The articulation of Portuguese nasalized vowels poses some articulatory problems accompanied by negative acoustic effects for the performance of Brazilian art songs. The main objective was to find strategies that permit the singer to conciliate an idiomatic pronunciation of these vowels with a well-balanced resonance, a desirable quality in classical singing. In order to devise these strategies, the author examined sources dealing with nasalized vowels from varied perspectives: acoustic properties of vowel nasalization, phonetic and phonological aspects ofBrazilian Portuguese (BP), historical views on nasality in singing, and recent vocal pedagogy research. In addition to the overall loss of sonority, the main effect of nasalization is felt mainly in the first formant (F1) region of oral vowels, due to the introduction of nasal formants and antiformants, and to shifts in the tongue posture. Several sources report the existence of a nasality contour in BP, by which a nasalized vowel starts with an oral phase and transitions gradually to a nasal phase. The author concludes that the basic approach to sing nasalized vowels in BP is (1) to find the tongue posture corresponding to the oral vowel congener (the “core vowel”), and (2) to adjust the nasality contour in such a way that the oral portion remains prominent in order to keep the resonance balance consistent during the emission of the vowel. Once the core vowel is determined, standard vowel modification choices can be made according to voice type and the musical context in which the vowel is being sung. Some challenging excerpts from Brazilian art songs are examined, with suggestions for the application of the discussed strategies.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:33:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Luiz Eduardo Meneses de Oliveira.pdf: 3239056 bytes, checksum: c7956c0fd5a7b18ffec36d36524caf93 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-02-22 / This work investigates the process of institutionalization of the teaching of Modern Languages in Brazil as well as of its configuration as a school subject observing the specific case of the English Language from 1809 to 1890 with the purpose of establishing a periodization related to the main finalities assumed by those Languages in the system of Public Instrucion of the country / Este trabalho investiga o processo de institucionalização do ensino das Línguas Vivas no Brasil, bem como de sua configuração como disciplina escolar, observando o caso específico da Língua Inglesa, de 1809 a 1890, no intuito de estabelecer uma periodização relacionada às principais finalidades assumidas pelo ensino daquelas Línguas no sistema de Instrução Pública do país

The purpose of this study was not simply to construct a unit but to provide an approach to teaching language by combining language and culture in appropriate for advanced high school students French. For the purposes of this study seven affective values were chosen as representing the most suitable basic listings: (1) l'individualisme; (2) l'intellectualite; (3) le realisme; (4) la famine; (5) la religion; (6) is justice: and (7) la Patrie. armed with the seven values i-or the author of this project, and the grammatical skill, the next step was the actual composition of the historiettes. It became quickly apparent that each value had nuances of the otner six. L'individualisme began to surface as a predominate theme and produced two historiettes. Le Realisme et La Famille also yielded two historiettes because of its relevancy to teen—agers. Finally, two other pieces were composed, entitled: L'Intellectualite et La Religion and La Justice et La Patrie. Questions were composed based upon each piece. The questionnaire would require the student to analyze and to evaluate the readings in terms of a Frenchperson. In order to ensure comprehension of the readings, a lexique was composed; grammatical areas were represented in the exercises de grammaire. Last of all, a posttest was constructed using the same questionnaire arproach. This instrument would be summative, that is, not necessarily testing the whole range of the readings, but the student's general analysis of the historiettes in toto.

Throughout the Spanish poetic production of the 20th century, cities have developed a relevant role as a recurring space at the same time as society urbanized and an exodus took place from agricultural areas to the work centers offered by the cities. Since the second half of the 19th century the city has been the meeting place for people from different backgrounds where the poet found, from his exclusive point of view, a new universe to develop in his work. However, the evolution of capitalist society sponsored the poet's transition from an artist to a worker in the service sector, now able to describe the everyday life through that "other voice" that Octavio Paz so well exhibited in his work (Paz 1990). This way, I argue that with the passage of time and the disappearance of the romanticized figure of the poet, writers who describe the daily commute of the inhabitants of the cities emerged among the working classes through a simple style that has come to be related with other transcultural artistic movements such as Minimalism or Dirty Realism. My dissertation studies the representation of the urban working class in three contemporary Spanish poets: Karmelo C. Iribarren, Itziar Mínguez Arnáiz, and Fernando del Val. I analyze their shared poetics of the city with a focus on the omnipresent common objects that seem to represent the urban everyday life. In Chapter One, I develop a conceptual “trialectic” lens through which to approach all three poets based on the convergence of urban studies, the analysis of poetic form in relation to the artistic current of Minimalism, and the imprint that U.S. author Raymond Carver-as both literary persona and style-left on Spain since his publication in translation in the late 1980s. In Chapter Two, I analyze how the processes of gentrification and privatization of public spaces reflect an experience of suffering by the working class in Iribarren's poetry. In Chapter Three, I study gender-space relations as I analyze what it means for working class women to walk the city and occupy public spaces traditionally reserved for men in Mínguez Arnáiz’ poetry. In Chapter Four, I follow Spanish expatriates across the Atlantic Ocean in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to explore resistance movements against spatial exploitation that force working classes into geographical oblivion in Del Val's “New York trilogy.” To carry out this project, I propose to analyze the works of these three authors emphasizing not only the common characteristics that each one of them presents but also those that make them unique. With this, I intend to find out the paths Spanish poetry is taking and how this realist-style poetry differs from the realistic trends of "the poetry of experience" and the "dirty realism" so popular in the 80s and 90s. I argue that with the entry of the new millennium and especially with the extensive implementation of neoliberal policies that led to the economic crisis of 2008, there is a boom in the poetry of resistance that seeks to prove that an egalitarian right to the city is more urgent than ever.

El cierre y desmantelamiento de gran parte de los centrales azucareros cubanos con la llegada del milenio, que se puede definir como la debacle azucarera, creó dos urgencias. Por un lado, la pérdida de los referentes culturales produjo un vacío, un trauma, un desarraigo, que clamaba por un espacio de representación. Por el otro, esta misma experiencia desgarradora creó la necesidad de rescatar el papel que el azúcar había jugado en la Historia, la identidad y la cultura cubana. El presente estudio, además de examinar varias de las obras que se produjeron en respuesta a la debacle azucarera, también intenta responder a esa segunda necesidad, reflexionando acerca de la presencia del azúcar en Cuba, a través del análisis de un amplio corpus unificado por “el motivo del azúcar”. Partiendo de estudios fundamentales en torno a la historia del azúcar en Cuba (Ortiz 1940, Moreno Fraginals 1978, Benítez Rojo 1998 y 2010), en este estudio exploro la presencia constante y totalizadora del azúcar en la nación, sistematizando e integrando, en un corpus concreto, un conjunto de textos heterogéneos con el azúcar como denominador común. Además de identificar y deslindar este corpus, mi estudio lo inserta y lo discute en el amplio marco histórico referencial del devenir del azúcar como símbolo de la nación cubana, estableciendo un diálogo enriquecedor y productivo entre los textos, su contexto de producción y el contexto histórico general en que este corpus azucarero se gesta. Como parte de esa discusión, mi trabajo documenta y destaca la relevancia que, desde el punto de vista histórico y político, debe adjudicársele a un grupo de obras recientes, surgidas en respuesta a la reestructuración, llamando la atención hacia la importancia capital de estos textos para la reconstrucción fidedigna del impacto humano causado por la debacle azucarera cubana.

En 1985 Alemania Occidental, Bélgica, Francia, Luxemburgo, y los Países Bajos, establecieron el Acuerdo de Schengen sobre la cooperación en la abolición de fronteras interiores como respuesta al Acta Única Europea que creó el mercado común en la Unión Europea. Este acuerdo se evolucionaría a la Convención de Dublín en 1990, y los dos se convertirían en la base de la política de asilo en la Unión Europea, estableciendo un enfoque intergubermental en ella. Es la provisión del mercado común sobre la libre circulación de personas que inició estos acuerdos intergubermentales. La libre circulación de personas involucra a todo extranjero también, incluyendo a los refugiados. A lo largo de esta tesis, se explora las razones para el establecimiento de los acuerdos intergubermentales y que efecto tienen en la formación de la política de asilo en la Unión Europea. También explora el efecto para la obligación a los refugiados según la Convención sobre el estatuto de los refugiados de 1951. Con el precedente de los acuerdos intergubermentales como Schengen y Dublín y la desgana de renunciar a la soberanía nacional sobre el asilo, el enfoque intergubermental, o sea, la cooperación en asuntos fronterizos en vez de la armonización de las políticas nacionales, queda aun cuando se incorporaron Schengen y Dublín a la ley comunitaria durante la época del Tratado de Ámsterdam. Sólo con el Tratado de Lisboa entonces podemos ver un cambio en el régimen de asilo fuera del enfoque intergubermental, más hacia la armonización.

Den nya läroplanen för grundskolan 2011 uppmanar alla lärare i den svenska skolan att stärka ett entreprenöriellt förhållningssätt hos eleverna. Enligt regeringens Strategi för entreprenörskap inom utbildningsområdet ska entreprenörskap löpa som en röd tråd genom hela skolan. Medan en del forskning är gjord på gymnasienivå och utifrån ett elevperspektiv så finns det dock i dagsläget relativt få undersökningar angående grundskolan och lärarnas perspektiv. Förutsättningarna för införandet av entreprenöriellt lärande är oklara. En viktig förutsättning är dock att lärarna är bekanta med begrepp som entreprenörskap och entreprenöriellt lärande. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur lärare i moderna språk uppfattar begreppet entreprenöriellt lärande, och vilka möjligheter och hinder de ser med att tillämpa entreprenöriella arbetsformer i språkundervisningen. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer undersöks hur sju lärare i moderna språk med olika uppfattningar resonerar kring entreprenöriellt lärande i sina ämnen. Lärarna finner det viktigt att utveckla egenskaper hos elever såsom att våga, förmågan att ta initiativ och omsätta idéer till handlingar men de ser sig också ställda inför en del svårigheter med att tillämpa de nya metoderna. Ett intressant utfall var att lärarnas uppfattning av sina förutsättningar hänger ihop väldigt starkt med deras uppfattning av och förhållningssätt till EL. Studien visar att det krävs större satsningar och framförallt mer forskning och beprövad erfarenhet inom fältet. / The new curriculum for primary education 2011 calls on all teachers in Swedish schools to strengthen an entrepreneurial attitude in students. According to the government's Strategy for entrepreneurship in education, entrepreneurship should permeate the whole school system. While some research has been done at secondary level and from a student perspective, relatively few studies have investigated the issue from a teachers' perspective and at primary level. The prerequisites for the introduction of entrepreneurial learning are somewhat unclear. An important condition is, however, that teachers are familiar with concepts such as entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning. This study aims to examine how teachers of modern languages perceive the concept of entrepreneurial learning, and what opportunities and obstacles they see to the application of entrepreneurial work in language teaching. By using qualitative interviews, the study investigates how seven teachers of modern languages with different experiences of the methods reason about enterprise learning in their subjects. The teachers find it important to help their students develop such characteristics as daring, the ability to take initiatives and turn their ideas into actions, but they also find themselves facing some difficulties in applying the new methods. An interesting outcome was that the teachers’ perceptions of their conditions are closely connected to their perceptions of and attitudes towards enterprise learning. The study shows that greater efforts and most importantly, more research and documented experience is needed in the field.

This examination paper looks into the role of phonetics today in teaching French language to Swedish learners and analyzes the content of upper secondary schoolbooks with regards to phonetic elements. Starting from the statements that French is perceived by Swedish learners as a difficult language and that oral expression has grown in importance in modern language courses’ syllabus, it is believed here that phonetics should be of utmost importance when learning French. As far as language didactics is concerned, it is a fact that research on the subject is almost inexistent. Very little seems to be done to develop and use tools to address phonetics aspects of the language in teaching, especially in learning manuals, that is a hypothesis. The objective here was, therefore, to see whether this could be confirmed. The results show that it is partly the case. Finally, a discussion is raised about ineffectiveness of intuitive learning and all that phonetics has to offer in the teaching of French to Swedish learners.

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War effectively destroyed Palestinian society. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes and sought refuge in foreign lands, where they attempted to reestablish their lives and culture. This thesis examines the role of memory in shaping a Palestinian diaspora identity and uses Mahmoud Darwish’s book The Buttefly’s Burden to identify important aspects of the collective Palestinian experience. As the Palestinian national poet, Mahmoud Darwish provides authentic representations of the Palestinian struggle to reconcile the loss of their homeland. Examining Darwish’s work, this thesis explores four significant sources of Palestinian memory and identity: exile, absence, occupation, and the land. Through these sources, Darwish is able to recreate Palestinian society in his lyric and poetic genius.

Many indigenous languages have suffered irreparable damage or even extinction due to the violence of colonization and the violences that continue to be perpetrated by its successor institutions of neo-liberalism and global “development” projects. This thesis focuses on the attempts of two groups of indigenous people, the Imazighen (or Berbers) of Algeria and Morocco and the Runa (or Quechua) of Peru and Bolivia, to break these cycles of repression and revitalize their languages. A close comparison of these two groups’ struggles reveals the difficulty of transcending this assimilationist, imperialist framework, but it also highlights several successes that bode well for future efforts. Through their attempts to introduce indigenous languages into the classroom, and into the public sphere more broadly, these peoples have articulated alternate cosmologies which challenge the biases and assumptions that form the basis of western education. These cosmologies imply a direct challenge to western-occidental notions of modernity and to the institution of the modern nation-state.