No description available.

This mini-thesis profiles some aspects realted to the accessibility of printed news to first language speakers of Xhosa. The major aim of this thesis is to investigate whether speakers of Xhosa do have access to printed news in English, which is not in their first language. Therefore, this thesis investigates whether African langusge speakers of school leaving age understand hwat they read in English newspapers.

The research comprised of three studies which examined the discussion skills of preschool children in different contexts. The first study was concerned with how frequently pre-schoolers could use complex linguistic strategies (such as giving justifications) in conflict situations, and in relation to gender, class and play activity. The second study was very similar to this but examined how complex speech acts were produced in a co-operative context. It was found that children could produce complex language relatively frequently in both conflictual and co-operative contexts. No substantial sex differences were recorded for the complexity of speech acts used but there were significant variations noted for class in Study 1, with children from the privately run nursery showing greater linguistic competence than their state-school peers. Play activity had a marked effect on the type of dialogue produced. Skilful language was associated with symbolic play whereas sand & water activities and individual pursuits were characterised by predominantly simple speech. The final study primarily built-upon the results obtained in Study 2 which had revealed that one specific pattern of dialogue often led to the production of complex speech. In order to further improve this output, this Particular pattern of speech was encouraged via a scaffolding procedure. This was successful in increasing the amount of individual complex speech strategies produced, but was less effective in frequently eliciting the required dialogue pattern. Overall, it was demonstrated that preschool children were linguistically more competent than many theorists or educational guidelines have suggested. Moreover, it appears that young children are able to engage in complex speech in both conflictual and co-operative situations, although it was also shown that the type of play activity may influence these discussion skills.

The thesis explores aspects of language in the modern media of communication, with particular reference to its role in the production and circulation of ideologies (Ideologies are understood in this context as systems of representation whose effect is to sustain relations of domination). Investigation is conducted by means of case studies on a variety of media texts ranging from print Journalism through to TV and radio. These case studies suggest that ideology in text may be analysed using various techniques from linguistics, including - for example - the analysis of vocabulary, and the analysis of grammatical systems such as transitivity. But the case studies also suggest that ideologies operate in the form of implicit background assumptions which may be made analytically explicit by drawing upon recent developments in linguistic pragmatics. In addition to engaging with issues of language and ideology in the study of media texts, the case studies are also concerned with the ways in which such texts shape up to their audiences, particularly through the adoption of modes of direct address. Direct address is. considered to be an important indicator of genres in media discourse; and the thesis includes a detailed study of a one particular genre from popular day-time radio. The research is thus seen as occupying a middle ground between linguistics and media studies. It begins with media discourse as projecting dominant forms of common sense but it concludes with issues concerning the relation of these discourses to their putative audiences.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between differential quantitative and linguistic abilities and creative potential in a college population.

Thesis--Warsaw. Thesis note from slip mounted on verse of half-title. / Three transparent paper copies of key map laid in. Summary in French. "Literatura": p. [95]-97.

Thesis--PlanA (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-161).

No description available.

The aims of this study are twofold: (1) to examine the development of linguistic humor interpretation and comprehension by second language (L2) Spanish learners by using a linguistic humor instrument comprised of comic strips, considering the linguistic properties of Spanish; and (2) to see whether and how reading comprehension ability is reflected in the understanding of four types of linguistic-based humor (i.e. semantic, syntactic, phonological, and morphological). Also discussed are the comprehension strategies utilized by the participants during humor processing. To address these goals, a mixed methods approach was implemented through a linguistic humor multiple-choice questionnaire together with a think-aloud protocol. Results are discussed with reference to Raskin’s (1985) Semantic-Script Switch Theory of Humor (SSTH). The data indicate: (1) comprehension of linguistic-based humor increases with L2 study; (2) L2 learners struggle most with polysemic lexical items; and (3) cognate status and pseudofamiliar words impede comprehension. Considering the analysis of the data, a reassessment of the SSTH and how it applies to L2 humor processing is suggested. Notably, linguistic-based scripts tend to dominate access to other non-linguistic based scripts because L2 learners remain within the linguistic-script frame and are unable to access and/or utilize non-linguistic scripts such as background knowledge. Furthermore, L2 learners contend with error scripts as an additional obstacle, which NS do not experience. The findings suggest that learners should be encouraged and explicitly taught about lexical depth in order to increase their ability to infer meaning from context, thereby increasing their metalinguistic knowledge base. Recommendations are made for the adjustment of the SSTH theory to be more inclusive of L2 learning environments. Finally, suggestions for the L2 classroom include: (1) methods to increase metacognitive awareness; and (2) pedagogical approaches to introduce language-based humor. / text