This paper outlines and implements a systematic approach to the establishment, investigation, and testing of distances and topologies on language spaces. The collection of all languages over a given number of symbols forms a semiring, appropriately termed a language space. Families of languages are defined by interrelations among words. The traditional classification begins with the syntax rules or grammar of the language, that is, the word-transformations by which the entire language can be produced from a single axiom, or starting word. The study of distances between languages as objects and of the topologies induced by language distances upon spaces of languages has been of a limited character. Known language distances introduce topologically awkward features into a language space, such as total disconnectedness. This dissertation examines the topologies induced by three language distances, the effect that each one has upon the notion of a random language, and discusses continuity and word-distribution of structure-preserving language transformations, i.e., morphisms. This approach starts from metric-like requirements, but adduces an additional condition intuitively appropriate to gauging language distance. At the same time, strict, i.e. non-metric pseudometrics are admitted as possible language distance functions, and these are investigated by the use of metric quotient spaces. The study of the notion of randomness implied by the topology induced by such a pseudo-metric on a language space offers insight into the structure of language spaces and verifies the viability of the pseudo-metric. Three language pseudo-metrics are studied in this dissertation: a version of the most commonlyused (Cantor) word metric; an upper-density (Besicovitch) pseudo-metric borrowed from the study of cellular automata; and an adaptation and normalization of topological entropy, each evaluated on the symmetric set-difference between languages. It is shown that each of these distances induces a distinct topology on the space of languages. The topology induced by Cantor distance is compact and totally disconnected, the topologies induced by the other two are non-compact, with entropic distance resulting in a topology that is the strict refinement of the Besicovitch topology, enhancing the picture of the smaller languages in the Besicovitch topology. It is also shown that none of the three topologies gives quantitative expression to the distinction between regular and linear languages, although, using Martin-Lof randomness tests, it is shown that each pseudo-metric is associated with a new notion of a random language. A classification of language mappings is introduced, with the aim of identifying those which best preserve the structure of languages under specific topologies. There are results regarding continuity of mappings, the matrix representation of the pre-image of certain morphisms, and the formal expressions of the probability distribution of the image of certain morphism. The continuity of an injective morphism on its image is demonstrated under limited conditions. Finally, the questions which this approach leaves open are detailed. While basic facts about a permutation-invariant version of symmetric set difference are shown, this has yet to be fully elaborated. The outline is presented for a metric which distinguishes between regular and linear languages by brute force. Syntactic and as algebraic topological continuations of this approach await investigation. A variation of the Cantor distance is introduced, and this induces a non-Cantor topology on a language space. In summary, this dissertation demonstrates that it is possible to systematically topologize the formal language space, and, having done so, to determine the major effects this has upon the notion of random languages and upon language morphisms.

This dissertation is a study on the works of the Swedish author Carl Jonas Love Almqvist during the final years of his exile in America. Focusing on the monumental 1438-page unpublished manuscript 'About Swedish Rhymes', the study first presents the textual material and then discusses the text from different formal and content-based aspects essential to an understanding of Almqvist's works in exile. In the manuscripts preserved from his last years of exile, i.e. the period after 1860, Almqvist refers to 'Mr Hugo's Academy, established in the year 1838' introduced in one of the volumes of The Book of the Wild Rose (1839). In comparison with his earlier fiction about academic "cabinet meetings", this fiction of such an academy, conceived in exile, is in some ways extraordinary. A close reading of the texts reveals that the aging Almqvist, contrary to previous opinions about him, maintained strict control over the activity: the extension and division of the record, as well as its references to time and space, all indicate a complete consistency and an exact mimetic order. The consideration of 'About Swedish Rhymes' starts out from exterior qualities. The observations are first considered in relation to the author's statements on the importance of the manuscript for the literary work of art. Subsequently, the genesis of the "exile" texts is re-examined. One key question here is whether the manuscript was completed in Philadelphia, or was continued in Bremen during the final year of his life. The content of the conversations in the records of the cabinet meetings is also analyzed. Although questions of metre and versification dominate, the text also deals with a variety of widely differing subjects, including discussions about the use of language and linguistic norms. The fictitious frame that the cabinet meeting provides for the purpose of discussing metre and rhyme is also considered. Here we find various improvised verses composed at the cabinet meeting and put into the mouth of the authentic versifier H.J. Seseman. One important question is whether the cabinet-meeting discussions about the metre in these verses are intended to be a serious contribution to scholarly debate, or whether they in fact have ironic undertones. Next, the narration of the "exile" texts is discussed from the point of view provided by its own fictitious perspective, together with the author’s relation to irony, satire and parody. The concluding chapter deals with verse-making in the record of rhyming. The emphasis is laid on the analysis and characterization of the various rhymed verses collected under the title Sesemana. One essential question concerns the 'rubbishy' or 'plain' character of these poems. The present analysis indicates that questions of rubbish, textual triviality and the like must bow to the broader question of the character of the poems in a deeper sense. Seseman's poetry is considered in relation to the Songes collection. Finally the question of how rhythm manifests itself as 'free verse' in a number of these poems with more serious content is also discussed.

The present Master's thesis analyses language means in printed media with a particular focus on national daily newspapers from the second trimester of 1993. That year, there was an important linguistic conference on standardised Czech and language culture. The analysis examines especially language means that deviate from the standardised norm of the language. The theoretical part discusses key concepts, such as norm and codification or national language and its varieties. The understanding of these terms is critical for the analytical part of the thesis where language means used in printed media are being analysed using quantitative content analysis. The aim of this analysis is to describe their motivation of use and function. The results are then compared with the proceedings of the 1993 conference on standardised Czech and language culture held in Olomouc. The thesis provides a clear view on how the occurrence of non-standardised language means in media influences academic discussion on standardised Czech.

Finland is officially a bilingual country, with Finnish and Swedish as national languages. FinlandSwedes constitute about 6% of the population. This study treats Finland Swedish in relation to Swedish in Sweden, on the one hand, and, onthe other hand, to Finnish. The main question is whether Finland Swedish should be regarded asa variety on a par with regional varieties in Sweden, which presupposes a common written standard, or as a more independent standard language. A corpus of 289 school essays written by compulsory- and upper-secondary-school students inFinland has been compared with school essays written by Swedes in Sweden. The number of provincial features in the essays provide a quantitative measure of the regional and age-related variation among the students. The purpose of the study is to determine whether the two groups of students are developing inthe same direction, toward a common supra-regional standard language in which provincialismsare rare. My hypothesis has been that the Finland-Swedish essays will reflect a different standardlanguage than in Sweden, which would imply that several of the so-called provincialisms belongto an implicit Finland-Swedish written standard. The results indicate that the upper-secondary students, just as in Sweden, use fewer provincialfeatures than do compulsory school students. Students from bilingual municipalities use more Finlandisms than do their cohorts who reside in more Swedish-speaking environments. In generalthese Finlandisms are more closely related to Finnish than to dialects of Swedish, which meansthat the provincialisms of the Finland-Swedish students are in many cases different in nature fromthose of their Swedish counterparts in Sweden. A comparison between Finland-Swedish studentsand Swedish students in Sweden indicates that the students in Finland use more provincialisms, onthe one hand, and, on the other hand, continue to use them at the upper-secondary level as well,which is rare among Swedish students in Sweden. The conclusion is that in a certain sense Finland Swedish can be regarded as an independentstandard language developed out of the interplay with its own dialects and with Finnish. However,regionally varied influence from Sweden, combined with active language-preservation measuresin cooperation with Swedish language planning bodies in Sweden, ensures that Finlandisms, especially in professional expository prose, are normally few in number and can be regarded as negligible, even by Swedish readers in Sweden.

(in English): The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze the representation of the co-official language and Castilian in the language expression in the autonomous televisions of Catalonia (TV3), Galicia (TVG) and the Basque Country (ETB1, ETB2). Before performing this analysis, the fundamental concepts related to our topic will be defined, followed by introducing basic information about individual autonomous areas and their televisions. Subsequently, we will provide an overview of the theoretical level of the concept of language policies of individual televisions. After that, an analysis will be carried out, during which we will focus not only on the ratio of Castilian and the co-official language in individual channels, but also on the dubbing and the subtitles of Castilian and the co-official language.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate norm in contemporary Russian verbal stress. In a first step the concept of norm is explored. It is shown that the criteria generally used in Russian for defining norm (correspondence to the language system, usage and authority/tradition/necessity) are not applied strictly. It is also concluded that any study of norms must take into account the distinction between the explicit norm, i.e. the codification, and the implicit norm, i.e. the usage and attitude of educated native speakers. In a second step the explicit norm is investigated. The analysis is based on the stress notation in two orthoepic dictionaries. This comparison shows that there is not, as is often suggested, one unanimous, "objectively existing", explicit stress norm. In a third step, the implicit norm is examined. This is done through a survey of reported and actual usage, carried out on 106 Russian speakers in Moscow. Subsequently, implicit norms are related to explicit norms. There is compliance between these in many cases, but the discrepancies are numerous. Furthermore, there is no direct or predictable relationship between the implicit stress norms and the labels these stresses are assigned in handbooks. A comparison with additional sources demonstrates that among the, in all, nine sources no two are perfectly alike in their notation. Sources that reflect the implicit norm better than others are identified. Finally, dictionary data and the survey results are compared with results from previous surveys (1956-1994). This shows that certain stress variants have apparently functioned as the implicit norm for several decades, but this has not yet been taken into account in codification. The general conclusions are that there is in theory an unclear definition of norm; there is in practice disagreement in codification; there is no official codex, although some sources might be considered more reliable; there is in many cases a discrepancy between explicit and implicit norms, which is most likely a result of arbitrariness or subjectivism and of conservatism. It is possible that these conclusions are valid for areas of language normativisation other than verbal stress.

The present master's thesis tackles the position of vulgarisms within the system of language as used in texts published in Czech and French weekly opinion magazines. The thesis takes a theoretic and empiric approach, the first part dealing with the definition of the term of vulgarism in Czech and French stylistics and the delimitation of its role in the style of journalistic texts. The second part of the thesis describes the practical approach of Czech and French weeklies to vulgarisms in their texts based on a survey among editing staff of the major publishing houses both in France and in the Czech Republic. The outcomes of the survey were compared to the analysis results conveyed on a corpus built out of texts published in Le Point and Respekt weeklies. Based on the contrastive analysis of vulgarisms used in Czech and French language corpus, following the critical criteria as outlined in the first part of the thesis, several recommendations are made about French-Czech translations of vulgarisms in journalistic texts. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)