Linguistics Commons^™

An Investigation Of The Individual Differences In Cognitive Factors That Contribute To Bilingual Lexical Disambiguation, Ana B. Areas Da Luz Fontes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of working memory capacity, access to subordinate meanings of L1 homonyms and degree of cross-language activation on the access to subordinate meanings of L2 homonyms. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilinguals completed a word recognition task which assessed how quickly and accurately they accessed subordinate meanings of English homonyms that were either noncognates (e.g. fast/rápido) or cognates (e.g. letter/letra) with Spanish. In Experiment 2, another group of Spanish-English bilinguals read sentences while having their eye-movements recorded for measures of lexical access. On the critical trials, sentences contained a homonym that was …

Using Mathematics As A Gateway To Literacy For English Language Learners, Krista Hemphill

Honors Program Theses

One teaching approach that alleviates language barriers involves teachers using what students know and can do to develop students‟ understanding of and ability in another area. Thus, 2 teachers can promote ELLs‟ literacy development by integrating knowledge and skills ELLs have from another subject area into their literacy instruction. Specifically, teachers can integrate mathematics into literacy instruction because research suggests that ELLs often understand and successfully carry out mathematical tasks. For example, Gunning (2003) points out that ELLs tend to perform well on mathematical computations. The universality of mathematical symbols seems to promote ELLs‟ understanding of mathematics instruction although lessons …

La Adquisición De La Lengua Extranjera Española Por Estudiantes Filipinos: Análisis Descriptivo Y Explicativo De La Interlengua, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

El presente artículo hace en su primera parte una breve revisión teórica del Análisis de Errores y del de Interlengua. En la segunda, se realiza un análisis de Interlengua de las producciones oral y escrita de una estudiante filipina de nivel B2 de la Universidad de Filipinas, presentada mediante la división ya clásica de la competencia comunicativa establecida por Canale. En la conclusión, esta interlengua individual se conecta con los trabajos de Análisis de Errores e Interlengua realizados con estudiantes filipinos y de otras nacionalidades

Kbb: A Knowledge-Bundle Builder For Research Studies, Deryle W. Lonsdale, David W. Embley, Stephen W. Liddle, Aaron Stewart, Cui Tao

Faculty Publications

Researchers struggle to manage vast amounts of data coming from hundreds of sources in online repositories. To successfully conduct research studies, researchers need to find, retrieve, filter, extract, integrate, organize, and share information in a timely and high-precision manner. Active conceptual modeling for learning can give researchers the tools they need to perform their tasks in a more efficient, user-friendly, and computer-supported way. The idea is to create “knowledge bundles” (KBs), which are conceptual-model representations of organized information superimposed over a collection of source documents. A “knowledgebundle builder” (KBB) helps researchers develop KBs in a synergistic and incremental manner and …

A Review Of Fieldworks Language Explorer, Chris Rogers Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

One of the most important goals in language documentation is to produce reference materials as well as to create long-lasting (i.e., archivable) materials for the languages. Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx) 3.0 is software for organizing and analyzing linguistic data and is produced for free download by SIL International (SIL)1 . This review has three goals: to show how the current version of FLEx addresses problems in earlier versions of the program, to highlight some of the more useful features of FLEx 3.0, and to indicate how it compares to other database programs.

Surah Yasin: Kajian Perbandingan Antara Qira’At Nafi Dan Qira’At Asim Riwayat Hafs., Murshidi Abd Hamid

Student Works (2010-2019)

Knowledge on Qira’at appeared when the al-Qur’an was revealed but many among us do not have this particular knowledge. In reality, this knowledge is closely associated with penalties and this reflects the significance of Qira’at. The main intention to introduce this subject of Qira’at is to expose to the public the importance of Qira’at as a source of knowledge with authenticity in Islam in tandem with the al-Qur’an. The main focus in this study is a comparison between two Qira’at for surah Yasin. This study is intended to introduce Qira’at Nafi‘ and Hafs and to gather more details on the …

Strategic Asymmetric Multicultural Alliances In Business, Anthony James Scriffignano

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Global economics and other factors make it increasingly difficult for organizations to operate within the boundaries of one country in a rational way (e.g., leveraging best practices, profitable, achieving goals). In this study, I looked at strategic business alliances, transcending simple quid pro quo relationships to deliver ongoing partner value. I refined my study to multicultural relationships, having differing cultural identities (i.e., ideas, heritage, language, or demographics from differing geographies). Finally, I considered asymmetry (i.e., inequity in working relationship). Using a mixed-methodology design, I surveyed alliance participants and interviewed participants from selected alliances. A multi-case study addresses emergent themes of …

Principled Construction Of Elicited Imitation Tests, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Carl Chritensen, Ross Hendrickson

Faculty Publications

In this paper we discuss the methodology behind the construction of elicited imitation (EI) test items. First we examine varying uses for EI tests in research and in testing overall oral proficiency. We also mention criticisms of previous test items. Then we identify the factors that contribute to the difficulty of an EI item as shown in previous studies. Based on this discussion, we describe a way of automating the creation of test items in order to better evaluate language learners’ oral proficiency while improving item naturalness. We present a new item construction tool and the process that it implements …

A Structural And Functional Analysis Of Codeswitching In Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life,' A Bilingual Play, Gustavo Javier Fernandez

Dissertations and Theses

The present study analyzed the language in the script of the bilingual play Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life' (Malán, 2006) in order to better understand issues relating to codeswitching (CS). The analysis was done from a structural and a functional perspective and utilized various models developed by renowned CS scholars.

For the structural analysis, I utilized concepts and ideas put forth in the three-tiered typology created by Muysken (2000) and the Matrix Language Frame model developed by Myers-Scotton (1993). The results of this portion of the study showed that some form of CS, whether occurring between turns or within …

An Acoustic Phonetic Analysis Of African American English: A Comparative Study Of Two Dialects, Catherine A. Adams

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In this thesis, I contribute acoustic phonetic data and analysis to the study of African American English (AAE). For this research, I collected speech samples of self-identified AAE speakers and speakers of a dominant coexisting dialect, the Northern Cities Shift (NCS). I analyze these samples to determine if vowel quality and vowel duration are consistently and predictably varied between the two dialects. Labov's Chain Shift Principles are used as the context for the results.

In my analysis, I find that both vowel quality and duration are different between AAE and NCS in ways previously undocumented in the linguistic literature. The …

Análisis LingüÍstico De La Escritura BilingüE (Español-Inglés) De Los Hablantes De Español Como Lengua Hereditaria En Los Estados Unidos, Maria Luisa Spicer-Ecalante

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Tradicionalmente; los hablantes de español por herencia (Spanish Heritage Speakers) en los Estados Unidos aprenden español en casa o en su comunidad. Sin embargo; la mayoría no recibe instrucción formal académica en español. Por lo tanto; su escritura en español y en inglés muestra ciertas características lingüísticas relevantes. En esta investigación se analizan los textos persuasivos/argumentativos de estudiantes universitarios de los siguientes grupos: hablantes de español por herencia (HELH); estadounidenses que estudian español (EESL) y mexicanos hablantes nativos de español (HNE). Los resultados del análisis lingüístico y estadístico sugieren que hay diferencias notables en la manera en la que cada …

On The Existence (And Distribution) Of Sentential Subjects, William D. Davies, Stanley Dubinsky

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Family Structure And The Role Of Siblings On Early Language Development Of Latino Preschool Children, Eduardo Aguiles Ortiz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between family structure including family size, number of parents at home, and presence of an older sibling at home, and the language development of young Latino children. I used data from the Head Start--Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) year 2000, which included information on 746 Latino preschool children and their families in different Head Start programs nationwide. A subgroup of 369 children were identified as English-language learners (ELL) because they were determined to be primarily Spanish speaking. Some of the findings indicate that more than two thirds of children …

El Concepto De Audiencia Y La Colaboración Entre Iguales En La Revisión De Textos Escritos, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Sound-Symbolic Expression Of Animacy In Amazonian Ecuador, Janis B. Nuckolls

Faculty Publications

Several anthropologists of Amazonian societies in Ecuador have claimed that for Achuar [1] and Quichua speaking Runa [2,3,4] there is no fundamental distinction between humans on the one hand, and plants and animals on the other. A related observation is that Runa and Achuar people share an animistic cosmology whereby animals, plants, and even seemingly inert entities such as rocks and stones are believed to have a life force or essence with a subjectivity that can be expressed. This paper will focus on Quichua speaking Runa to seek linguistic evidence for animacy by examining the sound-symbolic properties of a class …

Esl Speakers' Production Of English Lexical Stress: The Effect Of Variation In Acoustic Correlates On Perceived Intelligibility And Nativeness, Paul Edmunds

Linguistics ETDs

Non-native speakers of English often experience problems in pronunciation as they are learning English, many such problems persisting even when the speaker has achieved a high degree of fluency. Research has shown that for a non-native speaker to sound most natural and intelligible in his or her second language, the speaker must acquire proper prosody, such as native-like speech rhythms (Tajima et al., 1997; Wenk, 1985; Wennerstrom, 2001). This dissertation investigates how native English and Spanish ESL (English as a Second Language) speakers compare in their production of three acoustic correlates of lexical stress in English, namely the relative durations …

Topicalization In Malagasy: Effects Of Teaching Malagasy As A Topic Language, Jeremy D. Workman

Theses and Dissertations

This study discusses teaching Malagasy as a second language. Malagasy is the native language spoken on the island of Madagascar. Traditionally, Malagasy has been taught as a language that is similar to English in the way that it uses active and passive voice constructions. However, most native-English students struggle to produce native-like utterances using non-active voice constructions in Malagasy. Recent studies have suggested that Malagasy more closely relates to Germanic V2 languages than it does to English (Pearson 2005, Hyams et al. 2006). This might explain why students taught Malagasy as an English-like language struggle. This study compares the relative …

Divorcing Speech Ability And Intelligence: Why The Two Can No Longer Be Strongly Linked Together, Savannah E. Sims

Senior Honors Theses

Human language is a complex cognitive ability that is still not fully understood by scientists. Except in rare occasions of extreme seclusion or disability, children are able to acquire language without explicitly being taught how. Though animals have the ability to communicate, their “languages” are not comparable to human language. Commonly, people believe that one’s language ability correlates directly to one’s intelligence. It is the purpose of this paper to explore that belief and test its veracity. My hypothesis is that this correlation does not exist or is at best weak. This will be done by looking at several language-related …

The Efficacy Of Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback On Intermediate-High Esl Learners' Writing Accuracy, Soon Yeun Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the efficacy of dynamic written corrective feedback (DWCF) on intermediate-high students' writing accuracy when compared to a traditional grammar instruction approach. DWCF is an innovative written corrective feedback method that requires a multifaceted process and interaction between the teacher and the students in order to help the students improve their writing accuracy. The central principle of DWCF is that feedback should be manageable, meaningful, timely, and constant. The research question was raised based on the positive effects of DWCF found in advanced-low and advanced-mid proficiency level students (Evans et al., in press; Evans, Hartshorn, & Strong-Krause, 2009; …

Developing And Studying The Effectiveness Of Efr Annotations For Chinese Language Learners, Amber Marie Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This project is intended to take the film To Live, directed by Zhang Yimou, and apply the Electronic Film Review (EFR) approach to it in a Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) setting. The Electronic Film Review project, developed by Alan K. Melby, is aimed at providing a superior language learning experience for Americans learning Chinese. Using feature films as a teaching tool has been found to stimulate and motivate students to achieve higher language levels, but in order for optimal learning to occur the material must be challenging yet accessible to the student. Most feature films, by themselves, …

A Preliminary Linguistic Analysis Of Plant Names In Ikpaná (Logba), An Endangered Ghana Togo Mountain Language, Lydia Jewl Green

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Methodology: I spent 12 days living in three of the towns in the Logba traditional area (Alakpeti, Klikpo, and Tota) during which time I elicited approximately three hours of footage spread over four miniDV tapes of native speakers of Ikpaná describing the names and uses of the plants in the surrounding area in the Ikpaná language.

Findings: I analyzed some of the linguistic properties of the plant names as they relate to the endangered language status of the language.

Conclusion: Ikpaná is being pressured by Ewe and by globalization. This can be demonstrated through an analysis of the plant names, …

Relájate Y Disfruta: Lecciones De Una Vida Musical Y Temporal En El Zaidín = Relax And Enjoy: Lessons About A Temporal Musical Life In Zaidin, Granada, Laura Westman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the following paper, I describe the volunteer project that I conducted during my fall 2009 semester in Granada, Spain. I spent a few hours each week accompanying voice lessons in a music school located in the neighborhood in which I lived while I was learning Spanish. This paper chronicles the importance of language and communication to my work, including problems that I had with the language barrier in communicating with people in the school before I was comfortable with the language. Though I originally planned to analyze relationships between teachers and students as a major theme in my project, …

Podcasting: An Effective Tool For Honing Language Students' Pronunciation?, Lara Ducate, Lara Lomicka

Faculty Publications

This paper reports on an investigation of podcasting as a tool for honing pronunciation skills in intermediate language learning. We examined the effects of using podcasts to improve pronunciation in second language learning and how students' attitudes changed toward pronunciation over the semester. A total of 22 students in intermediate German and French courses made five scripted pronunciation recordings throughout the semester. After the pronunciation recordings, students produced three extemporaneous podcasts. Students also completed a pre- and post-survey based on Elliott's (1995) Pronunciation Attitude Inventory to assess their perspectives regarding pronunciation. Students' pronunciation, extemporaneous recordings, and surveys were analyzed to …

Dit’S Dynamic Speech Corpus, Dermot Campbell, Ciaran Mcdonnell, Marty Meinardi, Charles Pritchard, Bunny Richardson, Yi Wang

Articles

The Technological University Dublin’s FLUENT Dynamic Speech Corpus is aimed at learners, teachers, authors and researchers. When the prototype is complete (target: July 2009) it will afford access to a unique audio resource based on dialogues. Users will be able to find samples of native-to-native speech on a chosen topic, listen to phonetically interesting sections and explore the dynamic environment which gave rise to the spoken features studied. At all stages the user will be able to slow down sequences for heightened intelligibility.

An Evaluation Of A Curriculum For Basic Training In Tesol, Gordon Travis Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

A formal evaluation of BYU's Basic Training in TESOL course shows the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum of this course. Interns take this course in preparation for international internships where they may be asked to teach English. However, the interns are generally not seeking majors or even minors in TESOL. Furthermore, most interns are not seeking any teaching major. Internship locations vary throughout the world and include, but are not limited to the following regions: Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. This MA curriculum evaluation project reports findings of a formal evaluation of …

A Study In The Design And Impact Of An Oral/Aural Bridge Component In Second Language Literacy, Holly A. Leslie

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the factors impacting how child speakers of two minority languages spoken in India, Bondo and Desiya, acquire phonological awareness of sounds in Oriya, the language of instruction in many schools in the state of Orissa. Previous research has shown that learners benefit from instruction that teaches how to analyze and synthesize sounds in their first and second language rather than repeat and memorize them. Learners also have shown better recognition of sounds when they are presented in minimal contrasts than when they are not. Previous research also recommends that learners benefit from learning only oral and aural …

A Brief Sketch Of Urama Grammar With Special Consideration Of Particles Marking Agency, Aspect, And Modality, Janessa L. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Urama is a Kiwai language spoken by the Urama people of Papua New Guinea. Very little has been published in the Kiwai language family and although Urama has been mentioned in a few papers nothing focusing on the Urama language has been published.

This thesis presents a brief grammar sketch outlining key grammar features. It describes 1) basic word order, 2) nouns, 3) verbs, 4) postpositions, 5) clausal relations and 6) some problematic particles. The particles addressed mark agency, aspect and modality.

The first particle is ro, an agent marker occurring mainly on the subjects of transitive verbs Its …

Palembangese In Print: An Nls Look At Literacies, Linguacies, Communicacies, And Culturacies In South Sumatra, Jacob M. Hall

Theses and Dissertations

People have been interacting with print in the South Sumatran city of Palembang for well over a millennium. Most of this literate activity has been carried out in languages other than the vernacular. Even now, the vast majority of print in the public realm in Palembang is in Indonesian, English, Arabic, and Chinese. And yet there are examples of the local language, Baso Pelembang, in print. This thesis looks for reasons behind these variations from the norm.

After exploring the perspective offered by the New Literacy Studies (NLS), this paper builds upon the foundation provided by these works. Through …

Like As An Exemplifier: A Description Of Its Construction And The Relations It Can Mark, Helena L. Osborne

English Theses & Dissertations

This thesis analyzes data where like marks exemplification in naturally occurring discourse. The data for this study were obtained from thirteen interviews and consist of 193 utterances in which exemplifying like links two clauses. Each token consists of two components, each consisting of at least one clause (SV _^FINITE), linked by like. Based on Vincent's (2007) definition of exemplification, one component introduces a general situation and the other provides an example of that situation. This thesis presents several types of evidence that exemplifying like is a component in an exemplification construction. First, the semantic relation between components is …

Building Community And Bridging Cultures: The Role Of Volunteer Tutors In Oregon’S Latino Serving Community-Based Organizations, Troy Vaughn Hickman

Dissertations and Theses

Literature for and about successful volunteer literacy programs highlight and advocate for practices that inform administrators and trainers of the needs and expectations of volunteer tutors. Applications of this knowledge can affect the type of policies that administrators implement in their programs and the type of support that they provide for their tutors. This project was an opportunity for the researcher to reflect on his experiences as a consultant and trainer with community-based programs and to increase his understanding of the volunteers in order to assist in future administration and training work.

Community-based volunteer literacy programs across Oregon are unique …