published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Abstract not available

Children of Italian immigrants in Montreal are in contact with many languages and kinds of speech. French and English are used publicly, formal Italian is studied in heritage classes, a dialect of the family's region of origin is used at home, and a kind of koine is frequently used in interactions with other Italian immigrants. The contact of these languages produces various kinds of interferences. These lead a child to make errors when he tries to use the Standard Italian code. In this research, children's compositions are examined for errors which in turn are analysed and classified. The causes of these errors are investigated and statistics are presented to indicate the frequency of errors or the power of various causes. / An effort is made to show all the different errors and interferences that occur, and to discover a pattern of their causes. The data put forth might eventually serve as a base for further studies on the pedagogical prevention or correction of errors in the teaching of Standard Italian as adapted to the specific situation in Montreal.

In the 1950s, countless letters were sent from family members in Italy to their sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, and husbands or wives who had emigrated earlier to Canada. / This research is a study of nineteen letters written in Italy between 1954 and 1955. These letters, written in the language known as "l'italiano popolare," are the primary source from which stems a linguistic analysis. As well, a brief overview of "l'italiano popolare" follows in addition to a synopsis on popular letters and on the sociohistorical circumstances surrounding Italy at the time in which the letters were written.

No description available.

This dissertation has two main purposes: (a) to provide an analysis of the past tenses in Nepali and compare them with those of English from a discourse pragmatic perspective; and (b) to investigate how Nepali learners of English use the English past tenses in terms of forms, meanings, and functions.A major claim of the dissertation is that tenses and aspects play various discourse functions in Nepali. Although Nepali has various past tenses as in English, their actual use is different from those of English. A significant difference between the use of the past tenses in English and Nepali is revealed in the use of the past perfect tense. In Nepali, unlike in English, the past perfect does not always require the existence of the past reference point between the event time and the speech time. Although used in similar as well as different contexts, the past perfect in both languages is found to express background information. In the analysis of the Nepali past tenses, one of the major arguments is that the traditionally termed `unknown past' does not have `past' as part of its basic meaning. The main function of this verb form is to express the speaker's unawareness of a situation at the time of its happening, whether in the past or the future.After the discussion of the Nepali past tenses in comparison with the English past tenses and aspects, an error analysis of Nepali EFL learners' use of the English past tenses in written essays is carried out. It was hypothesized that Nepali learners would make a wide variety of errors in the use of the English past tenses. Because of differences in the use of the past perfect and the past tense in the habitual sense between Nepali and English, it was expected that Nepali ESL learners would make errors in those areas. However, overgeneralization due to difference in the use was found only in a very few cases. Most of these errors cannot be traced to Nepali influence. One area, however, where Nepali has a clear effect on the students' use of English is in indirect speech. I argue that Nepali speakers do not change tenses in English indirect speech appropriately because verb tenses in Nepali are not changed from direct speech to indirect speech as in English.It is hoped that this dissertation will enhance the understanding of grammatical categories such as tense and aspect in general and of Nepali tense and aspect systems in particular. In general, this dissertation showed contribute to several areas of study in discourse analysis, second language acquisition, language transfer and contrastive analysis. A major significance of this dissertation is its demonstration of the role of tense and aspect in Nepali in the expression of various discourse functions. / Department of English

Previous studies have found that West Indian pupils under-achieve in English schools. Unlike other ethnic minorities their "English-speaking" classification often precludes special language assistance. This study investigated the language usage and cultural affiliations of pupils of West Indian descent, using a sample of 241 twelve year olds from 7 schools. A special English test based on differences between Standard English and West Indian Dialect and an Attitude Test based on children's statements about culture, language, race and education were constructed and administered with a Cognitive Test and Anxiety Test. Teachers' views were obtained from a Teachers' Questionnaire. The experimental group was composed of pupils of West Indian descent taught by a compensatory programme that attempted to boost pupils' cultural self-esteem and correct language errors stemming from differences between 'Standard' and 'Dialect'. One control group comprised pupils of West Indian descent who received no special programme. The other was composed of white indigenous English children in similar schools. The main findings of the study were as follows: 1. English Test results indicated significant differences of score between the English and West Indian pupils on key grammar terms. 2. Cultural 'poles' of attitude groupings indicated sharp differences between these groups despite the British birth and education of the pupils of West Indian descent. 3. The experimental group, supposedly withdrawn at random from main group classes for the special cultural and linguistic enrichment programme, expressed unhappy attitudes and obtained significantly lower scores on the English and Cognitive Tests than either of the other groups. 4. Subsequent testing was carried out in the schools from which the experimental group had been obtained. This offered further evidence of the experimental group’s unusual characteristics, and provided additional information in a comparison made with the original control groups. The findings indicate that children of West Indian descent experience some difficulty with elements of language where ‘Standard’ and 'Dialect' differ and that these language elements should be taught in the main class group. The method of withdrawing West Indian pupils for special language and cultural classes is not recommended, as neither linguistic nor cultural benefits were observed and definite contra-indications were noted. Futhermore, 'multiculturalism' appears to be as important for the ethnic majority as for the minorities. Future research could develop the Attitude Test for use in correlative studies with English and other tests. It has been a particularly useful tool for identifying linguistic and cultural attitudes of a minority and has revealed group characteristics not previously identified. The English Test could contribute to the construction of diagnostic tests and lay the basis for a teaching programme based on features of 'Dialect' and ‘Standard’, in order to meet the needs of pupils of West Indian descent within a multicultural context in an integrated classroom.

One of the issues that have been debated at length in second language acquisition research circles is that of error-feedback and its desirability. Although there is as yet no conclusive evidence concerning its effectiveness in contributing towards the acquisition of a second language, a number of studies that have been conducted bear evidence to its desirability in L2 classrooms. This research then, was concerned with the way teachers of content subjects reacted to their learners' linguistically erroneous responses during oral interaction in their classes. The participants were four teachers who, with their pupils, are second language speakers of English . Three of these were content subject teachers while the fourth one teaches English. The data was collected from a class of Std 5 pupils in a rural school in the Eastern Cape where the lessons of these teachers were observed and audio-taped. Subsequently some of them were transcribed and analysed. The analysis of the data revealed that teachers in content subject classes, who teach through the medium of English showed more concern for content than for linguistic errors despite the fact that they are expected to extend the pupils' chances of second language acquisition.