Thesis (M.S.)--Middle East Technical University, 2005. / Keywords: Gradience, Unaccusative/Unergative Distinction, Split Intransitivity Hierarchy, Human Computer Interaction, Magnitude Estimation.

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This thesis addressed two key issues. The first was the extent to which verbal short-term memory (STM) for item and order information can be differentiated in terms of their underlying neural mechanisms. The second was to analyze the relative contributions of item and order STM to vocabulary learning in bilingual (BL) and monolingual (ML) children and ML adults. The first issue was addressed with four studies. Three used electroencephalography (EEG) with ML adults, BL adults and ML children. The aim was to determine whether there is any evidence that the two types of verbal STM have different neural signatures. The fourth study used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in ML adults to test the hypothesis that the right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) is involved in order STM but not item STM. The second issue was addressed by two behavioural studies. The first was a large-scale longitudinal study testing item and order STM in relation to natural vocabulary acquisition in 7 to 10 year old BL and ML children. The children were tested once in the beginning and once in the end of the school year. In addition, ML children learning a second language were examined in the end of the school year. The second behavioural study explored therelationship of item and order STM with new-word-learning in ML adults using artificially-created nonwords. Some evidence was found to support the view that the distinction of item and order STM is a useful one. Results of the EEG data suggested differences in patterns of neuro-electrical activity for ML and BL adults and ML children when they are performing item STM and order STM tasks. The results suggest that order STM is important for new word learning in one´s native language learning, where there has already been some exposure to this language, but not in complete novice language learners.

This thesis reports on the longitudinal study of consonant production in fifteen typically-developing monolingual children living in the south-east of England acquiring non-rhotic accents of British English. The data relate to the consonant patterns found in spontaneous speech production as recorded in individual diaries kept by caregivers. The study follows two lines of enquiry. Firstly, the speech data are analysed to chart the emergence of English consonants in relation to phonemic targets. Separate analysis of the production of initial and final singletons and cluster consonants is undertaken. This reveals word-position asymmetries in the production of consonants and consonant classes, and identifies the classes and the contexts in which consonants are most avoided. Secondly, the speech data are analysed further for evidence of word-position bias in the use of the simplification processes identified in O'Neal (1998) as features of two discrete phonological profiles. Children who demonstrate tendencies towards either of these profiles in their patterns of consonant deletion, fronting, stopping and reduplication are identified, and their profiles compared and contrasted with those of other monolingual English-learning children.

This thesis investigates the idea that the grammatical system of a language influences aspects of thought patterns and communicative behaviour. It examines the linguistic conceptualisation of motion events in English and Tunisian Arabic (TA) in order to contribute to current debates in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and its associated field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The main research questions are whether in learning a typologically different language, the conceptualisation acquired through first languages (L1) interferes with the learning of the conceptualisation inherent in a second language (L2). In order to address these questions, I adopt three analytical frameworks: a grammatical framework based on Talmy's (1985, 2000) binary distinction between verb-framed and satellite-framed languages, a discourse framework based on Berman and Slobin's (1994) application of Talmy's typology to verbal behaviour; and a ‘Whorfian' framework based on Slobin's (1987, 1996b) Thinking-for-Speaking' (TfS) hypothesis. A fundamental claim of the TfS hypothesis is that the grammar of a language and the discourse preferences of its speakers play a fundamental role in shaping linguistic thinking. From this follows the prediction that L1-based conceptualisation resists change when a typologically different L2 is learnt in adulthood. A comparison of the TfS behaviours of speakers of L1-English (L1-Eng), L1-TA, and ‘advanced' L2-English (L2-Eng) whose L1 is TA support this prediction. Based on the notion of ‘motionisation' – a term I coin in order to describe a conceptual strategy L1 speakers of English use when TfS about events – I show that linguistic habits are not only decisive in how the same TfS content is expressed (e.g. run from the jar versus run out of the jar), but more importantly, it is decisive in situations where speakers are ‘forced' to pick out different aspects of the same reality for TfS purposes. The findings reported here have implications for L2 English learners, in general, and, in particular, for learners of English whose L1 may be characterised as a verb-framed language.

This thesis has two goals. The first is to explain, within a pragmatic perspective, how figurative language (i.e. metaphor and irony) performs argumentation. Based on the argumentation theory (AT) of Perelman and Olbrecht-Tyteca (1958), argumentation is defined as the process of justifying something in an organized or logical way, which is composed of one or more claims and shows one or more grounds for maintaining them. The second goal is to examine the hearer's interpretation of figurative utterances in argumentation. The theoretical foundation of this discussion is based on experientialist epistemology (i.e. experientialism) and cognitive pragmatics in the form of Relevance Theory (RT). In pursuit of those goals, I present four main innovations: First, I argue the status of metaphor should be viewed as ‘what is implicated', rather than ‘what is said'. Second, I propose explanation of some exceptional cases of irony, which the standard RT approach does not treat, which relies on the notion of ‘incongruity'. Third, I propose integration of AT concepts within RT. Thus, this approach contributes to pursuing more economical explanation of communication as argumentation, by a single principle of relevance, but incorporating argumentative concepts such as doxa, topoi and polyphony. Finally, I apply this integrated approach to analysing real cases of commercial advertisement by metaphor or irony, or both. This includes explaining connection and overlapping, two ways in which metaphor and irony can work together.

This thesis investigates the linguistic situation of the Greek-Cypriot community of Cyprus and the language attitudes and perception of ethnic identity of Greek-Cypriot students aged between 12 and 18 years old, an under-researched age group. The research examines the assumption that the linguistic situation of Cyprus is diglossic. The attitudes of Greek-Cypriot students towards Standard Modern Greek, the official language of Cyprus, and the Greek-Cypriot dialect, the native variety, are analysed through qualitative and quantitative methods. The study uses a mixed methods approach and data are collected by means of classroom observations, interviews, questionnaires and an experiment similar to the matched guise technique. A social constructionist approach is used for the analysis of ethnic identity construction. The results of this research indicate that Cyprus is experiencing a different kind of diglossia than Ferguson's (1996a) original description of diglossia. The ‘contextual diglossia' proposed in this study suggests that the functional distribution of the high and low varieties is based both on the speaker's judgements of appropriateness (speaker's context) and on the context of communication (local context). The study also reveals that students generally have favourable attitudes towards Standard Modern Greek and display both favourable and negative attitudes towards the Greek-Cypriot dialect. These attitudes are explained through the presence of stereotypes attached to each variety and the political ideologies in Cyprus. Students embrace all three ethnic identities, Cypriot, Greek and Greek-Cypriot, although their Cypriot and Greek-Cypriot identities emerge as strongest. They construct their identities through the use of pronouns and nationalistic expressions. The language attitudes and ethnic identities of Greek-Cypriots are formed and constructed against the backdrop of the socio-political and historical context of Cyprus and are shaped by the existence of diglossia and language ideologies.

This thesis describes the form and function of verb stem alternations (VSAs) in Vaiphei, a Kuki-Chin (KC) language belonging to the larger Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. In the existing literature on Vaiphei and Kuki-Chin verb stem alternations, there is no treatment of the form and function of Vaiphei verb stem alternations and how they may be used in classifying Vaiphei in the broader Northern Kuki-Chin language family. I document the form and function of Vaiphei verb stem alternations, showing how these compare to other Northern Kuki-Chin languages and where to classify Vaiphei in Northern Kuki-Chin. Participants were selected based on their knowledge of Vaiphei and English and their access to the internet. These subjects participated by completing questionnaires translating English sentences into Vaiphei. Data was collected using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platforms such as Skype and WhatsApp. Vaiphei VSAs showed a strong similarity to other Northern KC languages, with forms identical to VSAs in Sizang. Functions of VSAs were largely similar to other Northern KC languages, including valency changes, subordination, nominalizations, and subject focus. Grammaticalization of the verb piak "to give" into a benefactive morpheme, however, shows an innovation in the Vaiphei VSA system.

This thesis examines thematization and patterns of thematic progression (TP) in French, Arabic, and English lead news articles. Similarities between French, Arabic, and English themic lead news stories at the clausal and textual levels suggest that there may be a fundamental principle underlying how the mind organizes language. The results may be applied to the creation of translation software that is faithful to source texts at the sentential and global levels or used in teaching in a second language classroom.

D.Litt. et Phil. / The purpose of this study is to establish differences and similarities between German and Zulu and to identify areas of difficulty for different groups of South African learners in order to give the language learners autonomy in determining their own learning strategies in accordance with their mother tongue and to foster a mutual understanding between different cultural groups in South Africa. Historically, German is a subject, which was taught to mainly white learners in segregated South African schools; hence research was limited to the problems of English and Afrikaans speaking learners of German as a foreign language. This study is aimed at addressing the problems that Zulu speaking learners would encounter when learning German. Since English and/or Afrikaans form part of the linguistic knowledge of these Zulu speaking students, cognizance is taken of the effects this knowledge has on the learning of German as Lx, where Lx > L3. Learners from English and Afrikaans L1 backgrounds are incorporated into the study as control groups. The error analysis that forms part of this study reveals that the language repertoire of the learners does indeed impact on language learning. This study is useful for teachers who have little or no knowledge of Zulu, but who are confronted with learners from diverse linguistic backgrounds.