Language Description and Documentation Commons^™

Endangered Languages: A Sketch Of The Sengwer Sound System, Jamas Nandako

Journal of the Language Association of Eastern Africa

Within the next century as many as half of the world’s seven thousand languages, are poised to become extinct at an alarmingly accelerated rate (Evans 2010). This correlates to a loss of knowledge, collective and individual identities, and social values. This loss is not only one of the most serious issues facing humanity today, but also it is representative of an unspeakable loss of information invaluable to humanity. This is so because these languages are among our few sources of evidence for understanding human history and each of these languages embodies unique local knowledge of the cultures and natural systems …

Persian Naco Manual, Denise Soufi, Nora Avetyan, Shelton Henderson, Juliet Sabouri-Yaghoobi Nasab, Cyrus Ford Zarganj, Neda Zeraatkar

Library Faculty Research

The guidelines in this manual apply to the creation of authority records for names which appear in the Perso-Arabic script on a manifestation written in the Persian language. In this manual, such names are referred to as “Persian names,” regardless of the origin of the name. Guidance is also provided for names of Iranian origin that appear in other scripts. This manual focuses on personal names, although some examples pertaining to corporate bodies, conferences, and works have been provided.

My Years Campaigning For The Term "Femicide", Diana E. H. Russell

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Phonetic Contrast In New York Hasidic Yiddish Vowels: Language Contact, Variation, And Change, Chaya R. Nove

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study analyzes the acoustic correlates of the length contrast in New York Hasidic Yiddish (HY) peripheral vowels /i/, /u/, and /a/, and compares them across four generations of native speakers for evidence of change over time. HY vowel tokens are also compared to English vowels produced by the New York-born speakers to investigate the influence of language contact on observed changes. Additionally, the degree to which individual speakers orient towards or away from the Hasidic community is quantified via an ethnographically informed survey to examine its correlation with /u/-fronting, a sound change that is widespread in the non-Hasidic English-speaking …

Linguicide In The Digital Age: Problems And Possible Solutions, Michael Adelson

Modern Languages Presentations

This project aims to assess the relative success of revitalization efforts for seven languages: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Hopi, Navajo, Breton, and Occitan. The success of linguistic revitalization is determined through comparative analysis of minority languages in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France as seen through each country’s history, melting pot experiences, traditions, language protection laws, education system, in addition to the differing levels of diffusion via the Internet. A key point of analysis is the strength of language protection laws in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Language is the most primordial expression of …

Linguicide In The Digital Age: Problems And Possible Solutions, Michael Adelson

French Summer Fellows

This project aims to assess the relative success of revitalization efforts for seven languages: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Hopi, Navajo, Breton, and Occitan. The success of linguistic revitalization is determined through comparative analysis of minority languages in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France as seen through each country’s history, melting pot experiences, traditions, language protection laws, education system, in addition to the differing levels of diffusion via the Internet. A key point of analysis is the strength of language protection laws in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Language is the most primordial expression of …

Sacred Music In Colonial Era Hispaniola: The Evangelization Of The Taino People, Tito J. Gutierrez

Student Theses

During the 15th-18th centuries, the major European religious orders; the Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Jeronymites, journeyed to the newly colonized American territories in an attempt to convert the multitudes of natives peoples living there. Along with prayer books, crucifixes, and religious images, these missionaries brought sacred European music to American shores in an attempt to attract the native people to the Catholic faith.The use of music as a tool for conversion of native people in places such as Mexico, South America, California, and the South West United States, have been well researched and documented. However, the research of the spiritual …

Parent Perceptions Of Service Animals Impacts On The Language Skills Of Their Children With Autism, Rachel Mcmanamon, Tim Brackenbury, Megan Wilson

Honors Projects

This study found multiple areas within the broad field of pragmatics in which a therapy dog can benefit the child that they are partnered with. In general, it appears that having a trained service dog for individuals with ASD may be a good tool to support the developmental of a variety of skills. Specifically, within the areas of socializing and use of language, the dog can provide the child with opportunities for conversations, as well as topics to discuss and experiences to share.

An Interactive Visual Database For American Sign Language Reveals How Signs Are Organized In The Mind, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Ariel Goldberg, Karen Emmory, Naomi Caselli

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

"We are four researchers who study psycholinguistics, linguistics, neuroscience and deaf education. Our team of deaf and hearing scientists worked with a group of software engineers to create the ASL-LEX database that anyone can use for free. We cataloged information on nearly 3,000 signs and built a visual, searchable and interactive database that allows scientists and linguists to work with ASL in entirely new ways."

The Asl-Lex 2.0 Project: A Database Of Lexical And Phonological Properties For 2,723 Signs In American Sign Language, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Naomi Caselli, Ariel M. Cohen-Goldberg, Karen Emmory

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

ASL-LEX is a publicly available, large-scale lexical database for American Sign Language (ASL). We report on the expanded database (ASL-LEX 2.0) that contains 2,723 ASL signs. For each sign, ASL-LEX now includes a more detailed phonological description, phonological density and complexity measures, frequency ratings (from deaf signers), iconicity ratings (from hearing non-signers and deaf signers), transparency (“guessability”) ratings (from non-signers), sign and videoclip durations, lexical class, and more. We document the steps used to create ASL-LEX 2.0 and describe the distributional characteristics for sign properties across the lexicon and examine the relationships among lexical and phonological properties of signs. Correlation …

Creating A Theoretical Framework To Underpin Discourse Assessment And Intervention In Aphasia, Lucy Dipper, Jane Marshall, Mary Boyle, Deborah Hersh, Nicola Botting, Madeline Cruice

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Discourse (a unit of language longer than a single sentence) is fundamental to everyday communication. People with aphasia (a language impairment occurring most frequently after stroke, or other brain damage) have communication difficulties which lead to less complete, less coherent, and less complex discourse. Although there are multiple reviews of discourse assessment and an emerging evidence base for discourse intervention, there is no unified theoretical framework to underpin this research. Instead, disparate theories are recruited to explain different aspects of discourse impairment, or symptoms are reported without a hypothesis about the cause. What is needed is a theoretical framework that …

Prosody And Intonation In Formosan Languages, Benjamin K. Macaulay

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Formosan languages are the languages of the Aboriginal peoples of Taiwan. These languages are part of the Austronesian language family, and represent all but one primary branch of this family of 1,200+ languages. The Formosan languages are endangered, some critically so. While these languages have seen attention in the literature for their syntactic and phonological systems, little work has been done on their prosodic structure or intonation.

This dissertation analyzes the prosodic structure and intonational phonology of Mantauran Rukai, Budai Rukai, Tsou, Kanakanavu, Hla’alua, Sandimen Paiwan, Piuma Paiwan, Kavalan, Amis, Bunun, Tgdaya Seediq, Truku Seediq, and Pazeh, based on …

The Roles And Functions Of Metaphors In The Malaysian Education Blueprint, Linggatharani Kesavan

Student Works (2020-2029)

Abstract: The Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013 - 2025) seeks to revamp the entire education system in Malaysia, targeting institutions of learning and the stakeholders via a series of radical changes in policy and governance. Upon scrutiny, it was also found to contain several metaphors that are carefully constructed and layered to deliver the contents to the readers. Metaphors have been identified as an effective linguistic tool that can be used to achieve cognitive, semantic and pragmatic goals effectively. More importantly, they are also found to create or alter realities and evoke powerful emotions. This research applies the Conceptual Metaphor Theory …

The Occurrence Of Fluency Disorders In Individuals With Down Syndrome And Autism Spectrum Disorders, Julia Thomas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Including a comprehensive literature review of research studies in fluency disorders, this project will aim to observe how stuttering and fluency disorders affects individuals with Down Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders. The literature reviews will include case studies where the goal was to add techniques to everyday speech which reduced the overall occurrence of stuttering behavior and the negative psychosocial impacts on the individuals in the case studies. After thorough review of the case studies and other related literature, two surveys will be developed for possible administration to caretakers for people with Down Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders who stutter …

Language Contact And Covert Prominence In The Sḥerēt-Jibbāli Language Of Oman, Jarred Brewster

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This thesis reports on a phonetic production study, the results of which support the existence of a complex word-prosodic system for the Sḥerēt-Jibbāli language of Dhofar, Oman. In the language, stress seems to co-occur in some lexical items with a high tone. In the discussion, a mechanism for the emergence of this system is proposed as the reflex of a typological feature held in common with the related language, Soqotri, and as justification for an Eastern Modern South Arabian subgroup consisting of Sḥerēt-Jibbāli and Soqotri.

Theories On The Pedagogy Of Asla (Accelerated Second Language Acquisition): A Piikuni Student Approach, Robert Patrick Hall

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis is an exploration in the pedagogy of ASLA to understand how and why it is successful at being a methodology that enables an instructor to teach endangered languages effectively. The paper explores the current deficits within language revitalization programs and argues that ASLA can improve endangered language programs

Revised: Etymology Of “Ragtime”: Role Of “Tag, Rag, And “Bobtail” (The Rabble) And The 19th Century “Fancy Rag Balls”, Fred Hoeptner

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

Despite abundant speculation about the etymology of “rag” in “ragtime” since the emergence of ragtime music into popular consciousness in 1896, a convincing solution has remained elusive. As OED3 sums up the situation (rag, n. meaning #5): “Origin uncertain and disputed.”

But at least some new insight may now be possible. The present study is the first to use digitized newspaper archives to track “rag” and “ragtime” from their sources to full maturity, and the following picture emerges:

1. The starting point is tag, rag, and bobtail “the common herd, the rabble”; the word appears in OED3 under bob-tail.
2. Rag as …

The Signs And Features Of Arabic Non-Declinable Words, Malika Nasirova

The Light of Islam

Medieval Arab linguists traditionally began their scientifc works with questions of inflection [declension]. Case inflection is the main factor that determines the word’s grammatical function in a sentence and the meaning that it carries. It is well known that there are three cases in the Arabic language with special diacritical markings ( تاكرحHarakaat). The ability of a word to have a particular case leads to its categorization as “complete”, “incomplete” or “non-declining”. The endings of a word in a sentence may change due to the [influencing] factor, or even if the [influencing] factors change, their ending may not change. The …

A Multimodal Analysis Of Bangladeshi Fairness Product Advertisements, Shushmita Hossain Khan

Student Works (2020-2029)

The notion of beauty is associated with fair skin tone in Bangladesh. Bangladeshis have varied skin tones although generally most of the people have a dark complexion. Fairness product advertisements tend to suggest that fair complexion is essential for marriage, successful career and promote that using their products can help women to achieve the perfect face, partner, and expected behavior from the society as well as acceptance from the opposite sex. This indicates that fair skin means superiority and beauty in Bangladeshi context. Although these advertisements have gone through some changes in last five years, within these, the advertisements still …

Language Learning From The Developmental And Neurocognitive Perspective: An Examination Of The Impact Of Music On Second Language Acquisition, Shelby Grimm

Honors College Theses

This literature review aims to analyze the influence of music as a learning tool throughout the process of second language acquisition. Through the compilation and analysis of recent research conducted on the academic, cultural, and linguistic impacts of music on the four modes of language, which include reading, speaking, writing, and listening, this thesis will demonstrate the effects of incorporating music into the second language learning curriculum. Definitions of both music and language, as well as a description of the components of both areas will be included. An examination of the neurocognitive relationship between music and language, as well as …