Linguistics Commons^™

The Theoretical Argument For Disproving Asymptotic Upper-Bounds On The Accuracy Of Part-Of-Speech Tagging Algorithms: Adopting A Linguistics, Rule-Based Approach, William Foley

Honors Theses

This paper takes a deep dive into a particular area of the interdisciplinary domain of Computational Linguistics, Part-of-Speech Tagging algorithms. The author relies primarily on scholarly Computer Science and Linguistics papers to describe previous approaches to this task and the often-hypothesized existence of the asymptotic accuracy rate of around 98%, by which this task is allegedly bound. However, after doing more research into why the accuracy of previous algorithms have behaved in this asymptotic manner, the author identifies valid and empirically-backed reasons why the accuracy of previous approaches do not necessarily reflect any sort of general asymptotic bound on the …

The Role Of Language Attitudes In Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo's Language Revitalization Efforts, Armida Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the United States, language preservation and revitalization efforts have taken on greater urgency as tribes spanning all across Indian Country, from Alaska to Florida, are collaborating with linguists, Native and non-Native, in a pitched fight to save their languages from decline and/or extinction. With respect to the causes of indigenous language loss, it is important to recognize that blame cannot be assigned exclusively to external pressures. Recognizing the strong interplay between language attitudes and language maintenance or loss, this study focuses on the role of language attitude in one particular Native American tribeâ??s language revitalization efforts, that of Ysleta …

Weakening Of The Affricate /T[Voiceless Postalveolar Fricative]/ In The Spanish Of Ciudad Juárez, Luis Alberto Méndez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A characteristic feature of the Spanish spoken in the Mexican state of Chihuahua is the pronunciation of the standard phoneme [t∫] (ch) as a non-standard allophone /∫/ (sh). The present study analyzes the social and linguistic factors that influence variation in the Mexico-United States border community of Ciudad Juárez. Direct and indirect elicitations techniques were used to gather tokens of /t?/ from a sample of 40 speakers who varied in age, sex, socioeconomic status, education level, and degree of bilingualism. The data was perceptually and acoustically interpreted and then examined using variable rules analysis. On the linguistic side, the results …

The Deserving Patient: Blame, Dependency, And Impairment In Discourses Of Chronic Pain And Opioid Use, Maureen Nickerson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Negative stereotypes about people with chronic pain pose a barrier in the delivery of care; contribute to worsening symptoms of physical and psychological distress; and play a role in policy decisions that adversely affect patients and providers. Pain-care seekers may be accused of malingering, laziness, mental aberration, attention seeking, and drug seeking. The propagation of stigmatizing attitudes was explored in this Critical Discourse Analysis of online-reader-comments responding to a series of pain-care policy articles published by a large metropolitan newspaper. Results suggest that framing pain patients as legitimate and deserving can inadvertently reproduce the inequities advocates seek to redress. Ascriptions …

Austerity And Its Effects On Neoliberal Industrial Policy: The Case Of Enterprise Policy In Ireland, Ewan Macdonald, John Hogan, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

This paper seeks to explore the logic of actually existing austerity and its effects on the development of enterprise policy in the Republic of Ireland. It asks the following question: in what manner has enterprise policy been affected by the Irish experience of austerity? Neoliberal austerity is not merely state parsimony; after all the austerity of post-WWII United Kingdom, with its frugal construction of national health and welfare systems, is far from the austerity advocated by Merkel and Cameron today. In light of this, there are a large number of factors which have led to the unique development of actually …

The Pragmatics Of Economics Experts’ Engagement With Non-Specialists, Brendan O'Rourke, Jens Maesse

Other

A Call for Papers for Panel on Economics and Language Use: The pragmatics of economics experts’ engagement with non-specialists, 15th International Pragmatics Conference (IPrA2017) to be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 16-21 July 2017.

Criteria Language Teachers Use When Selecting Call Technologies, K. James Hartshorn, Benjamin L. Mcmurry, Peter J. Rich, Neil J. Anderson, David D. Williams

Faculty Publications

It is important to identify the criteria that language teachers consider when selecting technologies. Software designers and developers, program administrators, and others need to be aware of adoption issues and practices for CALL technology. The focus of this case study was to look at six language instructors considered to be experts in their use of technology in the classroom and examine the criteria they use when selecting CALL resources or activities in the classroom. Interviews, recorded classroom observations, and analyses of teaching materials resulted in three themes: consideration of pedagogy, consideration of convenience, and consideration of authenticity. These are discussed …

An Ewp Model Of Quechua Agreement: Further Evidence Against Dm, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

In this paper we first describe the Quechua verbal agreement paradigm using two generative morphological theories and then argue that Anderson’s EWP accounts for the data better than Distributed Morphology (DM). Kerke (1996) has already shown evidence against DM using this paradigm, and we provide additional support for this.

The Quechua verbs conjugate to agree with the subject and the object of the VP in one of three tenses (Table 1). Each cell contains up to five morphemes, from a selection of twelve, which appear consistently in the same order. Though there is some semblance of regularity in the paradigm, …

Phonetic Shift /Ɔr/ Phonemic Change? American English Mergers Over 40 Years, Joseph A. Stanley, Margaret E. L. Renwick

Faculty Publications

In this paper we analyze the vowel formants of a speaker over four decades to show phonemic change through time. Other real-time studies (Harrington, Palethorpe & Watson 2000; Harrington & Reubold 2015) have found that the vowel spaces of UK English speakers shift over the lifetime, likely as a consequence of interaction with speakers of other dialects or social classes. We focus on an understudied variety of English, spoken in the western United States, to investigate a pair of phonological mergers, the cord-card merger and the hoarse-horse merger.

The cord-card merger is a result of a historical three-way contrast of …

Cultural Relevance In An English Language Learners' Classroom: A Qualitative Case Study, Katherine L. Roe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Colleges and universities typically provide remedial reading coursework for English language learners (ELL) to develop academic reading proficiency. However, a disproportionate number of ELLs fail to exit remedial classes. Prior research has indicated cultural relevance can motivate and stimulate learning; however, the extent to which a culturally relevant classroom curriculum makes a difference in the ELL classroom experience has not been fully explored. This study describes the experience of cultural relevance in an academic reading ELL college class. Moll's funds of knowledge was used as the conceptual framework in a qualitative case study to examine how cultural strengths and knowledge …

Re-Analyzing The Function Of Demonstrative Reference In Tajik, Kelly E. Bowman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents a re-analysis of Tajik demonstratives based on an alternative to the widely accepted framework for understanding demonstrative reference. In this framework, demonstrative reference is categorized according to two criteria: the anchor relative to which reference is made, and the number of spatial distinctions the system has for encoding distance from the anchor (Levinson 2004, O’Grady 2010). According to previous literature (Rastorgueva 1963, Perry 2005, Windfuhr & Perry 2009), Tajik has a speaker-anchored, two-way reference system. However, these criteria alone do not account for the data presented in this thesis. I therefore propose the following change to this …

Social Cues And The Interpretation Of Ambiguous Pronouns By Bilingual Speakers, Fabiola Tortajada

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Gestures are a crucial part of communication as they aid listeners in identifying meaning in conversation. The present study investigates the relationship between attention-direction gestures and the interpretation of discourse information in bilingual and monolingual speakers.

Most research to this day has focus on the production of non-verbal cues in bilingual speakers, while the domain in comprehension of non-verbal cues has not yet been explored in this population. The aim of the present study is to contribute to filling this gap, by examining how bilingual speakers use attention-directing cues, such as Looking and Pointing, when they interpret discourse information (i.e., …

The Understanding Of Implied Meaning In Monolingual And Bilingual Children, Kenah Linger

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The development of pragmatic language and how it is treated cognitively in monolingual and bilingual speakers is a topic of debate. Language pragmatic skills can include: knowing that you have to answer a question that is being asked, being able to participate in conversation by taking turns, and the ability to maintain a topic. Furthermore, the study of pragmatics has also focused on understanding how we comprehend language that is not explicit. For example, comprehending the sentence, "We'd love to have you over for dinner" involves deciding whether this is an invitation, a statement of desire, or even an empty …

Ideologías Lingüísticas, José Del Valle, Vítor Meirinho

Publications and Research

This article provides an introduction to the concept of linguistic ideologies and its applicability to sociolinguistic analysis.

December 30, 2015: Mckittrick Keynote Opens Ellis Series Spring Season, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Department of English Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Series WMU Faculty Keynote Lecture Casey McKittrick

December 17, 2015: 2016 Green Rose Prize From New Issues, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The 2016 Green Rose Prize Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum by Nadine Sabra Meyer

December 16, 2015: The Gwen Frostic Reading Series Spring 2016, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

The Gwen Frostic Reading Series Schedule for Spring 2016 Semester

December 12, 2015: Spring 2016 Anthony Ellis Scholarly Speakers Events, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

The Minstrel Legacy: African American English And The Historical Construction Of "Black" Identities In Entertainment, Jennifer Bloomquist

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

Linguists have long been aware that the language scripted for "ethnic" roles in the media has been manipulated for a variety of purposes ranging from the construction of character "authenticity" to flagrant ridicule. This paper provides a brief overview of the history of African American roles in the entertainment industry from minstrel shows to present-day films. I am particularly interested in looking at the practice of distorting African American English as an historical artifact which is commonplace in the entertainment industry today. Dialogue which is clearly meant as an imitation of African American English still results in the construction of …

A Qualitative Analysis Of The English Language Teaching Practices Of Latter-Day Saint Missionaries, Rachel Tui Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the teaching practices of recently returned Latter-day Saint (LDS) missionaries who voluntarily taught the English language on their full-time missions' serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout various parts of the world. The analyses performed in this research offer an insider's perspective by looking at a large selection of qualitative data gathered directly from these missionaries to provide evidential insight into what those practices are, including the most effective and the most ineffective teaching practices as principally perceived by the missionaries themselves. Thus far, there has been no research reported or data gathered …