Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / Alderson (2005) suggests that diagnostic tests should identify strengths and weaknesses in learners' use of language, focus on specific elements rather than global abilities and provide detailed feedback to stakeholders. However, rating scales used in performance assessment have been repeatedly criticized for being imprecise, for using impressionistic terminology (Fulcher, 2003; Upshur & Turner, 1999; Mickan, 2003) and for often resulting in holistic assessments (Weigle, 2002). The aim of this study was to develop a theoretically-based and empirically-developed rating scale and to evaluate whether such a scale functions more reliably and validly in a diagnostic writing context than a pre-existing scale with less specific descriptors of the kind usually used in proficiency tests. The existing scale is used in the Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment (DELNA) administered to first-year students at the University of Auckland. The study was undertaken in two phases. During Phase 1, 601 writing scripts were subjected to a detailed analysis using discourse analytic measures. The results of this analysis were used as the basis for the development of the new rating scale. Phase 2 involved the validation of this empirically-developed scale. For this, ten trained raters applied both sets of descriptors to the rating of 100 DELNA writing scripts. A quantitative comparison of rater behavior was undertaken using FACETS (a multi-faceted Rasch measurement program). Questionnaires and interviews were also administered to elicit the raters' perceptions of the efficacy of the two scales. The results indicate that rater reliability and candidate discrimination were generally higher and that raters were able to better distinguish between different aspects of writing ability when the more detailed, empirically-developed descriptors were used. The interviews and questionnaires showed that most raters preferred using the empirically-developed descriptors because they provided more guidance in the rating process. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for rater training and rating scale development, as well as score reporting in the context of diagnostic assessment.

This thesis discusses two characteristics of language which affect translation, using English and Japanese examples. However, the general points made in the thesis are not specific to these two languages. One characteristic of language is that it encodes particular perceptions of experience by its users. Word meaning is defined in this thesis in terms of the typical experience the language user associates with a word. Concepts for which there are no single lexical items are encoded by putting together words which the speaker thinks best characterise the concept. This particular characterisation of a concept may become established in the language community. If the members of a language community form a habit of characterising a concept in a particular way, it may become difficult to perceive the concept in any other way. In translation, this may lead the translator to impose characterizations established in her own language on the other language. However, such difficulties can be overcome because of the creative capacity of people everywhere to learn new ways to perceive the world. And language provides the mechanism to encode such novel perception. This is the other characteristic of language discussed in this thesis. We can use an existing word to encode a new kind of experience which we perceive as having some connection with the kind of experience associated with the word. Such novel application of a word can be understood because upon hearing the word, the typical experience associated with the word is evoked in the hearer's mind, and using her knowledge, the hearer constructs a mental model which she thinks best accounts for the combination of experiences evoked in her mind by the linguistic forms. Defining word meaning and sentence meaning in terms of mental images allows us to understand the process of translation: Upon hearing/reading the source language text, the translator constructs a mental model based on the text. She then bases her translation on this mental model, which becomes a rich source of information. Because the translator is not moving directly from one language to the other, no direct correspondences between the linguistic forms of the two languages need to be sought. This also explains why it is relatively easy to translate between two languages whose users share similar experiences and therefore can build similar mental models, even if the languages are typologically very different from each other.

This thesis explores L1 attrition among young Korean-English late bilinguals. Thirty Korean immigrants to New Zealand, who had arrived at the age of 12-13 years and had spent at least 2 years in New Zealand, participated in the study. Ten monolingual Korean children aged 12 years served as a comparison group for L1 data. Linguistic data in both L1 and L2 were elicited by a standardised picture-naming test and a story-retelling task supplemented by a stimulated recall protocol. Information related to social variables and language use patterns was elicited through a questionnaire and interviews. Skehan (1996; 1998; 2001) proposes three dimensions of linguistic performance— accuracy, fluency, and complexity. The general findings suggest that accuracy and lexical diversity in L1 are most susceptible to attrition and that there is general positive transfer from L1 to L2 skills. While there is no direct negative interaction between L1 and L2 proficiency, analysis reveals that increasing L2 fluency and a decrease in L1 use have possible indirect effects on attrition in L1 accuracy but not in L1 lexical diversity. The data suggest that, while the frequency of return visits to the homeland is an important social variable, language use involving the father and siblings is also an important factor in attrition or maintenance of L1 proficiency of adolescent late bilinguals. Qualitative analysis conducted on five cases corroborates the quantitative findings. Analyses of speech samples reveal that synthetic structures with semantic ambiguity are most susceptible to L1 attrition. The qualitative analysis also highlights the role of L2 socialisation in L1 attrition in adolescent immigrant children who negotiate their language use and identities in an L2-dominant environment and show different patterns of attrition in their L1.

Error Analysis has been widely used in studies of second language learning. At the same time, foreign language learning (as opposed to teaching), has largely been ignored as an object of research. The research had three major aims: to examine the potential of Error Analysis in foreign language learning by the development and trialling of a complex new coding schedule for analysing learner errors in French; to provide some descriptive data on the written errors and performance of foreign language pupils over a complete scholastic year; and to explore the nature of foreign language learning strategies used by the pupils studied. The thesis opens with a statement of purpose and method. This is followed by a short discussion of theories, topics and techniques in second and foreign language learning. The development of two forms of the coding schedule used to analyse errors is described and discussed. Recode checks and the development of 'Coding Confidence Levels' are presented. Procedures used in a longitudinal study of errors are then described. This study acted as an important trial for the coding schedules, known as Foreign Language Error Analysis: French (FLEAF). All written French produced by eight pupils in the same school class was collected over the 1978 New Zealand school year (February to December). The group were in their second year of high school French and had an average age of 14 years 5 months midway through the study. Background information is given about the subjects, including results of selected IEA French (Population II) tests administered during the year. Some description of the year's work is given, followed by general and case study analyses of errors. Selected results from both the longer (FLEAF-L) and shorter (FLEAF-S) coding schedules are then tabulated and discussed. Particular attention is paid to variables coding possible explanations for errors. Detailed analyses of errors in word order, negation and gender are offered, along with a review of correct performances for selected aspects. These analyses lead to two preliminary hypotheses which could in part explain the occurrence of errors. One hypothesis relates to the frequency with which pupils had been required to focus through drills on the point at issue, the other to the number of choices available to the pupil at the time of error. Discussion of Error Analysis and pupil strategies is then presented. It is concluded that Error Analysis has a valid role in developing hypotheses for a theory of foreign language learning. Five such hypotheses, suggested by the longitudinal study, are presented. It is argued that these five could all be classified on one of a proposed five levels of 'Operating Procedures' (McLaughlin, 1978a). Selection of a unique cluster of operating procedures would constitute the learning/performance 'strategy' of a particular pupil. These notions are incorporated into a tentative framework for a theory of foreign language learning. A modified 'Principle of Least Effort' (Zipf, 1965), is suggested as a key factor in the early stages of learning a foreign language, and ideas for subsequent research are proposed. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

The Apostolic Fathers is the name given to the body of literature, written in Greek, which dates from immediately after the New Testament period. The works cover the last decade of the 1st century AD, and the first half of the second century. They give a varied picture of the moral and doctrinal state of the early Christian Church in a period characterised by constant threat of persecution and martyrdom on the one hand, and growth in theological and ethical understanding on the other. The works considered in this thesis are the genuine letters of Ignatius; the Shepherd of Hermas; the Epistle of Barnabas and the Didache; the letter to Diognetus; the Clementine Homily (commonly called II Clement); the letters of Polycarp to the Philippians and the Martyrdom of Polycarp. The study begins with an essay on the development of the language of faith. This traces the use of the pistis group from Homer to the New Testament, and shows how the Homeric and Classical Greek usages were taken by the Septuagint and applied in a religious context to God and salvation, and how this process was further developed in the New Testament into a full-blown technical vocabulary of faith. The Apostolic Fathers take this process a step further, and there is a broadening of the meanings of the cognates, together with resultant changes in the linguistic usage. All the occurrences of pistis and its cognates in the Apostolic Fathers are examined in detail. In each case there is comment of the meaning of the words within the wider context in which they are set in each work. The Greek is given, together with a translation, and obscure passages are elucidated.

In the last two decades there has been a significant shift in Bible translation, away from the approach developed by Eugene A. Nida of the United Bible Societies. The practice of Bible translation in the modern era was greatly influenced by Nida, and still is to a great extent. His ‘functional equivalence’ approach to translation gave priority to communicating the meaning of the text instead of merely retaining the form. His approach also included testing the translation to ensure that average readers understood the meaning. Nida’s approach was expanded upon by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) into what is known as the ‘meaning-based’ approach. The difference between it and the functional equivalence approach is mainly one of degree, with the meaningbased approach being freer in several respects than Nida’s approach. However, there has been a movement away from Nida (as well as SIL’s meaning-based approach) among many Bible translators. The reasons for this shift are varied, although one major influence has been the growing awareness that the language communities who are the recipients of these translations should have a major part in deciding what kind of translation will be prepared. Such communities often prefer more literal translations. Yet they are seldom given the background information they need to make an informed decision about what approach is appropriate for them, partly because no studies exist which document the objective evaluation and comparison of different approaches to translation of the Bible. This thesis documents actual testing of three types of translation in the Thai language to determine which one most clearly communicates the meaning of the Bible. It was found that the meaning-based translation communicated most clearly for some stories that were tested, the functional equivalence translation achieved the second best results, and a semi-literal translation had the most significant communication problems. The findings also provide dramatic evidence about the limits any translation of the Bible has for people who have never heard its message before. This thesis also describes a new kind of testing of translation quality which the author developed in order to objectively compare different translations in Thai. Subjects were asked to read translated passages and then take a written multiple-choice test about the meaning of the translation. This new kind of testing has several advantages over the kind of testing in general use by most Bible translators.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / The present work is a detailed study of the Gurnemanz Episode in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival. Its main body encompasses a commentary on the Gurnemanz episode of Wolfram’s work. The intention of the commentary is o provide exact and comprehensive information and discussion on aspects of the text that could cause the reader difficulty, or to enhance his/ her appreciation of the text and the context in which it had its genesis. The commentary follows the principle of analysing from large to small. The largest section encompasses a chapter of the thesis, the smallest an individual word. Each of the five chapters is introduced by a literary interpretation which encompasses, among other aspects such as themes, motifs, plot and character development, structure, and a comparison between Wolfram’s text and that of his source, Chrétien de Troyes’s Perceval. Then a closer examination of smaller units of the text takes place. This includes principally the analysis of Wolfram's use of language and his style. The commentary is introduced by a discussion of the commentary form and the theoretical basis which this work follows, and concluded by a short evaluation. All important secondary literature which appeared before 1997 and was available to the author has been considered for this work. Furthermore, this thesis is appended with an article in German that deals with the possibility of reading Parzival 652,10 and 173,3 with the less favoured MS G readings. This article bears the fruit of the discussion needed to comment on the MS G reading at 173,3, and is soon to be published in the periodical Euphorion. A fold-out copy of the Parzival text for each chapter is found inside the back cover.

This thesis investigates the English versions of the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen (= KHM) published between the years 1823 and 1884, i.e. from the first translation by Edgar Taylor and David Jardine, German Popular Stories (1823 and 1826), to the first complete edition of the Grimms’ collection of stories and notes by Margaret Hunt, Grimm’s Household Tales (1884). Each of the first eleven chapters deals with a specific English edition and gives an analysis of one or more stories from that edition together with the texts of the German original. The two versions, German and English, are placed alongside each other in parallel columns to facilitate comparison. The twelfth chapter takes the final paragraph of one story, ‘Sneewittchen’ (KHM 53), and examines the seven different English versions of it in the editions discussed in the previous chapters. The final chapter compares the quality of English translations of the KHM in the nineteenth century with that of the Grimms’ sole venture in translating tales in the English language into German, viz. Wilhelm Grimm’s Irische Elfenmärchen (1826). Included as an appendix is a tabulated concordance of the contents of the twelve major editions discussed in this thesis. The investigation shows that the areas deemed to be sensitive ones by English translators were those which had to do with what Darton (Children’s Books in England, 1982, p.99) has singled out as ‘a deep-rooted sin-complex’ in England. Any story that touched on the issues of religious belief and superstition, the human body and its physical nature, violence and evil, and the intense emotions felt by human beings which prompt them to commit violent and destructive acts, was inevitably viewed with concern and mistrust, especially by purveyors of children’s literature in the nineteenth century. All these issues, as well as the element of fantasy which so readily admits and entertains them, were prone to considerable revision by successive translators of the KHM. / Also published (in shorter form) as Sutton, Martin James (1996). The sin-complex : a critical study of English versions of the Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen in the nineteenth century. Kassel Germany: Brüder Grimm-Gesellschaft.

Qu’est-ce que la littérature océanienne ? Cette question liminaire et peut-être naïve veut lever tout risque de malentendu, mais aussi indiquer le projet fondateur de cette recherche : écouter et reconnaître les voix du grand « océan d’îles » d’Epeli Hau’ofa1 dans leur pleine originalité. Il est en effet difficile d’imaginer une situation plus paradoxale que celle de la région Pacifique et de ses habitants, qui ont fait couler tant d’encre occidentale depuis le XVIIIe siècle, mais dont la voix propre n’est, aujourd'hui encore, que très rarement entendue en dehors de la région, mais aussi à l’intérieur.2 Le champ littéraire océanien Les corpus littéraires désignés comme « océaniens » varient selon les auteurs : ainsi dans une conférence de 2002 intitulée « Tahiti ou l’atelier d’une invention littéraire »,3 Daniel Margueron utilisait la dénomination « littérature océanienne » pour évoquer les premiers écrits européens sur le Pacifique et plus précisément Tahiti, réservant aux littératures contemporaines produites par des écrivains maohi les dénominations « littérature polynésienne francophone dite d’émergence » ou littérature « tahitianophone » pour les écrits en langue maohi. Cependant, dans la plupart des anthologies, actes de colloques ou articles publiés à ce jour, la dénomination « littérature océanienne » vient plutôt désigner les littératures émergentes produites en Océanie par des auteurs qui y vivent de façon permanente. On observe toutefois des différences notables lorsqu’il s’agit de délimiter le champ exact des littératures océaniennes. Les anthologies disponibles aujourd'hui peuvent fournir des indications précieuses sur les représentations dominantes de ce que sont ces littératures. Elles distinguent de fait, à travers les sélections sur lesquelles elles s’appuient, plusieurs grands ensembles. -- from Introduction

This thesis is a description of some common linguistic features of Colloquial Malay, a spoken variety of the Malay language used by native Malay speakers of Malaysia among themselves in everyday unmarked speech situations. While linguistic works and grammars of Standard Malay (or, Bahasa Malaysia), the national language of Malaysia are numerous, there are very few works on the less formal varieties and dialects of Malay spoken in Malaysia. Little importance is given to studying Colloquial Malay and scholarly works on Colloquial Malay are very rare. This thesis seeks to explore and compare various formal properties of Colloquial Malay and Standard Malay and in doing so, to contribute to this largely unexplored area of study in the Malay language. / In this work I aim to provide a description of some of the major characteristics of CM in contrast with SM based on a comparison of one sizeable CM text with a comparable SM narrative text. An inductive method is used in analysing inter-and intra-textual shifts in register, that is, shifts in the degree of formality or informality, which correlate with the use of CM-like properties and SM-like properties. From this I build up a description of a set of CM features which can be expected to be characteristic of actual colloquial Malay usage, which will provide a basis for further study. The types of CM features described are diverse and include lexical, morphological and syntactic properties. / The lexical features examined include variant phonological forms, colloquial lexical roots, semantic shifts in the colloquial usage of some common roots, code-switching and English loans, the class of emotive, modal and illocutionary particles, and the classes of pronouns and prepositions in Colloquial Malay. Some typical Colloquial Malay expressions, phrases and constructions are dealt with briefly. Several grammatical features are considered: affixation and its frequency in Colloquial Malay relative to Standard Malay; ‘passive’ and causative constructions; the structure of the noun phrase; the Modifier-punya-Head construction, a typical Colloquial Malay construction; verbal auxiliaries; and typical uses of the adverbial saja/(a)je ‘only, just’ in Colloquial Malay. Clause combining strategies, which include subordination, coordination, verb serialization and juxtaposition, are discussed as well.