Linguistics Commons^™

December 4, 2016: Kazoo Books Open House, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Local authors including Grace Tiffany and Andy Mozina will be hanging out at Kazoo Books on Sat., December 10th, 2:30 to 4:00.

Sounding Sacred: The Adoption Of Biblical Archaisms In The Book Of Mormon And Other 19th Century Texts, Gregory A. Bowen

Open Access Dissertations

The Book of Mormon is a text published in 1830 and considered a sacred work of scripture by adherents of the Latter-day Saint movement. Although written 200 years later, it exhibits many linguistic features of the King James translation of the Bible. Such stylistic imitation has been little studied, though a notable exception is Sigelman & Jacoby (1996).

Three hypotheses are considered: that this is a feature of 19th century religious texts, and the Book of Mormon adopts the style of its genre as a religious text; that this is a feature of translations of ancient texts, and the Book …

October 28, 2016: Elizabeth Wardle Next Visiting Speaker In Ellis Speaker Series, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring Elizabeth Wardle

October 6, 2016: "Gunpowder Percy" Reading In Ann Arbor, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Grace Tiffany will be reading from her novel, Gunpowder Percy, on Wed., October 19th, 7 p.m., at the Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, 124 E. Washington St.

October 6, 2016: Melody Graulich Visit Next Event In Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring Melody Graulich

Confession, Hybridity, And Language In Gina Apostol’S Gun Dealers’ Daughter, Cecilia Nina Myers

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

In Gun Dealers’ Daughter, Gina Apostol creates multiple tensions reflecting the relationship between the United States and the Philippines and among different linguistic codes. Languages mix throughout the text, set in the Marcos Era Philippines, as symbols of fluidity and disorientation. Other characters’ frequent complex linguistic mix proves alienating for protagonist and narrator Soledad Soliman. Apostol renders Soledad as a young girl disoriented by her inability to competently use native Filipino languages because she spent most of her childhood in the United States and simultaneously traumatized by her role as the daughter of a member of former President Ferdinand …

September 24, 2016: Ellis Series Opens With Roundtable On History & Literature, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring History's Fictions: A Roundtable

September 7, 2016: Nagle Abop Essay Reviews New Austen Musical, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Chris Nagle recently attended the regional premiere of the award-winning musical Austen's Pride: A New Musical of Pride and Prejudice, featured at this year's Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival in Rochester, NY.

A Study Of The Intelligibility, Comprehensibility And Interpretability Of Standard Marine Communication Phrases As Perceived By Chinese Mariners, Lillian Christine Holland

Dissertations and Theses

Worldwide, mariners use a variety of English as an International Language known as Maritime English regardless of the first language spoken by the crew or port in which they enter. English knowledge and ability is therefore critical to a mariner's livelihood at sea and is also mandated by the International Maritime Organization. The ability to understand and be understood is paramount to safety at sea. This study investigated which accents of English a subset of Chinese mariners found easy or difficult to understand. The data from 39 Chinese mariners who listened to 8 Standard Marine Communications phrases was analyzed. The …

June 13, 2016: 2016 New Issues Poetry Prize, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Language And Inter-Racial Harmony: The Battle For English As Singapore Lingua, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Against the backdrop of world religious violence, Singapore is as a beacon of inter-ethnic harmony: A 2015 poll, carried out in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, returned the unanimous verdict that it was Singapore that had made the most social progress among the four Chinese ethnic Chinese societies. In 2014, the Pew Research Center ranked Singapore at the top of their Religious Diversity Index. The nation's bilingual policy is critical to the integration of the multi-racial communities of Singapore. This position is highlighted in a discussion of how, in the early years after independence in 1965, the Singapore government …

'The Letter Killeth': The Obscurity Of Language And Communication In Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure 2016, Victoria T. Corning

Master's Theses

While the epistolary novel is a genre closely associated with 18th century England, 19th century Victorian literature also incorporates letter writing as a significant form of communication. Written messages convey what can often not be said out loud, as it is easier to hide behind a pen and paper, write in solitude, and be absent when the letter is read by the recipient. Impulsive and emotional thoughts and feelings can be written down immediately and then later edited, which makes writing an unstable form of communication. Is the author conveying true feelings or concealing true feelings? Layering multiple modes of …

Global-To-Local-To-Global: A Model For Tutoring Esl Students In The Writing Center, David Aguilar

Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception, the writing center has always focused on traditional students, and today that tradition is continued in such a way that the overwhelming amount of research dedicated to writing center theory and practice addresses the concerns of those students. However, universities with unique student populations, such as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with its majority of Hispanic students, require novel practices within their writing centers. Moreover, much of the linguistic, social, and cultural factors of the region are not well documented and therefore are not addressed by the mainstream theory and practices of other universities. With …

Lingua Franca: An Analysis Of Globalization And Language Evolution, Abigail Watson

Honors Projects

This project details the evolution of languages and how globalization and advances in communication have effected smaller language groups. A world community in which communication is standardized by a Lingua Franca is in most cases harmful for isolated language groups without many speakers. The extinction of language is harmful for human society and culture, and there are many different ways to help prevent language extinction.

This project includes an essay, an animation, six illustrations, and a coloring book that all relate to endangered languages.

Animacy And Alienability: A Reconsideration Of English Possession, Jaimee Jones

Senior Honors Theses

Current scholarship on English possessive constructions, the s-genitive and the of-construction, largely ignores the possessive relationships inherent in certain English compound nouns. Scholars agree that, in general, an animate possessor predicts the s-genitive while an inanimate possessor predicts the of-construction. However, the current literature rarely discusses noun compounds, such as the table leg, which also express possessive relationships. However, pragmatically and syntactically, a compound cannot be considered as a true possessive construction. Thus, this paper will examine why some compounds still display possessive semantics epiphenomenally. The noun compounds that imply possession seem to exhibit relationships prototypical of inalienable …

April 10, 2016: English Department Alum Premiers 40th Feature Film, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Chuck Bentley's latest film features a host of WMU alum as well as several current faculty members. The premiere is free to the public and will appear on PMN and YouTube shortly thereafter for those unable to attend the screening.

April 2, 2016: Grace Tiffany Book Launch Party On Shakespeare's 400th Deathday!, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Join Shakespeare and fiction aficionados on Shakespeare's 400th Deathday at Kazoo Books, 2413 Parkview Avenue. Saturday, April 23rd, at 1 p.m., at Kazoo Books, Shakespeare scholar and author Grace Tiffany will read from her new novel about the Gunpowder Plot, Gunpowder Percy, and local Shakespearean actors Chuck Bentley and Kitty Kashniewicz will perform explosive Shakespearean dialogues.

There’S An Identity Label For Me?: Perceptions By First-Generation College Students Of An Institutional Label, Curtis A. Green-Eneix

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Although first-generation college students (FGCS) have been entering universities in large numbers, and even with past quantitative studies to understand this demographic, a major percentage continue to drop out of college within their first two years. Past research has resulted in an overall picture of this demographic. This qualitative study explores: (1) how FGCS perceive their social identity in relation to a college community, and (2) how interacting with support programs, such as Boise State’s Student Success Program (SSP), shapes their understanding of support. In interviews with nine FGCS students, most of them did not know this first-generation label applied …

March 3, 2016: Cuny's David Gerstner Lectures On Baldwin And Cinematic Imagination, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series Featuring David Gerstner

Mormon Insights, Shane Peterson, Marvin Gardner

Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

January 28, 2016: Deidre Lynch Talk On Austen Next Event For Ellis Series, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring Deidre Lynch

January 11, 2016: Rear Window Screening Precedes Mckittrick Keynote, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Free screening in conjunction with the Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series Keynote Lecture by Prof. Casey McKittrick (English), author of the forthcoming book, Hitchcock’s Appetites (Bloomsbury, 2016).

Beyond Embracing A Multicompetent Self: An Autoethnography Of A Nnest, Seullee Talia Lee

MA TESOL Collection

This article represents the identity transformation process of a non-native English- speaking teacher (hereafter NNEST) in the format of an autoethnography. Through the vignettes of the author, the evidence that English language plays a vital role as cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1991) in expanding circle countries (hereafter ECCs) (Kachru, 1985, 1986) such as South Korea (hereafter Korea) becomes apparent. Also, her narrative adds more credence to how the newly imagined identity options such as multicompetent self and English language teaching (hereafter ELT) professional have a tremendous constructive impact on the personal and professional development of NNESTs. Lastly, this study proposes the …

December 30, 2015: Mckittrick Keynote Opens Ellis Series Spring Season, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series WMU Faculty Keynote Lecture Casey McKittrick

December 17, 2015: 2016 Green Rose Prize From New Issues, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The 2016 Green Rose Prize Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum by Nadine Sabra Meyer

December 16, 2015: The Gwen Frostic Reading Series Spring 2016, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Gwen Frostic Reading Series Schedule for Spring 2016 Semester

December 12, 2015: Spring 2016 Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Events, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

November 6, 2015: Carol Symes Lecture, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring Carol Symes

October 5, 2015: David Bleich Lecture, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series featuring David Bleich

October 1, 2015: Safe On Campus Training, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Learn to be a better advocate and ally to lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender people. Participants receive information on practical strategies for addressing homophobia, learn ways to support students who are coming out, and gain an understanding of respectful language use.