Attitudes and experiences in Parallel Languages at the department of History of Religion Hengameh Moadeli   Abstract The purpose of this case study is to obtain deeper knowledge about students´ and teachers´ beliefs and attitudes towards the arrangement of using two languages for study at university level in one humanities field. This case study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with ten students and two teachers at the Department of History of Religion at Stockholm University. Our findings show that the majority of students perceive using two languages in one field as positive and that the (perceived) long-term benefits of being more proficient in English outweigh the immediate problems of more time-consuming reading. Both subject groups described using English as a medium in of education as a natural part of studying at a university and knowing academic English was perceived as a fundamental part of being a student. Although the teachers stated that the motivation behind using English textbooks was not to enhance the students’ language proficiency, most students believed that the advantage they could get from using English textbooks was to become more proficient in English or at least more familiar with academic English. One feature of this case study is to show the impact of having an inadequate knowledge of academic English which is rooted in insufficient training in the upper-secondary school system.       Key words: Internationalization, attitudes and beliefs, Parallel languages, English textbooks, Department of History of Religion

This corpus-based study investigates adjectives that allow complementation by both that- and to-clauses. The study is concerned with arriving at a structural and functional description of the distribution of adjectives that allow complementation by both to-infinitive clauses and that-clauses, based on the various syntactic and semantic manifestations of these two clause types and the adjectives that are complemented by them. The study reveals that there is a strong correlation between the semantics of different adjectives, the grammatical patterns they allow and their differing valency possibilities. Furthermore, the study shows that to-clauses are primarily used when the subject of the complement clause does not need to be explicitly marked. Conversely, that-clauses are primarily used when the subject of the complement clause is required. Other factors influencing the choice between that- and to-clauses include the ability to mark modality and tense on the finite verb in that-clauses as well as differing register distribution. The ability to mark modality on the finite verb in that-clauses functions as a strong factor favouring the use of that-clauses. The differing register distribution reveals that post-predicative to-clauses typically are represented by complex matrix subjects in the academic register whereas the matrix subjects post-predicative to-clauses in fiction and the spoken register typically are represented by anaphoric personal pronouns. Furthermore, the register distribution of adjectives complemented by that- and to-clauses has been linked to differing functions of these clauses in different registers. The study shows that  extraposed to-clauses are frequently complementing epistemic matrix adjectives in the academic register. In the spoken register, on the other hand, post-predicative that-clauses with that omission are typically complementing evaluative predicates.

The PhonicStick Project

Syftet med detta arbete är att studera vilken inverkan musiken kan ha på språkutveckling hos barn i förskoleåldern och att belysa fördelar med att använda sig av musik som en del av de vardagliga aktiviteterna och undervisningen. Vidare undersöks också pedagogers kunskap och trygghet i att använda sig av musik som språkutvecklande verktyg i förskolan och i förskoleklass. Metoden som användes var enkäter som delades ut till verksam personal på 2 skolor och 6 förskolor. Resultatet visar att respondenterna i enlighet med studerad litteratur, framhöll att musik har en positiv inverkan på barns språkutveckling, samtidigt som de ser musiken som glädjeskapande uttrycksmedel. Musik används mer eller mindre på förskolor och i förskoleklasser. Däremot svarar fler respondenter att de inte tycker sig ha tillräckliga kunskaper i användandet av musik som språkutvecklande verktyg. De anser alltså att musiken är språkutvecklande men vet inte riktigt hur de ska använda musiken i språkutvecklande syfte. Pedagogernas bristande kunskaper tyder alltså på att utbildningen inte gett tillräckliga kunskaper för användande av musik i språkutvecklande syfte.

No description available.

Negation has fascinated thinkers and scholars for some 2,500 years.However, within linguistics, it is only in the recent years that negation has been given the attention it deserves. Within language typology, the main subject of investigation has been the notion of standard negation. This is well covered and data from several languages has been presented.When it comes to Japanese, it has proved hard to come across a detailed description of negation. There is a rich general literature covering many aspects of Japanese grammar, but there seems to be a lack of a work that investigates and collects all negation phenomena in one place. Furthermore, the general grammars do not take the typological perspective of negation into consideration. The aim of this thesis is to describe various negation strategies and related phenomena in the Japanese language and to put them in a typological perspective. To carry this out, a questionnaire for describing negation is used. Information and examples are extracted from grammars, articles, and a corpus. This is a descriptive text, and the analyses and conclusions presented can clearly contribute to the already existing literature on negation in Japanese, with the addition of a typological perspective.

No description available.

This essay studies how dialectal speech is reflected in written literature and how this phenomenon functions in translation. With this purpose in mind, Styron's Sophie's Choice and Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are analysed using samples of non-standard orthography which have been applied in order to reflect the dialect, or accent, of certain characters. In the same way, Lundgren's Swedish translation of Sophie's Choice and Ferres and Rolfe's Spanish version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are analysed. The method consists of linguistically analysing a few text samples from each novel, establishing how dialect is represented through non-standard orthography, and thereafter, comparing the same samples with their translation into another language in order to establish whether dialectal features are visible also in the translated novels. It is concluded that non-standard orthography is applied in the novels in order to represent each possible linguistic level, including pronunciation, morphosyntax, and vocabulary. Furthermore, it is concluded that while Lundgren's translation intends to orthographically represent dialectal speech on most occasions where the original does so, Ferres and Rolfe's translation pays no attention to dialectology. The discussion following the data analysis establishes some possible reasons for the exclusion of dialectal features in the Spanish translation considered here. Finally, the reason for which this study contributes to the study of dialectology is declared.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of manipulating target-word frequency rate and target-word phrase position on sound-meaning-connection in five to fifteen month old Swedish infants. Three different test conditions, each one of them a film showing objects and corresponding phrases made of randomly generated artificial words, were designed. The structure of the first, high variability test condition included context-dependent information and the structures of the second and the third, low variability test conditions were characterised by frequent nonsense target-word rate, target-words occurring in phrase final position. The aim of the artificial input language was to ensure the novelty of test material, and to simulate the type of learning situation - when the semantic content of words is arbitrary - facing young infants in the beginning of language learning. Analysis of informants looking behaviour, prior to, and after exposure to the objects and the corresponding audio input, were performed. Results showed that the structure of high variability test condition and the structure of low variability test conditions were associated with significant between-group differences. This finding indicates that the nonsense phrases in low variability test conditions managed to 'explain' the objects just like semantically meaningful phrases do. When compared with past research, these findings seem to suggest that experience-dependent mechanisms may support, besides word segmentation, even more complicated aspects of language learning, such as acquisition of syntax. / <p>Eeva Klintfors är född Koponen.</p>