Linguistics Commons^™

The Logogenesis Of Writing To Learn: A Systemic Functional Perspective., Perry Klein, Len Unsworth

Education Publications

Writing to learn has become an important practice in science education. How is scientific knowledge constructed during writing? To investigate this question, we examined the process through which four university students constructed written explanations of either projectile motion or buoyancy. The analysis, informed by systemic functional linguistics, focused on the mapping of semantic elements to grammatical choices, and the way in which this mapping unfolded throughout the course of each text. The texts began largely congruently; grammar mapped closely to experience. Gradually, each text shifted toward greater use of grammatical metaphor. Nominalization allowed propositions and sequences of events to serve …

Revisiting Pragmatic Abilities In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jessica De Villiers, Brooke Myers, Robert Stainton

Philosophy Publications

In a 2007 paper, we argued that speakers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) exhibit pragmatic abilities which are surprising given the usual understanding of communication in that group. That is, it is commonly reported that people diagnosed with an ASD have trouble with metaphor, irony, conversational implicature and other non-literal language. This is not a matter of trouble with knowledge and application of rules of grammar. The difficulties lie, rather, in successful communicative interaction. Though we did find pragmatic errors within literal talk, the transcribed conversations we studied showed many, many successes. A second paper reinforced our finding of a …

The Sociolinguistic Situation And National Identity Of Cape Verde, Melissa Oquendo

Undergraduate Review

Cape Verde is a West African country located in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Senegal. The archipelago is composed of 10 islands, 9 of which are populated (Santo Antão, São Vicente, São Nicolau, Sal, Boa Vista, Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava). Santa Luzia is the only uninhabited island. Cape Verde was colonized by the Portuguese and therefore includes a rich mix of Portuguese and African cultures.

Because today’s Cape Verdeans are descendants of both the Portuguese and West Africans, there are elements of both in their languages, traditions, history, and development as a nation. These Portuguese and West …

A Study Of Refusal Strategies By American And International Students At An American University, Hiroko Tsuiki Moaveni

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Refusals are delicate speech acts for non-native speakers to negotiate because they require negative responses to an interlocutor's invitation or request. In addition to cultural variation, variables such as gender and modes of communication (e.g., emails) add dimensions to the complexity when performing refusals. The main objective of this study is to investigate the difference in refusal strategies between American and international college students as well as gender variation. Using a written Discourse Completion Task, six situations were developed and grouped in two stimulus types eliciting refusals to an invitation and a request. Each stimulus type involved an email refusal …

Swahili Word Order Choices: Insights From Information Structure, Mohamed Yusuf Mwamzandi

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

Cross-linguistic pragmatic studies have shown non-canonical word order can often be explained if information structure is taken into consideration. This dissertation explores word order variation in Swahili (SVO, Bantu) adnominal demonstratives and reciprocal constructions under the auspices of information structure. I investigate how the notion of topic may explain word order variation in these two structures.The term `adnominal demonstrative' refers to demonstratives that co-occur with nouns such as huyu mtu `this person' as distinguished from pronominal demonstratives such as huyu `this'. The issue to be determined is what influences the demonstrative use in pre or postnominal position. The data consists …

The Adaptation Of Native Language Construal Patterns In Second Language Acquisition, Loraine Obler, Eve Higby

Publications and Research

First language attrition occurs when a bilingual’s native language shows evidence of language change due to the predominant use of a second language. Recent research in first language attrition has shown that lexical retrieval and word choice are more vulnerable to reduced native language use than are grammatical constructions. However, some research has shown that grammar can also be affected, especially for constructions which exist in both languages but have different distributions in their usage. Taking concepts from cognitive linguistics, we attempt to describe how this research may provide insight into how language construal from the second language can affect …

Strategic Deployments Of ‘Sisterhood’ And Questions Of Solidarity At A Women’S Development Project In Janakpur, Nepal, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

Linguistic uses of ‘sisterhood’ provide a window into disparate understandings of relationality among virtual and actual interlocutors in women’s development across vectors of caste, class, ethnicity and nationality. In this essay, I examine the trope of ‘sisterhood’ as it was employed at a women’s development project in Janakpur, Nepal, in the 1990s. I demonstrate that the use of this common signifier of kinship with culturally disparate ‘signifieds’ created a confusion of meaning, and differential readings of the politics of relationality. In my view, ‘sister,’ as used at this project, was a multivalent, strategically deployed, and divergently interpreted term. In particular, …

Hawking Hyphens In Compound Modifiers, Joan Ames Magat

Faculty Scholarship

The first principle of legal writing is surely its clarity — visible actors (unless the action matters more), uncluttered syntax, and, of course, logical structure. But the little things can matter to clarity, too — such as deliberate punctuation that signifies. In the language of law, in which compound nouns are rife, the reader can feel adrift as to where modifiers end and the noun begins. (Consider government-subsidized health flexible-spending arrangement without those hyphens.) Hyphens help. Whether an author cares to hyphenate the noun is his call; but hyphenating compound modifiers (also called phrasal adjectives, though they may include adverbs …

Relative Clause Processing: Evidence From Russian, Iya Khelm Price, Jeffrey Witzel

Linguistics & TESOL Faculty Publications & Presentations - Archive

Studies on relative clauses (RCs) in a number of languages have shown that object-extracted RCs (ORCs) are more difficult to process than subject-extracted RCs (SRCs). SRC-ORC processing asymmetry has been attributed to: • Structural expectations (Levy, 2008) • Memory-based integration effects (Gibson, 2000) • RC subject vs. object extraction difficulty differences (Lin & Bever, 2006) In many languages, word order differences between SRCs and ORCs make it difficult to test among these accounts. Russian allows SRCs and ORCs to have the same linear word order (with case-marking distinguishing between the RC types).

Long-Distance Attraction Effects In Subject-Verb Agreement Processing, Nathan Eversole, Jeffrey Witzel

Linguistics & TESOL Faculty Publications & Presentations - Archive

No abstract provided.

Attitudes To Storytelling Among Adult Esl Learners, Mi-Ryoung Kim, Theresa Mcgarry

ETSU Faculty Works

This study investigated tertiary second language learners’ attitudes toward storytelling as a classroom activity. Instruction and practice in storytelling were given to 26 international undergraduates for ten weeks. Questionnaires were administered before and after the treatment to assess learners’ interest in storytelling and beliefs about its effectiveness as a learning task. The results of the pre-treatment questionnaire showed that while participants’ interest in storytelling was very low, their expectations of its effectiveness were relatively high. Asian or low proficient participants indicated higher interest than Europeans or high proficient learners. The results of the post-treatment questionnaire showed that participants’ attitudes changed …

Appalachian Migrant Stances, Bridget L. Anderson

English Faculty Publications

The article explores the economic and industrial opportunities for Appalachian native speakers in the industrial Midwest countries after the World War I. Topics discussed include the characteristics of migration diaspora in Appalachian migrants, the Southern migrants metropolitan area lifestyle in Detroit, Michigan and the impacts of ethnographic factors to Appalachian migrants. Other topics include the social and identifiable factors for migrants.

The Signs We Speak: An Exploration Of The Loss Of Precision And Meaning In Language Today., Emilie Finney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My interest is in the beauty and power of language. I have sought to understand language on a systemic level. I have broken language down to alter signified meaning, exalted extinct words, mourned the loss of formal language, and explored the confines of common vernacular. My artwork addresses meaning within the context of Semiotics and Linguistics. I have investigated the Semiotic theories and philosophies of Roland Barthes, Jacques Ranciere, Pierre Guiraud, and Erving Goffman. As outlined by Roland Barthes, our language is a semiotic system used to communicate meaning. My work is also informed by the rules of Linguistics and …

Struktur Dan Makna Pariwara : Analisis Wacana Dalam Akhbar Bahasa Cina Di Malaysia, Yee Piyan Chang

Student Works (2010-2019)

Pariwara (Advertorial) ialah sejenis iklan yang terbentuk daripada gabungan “iklan” dan “rencana”. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau struktur dan pengolahan makna untuk menghasilkan wacana pariwara (advertorial). Kajian analisis wacana (Discourse Analysis) ini menggunakan metodologi kualitatif secara deskriptif. Kerangka konsepsi kajian ini didirikan daripada gabungan Teori Linguistik Sistemik-Fungsional (Systemic-Functional Linguistic Theory) dan Teori Genre (Genre Theory). Konteks kajian ditetapkan di Malaysia dan sampel merupakan pariwara (advertorial) dalam akhbar Bahasa Cina. Sebanyak 32 pariwara (advertorial) daripada empat akhbar Bahasa Cina antara 1 Oktober 2012 hingga 31 Januari 2013 dipilih sebagai sampel kajian. Kaedah pemilihan sampel bertujuan digunakan. Satu senarai semak penilaian dirangka …

Seen And Not Heard: The Relationship Of Orthography, Morphology, And Phonology In Loanword Adaptation In The German Hip Hop Community Online, Matt Garley

Publications and Research

In this study, a particular development in language behavior, the use of the -ed suffix from English in both participle and non-participle contexts, is investigated in the domain of the German hip hop community. This morphological-orthographic feature is analyzed from a linguistic and distributional standpoint in a 12.5 million word corpus of German hip hop discussion, revealing its patterns of use over a decade in both contexts within this community, along with supplemental examples from YouTube videos. This corpus analysis is paired with a case study of a discourse event between two forum participants negotiating the use of this form, …

Is Shakespeare Still In The Holler? The Death Of A Language Myth, Jennifer Cramer

Linguistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Compounding And Incorporation In The Ket Language: Implications For A More Unified Theory Of Compounding, Benjamin C. Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Compounding in the world’s languages is a complex word-­‐formation process that is not easily accounted for. Moreover, incorporation is equally complex and problematic. This examination of compounding and incorporation in the Ket language seeks to identify the underlying logic of these processes and to work towards a typology that captures generalizations among the numerous ways in which languages expand their lexicons through these processes. Canonical Typology provides a framework that does just this. A preliminary canonical typology of compounds is proposed here, one that subsumes a range of compounds as well as incorporation. For this reason, the Ket language, which …

Inferential-Realizational Morphology And Affix Ordering: Evidence From The Agreement Patterns Of Basque Auxiliary Verbs, Parker Brody

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

“No aspect of Basque linguistics has received more attention over the years than the morphology of the verb.” (Trask 1981:1)

The current study examines the complex morphological agreement patterns found in the Basque auxiliary verb system as a case in point for discussion of theoretical approaches to inflectional morphology. The traditional syntax-driven treatment of these auxiliaries is contrasted with an inferential, morphology-driven analysis within the Paradigm Function Morphology framework. Additionally, a computational implementation of the current analysis using the DATR lexical knowledge representation language is discussed.

An Ontology-Driven Reading Agent, Deryle W. Lonsdale, David W. Embley, Stephen W. Liddle

Faculty Publications

Textual data—from manuscripts to publications to website content—contains much of extant human knowledge. Unfortunately, the ability to harvest and effectively use this information beyond simple search/retrieval is greatly hampered by the scale of the “reading” problem: there is too much for any one person to read, and computers are not entirely adept at comprehending all information—explicit and implicit—contained in natural language text. Developing increased capability in this area is the focus of ongoing “machine reading” and “reading the web” research initiatives. Interested parties include businesses, the military, and intelligence-gathering agencies. Our own ongoing work with the Church Family History Department’s …

Classifying Idiomatic And Literal Expressions Using Topic Models And Intensity Of Emotions, Jing Peng, Anna Feldman, Ekaterina Vylomova

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We describe an algorithm for automatic classification of idiomatic and literal expressions. Our starting point is that words in a given text segment, such as a paragraph, that are highranking representatives of a common topic of discussion are less likely to be a part of an idiomatic expression. Our additional hypothesis is that contexts in which idioms occur, typically, are more affective and therefore, we incorporate a simple analysis of the intensity of the emotions expressed by the contexts. We investigate the bag of words topic representation of one to three paragraphs containing an expression that should be classified as …

The Abd Of Orthography Testing: Practical Guidelines, Elke Karan

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Developing an orthography for a previously unwritten language may prove to be more of a challenge than anticipated. Orthography testing can help field workers and the speech community identify issues which warrant special attention. Subsequent testing will reveal whether or not various factors have been taken into consideration and challenges overcome. Findings might indicate that the orthography functions well or that it requires additional thought, revision, and /or additional testing.

Few how-to helps on orthography testing exist. Drawing from various resources, the author provides practical guidelines and resources for field workers who are planning to engage in orthography testing activities.

Un Viaje En Cayuco Para Pedir Ayuda: Presentación De Un Texto En Fa D’Ambô, Jaime Raúl Calderón Calderón, Alfonsina Gómez Martínez, Stephen A. Marlett, Nydia Morales Castillo, Kristian Roncero Toledo, Bernardino Tomé Catalán, Rubén Van Bemmelen

Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session

Se presenta un texto en la lengua fa d’Ambô, ISO 639-3 [fab], lengua criolla basada en el portugués con muy poca documentación, originaria de la isla de Annobón. Situada en el Golfo de Guinea, la isla pertenece a Guinea Ecuatorial. El texto es el resumen de la crónica de un viaje riesgoso hecho a principios de los años setenta del siglo XX. Se relata cómo unos hombres decidieron hacerse a la mar para poder llegar a la costa continental africana, así como la odisea que vivieron. El motivo de este viaje era la urgencia de conseguir alimentos que escaseaban de …

An Experimental Approach To Ambisyllabicity In English, David Eddington, Dirk Elzinga

Faculty Publications

The factors that influence English speakers to classify a consonant as ambisyllabic are explored in 581 bisyllabic words. The /b/ in habit, for example, was considered ambisyllabic when a participant chose hab as the first part of the word and bit as the second. Geminate spelling was found to interact with social variables; older participants and more educated speakers provided more ambisyllabic responses. The influence of word-level phonotactics on syllabification was also evident. A consonant such as the medial /d/ in standard is attested as the second consonant in the coda of many English words (e.g. lard), as well as …

Discursive Leadership And Conceptual Fluency In Non-Native English Speakers' Online Task-Based Dialogues, Umit Boz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Much research has examined how different patterns of social interaction shape language learners' interactional roles (e.g., collaborative, dominant, passive) in peer-to-peer conversations. However, little or no research has investigated the co-construction of such roles in multiparty, online task-based dialogues within the framework of discursive leadership. For the purpose of this study, discursive leadership is defined as the ability of the interlocutors to (a) shape the discourse via topic introductions and subsequent topic mentions and (b) manage the process of the task through the use of a series of task-oriented speech acts such as directives and assertions. Using a multi-method approach …

Adult Learners Of English Interacting With Native Speaker Teachers And Non-Native Speaker Teachers : Exploring Differences In Students' Language Use, Melody Hallenbeck Nadeau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This mixed-methods study examined the lived experience of adult English Language Learners (ELLs) in classrooms led by native speaking teachers, compared with their experience in classrooms led by non-native teachers. The socio-cognitive approach to language and emergent common ground framed the development of the English classroom as a Community of Practice, in which students produced varying levels of complex, formulaic, metaphorically dense speech.

Information Structure, Agreement And Disagreement In English And French Asynchronous Online Discussion, Patrick Rodrigue Belibi Enama

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This paper compares and contrasts the ways online discussion participants of French and English language expression realize common ground, agree and disagree on newspaper blogs on politics. For that purpose, a corpus of 365 replies among which 177 in French and 188 in English were collected from Le Monde.fr and nytimes.com, the world's two most popular newspaper websites of French and English expression. Kecskes & Zhang's (2009) socio-cognitive approach was used as theoretical framework to analyze common ground. The findings revealed that pragmatic competence, which was put to use depending on the context of situation, was more widely used than …

Language In Human Life: A Ge Course Targeting English Language Learners, Gail Shuck

Taking Linguistics Beyond Linguistics Programs and Departments Symposium

The presenter will describe a cross-cultural course, Language in Human Life, designed to meet several university needs: 1) To provide a course for non-majors that fulfills a long-standing gap in general education courses at the presenter’s institution that introduce students to linguistic thought, 2) to be a magnet course for speakers of English as an additional language in order to allow all students to learn about each others’ languages, and 3) to offer a linguistically accessible course for lower-proficiency users of English that is taught by an instructor with ESL expertise but that fulfills a university requirement for all students. …

Language And The Law, Tineke Scholten

Taking Linguistics Beyond Linguistics Programs and Departments Symposium

This is an upper division course that has been certified as a General Education Course in the area of “Lifelong Learning”. The course also is part of a “Social Justice” GE Path, which encourages students to select their GE courses around a particular theme. The course draws students from a variety of undergraduate majors, including Psychology, Business Law, Political Science, History and Sociology.

The course investigates the role that language and linguistics play in the legal written and oral discourse. In doing so, it hopes to serve two purposes: (1) to illustrate and explicate essential qualities of natural languages and …

Needed Research On The Englishes Of Appalachia, Bridget L. Anderson, Jennifer Cramer, Bethany K. Dumas, Beverly Olson Flanigan, Michael Montgomery

Linguistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Prequel To Law And Revolution: A Long Lost Manuscript Of Harold J. Berman Comes To Light, John Witte Jr., Christopher J. Manzer

Faculty Articles

The late Harold Berman was a pioneering scholar of Soviet law, legal history, jurisprudence, and law and religion; he is best known today for his monumental Law and Revolution series on the Western legal tradition. Berman wrote a short book, Law and Language, in the early 1960s, but it was not published until 2013. In this early text, he adumbrated many of the main themes of his later work, including Law and Revolution. He also anticipated a good deal of the interdisciplinary and comparative methodology that we take for granted today, even though it was rare in the …