Linguistics Commons^™

She Speaks For Millions: The Emergence Of Female Diplomatic Voices In The Russo-Ukrainian War, Amber Brittain-Hale, Amber Brittain-Hale

Education Division Scholarship

This research critically investigates the public diplomacy strategies deployed by a cohort of influential female European leaders on Twitter during the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022-2023. The study comprises eight leaders - Kallas (Estonia), Marin (Finland), von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), Metsola (President of the European Parliament), Sandu (Moldova), Simonyte (Lithuania), Zourabichvili (Georgia), and Meloni (Italy) - representing millions of constituents. By mirroring the analytical attention given to Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this study scrutinizes the distinct approaches and dif erences in emotional, cognitive, and structural language use between these influential female figures and President Zelenskyy in their …

The Effects Of Verbal Interference On Memory Outcomes: Implications For Understanding How Language Shapes Cognition, Malcolm Jasmin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

With this capstone I examine the impact of verbal interference on attention and memory, particularly in the absence of explicit articulation. Challenging the conventional view that language solely influences explicit communication, I investigate the manner verbal interference affects cognitive processes at an implicit level. The theoretical framework integrates the linguistic-relativity hypothesis, which posits that language shapes cognitive functions, and the universalist hypothesis, which argues for cognitive independence from language. By reviewing relevant literature, I intend to shed light on how verbal interference disrupts attention and memory across varied contexts, including cultural background, emotional state, environmental factors, task complexity, and modality. …

Discourses That Undermine Union Movements: A Multimodal Analysis Of Union-Busting Videos, Theresa A. Catalano, Julia Schleck

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Labor unions in the United States have experienced decades of decline, but recent years have seen a rebirth of union campaigns and successes. Because unions are once again becoming a threat to large companies, it is reasonable to assume that efforts to discourage organizing efforts will increase and become even more robust in the near future. Although traditionally, companies have worked to suspend union organizing through captive audience meetings in which unions were discussed via verbal or written modes, more recent means of reaching workers with anti-union messages incorporate a variety of communication strategies to get the message across. As …

Does Heightened Perceptual Encoding In Blind Individuals Extend To Word Learning?, Lindsay N. Harris, Marissa Renee Bamberger

CISLL Publications

Past research reported blind participants tend to encode sensory details of encounters with stimuli they will later recall or recollect, whereas sighted individuals tend to abstract meaning from sensory information when encoding memories. Here we ask whether blind individuals’ use of perceptual in addition to semantic encoding extends to a task—word learning—whose purpose amounts to semantically encoding the word and definition. After studying the definitions of spoken or written words, blind braille readers (n = 23) and sighted print readers (n = 20) re-encountered each word and indicated whether it was previously presented in the same modality. Analyses …

Humor Matters: An Adapted Multiple Case Study Exploring Music Therapists’ Perspectives Of Humor With Older Adults, Caleb M. Posey

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Humor is a ubiquitous human experience and a skill retained in older adulthood. It is also an integral but elusive therapeutic tool with numerous benefits and risks to well-being. Therapeutic humor – the application of humor to client well-being – is an emerging area of study. However, scant music therapy literature on humor is available. The purpose of this qualitative thesis was to explore the use and function of humor in music therapy with older adults from the perspectives of experienced music therapists. There were three research questions: (1) how do music therapists describe their use of humor with older …

Reporting On Un Security Council: Decoding Media Bias, Alessandra Loiero

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores Western media's representation of the United Nations (UN), focusing on the Security Council's role in global conflict resolution. It examines how UN-accredited correspondents perceive the effectiveness of the Security Council, particularly when the body faces deadlock. The study employs text analysis techniques to identify biases and perceptions in media coverage, using The New York Times' reporting on the Ukraine conflict as a case study. It illuminates framing effects in journalistic narratives, revealing how journalists subtly interject their views when reporting, often revealing unrealistic expectations and shedding light on the limitations of the UN's mandate or its inability …

Language Acquisition, Mental Health, And Acculturation Among Migrants In Canada, Ali Jasemi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the integration of first-generation migrants in Canada, focusing on the constructs of acculturation, language proficiency, and mental health. With nearly a quarter of Canada's population comprising migrants (Statistics Canada, 2022), understanding their adjustment is critical. Acculturation, language proficiency, and mental health can all have an impact on the success of migrants in their new country (Balidemaj et al. 2019; Brance et al. 2023; Iversen et al. 2014; Rousseau et al. 2019; Rashtchi et al. 2012; Salami et al. 2019). There are a limited number of studies examining these variables in relation to certain migrant groups, such as …

The Influence Of Visual Perspective On The Cognitive Effort Required For Mental Representation, Jeffrey P. Hong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mental representation is the process by which an individual simulates an event in their mind’s eye. This process is the foundation of the ability to remember the past, engage in prospective thinking, or imagine fictitious scenarios. An individual can mentally represent any event through their own eyes—the first-person perspective or from the viewpoint of an external observer—the third-person perspective. The perspective of representation influences outcomes related to memory, visuospatial processing, affect, social cognition, clinical diagnoses, and language processing. In turn, an individual’s tendency to favour either perspective is shaped by related factors.

The current research consists of four experiments, designed …

Re-Globalizing Yorkville: The Languages On Shop Signs In A Non-Migrant Neighborhood, Lisabeth G. Dashman

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The term “linguistic landscape” is used to describe the usage and placement of language in public places of a specific geographic area, such as on buildings, street names, pedestrian notices, vehicular warnings, and advertising billboards. Studies of a space’s linguistic landscape typically involve an accounting and analysis of the visible signs and/or the presentation of bystanders’ or researchers’ thoughts and observations. This study instead probes the intentions of the sign creators: the owners of the façade sign and the business it advertises. The façade sign, often called the shop sign, is frequently the first image for a business that a …

Guilty Machines: On Ab-Sens In The Age Of Ai, Dylan Lackey, Katherine Weinschenk

Critical Humanities

For Lacan, guilt arises in the sublimation of ab-sens (non-sense) into the symbolic comprehension of sen-absexe (sense without sex, sense in the deficiency of sexual relation), or in the maturation of language to sensibility through the effacement of sex. Though, as Slavoj Žižek himself points out in a recent article regarding ChatGPT, the split subject always misapprehends the true reason for guilt’s manifestation, such guilt at best provides a sort of evidence for the inclusion of the subject in the order of language, acting as a necessary, even enjoyable mark of the subject’s coherence (or, more importantly, the subject’s separation …

Artificial Intelligence Applications For Social Science Research, Megan Stubbs-Richardson, Lauren Brown, Mackenzie Paul, Devon Brenner

SSRC Publications

Our team developed a database of 250 Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications useful for social science research. To be included in our database, the AI tool had to be useful for: 1) literature reviews, summaries, or writing, 2) data collection, analysis, or visualizations, or 3) research dissemination. In the database, we provide a name, description, and links to each of the AI tools that were current at the time of publication on September 29, 2023. Supporting links were provided when an AI tool was found using other databases. To help users evaluate the potential usefulness of each tool, we documented information …

Connecting With The Outside World: Psychosocially Supportive Aspects Of Operational Communication Between Isolated Crews In Space And Mission Control On The Ground, Dennis J. Frederiksen

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

Radio-based communication between crew members in space and mission control centers on the ground has the operational purpose of supporting the safe and effective execution of missions in space. Space-to-ground communication also, however, constitutes one of the relatively few interpersonal relationships astronauts have during missions and in addition to its operational purpose, this communication can support astronauts’ wellbeing. The purpose of this paper is to identify psychosocially supportive aspects of operational space-to-ground communication between astronauts in space and spacecraft communicators on the ground. Through qualitative analysis of authentic mission communication, this paper identifies two supportive aspects and develops a terminology …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Destined Failure, Chengjun Pan

Masters Theses

I attempt to examine the complex structure of human communication, explaining why it is bound to fail. By reproducing experienceable phenomena, I demonstrate how they can expose communication structure and reveal the limitations of our perception and symbolization.I divide the process of communication into six stages: input, detection, symbolization, dictionary, interpretation, and output. In this thesis, I examine the flaws and challenges that arise in the first five stages. I argue that reception acts as a filter and that understanding relies on a symbolic system that is full of redundancies. Therefore, every interpretation is destined to be a deviation.

Association Strength Between Concepts As The Origin Of The "Foreign Language Effect", Emilia Ezrina

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bilinguals sometimes make decisions in verbal tasks differently in their first (L1) and second (L2) language. This phenomenon is known as the foreign language effect (FLE), and it suggests strong connections between language and cognition. On the one hand, it is possible that L2 “blunts” emotional language. However, the FLE can be observed in non-emotional tasks. Therefore, it is possible that L2 requires more deliberate processing due to increased cognitive load, leading to more rational decisions. The support for each explanation is mixed.

In this thesis we propose looking for a single explanation for all instances of the FLE. After …

Evaluating Neural Networks As Cognitive Models For Learning Quasi-Regularities In Language, Xiaomeng Ma

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many aspects of language can be categorized as quasi-regular: the relationship between the inputs and outputs is systematic but allows many exceptions. Common domains that contain quasi-regularity include morphological inflection and grapheme-phoneme mapping. How humans process quasi-regularity has been debated for decades. This thesis implemented modern neural network models, transformer models, on two tasks: English past tense inflection and Chinese character naming, to investigate how transformer models perform quasi-regularity tasks. This thesis focuses on investigating to what extent the models' performances can represent human behavior. The results show that the transformers' performance is very similar to human behavior in many …

The Effect Of Word Predictability On Proofreading Accuracy And Reading Time, Sam Prasad

Theses and Dissertations

Proofreading, or reading with the purpose of finding and correcting errors, has been used in psycholinguistic research to study the relationship between bottom-up and top-down cognitive processes. The current study examined the effects of word predictability on reading time using a word-by-word self-paced reading (SPR) task. A sample of 102 native English speakers read sentences containing letter transposition errors in predictable and unpredictable contexts. Half of the sentences were followed by a question asking if there was an error in the sentence they had just read. Participants’ accuracy in detecting the errors and the time they spent reading the error-bearing …

Tied Together, Eiko Nishida

Theses and Dissertations

The paper is about a site-specific installation that questions a viewer’s norms and perspectives, through the use of multilingual newspapers as a sculptural material.

The Language Of Mechanical Support In Children: Is It ‘Sticking’, ‘Hanging’, Or Simply ‘On’?, Julia Marie Hauss

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Research has found that children begin to differentiate in the terms they use to encode support. In English, BE on, the Basic Locative Construction (Levinson & Wilkins, 2006; “put on” in dynamic events) tends to encode support-from-below (e.g., cup on table), whereas lexical support verbs (e.g., hang, stick, tape, glue, etc.) tend to encode mechanical support. We see this differentiation in semantic space by six years of age (Johannes et al., 2016). Although this differentiation occurs, we can still use BE on to encode all types of support, just as we can use a variety of lexical verbs (e.g., the …

Genetic Implications Of Language Acquisition, Marissa Renee Ciccarini

Honors Scholar Theses

The argument about whether language acquisition is "nature" or "nurture" has been long debated. Linguists have concluded that it requires the two, but how much does language acquisition rely on nature? Children show the capacity to learn languages quickly and without much effort. While research suggests that infants absorb many visual and verbal cues in their environment, biological structures are the underlying component of how this knowledge is gathered and organized. The genetics that code for specific neurophysiological pathways affect how people interact with their environment and where information is stored, forming the basis for these biological structures. Genetic research …

Memory For Metaphors: Verbatim Memory Held For Literal Sentences Vs. Metaphors, Taylor Suneson

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Certain literary features of text (metaphor, idiom, etc.) are said to be foregrounded, or stand out from the surrounding text. Prior research (Miall & Kuiken, 1994) demonstrates that foregrounded text slows readers down, which is consistent with attention being grabbed. Do features of literary text, more specifically metaphors, improve memory as a result of being foregrounded? The present study investigated the effect of reading metaphoric phrases on reading time, memory accuracy, and decision times. We predicted that when a textual phrase was read as a metaphor, verbatim memory would be better retained than when that same phrase was read as …

The Influence Of Native Language And Sentence Form On Memory Of Motion Events, Stephanie L. Lopez

LSU Master's Theses

This study utilized four experiments to investigate the extent to which native language influences memory in accordance with linguistic relativity. In Experiment 1, monolingual English speakers and Spanish/English bilinguals were divided into a verbal encoding condition and a verbal suppression encoding condition and watched motion events of low or high physical salience. Participants engaged in a recognition memory task followed by an event memory similarity judgment task. In Experiment 2, native monolingual English speakers were divided into an English-like (or manner-on-verb) description group, a Spanish-like (or path-on-verb) description group, mimicking the language groups of Experiment 1 respectively, and a verbal …

Single-Case Pilot Study For Longitudinal Analysis Of Referential Failures And Sentiment In Schizophrenic Speech From Client-Centered Psychotherapy Recordings, Travis A. Musich

Dissertations

Though computational linguistic analyses have revealed the presence of distinctly characteristic language features in schizophrenic disordered speech, the relative stability of these language features in longitudinal samples is still unknown. This longitudinal pilot study analyzed schizophrenic disordered speech data from the archival therapy audio recordings of one patient spanning 23 years. End-to-end Neural Coreference Resolution software was used to analyze transcribed speech data from three therapy sessions to identify ambiguous pronouns, referred to as referential failures, which were reviewed and confirmed by multiple raters. Speech samples were analyzed using Google Cloud Natural Language API software for sentiment variables (i.e., score, …

The Broad Reach Of Multivariable Thinking, Deanna Kuhn, Anahid Modrek

College of Humanities and Sciences Faculty Papers

Simple explanations are very often inadequate and can encourage faulty inferences. We examined college students’ explanations regarding illegal immigration to determine the prevalence of single-factor explanations. The form of students’ explanations was predicted by their responses on a simple three-item forced-choice multivariable causal reasoning task in which they selected the strongest evidence against a causal claim. In a further qualitative investigation of explanations by a sample of community adults, we identified positive features among those who scored high on this multivariable causal reasoning task. We consider limitations of single-factor reasoning and means of encouraging more comprehensive explanations to support claims.

Chatgpt As Metamorphosis Designer For The Future Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai): A Conceptual Investigation, Amarjit Kumar Singh (Library Assistant), Dr. Pankaj Mathur (Deputy Librarian)

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to explore ChatGPT’s potential as an innovative designer tool for the future development of artificial intelligence. Specifically, this conceptual investigation aims to analyze ChatGPT’s capabilities as a tool for designing and developing near about human intelligent systems for futuristic used and developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also with the helps of this paper, researchers are analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT as a tool, and identify possible areas for improvement in its development and implementation. This investigation focused on the various features and functions of ChatGPT that …

Linguistic Predictors Of Engagement On Anti-Incel Forums, Daniel Beutler

Student Theses

This thesis examines the determinants of social media engagement with extremist views in general and misogynistic ones in particular. The study, which is a part of an ongoing, large-scale examination of online hate, examined posts from r/IncelTears, a sub-forum in the long-form social media Reddit dedicated to attacks on the Involuntary Celibate (‘Incel’) digital communities. Previous research on engagement – and by extension virality – of online posts has broadly implicated linguistic markers of affect, morality, extremism, and social identity. This exploratory study correlated metrics of online engagement such as the number of Upvotes and Comments that each post garnered …

Confusion Of Tongues: Translation And Transfers Of Attachment In A Post-Monolingual Condition, Hiji Nam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Confusion of Tongues” proposes an intersubjective, dialogic approach to translation, psycholinguistics, and patient and clinicians’ relationships to the “mother tongue” and secondary languages. By tuning in to linguistic and translational shifts, stutters, and gaps, the study presents a consideration of the challenges and rewards presented by what I call a “post-monolingual clinical condition.” An individual’s self-state in a specific language will be shadowed by the emotional history and associations one brings to that language, which will also ripple into the counter-transferential matrix—we might call this the “transference to language,” or attachment styles that manifest and repeat an individual’s forgotten libidinal …

Metaphor And Intersubjectivity: The Use Of Metaphor Within A Metaphor, Sara Jalbert

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Psychotherapists experience encounters in psychotherapy that present the opportunity for metaphor and imagery to be utilized as methods of intervention that enhance attunement in the therapeutic dyad. Working within imagery, tropes, and metaphor may facilitate experiential processing and integration of information. Metaphor has been used across cultures for many years to describe abstract concepts and to apply deeper meaning to the confines of logical thought. This paper discusses the literature on metaphor as an object of shared language, enhancing the space which minds share in the therapeutic dyad, and posits that metaphor has the ability to enhance intrapsychic levels of …

Phonological Decoding Skill In Braille Readers: Implications For Dyslexia, Lindsay N. Harris, Luis E. Lopez, Ailing Li, Alecia Santuzzi

CISLL Publications

Highly developed phonological decoding ability is essential for leveraging the phonological decoding self-teaching loop to efficiently build a reading lexicon. In the present study we compared the phonological decoding abilities of blind braille-reading (n = 29) and sighted print-reading (n = 22) adults to investigate the possibility that braille’s complexity reduces instances of successful decoding and self-teaching. Such a disturbance of the learning loop would amplify any underlying cognitive deficits in braille readers and contribute to the high rates of learning disability diagnosis observed in blind children. Contrary to expectations, we found that braille readers had a higher …

Bypass Language En Route To Meaning At Your Peril, Lindsay N. Harris, Charles A. Perfetti, Elizabeth Hirshorn

CISLL Publications

The learning account of the puzzle of ideography cannot be dismissed as readily as Morin maintains, and is compatible with the standardization account. The reading difficulties of deaf and dyslexic individuals, who cannot easily form connections between written letter strings and spoken words, suggest limits to our ability to bypass speech and reliably access meaning directly from graphic symbols.