The goal of this thesis is to develop a parametric model of acquisition which incorporates the idea that phonological systems are underlyingly unspecified for certain feature values. I examine two variants of this model: one based on the theory of Radical Underspecification (Archangeli and Pulleyblank 1986), and one based on the theory of Contrastive Underspecification (Steriade 1987). I assume the principles and parameters framework, where the initial phonological system of the child is assumed to be characterized by the unmarked parameter settings of UG. The two types of parameters that are examined in detail are featural parameters and rule parameters. The unmarked settings of featural parameters are supplied by universal redundancy rules. In most cases, the unmarked settings of rule parameters are assumed to be OFF, or non-application. I provide analyses of the vocalic systems of Hungarian and Spanish, based on the parametric theories of Radical and Contrastive Underspecification, which demonstrate that certain phonological parameters in these languages must be reset to the marked option. The Hungarian analyses focus particularly on spreading processes, while those in Spanish focus on alternations that take place within verb conjugation classes. Given the differences between the initial child state and the adult phonological systems of Hungarian and Spanish, the underspecification acquisition models make certain predictions regarding acquisition in these languages. These predictions are then tested using data from children acquiring both Hungarian and Spanish. The early phonological systems of children acquiring Hungarian and Spanish are found to initially be smaller than predicted by either acquisition model. To account for these results, and still maintain a parametric model, I propose a theory of feature availability, which specifies the order in which features may become part of a child's phonological system. In conjuction with this theory of feature availability, the RU model is able to explain the development of children's early phonological inventories, as well as certain substitution patterns. The contrastive specifications required by the theory of CU cannot account for these aspects of the data. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

Thèse : Tübingen : Univ., Diss., 1998. / Edition commerciale de la thèse de l'auteur. Bibliogr. p. 209-215.

<p>This dissertation, by presenting comprehensive analyses of six poems by the Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres, investigates the poetical forms and the poetical philosophies in these texts. The poems represent specific philosophic spheres of Weöres' poetry. The analyses emerge from the formal elements, and aim to shed light upon the structural coherences between the texts and their philosophical contexts. This method of analysis also complies with Weöres' views on the aesthetics of poetics and his method of writing, where form and structure always played an outstandingly important role. The complex methods used in the analyses are very much influenced by the views and methods of a text stylistics that looks at the literary work as a global entity. Taken together, these analyses illustrate the focal points of a remarkable poetical form and a most profound philosophical context in the poems of an outstanding Hungarian poet.</p>

This dissertation, by presenting comprehensive analyses of six poems by the Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres, investigates the poetical forms and the poetical philosophies in these texts. The poems represent specific philosophic spheres of Weöres' poetry. The analyses emerge from the formal elements, and aim to shed light upon the structural coherences between the texts and their philosophical contexts. This method of analysis also complies with Weöres' views on the aesthetics of poetics and his method of writing, where form and structure always played an outstandingly important role. The complex methods used in the analyses are very much influenced by the views and methods of a text stylistics that looks at the literary work as a global entity. Taken together, these analyses illustrate the focal points of a remarkable poetical form and a most profound philosophical context in the poems of an outstanding Hungarian poet.

The aim of this thesis is to map and analyse literature written by authors with a Hungarian-language background who moved to Sweden between 1945 and 2015, and who have published literary works in book format. From the perspective of the sociology of literature, this thesis focuses on publishing channels and possibilities, the authors’ and their works places in the literary value system and feed-back in the form of reviews, but also choice of language, theme, and genre. The approach of the research for this thesis is new in Hungarian and Swedish literary studies, as the literary works are analysed irrespective of the language in which they are written. The research corpus consists of both Hungarian and Swedish literary works and one book in English. The second chapter presents the research that Hungarian researchers have conducted on Hungarian migration literature and offers an overview of the questions and results arising from this research. The authors with a Hungarian-language background in Sweden were divided into four groups, based on the time of their migration to Sweden. Four chapters, which comprise the analytic part of the thesis, present and analyse the author groups and their literary activities regarding language, purpose of any code-switching, chosen theme, and genre. The first group consists of authors who migrated to Sweden during the decade after the Second World War (1945–1955). The second group came between 1956 and 1958 in the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The third group consists of Hungarians who moved to Sweden during the communist era, between 1959 and 1989. Finally, the fourth group came after the fall of communism (1990–2015). As many as half of the authors chose either Hungarian or Swedish as their language and there are surprisingly few authors working in both languages. The publishing channels depend on the literary works language and theme, and only half of the books have been published at established publishers. The literary works of these authors are categorized as Swedish-Hungarian migration literature. Literary history works until now have neglected these type of literatures, but it is imperative that the study of literature finds a way to acknowledge, include, position, and group them.

Disertační práce Porovnávání středoevropských jazyků: za horizont strukturních rysů a lexikálních přejímek se soustředí na zhodnocení a přehodnocení přístupu k výzkumu jazyků střední Evropy. Hlavním cílem předkládané práce je (1) podat přehled dosavadních poznatků o porovnávání středoevropských jazyků, (2) na jeho základě naznačit možné nové směřování němu přispět. Druhá kapitola práce se věnuje areálové lingvistice, jakožto disciplíně zaměřené na výzkum podobnosti a konvergence geograficky blízkých jazyků, a zejména jejímu ústřednímu pojmu . Představuje okolnosti jeho vzniku, jeho různé definice a jeho kritické (pře)hodnocení pracích současných areálových lingvistů. Třetí kapitola sumarizuje výzkum středoevropských jazyků: různé koncepce středoevropského (popř. dunajského) jazykového svazu vzájemné vlivy lexika a frazeologie těchto jazyků a popisy situací jazykového kontaktu v areálu. Tento přehled ukázal, že hlavními doménami porovnávání jazyků areálu dosud byly strukturní rysy a lexikální přejímky a kalky. Novější vývoj lingvistiky, jak je naznačeno ve čtvrté kapitole, však operuje rovněž s jazykovými jednotkami, které překlenují a relativizují -lexikon. Nabízí se tedy, aby se rovněž komparativní výzkum středoevropských jazyků soustředil na tyto jevy zahrnutelné pod pojem idiomatičnosti. Pátá kapitola...

This thesis is a study of language use in English language classrooms in primary schools in Hungary. The focus of the study is on the use of the target language (English) and the mother tongue (Hungarian) by the teachers and the learners. The teachers are all Hungarian native speakers, with varying levels of competence and previous experience in communicative language teaching, and this presents a challenge to the adoption of a communicative approach to the teaching of English. The National Core Curriculum endorses the communicative approach, with the expectation that the target language will be used as much as possible. However, in practice, the mother tongue is widely used in these classrooms, both by the teachers and by the students. There is therefore a conflict between policy and practice: the policy is that the target language should be used wherever possible, whereas the practice is that the use of the target language is limited to predictable and routine contexts. It is this conflict which constitutes the central question which is addressed in this thesis: how do teachers resolve the conflict between what they are expected to do, and what they feel capable of doing. Data from classrooms and interviews were collected and analysed, using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The focus of the analysis was on the amount and function of the use of the mother tongue by the teachers. Comparisons were drawn between teachers of Grade 4 pupils who started to learn English in Grade 1 and those who started in Grade 4. This analysis is complemented by evidence concerning the teachers‘ beliefs and understandings about the pressures and constraints which affect their teaching of English to young learners. The results suggest that the possibility of communicative language teaching in these classrooms is constrained by various factors, including the limitations in the children‘s cognitive capabilities and the proficiency level of the children, and the teachers‘ preference for using their previous methods which included grammar, translation and memorisation; also by curriculum requirements such as the use of the textbook, and the necessity to prepare the children for examinations. The implications of these findings for curriculum development in foreign language teaching in other comparable contexts are discussed.