Linguistics Commons^™

Bessire, Henry Edward (Sc 2394), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2394. "Needed: Reorganization of the Executive Branch of Kentucky: A Study Presenting a Framework for Progress in Kentucky Governmental Organization," by Henry Edward Bessire, a senior thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Arts degree, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1957.

Collecting Legacy Corpora From Social Science Research For Text Mining Evaluation, Bei Yu, Min-Chun Ku

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

In this poster we describe a pilot study of searching social science literature for legacy corpora to evaluate text mining algorithms. The new emerging field of computational social science demands large amount of social science data to train and evaluate computational models. We argue that the legacy corpora that were annotated by social science researchers through traditional Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) are ideal data sets to evaluate text mining methods, such as text categorization and clustering. As a pilot study, we searched articles that involve content analysis and discourse analysis in leading communication journals, and then contacted the authors regarding …

Análisis De “Proyecto Mirlo”: Aprendiendo A Acoger Al “Desconocido”, Abigail Bissette

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the fall and early winter of this year, I volunteered with a program called, “Proyecto Mirlo,” which is a small part of a larger organization, “Caritas,” whose focus is providing support to marginalized groups of people in Spanish society. Proyecto Mirlo is a subsection that provides free language classes for immigrants, as well as food and, in extreme cases, financial help. In my volunteer work, I taught basic Spanish classes to an eighteen-year-old immigrant from Senegal. As my student grew in his language proficiency, I grew in my teaching proficiency, especially on the discovery of teaching resources that I …

Mental Models Of The Nature Of Language In Kunming, China, Ellie Ash

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The focus of this study is laypeople's mental models of the varieties of Chinese language. Chinese contains many varieties, primarily dividable into Putonghua (Standard Mandarin; hereafter PTH) and Fangyan (“topolect” 1). The Fangyan are traditionally considered “dialects of Chinese” by both Chinese and Western sources. Many Western linguists note that the dialects span a linguistic range that compares with the range of the Romance languages, but concede the label “dialects” because they share a written standard and because China is considered to be a single country, and especially because the Chinese themselves consider all the Fangyan to be varieties of …

New Trends In Automatic Assessment: Ontology Matching, Maria Mitina, Patricia Magee, John Cardiff

Conference Papers

Instant individual feedback represents a result of assessment which allows for considerable improvements in both teaching and learning. In this paper we present the application of ontology matching techniques in automatic correction of students’ answers for SQL tests, which will provide teachers with instant feedback to facilitate manual correction and marking and which they can pass to the students. Students experience many problems learning SQL due to the necessity to memorise database schemas, unclear feedback from the database engine on the execution of the query, etc. The program environment utilising the described approach is designed to solve the abovementioned problems …

La Hispanización Y La Identidad Hispana En Filipinas, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Blogs & Glogs: Revitalizing Class Projects, Krista Bittenbender Royal

INTO Faculty and Staff Publications

This workshop looks at two technologies that can be used to energize traditional poster and writing assignments to bring them beyond text: Glogster and Blogger. Both are free, easy to use websites with which students can create web pages with images, text, and audio to share with their classmates and the world. In the workshop, intended for instructors and curriculum coordinators, we will look at each of these platforms, discuss examples of project assignment guides using each of the sites, and talk about other ways they could be integrated into courses. I will also share some student feedback and some …

Limitations On Simultaneity In Sign Language, Donna Jo Napoli, R. Sutton-Spence

Linguistics Faculty Works

When we converse, information is often conveyed in multiple ways. For those using spoken language, we have, besides the vocal tract, nonverbal articulators as well, including eye gaze (Hanna & Brennan 2007), gesture (Kendon 2004), facial expression (Busso & Narayanan 2007), lip pointing (Sherzer 1983), and puffed cheeks (Sherzer 1993). Likewise, for those using a sign language, we have, besides the hands, nonmanual articulators as well, including facial expressions, eye gaze, mouth, and body posture (Baker & Padden 1978). In this short report we investigate how much information can be simultaneously expressed in sign language (by counting ‘propositions’) and conclude …

Konstruksi Semantis Kata Pada Perkembangan Bahasa Indonesia Anak, Wahyu Sukartiningsih

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

The aim of this study is to determine the semantic construction in Indone- sian language by pre-school-age children. The present research consisted of a longitudinal study of five pre-school-age children. The study of these five children is based on the developmental psycholinguistic and semantic-pragmatic studies. To collect the data, we used the observation, recording, and interview technique. The results show that the semantic construction of word meaning in Indonesian language by pre-school-age children consisted of: (1) over-specification, (2) overgeneraliza- tion, (3) intersection, (4) towards meaning spesification, and (5) meaning associa- tion. Overgeneralization and intersection dominated language development by child- ren …

Wacana Tradisi Pela Dalam Masyarakat Ambon, Frans Thomas

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

The study is aimed to describe pela tradition discourse in Ambonese so-ciety. Qualitative Study with hermeneutical design is applied in this study. The data from oral discourse can be used as the primary data that focus on analysis, and other data in translating the meaning of oral discourse. Hermeneutical model is used in analyzing the data. The four aspects of the study were comprehended carefully through the semantic, reflective and existential levels. The findings of the study have both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, it has implication on the culture study, discourse analysis, oral action and sociolinguistics. Practically, it is …

Languages Lost And Found – A New Role For Language Educators, Beverly Burkett Mat, Visiting Assistant Professor, Elka Todeva Phd, Professor, Leslie Turpin Phd, Adjunct Faculty

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

For a number of years there has been growing concern about the loss of the world’s linguistic diversity and the connection between language loss, culture loss, and environmental degradation. In part this has been linked to the effects of globalization and the spread of English as a lingua franca. This unprecedented phenomenon has given rise to further concerns that English is turning into a ‘killer language’ and that teachers of English are agents of imperialism, western thought and ideology. This has been countered with the notion that English is a tool for empowerment and as such should be viewed as …

The Design Of Specifications For The Development Of Broadcast English Materials In Academic Listening/Speaking Courses, Amy Barlow

Theses and Dissertations

ESL students in academic listening/speaking courses often listen to long audio recordings similar to a lecture or other academic passages. When listening to these passages, students can lose their interest which impedes their learning of new strategies for understanding academic language. Students in the Level Four Listening/Speaking classes at Brigham Young University's English Language Center (ELC), under the previous curriculum, would experience this challenge. All of the passages were available only in audio and were long in duration. The students would lose interest and improve little in their listening skills. Under the new curriculum at the ELC, students in Academic …

A Hybrid System For Glossary Generation Of Feature Film Content For Language Learning, Ryan Arthur Corradini

Theses and Dissertations

This report introduces a suite of command-line tools created to assist content developers with the creation of rich supplementary material to use in conjunction with feature films and other video assets in language teaching. The tools are intended to leverage open-source corpora and software (the OPUS OpenSubs corpus and the Moses statistical machine translation system, respectively), but are written in a modular fashion so that other resources could be leveraged in their place. The completed tool suite facilitates three main tasks, which together constitute this project. First, several scripts created for use in preparing linguistic data for the system are …

Motion Events In Seri: Applying Talmy's Typologies, April E. Sachs

Theses and Dissertations

Leonard Talmy's typologies of motion hypothesize that in a language's depiction of Motion events, the semantic components of the event will find characteristic expression in consistent morphosyntactic structures. In the motion-actuating typology, the main verb in an event of Motion will characteristically conflate Motion with either the Path, Figure, or Manner of Motion. In the motion-framing typology, the Path component will characteristically appear in either the verb or the satellite to the verb. These typologies, proposed in their most cited forms in Talmy (1985) and Talmy (1991), have been applied over the years to dozens of languages, with varying degrees …

Topology In Composite Spatial Terms, John D. Kelleher, Robert J. Ross

Conference papers

People often refer to objects by describing the object's spatial location relative to another object, e.g. the book on the right of the table. This type of referring expression is called a spatial locative expression. Spatial locatives have three major components: (1) the target object that is being located (the book), (2) the landmark object relative to which the target is being located (the table), and (3) the description of the spatial relationship that exists between the target and the landmark (on the right of ). In English spatial relationships are often described using spatial prepositions. The set of English …

The Morphology Of Nouns In The Ugoroŋmo Language (Arara Of Pará), Shirley Dias Cardoso De Souza

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I describe the morphology of nouns in the Ugoroŋmo language (Arara of Pará), which is spoken by just over three hundred people. The Ugoroŋmo people live on the bank of the Iriri river, in two villages (Laranjal and Cachoeira Seca) in the state of Pará, Brazil.

The nouns of this language can be divided in three main groups: those that are not inflected for possession, those that may be inflected for possession, and those that must be inflected for possession (inherently possessed nouns). Possession is marked by two affixes: a possessor prefix and a possessive suffix. Inherently …

Word Order Typology In Modern South Arabian Languages: A Study Based On A Corpus Of Analyzed Texts, David A. Cross Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I present a typological analysis of the Modern South Arabian Languages. Typological research is often based on a six-way typology of dominant word order based on clauses containing nominal subjects, objects and verbs. However, this clause type is extremely rare in this language group, making typological analysis based on a six-way typology problematic.

Dryer's Four-way typology of dominant word order is applied to the Modern South Arabian Languages and they are shown to be VS&VO. Greenberg's universals which refer to dominant word order are then reformulated in terms of the Four-way typology. These reformulated universals are shown …

A Phonological Description Of "Pet Talk" In Arara, Isaac Costa De Souza

Theses and Dissertations

The Arara people of Para, Brazil, as a whole, are remnants or survivors of some larger Cariban groups who descended from the headwaters of the upper Xingu to the mid and low areas of this river by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Now they live in three different villages: Maia, Cachoeira Seca and Laranjal.

The present thesis aims to describe thirteen different ludlings or "play languages" that elderly Arara people from Laranjal know and sometimes use in talking to pets. Play languages are linguistic forms that are purposely manipulated at some level. The strategies which the Arara people use …

Berne, Indiana Swiss German: Lessons Learned From A Small-Scale Documentation Project, Gretta Yoder Owen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a case study of a small-scale language documentation project carried out in Berne, Indiana. The goal of this project was to capture, through audio recording, samples of the Swiss German language that could be presented to the Berne community and preserved for future use. As much as possible, this project was carried out according to best practices for language documentation, so that the data will be accessible to the academic community for further research after there are no more living speakers of the Berne, Indiana Swiss dialect.

The history of the Swiss Mennonites who settled the Berne, …

Examining Rater Bias In Elicited Imitation Scoring: Influence Of Rater's L1 And L2 Background To The Ratings, Min Hye Son

Theses and Dissertations

Elicited Imitation (EI), which is a way of assessing language learners' speaking, has been used for years. Furthermore, there have been many studies done showing rater bias (variance in test ratings associated with a specific rater and attributable to the attributes of a test taker) in language assessment. In this project, I evaluated possible rater bias, focusing mostly on bias attributable to raters' and test takers' language backgrounds, as seen in EI ratings. I reviewed literature on test rater bias, participated in a study of language background and rater bias, and produced recommendations for reducing bias in EI administration. Also, …

An Introduction To Major University English Tests And English Language Teaching In China, Caiping Sun

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this project were to introduce (1) the four main college level English tests used in the People's Republic of China to expatriate English language educators, researchers, curriculum developers, and program designers; and (2) the college English language teaching situation in China to expatriates and give them information on where and how to apply for teaching positions there. The project produced two products to fulfill these goals. First, a paper titled an introduction to major university English tests in China: Their nature, development and importance is now ready to submit for publication. It is a paper that introduces …

Developing Cued Pronunciation Readings For Latter-Day Saint Missionaries Learning English, Holly A. Mueller

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this project was to develop self-directed pronunciation materials for a specialized group of English as a second language (ESL) learners—missionaries at the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A set of six Cued Pronunciation Readings (CPRs) were developed. CPRs are computer-based, self-directed pronunciation materials designed to help students perceive pausing, word stress, and sentence-final intonation in spoken English and practice these features through a sequence of oral reading tasks. The CPRs developed in this project were based on essential missionary communicative tasks and utilized high-frequency gospel vocabulary. These tasks …

Empirical Study Of Information Design: Four Experiments, Noel Teresa Alton

Theses and Dissertations

Current design theory sets out many rules and guidelines for designers, but good design is still difficult to replicate. Often the design principles found in the manuals are misapplied, resulting in designs that (1) do not fulfill their purpose and (2) disrupt the clarity of information. This thesis will review and provide experimental data supporting a model of visual form/visual purpose connections based on the semiotic of C.S. Peirce. This model was first used by Amare and Manning (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) to evaluate and explain both effective and ineffective visual information design. This thesis will extend their approach, …

A Curriculum For General Academic Preparation, Teresa Ann Martin

Theses and Dissertations

The curriculum at the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University (BYU) currently has two programs: Foundations and Academic. In order for students to progress from Foundations to the Academic Program, they must pass their Level Achievement Tests (LATs), which are administered as final exams. Each semester there are students who do not pass their LATs. The question then is what should happen to these students? Should they be asked to leave the ELC, should they have to repeat the same level until they pass, or should they be promoted without passing their LATs? This project presents an alternative …

Evaluating The Usefulness Of An Aural Gapped Listening Summary As A Measure Of Academic Listening Proficiency, Sarah Elizabeth Mottaghinejad

Theses and Dissertations

For this project I sought to find a more effective means of evaluating academic listening comprehension. This involved doing an in-depth investigation of academic listening, the constructs involved in listening comprehension, and of methods of assessing listening comprehension. It also included a study of the concept of test usefulness (Bachman and Palmer, 1996), which consists of reliability, construct validity, authenticity, interactiveness, impact, and practicality, and is used to help select the most effective methods of assessing language abilities. Based on my review of listening comprehension testing methods, I created a method of assessing academic listening comprehension, Aural Gapped Listening Summaries …

An Evaluation Of The Learning Outcomes And The Curricular Organization Of The Brigham Young University Undergraduate Tesol Internship Course, Marisa Irene Ontiveros

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents two research problems regarding the evaluation of the learning outcomes and the curricular organization of the TESOL minor internship course at Brigham Young University. First, the course learning outcomes have not been revisited after their initial design which demands the need for assessment. Additionally, the current curricular organization of the course does not allow for all learning outcomes to apply to students enrolled in the course, as some of the students do their internships internationally which prevents them from participating in the sessions held locally during their internship. In an effort to find solutions to these two …

Utilizing Human-Computer Interactions To Improve Text Annotation, Marc A. Carmen

Theses and Dissertations

The need for annotated corpora in a variety of different types of research grows constantly. Unfortunately creating annotated corpora is frequently cost-prohibitive due the number of person-hours required to create the corpus. This project investigates one solution that helps to reduce the cost of creating annotated corpora through the use of a new user interface which includes a specially built framework and component for annotating part-of-speech information and the implementation of a dictionary. This project reports on a user study performed to determine the effect of dictionaries with different levels of coverage on a part-of-speech annotation task. Based on a …

Specifications For The Development Of Effective Academic Vocabulary Activities In Intensive English Programs, Jared Nathan Garrett

Theses and Dissertations

With the new curriculum at the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University (BYU) including a program focused specifically on preparing students to succeed in academic institutions wherein the language of instruction is English, a need for a systematic approach to vocabulary instruction was identified. Specifically, the Academic Program focuses on the Academic Word List (AWL) in order to provide a broad base of words that can best prepare students for the academic world. This project followed the ADDIE model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) to craft a systematic approach to developing vocabulary learning activities. An analysis of existing …

Using Ning For Conversation Partner Networks, Krista Bittenbender Royal

INTO Faculty and Staff Publications

Providing opportunities for conversation practice is one way that an IEP can help students improve their English as well as enhance their engagement in the language learning process. However, matching individual language learners to fluent English speakers can be difficult and time consuming. This workshop will introduce participants involved in setting up such interactions to Ning, a free online social networking platform which can facilitate the creation of individualized networks. Participants will gain insights into how one IEP used Ning to connect ELLs to university students interested in having conversation partners.

Acquisition Of Spanish Gender Agreement In Two Learning Contexts: Study Abroad And At Home., Christina Isabelli

Scholarship

The goal of this study is to describe the acquisition rate for gender acquisition in Spanish and to show whether individual variability and language contact may affect this rate. The participants were intermediate second language Spanish (first language English) learners in the study abroad and at-home contexts over a 4-month period. The participants received grammaticality judgment tests coded for morphological class of the modified noun as well as attributive and predicative adjectives. Data were also collected on social behavior and language contact in Spanish and English in order to explain data outcome. The findings suggest that no difference exists between …