notices, public road signs, government signs, commercial shop signs, etc. The present study explores the LL of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida versus the LL of California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) in Fresno, California. Both of these universities are Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), with a Hispanic population of 63% and of 45.7% respectively (FIU is in …

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale: A Charismatic Authority And His Ideology, John P. Cibotti

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale’s militant and masculinist discourses were embraced by Punjabi Sikhs because of his presence as a charismatic authority, a concept first developed by sociologist Max Weber to understand the conditions surrounding and personal qualities of a figure which attracts followers. The rebellion he led in Punjab resulted from his radical exploitation of issues concerning the Sikh community. Religion was wielded as a tool, legitimizing Sikh violence as commanded by the Gurus. Radical interpretations of Sikh scripture and folklore were initially preached to rural, less educated crowds. While his sermons brought out their frustrations with the government, …

Long-Distance Reflexivization And Logophoricity In The Dargin Language, Muminat Kerimova

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

The study of anaphora challenges us to determine the conditions under which the pronouns of a language are associated with possible antecedents. One of the theoretical questions is whether the distribution of pronominal forms is best explained by a syntactic, semantic or discourse level analysis. A more practical question is how we distinguish between anaphoric elements, e.g. what are the borders between the notions of pronouns, locally bound reflexives and long-distance reflexives? The study analyzes the anaphora device saj in Dargin that is traditionally considered to be a long-distance reflexivization language. We show that the previous research did not cover …

Exploring Miamians’ Perceptions Of Linguistic Variation In Miami-Dade County And The State Of Florida, Daniel Garzon

MA in Linguistics Final Projects

Scholarship in folk dialectology has successfully demonstrated that folk beliefs about language vary wildly according to geographical region. The current study, an analysis of non-linguists’ beliefs toward language in Florida and Miami-Dade County, reports on the results of a study using Dennis Preston’s draw-a- map technique, processed with ArcGIS. Two maps, a map which depicted a minimally-labeled outline of the State of Florida, and a second map which depicted the outline of Miami-Dade County, were given to 46 participants. When collected, the maps were scanned and geo-referenced into ArcGIS, a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based tool used to process perceptual dialectology …

Second Language Learners’ Performance On Non-Isomorphic Cross-Language Cognates In Translation, Carlos I. Canizares

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do adult L2 English bilingual speakers have difficulty with cognate words whose meanings are distinct across their two languages? This study explored the extent to which variations in meaning in cross-language cognates affect translation performance in a translation task by L2 English (L1 Spanish) speakers who learned English as adults. A prep-phase experiment was conducted to test native English-speakers’ predicted completions of the study’s stimuli sentences, in order to choose the optimal stimuli for the primary experiment. The method for the primary experiment of this study consisted of a web-based translation task of 120 sentences from Spanish to English, while …

Investigating Vocabulary Abilities In Bilingual Portuguese-English-Speaking Children, Ana Paula Fabian

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the vocabulary abilities of bilingual Portuguese-English-speaking children compared to their monolingual peers. Parental Report Surveys were conducted using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs), which are standardized norms for vocabulary assessment. Electronic versions of the “Words and Sentences CDI” in English and Brazilian-Portuguese were used in order to assess the vocabulary of children between the ages of 16 and 36 months. Parents answered the surveys online.

Different vocabulary score types were used in order to evaluate the children’s lexicons: The Total Vocabulary score, the Conceptual Vocabulary scores, and the Total Modified Vocabulary. The analyses of the results …

Semantic Categorization In Portuguese-English Bilinguals, Lilian M. Mcleod

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the cross-linguistic interactions in the semantic categorization of late Portuguese-English bilinguals. The lexical items used in this study have a wider range of applications in one language and narrower in the other. Three types of categories were examined: classical, homophones, and radials.

Late Portuguese-English bilinguals, as well as Portuguese and English monolinguals, were tested. After hearing a word, participants were asked to choose from a set of images, one that could be labelled as such.

Analyses showed that when tested in English, participants performed better when it was the wider language. …

Perceiving Spanish In Miami: The Interaction Of Dialect And National Labeling, Salvatore Callesano

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study implements a speech perception experiment that interrogates local perceptions of Spanish varieties in Miami. Participants (N=292) listened to recordings of three Spanish varieties (Peninsular, Highland Colombian, and Post-Castro Cuban) and were given background information about the speakers, including the parents’ country of origin. In certain cases, the parents’ national-origin label matched the country of origin of the speaker, but otherwise the background information and voices were mismatched. The manipulation distinguishes perceptions determined by bottom-up cues (dialect) from top-down ones (social information). Participants then rated each voice for a range of personal characteristics and answered hypothetical questions about …

Vowels In The 305: A First Pass At Miami Latino English, Lydda Lopez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I present preliminary findings of the first-large scale, systematic study of English Latino vowels in Miami. Sociolinguistic interviews were conducted with 25 Miami-born participants: 10 Anglo Whites and 15 Latinos with varying degrees of Spanish fluency. Here I focus on the vowel quality (/i, ɪ, ai, æ, ɔ, u /) in the speech of the 2nd and 3rd generations to examine the nature of influence of Spanish on English in Miami over the past 60 years. I conduct an in-depth analysis of the vowel productions of two female speakers, Maria & Blaze, to show the range of …

Acoustic Investigation Of Production Of Clusters By Saudi Second Language Learners Of English, Hussain Almalki

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Production errors made by second language (L2) learners of English have been attributed to markedness, L1 transfer or input frequency (cf. Major, 2001; Edwards & Zampini, 2008; Baptista, Rauber, & Watkins, 2009). This thesis examines the production of 17 English initial consonant clusters (e.g., /pr/ in “pray”) in a markedness relationship, whereby clusters with greater sonority distance between the first and second consonants are unmarked and clusters with smaller sonority distance between the first and second consonants are marked, by two groups of Saudi Arabian L2 English learners. It also explores the effect of input frequency and L1 transfer. Participants …

Investigating Miami English-Spanish Bilinguals' Treatment Of English Deictic Verbs Of Motion, Erica Verde

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This investigation focused on the treatment of English deictic verbs of motion by Spanish-English bilinguals in Miami. Although English and Spanish share significant overlap of the spatial deixis system, they diverge in important aspects. It is not known how these verbs are processed by bilinguals. Thus, this study examined Spanish-English bilinguals’ interpretation of the verbs come, go, bring, and take in English.

Forty-five monolingual English speakers and Spanish-English bilinguals participated. Participants were asked to watch video clips depicting motion events and to judge the acceptability of accompanying narrations spoken by the actors in the videos.

Analyses showed that, in general, …

American Perceptions Of British Regional Dialects, Joanne Sampaio

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sociolinguists have discussed problematic language ideologies, such as Standard Language Ideology (Lippi-Green 1997) extensively and social perceptions of Standard English in the U.S and U.K are well documented. However, most work in this area has focused on perceptions of dialects within national contexts. This study makes a novel contribution to the study of language attitudes, investigating perceptions of British regional dialects within the U.S. A survey was created to gauge perceptions of five British regional dialects (Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, London). 49 survey participants listened to audio clips of British regional dialect speakers and then completed a mapping activity, answered …

Preposition Stranding In Heritage Speakers Of Brazilian Portuguese, Simone H. De Lemos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Influential bodies of work in language acquisition studies single out heritage bilingualism as a discrete acquisition process within the bilingualism continuum. In regards to the acquisition of WH-/QU- interrogatives containing prepositional phrases (PP), the present study examined whether heritage speakers (HS) of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) produce preposition stranding (P-stranding) constructions in their heritage language, in contrast to monolingual and adult speakers of BP, where prepositions are pied-piped to form the interrogative. Participants were HS of BP born in the USA and in Brazil, monolinguals, and late bilingual adults. The experiment consisted of an elicited production task and a grammaticality judgment …

The Processing Of Preposition-Stranding Constructions In English, Naomi R. Enzinna

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the prominent questions in modern psycholinguistics is the relationship between the grammar and the parser. Within the approach of Generative Grammar, this issue has been investigated in terms of the role that Principles of Universal Grammar may play in language processing. The aim of this research experiment is to investigate this topic. Specifically, this experiment aims to test whether the Minimal Structure Principle (MSP) plays a role in the processing of Preposition-Stranding versus Pied-Piped Constructions. This investigation is made with a self-paced reading task, an on-line processing test that measures participants’ unconscious reaction to language stimuli. Monolingual English …

Engagement Experiences Of Hispanic Generation 1.5 English Language Learners At A Massachusetts Community College, Jacqueline Peña

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hispanic Generation 1.5 students are foreign-born, U.S. high school graduates who are socialized in the English dominant K-12 school system while still maintaining the native language and culture at home (Allison, 2006; Blumenthal, 2002; Harklau, Siegal, & Losey, 1999; Rumbault & Ima, 1988). When transitioning from high school to college, these students sometimes assess into ESL courses based on their English language abilities, and because of this ESL placement, Hispanic Generation 1.5 students might have different engagement experiences than their mainstream peers. Engagement is a critical factor in student success and long-term retention because students’ positive and negative engagement experiences …

Quantifying Rhythmic Differences Between Spanish, English, & Hispanic English, Phillip Carter

Phillip M. Carter

The present analysis examines the Spanish and English of adolescent bilinguals (L1 Spanish, L2 English) from an exclusively Hispanic neighborhood in Raleigh, North Carolina. Conversational speech was analyzed for prosodic rhythm using the Pairwise Variability Index (Low & Grabe 1995), which included for each speaker at least 200 syllable-to- syllable comparisons in each language in order to determine the actual quantitative differences between Spanish and English. Additionally, the English data were compared to the data in the Thomas and Carter (2003 a, b) corpus in order to determine the rhythmic differences between North Carolina Hispanics and the benchmark non-Spanish-speaking, native …

Sonority And Its Role In The Acquisition Of Complex Coda Clusters By Spanish Speakers Learning English As A Second Language, Olena Drozd

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looked at the concept of sonority and its influence in the acquisition of complex coda consonant clusters by ESL Spanish speakers. An experiment was performed to test the relationship between the sonority values of the segments of final complex clusters and the rate of errors. The goal of this thesis was to test the hypothesis that the Sonority Sequencing Principle was a powerful linguistic constraint that affected the acquisition of L2 phonology. The findings confirmed the idea that sonority played a crucial role in the phonological acquisition of L2 learners. Subjects reduced the least sonorant segment of the …

Feature Geometry, Underspecification And Child Substitutions, Cynthia Williams Core

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at two recent developments in phonology, feature geometry and underspecification. Three models for feature geometry (Bernhardt, Halle-Sagey and Clements-Hume) and principles of radical underspecification are studied using previously collected data from child substitutions which reflect normal and unusual substitution processes. The goal of the thesis is to determine the ability of the feature geometry models and underspecification to account for the differences between normal and unusual processes in a principled manner. The findings are that neither feature geometry nor underspecification when used alone provides a complete explanation for the difference between normal and unusual substitution processes. However, …