Karl Brugmann's thesis, Leipzig, 1877. / "Sonderabdruck aus Kuhn's Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung Band XXIV, neue Folge Band IV." Includes bibliographical references.

In 1994, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan announced a decision to relocate the capital of the country from the southeast corner to a more centralized location. Various theories have been suggested, both officially and unofficially for the move. The most widely accepted reason centers around concern for possible inter-ethnic tensions in the northern part of the country, where the new capital is. This work analyzes the authenticity of the stated motives: inter-ethnic concerns, as well as centrality, proximity to China and fundamental Islam, earthquakes, pollution, and expansion. Further attention is then given to the influence of the president himself in the decision. Due to the contemporary nature of the topic, numerous internet databases proved to be of particular importance during the research, including Eurasianet and Jamestown Foundation, as well as the works of specific scholars specializing in the region. The multitude of subject areas covered by this topic enhances its relevance: history, politics, geography, economics, international affairs, religion, psychology, Russian studies, Chinese studies, Central Asian studies, and Kazakhstan itself. A thorough understanding of the country and its leader is necessary as various agendas develop, both internally and externally. / A Thesis Submitted to the Interdisciplinary Program in Russian and East European Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2005. / July 1, 2005. / Nursultan Nazarbayev, Ethnic Conflict, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Islam, Russia, China / Includes bibliographical references. / Jonathan A. Grant, Professor Directing Thesis; Ljubisa S. Adamovich, Committee Member; Lee Metcalf, Committee Member.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1919. / Bibliography: p. 9.

Inaug.-Diss.--Frankfurt am Main. / Bibliography: p. 7-20.

<p>This thesis aims at a comparative study of the role and portrayal of the non-aristocratie characters of several chansons de geste selected from the twelfth to early fifteenth centuries. At the same time, the treatment of the so-called pseudo-vilains in relation to that of the genuine non-nobles will also be considered.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

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The objective of this thesis is the formulation of a set of guidelines, criteria, which will serve as a bench mark for those who wish to attempt the translation of non-oral spoken discourse. This will be achieved by the examination of three modern Spanish texts and their translated equivalents in English. The Introduction sets the study in context and attempts to study the notion of translation in a general context before moving on to a closer examination of the translation of spoken discourse, and the problems which this form of language engenders. Chapter 2 examines the novel El Jarama and its translation in the light of a wide range of the published translation theories of Peter Newmark, and attempts to apply these systematically, in order to evaluate the effectiveness, or otherwise, of these theories. Chapter 3 examines Tiempo de silencio and its English language version, paying particular attention to the forms of discourse employed in the original, notably internal monologue, and the way that these formats affect the impact of the Spanish text, before moving on to examine how these issues have been dealt with in translation. Other elements which may be of relevance to the translator, such as layout and symbolism, and their effect on spoken discourse, are investigated. Chapter 4 deals with a play, Las cartas boca abajo, and its translation for the radio. This study looks at the problems associated with this medium in the context of spoken discourse, as well as examining a number of problems associated with the text, including culture and expansion. The conclusion attempts to set all the points raised in context and address the problem of drawing up a definitive list of criteria for the effective translation of spoken discourse.

This thesis investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of aspect. Aspect is considered to be a universal property of language (Chung and Timberlake, 1985; Comrie, 1976; Klein, 1994, 1995; Smith, 1991, 1997). Therefore, all natural languages are thought to be able to convey the same aspectual meanings. However, languages do not always convey these meanings in the same ways. For example, although French and English are able to convey viewpoint aspect by tense, they differ from each other in the particular aspectual meanings they map to individual tenses. In other words, English and French differ in how they pair form with meaning for viewpoint aspect. In German, viewpoint cannot be conveyed by tense alone and semantics and pragmatics are required for viewpoint interpretation (Bohnemeyer and Swift, 2004). So whilst languages are able to convey the same meanings, there are differences in how they go about doing this. This raises the question of the role of learners‘ L1 in the L2 development of aspect (e.g. Domínguez, Arche and Myles, 2011; Gabriele, 2005, 2009; Montrul and Slabakova, 2002, 2003; Slabakova, 2000, 2002, 2008). In other words, do differences in how aspect is expressed in the L1 affect how it develops in the L2? The role of prototypes in the L2 development of aspect has been widely documented as an influencing factor (e.g. Andersen and Shirai, 1994, 1996; Bardovi-Harlig and Bergström, 1996; Bardovi-Harlig, 2000; Labeau, 2005; Salaberry, 1998, 2000). The Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen and Shirai, 1994, 1996) indicates that learners are sensitive to prototypes: L2 development is characterized by initially pairing prototypes of viewpoint with situation type. These form-meaning relationships then become less restricted as L2 proficiency increases. Central to this thesis is the effect to which L1 form-meaning pairings and prototypes affect the L2 development of aspect. This study‘s research questions are as follows: How do learners express perfective and imperfective viewpoint aspect? What role do L1 form-meaning pairings have in the L2 development of viewpoint aspect?  What role do semantic prototypes have in the L2 development of viewpoint aspect? What are the theoretical implications of the role of L1 background and semantic prototypes on L2 development more generally? Participants are English- and German-speaking university learners of French L2 (n=75) and a control group of French native speakers (n=6). C-test results established two significantly different learner groups: a low group and an advanced group. Learners were further divided into groups based on L1 background, resulting in: English low group (n=19), German low group (n=19), English advanced group (n=19), German advanced group (n=18). Participants undertook three tasks: two picture-based spoken narratives and a Sentence Interpretation task. Results show significant differences between learners in production and interpretation. Differences are attributable to both proficiency level and L1 background. English low group learners are significantly different to German low group learners for viewpoint marking, especially in imperfective contexts, whereas English and German advanced group learners are not significantly different from each other. Furthermore, tense selection is subject to a semantic prototype influence, with advanced group learners influenced more than low group learners. It is argued that L1 form-meaning pairings for viewpoint aspect significantly influence L2 development at the early stages of L2 development. However, as L2 proficiency increases L1 influence begins to recede and learners develop L2 form-meaning pairings. At the more advanced stages of L2 development, semantic prototypes significantly affect tense use. Furthermore, prototypical effects appear to increase with proficiency, contrary to the Aspect Hypothesis.

The French film critic Stéphane Delorme, in Les Cahiers du Cinéma, writes that “horror is the unexpected answer to the question: how to create myths nowadays?” (2008: 11). This quotation is the starting-point for this thesis which aims to discuss and analyse the implications of his statement that cinema is a vehicle for myths, and most specifically, for those associated with what he calls “horror”, which we have interpreted as “cruelty”. The implications of this change will be discussed in the thesis. The thesis will set out the implications of the concepts both of “cruelty” and of “myth” in a context of representation. One theoretical starting point for this research is necessarily the writings of Antonin Artaud, fundamental for analysing cruelty in a context of spectacle (theatre or film). The introduction of this thesis will explore Artaud’s writings and their relevance to cinema. This thesis is about cinema; nevertheless, to speak about cinema and cruelty, we will first study Artaud’s writings to which cruelty is the heart of a theatre that he calls “Théâtre de la Cruauté”. Artaud elaborates his ideas from theatre, and the theatre, like cinema, can be a vehicle for myths. The importance of Artaud’s theories of spectacle should explain why we will research connections between cruelty, myths and cinema initially in the light of theatre. In fact, our analysis will show that cruelty in cinema, as we will define it here, is always linked to theatricality in the way in which it creates a relation between the audience, the film and the moviemaker. We will explore its lineaments through its development in a number of key films of the 1990s/2000s. As regards myths, our objective is, firstly, to understand how cinema can give rise to modern myths, and how they form and transform themselves. We will establish not only what a myth is, but also what “the myth of cruelty” may represent nowadays, and how this contemporary myth has been represented by the moviemakers. We consider that cinema, and not specifically horror cinema, may be one specific sort of collective myth. Then, however, we will consider how cinema, surprisingly for a vehicle for myths, questions its own myths and fights them. The main part of this thesis will focus on a corpus of films which will serve to show the evidence of definable myths of cruelty in the cinema. These films are: Trouble Every Day (2001) by Claire Denis Dans Ma Peau (2002) by Marina de Van Funny Games (1997), La Pianiste (2001), Caché (2005) by Michael Haneke Medea (1988) and Dogville (2003) by Lars von Trier The concept of cruelty, and its myths, will be discussed through an analysis of physical cruelty (Trouble Every Day and Dans Ma Peau), psychological cruelty (Funny Games and La Pianiste), social cruelty (Medea, Dogville and Caché), and myths and repetitions in the cinema of cruelty. The theoretical corpus of this thesis will include, apart from Artaud, the haptic vision theorised by Laura U. Marks and its relation to cruelty, Julia Kristeva’s work on abjection, Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Blanchot on sadomasochism, but also the work of Michel Serres, Mireille Rosello and Artaud’s theory of “humour-destruction”. The most important findings of this research concern films as a possible replacement for the function of sacrifice (mythic and cruel), the dangers of overestimating this (both because the actors are not fully engaged, and because a myth of cruelty is itself dangerous) but most of all, the possibility of the films to undermine their own mythic status (a process in itself cruel, since myths are consoling) and the possible effect of substituting a state of melancholia. Obviously, the destruction of myths may imply for the audience its replacement by the counter-myth of melancolia, as much cruel. Melancholia appears to be a principle of cruelty, seen by the moviemakers, which acts on the conception of modern spectators. Lucid cruelty takes part in the construction of committed spectators; producing what we may call heroism of conscience.

The aim of this thesis is to show the importance of memory in Giacomo Leopardi’s Canti and Zibaldone, not only as a theme for his poems and a source of theoretical speculation, but as a modelling structure of his writing. Following the first chapter on Leopardi and the philosophy of memory from Locke to the first half of the nineteenth century, chapter II investigates the self-referential perspective implicit in the recurrence of certain images in the Canti, and its consequences for the structure of the book, both in the Piatti and the Starita editions. Chapter III, focusing on the concept of clarity, demonstrates the importance and effect of Leopardi’s reading and re-reading of the Zibaldone, and shows the constant presence of a habit memory which acts through repetition, binds together demonstrative thoughts, and is responsible for their expansion. The second part of this chapter highlights Leopardi’s search for perfect images and their mnemonic power, as well as their general influence on the text. Leopardi’s knowledge of the phenomenology of memory is reflected in the text and offers an insight into the strong links in his works between thinking and writing as a whole.