Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons^™

Ambiguous Appalachianness: A Linguistic And Perceptual Investigation Into Arc-Labeled Pennsylvania Counties, Crissandra J. George

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

The Appalachian Regional Commission (2022) designates 52 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties as Appalachia, excluding only the southeast portion of the state. Matthew Ferrence, in Appalachia North, states that his "home is sometimes called Appalachia, sometimes Rust Belt, other times Midwest, even though very few who live there would accept any of those labels as correct" (xi). This ambiguous and fluid identity is due to the shaping, forming, and changing of Pennsylvania’s role within society from a founding colony to a thriving state with industry, unselfishly spoiling others, to the grounds of converging identities (Ferrence xi). This ambiguous identity makes …

Speaking Sober: Program Language As A Mechanism For Community Creation In Alcoholics Anonymous, Talya Wolf

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) is a fellowship of more than two million members in 180 countries worldwide who are joined by their common desire to achieve and maintain sobriety. A.A. is comprised of small, self-sustaining groups of individuals who meet, typically weekly or biweekly, to share their successes and struggles and to provide support to their fellow alcoholics. There are no dues or requirements for membership other than the wish to stop drinking. The organization is not evangelical; it does not recruit, but rather welcomes those who wish to participate. The open nature of this program attracts individuals of all ages, …

Ethnolinguistic Convergence And Divergence Within Dyadic Communication, Anna E. Pitman

Honors College Research

This study investigated just one dependent variable within communication: ethnicity. Ethnicity often influences language. The study examined interethnic communication behaviors through the lens of the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), as influenced by one of its offshoots, Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory (ELIT). Communication within CAT is given one of three labels—convergence, divergence, and maintenance. The study included four students at Harding University: two African American females, one Hispanic American female, and one Caucasian American female. The primary participant, an African American woman, had a recorded 20 minute conversation with each of the other three participants. Discussion questions provided were formulated to create …

Socio-Cultural Models Of Second Language Learning In Immigrants In Canada., Fanli Jia, Alexandra Gottardo, Aline Ferreira

Fanli Jia

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

How Esol Teachers Become Aware Of Communicative Peace, Josette Leblanc

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the implications that the relationship between teacher language awareness and communicative peace may have on educational programs for teachers of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The evaluation begins by analyzing proposals set out by the applied peace linguist Francisco Gomes de Matos, who suggests that ESOL teachers should teach communicative peace as an element of communicative competence, and also that education programs should provide training to support this approach. By juxtaposing current literature on structural and linguistic violence with Gomes de Matos' classroom techniques, the hypothesis is made that teachers who would teach communicative peace …

Política Y Planeación De Lenguaje En México: ¿Excesos Políticos O Falta De Planeación?, Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

El usar las lenguas para establecer autoridad no es algo nuevo (Fishman, 2006); sin embargo, la política y planeación de lenguaje (PPL) como disciplina de estudio es relativamente joven. La PPL promueve el estudio del uso del lenguaje a nivel político y social, así como sus implicaciones para la política en la práctica. Algunas de las metas de PPL son revitalizar, renovar e invertir el desplazamiento de lenguaje, así como mantener, difundir y cultivar el estatus de una lengua al incrementar sus funciones y cultivar su forma para que pueda tener otras funciones y por lo tanto, se pueda difundir …

Migración Temporal: Un Factor Importante Para Repensar Las Lenguas En Contacto, Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Migración temporal: un factor importante para repensar las lenguas en contacto Canadá es reconocido por sus políticas de inmigración y establecimiento que incluyen clases de inglés o francés como segunda lengua para ayudar a los recien llegados en su proceso de adaptación e integración; reconociendo de esta manera que la competencia lingüística es crucial para la inclusión social de los inmigrantes. Sin embargo, las leyes migratorias no contemplan este tipo de ayuda para los migrantes temporales que vienen a Canadá con programas como el de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Temporales (PTAT). EL PTAT ha estado en función desde los años 60’s …

Mexican Temporary Migrants In Canada: A Sociolinguistic Approach, Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Maria Eugenia De Luna Villalón

Mexican temporary migrants in Canada: a sociolinguistic approach Canada is well recognized because of its immigration policies and settlement programs that include ESL classes that help newcomers in its adaptation and integration process, recognizing in this way that linguistic competence is crucial for the social inclusion and engagement of migrants. However, migratory laws do not contemplate these kinds of help for temporary migrants that come from Mexico and the Caribbean through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SWAP). The SWAP has been a source of relevant economical, political, and social research with important policy implications. Within the literature, language barriers have …

Penguins Can't Fly And Women Don't Count: Language And Thought, Janet M. Bing

English Faculty Publications

Many people object to sexist and racist language partly because they assume that language not only reflects, but somehow affects attitudes. A one-to-one relationship between language and thought seems obvious to those who never question it, but the issue of whether language influences thought and behavior has been a matter of debate in philosophy even before Berkeley and Wittgenstein. Literary critics, particularly those who call themselves deconstructionists, are still debating to what extent language constructs reality.