Linguistics Commons^™

Students’ Experiences In Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning: A Discourse Analysis Of Group Interaction, Rintaro Imafuku, Ryuta Kataoka, Mitsuori Mayahara, Hisayoshi Suzuki, Takuya Saiki

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Interdisciplinary problem-based learning (PBL) aims to provide students with opportunities to develop the necessary skills to work with different health professionals in a collaborative manner. This discourse study examined the processes of collective knowledge construction in Japanese students in the tutorials. Analyses of video-recorded data elicited from three multidisciplinary cohorts and their learning portfolios provided insights into their participation and introspection during the discussions. The results indicate there were two patterns of knowledge construction: (a) co-constructions between students from different disciplines and (b) elaborations between students from the same discipline. Their learning processes were mediated by their cultural assumptions, professional …

Affect-Marked Lexemes And Their Relational Model Correlates, Robert Moore

Faculty Publications

Four categories of affect-marked lexemes are prominent in a variety of languages, suggesting thereby that all four may be universal, cross-cultural categories: slang, swearwords, honorifics and terms of endearment. Each of these categories (as well as the closely associated ones of nicknames and pet names) is "designed" to serve specific social functions. Data from China and the U.S. indicate that these lexemic categories overlap with each other both functionally and in terms of the specific lexemes that comprise them (Moore et al. 2010). However, they can be distinguished in terms of their prototypical forms and functions. Furthermore, the prototypical functions …

A Modified Approach To The Implementation Of Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback, Brooke Elizabeth Eddington

Theses and Dissertations

Grammatical accuracy in second language (L2) writing is one of the key issues that English as a Second Language (ESL) learners struggle with, both in intensive English language programs and continuing after their university matriculation. Numerous instructional methodologies exist that center around the concept of error correction—how can or should ESL instructors correct grammatical errors in L2 students' writing to best facilitate improvements in written linguistic accuracy? Error correction in L2 writing has been a controversial issue for over a decade (e.g., Ferris, 1999; Truscott, 1996), and in an effort to contribute to an understanding of this controversial topic, this …

Evaluating And Automating The Annotation Of A Learner Corpus, Alexandr Rosen, Jirka Hana, Barbora Stindlova, Anna Feldman

Department of Linguistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The paper describes a corpus of texts produced by non-native speakersof Czech. We discuss its annotation scheme, consisting of three interlinked tiers,designed to handle a wide range of error types present in the input. Each tier correctsdifferent types of errors; links between the tiers allow capturing errors in word orderand complex discontinuous expressions. Errors are not only corrected, but alsoclassified. The annotation scheme is tested on a data set including approx. 175,000words with fair inter-annotator agreement results. We also explore the possibility ofapplying automated linguistic annotation tools (taggers, spell checkers and grammarcheckers) to the learner text to support or even …

The Use Of Play In Speech And Occupational Therapy, Jodi Ehrenkranz, Caroline Laferla

Psychology and Child Development

Sensory Processing Disorder and speech impairment affect millions of children in the United States. Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) affects a child’s development leading to difficulties with “detecting, modulating, interpreting, and/or organizing sensory stimuli” (Miller, Nielsen & Schoen, 2012, p.804). Furthermore, these children may find it difficult to self-regulate their behavior. Speech impairment is typically described as speech sound disorders (SSD), which involves a child having difficulties with communicating or correctly producing their native language (Brumbaugh, Smit, Nippold & Marinellie, 2013). Brumbaugh et al. (2013) also found that these children were likely to develop a poor self-image which provides even more …

Expanding Audiences For Online Writing Labs: Owls In The English As A Foreign Language Context, Joshua Paiz

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Graduate Student Presentations

This presentation from the 2014 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) discusses online writing labs (OWLs), specifically the Purdue OWL, in the traditionally-defined English as a foreign language (EFL) context. The ELF context often presents unique challenges for the teaching of English writing, including challenges of finding appropriate resources. This may lead EFL writing practitioners to rely on the information presented by OWLs to supplement their teaching. However, many OWLs were originally designed for the so-called native speaker (North American, UK, Australian, New Zealand) audience. This raises the question of whether or not OWLs are meeting the needs of …

February 27, 2014: Mellon Summer Institute In English Paleography, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

"Had Sh'er Haute Gamme, High Technology": An Application Of The Mlf And 4-M Models To French-Arabic Codeswitching In Algerian Hip Hop, Samuel Nickilaus Mclain-Jespersen

Dissertations and Theses

The historical nature of language contact between French and Arabic in Algeria has created a sociolinguistic situation in which French is permeated throughout Algerian society. The prevalence and use of spoken French in Algeria by native speakers of Spoken Algerian Arabic has been a topic of interest to researchers of codeswitching since the 1970s. Studies have been conducted on codeswitching in Algerian media such as television, radio, and music.

The hip hop scene has been active in Algeria since the 1980s. Algerian hip hop lyrics contain a multitude of switches into French. This study explores the structural makeup of the …

February 24, 2014: Adapting Shakespeare Among Alabamans, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Test Of Analogical Modeling: The K/Ø Alternation, C. Anton Rytting, Dr. Royal Skousen, Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Turkish is an agglutinative language, meaning that each word consists of a word stem followed by a variable number of suffixes. Sometimes, the addition of suffixes causes the stem to change its form. For example, stem-final velar consonants (i.e., /k/ and /g/) tend to be deleted between a stem vowel and a suffix vowel:

Stress Management: Corpus-Based Insights Into Vernacular Interpretations Of "Stress", Laurel Smith Stvan

Linguistics & TESOL Faculty Publications & Presentations - Archive

Examination of the term stress in naturally occurring vernacular prose provides evidence of three separate senses being conflated. A corpus analysis of 818 instances of stress from non-academic texts in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the Corpus of American Discourses on Health (CADOH) shows a negative prosody for stress, which is portrayed variously as a source outside the body, a physical symptom within the body and an emotional state. The data show that contemporary speakers intermingle the three senses, making more difficult a discussion between doctors and patients of ways to ‘reduce stress’, when stress might be …

Analogical Modeling Of Japanese Loanword Formation From English, Nate Blaylock, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The topic of this research, by way of review, was to try to predict, using the Analogical Modeling of Language (AML) method, the formation of Japanese loanwords from English. In other words, given an English word, how would a Japanese person pronounce it if they adopted it into Japanese. (Ice cream being pronounced aisu kurimu, for example). It was intended to be a test of the strengths and weaknesses of AML for this kind of a task (it has already been attempted by others using other methods).

The Ch’Olti’ Link Language, Craig M. Warren, Dr. John Robertson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of the Mayan Civilization was their development of a writing system. Remnants of this highly sophisticated writing system can be found beautifully etched on temples and other ancient structures scattered throughout parts of Southern Mexico and Central America.

February 12, 2014: Awards, Awards, And More Awards! March 21, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Summary Of The Creative Language Modeling Project, Trent M. Pehrson, Dr. Cynthia Hallen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Creative language modeling (CLM) is a method of teaching linguistics principles to high school level students. In CLM, students learn about language principles by systematically designing an artificial language. The premise of CLM is that students can learn and retain language principles more readily when such principles are associated with creative experiences that give the student a personal stake in the learning process.

February 6, 2014: Third Coast Writing Project Camp For Young Writers, June 16-27, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

February 5, 2014: Graduate Student Conference April 2014-Cfp, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Morphological Awareness On Reading Comprehension: A Study With Adolescent Spanish-English Emergent Bilinguals, Rebecca Curinga

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present research examines the role of morphological awareness in reading comprehension of high school emergent bilinguals. As an increasing number of research studies contribute to our understanding of morphological awareness, i.e. the ability to reflect on and manipulate morphologically complex derived words, we are better able to appreciate some essential components of reading that may have been overlooked in past decades. Previous research suggests that morphological awareness contributes to academic reading vocabulary and higher-level text comprehension, both crucial to the success of secondary school students in the United States (U.S.).

The population in the present study is newcomer Spanish-speaking …

Battles With Words: Literate And Linguistic Resistance In Multi-Ethnic U.S. Literature And Everyday Life, Melissa A. Dennihy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Battles with Words analyzes the role of multi-ethnic U.S. literature as an alternative form of cultural production which critiques and challenges U.S. linguistic and literate hegemony and homogeneity. The texts comprising this field continually emphasize the ways in which words, through language and literacy, become tools of power and action used by the ethnically marginalized to negotiate everyday advantages for themselves and challenge the linguistic and cultural domination of Anglo America. Through their critiques of the culture of English-only monolingualism that has continued to dominate the national landscape of the U.S. throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, these authors indicate …

Non-Standard Italian Dialect Heritage Speakers' Acquisition Of Clitic Placement In Standard Italian, Lionel Chan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the acquisition of object clitic placement in Standard Italian by heritage speakers (HSs) of non-standard Italian dialects. It compares two different groups of Standard Italian learners--Northern Italian dialect HSs and Southern Italian dialect HSs--whose heritage dialects contrast with each other in clitic word order. The syntactic constructions tested include restructuring contexts (i.e., constructions in which clitic climbing can take place), and negative first- and second-person informal imperatives. The overarching research question guiding this pilot study is to determine what influences non-standard Italian dialect HSs' clitic placement when learning these constructions in Standard Italian. Three possible sources that …

The Inner Workings Of Text Summarization Systems, Hope Cotton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper investigates automatic text summarization systems (ATS). To begin, a general description of how some ATS systems operate is provided. Following is a report on the testing of two summarization systems, Mead and SweSum. News articles from online sources were used for testing. Analyzing each system's output under different parameter settings helped to uncover (to some extent) the architecture of these summarizers. Both systems were compared as to how user-focused they are, how informative the summaries are in relation to the source document, and how punctuation and format are reconstructed in a summary.

January 30, 2014: Triezenberg Article Accepted, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Modeling Dialogue Structures, Rebecca D. Rees, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Within every human being lies the desire and the power to communicate—both to decide what to say and when to say it, and to unravel the meaning in someone else’s message. And dialogue is our fundamental tool of communication. Even a writer must take into account their intended audience and the most successful way to convey their “monologue”; my paper, for example, even if put away on some forgotten library shelf, will complete the communicative exchange (which I began when I started writing) the moment a reader picks it up, dusts it off, and opens the cover. The message will …

Linguistics And Law: An Assessment Of Linguistic Contributions In The Courtroom, Jordan Toone, Dr. Cynthia Hallen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Linguistics has provided critical and clarifying evidence in the courtroom for decades. Not only have linguists and linguistic theory assisted the upholding of U.S. law but both have provided professional expertise in disputes throughout the world. The exciting correlation between linguistics and law has long been developing, while the assessment and evaluation of the relationship is in its infant stage and is yet to be fully established in professional research and publication.

The Language And The Law: Trademark Dilution Online, David Stankiewicz, Dr. William Eggington

Journal of Undergraduate Research

One of the most important areas of legal dispute today is internet trademark law. This has become an increasingly greater concern as more and more web pages grab for consumer attention. Many legal questions remain unanswered, and perhaps the most important of these is “Do we apply the old laws directly to cyberspace?” This question became a practical concern with “Kelley Blue Book v. Primdedia, Inc.”

Cross-Cultural Communication In The Medical Setting, David M. Smith, Dr. Bill Eggington

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Communication between patients and physicians is perhaps the single most important issue in providing quality health care to a community. When segments of this community come from different cultural backgrounds and speak different languages, effective communication becomes more difficult. Over the last several years, Utah Valley has grown significantly more culturally and linguistically diverse. As a linguistics student with plans to attend medical school I wanted to research the current situation of cross-cultural care in the community and make suggestions for improvements in the future.

Dialect And Characterization In Mountain Meadows, Adrienne Landes, Dr. David Bowie

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Great writers are often praised for their fine ear for dialogue; Mark Twain, Jane Austen, and Thomas Hardy all had the talent for recreating discourse that gives their work authenticity and their characters individuality. While I will not be writing about my contemporary neighbors and countrymen, as did these authors, I have studied the language of my characters in an effort both to enrich the body of existing linguistic research, and also as background research for a play about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The best dialogue makes use of the eccentricities unique to a society, thus I have recorded the …

Vowel Laxing In Utah English: Early Findings Of The Early Utah English Project, Ellen Lund, Dr. David Bowie

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The study of dialect formation typically consists of examining changes within an already established dialect region, such as those caused by large-scale immigration or an extension of a previously existing dialect region. Utah English, on the other hand, was formed by native English speakers settling outside existing dialect regions. While this type of dialect formation has occurred before, usually only written records (if any) exist to document changes. The study of Utah English formation is a rare opportunity, because audio recordings of these dialect speakers were made.

Morphologically Parsing The Cebuano Lexicon, Jarren Bodily, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit of meaning such as a prefix, a root word, or a suffix. Morphology then, is the study of the processes by which morphemes combine to form words.1 Understanding how words are formed is imperative to such applications as speech recognition, web searches, and corpus searches, which depend on identifying every instance of a word, including all inflected forms. For example, a search for the word run must recognize running, runner, and ran as possible results even though they have additional morphemes or irregular conjugated forms. In addition to technical applications, understanding morphology is …

Armenian Language Textbook: A Communicative Approach To Language Learning, John Henry Jorgensen, Dr. Cynthia Hallen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the Post-Soviet era, there has been a dearth of language materials available to those wishing to learn the Armenian language. Thorough language texts are simply not available in Eastern Armenian, the official language of the Republic of Armenia. The small number of texts that exist are primarily geared toward native Russian speakers who wished to learn Armenian during the former Soviet regime.