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Volume 40, Number 43: August 22, 2003, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Summer Commencement: August 8, 2003, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Summer Commencement program from August 8, 2003.

Self-Assessed Dakota Language Fluency And Suggested Strategies For Language Revitalization On The Spirit Lake Nation, Ruth Ellen De Larios

Theses and Dissertations

This study provides a background of the status of the Dakota language as it is spoken on the Spirit Lake Nation in northeast North Dakota. The study examined Dakota language fluency, environments where the language is used, and suggested strategies for revitalization. In order to determine the aforementioned, a brief Survey for Grant for Revitalization of Tribal Languages (Survey) was implemented. This assessment of community fluency and interest was essential to obtaining an Administration for Native Americans grant to develop a language revitalization effort that came to be known as the Dakota la UnspepHLanguage Preservation Program.

The Survey for Grant …

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 …

Volume 40, Number 39: June 27, 2003, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Volume 40, Number 38: June 13, 2003, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

The Predictive Validity Of The Teacher Perceiver Interview In Selecting Effective Elementary Teachers In A Mid-Sized Midwestern School District, Richard John Buresh

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze various data to determine the effectiveness of the Teacher Perceiver Interview (TPI) as a tool to assist administrators in selecting elementary teachers in a mid-sized midwestern public school district. Eight research questions asked whether there were differences (1) among TPI scores assigned by various administrators who conducted and scored the interviews, (2) between TPI scores of applicants hired and not hired, and (3) in the mean TPI scores for all applicants during the time period included in the study as well as whether there were relationships (4) between TPI scores …

Echoes In A Concrete Canyon : Graham, Cummings, And Apollinaire, Robin L. Adams-Hays

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the poetry of Jorie Graham, E.E. Cummings, and Guillaume Apollinaire, focusing particularly on the rich tradition of concrete and visual poetry and the concept of rule breaking in writing. The connection between Cummings, taking elements of visual poetry and free verse to experimental new heights with typographic techniques, and Apollinaire, whose poetry explores similar aesthetic challenges, is obvious. Graham may seem to be the one who doesn't belong, but part of my emphasis is to demonstrate how she does fit into this study. Her poetry, as is Cummings' and Apollinaire's, is as visual as it is audible. …

Volume 40, Number 32: April 18, 2003, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Immigrant Chinese Students' Use Of Silence In The Language Arts Classroom: Perceptions, Reflections, And Actions, Yang Hu, Stacey Fell-Eisenkraft

Teaching and Learning: The Journal of Natural Inquiry & Reflective Practice

No abstract provided.

'Rapid Writing ... Is My Cup Of Tea': Adult High School Students' Use Of Writing Strategies, Pamela Young

Teaching and Learning: The Journal of Natural Inquiry & Reflective Practice

No abstract provided.

Volume 40, Number 21: January 31, 2003, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of It-Clefts Within A Role And Reference Grammar Framework, Emma Pavey

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

The it-cleft construction (e.g. "It was Bill that I saw") is generally accepted to be a marked syntactic bi-clausal option which expresses a simple semantic proposition; in terms of information structure, the construction places an element in focus position, within a copular matrix clause. This element receives an exhaustive interpretation; that is, in the case of (1), it is Bill, and only Bill, that was seen. These clefts lack a straightforward mapping between their syntactic, semantic and pragmatic structures and as a result are a prime construction to illustrate the advantages of Role and Reference Grammar which is able to …

Evidence That Demands A Verdict?, David J. Weber

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Source—Meaning—Receptor (SMR) theories of translation, such as "dynamic equivalence" and "meaning-based" theories, shifted focus from the equivalence of FORM to the equivalence of MEANING. SMR theories were a significant advance and have been the basis for many modern English translations.

However, SMR theories were formulated when the dominant theory of communication was the code model. Consequently they presumed that meaning was determined almost entirely by a text (utterance) itself. This theory is now rejected in favor of theories that understand interpretation as the inferential product of the interaction of the text with (mind-mediated) context. These newer theories shift the focus …

Positive Orientation Towards The Vernacular Among The Talysh Of Sumgayit, Calvin F. Tiessen

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

This thesis looks at the identification of positive vernacular orientation in the Talysh community of the city of Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, for the purpose of gaining a greater understanding of its causes. Positive vernacular orientation is described in three areas of sociolinguistic behaviour: patterns of vernacular language use, vernacular language proficiency and frequency of vernacular-speaking individuals in social networks. Variation in vernacular orientation is shown to pattern itself according to differences in generation and time of arrival or birth in Sumgayit.

Thirty Endangered Languages In The Philippines, Thomas N. Headland

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

There are 6,809 languages spoken in the world today. Conservative estimates are that the world's languages are currently dying at the rate of at least two languages each month, and linguists predict that most of today's languages will die out in the next 100 years. Since 1962, the author has been gathering field data on some of the smallest language groups in the world-the Philippine Negritos. This paper will explain why the thirty-plus Negrito languages in the Philippines are endangered, and what the projected future is for these numerically tiny post-foraging societies in the 21st century. The argument will be …

Lexical Comparisons Of Signed Languages And The Effects Of Iconicity, Stephen J. Parkhurst, Dianne Parkhurst

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Lexical comparisons of signed languages present new methodological challenges not found in comparisons of spoken languages. Two standards for comparing wordlists are examined using a sample of four European sign languages that are not known to be related to each other and a second sample of different dialects of the signed languages of Spain. The use of different standards is shown to affect the numerical results; comparing signs on the basis of probable historical relatedness typically yields percentages that are 5-10% greater than comparisons on the basis of similarity. The amount of iconicity inherent in signed languages affects the wordlist …

Occupational Therapy: Creating A Way To Determine College Students' Assistive Technology Needs, Jeremiah Otteson, Stephanie Suedel, Kjersten Swanson

Occupational Therapy Capstones

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Oral Discourse Skills Of Young And Old Women, Allison A. Sorensen

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Auditory Feedback In Controlling Voice Fundamental Frequency, Rino Rondinella

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Loss, Anger, And Acceptance In Four Plays By Tennessee Williams, Christopher A. Haake

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Winter Commencement: December 20, 2002, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Winter Commencement program from December 20, 2002.

Volume 40, Number 16: December 13, 2002, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Volume 40, Number 15: December 6, 2002, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Time Matters: Temporally Enacted Frame-Works In Narrative Accounts Of Mediation, Erling O. Jorgensen

Theses and Dissertations

Bateson's (1979) method of double description is utilized to examine narrative accounts of participants' mediation experiences, as a way to investigate significant change events. Comparing what changes to what remains more stable suggests that temporal differences are an indicator of contextualization, providing a framework for how meaning is made meaningful. Case studies of two of these structured interview transcripts are intensively analyzed, with triangulating measures of different logical type. Specifically, these include narrative analysis of key story points, temporal analysis of the frequency and distribution of in vivo codes to yield repetitive themes, and a modified lag analysis of codes …

The Awara Verbal System, Susan R. Quigley

Theses and Dissertations

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

This paper presents a description of the verbal system of the Awara language. The major grammatical constructions described are 1) the verbal morphology, 2) serial-verb constructions, 3) clause chaining, and 4) subordination.

Interesting aspects of the language shown here are 1) the variety of clause types based on the type of subject-indexing suffix, …

Oroko Orthography Development: Linguistic And Sociolinguistic Factors, Dan T. Friesen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the variety of linguistic and sociolinguistic factors that need to be considered in order to develop a good Oroko orthography. Oroko is a Bantu A language of the Southwest Province of Cameroon, Africa. The thesis starts with an overview of the Oroko's location, population, classification, and language development status. The linguistic factors discussed are based largely on analyses of two lists: a 118-word list of nine Oroko dialects and an 821-word list of four Oroko dialects (included in the appendix). Consistent phonetic and phonemic alternations are examined in detail. The next chapter discusses the sociolinguistic issues that …

Ossetian: Revisiting Inflectional Morphology, Bela G. Hettich

Theses and Dissertations

Ossetian, a language of the Northeastern group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European stock of languages, has not received as much linguistic attention as it deserves. A few major studies on Ossetian were written in the 19th and 20th centuries, most of them in Russian. While these works are a solid foundation in the study of Ossetian, its description is not complete.

The present work, written in English, offers Ossetian to a wider international audience. Relying on new developments in linguistic theory, it reexamines phenomena in the inflectional morphology of Ossetian.

The preliminary chapter on phonology provides an overview …

Valence Change And Oroko Verb Morphology (Mbonge Dialect), Lisa Friesen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the valence changing processes that are indicated by Mbonge verbal morphology. Mbonge (Mbóñgá) is a dialect of Oroko (Orókó), an agglutinative Bantu A language of Cameroon with very rich morphology. After a brief overview of the structure of Mbonge verbs, attention is concentrated on the verbal suffixes which affect valence. Five suffixes—passive, stative, reflexive, reciprocal, and anticausative—are used to decrease valence. Five other suffixes—causative, indirect agent causative, indirect effector causative, applicative, and instrumental—are used to increase valence, as is the syntactic combination of bola 'do/make' plus another verb.

Suffixes which do not affect valence are also briefly …

For Lima Has Taken The White Veil., Mark Hayden Foster

Theses and Dissertations

This creative dissertation is a multifaceted meditation on technological civilization circa 2000, from the imagined perspective o f an archaeologist/linguist writing some eight hundred years in the future, as well as his grandson writing two generations later. The Andes-born protagonist looks back on a career during which he has led efforts to reconstruct the English language and the cultural ambience o f a dimly remembered and heavily mythologized “Dosmil” (a contraction of Spanish “Dos Mil” for the year 2000), beginning with excavation of newspaper and magazine fragments found in the one-time English speaking country o f Belize. In a world …