Spanish Linguistics Commons^™

The Grammatical Systems Of Attentionworthiness: Positional Signals And Invariant Meanings In Spanish Word Order, Eduardo Ho-Fernández

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents a Columbia School analysis of word order phenomena in Spanish. The data was sourced from a corpus of manually collected utterances extracted from six volumes of Latin American short stories written in the twentieth century. The study employs various qualitative and quantitative techniques in order to test the various hypotheses offered as explanations of the distributional problems selected for the study. The observations roughly correspond to word orders that the grammatical tradition describes as having to do with either verbs with one argument (SV, VS, OV, VO) or verbs with two arguments (SVO, OVS, VSO, VOS, SOV, …

Intercultural Rhetoric In The Written Academic Discourse: The Rhetorical Functions Of Citation In English And Spanish By College Students And Expert Writers, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

This research studies the practice of citation in two cultural communities, the American and the Spanish, in an academic setting. The main objective of this research is to determine what are the rhetorical functions of citations in the master’s thesis of 12 American and 12 Spanish students written in their native language, as well as in scientific articles of 12 American and 12 Spanish professional writers in Applied Linguistics, and to identify the differences found among these groups.

To study this pragmalinguistic phenomenon, I used the computational text analysis of the rhetorical functions of citations via the Antconc 3.2.4w concordance …

Phil The Phytoplankton, Kylie Kihm, Lexi Frankiewich

World Languages and Cultures

This project, a bilingual children's book, “Phil the Phytoplankton” and “Felipe el fitoplancton” educates young readers on the importance of phytoplankton in our world. The book emphasizes the fact that such small organisms, invisible to the naked eye unless gathered in immense quantities, are responsible for providing the earth with approximately 50% of the oxygen essential for human life. As defined by Cal Poly, sustainability is “the ability of the natural and social systems to survive and thrive together to meet current and future needs.” This book encourages a symbiotic relationship as a young girl, initially afraid of the unknown, …

Explorando Lo No-Binario: Un Proyecto Sobre El Lenguaje Inlcusivo, Los Pronombres De Género, Y El Género No-Binario En Español, Elijah Michael Sobrien

World Languages and Cultures

En este proyecto, he traducido un sitio web de Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, sobre el uso de los pronombres de género. Además de la traducción, he explicado la razón por la cual es importante traducir este documento y proporcionar acceso a la información a diversas comunidades. La meta de este proyecto es promover el uso del lenguaje inclusivo entre todas personas. La traducción es importante porque para usar lenguaje inclusivo, una persona tiene que educarse sobre los pronombres de género y esforzarse por cambiar su modo de hablar. Este documento puede servir como recurso para personas que quieren aprender …

Afro-Americano: The Transracialization Of The African-American Spanish Speaker, John M. Flanagan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Transracialization is not a biological term connoting the change of one’s skin tone to become a member of a different race. Its definition has its roots in racialization—the ideological process that describes how one assembles ideas about groups based on their race and decides, for example, what a ‘Black’ person is and how ‘Black’ people speak. Thus, transracialization is a linguistic term that describes the political and sociocultural act of recontextualizing one’s phenotype with the use of language, and in so doing, upending the observers’ stereotypical expectations of who one is (Alim 2016). This dissertation deals with how Spanish influences …

Interpreting Efforts In Mississippi Schools: Does Spanish Dialect Diversity Hinder Communication?, Walker Fortenberry

Honors Theses

This work examines the different Spanish dialects spoken by interpreters and their clients in public schools in Mississippi and whether dialectal mismatches hinder communication between interlocutors. To do this, I conducted a brief interview and survey of several interpreters for the Tupelo Public School District. The interview and survey assessed the interpreters’ personal use of Spanish dialects as well as their ability to identify certain dialects and opinions as to the relevance of dialects in their work. I found that interpreters, though aware of dialectal differences among Spanish speakers, were generally not able to identify specific dialects. Furthermore, I found …

A Library Without Books: The Importance Of Language Representation In Public Libraries, Caelyn Armshaw

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The focus of this project is to assess the degree of access to Spanish-language books in the Omaha Public Library system. After constructing a map of all Omaha Public Libraries using Global Information System (GIS) and analyzing the population around those areas, I cross-referenced individual library catalogs to compare raw numbers of English-language books to non-English and specifically Spanish-language books. The ultimate finding of this project is that even though approximately 10% of Omaha citizens included in the census speak Spanish as their primary language, Spanish-language books make up only 2% of the total books across all Omaha Public Libraries. …

Departments And Disciplinary Gatekeeping: The Sociolinguistics Of Spanish In Us Academia, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

In his contribution, José del Valle looks at the intersection of the sociolinguistic study of Spanish in the US and the transformations of Spanish language departments in higher education. Del Valle traces the history of the institutionalization of Spanish teaching and study and its effects on linguistic research’s position within Spanish departments. Shifts in approaches to the use of language in social practice, and the growing demands on language units to act as service departments for language learners, has isolated scholars in those institutional homes from broader integration into sociolinguistic research.

Characterization Of Proteus Species Inhibition Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa’S Quorum Sensing Molecule Pyocyanin, Grayson Wright

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The identification of antimicrobial compounds that inhibit multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria continues to be a significant area of research to combat the public health threat posed by MDRs. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative, MDR bacterium found within both the environment and healthcare settings. Our laboratory has observed another Gram-negative bacterium, Proteus species, exerts an interesting polymicrobial interaction with Pseudomonas aeruginosa by potentially compromising the quorum sensing (QS) factor, pyocyanin, of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Production of pyocyanin by Pseudomonas is the main method the bacterium uses for communication and coordination of virulence. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of Proteus mirabilis and …

Investigando La Creación De Un Canal De Noticias BilingüE En Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo: Un Estudio De La Representación LingüÍstica, Paige Farris Mcgill

World Languages and Cultures

The purpose of this research study is to determine if there is a desire or demand for a bilingual English-Spanish news outlet at Cal Poly. Spanish is considered the most relevant language because it is the second most frequently spoken language in the community. Results are based on analysis of data collected through an electronic survey and various interviews. Demographics of the university as well as the surrounding community are also factors to consider.

Glotopolítica De La Desigualdad: Ideologías Del Mapudungun Y El Español En Chile (2009–2019), Gabriel E. Alvarado Pavez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Glottopolitics of Inequality: Ideologies on Mapudungun and Spanish in Chile (2009-2019) by Gabriel Alvarado Pavez Advisor: José del Valle This dissertation is an attempt to analyze contemporary discourses on Mapudungun and Spanish and their development within the political and economic context of Chile between 2009 and 2019. The object of analysis is the diverse array of linguistic ideologies displayed on both the hegemonic press (newspapers of nationwide circulation) and on Facebook, which helps provide a sociolinguistic profile of Chile from a glottopolitical perspective. This entails a point of view focused on power structures and their modes of (re)production and perpetuation, …

Mi Familia, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Spanish Language Books

No abstract provided.

A Story To Tell… How To Integrate The Three Modes Of Communication Through A Story Time Program In French, Frederique Grim

The Coastal Review

Bilingual story time programs found in local community libraries not only benefit children, they can also serve a need for L2 college students: the development of their communicative skills in an authentic environment. In addition to linguistic benefits, experiential learning has proven to prepare students for real-world skills, such as networking, mock professional experience and a sense of community engagement. This paper recounts how a world language story time program supports L2 learners’ three modes of communication, as articulated by ACTFL, and necessary for language development. Based on students’ perceptions, this study highlights their increase in motivation and confidence in …

Grammatical And Lexical Development During Short-Term Study Abroad: Exploring L2 Contact And Initial Proficiency, Bernard I. Issa, Mandy Faretta-Stutenberg, Harriet Wood Bowden

CISLL Publications

This study examined linguistic development among both intermediate and advanced college-level second language (L2) learners during short-term study abroad summer programs in Spain. Participants completed ameasure of overall proficiency, as well as assessments of receptive grammatical (morphosyntactic) and lexical (semantic) abilities at the beginning and end of their programs. They also reported their use of and exposure to the target language on a weekly basis while abroad. Analyses explored (a) whether learners in each group made gains in these receptive abilities, and (b) to what extent contact with the L2 and/or initial proficiency accounted for variability in linguistic development across …

A Longitudinal Test Of Mexican Teen Mothers’ Cultural Characteristics And Children’S Language Skills Via Mothers’ Language, Arlenis A. Santana

Theses and Dissertations

The current study includes 204 Mexican teen mothers and their children from a larger study who were interviewed when children were 3 years old (Wave 4; W4), 4 years old (W5), and 5 years old (W6). The current study is guided by the integrative model of developmental competencies (García Coll et al., 1996), which suggests that parents’ adaptive cultural characteristics and exchanges with their children inform children’s developmental competencies. Thus, the current study examined whether teen mothers’ adaptive cultural characteristics (i.e., familism values, language competency pressures, and involvement in Mexican culture and U.S. mainstream culture) at W4 informed mothers’ Spanish …

Factores Que Afectan La Motivacion En El Aprendizaje De Espanol Por Parte De Los Aumnos De Balac, Kamonchat Jantarat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research presents the factors affecting motivation in the learning of Spanish of students in the Bachelor of Arts in Language and Culture (International Program). Having a dual-objective, firstly, it aims to find out and analyze the motivating and demotivating factors that affect international program Bachelor of Arts in Language and Culture (BALAC) students learning Spanish. Secondly, it aims to find strategies to promote student’s motivation in their learning of the Spanish language. A questionnaire on motivation and semi-structured interviews was used as a research instrument to find out the different aspects related to motivation. The questionnaire was distributed to …

Drama Applied To Content-Based Instruction In Elementary Education, A. Rocio Muhs

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Growing public interest in bilingual education has prompted many school districts to offer dual language models. Unaddressed challenges inherent in dual language immersion programs can compromise the quality of implementation, thus affecting student achievement and ultimately program sustainability. This study investigates how the integration of dramatic arts into core subject instruction in Spanish improves student learning and motivation among first grade second-language learners. Based on the existing challenges confronting a Dual Language Immersion Program in Western Montana, this study asks: What is the relationship between students’ attitudes about learning in a second language and the teacher’s pedagogical practices? In this …