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Linguistic Research In The Fijian Language, Jared Chapman, Dr. Dallin Oak Aug 2013

Linguistic Research In The Fijian Language, Jared Chapman, Dr. Dallin Oak

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For nearly fifty years, Fiji has been the only major South Pacific LDS mission without its own Missionary Training Center (MTC) language program. For this reason, missionaries have gone without language skills and their ability to do missionary work was limited. Today, the MTC has a fledgling program that struggles to teach its missionaries the language. The program=s major challenge was the lack of adequate language lesson materials. As a return missionary from Fiji and founder of its MTC language training program, I have a strong love for the people and an intense interest in improving the instructional methods used …

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The Development Of A Biblical Hebrew Parser, John D. Crawford, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale Aug 2013

The Development Of A Biblical Hebrew Parser, John D. Crawford, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to produce a phrase-structure grammar for Biblical Hebrew and to determine the best way to apply said grammar in a computerized parser in order to test its durability. Overall I believe this project was a success. Although the parser has only been tested within the first few chapters of Genesis, there is sufficient variety of syntax there to test the parser’s capabilities. In addition, the problems of developing a parser have made the more difficult aspects of the application of linguistic theory to real data much more real and interesting for me.

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Yale Anchor Bible Commentary: Book Of Deuteronomy, Jason Olson, Dr. David R. Seely Aug 2013

Yale Anchor Bible Commentary: Book Of Deuteronomy, Jason Olson, Dr. David R. Seely

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My ORCA project was the experience of a lifetime! I actually had the opportunity to assist Dr. Seely in creating a manuscript for publication to Yale Anchor Bible, the most prestigious and respected Biblical commentary in the world.

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Blood And Atonement In The Book Of Mormon From A Near Eastern Perspective, Michael Biggerstaff, Dr. Jared Ludlow Aug 2013

Blood And Atonement In The Book Of Mormon From A Near Eastern Perspective, Michael Biggerstaff, Dr. Jared Ludlow

Journal of Undergraduate Research

“Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him” (2 Nephi 11:4). These words of Nephi, concerning the Law of Moses typifying Christ, are echoed by several other Book of Mormon authors, including Lehi, Jacob, Jarom, King Benjamin, Abinadi, Amulek, and Mormon. More authors could be added to this list if it included those who spoke of Christ’s fulfilling of …

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Prosodic Templates And Plural Formation In German Low And Middle Dialects, Jessica Anderson, Dr. Laura Catharine Smith Aug 2013

Prosodic Templates And Plural Formation In German Low And Middle Dialects, Jessica Anderson, Dr. Laura Catharine Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My research is to examine the actual structure that dictates the shape of plural formation in German, and why in some dialects we see a failure to consistently form the plural using the method present in the standard language. Using previous research along with new data gathered from the Pfeffer Corpus, our goal was to examine the varying plural forms attested and gather a clearer picture of dialectal differences.

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A Corpus-Based Evaluation Of Usage Advice From The Cse And Chicago Style Manuals, Shelsea Van Ornum, Doris Dant Aug 2013

A Corpus-Based Evaluation Of Usage Advice From The Cse And Chicago Style Manuals, Shelsea Van Ornum, Doris Dant

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Writers and editors are constantly faced with decisions about usage (the actual use of language), as opposed to grammar (the theoretical structure of language). To help writers and editors make these decisions, various organizations and language authorities have compiled manuals and handbooks that include advice on and examples of various usage items. However, actual usage may not always reflect what language experts claim is the correct choice. Furthermore, language experts often disagree with each other in their usage recommendations.

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Development Of New Malagasy-English Dictionary, Matthew Winterton, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale Aug 2013

Development Of New Malagasy-English Dictionary, Matthew Winterton, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Since Madagascar gained its independence from France in 1960, the country’s leaders have tried to promote a unique sense of identity for the Malagasy people and culture. Part of this effort has been spent in preserving the Malagasy language. However, due to the limited extent of vocabulary in the Malagasy language, a high demand for English arose, resulting in English becoming an official language in 2007. Since the first Malagasy-English dictionary was published by British missionaries in 1835, there have been attempts to fabricate a modernized Malagasy-English dictionary, but these efforts have by no means been comprehensive and are often …

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The Problem With Chicago’S Possessives, Betsy Snider, Doris Dant Aug 2013

The Problem With Chicago’S Possessives, Betsy Snider, Doris Dant

Journal of Undergraduate Research

American English has no official language rules; rather, it has guidelines of what is acceptable and what is not. These guidelines, or prescriptions, are found in grammar books such as usage books, dictionaries, and style guides. Grammar books are created and maintained by editors and grammarians who base their prescriptions on what they observe as acceptable or unacceptable usage based on what occurs in educated texts. Despite the commonality of method, there is great variety and contradiction between what different grammar books prescribe. Nineteenth century grammarian, Goold Brown, once barbed “Grammarians would perhaps differ less, if they read more.”

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Text Messaging: An Analysis Of Concise Strategies Of Politeness, Jessica Evans, Dr. Wendy Baker Aug 2013

Text Messaging: An Analysis Of Concise Strategies Of Politeness, Jessica Evans, Dr. Wendy Baker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this study helps in expanding our understanding of how new mediums such as texting differ from traditional forms of speech and writing (Baron, 2008). One of the important practical implications of this research is a better understanding of the appropriate uses of texting, which is important especially for non-native English speakers to understand. We hope that the findings of this study will help improve our understanding not only of how such mediums are used (especially how they relate to more traditional forms of speech and writing) but also …

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The Etymologies Of Noah Webster: Ridiculous Or Revolutionary?, Dallin Bailey, Dr. Cynthia Hallen Aug 2013

The Etymologies Of Noah Webster: Ridiculous Or Revolutionary?, Dallin Bailey, Dr. Cynthia Hallen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In addition to priceless definition writing, the famed lexicographer, Noah Webster, spent over a decade in research for the etymologies, or word origins, in his dictionary. Unfortunately, scholars and biographers often criticize his etymological work in the literature. The trend in these criticisms seems to be that labeling a few obscure examples of Webster’s etymologies as incorrect is sufficient reason for the entire collection of his etymologies to be ignored. These critics dismiss his etymologies as being too speculative, lacking in scientific rigor, and too Biblical. Surprisingly, no study to date has reported a scientific analysis of his etymologies. My …

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Providing Corrective Feedback To Second Language Writers: What Are Educators Currently Doing?, Emily B. Allen, Norman Evans Aug 2013

Providing Corrective Feedback To Second Language Writers: What Are Educators Currently Doing?, Emily B. Allen, Norman Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Demosthenes, a Greek orator and statesman, affirmed that “small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” I feel that my receipt of an ORCA grant has been one such small opportunity which has been the beginning of many great enterprises for me personally and also for my chosen field. My faculty mentor, Dr. Norman Evans, and I have made great progress and had many remarkable experiences with the pursuits of our ORCA project. Together we have designed and launched a successful online survey, presented in two conferences, and are now in the process of composing several manuscripts for future …

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Anglicization: The Rate Of English Borrowings In Pennsylvania German, Micheal Taylor, Dr. Laura Catharine Smith Aug 2013

Anglicization: The Rate Of English Borrowings In Pennsylvania German, Micheal Taylor, Dr. Laura Catharine Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My research began as I came across contradicting theories concerning the Anglicization of Pennsylvania German while writing a paper for an advanced modern German course. While researching for that preliminary paper, I found scholars suggesting that English has completely taken over the PA German language. Such scholars stated that the rate of English borrowings was increasing at a record rate and that the language was not an actual language at all, but rather a messy conglomeration of English and Standard German. On the other hand, a handful of scholars argued that such research against PA German individuality had been highly …

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How Do The Frequency Of Prosodic Errors In The Speech Of Non-Native English Speakers Influence Comprehensibility Ratings Given By Native Speakers Of English?, Jonathan Porter, Dr. Mark Tanner Aug 2013

How Do The Frequency Of Prosodic Errors In The Speech Of Non-Native English Speakers Influence Comprehensibility Ratings Given By Native Speakers Of English?, Jonathan Porter, Dr. Mark Tanner

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to identify the degree to which prosodic features in English (primarily pausing, word stress, and sentence-final pitch) influence native speakers (NS) comprehensibility of non-native speech. Identifying the extent to which particular features of speech influence comprehensibility could have major ramifications on the type of pronunciation instruction that is provided to non-native speakers. It can also have impact on the development of classroom and published materials for non-native speakers.

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Creating Hebrewcorpus: A Vast Online Resource For Modern Hebrew, Justin Parry, Dr. Dilworth Parkinson Aug 2013

Creating Hebrewcorpus: A Vast Online Resource For Modern Hebrew, Justin Parry, Dr. Dilworth Parkinson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Hebrew in its present form, called Israeli by some scholars because of its unique modern characteristics, has only existed for about 120 years (Zuckermann 1). Because of this, scholarship in Israeli Hebrew is in many ways still in its infancy. Within this language there is one area of research that needs clear development and better resources. This area is called corpus linguistics, because it deals with corpora. A corpus can be defined as a “systematic collection of speech or writing in a language” (Matthews 78). This area is particularly significant because it allows researchers and language learners to search for …

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Critical Factors In Standard English Acquisition, Adam Prestidge, Dr. William Eggington Aug 2013

Critical Factors In Standard English Acquisition, Adam Prestidge, Dr. William Eggington

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The ability to acquire Standard English is requisite for upward mobility in the United States. As English-language-learners are able to acquire command of a higher code, society rewards them with greater opportunities for success.

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Korean Language Acquisition And Syntax: Setting A Foundation For Korean Ei Testing, William Wilson, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale Aug 2013

Korean Language Acquisition And Syntax: Setting A Foundation For Korean Ei Testing, William Wilson, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Accurate and reliable L2 testing (or second language testing) is something that many entities rely on, including educational institutions, business enterprises, and the government. Researchers over the last several decades have proposed new testing methods, and a particularly promising venue is Elicited Imitation (EI). Simply put, an EI test is a sentence imitation test. Test-takers hear a series of recorded utterances in the target language, repeat those sentences as exactly as possible, and then receive scores based on the accuracy of their repetitions.

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Spanish Vocabulary Online Profiler (Svop): A Linguistic Tool For Literacy And Second Language Acquisition, Maria Snachez Wals, Katherine Washburn, Nathan Glenn, Ray Graham Aug 2013

Spanish Vocabulary Online Profiler (Svop): A Linguistic Tool For Literacy And Second Language Acquisition, Maria Snachez Wals, Katherine Washburn, Nathan Glenn, Ray Graham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

According to research, a reader needs to understand at least 95% of running words in a text in order to comprehend the text and to learn new words from context (Hu & Nation, 2000; Nation 2006). In an effective language and literacy program, selecting the appropriate text and pre-teaching key vocabulary is essential; but for teachers it is a time consuming task to find leveled texts and identify the key vocabulary words in the reading.

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Practical Cost-Conscious Active Learning For Data Annotation In Annotator-Initiated Environments, Robbie A. Haertel Aug 2013

Practical Cost-Conscious Active Learning For Data Annotation In Annotator-Initiated Environments, Robbie A. Haertel

Theses and Dissertations

Many projects exist whose purpose is to augment raw data with annotations that increase the usefulness of the data. The number of these projects is rapidly growing and in the age of “big data” the amount of data to be annotated is likewise growing within each project. One common use of such data is in supervised machine learning, which requires labeled data to train a predictive model. Annotation is often a very expensive proposition, particularly for structured data. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore methods of reducing the cost of creating such data sets, including annotated text corpora.We …

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Testing The Validity Of The Byu Taiwan Mandarin Speech Materials, Briana Rae, Dr. Richard Harris Aug 2013

Testing The Validity Of The Byu Taiwan Mandarin Speech Materials, Briana Rae, Dr. Richard Harris

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study adds to the ongoing work of creating a system capable of administering accurate speech recognition threshold (SRT) tests to non-native English speakers. The SRT test helps in determining the brain’s ability to hear and understand speech. Bedke-Slade (2006) developed a SRT word list comprised of 28 words in the Taiwan Mandarin language which she recorded onto a compact disc. This word list, however, was not re-tested to ensure its performance matched the outcome predicted by Bedke-Slade. That’s where I came in.

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Consumer Behavior In “Equilibrium”: How Experiencing Physical Balance Increases Compromise Choice, Jeff Larson, Darron M. Billeter Aug 2013

Consumer Behavior In “Equilibrium”: How Experiencing Physical Balance Increases Compromise Choice, Jeff Larson, Darron M. Billeter

Faculty Publications

The authors propose that the physical sensation of balance can affect consumer judgments and decisions. A series of six experiments demonstrates that certain consumer behaviors, such as leaning back in a chair while shopping online, can activate the concept of balance and thereby affect the consumer decision-making process. Specifically, consumers experiencing a heightened sense of balance are more likely to choose compromise options. The authors propose and show evidence for the mechanism underlying these effects: that the concept of balance is metaphorically linked in the mind to the concept of parity and that activating balance increases the accessibility of the …

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Acceptance Of Disability In College Students, Brian Charles Carl Jul 2013

Acceptance Of Disability In College Students, Brian Charles Carl

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the findings of a study examining the following questions: How do students in a particular disability group differ from students in other disability groups in the degree to which they accept their disability? How are level of functional impairment and acceptance related? How are an individual's view of disability as a defining characteristic and acceptance related? How are functional impairment and the degree to which disability is seen as a defining characteristic related? Analysis using ANOVA indicated that there was not a significant difference in the level of acceptance between disability groups. Three Pearson's r correlation analyses …

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The Effectiveness Of Systematic And Engaging Early Literacy (Seel) Intervention On Word Reading In Kindergarten Students Receiving Tier 3 Services, Christina Haley Cole Jul 2013

The Effectiveness Of Systematic And Engaging Early Literacy (Seel) Intervention On Word Reading In Kindergarten Students Receiving Tier 3 Services, Christina Haley Cole

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy (SEEL) intervention method to improve consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) reading in four students receiving Tier 3 services. The SEEL intervention method was also combined with the use of digital books on an iPad to investigate the effects of using technology in reading intervention sessions. Previous research indicates effectiveness for the foundational principles of SEEL, which include instruction in engaging, meaningful contexts that provide frequent and intense opportunities to practice. This research involved 4 kindergarten students who qualified for Tier 3 services based on their performance on an index of difficulty …

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Social Networks Of Children With Language Impairment, Serena Marita Louisa Mickelson Jul 2013

Social Networks Of Children With Language Impairment, Serena Marita Louisa Mickelson

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) often exhibit social difficulties along with language issues that can affect their friendships with peers. This study sought to identify the self-reported social networks of children with LI and compare them to the self-reported social networks of children with typical language development. Sixteen children with LI (9 girls and 7 boys) between the ages of 5-11 years, and sixteen children with typical language development matched for age and gender were studied. Children were asked to name interactants in four social circles (Blackstone & Hunt Berg, 2003): family, friends, acquaintances, and paid interactants. A parent also …

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The Physical Theatre Of War: Language, Memory, And Gender In Black Watch And War Horse, Andrea M. Gunoe Jul 2013

The Physical Theatre Of War: Language, Memory, And Gender In Black Watch And War Horse, Andrea M. Gunoe

Theses and Dissertations

The public's perception of war is influenced by every media story they see, every account they read, and every story they hear. News telecasts and newspapers tend to lean towards a focus of the grand narratives of war such as political involvement and overarching strategy. Media such as books and film can tell a more personal narrative of the events of war and attempt to display how war "really is" through the use of written and visual language that focuses more on how things happened as opposed to simply what happened. Theatre provides a unique perspective on war as the …

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Speaking For Himself: Odysseus And Rhetoric In Sophocles' Philoctetes, Christian Wiggo Axelgard Jul 2013

Speaking For Himself: Odysseus And Rhetoric In Sophocles' Philoctetes, Christian Wiggo Axelgard

Theses and Dissertations

In order to reconcile the deus ex machina at the end of Sophocles' Philoctetes with the actions of the rest of the play, this project analyzes the role of Odysseus within the play with special attention to rhetoric. By considering the character of Odysseus as a complex construct referencing both literary and historical contexts, this study suggests that Neoptolemus in fact errs in siding with Philoctetes to the degree that he does by the tragedy's end. The themes of the play involving Philoctetes and Neoptolemus then become warnings against inappropriate emotional responses, again consistent with Heracles' advice in the deus …

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Alignment Between Secondary Biology Textbooks And Standards For Teaching English Learners: A Content Analysis, Joseph H. Hanks Jul 2013

Alignment Between Secondary Biology Textbooks And Standards For Teaching English Learners: A Content Analysis, Joseph H. Hanks

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the most recent science education reform movement in the U.S. is science literacy for all Americans. Science literacy among U.S. students remains low, however, as compared with students in other industrialized countries, and is lowest among English Language Learner (ELL) students. Although there are barriers to developing science literacy for all adolescent students, ELL students often experience additional barriers that make developing science literacy even more challenging without support. Because textbooks are often heavily relied upon by secondary science teachers, the opportunity for many ELLs to develop science literacy may depend upon the support for these students …

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Sparking Metacognition: Contextualizing Reading Strategies For Low-Proficient Esl Readers, Deborah L. Pratt Jul 2013

Sparking Metacognition: Contextualizing Reading Strategies For Low-Proficient Esl Readers, Deborah L. Pratt

Theses and Dissertations

Reading strategies are consciously controlled actions learners execute in order to aid comprehension. The effectiveness of strategies is increased with metacognitive awareness. Researchers have created instruments to raise metacognitive awareness targeted for native and highly proficient L2 readers. This article outlines the creation of a new survey, the Contextualized Inventory of Metacognitive Awareness for novice to low-intermediate L2 readers. Unlike other instruments, this survey contextualizes pre-, during-, and post-reading strategy deployment with the use of simplified, narrative reading passages. The survey was piloted at an Intensive English Program with 88 subjects. The overall readability of the survey had a Lexile …

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Pro-Drop And Word-Order Variation In Brazilian Portuguese: A Corpus Study, Stewart Daniel Smith Jul 2013

Pro-Drop And Word-Order Variation In Brazilian Portuguese: A Corpus Study, Stewart Daniel Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines certain syntactic properties of the Brazilian variety of Portuguese (BP): 1) BP is a pro-drop language with instances of both null subjects and covert objects, and 2) BP exhibits several possible word orders. To determine the frequency of pro-drop and word-order variations, the CDP (The Portuguese Corpus) was used to provide samples of transitive, main clauses, which were then categorized based on whether or not they had null subjects and covert objects. The clauses were also categorized according to word order. In addition to providing samples, the corpus allowed for the comparison of four different registers …

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Curriculum Development For The Novice Developer, Darcy L. Whetten Jul 2013

Curriculum Development For The Novice Developer, Darcy L. Whetten

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addressed the need to inform and demonstrate to novice developers the process of developing a curriculum and the need to guide novice teachers with little or no access to formal training. A curriculum for novice teachers in community programs was developed such that the teachers were presented clear and specific guidance in presenting lessons with minimal preparation time and with minimal training. Eight novice teachers presented the lessons in ESL and EFL contexts and provided feedback on the success, strengths, and weaknesses of the curriculum and lessons. The participants indicated that the curriculum overall is satisfactory, easy to …

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Acts 17: Paul Before The Areopagus, Michael R. Preece Jul 2013

Acts 17: Paul Before The Areopagus, Michael R. Preece

Theses and Dissertations

Luke's record of Paul in Athens is among the most interesting and widely studied topics in the life of the Apostle Paul. Luke recorded that Paul taught in the Athenian marketplace, where he was asked to present his doctrines before the Areopagus. Many have commented on the controversial aspects of Paul's speech before the council as recounted by Luke. Much of this scholarly commentary has been centered on the speech itself and the historical authenticity of the account. The purpose of this thesis is to reexamine the context and the setting of the speech as recorded by Luke in the …

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