Abstract Audio-oral speech and visuo-manual sign language as used by the Deaf community are two very different realizations of the human linguistic communication system. Sign language is not only used by the hearing impaired but also by different groups of hearing individuals. To date, there is a great discrepancy in scientific knowledge about signed and spoken languages. Particularly little is known about the integration of the two systems, even though the vast majority of deaf and hearing signers also have a command of some form of speech. This neurolinguistic study aimed to achieve basic knowledge about semantic integration mechanisms across speech and sign language in hearing native and non-native signers. Basic principles of sign processing as reflected in electrocortical brain activation and behavioral decisions were examined in three groups of study participants: Hearing native signers (children of deaf adults, CODAs), hearing late learned signers (professional sign language interpreters), and hearing non-signing controls. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and behavioral response frequencies were recorded while the participants performed a semantic decision task for priming lexeme pairs. The lexeme pairs were presented either within speech (spoken prime-spoken target) or across speech and sign language (spoken prime-signed target). Target-related ERP responses were subjected to temporal principal component analyses (tPCA). The neurocognitive basis of semantic integration processes were assessed by analyzing different ERP components (N170, N400, late positive complex) in response to the antonymic and unrelated targets. Behavioral decision sensitivity to the target lexemes is discussed in relation to the measured brain activity. Behaviorally, all three groups of study participants performed above chance level when making semantic decisions about the primed targets. Different result patterns, however, hinted at three different processing strategies. As the target-locked electrophysiological data was analyzed by PCA, for the first time in the context of sign language processing, objectively allocated ERP components of interest could be explored. A little surprisingly, the overall study results from the sign-naïve control group showed that they performed in a more content-guided way than expected. This suggested that even non-experts in the field of sign language were equipped with basic skills to process the cross-linguistically primed signs. Behavioral and electrophysiological study results together further brought up qualitative differences in processing between the native and late learned signers, which raised the question: can a unitary model of sign processing do justice to different groups of sign language users? / Tiivistelmä Kuuloaistiin ja ääntöelimistön motoriikkaan perustuva puhe ja kuurojen yhteisön käyttämä, näköaistiin ja käsien liikkeisiin perustuva viittomakieli ovat kaksi varsin erilaista ihmisen kielellisen viestintäjärjestelmän toteutumismuotoa. Viittomakieltä käyttävät kuulovammaisten ohella myös monet kuulevat ihmisryhmät. Tähänastinen tutkimustiedon määrä viittomakielistä ja puhutuista kielistä eroaa huomattavasti. Erityisen vähän on tiedetty näiden kahden järjestelmän yhdistämisestä, vaikka valtaosa kuuroista ja kuulevista viittomakielen käyttäjistä hallitsee myös puheen jossain muodossa. Tämän neurolingvistisen tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli hankkia perustietoja puheen ja viittomakielen välisistä semanttisista yhdistämismekanismeista kuulevilla, viittomakieltä äidinkielenään tai muuna kielenä käyttävillä henkilöillä. Viittomien prosessoinnin perusperiaatteita, jotka ilmenevät aivojen sähköisen toiminnan muutoksina ja valintapäätöksinä, tutkittiin kolmessa koehenkilöryhmässä: kuulevilla viittomakieltä äidinkielenään käyttävillä henkilöillä (kuurojen aikuisten kuulevilla ns. CODA-lapsilla, engl. children of deaf adults), kuulevilla viittomakielen myöhemmin oppineilla henkilöillä (viittomakielen ammattitulkeilla) sekä kuulevilla viittomakieltä osaamattomilla verrokkihenkilöillä. Tapahtumasidonnaiset herätepotentiaalit (ERP:t) ja käyttäytymisvasteen frekvenssit rekisteröitiin koehenkilöiden tehdessä semanttisia valintoja viritetyistä (engl. primed) lekseemipareista. Lekseemiparit esitettiin joko puheena (puhuttu viritesana – puhuttu kohdesana) tai puheen ja viittomakielen välillä (puhuttu viritesana – viitottu kohdesana). Kohdesidonnaisille ERP-vasteille tehtiin temporaaliset pääkomponenttianalyysit (tPCA). Semanttisten yhdistämisprosessien neurokognitiivista perustaa arvioitiin analysoimalla erilaisia ERP-komponentteja (N170, N400, myöhäinen positiivinen kompleksi) vastineina antonyymisiin ja toisiinsa liittymättömiin kohteisiin. Käyttäytymispäätöksen herkkyyttä kohdelekseemeille tarkastellaan suhteessa mitattuun aivojen aktiviteettiin. Käyttäytymisen osalta kaikki kolme koehenkilöryhmää suoriutuivat satunnaistasoa paremmin tehdessään semanttisia valintoja viritetyistä kohdelekseemeistä. Erilaiset tulosmallit viittaavat kuitenkin kolmeen erilaiseen prosessointistrategiaan. Kun kohdelukittua elektrofysiologista dataa analysoitiin pääkomponenttianalyysin avulla ensimmäistä kertaa viittomakielen prosessoinnin yhteydessä, voitiin tutkia tarkkaavaisuuden objektiivisesti allokoituja ERP-komponentteja. Oli jossain määrin yllättävää, että viittomakielellisesti natiivin verrokkiryhmän tulokset osoittivat sen jäsenten toimivan odotettua sisältölähtöisemmin. Tämä viittaa siihen, että viittomakieleen perehtymättömilläkin henkilöillä on perustaidot lingvistisesti ristiin viritettyjen viittomien prosessointiin. Yhdessä käyttäytymisperäiset ja elektrofysiologiset tutkimustulokset toivat esiin laadullisia eroja prosessoinnissa viittomakieltä äidinkielenään puhuvien henkilöiden ja kielen myöhemmin oppineiden henkilöiden välillä. Tämä puolestaan johtaa kysymykseen, voiko yksi viittomien prosessointimalli soveltua erilaisille viittomakielen käyttäjäryhmille?

[ES] Esta tesis se centra en la variación interlingüística del uso metafórico del lenguaje en sitios web turísticos promocionales en inglés británico, alemán de Alemania y castellano peninsular. A pesar de la importancia económica del turismo y la gran demanda de traducciones en este sector, el número de estudios sobre el uso de las metáforas en la promoción turística todavía es reducido. El volumen de publicaciones sobre la traducción de las metáforas en este campo es aún menor. Por ello, el presente estudio pretende colmar estos vacíos mediante la descripción del uso metafórico del lenguaje en este género para cada lengua, la comparación de los resultados y la exploración de las implicaciones que puede tener la variación observada para la traducibilidad y el proceso de traducción de las metáforas lingüísticas. Con este motivo se compilaron tres corpus comparables de páginas web turísticas promocionales de los países Inglaterra, Alemania y España, así como tres corpus léxicos más pequeños de 20.000 palabras cada uno. En un proceso de dos fases, los corpus léxicos se sometieron primero a un análisis manual exhaustivo que facilitó la identificación de grupos de metáforas con una combinación de dominios fuente y meta problemáticos desde el punto de vista traductológico. Estos grupos se estudiaron en la segunda fase en los corpus grandes mediante la búsqueda de vocabulario de los dominios fuente. El estudio adopta un marco teórico propio de la Lingüística Cognitiva, basándose principalmente en la Teoría de la Metáfora Conceptual. Una de las principales contribuciones de esta tesis doctoral consiste en la adaptación del probado procedimiento para la identificación de metáforas MIP (Pragglejaz, 2007) para su uso en un estudio comparativo de tres idiomas morfológicamente distintos. Además, se elaboró una tipología de esquemas de proyección (mapping schemes) y una descripción de los dominios fuente y meta más adecuados para los estudios y la práctica de la traducción que los ya existentes. Finalmente fue desarrollado una metodología para la determinación de la traducibilidad literal de las metáforas lingüísticas. Los resultados indican que el uso de la metáfora en los sitios web turísticos promocionales en los tres idiomas muestra grandes similitudes respecto a la existencia de diferentes tipos de metáfora y su distribución. Sin embargo, se observan diferencias en sus frecuencias, su realización lingüística preferida y sus principales funciones discursivas. A menudo, la variación interlingüística detectada en el uso de la metáfora se puede relacionar con los estilos claramente distintos de los sitios web promocionales en los tres idiomas. Los datos recopilados en este estudio proporcionan a los traductores datos acerca de qué tipo de metáfora puede o incluso debería ser aumentado o disminuido en un texto para lograr que una traducción suene natural, y como las supresiones debidas a las diferencias morfológicas pueden ser compensadas de la mejor manera, dependiendo de la combinación de idiomas y el sentido de la traducción. / [CA] Aquesta tesi se centra en la variació interlingüística de l'ús metafòric del llenguatge en llocs web turístics promocionals en anglés britànic, alemany d'Alemanya i castellà peninsular. Malgrat la importància econòmica del turisme i la gran demanda de traduccions en aquest sector, el nombre d'estudis sobre l'ús de les metàfores en la promoció turística encara és reduït. El volum de publicacions sobre la traducció de les metàfores en aquest camp és encara menor. Per això, el present estudi pretén satisfer aquests buits mitjançant la descripció de l'ús metafòric del llenguatge en aquest gènere per a cada llengua, la comparació dels resultats i l'exploració de les implicacions que pot tindre la variació observada per a la traduïbilitat i el procés de traducció de les metàfores lingüístiques. Amb aquest motiu es van compilar tres corpus comparables de pàgines web turístiques promocionals dels països d' Anglaterra, Alemanya i Espanya, així com tres corpus lèxics més xicotets de 20.000 paraules cadascun. En un procés de dues fases, els corpus lèxics es van sotmetre primer a una anàlisi manual exhaustiva que va facilitar la identificació de grups de metàfores amb una combinació de dominis font i meta problemàtics des del punt de vista traductològic. Aquests grups es van estudiar en la segona fase en els corpus grans mitjançant la cerca de vocabulari dels dominis font. L'estudi adopta un marc teòric propi de la Lingüística Cognitiva, basant-se principalment en la Teoria de la Metàfora Conceptual. Una de les principals contribucions d'aquesta tesi doctoral consisteix en l'adaptació del provat procediment per a la identificació de metàfores MIP (Pragglejaz, 2007) per al seu ús en un estudi comparatiu de tres idiomes morfològicament diferents. A més a més, es va elaborar una tipologia d'esquemes de projecció (mapping schemes) i una descripció dels dominis font i meta més adequats per als estudis i la pràctica de la traducció que els ja existents. Finalment, va ser desenvolupat una metodologia per a la determinació de la traduïbilitat literal de les metàfores lingüístiques. Els resultats indiquen que l'ús de la metàfora en els llocs web turístics promocionals en els tres idiomes mostra grans similituds respecte a l'existència de diferents tipus de metàfora i la seua distribució. No obstant això, s'observen diferències en les seues freqüències, la seua realització lingüística preferida i les seues principals funcions discursives. Sovint, la variació interlingüística detectada en l'ús de la metàfora es pot relacionar amb els estils clarament diferents dels llocs web promocionals en els tres idiomes. Les dades recopilades en aquest estudi proporcionen als traductors dades sobre quina mena de metàfora pot o fins i tot hauria de ser augmentat o disminuït en un text per a aconseguir que una traducció sone natural, i com les supressions degudes a les diferències morfològiques poden ser compensades de la millor manera, depenent de la combinació d'idiomes i el sentit de la traducció. / [EN] This dissertation focusses on the cross-linguistic variation of metaphorical language use on promotional tourism websites in British English, German of Germany and European Spanish. Despite the economic impact of the tourism industry and the high demand for translations in this branch, only few studies have ventured into metaphor use in tourism promotion so far. Research into metaphor translation in this field is even scarcer. The present study aims to fill these voids by describing metaphorical language use of this register for each language, comparing the results with the other two languages, and by seeking possible implications of the observed variation for the translatability as well as the translation process of metaphor vehicles. For this purpose, three comparable corpora of regional promotional tourism websites from England, Germany and Spain were compiled, as well as three smaller, 20,000-word sample corpora. In a two-step process, the sample corpora first underwent a comprehensive manual metaphor analysis, which helped to identify metaphor groups with a source-target domain combination that is problematic from a translational point of view. These groups were further studied in the large corpora using source-domain vocabulary searches. The study was approached from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective, building mainly on Conceptual Metaphor Theory. One of the main contributions of this dissertation lies in the adaptation of the widely used metaphor identification procedure MIP (Pragglejaz, 2007) for the cross-linguistic comparison of the morphologically different research languages. Furthermore, a typology of mapping schemes and a description of the source and target domains were suggested which suit translation purposes better than existing ones. Finally, a methodology for the determination of the literal translatability of metaphor vehicles was developed. The findings suggest that the metaphor use on promotional tourism websites in the three languages is largely similar with regard to the existence of different metaphor types and their distribution. However, differences can be found in their frequencies, their preferred linguistic realisation and their main discursive functions. The observed cross-linguistic variation in metaphor use can often be related to the markedly distinct styles of the promotional websites in the three languages. The data gathered in this study provide translators with information about which type of metaphor can or even should be reduced or increased in number in order to achieve a natural sounding translation and how morphologically necessary suppressions can best be compensated for, depending on the language pair and translation direction. / Stepins, KV. (2022). A Cross-Linguistic Study of Metaphor Variation in Promotional Discourse of the Tourist Sector in Spanish, English and German: Implications for Translation [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/182290 / TESIS

Das Ziel der Dissertation ist, den Gebrauch von sekundären Raumdeixes (‚vor‘, ‚hinter‘, ‚rechts / links von‘) und Referenzrahmen (absolut, intrinsisch, relativ) von deutschen, englischen, italienischen und polnischen Muttersparcher_innen für die Beschreibung von statischen Raumrelationen zu untersuchen. Zwei Experimente pro Sprache wurden durchgeführt. Das erste Experiment untersuchte Seitenzuweisung. Die Proband_innen sahen ein Objekt von der Vorderseite (kanonische Position) und Rückseite (nicht-kanonische Position). Das Ergebnis bestätigt, dass die Proband_innen der vier Sprachen die Außenperspektive für die Seitenzuweisung des kanonisch stehenden vis-à-vis Objektes meistens benutzen. Einige Variationen haben die Pol_innen und Italiener_innen gezeigt, vor allem bei der Zuweisung von der rechten und linken Seite. Dabei wiesen die Deutschen und Italiener_innen signifikante Unterschiede auf. Mit dem Mouse Tracking habe ich die Interpretation von statischen Raumrelationen von zwei Komplexitätsgraden untersucht. Die einfachen Raumrelationen enthielten entweder ein extrinsisches oder intrinsisches Referenzobjekt (belebt; unbelebt) und eine Flasche als lokalisiertes Objekt. Die komplexeren Raumrelationen wurden um einen Agenten ergänzt und mit der indirekten Rede eingebettet. Das erlaubte die Erforschung von Origo-Shift. In allen Raumrelationen wurden die Proband_innen gebeten, die Lokalisation von der Flasche zu beschreiben. Die Deutschen und Italiener_innen zeigten signifikante Unterschiede bei der Interpretation von einfachen belebten und unbelebten intrinsischen Raumrelationen. Bei der Interpretation von komplexeren intrinsischen Raumrelationen haben die polnischen Muttersprachler_innen die Origo am häufigsten zum Agenten verschoben und von seinem Blickwinkel bezüglich des relativen Bezugsrahmens die Relationen beschrieben. Im Allgemeinen, für die Interpretation von komplexeren Raumrelationen ist die Wahl des intrinsischen Bezugsrahmens im Vergleich zu einfacheren Raumrelationen signifikant gesunken. Das heißt, die meisten Proband_innen haben die Origo zum Agenten verschoben und von seinem Blickwinkel die Raumrelationen bezüglich der Spiegelstrategie interpretiert. / The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the use of reference frames (absolute, relative, intrinsic) and secondary local deixes (‘in front of’, ‘behind’, ‘to the right / left of’) by German, English, Italian, and Polish native speakers to describe static spatial relations. Two experiments per language were carried out. The first experiment investigated side assignment. Participants saw the object from the front (the canonical position) and the back (the noncanonical position). The results confirm that for side assignments to a canonical positioned vis-à-vis object most speakers of the four languages use the outside perspective. However, some variations occurred for Polish and Italian, especially while identifying the right and left sides showing significant differences between German and Italian. Using mouse tracking, I tested the interpretation of static spatial relations of two kinds of complexity. The simple spatial relations included either extrinsic or intrinsic reference objects (animate; inanimate) and a bottle as localized object. The complex spatial relations were supplemented by an agent and embedded by indirect speech. This allows the investigation of origo shift. In all situations, participants were asked to describe the location of the bottle. German and Italian showed significant differences in interpreting simple animate and inanimate intrinsic relations. Interpreting the intrinsic complex relations, Polish speakers shifted the origo to the agent most frequently and described the relations from his point of view. All in all, for the complex relations, the choice of the intrinsic reference frame decreased significantly compared to the simple relations. That is, most participants shifted the origo to agents’ point of view and interpreted the spatial relations applying the reflection strategy.

<p dir="ltr">Upon acquiring or learning another language, cross-linguistic influence (CLI) is an inevitable phenomenon with which a bilingual speaker lives. One key aspect of CLI is its bidirectionality, flowing between both the first (L1) and second languages (L2) mutually affecting each other. However, investigations of L1 CLI on L2 have dominated previous bilingual studies, and despite the increasing amount of research on L2 CLI on L1, the phonetic and phonological domains remain relatively underexplored. The primary goal of the present study is to expand our understanding of the underlying mechanisms governing L2 CLI on L1 phonetics and phonology.</p><p dir="ltr">The present study investigates L2 CLI on L1 phonetics and phonology by examining both the speech perception and production of L1 sound categories among two different groups of bilinguals, Korean heritage speakers (HSs, <i>n</i> = 30) and long-term immigrants (LTIs, <i>n</i> = 27) group participants in the US, in comparison to L1(Korean)-immersed (L1-i) native speakers residing in South Korea (<i>n</i> = 30). Participants completed a series of three experimental tasks: (1) a three-alternative forced-choice (3AFC) identification task, (2) an AX discrimination task, and (3) a controlled reading paradigm task.</p><p dir="ltr">Experiment 1 (3AFC task) was conducted to investigate the extent and direction of L2 CLI in perceptual cue weighting to L1 speech categories. In this task, participants listened to a Korean word in each trial, potentially differing in the word-initial stop, and decided which word they heard from a real-word Korean minimal triplet /pul/ ‘fire,’ /p^hul/ ‘grass,’ and /p^*ul/ ‘horn.’ Specifically, the word-initial stop consisted of an eight-by-eight orthogonal voice onset time (VOT)–onset f0 continuum, created through a speech resynthesis technique. Based on the similarities and differences in the use of the two acoustic parameters between Korean (either onset f0 or VOT is a primary cue) and English stops (VOT is the primary cue), bilingual participants were expected to exhibit different cue-weighting patterns, as compared to L1-i speakers. The results from the mixed-effects logistic regression model analyses indicated that while HSs were less sensitive to the Korean primary cue, onset f0, compared to L1-i speakers—suggesting assimilation to L2 in the perceptual domain—LTIs exhibited greater sensitivity to this cue, indicating dissimilation from L2. It was also found that bilingual participants’ Korean dominance significantly influenced their cue weighting in the perception of Korean stops.</p><p dir="ltr">Experiment 2 (AX discrimination task) was administered to assess participants’ perceptual accuracy for L1 stop categories and the potential impact of L1 cue weighting, as estimated in Experiment 1, on their discrimination performance. Notably, the VOT in the stop stimuli used in the AX task were resynthesized to have a consistent VOT of 70 ms across all stimuli. This setup created a condition where participants had no choice but to rely solely on the onset f0 cue—the primary cue to the Korean lenis-aspirated stop contrast, rendering VOT, the primary cue for the voicing contrast in English stops, uninformative. The results from mixed-effects logistic regression models showed that HSs were significantly less accurate in discriminating their L1 stop categories without the VOT cue, while LTIs outperformed the L1-i speakers. That is, the LTI group, the most balanced group in terms of language dominance, had the highest accuracy in discriminating L1 contrasts among the participant groups. Furthermore, individual sensitivity to the onset f0 cue was found to be positively correlated with discrimination performance.</p><p dir="ltr">Experiment 3 (Controlled reading paradigm) aimed to examine L2 CLI on the implementation of acoustic parameters for L1 Korean stops, as well as the potential impact of proficiency and dominance on these parameters. Participants read aloud a list of minimal triplet stimuli differing in the word-initial stop within a carrier phrase. A machine-learning-based audio signal detection system was used to analyze the acoustic parameters, and Bayesian mixed-effects linear regression models, along with quadratic polynomial regression models, were implemented for statistical analysis of the processed data. The results of the production task mirrored the perception task (Experiment 1): HSs demonstrated assimilation to L2 via onset f0, while LTIs showed dissimilation, as compared to L1-i speakers. The analysis also revealed that the degree of bilingual balance in dominance and proficiency significantly influenced the implementation of onset f0, with more balanced bilinguals exhibiting greater category contrasts than less balanced bilinguals, regardless of whether they were Korean-dominant or English-dominant.</p><p dir="ltr">The findings from these experiments provide concrete evidence of L2 CLI in L1 phonetics and phonology. Importantly, the results demonstrate that not only the timing of L2 acquisition and the quantity and quality of L2 input but also the quality and quantity of L1 acquisition and bilingual balance contribute to the direction and the degree of L2 CLI in L1 speech. These findings align with the predictions of the revised Speech Learning Model (SLM-r, Flege & Bohn, 2021) and expand its scope of application to include both HSs and LTIs. In particular, the evidence of category assimilation and dissimilation lends support to the bidirectional CLI hypothesis proposed by SLM-r. To conclude, the present dissertation expands our understanding of the nature of L2 CLI in L1 phonetics and phonology in bilingual speakers.</p>

The study is a comparative analysis of conceptual metaphors in English and Shona. The objectives of this study were: to compare the metaphorical expressions of English and Shona in the same or similar domains in order to establish on the one hand whether there are similarities and/or differences cross-linguistically and cross-culturally in the metaphorical construal of reality between these two languages and on the other hand, to establish what the underlying motivation is for the similarities and the differences between these two unrelated languages. The thesis also explores the reasons for the similarities in terms of particular assumptions underlying conceptual metaphors, that is, embodiment and ecological motivations. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Diese Arbeit untersucht den Einfluss von Kultur und Sprache auf die Nutzung des Internets. Drei Hauptgebiete wurden bearbeitet: (1) Der Einfluss von Kultur und Sprache auf Nutzerpräferenzen bezüglich der Darstellung von Informationen und Nutzung von Suchoptionen; (2) Der Einfluss von Kultur auf Nutzerpräferenzen bezüglich des Inhaltes von Websiteinformationen; (3) Der Einfluss von Sprache auf die Nutzerzufriedenheit und Sprache als Informationszugangsbarriere Daten aus Logfile-Analysen, Onlinebefragungen und experimentellen Untersuchungen bildeten die Auswertungsgrundlage für die Überprüfung der 33 Hypothesen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass kulturspezifische Denkmuster mit Navigationsmusters und Nutzung von Suchoptionen korrelieren. Der Einfluss von Kultur auf Nutzerpräferenzen bezüglich des Inhaltes von Websiteinformationen erwies sich als weniger eindeutig. Aus den Untersuchungen zum Einfluss von Sprache ging hervor, dass Sprache Web¬sitezugriff und –nutzung beeinflusst. Die Daten zeigen, dass signifikant weniger L1-Nutzer als L2-Nutzer auf eine Website zugreifen. Dies lässt sich zum einem mit dem sprachbedingten kognitiven Aufwand erklären als auch mit der Tatsache, dass Websites unterschiedlicher Sprachen weniger miteinander verlinkt sind als Websites gleicher Sprachen. Im Hinblick auf die Nutzung von Suchoptionen zeigte sich, dass L2 Nutzer mit geringem themenspezifischen Wissen sich signifikant von L1 Nutzern unterscheiden. Schließlich lassen die Ergebnisse auch darauf schließen, dass Zufriedenheit der Nutzer einer Website einerseits mit Sprachfähigkeiten der Nutzer und andererseits mit der wahrgenommenen Menge muttersprachlichen Angebots im Internet korreliert. / This thesis analyses the impact of culture and language on Internet use. Three main areas were investigated: (1) the impact of culture and language on preferences for information presentation and search options, (2) the impact of culture on the need for specific website content, and (3) language as a barrier to information access and as a determinant of website satisfaction. In order to test the 33 hypotheses, data was gathered by means of logfile analyses, online surveys, and laboratory studies. It was concluded that culture clearly correlated with patterns of navigation behaviour and the use of search options. In contrast, results concerning the impact of culture on the need for website content were less conclusive. Results concerning language, showed that significantly fewer L1 users than L2 users accessed a website. This can be explained with language related cognitive effort as well as with the fact the websites of different languages are less linked than websites of the same language. With regard to search option use, a strong mediation effect of domain knowledge was found. Furthermore, results revealed correlations between user satisfaction and language proficiency, as well as between satisfaction and the perceived amount of native language information online.

The study is a comparative analysis of conceptual metaphors in English and Shona. The objectives of this study were: to compare the metaphorical expressions of English and Shona in the same or similar domains in order to establish on the one hand whether there are similarities and/or differences cross-linguistically and cross-culturally in the metaphorical construal of reality between these two languages and on the other hand, to establish what the underlying motivation is for the similarities and the differences between these two unrelated languages. The thesis also explores the reasons for the similarities in terms of particular assumptions underlying conceptual metaphors, that is, embodiment and ecological motivations. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

<p>A great deal of the research on cross-linguistic phonetic influence demonstrates that a speaker’s knowledge of their first language (L1) significantly affects their ability to perceive and produce sounds in any other language. While current studies show that cross-linguistic transfer occurs at the L3 level, some research suggests that properties of both L1 and L2 are present in the production of L3 (Ionin, Montrul & Santos, 2011). Many studies have addressed perception, production and factors that influence foreign speech in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) (Watkins, Rauber & Baptista, 2009). As the number of multilingual individuals rises, so does the need for studies that investigate not only SLA but also that of additional languages (i.e., Third Language Acquisition). This dissertation examines how cross-linguistic influence (CLI) occurs among English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), examining instances of vowel reduction, an aspect of phonological production. English and BP are assumed as vowel reducing languages, whereas Spanish displays negligible vowel reduction in comparison. The vowel productions in L3 BP of two multilingual groups, L1English-L2Spanish-L3BP (ESP) and L1 Spanish-L2 English-BP (SEP) were investigated in two tasks: a paragraph reading task (PRT) and a carrier phrase task (CPT). The study sought to determine whether i) a native speaker of a vowel reducing L1 and a non-vowel reducing L2 displays more or less vowel reduction in a vowel reducing L3 than a native speaker of a non-vowel reducing L1 and vowel reducing L2 and ii) how length of exposure to an L3 affects phonological production. Three fixed effects were considered: duration ratio, intensity ratio and height (F1). The goal was to ascertain whether the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) (Rothman 2011, 2015) or the L2 Status Factor Model (Bardel & Falk 2007, 2012; Hammarberg, 2001) would be a better predictor for how vowel reduction would occur in the L3. Results for duration ratio and vowel height showed no significant difference between groups ESP and SEP. Results for intensity ratio suggest L2 Status as a better predictor, as group SEP displayed more phonological transfer than the ESP group. A hybrid approach to L3 acquisition models is proposed. </p>

Cette thèse porte sur l’influence interlinguistique au cours du processus d’acquisition de l’espagnol comme langue tierce (L3) chez des enfants bilingues français/basque. Plus précisément, nous nous intéressons à l’accord en genre dans le syntagme déterminant et à la formation de composés nominaux (N+N et déverbaux). Le français et l’espagnol partagent les mêmes caractéristiques concernant les deux phénomènes puisqu’ils possèdent chacun deux genres grammaticaux (masculin et féminin) et qu’ils forment leurs composés avec la tête à gauche. Par contre, en basque, il n’y a pas de genre grammatical et les composés se forment avec la tête à droite. Cette configuration des langues, ainsi que les différents profils de nos participants, nous permettent d’explorer l’influence interlinguistique dès les étapes initiales d’acquisition de l’espagnol L3 à travers l’étude des facteurs les plus courants dans le domaine de l’acquisition de L3, tels que la typologie, l’usage et l’ordre d’acquisition des deux premières langues. Dans l’ensemble, une influence du français (typologiquement et structurellement plus proche de l’espagnol) pourrait avoir un effet facilitateur, tandis que le basque aurait un effet inhibiteur. Pour explorer ces possibilités d’influence, nous avons administré un test de description d’image écrite pour obtenir 1) des syntagmes formés par un déterminant, un nom et un adjectif de couleur (par exemple, « la casa roja », c’est-à-dire, « la maison rouge »); 2) des composés N+N (par exemple, « hombre rana », c’est-à-dire, « homme-grenouille »); et 3) des déverbaux (par exemple, « abrebotellas », c’est-à-dire, « ouvre-bouteille ») à 52 enfants bilingues (français/basque, âge : 10-11 ans) qui apprenaient l’espagnol comme L3 et à un groupe témoin de 21 locuteurs natifs d’espagnol du même âge. Les participants de L3 ont été divisés en trois groupes, selon leur langue dominante : L1 basque, L1 français et 2L1 basque/français. À partir des données collectées, nous avons analysé le niveau de maitrise des structures cibles en fonction des facteurs les plus couramment étudiés en acquisition de L2. Concernant le genre grammatical, nous considérons le genre par défaut, le type d’accord (déterminant ou adjectif), la transparence de la terminaison (-a / -o) et le critère analogique. En ce qui a trait aux composés, nous nous intéressons à la directionnalité (tête initiale ou finale) et la productivité des deux types de composés. Plus spécifiquement pour les composés déverbaux, nous étudions également leurs caractéristiques formelles (flexion verbale et -s générique). Conformément aux résultats de recherches antérieures sur le genre grammatical en espagnol, le taux d’erreur le plus élevé se produit avec le féminin, ce qui indique une stratégie consistant à utiliser le masculin comme genre par défaut. Nous avons également constaté que l’effet de la transparence de la terminaison était plus important chez les locuteurs ayant le basque comme langue dominante, qui ont acquis le français dans un contexte formel et qui ne l’utilisent pas quotidiennement à la maison. En revanche, le critère analogique semble avoir un impact plus important sur les locuteurs qui ont acquis le français à la maison et qui l’utilisent quotidiennement. Concernant les composés, compte tenu des pourcentages élevés de composés avec la bonne directionnalité, nos résultats suggèrent un effet facilitateur du français pour tous les participants, quel que soit l’âge ou l’ordre d’acquisition de leur L1/L2. En général, le français, la langue la plus proche, semble exercer une influence plus directe sur le processus d’acquisition de l’espagnol L3, mais le basque semble avoir une certaine influence sur les stratégies métalinguistiques mobilisées par nos participants. / This study focuses on the issue of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) throughout the acquisition process of Spanish as an L3 by bilingual French/Basque children. Specifically, we are interested in gender concord within the Determiner Phrase (DP) and the formation of nominal compounds (N + N and deverbals). French and Spanish share the same characteristics regarding the two phenomena, as they display two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine), and compounds are head-initial. Conversely, there is no grammatical gender in Basque and compounds are head-final. This configuration of languages, together with the different profiles of our bilingual participants, allows us to explore cross-linguistic influence from the initial stages of acquisition of L3 Spanish through the most common factors in the field of L3 acquisition, namely typology, use and order of acquisition of the first two languages. Overall, an influence of French (typologically and structurally closer) would have a facilitating effect, while Basque would have an inhibitory one. In order to explore these possibilities of influence, we administered a written image description task to elicit 1) phrases made up of a determinant, a noun and a color adjective (e.g., “una casa roja”, “a red house”), 2) N + N compounds (e.g., “hombre rana”, “frogman”) and 3) deverbal compounds (e.g., “abrebotellas”, “bottle opener”) to 52 bilingual children (French/Basque, age: 10–11 years) learning Spanish as an L3, and to a control group of 21 native speakers of Spanish of the same age. The L3 participants were divided into three groups, based on their dominant language: L1 Basque, L1 French, and 2L1 Basque/French. From the data collected, we analyzed the level of accuracy for the target structures in relation to the most commonly studied factors in L2 acquisition. Regarding grammatical gender, we considered the transparency of the ending (-a/-o), the default gender and the analogical criterion. Concerning the compounds, we studied directionality (head-initial vs. head-final) and the productivity of both types of compound. As for the deverbals, we also studied their formal characteristics (verbal inflection and generic -s). In line with the results of previous research on Spanish grammatical gender, the highest error rates occur with feminine, which points to a strategy of using masculine as the default gender. We also found that the effect of the transparency of the ending was greater with Basque-dominant speakers, who acquired French later in a formal context and do not use it at home on a daily basis. In contrast, the analogical criterion seems to be favoured by speakers who acquired French at home and use it every day. As for the compounds, given the high percentages of compounds with the correct directionality, our results suggest a facilitating effect of French for all participants, regardless of age or order of acquisition of their L1/L2. In general, French, the closer language, seems to exert a more direct influence on the process of acquisition of L3 Spanish, but Basque seems to have some influence in terms of the metalinguistic strategies used by our participants. / La presente investigación se centra en la influencia interlingüística a lo largo del proceso de adquisición del español como L3 por parte de niños bilingües francés/euskera. Concretamente, nos interesamos por la concordancia de género dentro del sintagma determinante y la formación de compuestos nominales (N+N y deverbales). El francés y el español comparten las mismas características en cuanto a los dos fenómenos, al tener dos géneros gramaticales (masculino y femenino) y formar sus compuestos con el núcleo a la izquierda. En cambio, en euskera no hay género gramatical y los compuestos se forman con el núcleo a la derecha. Esta configuración de lenguas, junto con los diferentes perfiles de nuestros participantes bilingües, nos permiten explorar la influencia interlingüística desde las etapas iniciales de adquisición del español L3 a través de los factores más comunes en el campo de la adquisición de L3, como la tipología, el uso y el orden de adquisición de las dos primeras lenguas. De manera global, una influencia del francés (tipológica y estructuralmente más cercana y también la L2 de algunos participantes) podría tener un efecto facilitador, mientras que el euskera tendría un efecto inhibidor. Para explorar esas posibilidades de influencia, administramos una prueba escrita de descripción de imágenes para elicitar 1) sintagmas formados por un determinante, un sustantivo y un adjetivo de color (p. ej., “la casa roja”), 2) compuestos N+N (p. ej., “hombre rana”) y 3) deverbales (p. ej., “abrebotellas”) a 52 niños bilingües (francés-euskera, edad: 10-11 años) que aprendían español como L3 y a un grupo de control de 21 hablantes nativos de español de la misma edad. Los participantes de L3 fueron divididos en tres grupos, según su lengua dominante: L1 euskera, L1 francés, y 2L1 euskera/francés. A partir de los datos recogidos, analizamos el nivel de dominio de las estructuras metas en función de los factores más comúnmente estudiados en adquisición de L2. En cuanto al género gramatical, consideramos el género por defecto, el tipo de concordancia, la transparencia de la terminación (-a/-o) y el criterio analógico. Con respecto a los compuestos, estudiamos la direccionalidad (núcleo inicial vs. final) y la productividad de ambos tipos de compuesto. En cuanto los deverbales, estudiamos además sus características formales (flexión verbal y -s genérica). En línea con los resultados de investigaciones anteriores sobre el género gramatical en español, la tasa de error más alta ocurre con el femenino, lo cual apunta a una estrategia de uso del masculino como género por defecto. También encontramos que el efecto de la transparencia de la terminación era mayor con los hablantes que adquirieron el francés en un contexto formal y que no lo usan en casa de manera cotidiana. En cambio, el criterio analógico parece tener un impacto mayor en los hablantes que adquirieron el francés en casa y que lo usan todos los días. En cuanto a los compuestos, dados los altos porcentajes de producción de compuestos con la direccionalidad correcta, nuestros resultados sugieren un efecto facilitador del francés para todos los participantes, independientemente de la edad o del orden de adquisición de sus L1/L2. De manera general, el francés, la lengua más cercana, parece ejercer una influencia más directa en el proceso de adquisición del español L3, pero el euskera parece tener cierta influencia en las estrategias metalingüísticas movilizadas por nuestros participantes. / Tesi hau frantses / euskaldun elebidunek gaztelania hirugarren hizkuntza gisa (H3) ikasterakoan gertazen den hizkuntza arteko eraginari buruzkoa da. Zehazkiago, generoarekiko komunztadura aztertzen dugu determinatzaile sintagman eta hitz elkartuetan (izen + izen eta aditz elkartuak). Frantsesak eta gaztelaniak ezaugarri berdinak dituzte bi fenomenoei dagokienez, bakoitzak bi genero gramatikal (maskulinoa eta femeninoa) baitituzte eta hitz elkartuek burua ezkerrean dute. Bestalde, euskaraz ez dago genero gramatikalik eta hitz elkartuek burua eskuinean dute. Hizkuntzen konfigurazio honek, baita gure parte-hartzaileen profil desberdinak ere, gaztelania H3 gisa jabetzerakoan hizkuntza arteko eragina aztertzeko aukera ematen digu, hasierako urratsetatik, H3 jabekuntza arloko faktore ohikoenen azterketaren bidez (hala nola hizkuntzen tipologia, erabilera eta eskuratze hurrenkera). Orokorrean, frantsesaren eraginak (tipologikoki eta egituraz gaztelaniatik hurbilago) eragin errazgarria izan dezake, eta euskarak, berriz, eragin inhibitzailea. Eragin posible hauek aztertzeko, idatzizko irudi deskribapenaren proba pasatu dugu, 1) izen bat eta kolore adjektibo batez osatutako sintagmak (adibidez, "la casa roja", hau da: "etxe gorria"); 2) izen + izen hitz elkartuak (adibidez, "hombre rana", hau da: "igel gizona"); eta 3) aditzez osatutako hitz elkartuak (adibidez, "abrebotellas", hau da, "botila irekitzekoa"). Gaztelania H3 gisa ikasten ari ziren 52 haur elebidunek (adina: 10-11 urte, frantsesa / euskara elebidun) eta gaztelania ama hizkuntza duten adin bereko 21 haur kontrolen talde batek parte hartu dute. Gaztelania H3ko partaideak hiru taldetan banatuak izan ziren, hizkuntza nagusiaren arabera: euskara H1, frantsesa H1 eta 2H1 euskara / frantsesa. Bildutako datuen oinarrian, xede-egituren ezagutza maila aztertu dugu bigarren hizkuntzaren jabekuntzan aztertu ohi diren faktoreen arabera. Genero gramatikalari dagokionez, genero defektiboa, komunztadura mota (determinatzailea edo adjektiboa), bukaeraren gardentasuna (-a / -o) eta irizpide analogikoa kontuan hartzen ditugu. Hitz elkartuei dagokienez, bi hitz elkarte moten norabidea (hasierako edo amaierako burua) eta produktibitatea interesatzen zaizkigu. Bereziki aditz elkartuentzat, haien ezaugarri formalak ere aztertzen ditugu (inflexioa eta -s generikoak). Gaztelaniaz genero gramatikalari buruz egindako aurreko ikerketekin bat eginez, huts kopuru handiena femeninoarekin gertatzen da, maskulinoa genero defektibo gisa erabiltzeko estrategia erakutsiz. Gainera, ikusi da amaieraren gardentasunaren eragina handiagoa zela euskara hizkuntza nagusi zuten eta frantsesa testuinguru formalean eskuratu eta etxean egunero erabiltzen ez duten hiztunengan. Aldiz, badirudi irizpide analogikoak eragin handiagoa duela etxean frantsesa ikasi duten eta egunero erabiltzen duten hiztunengan. Hitz elkartuei dagokienez, norabide zuzena duten hitz elkartuen ehuneko altuak direla eta, gure emaitzek frantsesaren eragin errazgarria erakusten dute parte-hartzaile guztientzat, H1 / H2 jabetze adina edo hurrenkera edozein dela ere. Orokorrean, frantsesak, hizkuntza hurbilena, gaztelania H3 jabetzeko prozesuan eragin zuzenagoa duela dirudi, baina badirudi euskarak nolabaiteko eragina duela gure parte hartzaileek mobilizatutako estrategia metalinguistikoetan.