Background: In a part of Wales where over 50% of the population were bilingual, one community physical rehabilitation services had no Welsh speaking therapists. This research attempts to find whether Welsh speakers had the same access to health and social care services and whether their outcomes were similar to non-Welsh speaking patients; and what the service users' opinion were on Welsh language services. Methodology: 1 - Therapy inputs and outcomes of service users who spoke Welsh were compared to service users who did not speak Welsh with a rehabilitation team where no therapists spoke Welsh. 2 - The ratio of Welsh speakers referred to the rehabilitation services and accepted for services were compared with the ratio of Welsh speakers in the general population. 3 - 201 service users were asked for their opinion on services and their language choice, and the possible effect on their ability to effectively receive a rehabilitation service. Results: Significantly fewer Welsh speakers were referred to the rehabilitation service than the anticipated percentage (p < 0.001). Wales' social services do not document individuals' language preference consistently. A significant difference was found in the therapy outcomes measured by outcome measures according to the patients' language if the practitioners could not speak Welsh. Welsh speaking patients had significantly lower results following rehabilitation than non-Welsh speakers (p < 0.05). The vast majority of Welsh speaking patients who were asked believed they would have preferred receiving services in Welsh. Conclusion: Awareness raising training for practitioners and carers, as well as language training, including 'little words' training, would support availability of Welsh language services. Consideration should be given to creating a specialist national agency to maintain a database of Welsh speaking practitioners, from which health boards and local authorities could buy their services when appropriate.

Submitted by Simone Souza (simonecgsouza@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-13T15:50:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2015_Júvio Marcelo de Almeida Bittencourt.pdf: 3003460 bytes, checksum: cbb58da3c3d35df343ba845910a051fb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2017-07-26T17:01:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2015_Júvio Marcelo de Almeida Bittencourt.pdf: 3003460 bytes, checksum: cbb58da3c3d35df343ba845910a051fb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-26T17:01:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2015_Júvio Marcelo de Almeida Bittencourt.pdf: 3003460 bytes, checksum: cbb58da3c3d35df343ba845910a051fb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-22 / O presente trabalho tem o objetivo principal de discutir os mapas conceituais, tratados como objetos de ensino-aprendizagem e orientação metodológica na Área de Conhecimento Ciências Naturais e Matemática à luz das Orientações Curriculares para Educação Básica no Estado de Mato Grosso (abreviadas por OCs/MT). Com base nessa orientação dirigida para as escolas de Ensino Médio mato-grossenses, elabora uma proposta didática sobre os mapas conceituais ancorada nas práticas sociais, um dos principais princípios legais educacionais brasileiro (BRASIL, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2013), como também no princípio educacional das OCs/MT (MATO GROSSO, SEDUC, 2012). Para tal propósito, este trabalho científico estabelece como aporte teórico da aprendizagem significativa de David Ausubel (1963, 1981, 2000) e em sua apropriação à produção dos mapas conceituais por Joseph Novak (1981, 1984). Como também, fundamenta-se em alguns princípios da Teoria de Aprendizagem Significativa Crítica à luz dos estudos de Marco Antonio Moreira (1997, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2010) presentes nas OCs/MT da Área de Ciências da Natureza e Matemática. A fim de realizar isso, enfatiza o papel da linguagem e de sua natureza social em conformidade com a perspectiva das práticas sociais. Por essa razão, alicerça-se na acepção sócio-histórica de Lev S. Vygotsky aplicada ao ensino-aprendizagem da linguagem pela interação social, e, principalmente nos mapas como ferramentas psicológicas (VYGOTSKY, 1930, 1933, 1934). Ainda, no ponto de vista social e histórico de Vygotsky, leva-se em consideração as premissas vigotskianas sobre a linguagem (RINALDI, SANTOS, 2011) e também toma em conta, no escopo deste trabalho, a linguagem como práticas sociais e como práticas básicas de atividades humanas no ambiente social (LURIA, 1955, 1974, 1979, 1991, LURIA & YUDOVICH, 1959, 1987) e principalmente como práticas de linguagens (BRAIT & ROJO, 2002; ROJO, 2006). No nível metodológico, assume a natureza qualitativa e a pesquisa-ação colaborativa com a aplicação de questionário de perguntas abertas para dez professores de uma escola pública estadual no município de Várzea Grande, Estado de Mato Grosso. Assim, em nível de metodologia da pesquisa, também adota-se uma triangulação de dados voltada para o objeto do conhecimento - mapas conceituais; práticas de uso da linguagem dos professores; e metodologia de orientação como disposto nas OCs/MT. Do ponto de vista do nível de análise de dados, as respostas quanti-qualitativas dos questionários e nossa observação aplicadas trazem à tona a análise das atividades e os tratamentos de práticas de uso da linguagem pelos professores. Especificamente para a análise de dados das práticas de leitura e escrita dos professores, os dados revelaram as práticas de linguagens notacionais, um diagnóstico muito relevante que orientou diretrizes para a elaboração de um modelo de nossa proposta didática. Finalmente, a partir de análises de dados, este trabalho propõe uma orientação didática de produção de mapas conceituais que contemplam as práticas de linguagem no Ensino Médio de escolas públicas estaduais de Mato Grosso. / The present work has the main purpose of discussing the conceptual maps, treated as a teaching and learning objects and methodological orientation in the field of knowledge of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, in the light of Curriculum Guidelines for Basic Education in Mato Grosso`s state (abbreviated OCs/MT). Based on Ocs/MT directed to Mato Grosso`s Secondaries Schools, it elaborates a didactic proposal on the conceptual maps anchored in social practices, one of main education´s principles in the Brazilian educational legal guidelines (BRAZIL, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2013), as well as the educational principle in the OCs/MT (MATO GROSSO, SEDUC, 2012). For such purpose, this scientific work establishes as the theoretical framework from David Ausubel´s Meaningful Learning (1963, 1981, 2000) and in its appropriation to the production of conceptual maps by Joseph Novak (1981,1984). As well as, it is based on some principles of Critical Meaningful Learning Theory in the light of studies of Marco Antonio Moreira (1997, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2010) present in OCs/MT from Natural Sciences and Mathematics` field of knowledge. In order to accomplish this, it emphasizes the role of language and its social nature in accordance with the perspective of social practices. For this reason, is founded on the socio-historical standpoint from Lev S. Vygotsky applied to language teaching and learning by social interactions, and mainly on the maps as psychological tools (VYGOTSKY, 1930, 1933, 1934). Still, in the basis from Vygotsky´s social and historical point of view, it takes into consideration the vygotskyan assumptions about language (RINALDI, SANTOS, 2011) and also takes into account, in the scope of this work, the language as social practice and as basic practices of human activities the social environment (LURIA, 1955, 1974, 1979, 1991; LURIA & YUDOVICH, 1959, 1987) and mainly as language practices (BRAIT & ROJO, 2002; ROJO, 2006). On the methodological level, it assumes the qualitative nature analysis on quantitative collected data and also the collaborative action-research with the application of opened-question questionnaire to ten teachers from a public state school in the municipality of Várzea Grande, Mato Grosso´s state. Thus on the research´s methodology level, it also adopts a data triangulation focused on the knowledge object – conceptual maps; teachers´ practices language usage; and orientation methodology showed in the OCs/MT. From the standpoint of data analysis level, the quanti-qualitative responses of the questionnaires and our observation applied bring to the fore the analysis of the activities and the treatments of practices of language usage by the teachers. Specifically to the data analysis of reading and writing practices of the teachers, the data revealed the notational practices of language usage, a data diagnostic very relevant which it has oriented guidelines for creating a model of our didactic proposal. Finally, from the data analyses, this work proposes a didactic guidance of conceptual maps production which contemplates the practices of language in the high school from Mato Grosso´s public state schools.

First, this thesis aims to find, classify and explain the different reasons why the inhabitants of Barcelona use Catalan, Castilian or both languages according to a given situation. On the other hand, based on the results, it is intended to better understand the situation in Catalonia and the Catalans in a sociolinguistic field. The focus lies on answering the question “Is there a language that is preferably used by citizens living in Barcelona?”. With the use of a quantitative method analysis this thesis will reveal if there is a determining variable that influences when choosing Catalan or Castilian? Diferent types of resources have been used to verify and have legitimacy in the arguments presented in the thesis. The historical moments survived by the Catalan inhabitants, the identity (culture and linguistic) that they managed to preserve, and the bilingualism that exists in Barcelona, are topics that will pervade through the entire thesis. The result of the study shows that the respondents generally prefer to use Castilian rather than Catalan, for the reason of the origins (parents or grandparents) from outside Catalonia.

This thesis deals with toponym of Tschechei, which has not been studied yet in detail. This topic is still relevant since even today the Czech Republic is also called Tschechei by natives and non-natives. In this work, three theories were formulated, which describe the etymology and usage of this term. These theories were then applied in diachronic and synchronic analyses to find out the meaning of the term Tschechei used by different users of a language. Furthermore, the corresponding theory was assigned to each use. This method proved that this term is present in diachronic as well as in synchronic language usage. This thesis presents a conclusion that the explanation and description of this toponym in the available dictionaries is not sufficient. Therefore, the term of Tschechei is defined as a separate dictionary entry for the prepared German-Czech dictionary.

Despite the prevalence of bilingual identity among linguistic minority youth in Canada, few studies have empirically investigated its acculturative consequences. This study explores the nature of bilingual identity, as determined by language confidence, in various ethnolinguistic contexts. More specifically, it investigates the relation between language confidence and identity as moderated by ethnolinguistic vitality. It also verifies whether bilinguals can be distinguished from predominantly unilingual participants on factors related to the maintenance of identity, namely subjective ethnolinguistic vitality and language usage and evaluates the impact of ethnolinguistic vitality on these differences. Data from the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities collected by Statistics Canada among francophones outside of Quebec and anglophones in Quebec (N = 7377) was used for analysis. The results of univariate and multivariate analyses of variance show that language confidence is significantly related to levels of identity for all regions. Bilinguals are significantly distinct from predominantly monolingual participants on most factors for maintenance of identity. However, among all francophone samples, bilinguals most resemble the franco-dominant participants. The implications of these findings on the understanding of the nature of bilingual identity are discussed. Malgré la prévalence de l’identité bilingue parmi les jeunes de groupes minoritaires linguistiques au Canada, peu d’études ont vérifié ses conséquences acculturatives de façon empirique. Cette étude explore la nature de l’identité bilingue telle que déterminée par la confiance langagière, dans divers contextes ethnolinguistiques. De façon plus spécifique, la relation entre la confiance langagière et l’identité, modérée par la vitalité ethnolinguistique est examinée. Par ailleurs, l’étude explore si les gens bilingues se distinguent de ceux qui ont une prédominance langagière sur des facteurs liés au maintien de l’identité, soit la vitalité ethnolinguistique subjective et l’utilisation langagière, et évalue l’impact de la vitalité ethnolinguistique sur ces différences. Les analyses ont été menées à partir des données de l’Enquête sur la vitalité des minorités de langue officielle de Statistique Canada recueillies auprès des francophones de l’extérieur du Québec et des anglophones du Québec (N = 7377). Les résultats d’analyses univariées et multivariées dévoilent que pour chacune des régions ethnolinguistiques, la confiance langagière est significativement liée à l’identité. Les bilingues se distinguent significativement de ceux à prédominance langagière sur la plupart des facteurs importants au maintien de l’identité. Toutefois, parmi les groupes francophones, les bilingues ressemblent le plus aux participants franco-dominants. Les conséquences de ces résultats sur la compréhension de la nature de l’identité bilingue sont discutées.

There is consensus among scholars that there is not just one English language but a family of “World Englishes”. The umbrella-term “World Englishes” provides a conceptual framework to accommodate the different varieties of English that have evolved as a result of the linguistic cross-fertilization attendant upon colonization, migration, trade and transplantation of the original “strain” or variety. Various theoretical models have emerged in an attempt to understand and classify the extant and emerging varieties of this global language. The hierarchically based model of English, which classifies world English as “First Language”, “Second Language” and “Foreign Language”, has been challenged by more equitably-conceived models which refer to the emerging varieties as New Englishes. The situation in a country such as multi-lingual South Africa is a complex one: there are 11 official languages, one of which is English. However the English used in South Africa (or “South African English”), is not a homogeneous variety, since its speakers include those for whom it is a first language, those for whom it is an additional language and those for whom it is a replacement language. The Indian population in South Africa are amongst the latter group, as theirs is a case where English has ousted the traditional Indian languages and become a de facto first language, which has retained strong community resonances. This study was undertaken using the methodology of corpus linguistics to initiate the creation of a repository of linguistic evidence (or corpus), of Indian South African English, a sub-variety of South African English (Mesthrie 1992b, 1996, 2002). Although small (approximately 60 000 words), and representing a narrow age band of young adults, the resulting corpus of spoken data confirmed the existence of robust features identified in prior research into the sub-variety. These features include the use of ‘y’all’ as a second person plural pronoun, the use of but in a sentence-final position, and ‘lakker’ /'lVk@/ as a pronunciation variant of ‘lekker’ (meaning ‘good’, ‘nice’ or great’). An examination of lexical frequency lists revealed examples of general South African English such as the colloquially pervasive ‘ja’, ‘bladdy’ (for bloody) and jol(ling) (for partying or enjoying oneself) together with neologisms such as ‘eish’, the latter previously associated with speakers of Black South African English. The frequency lists facilitated cross-corpora comparisons with data from the British National Corpus and the Corpus of London Teenage Language and similarities and differences were noted and discussed. The study also used discourse analysis frameworks to investigate the role of high frequency lexical items such as ‘like’ in the data. In recent times ‘like’ has emerged globally as a lexicalized discourse marker, and its appearance in the corpus of Indian South African English confirms this trend. The corpus built as part of this study is intended as the first building block towards a full corpus of Indian South African English which could serve as a standard for referencing research into the sub-variety. Ultimately, it is argued that the establishment of similar corpora of other known sub-varieties of South African English could contribute towards the creation of a truly representative large corpus of South African English and a more nuanced understanding and definition of this important variety of World English.

MER Mathivha Centre for African Languages, Arts and Culture / MA (Xitsonga)

Lugha inaweza kutumiwa kwa njia ya ubunifu wenye ufasaha ufaao ili kuwasiliana au pia ikatumiwa visivyo na kwa njia potovu. Ni nini hasa maana ya kutumia lugha kwa njia potovu? Pengine ni rahisi kueleza kinyume chake. Mtumiaji wa lugha mwenye ubunifu huzingatia rasimali zote za lugha. Mwandishi maarufu wa fasihi barani Afrika, Chinua Achebe, huitumia lugha kama kituo kilicho hai na pia kuendelea. Katika juhudi za kuifanya lugha kumwezesha kutoa maoni, maelekezo, habari na hisia, mtumiaji kama huyu hutambua kuwa lugha ikitumiwa ipasavyo huleta uhai katika taaluma ya mawasiliano. (Luvai, 1991: 60) Hata hivyo, katika Kenya, kiwango che ubora wa uandishi kwa jumla kimeshuka sana katika miaka ishirini iliyopita. Makala hii itachunguza kwa muhtasari ushahidi wa matumizi yasiyofaa ya lugha ya Kiswahili katika vyombo vya habari km. redio, televisheni na magazeti.

La présente étude porte sur l’utilisation des différentes langues et les attitudes linguistiques des Chinois résidant au Canada. Les travaux antérieurs suggèrent que le choix de langue est déterminé par le contexte linguistique et que l’utilisation des différentes langues influence la formation de l’identité ethnique. Nous avons recruté des Chinois qui habitent au Canada et leur avons demandé de remplir un questionnaire, certains ont participé aux entrevues individuelles par Zoom avec la chercheuse. La présente étude révèle que l’usage langagier est lié non seulement à des facteurs objectifs (l’occupation, la durée de résidence au Canada, le lieu d’habitation au Canada, la période d’utilisation d’une langue), mais aussi à des facteurs subjectifs (l’importance de la langue dans la vie, l’auto-évaluation du niveau linguistique). Nous avons également constaté que si une langue est exigée par le domaine de travail ou le programme d’études, alors elle sera utilisée plus fréquemment que les autres au quotidien. De plus, nos participants démontrent manifestement une identité chinoise et une attitude positive envers leur(s) langue(s) d’origine. Nous estimons que le contact avec la langue d’origine influence la formation de l’identité ethnique. / The current study focuses on the language usage and attitude of Chinese who lives in Canada. Previous studies suggest that language choice is determined by linguistic context and language usage influences the formation of ethnic identity. We recruited Chinese people living in Canada and asked them to complete a questionnaire, some of them have participated in the one-to-one interview with the researcher. The current study finds that language usage is linked not only to objective factors (occupation, length of residence in Canada, place of residence in Canada, length of time to speak the language) but also to subjective factors (importance of language in daily life, self-assessment of language level). We have also found that if a language is required by the field of work or major of study, then that language will be used more frequently than others daily. In addition, our participants clearly demonstrate Chinese identity and positive attitude towards their heritage language(s). We believe that contact with the heritage language influences the formation of ethnic identity.

The object of this study was to assess the influence of native language, as a principal cultural characteristic, one users’ behavior when using a web-based e-commerce application. The study expands on previous research by comparing English and Russian users. The research also considered demographic data to assess additional factors that influence behavior and task performance. The research design encompassed an online shopping application with two different navigation menus. One menu was based on the action-object model and the other was based on the object-action model. The user interface was created in two different languages (Russian and English). This study suggests that language, as a cultural indicator, has a direct relationship to user satisfaction and performance in e-commerce web applications.