Linguistics Commons^™

What Is New In The New Toefl-Ibt 2006 Test Format?, Alla Zareva

English Faculty Publications

In recent years TOEFL has become one of the most popular high-stakes tests affecting not only what and how English language teachers teach but also what and how students learn (e.g. Johnson, Jordan, & Poehner, 2005; Alderson & Wall, 1993). The new 2006 TOEFL–iBT exam is on its way; yet, until now, information about the new test format and test preparation materials is scarce. Above and beyond interest in the test alone, the burning question is what demanded the revision of the current test, given that the latest computer-based TOEFL was introduced fairly recently worldwide. The paper elaborates on some …

A Tuvan Hero Tale, With Commentary, Morphemic Analysis, And Translation, K. David Harrison

Linguistics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Linguistics As A Tool In Teaching Fiction Writing, Donna Jo Napoli

Linguistics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Ethnographically Informed Language Documentation, K. David Harrison

Linguistics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Изучение Тувинского Языка За Рубежом, K.-M. Simchit, K. David Harrison

Linguistics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

A Corpus-Based Approach To Infinitival Complements In Early Latin, Sarah Hawkins Ross

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A theory-based perspective is essential to a full understanding of infinitive clauses in early Latin. Some previous work focusing on syntactic theory has failed to include appropriate Latin data or has not explained it adequately. More recent theoretical perspectives have taken the approach of Functional Grammar, dismissing much of the variation in word order and embedded clause types as driven merely by pragmatics. This study examines the syntax of early Latin from a Government and Binding viewpoint, with the aim of fully marrying the theory with the data to account for the infinitival variations. A corpus was created from the …

Conceptualization And Cognitive Relativism On Result In Mandarin Chinese: The Case Study Of Mandarin Chinese Bǎ Construction Using A Cognitive And Centering Approach, Jin Huei Enya Dai

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work adopts Langacker's cognitive grammar approach and addresses the cognitive significance of result in Mandarin Chinese, as expressed in resultant construals in the Mandarin Chinese bă construction: X bă Y Z. I identify the semantic prime of result in Mandarin Chinese, and discuss its role in the resultative verbal compound construction, the V-de-EXT resultative construction, and the bèi construction, with particular focus on the bă construction. I provide evidence for the resultant nature of segment Z in the bă construction in (1) aspectual markers, (2) resultative suffixes, (3) resultative verbal compounds, (4) locative complements, (5) directional complements, (6) the …

Searching For The Semantic Boundaries Of The Japanese Colour Term 'Ao', Francis Conlan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The Japanese language has a colour term, 'ao' (or 'aoi'), which is usually referred to in bilingual dictionaries as being the equivalent of English 'blue'. Very often, however, it is used to describe things which English speakers would describe as being green. Granny Smith apples are 'ao', so are all Westerners' eyes, regardless of whether they would be described as being 'blue' or 'green' in English. The sky and the sea are prototypically 'ao', but this term is also used to describe lawns, forests, traffic lights and unripe tomatoes. What, then, do Japanese native speakers (henceforth JNS) understand by this …

Preaspiration And Gemination In Central Numic, Dirk Elzinga, John E. Mclaughlin

Faculty Publications

The Numic (Uto-Aztecan) languages are well known for consonant gradation, which each language shows to some degree. Three consonantal series have been reconstructed for Proto-Numic: Geminating, Nasalizing, and Spirantizing. The Central Numic languages Timbisha, Shoshoni, and Comanche have preserved these three consonantal series and added a fourth, Aspirating. The Aspirating series is historically derived from the Geminating series, but it is synchronically distinct from it. On the basis of verb class behavior in Central Numic, we show that the Central Numic Aspirated series is a straight forward consequence of Proto-Uto-Aztecan stress patterns as reflected in pre-Proto-Central Numic.

An Examination Of Tag-Questions And Ellipsis In English And Spanish, Tiffany Judy

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

In this paper, I will examine how tag-questions function in English and test if they function in the same way in Spanish. Then, I will compare the differences between the two languages and propose a structure and method for forming tag-questions in each language. Also, I will examine how ellipsis functions in each language and how it supports the analysis of the tag-questions. Finally, I will show that a few of the apparent differences between the two languages are incorrect and I will give my proposed solution.

Review Of Lacan To The Letter: Reading Ecrits Closely, By Bruce Fink, 2004, Hervé Regnauld

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

Spivak After Marx After Derrida, Philip Leonard

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Spivak is often viewed as an unequivocally deconstructive theorist, and she frequently reinforces this impression by proclaiming her allegiance to Derrida's ideas. Recent comments by her suggest, however, that there are limits to her deconstructive convictions. This essay considers some of Spivak's debts to Derrida's work, though it is primarily concerned with those occasions when she states her misgivings about his ability to understand postcoloniality, global power, and resistance movements. Reading Marx more accurately would, she insists, have allowed Derrida both to grasp capitalism's complex logic and to consider the effects of subaltern interventions upon capitalism's global authority. Such an …

編選重寫與翻譯重寫 : 沈從文作品英譯選集研究, Kit Ching Leung

Lingnan Theses

中國現代作家沈從文 (1902-1988) 的著作，自一九四九年開始在中國大陸 和台灣被禁，長達三十年。這期間，沈從文的文學成就被主流文學史忽略，甚 至否定。可以說，沈從文在中國的文學評論界，以至中國文學史“缺席”逾三 十年。八十年代初，中國大陸的政治環境改變，西方學者的影響增加，中國學 術界開始重新肯定沈從文的文學成就，沈從文的名字乃得以在中國現代文學史 的論述中重現。反之，在西方學術界，沈從文研究從沒有中斷。

選集，無論是個別作家的專集，還是不同作家的合集，是作家風格、面貌 的縮影，而中國現代作家的英譯選集，更是英語讀者認識中國作家最便捷的途 徑。翻譯、編選是“重寫”(rewriting) 活動，而“重寫”往往隱含選取、評價 等判別標準，操縱着譯者、編者對作品、作家的認識與接受程度，對文學作品 能否成為經典作品和成為甚麼樣的經典，有一定的影響。本論文借用勒菲弗爾 (André Lefevere) 的“重寫”概念，先從宏觀角度探討沈從文作品英譯選集的編 者在編選過程中，如何“重寫”沈從文的形象；然後從微觀角度分析譯者在翻 譯的過程中，如何“重寫”沈從文的作品及其形象；而在兩種“重寫”的操縱 下，各英譯選集又如何折射沈從文的形象。

Maximizing Learning During Study Abroad: Some Research-Based Programmatic Suggestions, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with some useful suggestions for preparing Japanese language learners for study abroad, assisting them while abroad and facilitating the transition process upon and after return. Where possible, these suggestions will be based on research conducted in Japanese. While a clearer picture of the study abroad in Japan experience is beginning to emerge with recent and on-going research efforts, much more evidence regarding the nature of study abroad is available in other settings— in particular in European-language contexts. As I make suggestions in this paper based on work in other languages, …

Little Sisters: An Exploration Of Agency, Cultural Borderlands, And Institutional Constraints In The Lives Of Two Teenage Girls, Rosemary C. Henze

Faculty Publications

Part of a special issue on challenging corporate control of schools and communities. The writer discusses her experience with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization in Oakland, California, of mentoring two teenage girls who live in poverty and encounter crises and hardship almost daily. She examines the concepts of agency and social and cultural borderlands to help explain the divergent school performances of the two girls and investigates the concepts' utility in the pursuit of social justice for young women. She conducts her exploration within the broader context of dynamic change.

The Consequences Of Conflicting Stereotypes: Bostonian Perceptions Of U.S. Dialects, Laura Hartley

Faculty Publications - Department of Sociology

This study examines the perceptual dialectology of residents of eastern Massachusetts. The data reveal detailed attention to perceived dialect boundaries, particularly within the northeastern U.S., but also in other regions of the country. As is commonly the case in perceptual dialectology work, the respondents use the tasks presented to them to differentiate their home area from other states. In doing so, however, they exhibit an interesting mix of linguistic security and insecurity. The analysis suggests that respondents have internalized two common but conflicting American stereotypes of Boston residents – the educated elite and working class descendants of immigrants – and …

Word-Formation As Creativity Within Productivity Constraints: Sociolinguistic Evidence, Don William Chapman, Pavol Stekauer, Slávka Tomaščíková, Štefan Franko

Faculty Publications

Productivity has been one of the central topics in the field of word-formation in recent decades. Heretofore, productivity has been mainly, if not solely, discussed in formal terms, such as which affixes can be used with which stems, the productivity of rival affixes, etc. Such a formal approach leaves out the speakers’ needs for creating new words. Accounting for speakers’ word-formation needs requires a re-evaluation of the notion of creativity. In our approach to word-formation, this notion emphasizes the active role of language users, reflecting the fact that, in each act of naming, there is more or less significant space …

Analogical Modeling And Morphological Change: The Case Of The Adjectival Negative Prefix In English, Don William Chapman, Royal Skousen

Faculty Publications

This article examines the usefulness of Skousen’s Analogical Modeling (AM) for explaining morphological change. In contrast to previous accounts of analogy, AM constitutes a general unified model of language that accounts for both sporadic and systematic changes. AM also provides explicit constraints on analogy that allow explanation of how morphological changes begin, which forms most likely serve as patterns for analogy, and which forms are most likely to change.

AM is then tested on the case of the adjectival negative prefix in English (in-, un-, dis-, etc.), using the Middle and Early Modern English portions of the Helsinki corpus as …

Trop De Soleil Tue L'Amour : Une Expression De L'Écriture Du Mal-Être De Mongo Beti, Rodolphine Sylvie Wamba

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The classical and dissident African writer Mongo Beti perpetually uses the theme of man’s quest for freedom in everything he does. In fact, the philosophy of “Rubénism” is found in each of his works. Given that man must survive in the “ocean of shit” he lives in, the writer, using a popular language, freely chooses to add some humour to everyday life. Thus, the text we studied appeared as a genuine thriller, complete with comedy and tragedy, which presents a deviation from more formal writing. This is the main idea of this analysis, which consists of showing Trop de soleil …

Information Structure In Narrative Texts In Byali (A Gur Language Of Benin), John J. Berthelette

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an application of Knud Lambrecht’s 1994 work, Information structure and sentence form, to Byali, a Gur language of northwestern Benin (West Africa). In particular, it concerns an analysis of how the different focus structures are marked in Byali, according to Lambrecht’s framework.

Given that this is an application of a theoretical framework in order to describe a language, the thesis has three purposes: (1) to provide an overview of Lambrecht’s framework; (2) to provide an analysis of Byali data using this framework; and (3) to evaluate the suitability of Lambrecht’s framework for analyzing Byali focus structure.

A Learner-Centered And Participtory Approach To Teaching Community Adult Esl, Haley Lynn Wiggins

Theses and Dissertations

This MA project examines the creation, implementation, and effectiveness of the guidebook, Moving Forward: A Learner-Centered and Participatory Approach to Teaching Community Adult ESL, designed to help adult English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers base their classes on the specific needs of community adult education students. This guidebook was created in response to the need for lesson plans and activities that help teachers focus on learner needs. The activities in the guidebook are based on the National Institute for Literacy's (NIFL) adult literacy initiative, Equipped for the Future (EFF) because it focuses on the tasks adults must perform …

A Dialect Study Of Oregon Norms, Lisa Wittenberg Hillyard

Dissertations and Theses

The pioneers and settlers of the Oregon Territory were not of one ilk. They came from various places and brought their separate speech patterns with them. This study sought to identify which major North American English dialect was present in the first half of the 20^th century in Oregon. Analysis relied on the descriptions for the Southern, Northern, Midlands, and Western dialects. Some dialect features have acoustic measurements attached to their descriptions, and others do not. The analytical process was based on acoustic measurements for vowel classes and individual tokens, as well as global observations about the place of …

The Role Of Identity In Language Acquisition: A Cross- Generational Perspective., Darlene Annette Snider

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I will reflect on the role of identity as it relates to second language acquisition. My hypothesis is that second language acquisition can be slowed or even halted when students cannot adapt to the culture of the language they are studying. Student’s facing cultural conflict tend to distance themselves from the community thereby creating barriers in the learning process. This hypothesis is based upon my own experience as a third generation Canadian. I believe the effective classroom will work to reduce cultural conflict by affirming the learner’s cultural identity and sense of self as they explore the …

Ich Rede, Wie Ich Mich Wohl Fühle: Language And Ethnic/Cultural Identity Among German-Born Young Adults Of Turkish Descent In Berlin, Emily R. Jenkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My study consisted of ethnographic interviews with young adults ages 19-28, who were born and raised in Germany to parents emigrated from Turkey. My main research question was, “What role does language play in the subjects’ conception of ethnic/cultural identity?” Specifically, I focused on the role of language in how subjects identify with or distinguish themselves from: (1) the ethnic/cultural majority in their country of residence, i.e. Germans; (2) the ethnic/cultural majority in their parents’ country of origin, i.e. Turks in Turkey; and (3) others of similar immigration background, i.e. other German-born people of Turkish descent. Originally I only intended …

The Spanish Language Presence In Tangier, Morocco: A Sociolinguistic Perspective, Lotfi Sayahi

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

While research on the presence of the Spanish language outside Spain and the Americas has made considerable advances in recent years, it has concerned itself primarily with the Philippines (Quilis 1992, Lipski 2001), Equatorial Guinea (Granda 1991, Lipski 1985), and less frequently with other regions where Spanish is acquiring importance as a foreign language (Quilis 2000). North Africa, on the other hand, has failed to attract similar attention in spite of its close geographic and historical links with Spain and the uninterrupted presence of the Spanish language there since the 15'h century. Few references signal such presence (Heath 1989, Silva-Corvahin …

Review Of Bilingual Aesthetics: A Sentimental Education, By Doris Sommer (2004), Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Software "La Chaise Berçante", Lara Lomicka

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Interlanguage Lexicology Of Arab Students Of English A Computer Learner Corpus-Based Approach, Mousa Abdelghani Al-Btoosh

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

Since the very early emergence of machine-readable corpora into the linguistics scene in the 1960s, the direction of a considerable body of linguistic research began to shift from syntax and phonology, the, by then, focus of linguistic research, to a number of domains that remained mostly neglected under the umbrella of traditional approaches. Fortunately, lexicology, the target of this research, was a major beneficiary of that dramatic shift. By employing a computer learner corpus-based approach, this study addresses multidimensional lexical aspects of a machine-readable corpus of the writing of Arab students of English as a foreign language. Lexical investigation of …

Native Language And Non-Linguistic Influences On The Production Of English Vowels By Speakers Of Korean: An Acoustic Study, Ji-Eun Kim

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

This study investigates the production of Korean and English front vowels by ninety-one Koreans, based on their arrival age to the U.S., length of residence in the U.S. and degree of motivation. Subjects' Korean and English productions were analyzed by measuring F1, F2 and duration. Additionally, this study observed other phonological and phonetic features, such as the number of front vowel categories, the distance between the highest and lowest front vowels (Korean /i/~/?/ and English /i/~/æ/), the distance between the lowest two vowels (Korean /e/~/?/ and English /?/~/æ/) and the lengthening effects based on the voicing of the following consonants. …

Aspects Of The Kam Language, As Revealed In Its Narrative Discourse, Tongyin Yang

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

Discourse analysis has long been understudied in Kam. This research aims to initiate the exploration of this new field by examining various aspects of Kam narrative discourse and reveal its structural properties through a functional approach within Schiffrin's discourse model. A newfound morpheme /e/ leads to discussion of phonological and syntactic variations from discourse perspective. The reduction of components in rhymes in directional verbs is related to not only semantic manifestation, but more importantly, to the building-up of narrative discourse. The classifier variants in the types CLSa and CLSb encode number difference, though not identical to numbers in Indo-European languages. …