Linguistics Commons^™

Mani: Buk 2, George Tucker Childs, Meghan Oswalt, Dan Oswalt, Hannah Sarvasy

Mani, a Disappearing Language of Sierra Leone and Guinea

Book 2 in a series of 4 primers for the Mani language, created by G. Tucker Childs. Based on fieldwork in the coastal Samou region of Guinea (Conakry) and Sierra Leone, beginning in 2000.

Illustrated by Hannah Sarvasy, with contributions from Meghan Oswalt and Dan Oswalt.

Mani: Buk 3, George Tucker Childs, Meghan Oswalt, Dan Oswalt, Hannah Sarvasy

Mani, a Disappearing Language of Sierra Leone and Guinea

Book 3 in a series of 4 primers for the Mani language, created by G. Tucker Childs. Based on fieldwork in the coastal Samou region of Guinea (Conakry) and Sierra Leone, beginning in 2000.

Illustrated by Hannah Sarvasy, with contributions from Meghan Oswalt and Dan Oswalt.

Mani: Buk 4, George Tucker Childs, Meghan Oswalt, Dan Oswalt, Hannah Sarvasy

Mani, a Disappearing Language of Sierra Leone and Guinea

Book 4 in a series of 4 primers for the Mani language, created by G. Tucker Childs. Based on fieldwork in the coastal Samou region of Guinea (Conakry) and Sierra Leone, beginning in 2000.

Illustrated by Hannah Sarvasy, with contributions from Meghan Oswalt and Dan Oswalt.

Cultivating A Rainbow Median Through The Study Of Sexuality In Second Language Acquisition: Identity Construction Of Lesbian Women Native To The Southern Region Of The United States, Elizabeth Walker Graves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite diverging theories concerning the dissimilarities between male and female speakers, there is a general consensus that there is relevance in the relationship between gender and language, especially when considering the sociolinguistic effects of gender in second language acquisition and for the L2 learner. While there is a wealth of publications dedicated to examining the relationship between gendered roles and language, the idea of superseding the study of gender roles with a more comprehensive and considered study of gender identities has not been as forthcoming until very recently. Furthermore, there is little significant research into the relationship between gender identity …

Linguist Lafond Organizes Space Meeting, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Effective Grammar Instruction Into The Classroom, Erin Mary Harrity

Honors Program Theses

The debate about the effectiveness of traditional grammar instruction has been ongoing for many decades now. Traditional grammar instruction involves memorization of grammatical rules and practice exercise drills. As early as 1936, the Curriculum Commission of the National Council of Teachers of English stated that “‘all teaching of grammar separate from the manipulation of sentences [should] be discontinued…since every scientific attempt to prove that knowledge of grammar is useful has failed’” (Weaver, Teaching 9). So why is grammar still being taught in the same way-through traditional direct instruction-in many schools? It is because some parents, administrators, politicians, researchers, and teachers …

Korean Parents' Attitudes, Motivations, And Home Literacy Practices Toward Bilingualism Between Korean And English In Korea, Byunghyun Jang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to examine Korean parents’ attitudes, motivations, and home literacy practices toward their children’s participation in bilingualism in Korean and English in Korea. The success of foreign language learning is influenced by positive attitudes and the level of motivation regarding the target language. Language learners’ attitudes and motivations toward a target language are closely related to their development of language proficiency, and children are often strongly influenced by their parents. The present study was conducted by the survey that was comprised of four-part Likert-type statements. The participants consisted of parents who have children enrolled in …

Developing Social Networks And Language Learning: Japanese Esl Students In A Study Abroad Context, Michiyo Fujimoto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigates the relationship between the English language proficiency of Japanese students in a short term study abroad (SA) context and the structure of their social networks. Their personal social networks were investigated through individual interviews. Analyzing their investment in English along with examining their construction of social networks, the purpose of this study is to investigate if there are any relationships between their type of social network and their English proficiency. The data was collected through individual interviews. Their oral English proficiency was evaluated by the Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit (SPEAK) developed by the Educational Testing …

Functional Morphology Of The Sphyrnid Shark Cephalofoil: An Assessment Of The Hydrodynamic Lift Hypothesis Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Matthew K. Gaylord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The hammerhead sharks (Family: Sphyrnidae) are all characterized by a conspicuous lateral expansion and dorsoventral flattening of the head forming a structure known as a cephalofoil, however, there is substantial morphological variation within the clade. Many theories have been proposed regarding the functional aspects of this structure. One of these is that it may produce beneficial dynamic lift as the shark swims (in similar fashion to the cambered wings found on many modern-day aircraft). As sharks do not possess a swim bladder, part of their energy intake is expended on simply maintaining vertical station in the water column. If indeed …

Implicit Attitudes Of Ethnicity And Language: Evaluative And Associative Priming, Eva Margarita De La Riva Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Most members of minority groups belong to both an ethnic and a linguistic minority. The interplay between these two related yet independent constructs has not been explored. For this reason, this study examined language attitudes following the theoretical model of social categorization by using implicit measures. This study also investigated the implicit association between language and ethnicity. In this manner, the relationship that exists between attitudes towards minority groups and attitudes towards minority languages can be disentangled. A simultaneous study of implicit attitudes of ethnicity and language, and the association between ethnicity and language, may elucidate possible mechanisms involved in …

The Big Green Mama-Mind-Fuck Machine, Byron W. Cross

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

PREFACE

"so much depends upon

a red wheel barrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens."

-W. C. Williams

The Big Green Mama-mind-fuck Machine was born in a debris field of violence, of conflict. I write mostly from an autobiographical place and a debris field is the perfect way to describe the careful stitching together of my experiences, taking a memory and extracting the emotional boom it left behind. I take the piece and spin it in zero gravity, carefully examining it. For this reason, writing an Ars Poetica without "I" would be an impossibility for me. So, after …

La Palabra Y El Mundo: Entrevista Con B. Kumaravadivelu = The Word And The World: Interview With B. Kumaravadivelu, B Kumaravadivelu

Faculty Publications

B. KUMARAVADIVELU es catedrático en el Departamento de Lingüística y de Desarrollo del Lenguaje de la San José State University, en California, Estados Unidos. Es autor de numerosos artículos y de algunas obras significativas en el campo de la metodología de lenguas: Beyond Methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching (2003), Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to Postmethod (2006), Cultural Globalization and Language Education (2008) y la más reciente Language Teacher Education for a Global Society (2012). El cuestionario que conforma esta entrevista ha sido elaborado por José Manuel Foncubierta y ha contado con la participación y/o asesoramiento de Ernesto Martín …

Extracting Information From French Obituaries, Deryle W. Lonsdale, David W. Embley, Stephen W. Liddle, Joseph Park

Faculty Publications

This paper discusses ongoing efforts to develop a system for extracting information from French obituaries. The approach is based on prior work on ontology-based English obituary extraction, which we first summarize. Then we mention sources for, and characteristics of, typical French obituaries. We sketch ongoing knowledge source development and the relevant tools, as well as an evaluation procedure we intend to follow for quantifying performance of the French system. Throughout we mention some lessons learned in the process.

Review Of Understanding Morphological Rules, By Stela Manova, Jeffery R. Parker

Faculty Publications

In this monograph Stela Manova dicusses word-formation processes ("techniques" in her terminology) based on data from several Slavic languages: Bulgarian, Russian, and Serbian/Croatian. Manova presents theoretical support and a wealth of data to argue that conversion and subtraction operate similarly to other morphological techniques; that is to say, they operate in both derivation and inflection, have prototypical and non-prototypical instances, can be applied to different bases (words, stems, and roots) and compete with other, more iconic, morphological processes. While some of her examples could be disputed, she presents ample data and discussion to support her claims. This work will be …

Working Memory’S Meager Involvement In Sentence Repetition Tests, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Eve Kiyomi Okura

Faculty Publications

Elicited imitation (EI) is a testing method for learners’ oral language proficiency. One common criticism aimed at EI is that performance might not require linguistic knowledge, but mere rote memorization. This study explores the issue by administering two tests to the same group of students studying English as a second language: (1) a working memory test, and (2) an English EI test. Participants came from a range of English language proficiency levels. Our goal was to test whether scores from these two treatments (English EI scores and working memory scores) would correlate significantly. If not, this would suggest that there …

Multilingual Extraction Ontologies, Deryle W. Lonsdale, David W. Embley, Stephen W. Liddle, Yuri A. Tijerino

Faculty Publications

In our global society, multilingual barriers sometimes prohibit and often discourage international travelers from receiving desired goods and services. In a multilingual setting, easing linguistic-based tasks such as finding a restaurant, learning how to use local mass transit, and making simple business transactions would help remove barriers and encourage international travelers to seek and enjoy a wider variety goods and services. We propose multilingual extraction ontologies accessible via mobile devices as an aid to resolving these issues. Multilingual ontologies can communicate in multiple languages with the wireless local web as well as the international traveler and can thus break through …

Choice, Coercion, Capabilities And Conflict: Multilingualism, Human Development And Peacekeeping In A Globalized World, Megan R. Thompson

Honors Projects

The development of English into an international lingua franca is not an inevitable result of globalizing forces. Instead, the “triumph” of the English language and the consequent decline of the world’s linguistic diversity cannot be viewed in isolation of its parallel history of conquest, violence, power and exploitation. Today, the languages privileged by the powerful—not only English, but also other dominant languages or standard varieties of those languages—determine access to social, economic and political mobility. This fact renders any discussion of language “choice” irrelevant—when a choice yields the sacrifice of basic human capabilities on one hand and the denial of …

Being Physically Active: Perceptions Of Recent Mexican Immigrant Women On The Arizona-Mexico Border, Donna Hartweg, Christina Isabelli, Marylyn Mcewen, Rosie Piper

Scholarship

Mexican immigrant women report being physically active prior to arrival in the United States. However, with increased years of U.S. residency, this positive lifestyle behavior diminishes, increasing their risk of obesity and chronic disease. A qualitative descriptive design was used to elicit recent Mexican immigrant women’s perceptions of “being physically active” and to describe how living in the United States has influenced their perceptions of being physically active. Three themes were inductively generated: (a) purposeful exercising, (b) being active, and (c) being active with purposeful exercising. Overall, being physically active was described within the context of daily living well below …

Evaluating The Similarity Estimator Component Of The Twin Personality-Based Recommender System, Alexandra Roshchina, John Cardiff, Paolo Rosso

Conference Papers

With the constant increase in the amount of information available in online communities, the task of building an appropriate Recommender System to support the user in her decision making process is becoming more and more challenging. In addition to the classical collaborative filtering and content based approaches, taking into account ratings, preferences and demographic characteristics of the users, a new type of Recommender System, based on personality parameters, has been emerging recently. In this paper we describe the TWIN (Tell Me What I Need) Personality Based Recommender System, and report on our experiments and experiences of utilizing techniques which allow …

Context Cues For Classification Of Competitive And Collaborative Overlaps, Catharine Oertel, Marcin Wlodarczak, Alexey Tarasov, Nick Campbell, Petra Wagner

Conference papers

Being able to respond appropriately to users’ overlaps should be seen as one of the core competencies of incremental dialogue systems. At the same time identifying whether an interlocutor wants to support or grab the turn is a task which comes naturally to humans, but has not yet been implemented in such systems. Motivated by this we first investigate whether prosodic characteristics of speech in the vicinity of overlaps are significantly different from prosodic characteristics in the vicinity of non-overlapping speech. We then test the suitability of different context sizes, both preceding and following but excluding features of the overlap, …