Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 38-05, Section: A, page: 2835. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1977.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-08, Section: A, page: 5335. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-03, Section: A, page: 1627. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-06, Section: A, page: 3754. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-06, Section: A, page: 3754. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-08, Section: A, page: 5341. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-10, Section: A, page: 6539. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 22-08, page: 2787. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1961.

The purpose of this study was to create an instrument for research and to present a semantic and literary application to illustrate its use. / The instrument is comprised of a computer tape containing the text of Les Liaisons dangereuses de Laclos and a limited concordance developed from selected terms from the novel's two predominant semantic fields, power and knowledge, and two inter-related fields, stratagem and divinity. / The concordance constitutes in itself a partial verification of the beginning hypothesis that the novel is generated in large part by its two predominant semantic fields. The computer output of over 200,000 lines was so voluminous that it was only possible to include a much reduced concordance in this work. / The reduced concordance permits the establishment of partial statistics. The co-occurrences of terms from the four selected semantic fields is very high. It is of particular importance to note that the reduced concordance reveals that approximately 10% of the total words in the novel (one word per line of text) is generated by the two predominant semantic fields, power and knowledge. / The analysis attempts to classify the terms found in the reduced concordance according to the principles of Greimas and Blanche and to study the use of the terms and the context in which they are used by the novel's principal characters. / The reduced concordance allows the comparison of the vocabulary and style of the characters to occur in a more systematic manner. It illustrates the fact that the language and style of the characters are very personalised. For example, certain words appear only in the vocabulary of particular characters. The reduced concordance also permits the comparative study of the varying contexts that can be applied to a given word throughout the text by characters on both sides of the aggressor/aggressee axis. / This study illustrates one use of the research instrument that has been created. There are numerous other possibilities limited only by the imagination of a researcher. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-10, Section: A, page: 3049. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

This study analyzes the humor in Alfonso de Valdes's Dialogo de las cosas ocurridas en Roma, (1527) and Dialogo de Mercurio y Caron (1529) and in Juan's Dialogo de doctrina cristiana (1529). Chapter I studies the lives and works of the Valdes brothers to show that they were reformers as well as humorists and that there was a definite literary, religious, and political link between Erasmus, Charles V, and them. The next three chapters determine that the humor of the Valdes brothers is not hilarious, but ironic satire. In Dialogo de las cosas ocurridas en Roma, the satire is didactic in pursuit of religious reform. The satirical barbs are aimed at the Pope, religious leaders, war, celibacy, relics, money and religious corruption in general. Alfonso expresses his humor through the typical satirical devices: understatements, overstatements, paradox, and irony. In Dialogo de doctrina cristiana, against the background of a comprehensive review of Christian doctrine, Juan ridicules the hypocrisy of Christians who worship the Virgin Mary by fasting and praying and clergymen who are caricatured as ignorant. Juan expresses his humor mainly through understatements, parody, irony, and mild satire. Dialogo de Mercurio y Caron presents a portrait of good and bad souls. The satire is Horatian with Juvenalian overtones. Alfonso denounces the characters' sins and follies but praises their virtues. The main jist of the didactic satire is that Christians do no obtain immortality by external works but by transformation of the inner life. The humor is expressed through hyperbole, caricature, reductio ad absurdum, understatement, overstatement, allegory, paradox, invective, and especially irony. The conclusion asserts that in their humor, the Valdes brothers followed Erasmus's example of criticizing ecclesiastical corruption, condemning external rites and ceremonies, defending / the inward nature of religious beliefs, returning to simplicity of Christian doctrine, and restoring faith, charity, and honesty. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1786. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.