Linguistics Commons^™

The Mental Lexicon In Students Of Non-Spoken Languages: A Case Study With Ancient Greek And Latin, Randall C. Meister

Student Works

The unique pedagogical circumstances and uses of non-spoken languages (such as Ancient Greek and Latin) offer other facets to current models of L2 mental lexicon, which, up until this point in academic dialogue, have focused on bilinguals, who produce their language. While empirical evidence from an array of studies (see Cielslicka-­Ratajczak, 1994) favors an integrated system of interwoven phonological, semantic, and categorical information all working together to influence production and comprehension, the elements of L2 organization within the context of non-­spoken ancient languages remains underexplored, yet may offer further evidence for the organization of mental L2 lexical. My current study …

English In Iranian Magazine Advertising, Robert J. Baumgardner, Kimberley Brown

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the thirty-two years since the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran, economic and cultural globalization have affected the role of English in multiple domains in the country. Within the domain of advertising, shifts have occurred throughout the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Persian scholars have attributed the source of these shifts to tension between local and global identities and to shifts in government advertising policy. This paper explores a data set of 335 advertisements taken from magazines from the period 2006–2008. We contrast borrowings and language display and explore language use in the six parts of the advertisements. …

The Effects Of Explicit Instruction On The Development Of Reading Fluency, Michael Jeffrey Zwick

Theses and Dissertations

Developing reading fluency in a first language (L1) is a topic that has received a considerable amount of attention. Developing reading fluency in a second language (L2), however, has received relatively little attention (Grabe, 2009). Anderson (2008) defines reading fluency as "reading at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension." For adult ESL learners, Anderson suggests a minimum rate of 200 wpm with at least 70% comprehension. Previous studies that have been conducted on L2 reading fluency focus primarily on reading rate development. This study seeks to combine rate development and comprehension development to effectively foster L2 reading fluency. Doing so …

Not You/Like You, With You: Toward A Praxis Of Love, Learning, And Liberation In Teaching Efl Writing — On Zombies, De-Colonial Feminisms, And Freire In Efl Contact Zones, Jessmaya Morales

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores EFL writing as a critical contact zone in which identity and subjectivity are found, denied, contested, de/constructed and occupied. The author opens with an account of a dream, utilized as a metaphor to examine EFL learning through the analytical lens of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The paper’s first section is a self-reflexive discussion of Freire’s pedagogy and why his unambiguous analyses of power, subjectivity, and the “banking system of education” are vital to the field of ELT. In the second section, the author discusses subjectivity, identity, and intersectionality as rooted in the work of …

Cuisenaire Rods: Pedagogical And Relational Instruments For Language Learning, Sevilay Akarcay

MA TESOL Collection

Cuisenaire Rods are pedagogical and relational instruments with great potential for exploring the way a language works. With their flexibility and simplicity, they allow the students to focus on the process of learning; helping them notice patterns, make associations, and engage in a social and personal relation with the language and deepening their awareness of themselves as learners. The Cuisenaire Rods’ potential for creating simplicity within complexity enables a way of working with language that engages the playful and creative powers of the users. In the introductory part of the paper, the author explores Caleb Gattegno’s approach to learning and …

Genetic Characteristics Of An Ancient Nomadic Group In Northern China, Haijing Wang, Lu Chen, Binwen Ge, Ye Zhang, Hong Zhu, Hui Zhou

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Nomadic populations have played a significant role in the history of not only China but also in many nations worldwide. Because they had no written language, an important aspect in the study of these people is the discovery of their tombs. It has been generally accepted that Xiongnu was the first empire created by nomadic tribe in the 3rd century B.C. However, little population genetic information is available concerning the Donghu, another flourishing nomadic tribe at the same period because of the restriction of materials until Jinggouzi site was excavated. In order to test the genetic characteristics of ancient people …

Reference In Udi Narrative Discourse, Catherine Macleod

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines concepts of reference assignment as seen in a written collection of narrative texts from Udi, a Caucasian language from the Lezgian family. This study explores the linguistic factors that affect reference assignment in Udi narrative in terms of participants, props and time and locative phrases.

Reference assignment incorporates reference forms such as nouns, noun phrases, proper names and pronouns. All of these features aid in building the mental representation of the texts in the mind of the reader. Surface-level linguistic factors, such as cohesion, coherence, backgrounding, foregrounding and focus also interact with reference forms.

This paper incorporates …

Morphological Alternations At The Intonational Phrase Edge, Robert Henderson

English Faculty Research Publications

This article develops an analysis of a pair of morphological alternations in K'ichee' (Mayan) that are conditioned at the right edge of intonational phrase boundaries. I propose a syntax-prosody mapping algorithm that derives intonational phrase boundaries from the surface syntax, and then argue that each alternation can be understood in terms of output optimization. The important fact is that a prominence peak is always rightmost in the intonational phrase, and so the morphological alternations occur in order to ensure an optimal host for this prominence peak. Finally, I consider the wider implications of the analysis for the architecture of the …

Shenshi 紳士 Atau Gentry Cina: Sekilas Sejarah Dan Profil Kaum Aristokrat Cina Pada Zaman Kekaisaran, Adrianus L.G Waworuntu

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

In order to comprehend the many aspects of social and cultural historiography of traditional China, it is imperative to recognize who are the main actors. In traditional Chinese society, there is a significant category known as the Chinese gentry, or the shenshi 紳士 in Mandarin. They were known as the Chinese scholar-official class who administered the traditional Chinese dynastic government system since more than two-thousand years ago until the abolishment of the system in 1911. The Chinese gentry emerged from the intellectuals who became officials by going through a special, open-recruited, educational system; a system that enabled every person from …

July 28, 2012: New Issue Of Comparative Drama, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

July 25, 2012: " Sounds Of Dolphins ", Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

July 11, 2012: Clifford Davidson's The York Corpus Christi Plays Profiled In Humanities, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Courtroom Discourse As Verbal Performance: Describing The Unique Sociolinguistic Situation Of The American Trial Courtroom, Seth William Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Individual events within courtroom discourse, such as lawyer-witness interactions have been studied extensively, particularly within a framework of powerful vs. powerless language (Adelsward, 1987; Archer, 2006; Bogoch, 2000; Eades, 2010; Fuller, 1993; Gnisci & Bakeman, 2007; Hobbs, 2007; Keating, 2009; Penman, 1990; Philips, 1984; Roberts, 1990). However, this thesis will show that courtroom discourse is sufficiently unique to warrant a distinct framework. It will also explore the explanatory power of a Courtroom Discourse Verbal Performance framework influenced by Verbal Art as Performance (Bauman, 1977). In particular this work will create a framework (Courtroom Discourse Verbal Performance) that explains the sociolinguistic …

The Correlation Of Arab Ells' Academic Reading Fluency In Arabic And English, Jonathon C. Mccollum

Theses and Dissertations

Educational and economic developments in the Persian Gulf have increased the need for academic English reading fluency in the rising generation of college-bound students. A discussion of the literature on the linguistic properties of Arabic diglossia and orthography affirms the challenge that Arabs confront in L1 literacy. Because of the difficulties encountered in Arabic literacy, the transfer of L1 skills to L2 emerges as a salient issue for English instruction in the Arab world. The following study of Arab ELLs' academic reading fluency in Arabic and English investigates a hypothesized positive correlation between L1 and L2 reading abilities. Quantitative and …

Students' Perspectives On Language Use Outside The Classroom In An Intensive English Program, Elena Vladimirovna Shvidko

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to 1) explore student attitudes toward the English-only environment in an intensive English program, and 2) find factors that either promote or inhibit students' desire to use English in their communication with compatriots in school. Qualitative research methods employed were a) a student questionnaire (with a total of 158 participants), b) semi-structured interviews with students (total 6 participants), and c) four student focus groups (with a total of 62 participants). The study was conducted at the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University. The participants were students of four native language groups (Spanish, …

Prosody-Based Query-By-Example Spoken Utterance Retrieval, Steven D. Werner, Nigel G. Ward

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

Current spoken dialogue retrieval systems are almost entirely lexically based, using automatic transcription by imperfect speech recognition technology. Once audio is reduced to text, little more than existing text search methods are used to retrieve results. However, spoken dialogue contains rich latent prosodic information about dialogue activities - such as agreeing, arguing, deciding, planning, storytelling, showing surprise - and this extra information can often be relevant to the searchers aims. Searching for similar speech acts rather then similar words enables similar contextual results, returning points where the speaker had the same sentiment during a topic. Previous research yielded 76 dimensions …

Fluency Features And Elicited Imitation As Oral Proficiency Measurement, Carl V. Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

The objective and automatic grading of oral language tests has been the subject of significant research in recent years. Several obstacles lie in the way of achieving this goal. Recent work has suggested a testing technique called elicited imitation (EI) can be used to accurately approximate global oral proficiency. This testing methodology, however, does not incorporate some fundamental aspects of language such as fluency. Other work has suggested another testing technique, simulated speech (SS), as a supplement to EI that can provide automated fluency metrics. In this work, I investigate a combination of fluency features extracted for SS testing and …

Implementation And Evaluation Of Curricular Changes In The Undergraduate Tesol Internship Program At Brigham Young University, Lydia Ripplinger

Theses and Dissertations

This MA project consists of the implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness of intended improvements to the TESOL minor internship program at Brigham Young University (BYU). The majority of changes implemented and evaluated in this study were suggested by Marisa Ontiveros in her 2010 MA thesis, An Evaluation of the Learning Outcomes and Curricular Organization of the Brigham Young University Undergraduate TESOL Internships Course. The present report summarizes relevant literature that led to the current project, including a discussion of the importance of internships in general, information regarding the significance of TESOL internships, and a summary of the BYU …

Deaf Jokes And Sign Language Humor, R. Sutton-Spence, Donna Jo Napoli

Linguistics Faculty Works

This paper describes the humor of Deaf communities, arguing that the humor is related primarily to the dominant visual experience of Deaf people, but also influenced by their knowledge of humor traditions in the hearing society at large. Sign language humor in America and Britain may be seen in the creation of new visual signs, the witty reanalysis of existing signs and in bilingual games in which English is manipulated within sign languages. The content of Deaf humor supports the in-group of community members who embrace their signing collective Deaf identity and denigrates out-group people, including deaf people who do …

Research Proposal For Study: Can Artifical Emulation Of Synesthesia Aid Visual Word Recognition?, Lucas Charles

Anthós

The field of synesthesia has largely been unexplored beyond mere analysis of the condition and only a few papers on the topic of new applications have been published within the last decade. The condition can potentially provide great benefits to the study of the psychology of language along with its role in language use itself. As understanding of this condition continues to grow, one can draw links between it and its effect on language use, thereby enabling a greater understanding of the language process itself. Synesthesia involves the stimulation of one sense along with involuntary activation of another sensory pathway. …

It’S Not What You Do, It’S Who You Are: Adjectives As Identity-Conferrers, C.B. Rodgers

Anthós

To see how positive identity assessments are created, I investigated two statements, both released by organizations that can broadly be described as part of Portland’s liberal or left community. Each statement responds to assertions that the actions of the organization, or one of its members, provides a platform for anti-Semitic, white supremacist, and/or fascist political organizers to make inroads in Portland. One set of data is a statement from Citybikes, a workerowned cooperative, that was published on Portland IndyMedia, a web-based independent media center; the other is a statement from a Portland community art space, The Variant, that was published …

Forecasting The Vitality Of The Fur Language: A Study In Language Use Patterns And Attitudes In Darfur, Kerry Mae Corbett

Theses and Dissertations

The Fur language of Darfur, Sudan has been undergoing a decades-long language shift to the more dominant and prestigious Arabic spoken throughout the country. However, a decade of conflict in Darfur has brought greater awareness of ethnic identity and disrupted the previously-documented language shift. Using questionnaires, this study explores the current language use patterns and attitudes of 286 individuals in two towns and four Internally Displaced People camps in Darfur. It uses interviews to further explore language attitudes. The research shows that demographic variables such as gender, age, and level of education affect language use and attitudes and confirms that …

Exploring Picture Word Priming Effects In Healthy Aging Adults Using Event Related Potentials, Sasha C. Christopher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanics with which older adults activate and access different subdomains of their mental lexicons during word retrieval for picture naming.

Method: Data were analyzed for 12 aging, native English speakers who performed a picture-word priming task. The auditory probe words were presented in the following conditions in relation to the picture stimuli: Identically related, strongly semantically related, weakly semantically related, strongly phonologically related, weakly phonologically related, semantically related to the strong phonological relative of the target picture label, or phonologically-related to the strong semantic relative of the target picture …

The Development Of Two Units For Basic Training And Resources For Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages: "Working Successfully With Young Learners" And "Working Successfully With Very Young Learners", Heidi Healy

Theses and Dissertations

Many thousands of people with varying degrees of preparation teach English as a second or foreign language to many millions of people around the world. Some of these teachers are novice, volunteer teachers, who have not received any professional-level training. These novice teachers help to meet the demand for English teachers by often teaching for little remuneration or in non-ideal teaching conditions. These teachers can benefit from receiving training in how to teach English as a foreign language. Basic Training and Resources for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BTRTESOL) is a program that is being created to provide …

June 19, 2012: New Issues Poetry & Prose Annual Celebration!, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

June 16, 2012: Cfp: O-Zone: A Journal Of Object-Oriented Studies, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

June 14, 2012: Cfp: Special Issue Of About Gender On Queer Studies, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

The Development Of Two Units For Basic Training And Resources For Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages: "Content-Based Language Classes" And "Multiple Skills In One Class", Amanda Staten Malaman

Theses and Dissertations

Under the direction of Dr. Lynn Henrichsen, a group of students has developed numerous units for the Basic Training and Resources for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BTRTESOL) program. This program is currently located on a website and will someday be published in book and DVD format. These units provide general training for novice teachers who teach domestically or abroad. With little or no training, volunteer English language teachers are often left with questions that BTRTESOL strives to answer in its 52 units. As this audience may or may not have university education or heavy commitment, these units …

Visual Form And A Typology Of Purpose: A Peircean-Based Approach To Visual Information Design Pedagogy, Christina Laraine Perkins Rosenquist

Theses and Dissertations

Visual information design is a vital part of modern communication. Currently discussion is occurring in most disciplines to determine more effective ways to incorporate visual information design into all their communication, including website and document design. These discussions typically focus on elements of traditional graphic design that tell the student what is "good" graphic design; however, traditional graphic design depends on trial and error, luck, and best practices, with only rare attempts to construct general principles. Selection of visual elements is usually based on designer preference rather than any consistent conceptual framework or empirical support for design decisions. Another approach …

Greening The Market: The Development And Effect Of Environmental Terms On Consumer Perception Of Products, Jae Parker Heiner

Theses and Dissertations

History, discourse analysis, and corpus linguistics show the green movement (humankind's response to issues affecting the environment) to have proliferated both ecological ideologies and the linguistic tools to discuss them, (R. J. Alexander, 2002; Bang, Døør, Steffensen, & Nash, 2007; Carvalho, 2007; Mahlberg, 2007; Wang, 2009) showing the development of green or environmental language in the lexicon. The topic has also left its mark on the market, and green market research has shown effects of messages on perceptions of green brands (Phau & Ong, 2007) and profiles of m (J. A. Roberts, 1996). However , surprisingly little research has been …