The goal of this thesis is the phonological analysis of a corpus of runic inscriptions in order to reconstruct the vocalic system(s) of the West Germanic dialects spoken in the Continental interior between the 5th-7th centuries A.D. The thesis presents a brief outline of the late Proto-Germanic vocalic system and of the principal sound changes involved in the development of the later dialects of the region (Old High German and Old Saxon). The main part of the thesis surveys the data retrievable from the runic inscriptions in an attempt to determine to what extent (if any) these sound changes are in evidence. In many respects, the data are consistent with the anticipated developments attested in OHG and OS; but for some of the sound changes – particularly those affecting the diphthongs – the existing models do not satisfactorily account for the data. There is also some evidence for processes not normally identified in accounts of the phonological background of the later dialects. The project endeavours to be rigorously empirical in approach; to avoid making unnecessary assumptions and prejudgements about the nature and content of the runic texts; and to resist the rejection of an interpretation unless it can be shown to be implausible. From this standpoint, we are confronted with the limited power of any conclusions based on such a small dataset, and with the more general problem of the imperfect correlation between written and spoken forms. If the makers of runic inscriptions cannot be relied on for phonological accuracy or orthographic consistency, to what extent is it possible to make inferences about spoken language from the texts which they created?

The aim of this thesis is the visual analysis of the corpus of Viking Age Scandinavian memorial stones that are decorated with figural images. The thesis presents an overview of the different kinds of images and their interpretations. The analysis of the visual relationships between the images, ornamentation, crosses, and runic inscriptions identifies some tendencies in the visual hierarchy between these different design elements. The contents of the inscriptions on runestones with images are also analysed in relation to the type of image and compared to runestone inscriptions in general. The main outcome of this analysis is that there is a correlation between the occurrence of optional elements in the inscription and figural images in the decoration, but that only rarely is a particular type of image connected to specific inscription elements.

The main study of the thesis seeks to gain insights into the reading behaviour of 27 adolescent learners of French, who were recorded while completing four reading tasks, 2 individually and 2 in small groups. The transcripts are analysed from four perspectives. Firstly (as a baseline for the other perspectives) a quantitative approach examines factors surrounding relative success in the tasks. Secondly a coding system (Pressley and Afflerbach, 1995) is used to analyse strategy use by a selection of subjects in both individual and group contexts. Thirdly, the nature and quality of the talk of four of the groups is explored using Mercer's (1995) three categories of talk and aspects of Almasi's (1995) work on sociocognitive conflict. Finally the problem-solving discourse of the transcripts is analysed in two ways- using a concordancing program and by investigating the roles in decision-making of key individuals in four different groups through discourse analysis techniques. A discussion chapter seeks to draw together the findings from these four perspectives. The processes used for the study are also discussed through chapters on relevant literature, on methodology and by a report of an earlier preparatory study.

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The purpose of this paper is to examine potential similarities in Hindi1 and Pashto grammar as regards to the arial feature of lexical reduplication, and to give a brief explanation of the phenomenon. It is my belief that this feature appears in both languages and that it functions in a similar way when it comes to: full reduplication, distribution and partial reduplication, so called echo-words. I will try to explain how these features function in Pashto based on the research already done in Hindi and the limited amount of description found in Pashto grammars that discuss this subject. The object of the paper is to prove that reduplication in Pashto takes similar form with similar meaning to the reduplications found in Hindi. To analyse this I will look at literary language in Hindi and Pashto using examples found in books, grammars, papers of other researchers, as well as examples found online in blogs and on newspaper sites. The first section of this paper will deal with full reduplication of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbials, numerals and participles. It will show that various types of semantic meanings can be derived from reduplication such as intensification, attenuation, continuation or distribution. The second section will deal with partial reduplication and it will show that these also appears in the different word categories mentioned (though apparently not in both languages) and it aims to give an explanation as to what forms these partial reduplications can take, that is, how they are constructed, as well as how they may function.

<p>Bilder och kartor ha bekostats av Humanistiska fonden.</p>

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