Digital Commons Network^™

Context Of Learning And Second Language Fluency In French: Comparing Regular Classroom, Study Abroad And Intensive Domestic Immersion Programs, Barbara F. Freed, Norman Segalowitz, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

We compared the acquisition of various dimensions of fluency by 28 students of French studying in three different learning contexts: formal language classrooms in an at home (AH) institution, an intensive summer immersion (IM) program, and a study abroad (SA) setting. For the purpose of oral data collection, students participated in oral interviews (similar to the Oral Proficiency Interview) at the beginning and the end of the semester and provided information regarding language use and interactions. Analyses included comparisons of gain scores as a function of the learning context and as a function of the time reported using French outside …

Lesbian Jokes: A Reply To Christie Davies, Janet Bing

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lego Mindstorms As A Training Tool For Software Development Methodology In Multimedia Education., Elias Wyber

Creative Connections Symposium @ BEAP2004 September 4, 2004

This paper outlines an approach to educating multimedia practitioners utilizing Lego MindStorms® which evolved out of a desire to bridge the technical and aesthetic worldviews. The approach focuses on three aspects of the development process. First, it examines the linguistic model of code production. In order to convey the act of writing code as a linguistic task, the students are introduced to several aspects of linguistic theory, with examples illustrating their application in spoken, programmed and Lego MindStorms® based languages. The second area of focus is object theory. Adopting a similar approach to the previous section, but giving only Lego …

A Comparison Of Reading Development By Learners Of Japanese In Intensive Domestic Immersion And Study Abroad Contexts, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

To investigate the role of context in reading development, a comparison of reading comprehension and processes was conducted between learners of Japanese as a second language in study abroad (SA; n = 15) and intensive domestic (in the United States) immersion (IM; n = 15) contexts. A significant difference was found between contexts in pretest to posttest gains on only one measure of reading comprehension, a self-assessment. Differences on the two other measures of comprehension—free-recall and vocabulary knowledge—were not significant. The self-assessment measure indicated that SA students felt more confident reading the second language than their IM counterparts. In terms …

Teaching Speaking In The Foreign Language Classroom, Amanda J. Smith

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

One of the most necessary skills for living in the twenty-first century is gaining the ability to know and use another language. In many areas of life, from business transactions to broadcasting television weather warnings, the demand for proficiency in a foreign language is growing. One of the most important skills to have in a foreign language is the ability to speak the language with native or non-native speakers of that language. A great number of foreign language learners most likely consider one of their primary language goals to be the ability to speak the language at a high level …

The Topography Of Syntactic Islands, Danielle Rachel Alfandre

LSU Master's Theses

The Adjunct Island Constraint proposed by Ross (1967) together with Chomsky’s Barriers (1986) are not sufficient to account for the ungrammaticality of wh-extraction out of adjunct clauses, nor do they address the instances of grammatical extraction out of such constructions. Extraction out of Adjunct Islands is now completely predictable using a combination of Chomsky’s Minimalist Program (1995) and Kehler’s Coherence Theory (2002). The combination of these two theories gives an account of both the grammatical and ungrammatical instances of wh- extraction out of adjuncts. The principles of the Minimalist Program together with evidence from Old English adverbial clauses determines the …

Book Review Of, The Music Of Everyday Speech: Prosody And Discourse Analysis, John Hellermann

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reviews the book "The Music of Everyday Speech" by Ann K. Wennerstrom.

The Atlantic And Mande Groups Of Niger-Congo: A Study In Contrasts, A Study In Interaction, George Tucker Childs

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents the effects of long-lasting and pervasive contact between two major language groups of Niger-Congo, both of which diverged relatively early from the parent stock. The influence has been asymmetrical: Mande has more deeply influenced Atlantic than vice versa. The details come from two profoundly influenced languages, Kisi, now completely surrounded by Mande, and Mmani, a closely related language, from which all speakers have switched to the Mande language Soussou.

Le contact entre les locuteurs des langues atlantiques et les locuteurs des langues mande est de longue durée et profond. Les deux ensembles sont très différents typologiquement. À …

The Realization Of L2 Speech Events: A Quantitative Study Of Korean Speakers Of L2 English With Respect To Formality And Proficiency, Nevin Liddy

LSU Master's Theses

Guided written conversations were studied from English speakers at four different proficiency levels. They were analyzed according to their speech act realization, speech event realization, and conversation management (as reflected by three levels of speech acts: primary, secondary, and complementary). All four proficiency levels were found to be capable in the formulation of speech acts and events, demonstrating access to certain discourse principles at all levels. Language proficiency was found to effect the way in which a speech event was realized to a greater degree than the level of formality was found to effect the way in which the speech …

Resolving Automatic Prepositional Phrase Attachments By Non-Statistical Means, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Michael B. Manookin

Faculty Publications

Prepositional-phrase attachment is a topic of active research in the field of computational linguistics. Properly attaching prepositional phrases to their pertinent constituent proves straightforward for humans, but inferring these attachments in a cognitive modeling system becomes difficult. For example, in the sentence, ‘Ralph threw the frisbee to John,’ the prepositional phrase ‘to John’ will attach to the verb phrase ‘threw’. In another example, ‘Joe saw the dog with fur,’ the prepositional phrase ‘with fur’ will attach directly to the noun phrase ‘the dog.’ Humans would have little difficulty resolving these examples, but for computers this would be difficult.

Investigating Age Factors In Cross-Language Transfer Of Phonological Processing Across English And Chinese Languages, Yan Gu

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The current study compared the reading and phonological performance of younger and older Chinese-speaking children who learned to read English as a second language in Canada. Parallel measures of reading, phonological processing, orthographic processing, and oral language proficiency were administered in English and Chinese to 25 younger children (Grades 1 and 2) and 26 older children (Grades 5 and 6). Phonological processing skill in English and Chinese were intercorrelated and correlated with English reading performance in both age groups. For the younger children, English phonological processing skill was a unique predictor of English reading performance. Conversely, for the older children, …

Combining Learning Approaches For Incremental On-Line Parsing, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Michael B. Manookin

Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the integration of two different machine learning approaches to modeling language, NL-Soar and analogical modeling (AM). The resulting hybrid system is capable of functionality that is not possible when using only one of the systems in isolation. After a brief introduction of each system, an explanation is given of how AM is used to provide information useful to NL-Soar for two tasks. Examples are given, and related issues are outlined.

A Computational Approach To Resolving Certain Issues In Spanish Stress Placement, David Eddington

Faculty Publications

Previous research into Spanish stress assignment suggests that accentuation involves learning and storing individual word tokens along with their inherent stress patterns, and analogizing on stored words when the need arises to determine the stress pattern of an unknown or unavailable word. Exactly what variables are most relevant to stress assignment has been hotly debated. In the present study, a number of analogical simulations were carried out to determine whether elements of the CV tier, syllable weight, phonemic representation, or a combination of these, best accounts for accentuation in Spanish.

Expanding Tree Adjoining Grammar To Create Junction Grammar Trees, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Ronald Millett

Faculty Publications

Junction Grammar (JG) combines junction operators, multiple linked syntax/semantics trees, and flexible traversal algorithms. The multiple tree and flexible ordering characteristics of MC-TAG and other TAG extensions are somewhat analogous. This paper proposes that these similarities can be integrated to form a new approach, JG-TAG. Relevant aspects of both theories and the proposed new model are discussed in turn, and representative examples are sketched.

Shared Reading For Teaching English As A Foreign Language To Young Learners In Russia, Inna V. Kuznetsova

Graduate Research Papers

Shared Reading has proven to be very effective in developing language and literacy skills of children in the West. This project introduces Shared Reading as a curriculum component of English as a foreign language for young children in Russia. Review of the literature regarding the effectiveness of Shared Reading is described. The project includes two units of four lessons each that illustrate implementation of Shared Reading, oral language and other literacy activities. The project concludes with specific recommendations for dissemination of this work.

Variation In The Performance Of Speech Acts In Peninsular Spanish: Apologies And Requests, Laura Elizabeth Stapleton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines variations in the performance of speech acts and additional discourse features in situational speech patterns of Peninsular Spanish. Based on studies by Blum-Kulka, et al. (1989), nine situations were created, varying from less severe to more severe, to elicit natural responses for apologies and requests. Forty participants from Castile and Andalusia were interviewed, and the data were coded to examine the differences in speech act realizations and the use of specific discourse features. The participants’ responses were classified by regional, gender, and age differences for the data set. Sociolinguistic differences in the use of additional discourse features …

Connections Between Teacher And Student Attitudes Regarding Script Choice In First-Year Japanese Language Classrooms, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

This study investigates connections between teacher and student attitudes related to the delayed (or immediate) introduction of Japanese script in the Japanese language classroom. Two groups of students completed questionnaires concerning their attitudes toward the immediate or delayed introduction of Japanese script and the use of romaji (romanized Japanese) in the Japanese as a second language classroom. The first group was introduced to Japanese script immediately, and romaji was not used in their textbook. The second group used a romaji textbook and was introduced toJapanese script at a later time and a slower rate. Teacher attitudes were also assessed using …

The Language Contact Profile, Barbara F. Freed, Dan Dewey, Norman Segalowitz, Randall Halter

Faculty Publications

Efforts to gather data of various sorts—demographics, language-learning history, contact with native speakers, use of the language in the field—as they relate to participants in SLA research studies are inherent to understanding more about language acquisition and use. Scholars frequently develop questionnaires of their own, which are rarely shared widely in the profession. Consequently, much time and effort is invested in reinventing the process of gathering the types of data that are commonly needed.

The document we present here—a questionnaire to assess second language contact for students entering and completing language study programs in various contexts of learning (academic classrooms, …

Adapt: A Cognitive Architecture For Robots, Deryle W. Lonsdale, D. Paul Benjamin, Damian M. Lyons

Faculty Publications

The goal of the ADAPT project is to create a robot that can model its environment accurately in real time, and use that model to perform tasks and interact with people using natural language.

Integrating Perception, Language And Problem Solving In A Cognitive Agent For A Mobile Robot., Deryle W. Lonsdale, D. Paul Benjamin, Damian M. Lyons

Faculty Publications

We are implementing a unified cognitive architecture for a mobile robot. Our goal is to endow a robot agent with the full range of cognitive abilities, including perception, use of natural language, learning and the ability to solve complex problems. The perspective of this work is that an architecture based on a unified theory of robot cognition has the best chance of attaining human-level performance.

This agent architecture is an integration of three theories: a theory of cognition embodied in the Soar system, the RS formal model of sensorimotor activity and an algebraic theory of decomposition and reformulation.

These three …

A Phonological Grammar Of Northern Pame, Scott Charles Berthiaume

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation describes the phonology and morphology of Northern Pame, an Otomanguean language of Central Mexico. Furthermore, it explains the grammatical relationship of these domains from an Optimality Theoretic perspective. In terms of description, Northern Pame has a complex phonological inventory of 40 consonants, which distinguish among glottalized, aspirated, voiceless and voiced segments, as well as 6 vowels, which contrast for nasalization. In addition, a claim is made for two Northern Pame tones, in contrast to earlier suggestions of a three-tone system (Avelino 1997). Regarding Otomanguean laryngeally complex vowels (Silverman 1997b, Herrera 2000), this research provides phonological, as well as …

Cultural Commentary: Bridgewater Students Look At Language, Barbara Apstein

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Transparency And Spreading Of Tense, Aspect, And Mood In Kuche Narrative Discourse, Janet E. Wilson

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

Though clauses of Kuche can be grammatically marked—usually by verb prefixes or auxiliary verbs—for tense and/or aspect and/or mood (TAM), in discourse, very few clauses are actually marked for these categories. Instead, TAM is often marked only once in a stretch of text and is assumed to apply to every subsequent clause up to a delimiting construction. This paper describes how certain grammatical indicators of TAM are used in Kuche narrative discourse. Four chapters of an oral history and one folk tale are tabulated for the frequency of various TAM markings and interpretations. Number grids and bar graphs indicate how …

Past, Present And Future Of Language Policy In Kazakhstan, Aliya S. Kuzhabekova

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an analysis of the historical preliminaries, current state and directions of further development of the language policy in the former Soviet and presently independent Republic of Kazakhstan. Such an analysis is of special interest for sociolinguistic theory. The uniqueness of the linguistic situation challenging contemporary Kazakhstani language policy-making consists in the fact that Kazakh, the native tongue of the ethnic majority and the de jure state language of the independent Republic of Kazakhstan, is too lexically underdeveloped to successfully compete in most of the communicative domains with Russian, the state language of Soviet Kazakhstan and the alternate …

忠信與操縱 : 當代基督教《聖經》中文譯本研究, Cho Yuen Lam

Lingnan Theses

在基督教群體中，《聖經》向來被視為上帝的話，享有絕對的權威。 翻譯《聖經》的工作皆以忠於原文為首要目標。不同語言的《聖經》譯 本的數量早已成為古今中外譯本之冠。近一百多年來，基督教中文《聖經》的翻譯工作持續不斷，新的譯本相繼問世。這些譯本都宣稱以忠於原文為翻譯目的、比舊的譯本更忠實可信。然而《聖經》的原文早已遺失，不同譯本依據的源文又各有不同，譯本宣稱忠於原文的各種說法，不免有名不符實之嫌；而所謂忠信，亦是一個非常複雜的變動而相對的概念。本文擬採用描述性翻譯研究的方法，借用安德烈•勒菲弗爾 (André Lefevere) 的理論，嘗試從意識形態、詩學、贊助人三方面，探討聲稱以忠信為翻譯目標的當代《聖經》中文譯本在翻譯過程中對原文的操縱情況，揭示《聖經》中文譯本名為忠信、實為操縱的翻譯現象。

意识形态、诗学与文学翻译选择规范 : 20世纪50-80年代中国的(后)现代主义文学翻译研究, Mingjian Zha

Lingnan Theses

20世纪80年代之前，西方(后)现代主义文学在中国一直受到排斥，在中国翻译文学多元系统中处于边缘的位置，在50-70年代更被视为"颓废文学"、 "反动文学"。70年代末，中国开始译介(后)现代主义文学，但引起了激烈的论争。译介者运用种种阐释和翻译策略，终于使(后)现代主义文学"合法地"进入中国文学系统，并从文学系统的边缘走向比较中心的位置。(后)现代主义文学的翻译影响了八九十年代中国文学的发展面貌。(后)现代主义文学在当代中国的文化际遇，非常生动地说明，文学翻译并不是简单的语言转换行为，而是译语文化多元系统对外国文学的文化操纵和利用。

本文采取史论结合的方式，以埃文─佐哈尔(Itamar Even-Zohar)的多元系统论作为基本理论框架，以勒菲弗尔(André Lefevere)等人的理论作为探讨具体翻译现象的理论视点，在当代中国文化多元系统动态演进的时空中，分析意识形态、诗学、文学体制与文学翻译选择规范的形成和嬗变的关系，由此阐释(后)现代主义文学在中国50-70年代被边缘化，在80年代被中心化的意识形态和诗学原因。本文还从翻译文学经典形成的角度，考察(后)现代主义翻译文学经典对80年代中国文学创作以及意识形态和诗学的影响。最后，作者根据本文研究，对系统理论进行了反思，并对如何拓展翻译文学史研究空间，提出了个人的观点。

The Acquisition Of A Stage Dialect, Nathaniel George Halloran

Dissertations and Theses

This study reports on the effectiveness of (theatrical) stage dialect learning techniques in bringing about linguistically authentic change. Actors use several techniques, some rather esoteric in nature and others more closely tied to linguistic fact such as the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. The purpose of this study is to examine some of these techniques as to their ability to bring about linguistic authenticity, as well as to attempt a comparison of stage dialect acquisition and naturalistic dialect acquisition.

Data were collected by interviewing a convenience sample of twelve student actors. Six of these (three males, three females) were …

A Sociolinguistic Comparison Of The Syntax Of Modern Standard Arabic And Jordanian Arabic, Ahmad Mahmoud Saidat

Linguistics & TESOL Theses - Archive

This thesis investigates some of the syntactic differences between two forms of Arabic, the standard and the local vernacular of Petra. This vernacular has not been looked at from a syntactic perspective. The attempt here is to bring attention to some of the features characterizing this vernacular by comparing it with Standard Arabic. It attempts also to find reasons for having two forms of the language in one society as well as people's reaction towards that. It also compares and contrasts the grammatical features each form has and tests them against X-bar theory to see the syntactic difference from a …

Awara Phonology, Edward C. Quigley

Theses and Dissertations

Awara is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea spoken in the Finisterre Mountain Range. Though it has been mentioned in papers written about the Finisterre-Huon languages and about the Wantoat language (another language in the Wantoat family), the Awara sound system has not been described in depth.

This paper describes the Awara phonemic inventory, autosegmental features, morphophonemic processes, and implications for the Awara orthography. The analysis is presented within the framework of rules-based Generative Phonology.

Interesting aspects of the language shown here are 1) prenasalized voiced stops, 2) complex, phonemes /kw/, /ŋw/ and /gw/, 3) non--universal morphophonemic processes such …

Discourse Of Evil: Speaking Terrorism To Silence, Galip Isen

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

That the impact of terrorism is equal to the reaction it elicits may be a truism, but one that deserves further probing as demonstrated by the way that reaction is put to use politically. Whichever of 150-strong definitions [1] is accepted, the consequential aspect of terrorism is ideational: the assault targets the concept and experience of normal in the lives and minds of ordinary people. Several writers argue that terrorism is generally inefficacious, strategically counterproductive and mostly unsuccessful as a method of attaining socio-political objectives [2]. However, overall public response to 11 September 2001 has been so profound …