Linguistics Commons^™

Neurophysiological Indices Of Lexical Tone Processing In Children With Different Language Background, Andres Felipe Diaz

Theses and Dissertations

The development of lexical tone processing in children is shaped by both language experience and acoustic salience. While mismatch responses (MMRs) and late negativity (LN) components of event-related potentials (ERPs) have revealed early sensitivity to lexical tone in monolingual children, the timeline for achieving adult-like neural responses—particularly for acoustically distinct versus subtle tone contrasts— remains unclear. Moreover, little is known about how bilingual language experience, especially with tonal versus non-tonal home languages, modulates this neural processing. This study employed a passive multi-oddball paradigm using Mandarin Tone 3 (low dipping) as the standard, and Tone 1 (high level) and Tone 2 …

The Beliefs And Attitudes Held By High School Students On Emoji Usage For Communication, Stacy Bonano

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative, phenomenological study explored the attitudes and beliefs of high school students regarding emoji use and its impact on their communication with others. Despite the prevalence of emoji use among adolescents, limited research has examined how students interpret and apply these visual symbols. Eleven high school students from Dutchess County, New York, participated in in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using the theoretical frameworks of semiotics and constructivism to interpret how the students assigned meaning to emojis. Key findings identified emojis as emotional amplifiers, tone clarifiers, and tools of efficient communication. Participants also noted challenges related to misinterpretation and generational …

From The Editors, Meredith Mccarroll, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Zada Komara

Art Faculty Publications

Anyone involved in academic publishing understands—to some extent—the time needed to solicit, compile, and edit a range of voices to create something worthwhile that holds together. To do so in collaboration as editors adds a layer of complexity. Here, we see that complexity pays off as Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth and Zada Komara invite multiple perspectives on material culture in Appalachian society into conversation in this special issue of the Journal of Appalachian Studies. It is an honor to be a small part of this work, carried out by the co-editors, whose introduction follows. I invite you, as you read, to contextualize …

La Historia Externa Del Español Hasta La Reconquista, Alicia Westmoreland

World Languages and Cultures Senior Capstones

This paper talks about the romance language, Spanish, which evolved from Vulgar Latin after the fall of the Roman Empire. Influenced by the Visigoths, Moors, and the Christian Reconquista, its linguistic development reflects centuries of cultural exchange. The Moors introduced Arabic vocabulary, while the Reconquista reinforced Castilian dominance. Despite external influences, Spanish retains a phonetic system closely linked to Latin. This essay examines Spanish’s historical linguistics, highlighting how conquests, migrations, and societal shifts shaped its evolution.

Proficiency And Positivity: Investigating Learner Affect Toward L2 Instructional Methods, Learner Goals, And L2 Success, Natalie Spiva

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Second language (L2) learning outcomes vary widely due to factors both internal and external to the learner, including learning and usage contexts and learner goals and motivations. Learners may feel more proficient in and positive towards an L2 if they have intrinsic motivation and positive experience with the L2. Many students in the United States are first exposed to an L2 later in life as an academic requirement, which often impedes L2 learning success and can limit the learner’s relationship with the L2 and related cultures. Because of the highly interconnected global society, investigating the experiences of today’s language learners …

How Self-Perceptions Relate To Recorded Proficiency: An Action Research Project Aimed At Implementing A Supplemental Reading Program For Balinese Students, Katherine L. Johnson

2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects - Archive

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education has had a complex history globally. This is especially true for Bali, Indonesia, where tourism is the main driver of the local economy. Learning English is highly valued, yet many students are left struggling to build the skills needed to rise above the local poverty line. In this action research study, the primary goal was to analyze students’ reading proficiencies to recommend the implementation of a reading program that could be appropriately tailored to individual students. This was done through administering a reading test, tracking both comprehension and reading speed, and a survey …

Cross-Linguistic Queerness: A Phonetic Study Of How Bilingual Mandarin-English Speakers Index A Sapphic Identity, Malena L. Sparano

Scripps Senior Theses

The comparative lack of research about Queer identities among speakers of other languages limits cross-linguistic and cross-cultural understanding of Queerness within an increasingly globalized community (Cameron and Kulick, 2003). Moreover, the focus on Monolingual, Western, men’s repertoires excludes important nuances that shape identities falling outside the heteropatriarchy, significantly neglecting Sapphic people and Lesbians (Leap, 2008). Sapphic identity helps broaden the scope of traditionally very gendered labeling, stemming from Zita’s (1981) definition as a person identifying as a woman/non-man and experiencing attraction to women or non-men. Bilingual research is key in understanding the specific roles of multivariable cultural and phonetic analysis …

Linguists: Our Evolving Role, Patricia Macgregor-Mendoza

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

As linguists, we play many roles in and out of the classroom. In our classes, we strive to educate students about the nuances of linguistic systems, encourage them to expand upon their innate knowledge of language and inspire them to use this knowledge to enhance their lives, their careers, and their communities. However, as Bucholtz et al. (2014) remind us, “scholars should not simply speak out as expert advocates on behalf of marginalized groups, as important as this responsibility is, but they must also help empower their research participants to take action themselves (Cameron et al. 1992, 1993)” suggesting that …

Book Review - Language Ideologies And Linguistic Identity In Heritage Language Learning., Michelle F. Ramos Pellicia

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

No abstract provided.

40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”, Christopher Janney

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians …

Yoga Sūtra Book Four And The Yogabindu, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Four themes from the fourth pāda of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra are examined here: karma (IV:2-13), individuality (IV:16), humility (IV:20-22), and freedom (IV:29-34). Affirmations and variant interpretations of these four are provided from Haribhadra Virahāṅka’s Yogabindu, most likely composed a century or two later.

Collective Karma: From The Yogasūtra To Taylor Swift, Zoë Slatoff

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Indian knowledge traditions speak at length about karma, which is divided into three categories—accumulated (saṃcita), ripe (prārabdha), and future (kriyamāṇa). While much is said about our individual karma and how it affects our repeated reincarnation in cyclic existence, how does this affect others and how do others affect us? In other words, as this paper explores, what is our reciprocal and collective karma?

Painting Liberation: A Visual Ontology Of The Interplay Of Mind And Consciousness In Book Four Of The Yoga Sūtras, Melissa Townsend

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This presentation explores how artistic practice can illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of mind, consciousness, and liberation as articulated in Book Four of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Through a series of paintings that visually translate these sūtras, I propose that art offers a unique, experiential means of engaging with the complex relationship between citta (mind) and puruṣa (consciousness).

The paintings function as a form of “visual ontology,” inviting viewers to engage with abstract philosophical concepts in a sensory, tangible way. By depicting the interplay between the mutable processes of the mind and the unchanging awareness of consciousness, these …

La Integración De La Literatura Chicana En La Enseñanza Del Español Como Lengua Adicional Hacia La Competencia Cultural Y Lingüística En Ee.Uu., Marina Linares Klauke

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Los enfoques tradicionales para la enseñanza del español como lengua adicional en los Estados Unidos han dependido en gran medida de perspectivas eurocéntricas que priorizan las variedades peninsulares y latinoamericanas, presentando el español como una lengua extranjera desconectada de su realidad sociolingüística dentro del país. Este enfoque obsoleto ignora la presencia histórica y contemporánea del español como una lengua viva utilizada por comunidades hispanohablantes en todo EE. UU., lo que contribuye a una desconexión cultural y lingüística tanto para los estudiantes de herencia como para aquellos que aprenden español como lengua adicional. Esta tesis examina el impacto de la integración …

Listening To Cursive: The Roles Of Regional Identity And Folk Beliefs In Perceptual Cue-Weighting, Stella Takvoryan

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Listeners use knowledge acquired from experiences to weight phonetic-level cues to phonological contrasts. Phonetic knowledge is imbued with expectations about the contexts in which cues covary, speakers of a variety, and identity categories or constructs, so it can be challenging to distinguish expectations about variation from expectations about speakers. This study aims to explore the extent that expectations about iconic vowel quality variation in Southern American Englishes can drive cue-weighting. Listeners categorized stimuli with vowel qualities synthesized from an [ɛ]-[eɪ] continuum from a Southern and a non-Southern talker, with duration manipulated in tandem. Half of the participants saw a label …

How Raciolinguistic Ideologies Shape Afro-Anglophone Caribbean Students' Negotiations Of Their Linguistic Identities, Merlyn Andrea Vanderstarre

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

During the last and current century, the United States has witnessed an increasing upward trend in immigration from the racially and linguistically diverse English-speaking or Anglophone Caribbean (Lorenzi & Batalova, 2022). However, there needs to be more research on Afro-Anglophone Caribbean (AAC) students recounting their experiences in schools in the United States. Framed by a raciolinguistic perspective and post-colonial theory, this qualitative study captures the experiences of seven (7) student participants from four (4) academy high schools in an urban school district in the U.S. Northeast, who provided insights into their linguistic identities and experiences in high schools in the …

Welcoming Historically Under-Represented Groups In Higher Education Through Awareness Of Standard English Ideology, John Hellermann, Lynn Santelmann, Jennifer Mittelstaedt, Janet Cowal, Steven L. Thorne

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the context of changing demographics at regional universities (including our own), we highlight an ongoing project at our university that addresses the last area of acceptable bias in English-medium higher education: bias against speakers of other languages and non-standard dialects of English. We discuss the hegemonic aspect of the Standard Academic English used by default at most US institutions of higher education and its role in potential discrimination against users of languages other than English and dialects other than the Standard. Data from over 2000 surveys, 55 follow up interviews, and three focus groups from faculty, staff and students …

Production & Perception Of /S/ And Pitch Of Transgender Speakers, Connor J. Ryan

Honors Theses and Capstones

Linguistic research on how transgender speakers use speech traits commonly associated with gender, such as f0 and /s/, is still limited in scope. Past research has focused primarily on singular gender groups within the transgender community, particularly transmasculine speakers, leaving gaps in how speech differs among transgender speakers. Additionally, there has been little research on how transgender identity influences perception of gender in speech. Here, I use data from reading passages by fifteen university-age transgender speakers in New England to analyze variation in /s/ and f0 among transmasculine, transfeminine, nonbinary, and multigender speakers. I then performed a perception study using …

Translanguaging: Leveraging Theoretical Shifts Toward Social Change, Sara E. Vogel, Ofelia Garcia

Publications and Research

Translanguaging posits that all people make meaning, communicate, and learn by orchestrating heterogeneous features from a unitary repertoire in ways that defy named languages and other socially constructed language categorizations. In this chapter, we share insights about translanguaging theory for applied linguistics by revisiting themes we surfaced in an encyclopedia article we authored a half-decade ago, specifically reconsidering our 2017 tenets in light of scholarship that has (a) deepened translanguaging's relationships to dismantling social and political hierarchies; (b) emphasized how translanguaging has been used to highlight the heterogeneity of all language-in-use, and not just the practices of those people recognized …

Domains Of Use And Self-Reported Proficiency: A Comparative Study Of Heritage Spanish Speakers Across Two University Campuses, Sara Castro Cantú, Salvatore Callesano

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

This study takes a sociolinguistic approach to exploring self-rated proficiency of Latinx, heritage Spanish speakers in Illinois. Recent studies show how dominant discourses around Spanish-English bilingualism and the educational environment in higher education institutions shape Latinx speakers’ self-perceptions of proficiency. We specifically investigate and compare two groups of college students from Chicago: students who attend a large public Predominantly-white institution in central Illinois, and students who attend a large public Hispanic-Serving institution in the heart of Chicago. Students completed an online survey about their language histories and linguistic profiles. Descriptive correlation analyses are presented that examine the relationships between self-reported …