The purpose of this thesis is threefold: 1) A behavioral examination of the role of diacritics in Arabic, 2) A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigative study of diacritics in Arabic, and 3) An optimization algorithm for brain mapping and detecting brain function. Firstly, the role of diacritics in Arabic was examined behaviorally. The stimulus was a lexical decision task (LDT) that constituted of low, mid, and high frequency words and nonwords; with and without diacritics. Results showed that the presence of vowel diacritics slowed reaction time but did not affect word recognition accuracy. The longer reaction times for words with diacritics versus without diacritics suggest that the diacritics may contribute to differences in word recognition strategies. Secondly, an Event-related fMRI experiment of lexical decisions associated with real words with versus without diacritics in Arabic readers was done. Real words with no diacritics yielded shorter response times and stronger activation than with real words with diacritics in the hippocampus and middle temporal gyrus possibly reflecting a search from among multiple meanings associated with these words in a semantic store. In contrast, real words with diacritics had longer response times than real words without diacritics and activated the insula and frontal areas suggestive of phonological and semantic mediation in lexical retrieval. Both the behavioral and fMRI results in this study appear to support a role for diacritics in reading in Arabic. The third research work in this thesis is an optimization algorithm for fMRI data analysis. Current data-driven approaches for fMRI data analysis, such as independent component analysis (ICA), rely on algorithms that may have low computational expense, but are much more prone to suboptimal results. In this work, a genetic algorithm (GA) based on a clustering technique was designed, developed, and implemented for fMRI ICA data analysis. Results for the algorithm, GAICA, showed that although it might be computationally expensive; it provides global optimum convergence and results. Therefore, GAICA can be used as a complimentary or supplementary technique for brain mapping and detecting brain function by way of fMRI.

After providing an historical overview of the French spelling system and orthographic variation, this study analyzes selected internal (i.e., linguistic) factors and one external (i.e., social) factor that can influence the use of diacritics in online French-language chat sessions. From a corpus of synchronous computer-mediated communication, 3,855 tokens of graphemes capable of bearing diacritics were coded with the following scheme: Letter, Diacritic, Grapheme (i.e., Letter and Diacritic combined), Date of Participation, and Age Group of Participant. A multivariate (VARBRUL) analysis determined that Grapheme exerts the most influence on variation.

O presente trabalho trará a edição semidiplomática dos processos criminais e autos de devassa dos séculos XVII ao XX, bem como a análise do emprego dos diacríticos. O período escolhido proporcionará analisar a evolução do uso dos sinais gráficos agudo (´), circunflexo (^), grave (`) e til (~), bem como traçar uma similaridade entre os usos, contextualizadas às aplicações estabelecidas no período, quando existentes. O trabalho filológico estará presente em todas as análises realizadas e inicialmente partiremos da transcrição semidiplomática dos manuscritos, que nos possibilitarão identificar alguns fatores que contribuíram com a diversificação do uso dos diacríticos, bem como sanar dúvidas quanto a sua aplicabilidade. Após essa análise e a descaracterização de similaridades, ou seja, a minimização de dúvidas quanto a identificação do diacrítico, devido ao traçado utilizado, partimos para uma segunda etapa da análise do corpus: a diversificação dos usos nos diferentes séculos e suas motivações. Em paralelo, e não menos importante, buscaremos no contexto político-social as perspectivas socioculturais que apresentem a dinâmica na forma de apresentação e estruturação documental, bem como identificar os autores dos documentos e sua influência na elaboração dos autos. Buscando em gramáticas, ortografias e manuais de escrita das épocas relacionadas, estabelecemos relações entre o contexto social, político e ideológico refletidos nas obras linguísticas dos séculos XVI ao XX à utilização dos sinais diacríticos presentes na documentação. Essa correlação serviu-nos de base para que identificássemos similaridades entre os usos defendidos pelos gramáticos, ortógrafos e mestres e os escribas responsáveis pela feitura dos documentos. O objetivo desse estudo é apresentar novos contextos acerca do uso destes sinais gráficos a partir de uma análise linguística e histórico-social dos dados coletados nos autos de devassa, contribuindo assim com futuras pesquisas e estudos na área da filologia e da linguística histórica. / This paper will focus on both the semi-diplomatic edition of the criminal proceedings, autos de devassa (case files), from the 17th to the 20th centuries, and on the analysis of the use of diacritics. The chosen time period will not only make it possible to analyze the development of graphic signs: acute (´), circumflex (^), grave (`), and tilde (~), but also draw a similarity between the uses, contextualized to the applications set out in the period - when existing. The philological research will permeate all the conducted analyses, and we will start with the semi-diplomatic transcription of the manuscripts, which will enable us to identify several factors which contributed to the diversification of the use of diacritics, and will also answer questions as to their applicability. After making this analysis and detracting from the characterization of the similarities, that is, minimizing questions regarding the identification of the diacritic, due to the designed plan, we move on to the second phase of the corpus analysis: the diversification of the uses in the different centuries and their motivations. In addition, and importantly, we will seek in the sociopolitical context the sociocultural perspectives that present the dynamics in presentation form and documental structuring, and also identify the authors of the documents and their influence on the drafting of the files. Searching in grammars, orthographies and writing manuals of the related times, we have established relationships between the sociopolitical and ideological context reflected in the linguistic works of the time period from the 16th to the 20th centuries, and the use of diacritical signs laid out in the documentation. This correlation served as a basis for us to identify similarities among the uses upheld by grammarians, orthographers, professors and the scribes responsible for drafting the documents. The purpose of this study is to introduce new contexts on the use of these graphic signs based on a linguistic, social and historical analysis of the data collected in the autos de devassa (case files), thus contributing to future research in the fields of philology and historical linguistics.

O presente trabalho trará a edição semidiplomática dos processos criminais e autos de devassa dos séculos XVII ao XX, bem como a análise do emprego dos diacríticos. O período escolhido proporcionará analisar a evolução do uso dos sinais gráficos agudo (´), circunflexo (^), grave (`) e til (~), bem como traçar uma similaridade entre os usos, contextualizadas às aplicações estabelecidas no período, quando existentes. O trabalho filológico estará presente em todas as análises realizadas e inicialmente partiremos da transcrição semidiplomática dos manuscritos, que nos possibilitarão identificar alguns fatores que contribuíram com a diversificação do uso dos diacríticos, bem como sanar dúvidas quanto a sua aplicabilidade. Após essa análise e a descaracterização de similaridades, ou seja, a minimização de dúvidas quanto a identificação do diacrítico, devido ao traçado utilizado, partimos para uma segunda etapa da análise do corpus: a diversificação dos usos nos diferentes séculos e suas motivações. Em paralelo, e não menos importante, buscaremos no contexto político-social as perspectivas socioculturais que apresentem a dinâmica na forma de apresentação e estruturação documental, bem como identificar os autores dos documentos e sua influência na elaboração dos autos. Buscando em gramáticas, ortografias e manuais de escrita das épocas relacionadas, estabelecemos relações entre o contexto social, político e ideológico refletidos nas obras linguísticas dos séculos XVI ao XX à utilização dos sinais diacríticos presentes na documentação. Essa correlação serviu-nos de base para que identificássemos similaridades entre os usos defendidos pelos gramáticos, ortógrafos e mestres e os escribas responsáveis pela feitura dos documentos. O objetivo desse estudo é apresentar novos contextos acerca do uso destes sinais gráficos a partir de uma análise linguística e histórico-social dos dados coletados nos autos de devassa, contribuindo assim com futuras pesquisas e estudos na área da filologia e da linguística histórica. / This paper will focus on both the semi-diplomatic edition of the criminal proceedings, autos de devassa (case files), from the 17th to the 20th centuries, and on the analysis of the use of diacritics. The chosen time period will not only make it possible to analyze the development of graphic signs: acute (´), circumflex (^), grave (`), and tilde (~), but also draw a similarity between the uses, contextualized to the applications set out in the period - when existing. The philological research will permeate all the conducted analyses, and we will start with the semi-diplomatic transcription of the manuscripts, which will enable us to identify several factors which contributed to the diversification of the use of diacritics, and will also answer questions as to their applicability. After making this analysis and detracting from the characterization of the similarities, that is, minimizing questions regarding the identification of the diacritic, due to the designed plan, we move on to the second phase of the corpus analysis: the diversification of the uses in the different centuries and their motivations. In addition, and importantly, we will seek in the sociopolitical context the sociocultural perspectives that present the dynamics in presentation form and documental structuring, and also identify the authors of the documents and their influence on the drafting of the files. Searching in grammars, orthographies and writing manuals of the related times, we have established relationships between the sociopolitical and ideological context reflected in the linguistic works of the time period from the 16th to the 20th centuries, and the use of diacritical signs laid out in the documentation. This correlation served as a basis for us to identify similarities among the uses upheld by grammarians, orthographers, professors and the scribes responsible for drafting the documents. The purpose of this study is to introduce new contexts on the use of these graphic signs based on a linguistic, social and historical analysis of the data collected in the autos de devassa (case files), thus contributing to future research in the fields of philology and historical linguistics.

Text in English / Abstracts in English and Venda / This study has investigated the effectiveness of available tools used for translating from English into Tshivenḓa and vice versa with the aim to investigate and determine the effectiveness of these tools. This study dealt with the problem of lack of effective translation tools used to translate between English and Tshivenḓa. Tshivenḓa is one of South Africa’s minority languages. Its (Tshivenḓa) lack of effective translation tools negatively affects language practitioners’ work. This situation is perilous for translation quality assurance. Translation tools, both computer technology and non-computer technology tools abound for developed languages such as English, French and others. Based on the results of this research project, the researcher did make recommendations that could remedy the situation. South Africa is a democratic country that has a number of language-related policies. This then creates a conducive context for stakeholders with language passion to fully develop Tshivenḓa language in all dimensions. The fact is that all languages have evolved and they were all underdeveloped. This vividly shows that Tshivenḓa language development is also possible just like Afrikaans, which never existed on earth before 1652. It (Afrikaans) has evolved and overtaken all indigenous South African languages. This study did review the literature regarding translation and translation tools. The literature was obtained from both published and unpublished sources. The study has used mixed methods research, i.e. quantitative and qualitative research methods. These methods successfully complemented each other throughout the entire research. Data were gathered through questionnaires and interviews wherein both open and closed-ended questions were employed. Both purposive/judgemental and snowball (chain) sampling have been applied in this study. Data analysis was addressed through a combination of methods owing to the nature of mixed methods research. Guided by analytic comparison approach when grouping together related data during data analysis and presentation, both statistical and textual analyses have been vital in this study. Themes were constructed to lucidly present the gathered data. At the last chapters, the researcher discussed the findings and evaluated the entire research before making recommendations and conclusion. / Iyi ṱhoḓisiso yo ita tsedzuluso nga ha kushumele kwa zwishumiswa zwi re hone zwine zwa shumiswa u pindulela u bva kha luambo lwa English u ya kha Tshivenḓa na u bva kha Tshivenḓa u ya kha English ndivho I ya u sedzulusa na u lavhelesa kushumele kwa izwi zwishumiswa uri zwi a thusa naa. Ino ṱhoḓisiso yo shumana na thaidzo ya ṱhahelelo ya zwishumiswa zwa u pindulela zwine zwa shumiswa musi hu tshi pindulelwa vhukati ha English na Tshivenḓa. Tshivenḓa ndi luṅwe lwa nyambo dza Afrika Tshipembe dzine dza ambiwa nga vhathu vha si vhanzhi. U shaea ha zwishumiswa zwa u pindulela zwine zwa shuma nga nḓila I thusaho zwi kwama mushumo wa vhashumi vha zwa nyambo nga nḓila I si yavhuḓi. Iyi nyimele I na mulingo u kwamaho khwaḽithi ya zwo pindulelwaho. Zwishumiswa zwa u pindulela, zwa thekhnoḽodzhi ya khomphiyutha na zwi sa shumisi thekhnoḽodzhi ya khomphiyutha zwo ḓalesa kha nyambo dzo bvelelaho u tou fana na kha English, French na dziṅwe. Zwo sendeka kha mvelelo dza ino thandela ya ṱhoḓisiso, muṱoḓisisi o ita themendelo dzine dza nga fhelisa thaidzo ya nyimele. Afrika Tshipembe ndi shango ḽa demokirasi ḽine ḽa vha na mbekanyamaitele dzo vhalaho nga ha dzinyambo. Izwi zwi ita uri hu vhe na nyimele ine vhafaramikovhe vhane vha funesa nyambo vha kone u bveledza Tshivenḓa kha masia oṱhe. Zwavhukuma ndi zwa uri nyambo dzoṱhe dzi na mathomo nahone dzoṱhe dzo vha dzi songo bvelela. Izwi zwi ita uri zwi vhe khagala uri luambo lwa Tshivenḓa na lwone lu nga bveledzwa u tou fana na luambo lwa Afrikaans lwe lwa vha lu si ho ḽifhasini phanḓa ha ṅwaha wa 1652. Ulu luambo (Afrikaans) lwo vha hone shangoni lwa mbo bveledzwa lwa fhira nyambo dzoṱhe dza fhano hayani Afrika Tshipembe. Kha ino ṱhoḓisiso ho vhaliwa maṅwalwa ane a amba nga ha u pindulela na nga ha zwishumiswa zwa u pindulela. Maṅwalwa e a vhalwa o wanala kha zwiko zwo kanḓiswaho na zwiko zwi songo kanḓiswaho. Ino ṱhoḓisiso yo shumisa ngona dza ṱhoḓisiso dzo ṱanganyiswaho, idzo ngona ndi khwanthithethivi na khwaḽithethivi. Idzi ngona dzo shumisana zwavhuḓisa kha ṱhoḓisiso yoṱhe. Data yo kuvhanganywa hu tshi khou shumiswa dzimbudziso na u tou vhudzisa hune afho ho shumiswa mbudziso dzo vuleaho na dzo valeaho. Ngona dza u nanga sambula muṱoḓisisi o shumisa khaṱulo yawe uri ndi nnyi ane a nga vha a na data yo teaho na u humbela vhavhudziswa uri vha bule vhaṅwe vhathu vha re na data yo teaho ino ṱhoḓisiso. viii Tsenguluso ya data ho ṱanganyiswa ngona dza u sengulusa zwo itiswa ngauri ṱhoḓisiso ino yo ṱanganyisa ngona dza u ita ṱhoḓisiso. Sumbanḓila ho shumiswa tsenguluso ya mbambedzo kha u sengulusa data. Data ine ya fana yo vhewa fhethu huthihi musi hu tshi khou senguluswa na u vhiga. Tsenguluso I shumisaho mbalo/tshivhalo (khwanthithethivi) na I shumisaho maipfi kha ino ngudo dzo shumiswa. Ho vhumbiwa dziṱhoho u itela u ṱana data ye ya kuvhanganywa. Ngei kha ndima dza u fhedza, muṱodisisi o rera nga ha mawanwa, o ṱhaṱhuvha ṱhoḓisiso yoṱhe phanḓa ha u ita themendelo na u vhina. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

The work describes the theoretical foundations of modern methods of creating new fonts, that is, using information technology, specifically vector programs. It also marginally shows the history of the font, Roman writing, the basic division of its compositions and describes its individual elements. The next part of the project focuses on creating digital fonts and continues with bringing it to live using algorithms and methods that can easily be processed in Matlab programming language. The method of implementation of the bringing the typeface to live is described and presentation of the generated results are then shown in few examples. Attention is also paid to the coordinates system, which is very important to solve geometric transformations, and two-dimensional vector graphics, which are widely used in the design and to render the fonts. Bézier curves and cubic Bézier curves are described in further detail along with vector graphics rasterization. One part of this text describes very important de Casteljau algorithm. The last chapter focuses on implementation in Matlab programming language, the creation of curves, that means single font characters, and the ways of how the algorithm works with transformations. Some sample images showing transformations using different input arguments are displayed in this section as well. There is evaluation of the contribution of this application and the possibilities of further expansion at the end.