Linguistics Commons^™

Effects Of The First Language On Japanese Esl Learners' Answers To Negative Questions, Kosuke Kanda

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates how Japanese learners of English respond to English negative questions. Previous research has reported that Japanese learners of English make errors in yes/no responses to English negative questions due to the first language (L1) influence (Kang & Lim-chang, 1998; Takashima, 1989). From the perspective of L1 influence, there are two learning pitfalls: different functions of the yes/no response and different interpretations of negative questions. Both of these influences were examined in this study.

This study involved 8 Japanese learners of English, 4 females and 4 males, attending Portland State University (PSU). In order to elicit data that …

April 24, 2014: Shakespeare's Jewish Women, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Autosegmental Analysis In The Exploration Of Prosodic Phonology In Mandarin Chinese, Kristen Frazier

Senior Honors Theses

Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith, 1979) is a theoretical framework for understanding the phonological effects of suprasegmentals such as tone, stress, etc. Using data taken from an experiment in which Mandarin Chinese tone sandhi (the acknowledged rules governing specific tone shifts across segments) is explored, a number of phonologists, specifically Kenstowicz (2003), have shown that the relationship between the segment and the tone is autonomous. In the experiment, non-sense words with a potential tone sandhi rule are presented to the Mandarin speakers. The speakers automatically apply the tone sandhi rule which is then analyzed using an autosegmental framework. The speakers consciously separate …

Is Self-Sufficiency Really Sufficient? A Critical Analysis Of Federal Refugee Resettlement Policy And Local Attendant English Language Training In Portland, Oregon, Domminick Mcparland

Dissertations and Theses

Since the 1951 United Nations Convention, nations have dealt with refugee issues in various ways. In the United States, since the Vietnam War, there has been great debate and a significant amount of research on issues of refugee resettlement, with these discourses inherently involving issues of power and ideology. English language training and the promotion of economic self-sufficiency have been interventions used to integrate and assimilate refugees into American culture and society. These two interventions were the subject of the current investigation.

The purpose of this study was to look into the way federal refugee resettlement policy mandated by the …

April 21, 2014: The Newberry Center For Renaissance Studies Presents, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Tshiluba Language Structures, Vanessa Rosenbaum, Kelli Billings, Janessa Gohn, Libby Holcomb, Jessica Lahey, Jessica Milanez, Kelly Nuttall, Tyler Scoggins, Kristen Smith, Stephanie Todd, Jake Young, Albert Romain Bantumbakulu Mukuna, Daniel Miko-Mikyene

College of Arts and Sciences Presentations

This poster provides a preliminary description of the linguistic features of Tshiluba (also known as Luba-Kasai), a major language spoken in the south-central, Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and by several refugee families in the Boise area. Tshiluba is characterized as an Atlantic-Congo, Narrow Bantu, Central language (L31) within the Niger-Congo language family and, although it is spoken by over 6 million people and enjoys national language status in DRC, it has not received extensive recent attention in the linguistic literature. Over the course of a semester, our group has met with native speakers of Tshiluba …

The Analogical Modeling Of Variation In Russian Inflectional Morphology, Vitalijs Sadovskis, Dr. Royal Skousen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The primary purpose of this project was to explain the common and frequently occurring phenomena of variation in Russian morphology. This research is based on empirical data from the Russian language output of native speakers of Russian. The data sets were prepared for and processed by the Analogical Modeling software designed specifically for predicting language behavior. The results of computer analysis were compared with the actual language usage.

April 20, 2014: Award-Winning Writer Yoko Tawada Reading At Wmu, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

April 17, 2014: Newberry Graduate Scholar-In-Residence Opportunity!, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

April 16, 2014: Nigerian Writer Chika Unigwe Visits Wmu, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Knowing Knobe: A Linguistic Approach, Justin Stark

Journal of Undergraduate Research

People encounter and make decisions constantly. Trivially, we may need to decide which color blue better matches our eyes or, significantly, we may be asked to make a decision as participants in a jury, a decision that could affect the rest of someone’s life. Some of the more important and influential decisions we make are moral decisions. There has been a lot of interesting research analyzing and discussing moral decisions and the studies range in discipline from neuroscience to philosophy. Some of this research has suggested that language can play an important role in our decision-making processes as well as …

April 11, 2014: Where Is The Neil Degrasse Tyson Of The Humanities?, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Corpus Linguistics Of The Vernacular: “Catching A Cold” In Text Types That Complement Google Books Data, Laurel Smith Stvan

Linguistics & TESOL Faculty Publications & Presentations - Archive

Poster presented at the Texas Digital Humanities Consortium (TXDHC) on April 11, 2014

April 8, 2014: Bradburn To Participate In Neh Seminar, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Arabic Study Abroad: An Exploratory Study Of Connections Between Journal Writing And Language Gains, Kendon Kurzer, Dr. Dan Dewey

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project explored connections between language gains and instances of positive and negative responses as recorded in pseudo-dialogue journals kept by second language learners of Arabic participating in a study abroad (SA) program to Jordan. Daily journals from seven of forty-four total participants were analyzed for this project: those of the four students who showed the most proficiency gains over the course of the program as determined by pre- and post-study abroad program Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) scores, and those of the three students who showed no proficiency gains between their pre- and post-program OPI scores. Trends noted included the …

Factors Influencing Language Gains For Chinese Speakers During Study Abroad, Spencer Ring, Andrew Westover, Dr. Dan Dewey

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this project, we aimed to investigate factors that influence study abroad students’ development of linguistic proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. We decided to focus on Mandarin Chinese because, as Dewey (2007) observes, an understanding of what factors affect the development of proficiency in Asian languages is limited compared with European languages, which have received more research focus in second language acquisition studies.

Ethnic Group Affiliation And Second Language Acquisition, Sarah Franklin, Dr. Wendy Baker-Smemoe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Over the past forty years a significant amount of research has explored how to improve second language (L2) acquisition, most of which has examined factors that influence this ability. Little research, however, has examined how ethnic group affiliation (defined as how closely you feel attached to your native culture and language) affects this learning, especially in bilingual communities. It is hoped that the current research will not only help in understanding the many factors that influence L2 acquisition, but may also demonstrate how ethnic group affiliation can be used to preserve endangered languages throughout the world.

A Study Of Second Language Acquisition Of Glottal Ejectives Through A Comparative Phonetic Analysis Of Mayan Q’Eqchi’ Native Speakers And English L2 Learners Of Q’Eqchi’, Karl Olaw Christian Wagner, Dr. Wendy Baker Smemoe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The research the grant from the Office of Research and Creative Activities has allowed me to perform has been a wonderful opportunity that has helped me to take my undergraduate work to a higher level. To be able to apply the linguistic knowledge I’ve gained in the classroom in real research, even research abroad at that has been of great worth to me. The entire process has been a learning experience and continues to be so as I finish my work on this project. This process, from the first rough sketches of a possible research project to the current work …

Japanese Sentence Parsing In An Artificial Intelligence System, Nathan Glenn, Dr. Deryle Lonsdale

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this project, we created a Japanese sentence parser that functions within a cognitive modeling architecture known as Soar. It was created by modifying an existing English parser called XNL-Soar, which implements minimalist principles in syntactic parsing. Japanese lexical access is performed via GoSen and a Java interface to the Japanese WordNet, and syntactic and semantic processing is done within Soar. The ease with which the parser was modified to process Japanese input is extremely encouraging and lends support to its use as model of human sentence processing, as well as to the Minimalist Program in linguistics. The system is …

April 5, 2014: Wright Lecture Wraps Up Speakers Series, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.