The goal of this study is to inform child language acquisition theory by accomplishing a description of morphosyntactic development in Quechua speakers between the approximate ages of two and four years. The data analysis yields a description of language acquisition in two major areas: (1) overall development of syntax and of morphology directly relevant to the syntax; (2) development of verb morphology. No attempt is made to support any particular theory of language development. Instead, a number of theoretical perspectives are considered. Fieldwork was carried out in the community of Chalhuanca in the department of Arequipa, Peru, in 1996. The study relies largely on the naturalistic production of six Chalhuancan children between the ages of 2;0 years and 3;9 years. Five children were recorded for five to six hours over a period of four months; the sixth child was recorded for eleven hours over a period of six months. The child corpora, as well as child-directed adult speech, were transcribed by native speakers of Quechua. Also presented is the outcome of an elicitation procedure undertaken with few subjects. The description of overall syntactic development focuses on four topics: (1) the representation of arguments, both analytic and morphological; (2) case- and object-marking; (3) reduplication, ellipsis, and evidential focus; and (4) coordination and subordination. The analysis of the development of verb morphology considers the role of several factors in the acquisition of the verb suffixes: meaning, homophony, phonological aspects, frequency of occurrence, and processing constraints. This description also sheds light on the acquisition of causatives, especially change-of-state verbs, with data presented from naturalistic corpora and the experimental procedure. The analysis favors Strong Continuity: functional projections are available to children before they acquire full productivity of the corresponding morphology. Meaning is foremost in the development of verb morphology, with children seeking unique form-function correspondences. As children begin producing complex verbs, they tend initially to attach a small set of suffixes and their combinations to a wide variety of roots. Finally, the data suggest that children may initially assume that change-of-state verbs are basically transitive.

This dissertation explores the processes that enable understanding of irony and parody, arguing that understanding of ironic and parodic discourse is grounded in socially-constructed knowledge, frequently through knowledge derived from mass media. Although parody and irony are often commodified products of mass culture, they can also help interpret and critique mass media. I also conceptualize a type of cultural knowledge for which I have coined the term "Wabbit Literacy" in recognition of the many parodies found in Bugs Bunny cartoons. Wabbit Literacy is a dialogic means of learning resulting when a reader encounters parodic references to a text before encountering the text being parodied. What is for the writer a parodic allusion to a given cultural artifact (text 1) becomes for the reader of the parodic text (text 2), the primary reference point for awareness of text 1. Wabbit Literacy offers a new perspective from which to consider the situatedness of dialogic interactions among readers, writers, and text(s). Wabbit Literacy examines the "temporal contexts" of discourse, the relations among a particular reader's earliest encounters with a text, later encounters with the text(s), and changes in the reader's interpretations over time. Wabbit Literacy begins with a moment that most conventional discussions of parody and irony might describe as a reader's "failure" to "get" an irony or parody. Such "failure" to interpret irony or parody is not always the terminus of the discursive event, and may often be the beginning of learning, a first step toward competence in particular socially constructed discourses. In addition, the dissertation examines similarities between the classical enthymeme and the process of understanding humor and parody. Humor and rhetorical enthymemes work because members of discursive communities make use of socially-constructed common knowledge; parody deploys enthymematic social and textual norms for humorous purposes. Because parodic frames involve deliberately playful perspectives, Wabbit Literacy can interrogate ideological underpinnings of knowledge systems. Parody can enable tactical, local resistance to corporate entertainment products. Fans' playful transformations of commodified entertainment can give them a measure of individual agency, constituting a form of "vernacular theory" that enables a critical approach to entertainment texts.

This study investigates systematic L2 variation in the level of prosody through analysis on six Japanese advanced ESL speakers' variable use of pitch prominence/non-prominence on and the contraction forms of not negatives (e.g., it isn't, it's not, it is not). Variable use of pitch and the forms of negatives was analyzed in terms of sociolinguistic strategies that fluent English L2 speakers should use to differentiate emphasis on negatives according to social contexts. The study examined the effects of 16 linguistic and sociolinguistic variables/factors on the L2 negative variation, and compared the results with equivalent data shown by L1 American-English speakers (Deckert & Yaeger-Dror, 1999; Yaeger-Dror, 1985, 1996, 1997), and by L1 Japanese speakers (Takano, 2001). Each ESL participant had interview conversations with four L1 American-English speakers who were varied by sex and status. The participants also read aloud passages from two American novels. These speech samples (approximately 27-hour speech) were audio-taped and transcribed to extract not negative tokens. In all, 1,329 negative tokens were used for analysis. Pitch was analyzed using a speech analysis computer program, and coded tokens were processed by the VARBRUL program for the variable rule analysis. The results showed that the L2 negative variation was constrained by immediate linguistic environments but not by sociolinguistic variables except for the reading versus conversation variable. This finding exhibited a sharp contrast with the variation patterns of both L1 English and L1 Japanese, where social contexts such as the interactive uses (pragmatic meanings) of negatives, interactional situations, and social identities of speakers and interlocutors clearly constrain the negative variation. The results also suggested that the L2 speakers' negative variation patterns were influenced by language developmental processes rather than by language or cultural transfer. The study concludes that it is important to have L2 English speakers notice sociolinguistic strategies in negative use through instruction, since development of competence in this feature will not otherwise be acquired.

<p>This inquiry analyzed the relationships between individual differences and gains made in oral proficiency of adult, second language learners of Spanish during one semester studying abroad. Oral proficiency was measured using a pre/post-SA Computerized Oral Proficiency Instrument (COPI, CAL, 2009). Gain scores were correlated with two cognitive aptitude measures: 1) the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT); 2) a phonological working memory test (WM); and 3) a series of motivational and affective aptitude measures including Willingness-to-communicate (WTC, McIntyre, 1992), motivation and other affective variables (Gardner, 1985; Yashima, T., Zenuk-Nishide, L., &amp; Shimizu, K., 2004). </p><p> The researcher concludes that the students made significant gains in oral proficiency during the experience abroad, both in terms of COPI scores and fluency (words/minute). Using the Language Contact Profile (LCP, Collentine &amp; Freed, 2004) students reported speaking, listening and reading significantly more in Spanish than in English during the study abroad; however, they reported writing almost as much in English as in Spanish. There was a significant negative correlation between the MLAT and COPI gains; indicating that students who had higher language learning aptitude made fewer gains in oral proficiency while abroad. WM, WTC and other affective aptitudes were not correlated with COPI gains in this study; WM and L2 anxiety were significantly correlated with the pre-SA COPI. Finally, WM and the MLAT were significantly correlated, but no other aptitude measures collected were found to correlate. </p><p> In the discussion the researcher reviews the inverse pyramid schema of the ACTFL guidelines (1999) and demonstrates the impact of the imprecise delineation between the levels. The contraction of the scale at the upper reaches leads to a ceiling effect for second language learners and does not allow an accurate depiction of growth in language skill and development. As the ACTFL scale is the standard in oral proficiency measurement in the United States, data collection instruments based on this scale do not meet the needs of researchers in SLA or educational settings that wish to investigate achievement in oral proficiency in varying context of language leaning. </p>

<p>This study investigates features of high-level academic writing in English with the aim of understanding the development of L2 English learners&rsquo; academic writing skills as they follow a course of study in an English-speaking country. The study focuses on L2 writers&rsquo; text quality and use of clause subordinators as a measure of writing complexity. The typology of the writers&rsquo; L1s provides the organizational framework for the study, with three language typology groupings determined by a writer&rsquo;s L1 word order tendency: (1) configurational languages, (2) nonconfigurational languages, and (3) Asian languages. </p><p> The corpus analyzed included written work collected at the beginning, the middle, and the end of a semester from 19 international graduate-level students enrolled in a semester-long academic writing course specifically for international students. The principal features examined in the corpus of texts collected were writers&rsquo; use and frequency of subordinators, and text comprehensibility. To provide a comparative reference for the academic writing course findings, a separate dataset composed of 240 TOEFL^&reg;iBT independent essays was also examined for evidence of similar features. </p><p> The results revealed that (1) writers from configurationally different L1s write texts in English that are significantly different in quality and complexity, and; (2) the analysis of the significant differences between groups&mdash;sentence length, sentence complexity, comprehensibility, total subordinator frequency, and specific subordinator usage&mdash;shows the groups are distinct in their text construction and use of subordination, and that the configurational group&rsquo;s texts are most different from other groups. Writers&rsquo; self-reflections on the progression of their writing skills during the study abroad context add insights to the quantitative findings. The study&rsquo;s findings suggest directions for future research in L2 writing development, inform EFL pedagogy and L2 English learners&rsquo; preparation for study abroad, and underscore the importance of colleges and universities providing comprehensive writing support to incoming international students. </p>

The relatively small number of Paleography texts currently available are all of a similar format. Each includes reproductions of manuscripts which illustrate the principal handwriting styles of a given era. Some of the texts also mention a degenerative transformational process, especially evident in Spain, which resulted from the need for a more rapid execution of official correspondence. Because of the inordinate amount of documentation produced in Spain and her American colonies and the presence of colonial scribes who had been trained in Spain, a similar process is presumed to be evident in the New World. The sixteenth-century colonial documents included in this study were found to be representative of such a process. The documents were also found to be representative of sixteenth-century Spanish orthographic conventions and thus attest to the New World's conformity to these linguistic phenomena.

This thesis concerns Chiac, a dialect of Acadian French (AF) that emerged in a small speech community of AF-English bilingual teenagers in Moncton, Canada. Syntactically and morphologically, Chiac closely resembles AF, but it also makes use of a number of English lexical items and other English-influenced constructions. This thesis addresses two related questions with regard to Chiac: how (and why) did it emerge, and what is its structure? I answer the first question in Chapters 2--3, arguing that Chiac emerged as a result of a confluence of social factors. Speakers' age, their bilingualism, their urban environment and their attitudes toward the languages spoken in Moncton resulted in speakers sharing a sense of identity and wanting to distinguish themselves from other social groups. Within the framework of Cognitive Grammar (CG) I model the emergence of Chiac due to these social factors. The advantage of a CG approach is that, in addition to allowing for a unified analysis of how social factors influence linguistic structure, it treats the bilingual linguistic system in the same way as the monolingual linguistic system in that no special modules or formal devices are needed to account for bilingual language usage. Chapters 4--6 address the second question: what is the structure of Chiac? Still using the framework of CG I describe the Chiac lexicon, as well as some of its noun phrase and verb phrase constructions. I find, for example, that English-based lexical items in Chiac tend to involve certain semantic domains related to teen culture (drugs, social groups at school etc.). The motivation for this usage seems to be that speakers' adolescence is highly relevant to their sense of identity, and that mixing English with their parents' language (AF) is a way of asserting that identity. This thesis therefore has both theoretical and descriptive relevance in that, in addition to describing specific constructions, I show how constructions and ultimately an entire system emerged as a result of language mixing that is motivated by social factors.

This work examines principles and theories of literary translation such as literal and non-literal fidelity to the original writing, translational transparency and visibility, and the concepts of "foreignization" and "domestication" in a translated text. Conclusions drawn here are used as a basis to perform a critical evaluation of Smile, the 2000 version of Paul Smail's Vivre me tue . A comparative analysis of the French novel to the English discusses some of the problematic areas of this translation and endeavors to provide alternative translations that would prove more accurate and effective. Subsequent chapters of the dissertation consider the cultural and linguistic difficulties inherent in the Casa, la casa translation and present the ways in which these difficulties were resolved. Round-Trip Barbes, the translation of Casa, la casa, attempts to remain faithful to the original both literally and literarily---to render the strict and full meaning of the author's words while striving to maintain in English the author's style of writing. The translation includes extensive notes offering insight into the socio-cultural and political environment of contemporary France as well as the various news events that, in many ways, shape the narrative. Annotations also signal to the reader the numerous occurrences of intertextual citation and allusion that Smail's work incorporates.

This study of morphological Causative constructions in Hiligaynon (Visayan) and Yogad (Northern Cordilleran) relevates Voice and Role in the linguistic construction of Events. A 'VSO' configuration characterizes the Propositional Nucleus of each language. Verbal affixes distinguish numerous Voices (not Active/Passive); each selects a specific Event Phase (e.g. Incept, Middle, Crux, Limit) for Focus. Nominal Determiners and/or Pronouns indicate which of the two Nuclear Roles is Focussed and which is Unfocussed. In prototypical Causative scenarios, the morpheme -pa-, in conjunction with any of the Voices, effects a Displacement of the Event process from the ('Agentive') 'S'-Role (or 'Causer') to a Non-Nuclear 'Executive' (or 'Causee'), which acts upon the Nuclear ('Patientive') 'O'-Role (or 'Affectee'), any of which can be Focussed via Voice. The result is a weak Causative (cf. German lassen). In certain other Events, the Causer acts more directly upon a hybrid Causee/Affectee. Elsewhere, -pa- suggests a (non-Causative) 'change', 'gradedness', 'tendency', or 'direction' devoid of any Role contrast. Hiligaynon Voice is more Role-prominent than Yogad Voice. The Nuclear Roles of Hiligaynon are either Motile or Inert, while Yogad shows a minimalistic Eruptive/Post-Eruptive contrast. (If Hiligaynon drives, Yogad drifts.) Hiligaynon morphosyntax highlights Discontinuity: its word order and tripartite Pronoun inventory distinguish pre-Verbal (Discontinuous, 'asserted') and post-Verbal (Continuous, 'mentioned') Participants; and Prepositions marginalize Non-Nuclear Participants as Obliques. Hiligaynon -pa- also 'intensifies', especially with 'reduplication'. Yogad lacks pre-Verbal ('assertive') Pronouns as well as Prepositions which might mark Non-Nuclear Participants as Obliques; Discontinuous elements are marked with the particle ay. Yogad -pa- neither 'intensifies' nor 'reduplicates'; however, the Middle Voice -pag- marks a 'direct' Causative (absent from Hiligaynon) which consistently focusses the Causee. All Causatives thus emerge as complex epiphenomena of Voice, Role, and Event. In prioritizing Verbal Event semantics over Nominal Participant semantics, these languages expose the often disabling reocentrism of theoretical linguistics, which is informed by Noun-centered Indo-European grammar, by writing, and by its own scientism.

Short-term memory (STM) is comprised of dissociable phonological, semantic and syntactic components (Martin, 1993). Previous findings indicate phonological STM capacity supports learning of novel phonological forms, such as new vocabulary (e.g., Baddeley, 1998). It was hypothesized that semantic STM capacity supports learning of novel semantic information. Ability to learn novel phonological vs. semantic information was compared in six aphasic patients using a paired associated paradigm. It was predicted that patients with phonological STM deficits would be most impaired at learning novel phonological information, whereas patients with semantic STM deficits would show the reverse pattern. Predictions were confirmed for four patients. However, two patients failed to show learning for either type of material. Results suggest that the semantic and phonological components of STM are essential for learning corresponding representations in long-term memory. Patients were also tested on adjective-noun pairs with varying degrees of preexisting association. Results suggest that phonological STM supports learning of abstract stimuli.