Linguistics Commons^™

On The Provenance Of Software Systems: Automating Software Traceability With Knowledge Graph And Large Language Model Synergy, Tyler Procko

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The present dissertation delineates a system that enables those engaged in software development to automatically generate and maintain project life cycle provenance. All projects are implemented and made manifest with the development of artifacts, e.g., papers, code files, etc. Tools exist to accelerate artifact creation, but little focus is paid to the processes that produce them. In terms of Ontology, or, from Ancient Greek, the study of being, the two most basic entities in reality are Continuant and Occurrent, or, roughly, “Artifact” and “Process”. This dissertation posits that for any created artifact, its process of creation, i.e., its life …

Competitive Language Use: A Linguistic Analysis Of Speech And Debate, Gina Iberri-Shea

Studies in Debate and Oratory

This study explores linguistic variation in competitive debate and prepared speech. A corpus of competitive public speech was collected and the situational characteristics of two contexts were analyzed. The linguistic characteristics of texts in each category were calculated along five dimensions of variation found across texts in English, and placed among other types of texts. Results show that three of the dimensions were able to distinguish between the two registers. The results indicate a clear direction for future work and implications for English for Academic Purposes instruction.

La Intensificación En Los Comentarios De Noticias: La Prensa Deportiva Digital, David Sanchez-Jimenez

Publications and Research

Las plataformas digitales de los periódicos permiten una comunicación más fluida y dinámica con y entre la audiencia, que refleja algunos patrones de la comunicación oral (Briz, 1997, 1998; Yus, 2001, 2010; Albelda, 2004; Albelda y Estellés, 2021). Entre ellos, se encuentran los recursos lingüísticos de intensificación que refuerzan la fuerza ilocutiva de los comentarios emitidos, en una clara apuesta por dotar al texto de una mayor interactividad con sus potenciales receptores. El objetivo de esta investigación consiste en conocer cómo se relacionan entre sí los participantes de estas plataformas en la prensa deportiva. En particular, se prestó especial atención …

Navigating Trauma: A Linguistic Exploration Of Bilingual Trauma Expressions, Amira Mahmoud Othman

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between language, trauma, and emotional expression among bilingual Arabic-English speakers, focusing on code-switching patterns and euphemisms, and more broadly the emotional roles of native and non-native languages in trauma narratives. Through qualitative interviews with 20 Egyptian participants, the research reveals that code-switching serves as both a linguistic and emotional tool, allowing speakers to navigate trauma by creating distance or engaging more intimately. Such codeswitching patterns include the integration of English content words within Arabic structures, morphosyntactic innovations, and gender agreement applications, reflecting the creative adaptability of bilingual speakers in emotionally charged contexts, in line with …

Familiarity Of Psychiatric Terms Among College Students, Julia Pekala

CAFE Symposium 2025

Recently, there has been an increase in the usage of psychiatric terminology used among internet users. Terms such as autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are thrown around without an understanding of these words and their true meaning. These words are picked up and used in a similar context as any other internet lingo, in an ironic, joking manner, without proper consideration of their origins and meaning. Due to most content on the internet being unmoderated and seemingly endless, users are often faced with misleading information about real clinical disorders. The use of these words follows the …

The Significance Of Social Media Neologisms Across The Globe, Molly Bushong

CAFE Symposium 2025

Social media neologisms, new terms coined through digital platforms, have drastically altered human communication, and will only continue to do so as technology rapidly advances. These words and phrases develop alongside society as innovative technology, experiences, and phenomena are continuously introduced into everyday life. Although neologisms have been present throughout all time and social media's existence, research has identified that their popularity has exponentially increased in recent years. My research builds upon previous research while exploring how social media neologisms have evolved over the past five years, their impact on language formality, and the familiarity of these terms across various …

Seeing Through Solid Words: Using Gebser’S Concept Of Transparency To Understand A Gnostic Poem Expressing Integral Consciousness, Lisa Maroski

Journal of Conscious Evolution

It is difficult to express integral consciousness using ordinary language because of the inherent tendency of language to separate and distinguish. Jean Gebser, in The Ever-Present Origin, suggested concepts such as transparency and diaphaneity as ways to access integral consciousness, and the Gnostic text The Thunder, Perfect Mind (TPM) is written from the perspective of a being with integral consciousness. I use Jean Gebser’s concepts of transparency and diaphaneity to explicate TPM, an enigmatic, paradoxical poem in the Nag Hammadi Library. Because TPM is written from the perspective of an integral being, one who is All-of-It (i.e., paradoxical completeness rather …

The Routledge Handbook Of Discourse Analysis (2023), Fatima Moussa

Al-Kīmiyā

Handford, M., & Gee, J. P. (Eds.) (2023). The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Routledge

The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis includes articles written by prominent scholars in the field of Applied Linguistics. The articles are particularly helpful as they overlap in their approaches to understanding and applying discourse analysis. The book can thus be helpful to scholars and students alike, covering a wide range of topics and providing numerous examples that can provide a shortcut to the various ways in which discourse analysis could be practically applied in research. The handbook is divided into eight parts, each of which …

« Au Cœur Du Harem » Et Du Métissage Linguistique D’Elisa Chimenti En Italien : Comparaison Différentielle Et Décentrement Linguistique, Pierpaolo Amenta

Al-Kīmiyā

This article examines the literary language of Elisa Chimenti (1883-1969), which is full of xenisms, linguistic loans, metaphors, and idioms that stem from a transcultural and heterolingual imaginary. Her novel Au cœur du harem (Éditions du Scorpion, 1958), translated into Italian in 2000 under the supervision of Emanuela Benini (Edizioni E/O), is a striking example. Drawing on a differential comparative approach (Heidmann, 2017), we look at these texts to reflect on Elisa Chimenti’s literary language and to examine the translational stakes of her work and its heterolingualism (Grutman, 1997; Suchet, 2014).

English title
Au cœur du harem (In the Heart …

Les Origines Du Français Sur Objectifs Spécifiques : Regards Historiques, Mariam Sahraoui

Al-Kīmiyā

As a continuation of our research work on the teaching of French for Specific Purposes, we recommend to better define the specificities of this concept by going back to its origins as a means to understand its dimensions, its structures, its actors, etc. Indeed, the concept of French for Specific Purposes (FOS in French) appeared in the 1920s. FOS has undergone several phases of evolution that have marked its historical and methodological journey from military French to the language of specialization, to instrumental French, to functional French.
This article presents FOS’s journey through its history for the purpose of identifying …

Le Français Au Liban : Défis Contemporains Et Efforts De Revitalisation Dans Un Contexte Multilingue, Layali Rifai, Gina Abou Fadel Saad

Al-Kīmiyā

This article addresses the place of French in Lebanon as a foreign language, a language of education, and a second language, in a context marked by the rise of English. It insists on the importance of preserving the Arabic–French–English multilingualism, which constitutes a real cultural heritage in Lebanon. It highlights the revitalization efforts undertaken by French-speaking individuals and cultural projects aimed at preserving the relevance of French in an increasingly globalized world.

English title
The French Language in Lebanon: Contemporary Challenges and Revitalization Efforts in a Multilingual Context

Résumé
Cet article aborde la place du français au Liban en tant …

Introduction, La Rédaction De « Al-Kīmiyā »

Al-Kīmiyā

Le numéro 25 d’Al-Kīmiyā s’inscrit dans une réflexion interdisciplinaire et plurielle sur la diversité linguistique, culturelle et discursive, explorant les interactions entre langues, cultures et contextes historiques. Les contributions rassemblées mettent en lumière des enjeux variés, allant de la traduction et du métissage linguistique à l’analyse pragmatique, sociolinguistique et discursive [...]

Arguments D’Autorité Dans Les Éditoriaux Du Quotidien « Aujourd’Hui Le Maroc » : Analyse Des Périodes Pré Et Post Vaccination, Zakaria Ouallou

Al-Kīmiyā

The Covid-19 health crisis, which shook the world in 2020, aroused keen interest not only in the media, but also among citizens, at the international level. This study focuses on the analysis of arguments of authority, which are powerful tools in editorial rhetoric, used to support positions by relying on recognized sources, focusing specifically on editorials in the French-speaking Moroccan newspaper Aujourd’hui le Maroc, relating to two phases, that of containment and that of vaccination. This period was marked by major health, social, economic and political upheavals. In this context, we will examine the editorialists’ choice of arguments in …

Communication Interculturelle : Regards Croisés Sur L’Expression De La Gratitude Dans Les Contextes Marocain Et Français, Salaheddine Belarbi, Mohamad El Jarari

Al-Kīmiyā

This study aims to compare the communicative practices between French spoken in France and Moroccan Arabic, focusing on the acts of thanking. The aim is to understand the underlying cultural differences through a comparative analysis of speech acts, particularly the acts of thanking, in both languages. The study falls within the field of contrastive pragmatics, which seeks to identify intercultural correspondences and dissonances in linguistic behavior. The results highlight that the comparison between the act of thanking in Morocco and in France reveals profound nuances in the way gratitude is expressed and perceived within these distinct cultures. Notwithstanding these differences, …

Les Fonctions Du Langage Dans « Lettres À Ses Amis » De Mouloud Feraoun, Rachida Sadouni, Fatiha Ramdani, Amina Tahraoui

Al-Kīmiyā

This article examines the epistolary correspondence in Mouloud Feraoun’s literary work Lettres à ses amis. It mainly aims to study the language functions employed in these letters according to Jakobson’s categorization (1963), as well as the traces of subjectivity and privacy. This paper analyzes the personality of Feraoun through his letters, and infers the characteristics of this writer’s epistolary. This article also examines Feraoun’s work from its conception to its final publication. We argue in this paper that the epistolary is not only a means of information and communication but also a revelation of secrets and disclosure of individual …

Area Of Effect The History And Effects Of Linguistic Choices Made In The Final Fantasy Franchise, Camille Mcdermott

Theses and Dissertations

The Final Fantasy franchise, a seminal role-playing game (RPG) series, has captivated a global audience since its inception in 1987. This thesis, titled "Area of Effect: The History and Effects of Linguistic Choices Made in the Final Fantasy Franchise," explores the intricate use of language that has shaped the series' identity and influenced its worldwide fanbase. The linguistic landscape of Final Fantasy is as diverse and dynamic as its fantastical worlds, evolving from simple text boxes to fully voiced narratives. This study examines the historical context and evolving linguistic choices throughout the series, highlighting how these decisions enrich the gaming …

Codec-M: The Multi-Lingual Manosphere Subcorpus Of The Corpus Of Digital Extremism And Conspiracies, Rachel Mccullough, Daniel Drylie, Mindl Barta, Cass Dykeman, Daniel Smith

English Faculty Publications

In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General warned the public of the current “loneliness epidemic” and its potential consequences on physical and mental health. One possible consequence of this epidemic is the growth of a movement defined by loneliness and isolation: the incel (“involuntary celibate”) movement. This warning presents a worrying glimpse at the future, as the incel movement, along with other parts of the manosphere, is one that espouses violently misogynist rhetoric which is intrinsically linked to right-wing extremism. While linguistic studies have been conducted on the speech of incels and other constituent movements of the manosphere, few of these …

Comparative Semiotic Analysis Of Non-Verbal Communication: Apis Mellifera Waggle Dance And Human Kinesic Signaling Systems, Nishtha Tikalal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

There are many parallels between two seemingly disparate forms of non-verbal communication: the waggle dance of Apis mellifera (honeybees) and human kinesic signaling systems. Through a comparative semiotic analysis, this research aims to conduct a comparative semiotic analysis, investigating structural and functional similarities between these communication methods, challenging anthropocentric assumptions about meaning making in the natural world. This research employs a meta-synthesis approach, drawn from a methodological literature review to examine historical representations of bee-human relationships, semiotics of non-verbal communication, and the specific mechanisms of the waggle dance and human kinesics. This methodology involves systematic categorization and analysis of extracted …

Co-Creation, Interpretations And Engagement With A Movement-Based Symbol For Climate Justice: A Qualitative Inquiry, Kai Reimer-Watts

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The climate crisis demonstrates with complete clarity the need for massive systems-level changes towards far more sustainable societies. Global and local emissions need to decline rapidly to mitigate intensifying climate breakdown, accompanied by climate and sustainability solutions, to secure a far more stable, safe, and just future for all people and all life. Within these changes, engaging in our communities is essential to support and co-create broader solutions to help advance more sustainable societies, reduce negative impacts of a changing climate, and to move towards cultures and systems that recognize natural limits and centre care for people and planet.

‘Climate …

Effects Of Actualized Language Policy On Ukrainian Stability, 1989-2022, Dawn Hersey

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation seeks to generate a new perspective of the complicated relationship between actualized policy and stability through looking at Ukraine’s language policies and stability in a mixed manner approach that includes both primary and secondary sources. Russia justified its irridentist activities through claiming to protect Russian nationals within Ukraine’s borders: language policies within Ukraine appear to be a trigger for Russian antagonism. Neither Russian irridentism nor Ukrainian nationalism are being considered as right or wrong in this dissertation: the intent is to highlight trends, patterns, and perceptions in alignment with Ukrainian language policy. This dissertation does not present a …

Investigating Post-Adoption Abandonment Of Mental Health Mobile Applications Among Young Adults, Donald Harris

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The rising prevalence of mental health issues among young adults has driven increased interest in Mental Health Mobile Applications (MHMAs), which offer accessible and cost-effective solutions to traditional barriers such as financial limitations, stigma, and restricted healthcare access. Despite their promise, MHMAs frequently experience high rates of attrition and abandonment, significantly limiting their long-term effectiveness. Employing a mixed-methods, multi-stage research design, this dissertation explores the determinants of MHMA abandonment among young adults, emphasizing the interplay between technological inhibitors and enablers, individual user characteristics, and the mediating roles of user satisfaction and perceived usefulness.

Study 1 utilized quantitative text analysis, including …

40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”, Christopher Janney

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians …

Yoga Sūtra Book Four And The Yogabindu, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Four themes from the fourth pāda of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra are examined here: karma (IV:2-13), individuality (IV:16), humility (IV:20-22), and freedom (IV:29-34). Affirmations and variant interpretations of these four are provided from Haribhadra Virahāṅka’s Yogabindu, most likely composed a century or two later.

Collective Karma: From The Yogasūtra To Taylor Swift, Zoë Slatoff

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Indian knowledge traditions speak at length about karma, which is divided into three categories—accumulated (saṃcita), ripe (prārabdha), and future (kriyamāṇa). While much is said about our individual karma and how it affects our repeated reincarnation in cyclic existence, how does this affect others and how do others affect us? In other words, as this paper explores, what is our reciprocal and collective karma?

Painting Liberation: A Visual Ontology Of The Interplay Of Mind And Consciousness In Book Four Of The Yoga Sūtras, Melissa Townsend

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This presentation explores how artistic practice can illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of mind, consciousness, and liberation as articulated in Book Four of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Through a series of paintings that visually translate these sūtras, I propose that art offers a unique, experiential means of engaging with the complex relationship between citta (mind) and puruṣa (consciousness).

The paintings function as a form of “visual ontology,” inviting viewers to engage with abstract philosophical concepts in a sensory, tangible way. By depicting the interplay between the mutable processes of the mind and the unchanging awareness of consciousness, these …

Characterizing Language Use In Online Accessibility Discussion Forums, Nithiya Venkatraman, Anand Ravi Aiyer, Yash Prakash, Sampath Jayarathna, Hae-Na Lee, Vikas Ashok

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Discussion forums are one of the favored platforms for knowledge sharing. Given their popularity, copious research exists on understanding the linguistic and behavioral characteristics of forum conversations, so as to inform the design of many downstream applications including discourse visualization, sentiment analysis, and question answering. However, prior investigations have mainly focused on general forums designed primarily for sighted users, and as such the applicability of their findings to dedicated accessibility discussion forums frequented by blind screen reader users remains unanswered. To bridge this knowledge gap and facilitate the development of better-informed assistive technologies for blind people, we investigated language use …

"Legally Magic" Words: An Empirical Study Of The Accessibility Of Fifth Amendment Rights, Roseanna Sommers, Kate Weisburd

Northwestern University Law Review

Fifth Amendment case law (including Miranda v. Arizona) requires that individuals assert their right to counsel or silence using “explicit,” “clear,” and “unambiguous” statements—or, as some dissenting judges have lamented, using “legally magic” words. Through a survey of 1,718 members of the U.S. public, we investigate what ordinary people believe it takes to assert the right to counsel and the right to silence. We then compare their perceptions against prevailing legal standards governing invocation.

With respect to the right to counsel, the survey results indicate that members of the public have a uniformly lower threshold for invocation than do …

Caracterización Lingüístico-Discursiva De Los Mecanismos De Despersonalización Y Posicionamiento Del Autor En El Género Médico Ficha Clínica, David Sanchez-Jimenez, Paulina Meza

Publications and Research

El dominio de géneros especializados es una competencia que representa gran dificultad para los estudiantes en formación. Su falta de dominio puede impedir o retrasar el proceso de enculturación de un individuo en una comunidad. Para formar adecuadamente a los estudiantes en las prácticas discursivas disciplinares, son necesarios datos empíricos sobre las características lingüístico-discursivas de los textos que deben producir. El objetivo de esta investigación cualitativa es describir los recursos lingüístico-discursivos de despersonalización y posicionamiento del autor en el género médico Ficha clínica. El corpus está constituido por 52 Fichas clínicas producidas por estudiantes de medicina de una universidad chilena. …

Euphemism In Ai Discourse As Colonial Harm & Effect: Learnings From Subaltern Puerto Rico, Jacqueline Oquendo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Through three integrated studies, this dissertation explores complex human-AI interactions by comparing the perceptions of two groups of U.S. citizens: subaltern Puerto Ricans and stateside Americans’ interactions with ChatGPT. This corpus-assisted Critical Discourse Analysis or CLCDA, triangulated with 1:1 semi-structured interviews, validates scholars’ concerns about the biases inherent in generative AI. Contributing to those concerns, this dissertation reveals that ChatGPT deploys discourse strategies that, when executed, facilitate digital colonialism. Euphemistic language is prominent among its discourse strategies, replacing controversial words, phrases, and topics with more palatable ones. When prompted on events of historical significance, I find that ChatGPT’s discourse obscures …

A Feedback Loop Of Exclusion: The Treatment Of Bilingualism In The Courtroom, Simone Stover

Northwestern University Law Review

In the 1991 case Hernandez v. New York, the United States Supreme Court characterized bilingualism as a race-neutral trait that can be used to exclude individuals from jury service. This Note proceeds by demonstrating how the current state of the law undermines the interests of bilingual individuals and then proposes a solution. Focusing specifically on Hispanic bilingual Spanish speakers, this Note first employs Professor Jennifer Lackey’s multi-directional credibility model to show that bilingual Spanish speakers suffer injustice in the courtroom due to both credibility deficits and excesses. Following this analysis, it proposes a possible solution to this issue: an …