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Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT, Lakoff & Johnson 1980; Lakoff, 1983, 1987, 1993, 2008, 2009), the most prominent cognitive approach to metaphor comprehension, argues that the nature of interconnections within the conceptual system is inherently metaphoric-analogical and that systematic patterns in linguistic metaphor reveal these cognitive interconnections. Relevance Theory (RT, Sperber & Wilson, 1986; Wilson & Sperber, 1993; Sperber & Wilson, 1995; Wilson & Sperber, 2002, 2004) and Graded Salience (GS, Giora, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003; Peleg et al., 2008; Peleg & Giora, 2011) disagree that systematic patterns in linguistic metaphor can be taken as direct evidence of their cognitive representation. A metaphor consists of two concepts, a source and a target concept. The metaphor implies an analogy between the two concepts. To comprehend a metaphor is to infer under which conditions the implied analogy holds. The meaning of the two concepts is pragmatically enriched by these additional assumptions. Metaphor comprehension is an inferential process. The result of this process is the enriched meaning of the metaphor. This meaning can become conventionalised, in which case it often serves as an inferential shortcut: instead of having to consider all conceptually possible interpretations and their plausibility in the context of the analogy, speakers who are familiar with the conventional (i.e. idiomatic) meaning are provided with a default interpretation. According to CMT, the inferential process is a process of interconnecting primary embodied concepts to ever more complex higher-order concepts. On this view, a metaphoric idiomatic meaning is such a complex concept where the conceptual interconnections are conventional. According to RT, the inferential process is a process of inferring a meaning that is in line with the speaker's communicative intent, the discourse context, and interlocutors' expectations of the cognitive relevance of potential inferences. On this view, metaphoric idiomatic meanings are highly salient inferences with a high degree of contextual relevance because speakers' expectations of relevance are conventionalised. According to GS, the inferential process consists of two modules that work in parallel: a module that infers salient meanings based on linguistic knowledge and a module that enriches the meaning by taking non-linguistic knowledge such as conceptual, experiential, perceptual, contextual, and world knowledge into consideration. On this view, metaphoric idiomatic meanings are highly salient inferences because of speakers' knowledge of non-conceptual linguistic conventions. This thesis investigates the claims made by CMT, RT and GS by experimentally testing the cross-linguistic communicability of metaphoric proverbs with idiomatic meanings. Proverbs are selected such that the similarity of metaphors' source and target concepts, expectations of contextual relevance, and the degree of familiarity with proverbs' conventional wording is cross-linguistically maximised. If CMT is correct, then when cross-linguistic conceptual similarity is maximised in this way, monolingual native speakers should find L2 language-specific metaphors communicable. If RT and GS are correct, then monolingual native speakers should find L2-specific metaphors less communicable than L1-specific and non-language-specific metaphoric proverbs because they lack knowledge of the necessary non-conceptual linguistic conventions. Cross-linguistic metaphor communicability is measured in three ways in the experiments: (1) through reading/response times, (2) through plausibility judgements, and (3) through a context creation task. Results show that cross-linguistic metaphor communicability of L2-specific metaphors is lowered for monolingual native speakers on all three measures.

abstract: Through interviews and observations, this thesis provides an overview of refugee resettlement and explores the way one community is providing English language instruction to recently resettled refugees. It also describes the research process of this thesis so other researchers will be aware of the challenges such research contexts provide. In the southwestern state studied here, one of the refugee resettlement agencies holds the contract to provide English Language instruction to refugees. Other agencies provide supplemental English instruction and tutoring. The U.S. federal statute Immigration and Nationality Act, title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations part 400--Refugee Resettlement Program, and the local contract between the state and the agency were examined to understand the laws, regulations, and contracted agreement governing the provision of English language instruction for refugees being resettled in the United States. English language faculty and staff, staff at refugee resettlement agencies, and a state official were interviewed to understand their goals and the challenges they face as they address the language needs of refugees. English language instruction classes were observed to note the consistencies as well as some discrepancies between interviews and what could actually be accomplished in the classroom. As the classes are unable to provide intensive language instruction, most students struggle with becoming proficient in English. A list of recommendations is included regarding ways the local community can better address linguistic needs of refugees. Yet as Fass (1985) argues, it is unknown whether changing refugee resettlement efforts will actually produce different results. Though there are problems, the way the linguistic needs are being addressed in this community is sufficient given the numerous other expectations put on the refugees and the refugee resettlement agencies. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. English 2010

In recent years, more groups have been moving from location to location as technological advancements, economic interconnections, and interdependence among nation states have made this movement easier. Within this new environment, identities and nation state affiliations are in flux. These movements have also influenced the process of education. National education systems have been partially globalized through student and teacher mobility, deterritorializing of academic institutions, widespread policy borrowing, teaching English as a foreign/second language, and attempts to enhance the global dimension of curricula at secondary and post-secondary levels. The present study examines the Japanese Brazilian transnational community in Japan to determine whether a case for strong forms of bilingual education can be made in the context of linguistic human rights under Article 27 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Even though, the Japanese government ratified the Covenant in 1979, it has not been properly addressing the issue of bilingualism for linguistic minorities within Japanese society. Therefore, this study uses a general qualitative approach to offer explanations for the current sociohistorical and ethnolinguistic situation facing Japanese Brazilians in Japan. A critical cultural meta-ethnography was chosen for this investigation as it aims to provide an interpretive synthesis of qualitative research and other secondary sources. The contextual situation is explored to understand the development of Japanese Brazilians position both in Japan and in Brazil. First, I explain the development of the concepts linguistic human rights and "Japaneseness" as a racial group. Next, I examine the social, historical, and ethnolinguistic positions of Japan's ethnic and immigrant minorities and the position of their language in the Japanese public educational system in order to consider possible modes of action for educating Japanese Brazilian children. Then, I analyze governmental policies at the national and at the local levels to understand what the government has done to address the issue. I then explore possible grassroots movements' models both within Japan and in other parts of the world in order to make recommendations for language education for Japanese Brazilian children. Finally, I investigate areas for possible future studies.

This thesis is an examination of the linguistic approach to modality (also known as 'linguistic conventionalism') - i.e. the view that necessity is to be explained in terms of the linguistic rules that we have adopted. Drawing on an investigation into the history of this approach, I argue against the currently prevalent attitude that it can be dismissed as misguided. The aim, however, is not to argue that the linguistic approach is correct, but, more modestly, to put it back on the table as an interesting and viable research program. The thesis is divided into three parts. In part A, I articulate a conception of the commitments of the approach based on the ideas that influenced it, how it emerged and developed in the work of the logical positivists, and, in particular, the role it was meant to play in "making a consistent empiricism possible". Next, in part B, I defend the core ideas of the approach against various objections. Notably, I consider the objection that truth cannot be "created" by convention, the objection that necessities cannot be explained in terms of contingencies, and the objection that determining what the linguistic conventions are, unlike determining what the modal facts are, is a straightforwardly empirical matter. In part C, finally, I turn to objections which purport to show that there are limits to what can be explained in terms of linguistic convention. Specifically, I consider whether we need to assume a non-conventional distinction between admissible and inadmissible linguistic rules, a non-conventional consequence relation, or a non-conventional starting-point in order to get the linguistic approach off the ground. An overarching question is whether we are forced to take some logic for granted in a way which would undermine the explanatory ambitions of the approach. I argue that some of the prominent objections rely on misunderstandings, that some can be answered head-on, and that some point to genuine challenges and constraints which put pressure on the linguistic approach, but do not warrant a wholesale rejection of the view. Instead, they point to areas where further work is needed.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study uses an interdisciplinary approach in the analytical framework combining Systemic Functional Linguuistic theoty (SFL) (Martin 1992; Halliday 19994) and critical discourse analysis (CDA) (Wodak 7 meyer 2001; Fairclough 1989, 1993, 1995, 2001). Further, the study draws on christie's (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005) work on classroom discourse analysis, which in turn builds on Bernstein's (1990, 1996, 2000) model on pedagogic practice and interaction, to examine dominanceand power relationsin the classroom. The interdisciplinary approach enabled this study to evaluate Al-Thadi university students' English language competence, linguistically and textually. / South Africa

Nesta dissertação, analisamos um fenômeno encontrado entre as consoantes líquidas, classe fonológica que agrupa as consoantes laterais e vibrantes. Nos contextos de ataque complexo e coda silábica pode ocorrer a substituição de uma líquida por outra. Estudamos neste trabalho a realização de uma líquida vibrante por uma líquida lateral, como, por exemplo, a realização de [ πραντα ] por [ πλαντα ] e denominamos este fenômeno de Rotacismo. Usamos os pressupostos teóricos da Teoria dos Traços Fonológicos Distintivos para retratar a problemática representacional das líquidas nas línguas, adotando uma proposta para ilustrar o rotacismo. Também fazemos uso da Teoria da Variação laboviana para analisar dados de fala, descrevendo a realização do fenômeno e seus possíveis fatores condicionadores. Apresentamos neste trabalho evidências de registros do rotacismo em gramáticas históricas, em trabalhos descritivos e em alguns textos de português antigo com o objetivo de atestar o caráter persistente do fenômeno na história da língua portuguesa. Como resultados da nossa pesquisa em dados de fala, constatamos que o rotacismo é uma regra variável que depende do contexto silábico em que ocorre e que está condicionada por fatores sociais, como a escolaridade e a faixa etária. Estes resultados revelam um padrão de realização característico de variação estável para o ambiente de ataque complexo. Em relação à Teoria dos Traços Distintivos, adotamos um modelo geométrico para representar o rotacismo como o desligamento do traço lateral do segmento em um nó organizador SV (Spontaneous Voice). / In this dissertation, we analise a phenomenon found in liquid consonants, a phonological classhood that groups lateral and rhotic consonants. In the contexts of complex onset and silabic coda, a substitution of a liquid for another one may occur. We studied, in this paper, the realization of a rhotic liquid from a lateral liquid, such as, for instance, the realization of [ πραντα ] from [ πλαντα ] and we named this phenomenon Rhotacism. We used the theoretical approaches of the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features to picture the representational problematic of the liquid ones in the languages, adopting a proposal to ilustrate the rhotacism. We also applied the Linguistic Variation Theory in order to analize the speech data, describing the realization of the phenomenon and its possible conditioning factors. We present, in this study, evidence of the registration of rhotacism in historical grammars, in descriptive papers and in some texts written in old Portuguese aiming at certificating the persistent character of this phenomenon in the history of Portuguese. As a result of our research in the speech data, we verified that rhotacism is a variable rule, which depends on the silabic context in which it occurs and that is conditioned to social factors such as schooling and age. These results reveal a characteristic realization pattern of the stable variation to the environment of complex onset. Concerning the Theory of Universal Distinctive Features, we adopted a feature geometry to represent the rhotacism as the breaking off from the lateral feature of the segment into an SV (Spontaneous Voice) organizing node.

Submitted by Edileide Reis (leyde-landy@hotmail.com) on 2013-05-16T14:12:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Teresa Maria Silva e Silva.pdf: 1347179 bytes, checksum: bb6354be1a4f190c2c0c645d145c1275 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Alda Lima da Silva(sivalda@ufba.br) on 2013-05-16T16:49:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Teresa Maria Silva e Silva.pdf: 1347179 bytes, checksum: bb6354be1a4f190c2c0c645d145c1275 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-16T16:49:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Teresa Maria Silva e Silva.pdf: 1347179 bytes, checksum: bb6354be1a4f190c2c0c645d145c1275 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Esta pesquisa tem como propósito refletir sobre o fe nômeno da anáfora, tendo como recorte a anáfora encapsuladora, a partir do funcionamento de itens anafóricos identificados nos textos do gênero dissertativo. A presente investigação se apóia na Lingüística Textual, considerando os trabalhos já desenvolvidos pelos teóricos Apothéloz (1995), Marcuschi e Koch (2002) e Heine (2000). Esta hipótese de trabalho orienta-se por considerar o texto como objeto particular da investigação lingüística, por ser ele a forma específica de manifestação da linguagem. A anáfora encapsuladora nesse estudo será entendida como um tipo de expressão referencial que sumariza uma porção textual (ou o discurso) e não será considerada como um referente na acepção clássica, pontual que postula uma relação de correspondência entre itens textuais. Dessa forma, a anáfora no presente trabalho, tende a uma concepção mais ampla do termo anafórico, considerando que a anáfora encapsuladora recupera porções textuais que serão ou que já estão sinalizadas no co(n)texto. Assim, a anáfora encapsuladora pode ter seu funcionamento na rotulação, sumarização ou recuperação do discurso. / Salvador

TEIXEIRA, Letícia Adriana Pires. A polidez na conversa de pessoas esquizofrênicas figuratividade, estratégias e faces. 2011. 274f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Letras Vernáculas, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística, Fortaleza (CE), 2011. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-08-26T12:45:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_tese_lapteixeira.pdf: 1908264 bytes, checksum: 1f1f1e2a73ed861e5bd56fc7b628f039 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-08-26T12:54:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_tese_lapteixeira.pdf: 1908264 bytes, checksum: 1f1f1e2a73ed861e5bd56fc7b628f039 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-26T12:54:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2011_tese_lapteixeira.pdf: 1908264 bytes, checksum: 1f1f1e2a73ed861e5bd56fc7b628f039 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Este estudo apresenta uma análise da linguagem de pessoas com esquizofrenia, em surto psicótico, tendo como foco o fenômeno da polidez linguística, a partir da figuratividade. Para tanto, procuramos verificar como os participantes da conversação interagem uns com os outros, fazendo o trabalho com as faces (E.Goffman), e como eles utilizam o fenômeno da linguagem figurada, mais especificamente da metáfora, como estratégia de polidez linguística. Para compreender a linguagem de pessoas com transtornos mentais, analisamos as conversas de pacientes do Hospital Myra Y Lopes nos anos 2009 e 2010, bem como as conversas já transcritas por Brito (2005), Teixeira (2001) e Picardi (1999). Adotamos, como referencial teórico básico, os postulados de Brown; Levinson (1987), Leech (1983) Goffman (1967), Lakoff (1987, 1989, 1993,), Lakoff; Johnson (1980, 1999), Volker (2001) entre outros estudiosos dessa temática. Como resultado da análise, constatamos que os esquizofrênicos usam a figuratividade como estratégia de polidez linguística e, dependendo do nível de gravidade da doença, não são totalmente alienados aos acontecimentos e às significações ideológicas, nem aos eventos sociais e culturais que envolvem o processo conversacional. Detectamos que eles são polidos e que as estratégias e modos de polidez, usados por eles, não são dotados de valor absoluto, apesar de a polidez ser tida como um fenômeno universal.

The relationship between learning styles and achievement has been thoroughly studied by many researchers. However, the nursing assistant population is under represented in these studies. Hence, the purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between learning styles, demographics, and achievement of nursing assistant students in Illinois. The sample for the study consisted of 916 nursing assistant students' in Illinois. The VARK learning style inventory was used to measure the students' learning styles, and a demographic questionnaire was used to gather demographic data. The Illinois Nurse Aide Competency Test score was used to measure the achievement of students. The findings showed that there was a relationship between learning styles and achievement of nursing assistant students. Also, there was a relationship between demographics and learning styles. The dominant learning style was the multimodal all four (VARK) preference. Females were the highest representation in the sample and the majority of students were in age ranges 18-25.