Linguistics Commons^™

Using A Mini-Artificial Language To Investigate Question-Formation: Does Underlying Production Pressure Affect Surface Form?, Sarah Dinsmore, Laura Shaw, Jazmyn Sylvester-Cross, Marissa Willette

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Our general hypothesis is that the sentence planning process influences the kinds of structures languages allow. In particular, the type of wh-question structures in a language will be determined by the challenges involved in planning the structure.

Eye Behavior While Reading Words Of Sanskrit And Urdu Origin In Hindi, Tahira Carroll

Theses and Dissertations

Hindi and Urdu are two branches of the same language sometimes known as Hindustani. They are divided by orthography and geography but when spoken are sometimes indistinguishable. Both have contributed loanwords that have now been completely assimilated into the language. The question of how the eye behaves during Hindi reading when it encounters Urdu loanwords has not been focused on extensively in prior research. The main purpose of this thesis is to document the eye behavior during reading Sanskrit-based words and Urdu loanwords in Hindi. We place fifteen word pairs consisting of one target Hindi Sanskrit-based word and its Urdu …

The Convergence Of Schenkerian Music Theory And Generative Linguistics: An Analysis And Composition, Michael A. Ciaramella

College Honors Program

This thesis engages a purported connection between Schenkerian music theory and the Minimalist Program within generative linguistics both scientifically and creatively. The first chapter expounds the link between Schenkerian theory and the Minimalist Program which has been recently substantiated in a doctoral dissertation by Somangshu Mukherji at Princeton University and details the methodological framework for investigating musical structures within this paradigm. Chapter two presents three case studies including the opening phrase of Mozart’s K. 332 Mvt. 1 piano sonata, and the tunes “Georgia on My Mind” and “Blue Bossa” in order to exemplify the aforementioned methodology and provide scientific evidence …

Examining Digital Problem Solving Skills In Libraries To Promote Digital Equity, Gloria Jacobs, Jill Castek

Presentations and Publications

This presentation was part of the digital skills and inequality session and focuses digital problem solving and the approaches and strategies digital problem solvers use.

Differences In The Motivations Of Chinese Learners Of English In Different (Foreign Or Second Language) Contexts, Rui Li

Theses and Dissertations

This study employed the L2 Motivational Self-System (Dörnyei, 2005) as a framework to compare differences in the types of motivation reported by Chinese learners of English in a foreign language context (China) and a second language context (USA). It followed up on studies by Taguchi, Magid, and Papi (2009) and You and Dörnyei (2016). The participants consisted of 61 current students at an American university who come from Mainland China. This study adopted a mixed-method approach, using an internet-based questionnaire followed by an individual interview. The investigation aimed to explore what types of English learning motivation Chinese students have in …

Aiscrima E Checchi Italian-American Dialect And Development In The New Millennium, Elizabeth Loyacano Pedrotti

Honors Theses

The Italian-American identity is inextricably linked with language. Italian immigrants and their descendants have formed a culture in the United states with a dynamic history, particularly when it comes to language use and perceptions. This study examined multigenerational Italian Americans’ perceptions of English, Italian, and the unique Italian-American dialect; it aimed to discover changes in the usage of Italian-American dialect over time. Italian Americans in the Dayton area were interviewed and presented with surveys to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Results indicate that while overall usage and recognition of Italian-American lexical items has decreased dramatically since the 1980s, younger …

Understanding Our Patrons’ Needs In Order To Thrive Together In A Digital Environment, Amy Honisett, Cindy Gibbon

Presentations and Publications

Data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) shows that adults in the US are less skilled in digital problem solving than in many other countries. As more of our communication, creation and learning moves online, how do we help our patrons thrive in a new environment, and how do we transform our training and resources so the library thrives, too?

We used a digital problem solving assessment tool from PIAAC to find out if our patrons’ skills matched up with national data, and we mapped the digital skills we assessed to common library tasks. Results …

"Ewondo In The Classes, French For The Masses." Mother-Tongue Education In Yaoundé, Cameroon., Parker Henry

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cameroon is home to over two hundred eighty native languages coming from three language families, making it one of the most linguistically diverse countries on Earth. Despite this, native languages hold very few domains in Cameroonian society. In recent years, several experimental programs have begun to implement native languages in schools citing that children learn best in their mother tongue. Among these include ELAN-Afrique, an initiative put forth by La Francophonie with the main aim of helping students better learn French by way of their mother tongue. This paper seeks to differentiate the benefits prescribed or expected by overhead actors …

Comparison Of Structured And Unstructured Discourse Tasks In Persons With Aphasia, Kim C. Mccullough, Dee Lance, Brenda L. Beverly

Brenda L. Beverly Publications

The informativeness of the discourse of persons with aphasia (fluent vs. non-fluent) under structured and conversational tasks was investigated. Ten individuals, five with fluent aphasia and five with non-fluent aphasia, who had suffered a single left hemisphere stroke, participated. Structured and conversational discourse samples were analyzed using the Correct Information Units (CIUs) analysis system. Significant differences between structured and conversational tasks were observed when comparing total number of words and total number of CIUs. Participants with fluent aphasia performed better than those with non-fluent aphasia during the conversational task. No differences were found between the groups for total number of …

Spanish Heritage Bilingual Perception Of English-Specific Vowel Contrasts, John B. Nielsen

Theses and Dissertations

Theories of lexical storage differ in how entries are encoded in the lexicon. Exemplar-based accounts posit that lexical items are stored with detailed acoustic information, while abstract accounts argue that fine acoustic detail is removed and an item is stored in more basic phonological units. These separate accounts make distinct predictions about cross-linguistic and bilingual perception. Studies asking participants to compare non-native vowels have shown that people tend to associate multiple non-native phonemes to a single L1 phoneme when the contrast between the two does not exist in the L1. However, several studies have shown that the ability to discriminate …

Preference Organization, Danielle M. Pillet-Shore

Communication

Conversation analytic research on “preference organization” investigates recorded episodes of naturally occurring social interaction to elucidate how people systematically design their actions to either support or undermine social solidarity. This line of work examines public forms of conduct that are highly generalized and institutionalized, not the private desires, subjective feelings or psychological preferences of individuals. This article provides a detailed and accessible overview of classic and contemporary conversation analytic findings about preference, which collectively demonstrate that human interaction is organized to favor actions that promote social affiliation (through face-preservation) at the expense of conflict (resulting from face-threat). While other overviews …

#Ordinarymeaning: Using Twitter As A Corpus In Statutory Analysis, Lauren Simpson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Drama For Social Justice: Embodying Identity And Emotion In Elt, Riah Werner

MA TESOL Collection

In this thesis, the author makes the case that drama is a powerful tool for language acquisition because it develops and engages embodiment, emotion and identity, important aspects of learning and communication that are often neglected in traditional language classrooms. The thesis establishes a theoretical foundation for the use of drama in the social justice-oriented language classroom, reviews research on drama for language learning and describes common drama techniques. The author connects the theories of embodied cognition and multiliteracies to an intersectional model of identity and argues that drama helps students re-examine the way society positions them based on their …

The Dynamics Of The L2 Motivational Self System Among Saudi Study Abroad Students, Fahad Alharbi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adult second language acquisition takes time over an extended period of time during which the L2 motivation of learners goes through periods of ups and downs. Dörnyei, MacIntyre and Henry (2015) recognized the inherently dynamic nature of L2 motivation and called for adopting the Complex Dynamic System Theory (CDST) when studying this phenomenon. While using a CDST perspective, this mixed method study drew on Dörnyei’s (2009b) model of the Motivational Self System to examine the L2 motivation of 86 Saudi study-abroad students. Also, the construct of the Anti-ought to Self (Thompson, 2015) and aspects of the Appraisal Theory (Schumann, 2001) …

Loneliness In Pepperdine Students, Brandon Vandyke, Haley St Martin, Ayelen Lee

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

No abstract provided.

Linguistic And Sociological Dimensions Of The Illusive Concept Of Jamʿ, Mohamed Mohamed

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

The Linguistic and Sociological Dimensions of the Illusive Concept of Jamʿ

Unlike ijmāʿ, which means consensus, jamʿ refers to mere collection, gathering or grouping. In other words, if ijmāʿ is grounded in reason, indicates a choice between two opposites, and represents a reified construction, jamʿ, on the contrary, avoids reason, (con) fuses opposites, and survives on ambiguity. Jamʿ neither dialectically integrates opposites, nor post-modernly juxtaposes them as collage. The secret of jamʿ is an epistemology of truth that is never complete, and always mixed with falsehood. This epistemology is rooted in Islamic theology, where the Truth is …

Contextualization: An Experimental Model For Efl Writing Instruction In China, Guimin Tang

Dissertations and Theses

Chinese students learning English as a foreign language seem to get good marks in tests, but are poor or limited in their ability to write in English. This dilemma of China's EFL writing instruction seems to be related to the decontextualized EFL writing practices. This study aims to examine how Chinese EFL college students respond to changes in their writing instruction that pays attention to the context of EFL teaching and learning. In this study, context refers to three levels: linguistic context, situational context and cultural context.

Using the mixed methods approach, I conducted the study by engaging 60 second-year …

March 16, 2017: Scholarly Speakers Series, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

Trans*+ing Classrooms and Schools: The Pedagogy of Refusal as Mediator for Learning Under a Trump Regime

Putting Gender Revolution into Practice: A Workshop with sj Miller

P06. The Western Archive Of Dialects And Languages, Michael Iannozzi

Western Research Forum

Traditionally, once fieldwork in a community was complete, the researcher left, and the participants never saw what became of those recordings and digitized materials. The Western Archive of Dialects and Languages (WADL) is a new project between the author and Western Libraries to ensure that the community of research directly benefits from sharing their stories, materials, and time.

The materials, dialect, and stories are preserved in a permanent and accessible, online archive. This ensures that future generations, wherever they live, will be able to access the heritage and history their family members shared with researchers.

I have already digitized, and …

An Analytical System For Determining Disciplinary Vocabulary For Data-Driven Learning: An Example From Civil Engineering, Philippa Jean Otto

Dissertations and Theses

Data-driven learning (DDL), an inductive teaching approach in which students learn through corpus interaction, has gained recent traction as way to teach specialized vocabulary in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classes. There is little research, however, that addresses how to choose specialized vocabulary for teaching with DDL.

This study addressed this gap in research by exploring the potential of a three-part analytical, corpus-based system for determining vocabulary to teach with DDL for a specific context of language use. This system included (1) identifying words that were significantly more frequent in a specialized expert corpus than in a corpus of general …