Linguistics Commons^™

Proximity And Journalistic Practice In Environmental Discourse: Experiencing “Job Blackmail” In The News, Barbara Johnstone, Justin Mando

Barbara Johnstone

No abstract provided.

Open Educational Resources In The United States: Insights From University Foreign Language Directors, Joshua J. Thoms, Becky L. Thoms

Joshua J. Thoms

This study reports the results of a survey completed by 155 university foreign language (FL) directors in the United States (US) during Fall 2012. Survey respondents come from a variety of institutions and direct a range of FL programs. The objectives of the study are to (a) determine what FL directors know about open educational resources (OER), (b) understand respondents’ perceived benefits and challenges of using OER, and (c) determine what resources and support are critical to establish or expand the use of OER in FL courses in the US. Results indicate that while 66% of FL directors do not ...

Evidence Of A "Hearing" Dialect Of Asl While Interpreting, Campbell Mcdermid

Journal of Interpretation

Little is know about the characteristics of fluent hearing signers and their ultimate attainment of ASL as a second language. To address this, a study was conducted with 12 ASL-English interpreters who were native English speakers to examine their use of ASL while interpreting. Each subject was asked to simultaneously interpret a short English narrative into ASL and a panel of three Deaf native signers assessed their fluency. Though the group included both novice and expert interpreters, the results revealed many similarities in their work. These included a reduction in pronouns between the English source and ASL target text, the ...

Naming Practices In J.R.R. Tolkien's Invented Languages, Wendy Baker Et Al.

Journal of Literary Onomastics

No abstract.

Understanding The Misunderstandings In Pilot-Controller Dialogue, Jason M. Newcomer

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Misunderstandings in any environment can be detrimental, if not counterproductive, to the intentions, expectations, or objective(s) of any communication, but in complex airspace congested by heavy traffic, pilot-controller transmissions, and various meteorological phenomena, they can be catastrophic. Barshi and Farris combine 45 years of aviation experience, 20 years of related research, and advanced education with sound methodology to deliver a well-balanced combination of theoretical and practical work to the fields of aviation, human factors, and psychology. Though Misunderstandings in ATC Communications, the authors guide readers through a series of experiments, literature, and transcribed air traffic control recordings to explore ...

Translation Of Legal Texts Between Arabic And English: The Case Study Of Marriage Contracts, Mohammed H. Al Aqad

Mohammed H. M. Al Aqad

Over decades, there used to be a number of studies on Legal translation since it was one of the most challenging issues for translators and it still a critical and authoritative translation produced by legal bodies. Actually, translating legal texts might raise some problems in translation pertaining to the differences between the Source and Target Texts. Thus, it can result in a certain amount of ambiguity with respect to the legal texts, as it belongs to people‟s beliefs and cultures. This study investigates the quality of the translated message from Arabic into English. Hence, the focus is on the ...

Philosophy Of Linguistics, Robert J. Stainton

Robert J. Stainton

Rather than attempting to survey the rich array of topics within Philosophy of Linguistics, this article focuses on two questions: “What kind of thing is Linguistics about?” and “What is the proper evidence-base for Linguistics?” After describing various exclusionary answers, it argues for Pluralism on both fronts: the objects of study in Linguistics are metaphysical hybrids, with physical, mental, abstract and social facets; and evidence from every domain should in principle be welcomed.

The Relationship Between Implicit And Explicit Processing In Statistical Language Learning, Nicolette B. Noonan

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Statistical language learning is an implicit process wherein language learners track sequential statistics in fluent speech, and may it facilitate the learning of word boundaries. This process is well studied, however, the cognitive mechanisms supporting it remain poorly understood. The present thesis investigated whether domain-specific or cross-domain explicit working memory engagement would impair implicit statistical learning of word boundaries in fluent speech. Participants (n = 110) were exposed to an implicit statistical word segmentation paradigm while concurrently engaged in no other task (control), or an explicit domain- specific (verbal) or cross-domain (visuospatial) working memory task of either low- or high- demand ...

The Transition From Participation To Facilitation Of Supervision: An Autoethnography, Daniel V. Maffia

Master's Theses

This autoethnography examines the journey from being a participant of supervision to a facilitator of supervision. The researcher documents his journey using journals to express his experiences facilitating supervision for a group of medical interpreters working in the hospital setting. The purpose of this study is to gather data that could guide future trainings for facilitators of supervision. The supervision group consisted of both American Sign Language/English and Spanish/English medical interpreters. As a newer interpreter to the field with limited medical interpreting experience, it was expected that the researcher might face difficulties successfully facilitating supervision sessions for that ...

The Academic And Cultural Adaptation Of Chinese International Students At Umass Boston: The Struggles And Progress From The Perspectives Of Students And Professors, Pingping Chen, Theodora Chocos, Lorena Fuentes

English Faculty Publication Series

This panel will articulate the struggles and progress of Chinese international students in their learning processes at UMass Boston. Additionally, the challenges some professors have faced in teaching Chinese international students and the pedagogical practice they have used to engage these learners in their courses will be addressed.

This panel was presented as part of the 2014 8th Annual University Conference on Teaching, Learning, and Technology on May 15, 2014. The theme of the conference was "Teaching both What and How for Deep Learning at Every Level."

Towards An Optimal Representation Of Tones In The Orthographies Of African Languages, Ettien N. Koffi Dr.

Linguistic Portfolios

Tone is a conundrum for linguists attempting to reduce African languages to writing. Anecdotal, empirical, and experimental data indicate that not marking tone at all leads to reading difficulties. The converse is also true, namely marking tone exhaustively reduces fluency, leads to false starts, and repairs. This article proposes an elegant but simple solution to get out of this catch twenty-two situation. First, a historical overview of various tone marking schemes is discussed. Second, the concept of Tone Optimality Model (TOM) is introduced and exemplified. The proposed model succeeds in reducing tonal density in texts without affecting readability. The main ...

An Acoustic Phonetic Portfolio Of A Chinese-Accented English Idiolect, Borui Zhang

Linguistic Portfolios

This acoustic portfolio contains four sections, including nine voice data analysis projects. The first section represents my pronunciation of English using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The second section describes the spectrogram data parsing of the vowels and consonants as I pronounce them. The third section focuses on acoustic correlates that I use to express lexical stress on homographic and multi-syllabic words. The fourth and final section investigates various phonological rules that apply in my pronunciation of the word . Praat and NORM are the two acoustic computer software programs used in this study.

L2 Learner Perceptions Of Interactional Feedback, Kristen Lorincz

Linguistic Portfolios

The production of comprehensible output is an integral component of learning a second language (Swain, 1985). To facilitate the development of communicative competence, teachers often provide oral corrective feedback to their students during interaction. In theory, this enables second language (L2) learners to recognize the manner in which their output either aligns or deviates from target norms (Long, 1996; Gass, 2008). Previous research on interactional feedback has largely focused on the comparative efficacy of various types of interactional feedback, namely prompts and recasts. The aim of this study, which is an expanded replication of a study conducted by Mackey, Gass ...

Negative Vot In Three Montenegrin-Accented English Idiolects, Ettien N. Koffi Dr., Martina Abat

Linguistic Portfolios

This investigation of VOT (Voice Onset Time) of stop consonants in Montenegrinaccented English started as linguistic curiosity when Abat realized in Prof. Koffi’s LabPhon (Laboratory Phonology course) that she produced [b, d, g] with negative VOT while many of her American classmates and other L2 students in the course did not. She recorded another female Montenegrin speaker of English whose voiced stops also had negative VOT. This made her more curious and motivated her to record yet another female Montenegrin whose voiced stops also turned out to have negative VOT. It is not uncommon for speakers to produce negative ...

Comparative Study Of The Acoustic Vowel Space Of Egyptian English Vowels And General American English Vowels, Samar Khalil

Linguistic Portfolios

This study provides cross-language comparisons of Egyptian English and General American English (GAE) vowels. The main purpose of this study is to determine the intelligibility of Egyptian speakers in comparison with GAE speakers. In order to implement this comparison, eleven GAE vowels in /hVd/ contexts produced by five male and five female Egyptian speakers were analyzed acoustically using Praat software. The results reveal that Egyptian speakers’ production of GAE vowels is affected by the Egyptian vowel system. While some GAE vowels are easy for Egyptians to pronounce intelligibly, others such as /æ, ɛ, o, ɔ, ɑ/, are difficult to produce ...

The Acoustic Correlates Of Stress-Shifting Suffixes In Native And Nonnative English: An Overview, Paul Keyworth

Linguistic Portfolios

Although laboratory phonology techniques have been widely employed to discover the interplay between the acoustic correlates of English Lexical Stress (ELS) – fundamental frequency, duration, and intensity - studies on ELS in polysyllabic words are rare, and cross-linguistic acoustic studies in this area are even rarer. Consequently, the effects of language experience on L2 lexical stress acquisition are not clear. This investigation of adult Arabic (Saudi Arabian) and Mandarin (Mainland Chinese) speakers analyzes their ELS production in tokens with seven different stress-shifting suffixes; i.e., Level 1 [+cyclic] derivations to phonologists. Stress productions are then systematically analyzed and compared with those of ...

Language Of Education Planning In Zambia, Rebekah Gordon

Linguistic Portfolios

Zambia is a landlocked country in south central Africa. While its only official language is English, seven other languages are recognized as national languages. In addition, many other local languages are used. In education, however, not all Zambian languages are taught as subjects or used as mediums of instruction. This paper reviews the history of languages and their use in the educational system in Zambia. After considering what was done in the past, the current policies are examined. Finally, a Game Theory analysis is used to predict what kind of language of education policy would be most agreed upon in ...

Game-Theoretic Proposals For A Workable Revitalization Curriculum On Pine Ridge Reservation, Jon Cotner

Linguistic Portfolios

This paper proposes practical and implementable Lakota language programs for use in primary school classrooms on the Pine Ridge Reservation. By applying the Predictioneer’s Model of the Game Theory to the most viable educational models for the reservation, the Lakota Full Immersion and Lakota/English Dual Immersion Models are found to be the classroom options that would be the most agreeable for all interested parties. The implementation of either of these models would enhance student scholastic performance, provide greater post-school opportunities, as well as provide incentive for the Lakota language within the community. The paper also discusses the current ...

If I Were An Esl Student, Would I Need To Learn The Subjunctive? An Analysis Of Teaching The Subjunctive Mood, Rebecca Bastien, Sarah Vinz

Linguistic Portfolios

In most languages, including English, there are four main grammatical moods: the declarative (also known as the indicative mood), the imperative mood, the conditional mood, and the subjunctive mood. The first three moods occur frequently in speech and in writing. However, the subjunctive is hardly used in English, even though one cannot avoid it when one studies French, Spanish, and other Romance languages. In this paper, we describe the subjunctive, its functions, and its place an ESL curriculum. We examine textbooks and offer suggestions for how, when, and why to include the subjunctive in lesson plans.

Luganda Nouns: Inflectional Morphology And Tests, Elizabeth Baertlein, Martin Ssekitto

Linguistic Portfolios

Koffi (2010) proposes four diagnosis tests for identifying, classifying, and categorizing words in the lexicon of any language. The four tests are the semantic test, the morphological test, the syntactic (or distributional test), and the functional test. In this paper, we put the four tests to a test to see how well they can help identify words in Luganda, a language spoken in Uganda. We find that, though, Luganda is from a different language family than English, the four tests hold well. We conclude that understanding how to use these tests provide teachers with additional insights not only in English ...