Comparative and Historical Linguistics Commons^™

Numerals And Other Means Of Expressing Plurality In Language And Thought: A Developmental Perspective Across Cultures., Giovanni Giuseppe G.G. Nicosia Prof.

Numeracy

Several ancient languages use linguistic structures to differentiate between singular, dual, and plural forms that are used when one, two, or many objects are referenced. (Some languages go further, adding a trial form to differentiate two from three.) In many modern languages, numerals are used to convey precise number. After reviewing a range of ways languages express number (including the interesting case of Pirahã which does not express precise number), the paper concludes with a proposed developmental path for the expression of quantity in languages.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Comparative Semiotic Analysis Of Non-Verbal Communication: Apis Mellifera Waggle Dance And Human Kinesic Signaling Systems, Nishtha Tikalal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

There are many parallels between two seemingly disparate forms of non-verbal communication: the waggle dance of Apis mellifera (honeybees) and human kinesic signaling systems. Through a comparative semiotic analysis, this research aims to conduct a comparative semiotic analysis, investigating structural and functional similarities between these communication methods, challenging anthropocentric assumptions about meaning making in the natural world. This research employs a meta-synthesis approach, drawn from a methodological literature review to examine historical representations of bee-human relationships, semiotics of non-verbal communication, and the specific mechanisms of the waggle dance and human kinesics. This methodology involves systematic categorization and analysis of extracted …

Principal Agency 50 Years After The Lau Decision: Building And Sustaining Bilingual Education Programs For Asian Languages, Kevin M. Wong, Zhongfeng Tian

Education Division Scholarship

This study examined how three champion principals of Asian language dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs—Cantonese, Korean, and Mandarin—in California have navigated the oscillating language-in-education policies after the Lau decision. We explored principals' various roles through a lens of agency in a social justice leadership framework, specifically considering the opportunities and challenges for agentive leadership from three different phases: foregrounding and engaging, planning and implementing, and evaluating and sustaining. Findings demonstrate that the success of DLBE programs goes beyond the overarching language policies that supposedly enable bilingual education; rather it hinges on the bottom-up commitment, collaboration and resilience of principals, …

Two Multilingual Regions In Southwestern Amazonia, Hein Van Der Voort

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Southwestern Amazonia is one of the most linguistically diverse regions of the Americas. It is possible that traditional Indigenous small-scale multilingualism used to exist in two neighboring regions in what is now Rondônia, on the Brazilian side of the Guaporé River. Permanent contact with representatives of Western society from the beginning of the twentieth century onwards led to great demographic, social, cultural, and economic upheaval among the Indigenous societies in the Rio Branco-Colorado and the Apediá-Corumbiara river basins. Early ethnographic reports suggest that these societies were characterized by traditional small-scale multilingualism. In this article, I summarize the evidence for this …

Ethnicity, Identity, And Conceptualizing Community In Indian Ocean East Africa, Daren E. Ray

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

This volume explores how the people of littoral East Africa imagined and reimagined their communities over two millennia of engagement with Indian Ocean transformations—from the settlement of Bantu speakers near the coast around the first century CE to their participation in transoceanic commerce, imperial rivalries, colonial projects, and decolonization movements in the mid-twentieth century. Like other histories of the Indian Ocean, it emphasizes the circulation of people and ideas, but its cis-oceanic approach demonstrates how these littoral communities continued to integrate strategies from those in Africa’s interior as well as from people who traveled the ocean.

The book also clarifies …

The Fall And Rise Of Bengali Muslim Conciousness: Conceptualising The Identity Of The Bangla Universal, Habib Khan

Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of modern-nation states saw the end of the empirical era of exploitation and exercise of inherent racist tendencies towards the 'other'. However, the effect of that colonial system is still ever-present in the creation and governance of these newly independent states. While every new state aims to be 'modern', they adopt the international legal framework of the West as their own - a system they had initially wanted to escape. The concept of Muslim universality in the form of the ummah should have freed Pakistan from the shackles of its former colonial masters. Instead, this phenomenon was replaced …

Conferencia "Definición Y Características De Las Mega-Campañas En El Contexto De Los Juegos De Rol", Marcos O. Cabobianco, Cristo Leon

STEM for Success Resources

Presentación realizada durante el 6º Coloquio de Estudios sobre Juegos de Rol (CEJR) el 18 de noviembre de 2022 en Mérida, Yucatán, México.

Resurrecting Gaelic: Modernity And Heritage Language Revival In Scotland In A Comparative Perspective, Sean Coady

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Many people from across the world have little or no connection to their heritage languages. Whether this loss is caused by conquest, colonialization, or simply lack of parent-child transmission, many believe that they are missing an integral part of their cultural identity and want to reclaim the languages of their forebearers. There is wide debate about how, why, and if this linguistic reclamation and revitalization should happen because, in the face of modernity and language evolution, the best solutions are not always clear. What constitutes successful language revitalization in the modern world, and why does it happen? Gaelic in Scotland …

Ambiguous Appalachianness: A Linguistic And Perceptual Investigation Into Arc-Labeled Pennsylvania Counties, Crissandra J. George

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

The Appalachian Regional Commission (2022) designates 52 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties as Appalachia, excluding only the southeast portion of the state. Matthew Ferrence, in Appalachia North, states that his "home is sometimes called Appalachia, sometimes Rust Belt, other times Midwest, even though very few who live there would accept any of those labels as correct" (xi). This ambiguous and fluid identity is due to the shaping, forming, and changing of Pennsylvania’s role within society from a founding colony to a thriving state with industry, unselfishly spoiling others, to the grounds of converging identities (Ferrence xi). This ambiguous identity makes …

The Sound Patterns Of Kachok In The Context Of Bahnaric And North-Bahnaric Studies, Emily L. Olsen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents a description of the sound patterns of Kachok, Austroasiatic language spoken in northeastern Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. The language is spoken by approximately 3000 people and is considered endangered (Simons & Fennig, 2018). Kachok is undocumented, and this dissertation is the first attempt to describe the language and its sound patterns. The goals of this dissertation are twofold: to contribute to linguistics and the science of phonetics and phonological typology, as well as increase the body of work on Austro-Asiatic languages, and to create resources for the Kachok language, culture, and people that have the potential to outlive …

Talking Back, With Reawakened Voices: Analyzing The Potential For Indigenous California Languages Coursework At California Polytechnic State University, Logan Cooper

Ethnic Studies

The legacy of colonialism in the United States, including genocidal practices and cultural assimilation, has left Indigenous languages endangered. Native peoples, scholars, and activists have been working to revive and heal the languages of America’s first peoples, and the cultures those languages speak to, yet more work remains in the field of language revitalization. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo currently does not offer any course specifically teaching or discussing Indigenous languages, even those of the Chumash people who know the San Luis Obispo area as their ancestral homelands.

By synthesizing revitalization and Indigenous activist literature with the narratives …

Person, Place, And Pronoun: An Examination Of The Idiosyncratic Pronoun Use And Language Ideologies In Dabhung Thanti, Nepal, Martha Schwarz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Language, the content and form of what people choose to say, has the ability to both describe facts about the world and change aspects of the world. Thus, what people utter is a critical instrument for measuring current social situations as well as social change. The honorific hierarchy of Nepali’s pronouns provides one particularly interesting tool for such measurement. This research examines the use and ideologies about second person pronouns in the village of Dabhung Thanti, Nepal in relation to their prescribed uses and ideologies in Kathmandu. Ultimately, this paper identifies the presence of two styles of Nepali spoken in …

Computational Phylogenetics And The Internal Structure Of Pama-Nyungan, Claire Bowern, Quentin Atkinson

Linguistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Margaret M. Bryant Papers - Accession 21, Margaret M. Bryant

Manuscript Collection

The collection consists of Dr. Bryant’s professional and organizational files, biographical data, correspondence, and speeches. Most of the material relates to her publishing efforts, her work as a faculty member at Brooklyn College, and her involvement with professional organizations, especially the New York branch of the American Association of University Women. Most of the material extends form 1950-1975. A list of the more prominent individuals who corresponded with Margaret Bryant has been included as an appendix to the inventory. (For more extensive and comprehensive list of correspondents, see the list included in the collection control file.)