If an individual speaks more than one language, there are always at least two ways of verbalising any thought to be expressed. The bilingual speaker must then have a means of ensuring that their utterances are produced in the desired language. However, prominent models of speech production are based almost exclusively on monolingual considerations and require substantial modification to account for bilingual production. A particularly important feature to be explained is the way bilinguals control the language of speech production: for instance, preventing interference from the unintended language, and switching from one language to another. One recent model draws a parallel between bilinguals??? control of their linguistic system and the control of cognitive tasks more generally. The first two experiments reported in this thesis explore the validity of this model by comparing bilingual language switching with a monolingual switching task, as well as to the broader task-switching literature. Switch costs did not conform to the predictions of the task-set inhibition hypothesis in either experiment, as the ???paradoxical??? asymmetry of switch costs was not replicated and some conditions showed benefits, rather than costs, for switching between languages or tasks. Further experiments combined picture naming with negative priming and semantic competitor priming paradigms to examine the role of inhibitory and competitive processes in bilingual lexical selection. Each experiment was also conducted in a parallel monolingual version. Very little negative priming was evident when speaking the second language, but the effects of interlingual cognate status were pronounced. There were some indications of cross-language competition at the level of lexical selection: participants appeared unable to suppress the irrelevant language, even when doing so would make the task easier. Across all the experiments, there was no evidence for global inhibition of the language-not-in-use during speech production. Overall results were characterised by a remarkable flexibility in the mechanisms of bilingual control. A striking dissociation emerged between the patterns of results for cognate and non-cognate items, which was reflected throughout the series of experiments and implicates qualitative differences in the way these lexical items are represented and interconnected.

No description available.

D / Naming pictures of polysyllabic words (three or more syllables (PSWs)) seems to provide speech pathologists with information about communication status not necessarily present when naming pictures of short words (monosyllabic words (MSWs) and di-syllabic words (DSWs)). Typically developing children and children with speech, language and literacy impairments err on PSWs even when short words are accurate. In this study, typical behaviour of PSW production was delimited and a model of PSW acquisition was developed because if erroneous PSWs mark impairment, then circumscribing the tolerances of them in typically developing speech is necessary to differentiate it from impairment. A proportional stratified, cluster sampling procedure was used to locate 354 children, aged 3;0 to 7;11 years, of whom 283 met the selection criteria, including normal hearing, language and cognition. All English phonemes were repeatedly sampled in 166 words, elicited through picture naming, that were varied for syllable number, stress and shape. Syllable, age and interaction effects were present with more mismatches in PSWs than in short words, decreasing with increasing age. Mismatches were captured in five a priori patterns of deletions, additions and reordering of syllables and segments in words as well as alterations of consonants or vowels in words that preserved the phonotactic shape. However, as all five patterns were word-specific, each affecting a core group of words containing PSWs and DSWs, the syllable effect was modified. It appeared to be a proxy for a complex interaction between segmental and prosodic features common to the core words that included non-final weak syllables, within-word consonant sequences that required labial-velar movements, velar and sonorant sounds and sounds that shared place or manner features, severally or together. The production changes conformed to the predictions of the model of PSW acquisition. These changes reflected alterations in the phonological representation, motor planning and motor execution skills aspects of the speech processing system. The phonological representation, changing from holistic to fine-grained, was argued as the key change because information for motor planning and execution was liberated that culminated in increased accuracy. If children’s productions of the PSWs used in this study exceed the tolerances defined in this thesis, impairment may be indicated. Future research is needed to determine that possibility.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983. / Also available in print.

Thesis--Zürich. / Vita. Includes index.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-91). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11855

Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία παρουσιάζεται η διαδικασία ανάπτυξης μιας εφαρμογής για την αυτόματη παραγωγή σταυρολέξων από μια βάση δεδομένων ελληνικών λέξεων. Πιο αναλυτικά, το πρόβλημα αντιμετωπίζεται ως ένα πρόβλημα ικανοποίησης περιορισμών (CSP) και ως μεταβλητές θεωρούνται ολόκληρες λέξεις πάνω στο πλέγμα του σταυρολέξου. Στα πλαίσια αυτά επιλέγεται η μέθοδος της αναζήτησης με υπαναχώρηση για την επίλυση του προβλήματος. Κατά την διαδικασία της αναζήτησης γίνεται χρήση διάφορων ευρετικών μηχανισμών για προβλήματα ικανοποίησης περιορισμών, προσαρμοσμένων στις ανάγκες του συγκεκριμένου προβλήματος και στις ιδιαιτερότητες της ελληνικής γλώσσας. Η εφαρμογή είναι ανεπτυγμένη σε γλώσσα προγραμματισμού Java, υποστηρίζει διάφορα μεγέθη σταυρολέξων και έχει ικανοποιητική απόδοση σε ρεαλιστικά προβλήματα. Επίσης, είναι η πρώτη αντίστοιχη εφαρμογή για την ελληνική γλώσσα. / This diploma dissertation presents the development process of an application for the automatic generation of crossword puzzles from a database of Greek words. More specifically, the problem is treated as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) and word slots on the crossword grid are considered as variables. Therefore, the method of backtracking search is used to solve the problem. During the search process various heuristic mechanisms for constraint satisfaction problems are being used. Those mechanisms are then adapted to the needs of the specific problem and the particularities of the Greek language. The application is developed in the Java programming language. It also supports several crossword grid sizes and has good performance in realistic problems. Furthermore this is the first such application for the Greek language.

This essay aims to examine what digital tools are and how these could promote learning for dyslexic students. The studie specifically focused towards the subject of history in upper se-condary school. Against the background that students with dyslexia tend to have difficulties reading, spelling and decoding words and sentences, the essay will explain and reflect on these underlying factors. Based on a text analysis, data has been collected to investigate what and how the digital tools can facilitate the learning and teaching of dyslexic students. The results shows that learning is facilitated by dyslexics through structured teaching methods and digital tools can take them further in their education and increase their desire and will to learn.

This study examines the graphic design industry’s call for ‘a South African design language’ in post-apartheid South Africa and how the non-commercial publication i-jusi is envisaged as a space for graphic designers to innovate a South African design language. The central premise of this research is that graphic design, as a form of cultural production, is discursive. In this respect, graphic design practice is constructed and constrained by professional discourse, which is in turn informed by social structures. However, discourse is also a site of contestation and graphic designers may challenge or negotiate professional discourse in their practice. Thus, as Wolff (1981) argues, the possibility for innovation within graphic design practice may exist at a particular historical moment, although this possibility is itself situated within social structures. In this study, the impact of professional graphic design discourse on the attempt to innovate a South African design language in i-jusi is explored. Utilising qualitative interviews and other texts selected from graphic design commentary (conference presentations and published articles), the motivations of the producers of i-jusi are examined with a view to assessing how their articulation of a South African design language is informed by professional graphic design discourse.