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<p> This dissertation explores the main question, "What are the issues involved in the definition and translation of color terms in dictionaries?" To answer this question, I examined color term definitions in monolingual dictionaries of French and English, and color term translations in bilingual dictionaries of French paired with nine languages. From this data, I made several discoveries. First, I created a typology of strategies used to define color terms that includes three strategies: Defining with Reference to the Spectrum of Visible Light, Defining with Reference to Relationship with Other Colors, and Defining with Reference to Objects. Second, both color definitions and color translations suggest that there is a smaller difference between color words (which have non-scientific senses) and color terms (which have scientific senses) than between scientific and non-scientific senses of many other words/terms. In addition, color word translating often involves treating differences in the grammar, semantics, and division of color space between two languages. I took a closer look at the French translations of the color words brown and purple, two particularly difficult words to translate into French due to semantic restrictions. I found that, whereas the translation patterns of modern Quebec French match those of older hexagonal French dictionaries, hexagonal French dictionaries now display a different pattern. All of these discoveries lead to avenues for future research that may improve color term defining and translating. </p>

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This research was designed to provide information concerning the developmental differences in early language production and comprehension between 21 month-old first born and second born children. Furthermore, the study explored the assumption that more opportunities to hear conversations between the parent and the older sibling provide an advantage for second born children in learning personal pronouns. / Spontaneous speech productions of 16 first born children were compared to those of 16 second born children while in dyadic interactions with their mothers. First born children were observed in two 25 minute free-play dyadic interactions with their mothers. Second born children were observed in one 25 minute free-play mother-child dyadic interaction and in one 25 minute free-play mother-child-older sibling triadic interaction. All children were administered controlled tasks involving production and comprehension of first and second person pronouns. / Compared to first borns, second born children are not significantly delayed in general language development. Second borns' speech productions differ depending on whether or not their older sibling was present. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The emergence of language is a phenomenon that lies at the core of higher human cognition and which continues to be the source of controversy and debate. In a series of three studies, the present thesis examined issues pertaining to language acquisition, (i) providing insight into the origins of language by addressing the question of whether the basis of babbling is fundamentally motoric or linguistic, (ii) positing new properties of babbling in order to discriminate between the linguistic and non-linguistic behaviors produced by babies, and (iii) describing the processes underlying babies' transition from babbles to first words. In Manuscript 1, using Optotrak, the manual activity of six hearing babies was examined (at ages 6, 10 and 12 months; 3 babies were exposed to a signed language and 3 to a spoken language). Analyses revealed that only the sign-exposed babies produced linguistic activity (manual babbling) at a frequency of approximately 1 Hz and subsequent videotape analyses revealed that babbling was produced in the linguistic signing space. Non-linguistic activity was produced by both groups of babies at approximately 2.5 Hz and fell outside the signing space. In Manuscript 2, the oral activity of ten hearing babies acquiring a spoken language was examined for evidence of mouth asymmetry (between ages 5 and 12 months). Right mouth opening was observed only while the babies were babbling (reflecting left hemisphere language specialization), as contrasted with equal or left mouth opening for non-linguistic oral activity. In Manuscript 3, a combination of sources (videotapes, parental reports, interviews, and experimenter notes) was used to examine how six hearing bilingual babies acquired the meanings of words/signs across their two languages (from ages 7 to 26 months; 3 babies were exposed to a signed and a spoken language and 3 to two spoken languages). The babies constrained, organized, and used their first words/signs in simila

This thesis draws on the theories of Foucault, and Deleuze and Guattari to describe some ways in which teacher and student identities are produced and performed in a second language classroom. Three major aspects of identity are considered: cultural identity, teacher professional role identity, and the changing identity of the language learner. The thesis uses poststructuralist perspectives to critique notions of identity current in second language theory and practice. It extends the conception of identity as 'subjectivity’ proposed by Bonny Norton Peirce - that is, as multiple, impermanent, fragmented – to include the notion of subjectivity produced in interaction and desire. Through an examination of texts produced in an ethnographic study, the thesis addresses issues of cultural categorisation and stereotyping in second language teaching and learning. It discusses the discursive production of subjectivity in discourses of cultural identity and the extent to which culture is a determining factor in subjectivity in the classroom site of the research. It shows how a homogenising effect of discourse leads to the positioning, both self-imposed and other-imposed, of individuals as members of particular cultural groups with particular characteristics. The thesis also discusses the discursive production of subjectivity through discourses of good teacher and good student, and demonstrates the extent to which these discourses are processes of molarisation. The thesis is thus concerned here with an examination of relatively static, fixed identifications and to demonstrate the power of discourse to determine subjectivities. It is also concerned to look at an excess to discourse, a flow which is beyond signification and identification: desire. Identity change at the discursive level is discussed through discourses of becoming, and is differentiated from movements away from subjectification. These movements of desire are proposed as a new way of conceiving agency. The thesis attempts to show some ways in which these subjectivities, produced in discourse and desire, play out in the classroom, in terms of their production and reception by participants, and the impacts on the teaching/learning context.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington. / Bibliography: l. 559-574.

Inaug.-Diss.--Tübingen. / Lebenslauf. "Inhalt" in manuscript at end. "Verzeichnis der benützten literatur": p. 84.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0548. Adviser: Jennifer Cole. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-113) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.