Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons^™

The Electronic Polis: Media Democracy And The Invasion Of Iraq, Jeff Lewis, Kirsty Best

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The American-led victory in Baghdad was announced to the world with scenes of Iraqi citizens dragging down the statues of the deposed tyrant. Like the spectacle of World Cup Soccer or the Olympic Games, the image was transmitted live through the global media network to the billions of people who had been closely watching the three week invasion. President Bush shared in the celebration, announcing the dawn of a new age for freedom and democracy in the Middle East. This new democracy, the president proclaimed, would bring stability and prosperity to the region through the obliteration of terrorism …

Development Of Oral Communication Skills Abroad., Christina Isabelli

Scholarship

This study examines the impact of a semester study abroad experience in Argentina on the second language acquisition of three American university Spanish learners. The goal is to measure development of two aspects of oral communication skills: fluency and performance in the oral functions of narration, and description and supporting an opinion.

Introduction: Selected Proceedings Of The First Workshop On Spanish Sociolinguistics, Lotfi Sayahi

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

This introduction to the Selected Proceedings of the First Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics includes the background for the conference, descriptions of the papers chosen for the volume, acknowledgments, and references.

Protestant Language Use In 17th Century Slovakia In A Diglossia Framework, Mark Richard Lauersdorf

Linguistics Faculty Publications

This article presents a discussion of several issues that are central to the ongoing, larger sociolinguistic investigation of the history of standard language development in pre-codification (15th-18th century) Slovakia. It is, in a sense, a position paper, laying out a basic theoretical framework and methodology for historical sociolinguistic research on Slovak standard language development and outlining an investigation of the 17th century linguistic situation among the Slovak Protestants within this framework and methodology.

Fergie's Prescience: The Changing Nature Of Diglossia In Tunisia, Keith Walters

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite criticisms it has received, Ferguson's (1959b) account of diglossia should be recognized for its prescience. It offered not only an admittedly idealized characterization of diglossia in Arabic, but also pointed out how and why it might change. Focusing on Tunisia, this article demonstrates the many ways in which Fergie was right. It examines the changing demographics of Tunisians' access to the high variety of Arabic; the complex ways in which Tunisians, and Arabs more generally, deal with the "communicative tensions" diglossia creates; and considers the changing nature of Arabic in what is, in many ways, a postdiglossic Tunisia.

"How Many Lesbians Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb?", Janet M. Bing, Dana Heller

English Faculty Publications

This paper explores how humor reveals shared aspects of a culture of lesbian communities in the US. For lesbians, jokes and other forms of humor are an active, narrative means of self-construction and community imagining that help lesbians negotiate their positions both inside and outside mainstream culture. Whether consciously or unconsciously, much of lesbian humor challenges the dominant culture by rejecting its definitions of and presuppositions about lesbians, and by making lesbian experience central to its understanding of normalcy. Whereas the term "lesbian joke" usually activates a sex frame for the dominant culture, much humor created by and for lesbians …