Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 280-290). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xii, 290 leaves, bound ill., maps 29 cm

"May 2002" / Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, School of English, Linguistics and Media, Department of Linguistics, 2003. / Bibliography: p. 399-419. / Introduction -- Brief overview of above-clause analysis in Japanese -- Methodology and conventions of analysis -- Marco Polo text -- Bean Scattering Day text -- University lecture text -- Family conversation text -- Generalisation and a university tutorial text -- Conclusion. / This thesis is concerned with the construction of texture in Japanese, in particular with resources related to the general area of cohesion and particular aspects of participant tracking. An investigation is here presented as to the degree to which conventional views adequately represent Japanese in the light of authentic data. Such statements as "WA marks Given information", "GA marks New information", "zero is a pronoun in Japanese" are common throughout the literature characterising Japanese texts, but there is reason to believe that they stem, at least in part, from a naive transfer of English grammars, in particular, those with a narrow focus on the sentence. This thesis proposes a new framework for the description of Japanese; and in this proposal, an essential dimension is a detailed account of relevant contextual factors, both linguistic and nonlinguistic. The aim is to offer a description of Japanese more defensible to Japanese speakers, that is, to represent Japanese "in its own terms". -- Chapter 1 sets out problems and issues in the related literature on Japanese cohesion. It also addresses issues that are seen to be most pressing in relation to the description of Japanese. The chapter gives a brief account of the resources for cohesion and referential tracking and the particular deployment in Japanese, so that it offers a provisional account of the meaning potential for Japanese speakers. -- Chapter 2 reviews several standard treatments of cohesion and participant tracking in Japanese. This review is organised around two different kinds of resources, that is, those pre-predicate elements (such as WA, GA and other particles), and those post-predicate elements (such as conjunctive particles and certain sentence final expressions). -- Chapter 3 explains the method undertaken here and the conventions of analysis employed in subsequent desclipiions of texts from five separate contexts. Methods are set so as not only to view choices synoptically, but also to try to give careful description of choices in the logogenetic reality of text. That means the choices are viewed as being available to the speaker, writer or reader, as they unfold in text time. -- In each of Chapters 4,5,6 and 7, one of the following four texts, a (1) Marco Polo Text, (2) Bean Scattering Day Text, (3) University Lecture Text and (4) Family Conversation Text, is analysed and discussed in detail. The texts are chosen for the detailed examination of four different registers, representing a continuum from most written-like to most spoken-like, as well as continua of other kinds (like hierarchically differentiated social distance and formality differentiated). Each chapter has two major components, the first of which looks at subject realisations from the perspective of referential progression, and the second of which looks at the text from the perspective of subjectJreferent sequencing. Furthermore, these issues concerning subject are mapped against the macro structures individually for the three "writerly" texts (Texts (1) - (3)). -- In Chapter 8, generalisations are proposed, based on the results of the investigations of these four texts; and then, those principles, as they have emerged from the preceding arguments, are tested on a further study: (5) the University Tutorial Text, a text which combines characteristics across the continuum from most written to most spoken. (It is both strongly dialogic as well as involving sustained spoken 'turns'.) In Chapter 9, findings of the analytical chapters are further distilled. The outline for a new, although provisional, model of cohesion in Japanese is set out. These findings suggest future directions for research projects as well. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xix, 591 p

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Georgia Southern University, 2005. / "A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science" ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-57)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study aims at exploring speech acts. Actions via utterances are generally called speech acts. They are commonly given specific labels such as apology, compliment, - request, promise or warning etc. The usefulness of speech acts illustrates kinds of things we can do with words and identifying some of the conventional utterance forms we use to perform specific actions. This study examines speech act of complaints in a domestic context. According to Trosborg (1995) there are two different types of complaints. The direct complaint is when complainer diretly accuse the complainee of having committed the offence. The indirect complaint is when the complainer ask the hearer a question about the situation that she/he is in someway connected with the offence. This study illustrates how Xhosa people complain in a domestic context. Quationaires were distributed to the people of Kayamandi Township in Stellenbosch, Emgwali Location in Stutterheim and Kwalini Location in King William's Town. The focus was on Mothers and Fathers, Daughters and Sons, Brothers and Sisters. The family members complain to each other on different levels and according to their status. Trosborg (1995) has identified eight complaint strategies. The hint, annoyance, ill consequences, direct accusation, indirect accusation, modified blame, explicit condemnation of the accused's action and explicit condemnation of the accused as a person. The mother complains to the daughter more than when she is complaining to the son and the father. The father complains to the son more than when he complains to the daughter. The son and the daughter complain almost equaly to their parents. The daughter complains equaly as her sister. These members have some ways of responding to the complaints. Boxer (1991) has identified six types of responses to the indirect complaints. The question, the joke, contradiction, commisseration, lecture and advice. The father has used more strategies when responding to the mother. The mother has responded to the daughter more than when responding to the father and the son. the son and the daughter has responded almost equaly to their parents. The brother and the sister responded equaly to their parents. The examination of speech acts will help us understand how actions are carried out and interpreted wthin speech events and how more get communicated than is said. It has been established that speech acts of complaint in Xhosa playa crucial sociocultural role in our communities. This is being proved by the manner in which females and male have used the strategies in this data. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie het as doelstelling die ondersoek van spraakhandelinge in Xhosa. Handelinge wat uitgevoer word via uitings word spraakhandelinge genoem. Hierdie spraakhandelinge word oor die algemeen bepaalde benaminge gegee, soos verskoning, komplimentering, versoek, belofte, waarskuwing, ens. Die gebruik van spraakhandelinge illustreer die soort dinge wat mense met woorde kan doen, en identifiseer sommige van die konvensionele uiting vorme wat mense gebruik om spesifieke spraakhandelinge uit te voer. Hierdie studie ondersoek die spraakhandeling van klagte in huishoudelike konteks. Volgens Trosborg (1995) is daar twee verskillende tipes klagtes. Die direkte klagte behels dat die klaer die klagte-hoorder direk beskuldig van 'n oortreding. Die indirekte klagte behels dat die klaer _'n vraag vra aan die klagte-hoorder oor die situasie waarmee laasgenoemde op 'n manier verbind is met die oortreding. Hierdie studie ondersoek hoe Xhosa-sprekende persone kla in huishoudelike konteks. Vraelyste is gegee aan inwoners van die Kayamandi wooongebied in Stellenbosch, Emgwali woongebied in Stutterheim en Kwalini woongebied in King William's Town. Die fokus was op vaders en moeders, dogters en seuns, en broers en susters. Die familielede kla teenoor mekaar op verskillende vlakke en dienooreenkomstig hulle status. Trosborg (1995) identifiseer agt klagte strategieë, naamlik die skimp, verviesing, slegte gevolge, direkte beskuldiging, indirekte beskuldiging, gewysigde blaam, eksplisiete veroordeling van die beskuldigde se aksies, en die eksplisiete beoordeling van die beskuldigde as persoon. Die moeder kla meer teenoor die dogter as wat sy kla teenoor die vader of die seun. Die vader kla meer teenoor die seun as teenoor die dogter. Die seun en dogter kla ongeveer in 'n gelyke mate teenoor hulle ouers. Die dogter kla eweveel as haar suster. Boxer (1991) identifiseer ses tipes response op indirekte klagtes, naamlik die vraag, die grap, die weerspreking, die lesing, en advies. Die vader het meer strategieë gebruik in response teenoor die moeder. Die moeder het meer response gehad teenoor die dogter as wat sy gehad het teenoor die vader en die seun. Die seun en dogter het ongeveer in 'n gelyke mate response teenoor hulle ouers gehad. Die broer en suster het ongeveer dieselfde mate van response teenoor mekaar gehad. Die ondersoek na spraakhandelinge lewer 'n bydrae daartoe om te verstaan hoe handelinge uitgevoer word en geïnterpreteer word binne spraakhandelinge, en hoe meer gekommunikeer word as wat gesê word. Daar is vasgestel dat spraakhandelinge van klagte in Xhosa 'n wesenlike sosio-kulturele rol speel in gemeenskappe. Hierdie feit word bevestig deur onder andere die wyse waarop mans en vroue die strategieë gebruik het in hierdie studie

M.A. (Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study of the variable use of ne in synchronous electronic French discourse follows the methodological guidelines and the theoretical framework proposed and subsequently elaborated by Labov for analyzing variable features of language. This thesis provides a quantitative variable rule (i.e., VARBRUL) analysis including age as a factor group (i.e., independent variable), thereby making a new contribution to this area of inquiry. The data (50,000 words from the vingtaine 'twentysomething' channel and 50,000 words from the cinquantaine 'fiftysomething' channel) are a subset of 100,000 words from a corpus of one million words collected in 2008 by the thesis director from the public chat server EuropNet. This study aims to answer the following overarching question: To what extent does age-compared to other factors-influence the variable use of ne in verbal negation in synchronous electronic French discourse? In order to answer this question, and possibly others, the VARBRUL analysis will include age, subject (e.g., noun vs. pronoun), type of second negative particle (e.g., pas 'not', jamais 'never', personne 'no one'/'nobody', and so forth), as well as verbal mood/tense.

The present study analyzed the language in the script of the bilingual play Mi Vida Gitana `My Gypsy Life' (Malán, 2006) in order to better understand issues relating to codeswitching (CS). The analysis was done from a structural and a functional perspective and utilized various models developed by renowned CS scholars. For the structural analysis, I utilized concepts and ideas put forth in the three-tiered typology created by Muysken (2000) and the Matrix Language Frame model developed by Myers-Scotton (1993). The results of this portion of the study showed that some form of CS, whether occurring between turns or within turns, was observed in 78% of all turns. With regard to CS types and elements most commonly observed in the data, the alternation of clauses and the insertion and alternation of nouns and noun phrases were the predominant phenomena occurring in the script. I used Myers-Scotton's (1993) Markedness Model and Gumperz's (1982) functions of conversational CS to guide the functional analysis conducted during this study. The results arising from this portion of the analysis showed that CS served an important function in terms of character development. Marked and unmarked CS helped create different characters and likely assisted audiences in understanding those characters. The data analyzed also showed that CS served a purpose with regard to the communication of the message to diverse audiences. The use of reiterations and conjunctions were determined to be important CS strategies that contributed to making the story accessible to bilingual as well as monolingual audiences. The results of this study are in line with previous research that has documented the types of structures found in English-Spanish CS and some of the functions served by this phenomenon. The implications of the study provide additional support for the recognition of CS as a possible factor in the language acquisition process and suggest that language educators acknowledge its occurrence and utilize it to further develop learners' language skills.

This study examines the role of compliment topic by analyzing compliment responses by Japanese and American college students. Compliment responses can be seen as solutions for maintaining a balance between (1) a preference to avoid self-praise and (2) a preference to accept or agree with the compliment (Pomerantz 1978). Building on studies showing that response strategies can be influenced by compliment content and context, the study analyzed responses to compliments on ability, achievement, belongings, appearance, and personal characteristics by determining the subjects' choice of response strategy--categorized as acceptance, avoidance, or rejection--for each compliment topic. Compliment responses were elicited in a recorded, free-flowing conversation by the researcher or the English-speaking research assistant's issuing of compliments on traits of the participants based on information collected prior to the conversation by e-mail. Compliments were subtly dispersed throughout the conversation. Each compliment response was coded according to whether the overall response accepted, avoided, or rejected the credit attributed by the compliment, while the component parts of each response were coded by semantic formulas. The American group accepted compliments more often than the Japanese group and the Japanese group avoided and rejected compliments more often than the English group. But, contrary to a commonly held belief, the Japanese speakers did not overwhelmingly reject compliments, and instead used all three response types with a substantial frequency. The American participants overwhelmingly accepted compliments and almost never rejected compliments, but avoidance strategies were also commonly observed and should not be overlooked in the discussion of American English compliment response patterns. Furthermore, the study found relations between the content and structure of compliment responses and the type of compliment topic. Overall response strategies varied relative to compliment topic, as compliments on personal appearance were overwhelmingly rejected or avoided by both groups while those on belongings were largely accepted by both groups. Some response structures were also unique to a type of compliment topic, including the use of "wa" as a limit on the credit accepted in response to compliments on achievements or the use of "`a' + gratitude" as a means of demonstrating modesty in response to compliments on belongings.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research work has put into practice the theoretical framework of text construction advanced by Grabe and Kaplan (1996) for the analysis of South African female celebrities' texts in Xhosa. Theoretical elements employed in this study includes linguistic elements and the elements that are applicable to the structure of narrative texts. This framework can be included in teaching methods and approaches for the development of the learners' analytic skills in analyzing the discourse structure of written texts. These skills are to be acquired by learners, are part of the Curriculum 2005 and are meant specifically for the teaching and learning of languages. This study has employed a range of textlinguistic strategies for analyzing written genre texts on issues relating to female music artists and actresses. It is imperatively recommended that language teachers with the incorporation of Curriculum 2005 methodology can use these strategies in order to produce learners that are able to analyze texts successfully and who have an awareness about how language is used in text construction as a reflection of social activities. For the purpose of analysis in this thesis, texts from the Xhosa Bona magazine with contents ranging from acting careers and music artists has been collected. This study demonstrates that text analysis involves to a larger extent, an investigation of generic factors such as the communicative purpose, the culture and the community, and as well as the traumatic and exciting human experiences encountered by people in the society in which the text is produced. A broad definition of a narrative and a text will be established in the discussion of the generic features of texts. The text-linguistic construction, the analysis of linguistic structures, and the elements of the overall structure of narratives will be demonstrated in the analysis of Xhosa texts with emphasis on the discussion of the parameters of the ethnography of writing as proposed by Grabe and Kaplan (1996). The following questions are addressed by these parameters of the ethnography of writing: "Who writes what to whom. for what purpose. why. when and how?" In addition to these parameters the study addresses the elements of narratives based from the overall structure of narrative texts as proposed by Labov (1972). In Labov's framework the following elements are addressed: "the orientation section. the complication. the evaluation. the resolution and the coda". In addition to these elements examined the move structures will be explored as a way of summarising the facts and the message carried by the content of each Xhosa text written for the purpose of analysis. This study explores the implications and rationale for the incorporation of text analysis in language teaching and learning, as well as to explore the relationship between the theoretical underpinning of this study with the learning outcomes of Curriculum 2005 which have to be applied in language pedagogy. Finally, this study has proved that the theoretical framework of Grabe and Kaplan (1996) and the elements of the overall structure of narrative texts of Labov (1972) as employed in the written text construction, will introduce language teachers and learners into an effective language learning and teaching. This implies that the strategies acquired in this study can be employed in any analysis of written text in any language study as it has been explored in the analysis of Xhosa genre texts of South African female celebrities from a Xhosa Bona magazine. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsing doen 'n praktiese toepassing van die teoretiese raamwerk van tekskontruksie soos voorgestaan deur Grabe en Kaplan (1996) in die analise van Xhosa tekste oor vroulike bekendes. Teoretiese elemente wat aangewend word in die navorsing sluit in tekslinguistiese elemente en die elemente wat toepaslik is tot die struktuur van narratiewe tekste. Hierdie raamwerk kan gebruik word in taalonderrigmetodes en benaderings gerig op die ontwikkeling van leerders se analitiese vaardighede in die analise van die diskoersstruktuur van skriftelike tekste. Hierdie vaardighede wat verwerf moet word deur leerders, is gespesifiseer in Kurrikulum 2005 vir die leerarea tale. Die studie wend 'n verskeidenheid tekslinguistiese strategieë aan in die analise van geskrewe genre-tekste oor vraagstukke rakende vroulike musiekkunstenaars en aktrises. Daar word aanbeveel in die studie dat taalonderwysers, deur die toepaslike metodologie in Kurrikulum 2005, hierdie strategieë aanwend ten einde leerders te lewer wat in staat is om tekste suksesvol te analiseer, en wat 'n bewussyn het van hoe taal gebruik word in tekskonstruksie as 'n refleksie van sosiale en kommunikatiewe doelstelling. Vir die doel van die analises in hierdie studie, is 'n verskeidenheid Xhsoa tekste oor bekende vroulike musici en aktrises gekies uit die BONA tydskrif. Hierdie studie demonstreer dat teksanalise 'n ondersoek behels na die teks-generiese faktore, die kommunikatiewe doelstelling, en die sosiale en kulturele konteks en die traumatiese en opwindende ervarings ervaar deur mense in die gemeenskap waarin die teks geproduseer word. 'n Breë definisie van narratief en teks sal gegee word in die bespreking van die generiese kenmerke van tekste. Die tekslinguistiese konstruksie, die analise van linguistiese strukture, en die elemente van die geheelstruktuur van narratiewe, sal gedemonstreer word in die analise van die Xhosa-tekste met klem op die parameters in die etnografie van skryf soos voorgestel deur Grabe en Kaplan (1996): Wie skryf wat aan wie vir watter doel, waarom, wanneer. Bykomend tot hierdie parameters, ondersoek hierdie studie die globale elemente van narratiewe gebaseer op Labov (1972), die orientasie, die komplikasie, die evaluasie, die resolusie, en die koda. Bykomend sal die kognitiewe of retoriese skuifstrukture ook ondersoek word.