Millennials are the newest generation to enter the workforce. When Millennials enter organizations, managers construct perceptions about Millennials’ communication behaviors, including their characteristics and adherence to organizational rules. These perceptions help managers decide Millennials’ organizational fit. A review of literature revealed a scarcity of empirical research in this area with little empirical research from communication scholars who apply communication frameworks, theories, and concepts. This research used the lens of social constructionism to understand the membership categorization devices and category-bound activities managers use to characterize Millennials. In order to better understand how Millennials conform to and change organizational culture, data were reviewed for those normative and code rules managers described Millennials violating. In this qualitative, exploratory study, 25 managers who were 31 years of age or older that worked in the hospitality industry and managed Millennial (18 to 30 years old) employees were interviewed through a snowball convenience sample. Interviews were transcribed and patterns were identified. Data analysis indicated that “kids,” “age group,” and “Millennials” and variations of the Millennial term were used to categorize Millennials. Analysis of category-bound activities showed patterns in Millennials’ desire for learning and training, mixed preference for teamwork often affected by their liking for peers, and needs for frequent, clear, personalized feedback. With respect to rule violations, data showed that some organizations were adapting their cell phone policies in response to Millennial rules resistance. However, organizations were not willing to accommodate Millennials’ rule violations in either the area of time-off requests or uncivil behavior due to organizational codes. iv Keywords: Millennials, social constructionism, membership-categorization devices, categorybound activities, communication rules, organizational assimilation

Small groups of friends—or peer groups—are a central feature of adolescence that contribute to the development of social identity and feelings of self-worth for group members. Additionally, adolescents value music highly and view it as a vital part of their lives. The purpose of this study was to examine and clarify the extent to which adolescents use music as an identity resource in small peer groups. Using Tajfel and Turner’s Social Identity Theory as a framework, I conducted a collective case study to understand (a) the ways in which adolescents use music to form and maintain a peer group, (b) the extent to which peer groups use music for the social categorization and stereotyping of other groups of adolescents, (c) the ways by which adolescents use music associated with their peer group to maintain a positive self-concept, and (d) how the peer group influences members’ enjoyment of music and music participation. I conducted group interviews with three adolescent peer groups that contained 5–8 seventh- and eighth-grade students. The peer group members shared experiences of bonding and socializing as a part of a peer group, and described time spent in their music classes. During the discussions, group members explained the role that music plays in their lives. The group members explained their peer group in the context of the school, describing instances of social categorization and stereotyping, in-group and out-group distinction, and self-concept maintenance made from comparisons to the out-groups. The participants discussed their views on school music courses, advocating for the implementation of new classes that included non-traditional instruments and the inclusion of more popular styles of music. Keywords: social identity, adolescent peer groups, in-group, out-group, social categorization, self-concept, stereotyping, adolescence music preference, positive distinctness

The present study aims to investigate if grade 9 English students, being 15-16 years old, attending a Swedish secondary school, use English slang during their English as a second language lessons, and if so, why they do it, and if there are any differences between the two genders in their slang usage. In order to incorporate a didactic perspective, it is also examined how English teachers deal with their students’ slang usage. Three English lessons has been observed, alongside with interviews with three English teachers, in order to conduct the investigation. The results indicate that slang words are common during grade 9 English lessons, and the male students’ usage of slang exceeds their female counterparts’ usage to a great extent. Reasons for these results can be found in the field of gender language which argues that slang usage, and language usage in general, is strongly connected to identity, and to how the two genders are expected to behave. Moreover, the English teachers display a varied opinion about their students’ slang usage, yet accounts for utilizing it when teaching register and linguistic adaptation. This approach is approved by a great amount of research, which states that by incorporating youth-language, in this case slang, students are able to gain a linguistic awareness where they can identify with what is taught, as well as adapt their language depending on situation and context.

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[pt] Uma das principais reivindicações dos movimentos brasileiros de minorias sexuais LGBT nas últimas duas décadas tem sido a aprovação de uma lei que criminalize a homofobia em âmbito federal. O Projeto de Lei da Câmara 122 (PLC 122), conhecido como lei anti-homofobia, foi proposto na Câmara dos Deputados em 2001 com o objetivo de incluir a discriminação por orientação sexual ou identidade de gênero no Código Penal. O projeto foi arquivado no Senado Federal no final de 2014. Considerando que o jornalismo é agente ativo na produção de enquadramentos específicos acerca dos acontecimentos, o objetivo da tese é investigar a cobertura jornalística sobre o PLC 122, entre 2001 e 2015. Nosso material de análise é composto por 619 reportagens de quinze jornais impressos, que cobrem as cinco regiões brasileiras, e utilizamos como ferramenta metodológica a Análise de Categorização de Pertencimento (Membership Categorization Analysis). Como resultado, nossa análise evidenciou quatro padrões analíticos, que englobam as categorizações de pertencimento utilizadas no âmbito dos discursos jornalísticos no período: acerca 1) dos sujeitos LGBT, formulados como minorias sociais, vítimas de crimes homofóbicos ou como militantes; 2) do projeto de lei, categorizado como censura ou como promotor de direitos; 3) da prática homossexual, categorizada como opção ou antinatural; e 4) das instituições brasileiras, definidas ora como fundamentalistas ora laicas. / [en] One of the main demands of Brazilian social movements of sexual minorities in the past two decades has been the approval of a law that deals with the criminal classification of homofobia at a Federal level. The Bill 122, also known as anti-homophobia law, aimed to include discrimination against sexual orientation or gender identity as identified in the criminal code (specifically Law 7716 from 1989, also known as the Racism Law). Proposed in 2001 in the House of Representatives, the bill was later filed in the Senate at the end of 2014. Assuming that the journalistic field is an active agent in producing frames about the bill and its related subjects, the primary objective of the dissertation is to investigate how the Brazilian printed newspapers frame the Bill 122 between 2001 and 2015. The dataset is composed of 619 news articles from 15 different papers, which encompass all five brazilian regions, and we use as a methodological tool the Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA). As a result, our analysis revealed four analytical patterns, composed of the categorizations used within the journalistic field during that period: about 1) the LGBT subjects, formulated as social minorities, victims of homophobic crimes or as militants; 2) the Bill 122, categorized as a type of censorship or as a promoter of human rights; 3) the homosexual practices, categorized as an anti-natural option and 4) the Brazilian institutions, defined sometimes as fundamentalist, sometimes as secular.

This project investigates the cognitive linguistic categories that structure the Old Irish landscape lexicon. The semantics of basic landscape vocabulary are differentiated based on collocate analysis and close reading of relevant text passages. Terms are compared across subdomains in order to identify linguistic categories that apply to the overall landscape lexicon. The analysis shows distinctions of (a) domesticated vs. wild landscape features, and (b) landmarks vs. non-landmarks. These distinctions are motivated by a combination of the interactional properties (a, b) and the independent salience (b) of the landscape features. Understanding the cognitive linguistic categories of Old Irish landscape vocabulary provides insight into how medieval Irish society conceptualized the natural world.