This dissertation is a comprehensive description of the grammar of Sierra Popoluca (SP, aka Soteapanec), a Mixe-Zoquean language spoken by approximately 28,000 people in Veracruz, Mexico. This grammar begins with an introduction to the language, its language family, a typological overview of the language, a brief history of my fieldwork, and the methodology undertaken in this study. The grammar continues with a description of the phonology of SP, followed by an overview of the word classes, including verbs, nouns, relational nouns/postpositions, adjectives, adverbs, and numbers, and formative types. The bulk of this grammar is devoted to the morphosyntax of Sierra Popoluca, including nouns and nominal morphology, verbs and verbal morphology, and the mechanisms for expressing tense, aspect, mood, and modality. The grammar also describes the complex predicate formation strategies and sentence-level syntax. A compilation of interlinearized texts appears in the appendix. Sierra Popoluca is an agglutinating, polysynthetic, head-marking language with a complex verbal system. It has ergative-absolutive alignment and its grammar is sensitive to animacy and saliency hierarchies, evident in the case marking and `split' plural systems. Its constituent order is verb-initial, although word order is pragmatically determined. Sierra Popoluca has a number of strategies to form complex predicates, which include verb serialization, noun incorporation, and dependent verb constructions. The data available in this grammar contributes a body of data and descriptive analysis to broad theoretical areas of linguistics as well as existing research on the Mixe-Zoquean language family, languages throughout Mesoamerica, and especially the Gulf branch of the Zoquean family. / text

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate if any linguistic differences between the sexes can be found in Swedish students’ compositions in English. My aim was also to investigate what features students perceive to be typically male or female. By studying a number of Swedish students’ English compositions, I was able to detect differences between boys’ and girls’ language and also compare my discoveries with earlier research. I investigated both the features that separate the genders in their writing and also what students identified as female and male language use. In my investigation, I found some linguistic differences between the sexes which were more distinct than others; for example their use of stative and dynamic verbs. But, on the other hand, I found no noticeable difference between boys’ and girls’ use of adjectives; words which are often said to be more commonly used by girls.</p>

<p>This work concerns the linguistic relativity hypothesis, also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which, in its most general form claims that ‘lan-guage’ influences ‘thought’. Past studies into linguistic relativity have treated various aspects of both thought and language, but a growing body of literature has recently emerged, in this thesis referred to as neo-Whorfian, that empirically investigates thought and language from a cross-linguistic perspective and claims that the grammar or lexicon of a particular language influences the speakers’ non-linguistic thought.</p><p>The present thesis examines the assumptions about language that underlie this claim and criticizes the neo-Whorfian arguments from the point of view that they are based on misleading notions of language. The critique focuses on the operationalization of thought, language, and culture as separate vari-ables in the neo-Whorfian empirical investigations. The neo-Whorfian stud-ies explore language primarily as ‘particular languages’ and investigate its role as a variable standing in a causal relation to the ‘thought’ variable. Tho-ught is separately examined in non-linguistic tests and found to ‘correlate’ with language.</p><p>As a contrast to the neo-Whorfian view of language, a few examples of other approaches to language, referred to in the thesis as sociocultural appro-aches, are reviewed. This perspective on language places emphasis on prac-tice and communication rather than on particular languages, which are vie-wed as secondary representations. It is argued that from a sociocultural per-spective, language as an integrated practice cannot be separated from tho-ught and culture. The empirical findings in the neo-Whorfian studies need not be rejected, but they should be interpreted differently. The findings of linguistic and cognitive diversity reflect different communicational practices in which language cannot be separated from non-language.</p>

<p>Register clashes are a linguistic phenomenon that occurs in both real and fictional interaction. This study, based on the theory of register as developed by Halliday, examines the functions of register clashes in the television drama series <em>Gilmore Girls</em>. It was hypothesized that the function of register clashes is to create humor, to characterize some characters on the show as sophisticated and witty and some others as lacking in communicative competence, or what is popularly referred to as <em>geeky</em> or <em>nerdy</em>, as well as to characterize the show. A total of 1,306 cases of register clashes were identified, of which 761 cases (58.3 percent) were clear cases and 545 cases (41.7 percent) were somewhat more doubtful. Nearly all cases of register clashes found were considered to have been used to create humor. Eight out of the ten most productive characters with respect to the utterance of register clashes were found to be characterized as witty; the other two characters produced register clashes in a way that characterized them as geeky. Each of the six episodes examined in this study was found to contain many instances of register clashes, regardless of the fact that each was written by a different author. The results thus suggest that the function of register clashes in <em>Gilmore Girls</em> is indeed to create humor, to characterize the characters, and to characterize the show.</p>

This paper analyzes the nature of linguistic interactions between host communities and international tourists. The tourism-based context provides an excellent platform from which to describe the sociolinguistic influences that American tourists have had on Mexican communities. Specifically, the language use of local vendors in Puerto Peñasco/Rocky Point, Mexico, is described in terms of the various linguistic characteristics that constitute their particular dialect of English. Not only does this work emphasize the sociocultural foundation of language acquisition, it also illustrates the type of language that is learned in economically motivated situations. The results also emphasize how the growing ubiquity of (American) English in tourism contexts establishes distinct attitudes towards the United States and those who live there.

The field of heritage language maintenance lacks an in-depth look at the social networks that make-up the linguistic interaction of heritage speakers of Spanish. Moreover, the social network studies that have focused on language maintenance have all investigated the maintenance of a first language spoken by immigrants or the use of a dialect. Undoubtedly, there is a lacuna of research with regard to heritage speakers of a language, which is the focus of the proposed study. There is an even greater deficit in the study of linguistic insecurity among heritage language speakers and the correlation that there may be with regard to social networks. The present research fills this gap by examining these issues within a population of heritage speakers of Spanish at the University of Arizona.This study examines correlations between linguistic insecurity, social networks and language use in heritage speakers of Spanish. The population investigated are college aged students registered in the beginning and intermediate courses of the Heritage Language Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson (SPAN 103, 203, and 253). Linguistic insecurity is measured using an adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope, 1986) and language use is measured through an online questionnaire. The subjects' social networks are identified using an adapted on-line version of the Cochran, Larner, Riley, Gunnarson, & Henderson's (1990) social network questionnaire. This study details the social networks of heritage language speakers of Spanish and presents the correlation between these networks, the participants' use of Spanish and their linguistic insecurity in a discussion regarding the speakers' prospects of maintaining the heritage language. Secondly, it presents correlations between the linguistic insecurity of heritage language speakers of Spanish, Spanish language use, oral proficiency and social network structure. The information provided by this study will help in the understanding of the function of social networks in the maintenance of a heritage language. It will further assist in the understanding of linguistic insecurity and provide a foundation for further research into how to address linguistic insecurity in the heritage language classroom.

L1 attrition - which in the context of this study is defined as the decline of any native language skill (or portion thereof) in a healthy bilingual speaker (Ecke, 2004) - has been studied extensively for several decades. However, only few studies have examined the native speech of immigrants who use their L1 for professional purposes, such as language instructors (Isurin, 2007; Major, 1992; Porte, 1999, 2003). Furthermore, no research has been conducted comparing the L1 speech of such individuals with that of individuals who do not use their L1 for professional purposes. This study analyzed and compared L1 speech samples from two populations of German immigrants in the U.S., German Instructors and Other Professionals, and from a monolingual control group in Germany. It was hypothesized that German instructors may be less vulnerable to L1 attrition due to more frequent L1 use, a higher motivation to maintain the L1, and greater identification with the native language and culture. Data elicited through verbal fluency tasks, a film retelling task, a semi-structured interview, and a sociolinguistic questionnaire revealed significant differences between the control group and the two bilingual groups which point to L1 attrition (primarily as an access problem) in the bilingual speakers. The data also revealed significant differences between the German Instructors and the Other Professionals, suggesting that the severity of L1 attrition is not the same for all populations. In addition, a comparison of the two bilingual groups with regard to sociolinguistic variables, and correlations between linguistic measures and sociolinguistic variables also yielded interesting findings which have implications for L1 attrition research as well as L1 maintenance.

This dissertation is a linguistic ethnography of a high school Astronomy/Oceanography classroom in southern Arizona, where an exceptionally promising, novice, white science teacher and mostly Mexican-American students confronted issues of identity and difference through interactions both related and unrelated to science learning. Through close analysis of video-recorded, naturally-occurring interaction and rich ethnographic description, the study documents how a teacher and students accomplished everyday classroom life, built caring relationships, and pursued scientific inquiry at a time and in a place where nationally- and locally-circulating discourses about immigration and race infused even routine interactions with tension and uncertainty. In their talk, students appropriated elements of racializing discourses, but also used language creatively to "speak back" to commonsense notions about Mexicanness. Careful examination of science-related interactions reveals the participants' negotiation of multiple, intersecting forms of citizenship (i.e., cultural and scientific citizenship) in the classroom, through multidirectional processes of language socialization in which students and the teacher regularly exchanged expert and novice roles. This study offers insight into the continuing relevance of racial, cultural, and linguistic identity to students' experiences of schooling, and sheds new light on classroom discourse, teacher-student relationships, and dimensions of citizenship in science learning, with important implications for teacher preparation and practice.

This dissertation documents the work of two teacher collaborators who brought a focus on linguistic and cultural diversity into their literacy teaching even while teaching in English medium schools. The research was carried out during eighteen months utilizing collaborative case study methodology in conjunction with two teachers in highly multilingual and multicultural public elementary schools in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This study explores the pedagogical possibilities that are made available by teaching for transfer and highlights the resource that students’ linguistic diversity can be even when the instructional setting is monolingual. The dual language literacy pedagogies of the two teachers provide the basis for an analysis of the paths for knowledge construction and identity development that were made available for students through this work. I examine the role that teacher identity and societal influences play in enabling or constraining a redefinition of literacy for the increasingly globalized context of schools. The image of the child, of literacy and of bilingualism projected by the work of the two participating teachers shape the analysis of their identity and role definition as educators. By examining teaching practices that integrate students’ linguistic and cultural identities into the fabric of the literacy curriculum several themes are considered: (a) the role of teacher identity and choice in creating learning contexts that draw on students’ interests and prior knowledge, (b) the link between student engagement and a classroom ecology that values students’ identities and, (c) the different types of knowledge that are generated in the process of participating in the dual language literacy work. Results suggest that students were able to utilize their first language skills in the service of learning English. They also experienced a renewed motivation to extend their first language skills into the sphere of literacy as a result of its affirmation within the classroom. In the case of both first and second language development, students’ ability to engage cognitively and affectively in their literacy work was heightened by virtue of the integration of their language and culture into the curriculum.

Nuo žiniasklaidos pasirenkamos kalbinės raiškos priklauso jos vartotojų kalbinė raiška. Žurnalo kalbinės raiškos savitumą lemia taisyklingi ir netaisyklingi kalbos vienetai. Taisyklingos žurnalo stiliaus priemonės: 1) vediniai; 2) leksiniai sinonimai; 3) sintaksiniai sinonimai; 4) stiliaus figūros – leksinės semantinės, sintaksinės. Deminutyvai – stilistiškai žymėtieji darybiniai vediniai, turintys ne tik maloninį, bet pajuokiamąjį, pašiepiamąjį atspalvį. Populiariausia žurnalo deminutyvų priesaga – -ukas, (-ė). Dažniausiai vartojamos semantinės figūros – metaforos ir metonimijos. Taisyklingos kalbinės raiškos priemonės analizuojamos pragmatinės lingvistikos požiūriu. Netaisyklinga žurnalo kalbinė raiška: 1) barbarizmai – nevartotinos naujosios svetimybės; 2) barbarizmai – neteiktinos svetimybės ir jų dariniai; 3) daliniai barbarizmai – hibridai; 4) netaisyklingi naujadarai; 5) žargonybės. Žurnale daug slavų, anglų kilmės barbarizmų. Vakarų kalbų skoliniai plinta kartu su naujomis technologijomis, prekėmis, paslaugomis. Barbarizmai tiriami semantinės ir funkcinės analizės metodu, keičiami lietuvių kalboje tinkamais vartoti žodžiais. Svarbi žiniasklaidos vadovų nuostata, susijusi su jų pačių kalbos kultūra. / Linguistic expression used by the media influences the linguistic expression of its users. The peculiarities of the linguistic expression used by the media are determined by correct and incorrect units of the language. Correct stylistic means used in the magazine: 1) derivedes; 2) lexical synonyms; 3) syntactical synonyms; 4) stylistic devices – lexical semantic and syntactical. Diminutives – stylistically marked derivedes used to convey not only a degree of endearment but also irony and mockery. The most common suffix of diminutives in the magazine is -ukas, (-ė). The most commonly used semantic devices are metaphor and metonymy. The correct means of linguistic expression are analysed in terms of pragmatic linguistics. Incorrect linguistic expression used in the magazine: 1) barbarisms – unacceptable new loanwords; 2) barbarisms – non-recommended loanwords and their derivatives; 3) partial barbarisms – hybrid words; 4) incorrect neologisms; 5) slang. Barbarisms used in the magazine are mainly of Slavic and English origin. The borrowings from Western languages have spread together with the new technologies, products and services. Barbarisms are examined using the method of semantic and functional analysis and are replaced with appropriate Lithuanian words. The attitude of the media leaders towards their own language culture is also a significant factor.