[pt] O foco do presente estudo são Batalhas de Rap femininas. Busca-se compreender metapragmáticas construídas em Batalhas de Rap femininas em dois canais do YouTube. A pesquisa parte do pressuposto histórico e social do Hip-hop, em que se inserem as Batalhas de Rap, como um ambiente de hegemonia masculina. A orientação teórica é da Sociolinguística Contemporânea, no âmbito da Linguística Aplicada, em interface com a Antropologia Linguística, Pragmática e Filosofia da Linguagem. A linguagem é entendida como performatização de sentidos. São utilizados conceitos de performance, performatividade, metapragmática, indexicalidade, entextualização e escala. A metodologia é da etnografia com a concepção de mobilidade onlineOffline em visão qualitativa e interpretativista. Nos dados analisados, as batalhas, ao viajarem para o YouTube, em vídeos, recebem reescalonamentos de significados estabilizados e a produção de outros. A palavra, como eixo central das batalhas, é um mecanismo de operação de significados em lutas que atravessam a vivência das MCs. As metapragmáticas apontam para causas coletivas de forma espiralar e trazem outras vozes para as rimas. O processo semiótico nas rimas das MCs busca produzir alianças das mulheres no rap. Os significados são avaliados pela audiência virtual em comentários, o que promove a construção reflexiva sobre as escalas. Vimos assim que as produções de sentido nas Batalhas de Rap femininas funcionam com ordens de indexicalidade, de forma a operar metapragmáticas sobre a prática cultural e sobre a vida. Os significados são entrelaçados por questões históricas, políticas, sociais e culturais sobre mulheres negras, lésbicas, paternidade, sexualidade, assédio, representatividade e religião. / [en] The focus of the present study is female Rap Battles. It seeks to understand metapragmatics built in female Rap Battles on two YouTube channels. The research lies in the historical and social assumptions of Hip-hop, in which Rap Battles are inserted, as an environment of male hegemony. Its theoretical orientation is Contemporary Sociolinguistics, within the scope of Applied Linguistics, in interface with Linguistic Anthropology, Pragmatics and Philosophy of Language. Language is understood as performance of meanings. Concepts of performance, performativity, metapragmatics, indexicality, entextualization and scale are used. The methodology adopted is ethnography with the concept of onlineOffline mobility in a qualitative and interpretive view. The analyzed data point out that when battles are posted on YouTube, stabilized meanings suffer a process of rescaling and meaning productions. The word, as the central axis of the battles, is a mechanism for operating meanings in struggles that cross the experience of the MCs. Metapragmatics point to collective causes in a spiral fashion and bring other voices to the rhymes. The semiotic process in the MCs rhymes seeks to produce alliances between women in rap. Meanings are evaluated by the virtual audience in comments, which promotes a reflective construction on the scales. Thus, we could notice the productions of meaning in female Rap Battles work with orders of indexicality, in order to operate metapragmatics on both cultural practice and life. Meanings are intertwined by historical, political, social and cultural issues about black women, lesbians, parenthood, sexuality, harassment, representation and religion.

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of vowel quality in South African English (SAE) using the following data: firstly, the existing impressionistic literature on SAE and other relevant accents of English, the former of which is subject to a critical review; secondly, acoustic data from a similar range of accents, including new SAE data, collected and instrumentally analyzed specifically for the purposes of this research. These various data are used to position, on both a descriptive and theoretical level, the SAE vowel system. In addition, and in the service of providing a careful reconstruction of the linguistic history of this variety, it offers a three-stage koin´eization model which helps, in many respects, to illuminate the respective roles played by endogenous and exogenous factors in SAE’s development. More generally, the analysis is focussed on rendering explicit the extent to which the synchronic status and diachronic development of SAE more generally, and SAE vowel quality more particularly, provides support for a number of descriptive and theoretical frameworks, including those provided in Labov (1994), Torgersen and Kerswill (2004), Trudgill (2004) and Schneider (2003; 2007). With respect to these frameworks, and based on the results of the analysis, it proposes an extension to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model, shows Trudgill’s (2004) model of new-dialect formation to be inadequate in accounting for some of the SAE data, provides evidence that SAE is a possibly imminent but ‘conservative’ member of Torgersen and Kerswill’s (2004) SECS-Shift and uses SAE data to question the applicability of the SECS-Shift to FOOT-Fronting. Furthermore, this thesis provides evidence that SAE has undergone an indexicallydriven arrestment of the Diphthong and Southern Shifts and a subsequent and related diffusion of GenSAE values at the expense of BrSAE ones. Similarly, it shows that SAE’s possible participation in the SECS-Shift constitutes an effective chain-shift reversal ‘from above’. It stresses that, in order to understand such phenomena, recourse needs to be made to a theory of indexicality that takes into account the unique sociohistorical development of SAE and its speakers. Lastly, the adoption of the three-stage koin´eization model mentioned above highlights the merits of considering both endogenous and exogenous factors in the historical reconstruction of new-dialect formation and, for research into SAE in particular, strengthens the case for further investigation into the possible effects of 19th-century Afrikaans/Dutch, Yiddish and north-of-English dialects on the formation of modern SAE. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of vowel quality in South African English (SAE) using the following data: firstly, the existing impressionistic literature on SAE and other relevant accents of English, the former of which is subject to a critical review; secondly, acoustic data from a similar range of accents, including new SAE data, collected and instrumentally analyzed specifically for the purposes of this research. These various data are used to position, on both a descriptive and theoretical level, the SAE vowel system. In addition, and in the service of providing a careful reconstruction of the linguistic history of this variety, it offers a three-stage koin´eization model which helps, in many respects, to illuminate the respective roles played by endogenous and exogenous factors in SAE’s development. More generally, the analysis is focussed on rendering explicit the extent to which the synchronic status and diachronic development of SAE more generally, and SAE vowel quality more particularly, provides support for a number of descriptive and theoretical frameworks, including those provided in Labov (1994), Torgersen and Kerswill (2004), Trudgill (2004) and Schneider (2003; 2007). With respect to these frameworks, and based on the results of the analysis, it proposes an extension to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model, shows Trudgill’s (2004) model of new-dialect formation to be inadequate in accounting for some of the SAE data, provides evidence that SAE is a possibly imminent but ‘conservative’ member of Torgersen and Kerswill’s (2004) SECS-Shift and uses SAE data to question the applicability of the SECS-Shift to FOOT-Fronting. Furthermore, this thesis provides evidence that SAE has undergone an indexicallydriven arrestment of the Diphthong and Southern Shifts and a subsequent and related diffusion of GenSAE values at the expense of BrSAE ones. Similarly, it shows that SAE’s possible participation in the SECS-Shift constitutes an effective chain-shift reversal ‘from above’. It stresses that, in order to understand such phenomena, recourse needs to be made to a theory of indexicality that takes into account the unique sociohistorical development of SAE and its speakers. Lastly, the adoption of the three-stage koin´eization model mentioned above highlights the merits of considering both endogenous and exogenous factors in the historical reconstruction of new-dialect formation and, for research into SAE in particular, strengthens the case for further investigation into the possible effects of 19th-century Afrikaans/Dutch, Yiddish and north-of-English dialects on the formation of modern SAE. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This compilation thesis engages with practices that in some way place stakes in the social existence of Övdalsk (also älvdalska, Elfdalian, Övdalian), a marginal form of Scandinavian used mainly in Sweden’s Älvdalen municipality. The practices at hand range from early 20th century descriptive dialectology and contemporary lay-linguistics to language advocacy and language political debate. The four studies focus on the logic by which such practices operate, on the historically produced visions that they bring into play, as well as on the symbolic effects that they have produced. Study I provides a zoomed-out account of the ordering of Övdalsk in Sweden’s linguistic market. Focusing on a relatively recent debate over the institutional regimentation of Övdalsk, it analyses the forms of agreement upon which the exchange in question has come to rest. The contention has mainly developed over the classification of Övdalsk, percolating in the question of whether Övdalsk ‘is’ a ‘language’ or a ‘dialect’. Analysing this debate, the study takes interest in the relationship between state power and metapragmatic exchange. Study II deals with the history of linguistic thought and research on Övdalsk. It analyses the genesis of some durable visions of the relationship between Övdalsk and linguistic authenticity, focusing on the research practice of the Swedish dialectologist Lars Levander (1883–1950), whose work on Övdalsk commands representative authority to this day. By engaging with Levander’s techniques of scholarly objectivation, as well as with their language theoretical fundaments, the study seeks to create some perspectives on, and distance to, the canonical representations of Övdalsk that have precipitated from Levander’s research. Study III looks into the reuse and reordering of such representations. It provides an ethnographic account of a metapragmatically saturated exchange over Övdalsk grammar, in which descriptivist artefacts play an important part. Through an analysis of texts, in situ interaction, and interviews, the study seeks to grasp the ways in which textual renditions of grammar interrelate with practically sustained, socially recognized models of language and language use (i.e. registers). Study IV tracks the ways in which such visions of authenticity have been drawn into institutionally and politically invested metapragmatic exchanges. It looks into a process of naming of roads in Älvdalen, in which ideas about the contrast between Swedish and Övdalsk played a central part. In all studies, various visions of Övdalsk authenticity and authentic Övdalsk constitute a central theme. The thesis maintains that such visions must be understood in relation to the practices in which they hold currency. Following Silverstein, this epistemological stance entails an engagement with the dialectic between historical formations and situated exchange. Through this analytical orientation, the studies seek to account for the visions of authenticity that have been at the forefront of various symbolic struggles over Övdalsk. Thus, in addition to their respective analytical accounts, the separate studies seek to add shifting temporal horizons to the superordinate heuristic, combining a deep historical backdrop with accounts of protracted institutional processes and analyses of situated linguistic interaction. Ultimately, this mode of analysis provides an in-depth understanding of the object of inquiry. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Submitted.</p>

No description available.

This dissertation is about the nature of perspectival thoughts and the context-sensitivity of the language used to express them. It focuses on two kinds of perspectival thoughts: ‘subjective' evaluative thoughts about matters of personal taste, such as 'Beetroot is delicious' or 'Skydiving is fun', and first-personal or de se thoughts about oneself, such as 'I am hungry' or 'I have been fooled.' The dissertation defends of a novel form of relativism about truth - the idea that the truth of some (but not all) perspectival thought and talk is relative to the perspective of an evaluating subject or group. In Part I, I argue that the realm of ‘subjective' evaluative thought and talk whose truth is perspective-relative includes attributions of knowledge of the form 'S knows that p.' Following a brief introduction (chapter 1), chapter 2 presents a new, error-theoretic objection against relativism about knowledge attributions. The case for relativism regarding knowledge attributions rests on the claim that relativism is the only view that explains all of the empirical data from speakers' use of the word "know" without recourse to an error theory. In chapter 2, I show that the relativist can only account for sceptical paradoxes and ordinary epistemic closure puzzles if she attributes a problematic form of semantic blindness to speakers. However, in 3 I show that all major competitor theories - forms of invariantism and contextualism - are subject to equally serious error-theoretic objections. This raises the following fundamental question for empirical theorising about the meaning of natural language expressions: If error attributions are ubiquitous, by which criteria do we evaluate and compare the force of error-theoretic objections and the plausibility of error attributions? I provide a number of criteria and argue that they give us reason to think that relativism's error attributions are more plausible than those of its competitors. In Part II, I develop a novel unified account of the content and communication of perspectival thoughts. Many relativists regarding ‘subjective' thoughts and Lewisians about de se thoughts endorse a view of belief as self-location. In chapter 4, I argue that the self-location view of belief is in conflict with the received picture of linguistic communication, which understands communication as the transmission of information from speaker's head to hearer's head. I argue that understanding mental content and speech act content in terms of sequenced worlds allows a reconciliation of these views. On the view I advocate, content is modelled as a set of sequenced worlds - possible worlds ‘centred' on a group of individuals inhabiting the world at some time. Intuitively, a sequenced world is a way a group of people may be. I develop a Stalnakerian model of communication based on sequenced worlds content, and I provide a suitable semantics for personal pronouns and predicates of personal taste. In chapter 5, I show that one of the advantages of this model is its compatibility with both nonindexical contextualism and truth relativism about taste. I argue in chapters 5 and 6 that the empirical data from eavesdropping, retraction, and disagreement cases supports a relativist completion of the model, and I show in detail how to account for these phenomena on the sequenced worlds view.

Considérant l’environnement numérique qui se caractérise par la convergencedes modes et des formes discursifs, à quels cadres les auteurs et les lecteurs héritiers de la bande dessinée se référent-ils et de quelle manière s’y réfèrent-ils ? Il s'agit de comprendre comment des auteurs confrontés à de nouveaux dispositifs de publication produisent le sens commun nécessaire à la création de récits numériques dont les lecteurs parviennent à partager les standards de transcription, tirent des routines d’usage pour leur interprétation, et jugent attrayante la sélection et la mise en forme des évènements racontés. Après avoir présenté lecontexte dans lequel ont émergé les premiers récits identifiés comme des « bandes dessinées numériques de création », l'étude porte sur l'analyse indexicale d'entretiens conduits auprès des auteurs et des lecteurs de deux de ces récits. L'analyse fait apparaître l'originalité des assemblages de cadres de références opérés par les auteurs et reconnus de leurs lecteurs. Cette étude montre ainsi l'importance des dynamiques de production de sens dans l'invention et l'adoption de nouvelles formes narratives. Le retour critique sur ce travail soulève plusieursquestions méthodologiques, notamment quant à la place du chercheur en tant qu'acteur engagé dans la production de sens, mais aussi quant à la prépondérance accordée au mot dans ce type d'étude, et enfin quant aux modalités d'entretien les plus favorables à la recherche et à l'élucidation des marques indexicales par lesquelles s'expriment les cadres de référence des acteurs. / What are the frames to which authors inspired by the comics legacy refer inthe digital environment, characterized by the convergence of media and discursive forms ? How do they refer to such frames in order to make sense and to tell digital stories from which readers are able to share the standards of translation, find routines for their interpretation, and feel entertained by the selection and the arrangement of events ? After setting the context in which emerged the first accounts identified as « original digital comics », the study focuses on the indexical analysis of interviews with authors and readers of two such stories. The analysis reveals the originality of the frames arrangements made by the authors and recognized by their readers. This study shows the importance of sensemaking activities for the invention and adoption of new narrative forms. The critical review of this work raises several methodological issues, particularly regarding the place of the scientist as an actor engaged in the sensemaking activity, but also about the the importance given to words in this kind of researches, and finally about the appropriate interview methods in order to find and explain indexical marks leading to the actors' frames

No description available.