Linguistics Commons^™

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 …

English Learners In Nyc, Raquel Neris

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

English Learners in NYC is a Digital Humanities project that intersects Migration Studies and Foreign Language Learning Studies by presenting a podcast series about the learning experience of international students in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs at English schools in New York City. The project aims to provide visibility to the educational migration in this specific context and to promote a discussion on how international students and educators can reimagine their teaching and learning experience. It also aims to reveal ESL schools' challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they incorporated digital technologies during and after this event. …

Neural Network Vs. Rule-Based G2p: A Hybrid Approach To Stress Prediction And Related Vowel Reduction In Bulgarian, Maria Karamihaylova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

An effective grapheme-to-phoneme (G2P) conversion system is a critical element of speech synthesis. Rule-based systems were an early method for G2P conversion. In recent years, machine learning tools have been shown to outperform rule-based approaches in G2P tasks. We investigate neural network sequence-to-sequence modeling for the prediction of syllable stress and resulting vowel reductions in the Bulgarian language. We then develop a hybrid G2P approach which combines manually written grapheme-to-phoneme mapping rules with neural network-enabled syllable stress predictions by inserting stress markers in the predicted stress position of the transcription produced by the rule-based finite-state transducer. Finally, we apply vowel …

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 …

Official Bilingualism Or The Need For A Linguistic Unification In Cameroon, Jeff Sterline Ngami Kamagoua

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

Cameroon inherited two languages, French and English, from France and United Kingdom administration (1916-1960) and adopted them, within the framework of reunification, as official languages, to achieve social cohesion, unity and national integration. The official bilingualism policy qualified as unequal and largely in favor of French, gave birth to a linguistic and cultural conflict. Indeed, the recognition and maintenance of Anglophone and Francophone communities, in the light of colonialism, as two communities with linguistic, historical, cultural and educational specificities generated over the years, a linguistic juxtaposition. This linguistic juxtaposition is fundamentally characterised by the predominance of official languages in each …

Minority Language Education In Russia: An Example Of Social And Cultural Reproduction And Correspondence Theories, Nadezhda Braun

Russian Language Journal

Russia is an incredibly diverse country, both linguistically and ethnically. However, Russia is often presented, and presents itself, as a monolith. Russia’s approach to minority language teaching further perpetuates this monolithic view by creating a hierarchical language structure with Russian at the top. This hierarchy is created through societal pressure, language requirements in the Russian education system, and the minimization of minority language instruction, in direct contrast to best practices for language instruction. Chuvash in Chuvashia and Nenets, Khanty, and Selkup in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug serve as examples of this linguistic hierarchy. This paper uses social and cultural reproduction …

Topics For He But Not For She: Quantifying And Classifying Gender Bias In The Media, Tyler J. Lanni

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this study, we used computational techniques to analyze the language used in news articles to describe female and male politicians. Our corpus included 370 subtexts for male candidates and 374 subtexts for female candidates, gathered through the New York Times API. We conducted two experiments: an LDA topic analysis to explore the data, and a logistic regression to classify the subtexts as either male or female. Our analysis revealed some noteworthy findings that suggest the possibility of developing a gender bias classifier in the future. However, to create a more robust understanding of bias, additional research and data are …

The Benefits Of Using Comics In The Classroom, Caedin Brown

University Honors Theses

With more research being done on the use and effects of comics in classes, teachers and the general public are becoming more accepting of them as a teaching tool. A study in the use of comics in classrooms has found positive correlations between comics and learning in academic environments and very few possibilities of negative connotations. Comics are being proven to show an increase of motivation in students along with better retention of knowledge, especially in the field of language learning. Comic activities in language learning environments that have been developed by Stephen Cary have shown an increase of engagement, …

Ai Approaches To Understand Human Deceptions, Perceptions, And Perspectives In Social Media, Chih-Yuan Li

Dissertations

Social media platforms have created virtual space for sharing user generated information, connecting, and interacting among users. However, there are research and societal challenges: 1) The users are generating and sharing the disinformation 2) It is difficult to understand citizens' perceptions or opinions expressed on wide variety of topics; and 3) There are overloaded information and echo chamber problems without overall understanding of the different perspectives taken by different people or groups.

This dissertation addresses these three research challenges with advanced AI and Machine Learning approaches. To address the fake news, as deceptions on the facts, this dissertation presents Machine …

Investigating English-Language Dialect-Adjusted Models, Samiha Datta

Computer Science Senior Theses

This thesis describes several approaches to better understand how large language models interpret different dialects of the English language. Our goal is to consider multiple contexts of textual data and to analyze how English-language dialects are realized in them, as well as how a variety of machine learning techniques handle these differences. We focus on two genres of text data: news and social media. In the news context, we establish a dataset covering news articles from five countries and four US states and consider language modeling analysis, topic and sentiment distributions, and manual analysis before performing nine experiments and evaluating …

Morphosemantic Integration Of -Ing Anglicisms Into Russian And Kazakh In The Context Of Trilingual Code-Switching, Timur Akishev

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current dissertation is an attempt to determine and describe the characteristics of the process of linguistic integration of English noun loans into Russian and Kazakh. One of the main objectives that my study was guided by was the analysis of the relationships between or across the linguistic and quantitative parameters of the loans based on the data drawn from the Russian National Corpus, an online database containing multiple examples of using the Russian language. Another important objective of the research conducted was to provide a holistic interpretation to the process of secondary adaptation of the nominal Anglicisms from Russian …

Lucky Chile In The Land Of Enchantment: Mapping Perception Of Signed Language Varieties In New Mexico, David Player

Linguistics ETDs

There are no known published studies documenting the linguistic variation of American Sign Language in New Mexico. We applied the Perceptual Dialectology approach to gain insights into how ASL variation is perceived by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing population in New Mexico. Participants reported 60 signs associated with a historical variety of ASL used at NMSD, and many more signs that are linked to regional and cultural relevance in New Mexico. Four participants provided highly descriptive maps that identify themes related to the sources of variation. Comparisons to studies of Black ASL are discussed to identify parallels in the …

The Distribution Of Tone In Shanghainese Monosyllables: An Optimality Theory Approach, Jamie Xu

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

This paper aims to create an Optimality Theory ranking of tonal phonology constraints in Shanghai Chinese (Shanghainese) monosyllables. Previous research on tonal phonology in Shanghainese preceded the more recent research on Optimality Theory which may provide new principles to justify the language’s tonal phonology system. I use inputs composed of High (H) and Low (L) tone combinations and 8 constraints, (3 faithfulness and 5 markedness constraints) to motivate the distribution of tones in Shanghainese monosyllable in four environments: KV, GV, KVʔ, GVʔ. The faithfulness constraints include DEP, MAX, and IDENT. The markedness constraints include *KL, *GH, POLARITY, [AGREE]ʔ, and *L/ʔ. …

American Sign Language Legal Interpretation Complications: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Linguistic Barriers Within The Criminal Justice System, Katherine R. Doan

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

The founding documents of the United States of America tend to be rather universal and impartial in their vernacular. Because all citizens of a nation are deserving of the same rights and privileges regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or disability status, accommodations must be provided to the Deaf to give them equal access to information throughout interrogations, trials, and police interactions. While it may seem obvious that interpreters should be provided during legal situations involving a Deaf individual, visual communication can make legal interactions quite complicated when police or attorneys can only reveal limited details. When Deaf culture involving expansion …

Communicating Across The Pond: Evaluating Perceptions Of Dialectal Divergence Among American Student Sojourners In England, Katherine T. Peppiatt

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Although at first glance the differences between British English and American English seem trivial, “apartment” vs. “flat” or “color” vs. “colour," these dialectal divergences immediately create an othering effect. Subtle changes are representative of the deeper implications of this issue; altered language impacts perceptions about the validity and correctness of a written work. My research seeks to understand how the differences between British English and American English impact American student sojourners during an abroad experience in England. Examining how American sojourners perceive dialectal differences and adapt their written rhetoric to match that of a British audience offers valuable insight into …

Other Oceans, Other Skies, Sharlene Lee

MFA in Visual Art

I create immersive installations, performances, and time-based media artworks that delve into stories of belonging, feminism, and language as power. These stories offer a potential for transformation from viewer to participant and a shift in how our world is seen and experienced. Through an exploration of perception and affect, I challenge dominant narratives, prompting a contemplation of contemporary power struggles for control.

In this text, I examine the impact of historical borders and migration on my life while also investigating questions of home, shared values, and rituals that contribute to one’s sense of belonging. I also highlight my commitment to …

L’Emprunt Lexical De L’Arabe Algérien À L’Amazighe : Étude Sur Un Corpus Parémiologique, Abdelaziz Berkai

Journal of Amazigh Studies

Résumé :

Une étude très récente de parémiologie contrastive entre le kabyle et l’arabe algérien montre, par-delà l’« isomorphisme » parémiologique existant entre les deux langues-cultures, qu’un certain nombre de mots de l’arabe dialectal seraient des emprunts à l’amazighe. C’est l’étude de ces emprunts au plan lexico-sémantique, et subsidiairement étymologique, qui constitue l’objet de notre proposition de contribution. Nous commencerons chaque fois par la vérification des données en arabe classique et en dialectal algérien, avant d’analyser les matériaux amazighs et d’en tirer les conclusions qui s’imposent.

Mots-clés : emprunt lexical, parémiologie, arabe algérien, et langue amazighe

Lexical borrowing of Algerian …

Fathi Ben Maammar, Tinfas Seg Jerba - Ḥikāyāt Amāzīghiyya Jarbiyya, Vermondo Brugnatelli

Journal of Amazigh Studies

N/A

Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, Amazigh Politics In The Wake Of The Arab Spring, Paul A. Silverstein

Journal of Amazigh Studies

N/A

Forming A Global Citizen: Personal Development Through Study Abroad, Anna L. Reiter

Honors Thesis

This literature review examines key benefits of studying abroad, while investigating which elements most contribute to students’ overall success. Current literature suggests that benefits of studying abroad include, but are not limited to, second language acquisition (SLA), identity formation, and intercultural competence. The degree of which each is improved depends on a multitude of variables. SLA improvement is explored via consideration of students’ baseline proficiency level, degree of receptivity of the host country, and length of the study abroad program. Students’ identity formation is explained through the three bases of identity: person, role, and group/social. Finally, intercultural competence in study …

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 Manito Topos Project: Place Naming And Toponymic Silencing In The Sierras Of Northern Nuevo México And Southern Colorado, Len N. Beké

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation reports on documentary research on vernacular toponymies in Manito communities in Nuevo México and Colorado. These toponymies are erased, obscured and delegitimized in official maps. Within the study area, vernacular antecedents for 49.5% of official names for natural features were documented, along with 280 previously unmapped names. These data were compared to the state-sanctioned toponymy to determine a typology of linguistic mechanisms of toponymic silencing. While a majority of official toponyms are based on Manito oral tradition, only 15.4% of the labels for natural features represent unaltered versions of names in that tradition. This dissertation theorizes the conceptual …

Multilingual Schoolscapes Of Elementary Schools In East Tennessee, Olivia Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates how three elementary schools in East Tennessee align their schoolscapes with their multilingual populations. The study involved taking pictures of signage in these elementary schools and analyzing them for multilingualism. The findings indicate that there is limited presence of multilingual signage in the schools despite the presence of diverse students. While the schools are making efforts to be inclusive with their signage, there is clearly more room for improvement.

Comparing Speech Sound Production Skills Across Two-Year Olds With Varying Language Proficiency Using Phonetic Inventory And Word-Shape Complexity, Makayla Eberly

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Purpose. Young children, who by the time they are two years of age, have 50 or fewer words in their expressive lexicon and produce few to no two-words phrases are often identified as demonstrating “late language emergence” (LLE). The nature of the relationship between speech sound (phonological) production development and LLE continues to be an important area of inquiry in the field of speech-language pathology with clinical intervention implications. The present study aimed to further distinguish and confirm associations between phonological productions and language proficiency status at two years of age.

Method. Participants (n = 20) were divided into two …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Inner Speech Between Monolingual And Bilingual Speakers, Thomas Sears

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Inner speech is an individual’s silent, inner monologue; a growing amount of evidence indicates that inner speech is very common among both monolingual and multilingual speakers. Studies have shown that important cognitive functions are involved in inner speech pertaining to psychological development, however connections between inner speech and language acquisition/usage across speakers have been less of a focus. This study investigates the frequency and degree to which inner speech is used between monolingual English speakers and early-onset bilingual English/Spanish speakers by using a survey called the Revised-Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ-R) by Alderson-Day et al. (2018). The aim of …

How Political Aspirations Conceived A Dramatic Linguistic Shift, Sean Mcconnell

Student Works

The 1066 Norman Conquest presents a specific instance of how conflicting political ambitions stimulated a substantial historical and social shift. On the political front, King Harold II and William the Conqueror possessed differing motives in their quest for the English crown. The political conflict witnessed contention between two groups that spoke entirely different languages: the Anglo-Saxons speaking Old English and the Normans speaking Norman French. The Norman victory in 1066 would have long-lasting implications for England and the English language. After the Normans conquered, Old English lost its prominence in England, initiating a linguistic transitional period. As a consequence of …

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 …