Linguistics Commons^™

Linguistics As Structure In Computer Animation: Toward A More Effective Synthesis Of Brow Motion In American Sign Language, Rosalee Wolfe, Peter Cook, John C. Mcdonald, Jerry Schnepp

Visual Communications and Technology Education Faculty Publications

Computer-generated three-dimensional animation holds great promise for synthesizing utterances in American Sign Language (ASL) that are not only grammatical, but well tolerated by members of the Deaf community. Unfortunately, animation poses several challenges stemming from the necessity of grappling with massive amounts of data. However, the linguistics of ASL can aid in surmounting the challenge by providing structure and rules for organizing animation data. An exploration of the linguistic and extra linguistic behavior of the brows from an animator’s viewpoint yields a new approach for synthesizing nonmanuals that differs from the conventional animation of anatomy and instead offers a different …

Rhetorical Weapons: The Social And Psychological Influences Of Language And Labeling In Instances Of Genocide, Emma C. Jones

CMC Senior Theses

It is difficult to understand why genocide continues to occur, even when the international community pledges never to let it happen in the future. Techniques such as moral disengagement and dehumanization have consistently resulted in genocide. These techniques can be greatly amplified through the careful use of language and labeling. The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles that language and labeling play in genocide. Social and psychological influences that use language will be investigated through the examination of the Holocaust, the Cambodian genocide and the Rwandan genocide. These influences are many times unintentionally or unknowingly exercised and …

A Sociopragmatic Study Of Linguistic Politeness In Iranian Requests And Apologies., Mohsen Shahrokhi

Student Works (2010-2019)

To tap the native speakers’ perception of request and apology speech acts situations, this study investigated the realization of request and apology speech acts in single-sex discourse of Persian males. The study explored the variability of requests and apologies due to such context-external variables as social distance and social dominance as well as context-internal variable to categorize and tabulate the request and apology strategies employed in Persian male discourse. The relevant data was collected through Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and audiorecorded Role-Play from among Persian males in situations where the social distance between the interlocutors was a binary valued variable, …

Gender Exclusion In Job Advertisments., Syaza Normarya Omar

Student Works (2010-2019)

Early in 2010, the concern of the rising number of women in high ranking positions in the Malaysian Public Service was raised by the Secretary-General of the Congress of Unions of Employees of Public and Civil Service (CUEPACS), Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin. The increase in the number of women in top positions is not a new issue as women today have already started to break the stereotypical occupational gender-based segregation. The causes of this occupational gender-based segregation should be thoroughly examined and discussed in order to put the issue to an end. Therefore, using samples from job advertisements in printed …

Taboo Language And Gender Stereotypes In Hip Hop Music Videos., Fazleen Md Ruslan

Student Works (2010-2019)

The purpose of this qualitative study is to study the use of taboo language found in selected hip hop music lyrics, to explore how gender is represented in selected hip hop music videos as well as to compare the perceptions of Malaysian audience and local representatives of the hip hop and media industry. Forty Master in English as Second Language (MESL) students and four representatives from the local hip hop industry participated in the study. The forty four respondents answered the questionnaire for survey and a semi-structured interview was conducted with the three representatives from the local media industry. The …

Working Memory In Simultaneous Interpreters: Effects Of Task And Age, Teresa Signorelli, Henk Haarmann, Loraine Obler

Publications and Research

This study examines whether interpreters have better working memory (WM) than noninterpreters, taking into account different WM components and the potential modulatory influence of age. Younger and older interpreters and non-interpreters were tested on reading span, nonword repetition, and order- and category-cued recall, using English, second-language materials. Articulation rate was also assessed. Interpreters outperformed non-interpreters in reading span and nonword repetition, but not cued recall and articulation rate. These results suggest that interpreters have better ability to manipulate information in working memory and process or store sub-lexical phonological representations, but have no advantage in short-term retention of words and their …

Sign Language Humor, Human Singularities, And The Origins Of Language, Donna Jo Napoli, R. Sutton-Spence

Linguistics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

A Systemic Functional Investigation Into Experiential Meanings In The Biographies Of Mozart, Beethoven And Schubert ., Christina John

Student Works (2010-2019)

The present study investigates Experiential meanings in the genre of biographies of famous music composers. Specifically, the study investigates the System of Transitivity and the Schematic structure of three music composers of the 18th century namely Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. The texts were coded, analysed and interpreted in terms of Transitivity (Process Types, Participants and Circumstantial elements), based on the model by Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), Eggins (2004), Bloor and Bloor (2004) and Thompson (2004), and Schematic structure by Eggins (2004). Data for the study comprised six texts; Two different accounts for each composer’s biographies. The findings show that the …

Masalah Penyebutan Huruf Al-Qur'an Di Kalangan Saudara Baru : Satu Kajian Kes., Sabariah Othman

Student Works (2010-2019)

The research is focusing on the problems faced by the convert speaker especially the new muslims in reciting al-Qur‟an al-Karim and the impact on the pronunciations and the effect to the teaching and learning are discussed. Almost all of the convert speaker did not realize and understand the important of pronunciations of the Arabic alphabets in their daily life as a muslim. In consequence, they did not care about their study and not taking seriously in learning al-Qur‟an al-Karim. The main aim of this research is to identify the major factors which affected them in reciting the al-Qur‟an al-Karim due …

Cognitive And Metacognitive Reading Strategies Of Iranian Efl Learners., Reza Aghaei

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study explored the cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies employed by Iranian EFL learners. It also examined significant relationships between cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies and the gender and English proficiency of the learners. Further, it looked at the impact of explicit teaching of these strategies on reading performance and self-efficacy. The study employed two instruments for data collection: a questionnaire adopted from Chamot and O’Malley’s (1994) cognitive and metacognitive strategies and think-aloud protocols. A total of 300 high school students participated in this study. The study, mixed method in design, utilized quantitative and qualitative methods. Independent t-tests and analysis …

Kemahiran Mendengar Pelajar Melayu Dalam Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran Bahasa Mandarin : Satu Kajian Kes., Tan Lee Na

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study is a case study to examine four important issues regarding Malay students’ listening skill in learning Mandarin, in particular the aspect of Chinese phonetics, also known as Hanyu Pinyin (HP). The first issue addresses the students’ ability to transcribe and distinguish between the main components of HP. Secondly, to study the mistakes often done by students in their listening skill. The third issue is to identify the causes of errors in the process of transcribing the initial and final syllables and tone in the HP. The final issue provides alternative solutions to overcome the problems faced by students …

The Relationship Between Language Anxiety And English Reading And Writng Task Performance., Isamedin Abdelrahman Ibrahim Sulaiman

Student Works (2010-2019)

Though the existing literature shows contradictory findings, most researchers report a significant and negative relationship between language anxiety and students‟ language achievement. Using a quantitative approach, this study investigates this relationship between foreign language anxiety and the reading and writing achievements in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) among Arab university students. A total of 50 Omani students who were registered in the foundation program at Dhofar University (Spring Semester, 2009) took part in the survey. The survey consisted of three instruments, i.e., the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) self-report questionnaire, an English reading test and an English writing …

Spelling Errors In The Writing Of Malay Lower Secondary School Students., Ardiana Arshad

Student Works (2010-2019)

This research is a study on spelling errors made by Form 2 Malay students from SMK Wangsa Maju, Kuala lumpur. The data was collected from 100 of students where essays and questionnaires were gathered from each student, giving a total of 100 essays and questionnaires. The research focuses on spelling error, types of spelling error and the cause of spelling error in English writing especially among Malay learners. Spelling is a linguistic skill. Spelling is also a written language skill that draws upon an individual’s knowledge of linguistic. This is because spelling errors are usually faulty predictions based on an …

An Acoustic Study Of English Vowels Produced By Persian Efl Student., Hilda Delavari

Student Works (2010-2019)

English in Iran is formally taught as a foreign language in schools from Junior High School (12 years old and above). As a foreign language, the use of English language is restricted to the classroom and many Iranian students have problems using the language especially in the area of pronunciation. However, there is a dearth of research into aspects of pronunciation and thus it is difficult to ascertain the actual problems that learners face when producing English sounds. In an attempt to fill this gap, a research was conducted to examine the production of English vowels by Persian speakers through …

Code-Switching Among Malaysian Professionals During Meetings., Vanaja K. Balan

Student Works (2010-2019)

Most Malaysians are conversant in two or more languages and as bilinguals or multilinguals it becomes very natural for them to switch from one language to another. This behaviour is known as code switching and is becoming more prevalent among Malaysians, both in formal and informal situations. This study was conducted to identify the frequency of code switching and discover what functions of code switching are fulfilled when Malaysian professionals of a multinational company code switch during meetings. In addition, the study also investigated whether code switching occurred deliberately or involuntarily. The subjects are all bilingual or multilingual professionals of …

Ten Lectures On Mind And Language, Mark Bernard Turner

Faculty Scholarship

Ten Lectures on Mind and Language By Mark Turner
/="/">马克·特纳 心智与语言十讲
/="/">Copyright © Mark Turner 2009
/="/">These lectures were delivered by Mark Turner in May 2009, when he was the forum speaker for the Seventh China International Forum on Cognitive Linguistics. They were originally published as a book in the Eminent Linguists Lecture Series, 世界著名语言学家系列讲座。It includes the slideshows and handouts from the talks.

Contents 目录
/="/">Summaries of the lectures in Chinese 汉语导读
/="/">Lecture One: Human Meaning 人类的意义
/="/">Lecture Two: Conceptual Integration 概念整合
/="/">Lecture Three: Double-Scope Cognition 双域认知
/="/">Lecture Four: Mental Packing and …

Deaf Around The World: The Impact Of Language, G. Mathur, Donna Jo Napoli

Linguistics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Learning Without Awareness Reconsidered: A Replication Of Williams (2005), Mandy Faretta-Stutenberg, Kara Morgan-Short

CISLL Publications

Researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) disagree as to whether or not learning can take place in the absence of awareness (e.g. Leow, 2000; Tomlin & Villa, 1994; Robinson, 1995b; Schmidt, 1990, 1993; Williams, 2004, 2005). On one hand, many researchers have found that some level of attention or awareness is necessary for linguistic development to occur (e.g. Leow 1997, 2000; Robinson, 1995a; Rosa & Leow, 2004; Schmidt, 1990, 1993). On the other hand, research has found evidence of implicit language learning, or learning in the absence of awareness (e.g. Williams, 2004, 2005). Hama and Leow (2010) …

Prosodylab-Aligner: A Tool For Forced Alignment Of Laboratory Speech, Kyle Gorman, Jonathan Howell, Michael Wagner

Department of Linguistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The Penn Forced Aligner automates the alignment process using the Hidden Markov Model Toolkit (HTK). The core of Prosodylab-Aligner is align.py, a script which performs acoustic model training and alignment. This script automates calls to HTK and SoX, an open-source command-line tool which is capable of resampling audio. The included README file provides instructions for installing HTK and SoX on Linux and Mac OS X, and can also be run on Windows. During training, the model is initialized with flat-start monophones, which are then submitted to a single round of model estimation. Then, a tied-state 'small pause' model is inserted …

The Tower Of Babel Keeps Getting Smaller, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.