D.Litt. et Phil.

This thesis presents a definition of eurolect and a corpus-based analysis of Czech eurolect. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses mainly on the distinction between existing concepts of the specific language of translations originating in EU institutions and on the definition of its main characteristics. As the process of translation in EU institutions is unprecedented, this thesis provides its detailed description. The analysis of Czech eurolect and its main features was conducted on several sub-corpora comprising of EU translations and reference corpora comprising of Czech journalistic texts from before and after 2004.

The proposed thesis treats the topic of multilingual language acquisition and the occurring language interference. It aims to demonstrate the negative language transfer by the means of the results of a field research. The theoretical part introduces and discusses relevant topics, such as language learning, language processing, bilingualism and multilingualism. Furthermore, it focuses on the character of language transfer itself. In the practical part, two hypotheses are presented, specifically "the interference of the dominant foreign language is considerably higher than the interference of the other language, i.e. L3" and "passive interference reaches a higher degree than the active one". Eventually, the results interpretation is presented and both the hypotheses are verified.

This practice based PhD project investigates the language ideologies which surround the specific multilingual context of rural primary education in Zambia. The project comprises of a creative documentary film and a complementary written submission. The fieldwork and filming of the project took place over 12 months between September 2011 and August 2012 in the community of Lwimba, in Chongwe District, Zambia. The project focuses on the experiences of a single grade one class, their teacher, and the surrounding community of Lwimba. The majority of the school children speak the community language of Soli. The regional lingua franca, and language of the teacher, however, is Nyanja, and the students must also learn Zambia’s only official language, English. At the centre of the project is a research inquiry focusing on the language ideologies which surround each of these languages, both within the classroom and the wider rural community. The project also simultaneously aims to investigate and reflect on the capacity of creative documentary film to engage with linguistic anthropological research. The film at the centre of the project presents a portrait of Annie, a young, urban teacher of the community’s grade one class, as well as three students and their families. Through the narrativised experiences of the teacher and children, it aims to highlight the linguistic ideologies present within the language events and practices in and around the classroom, as well as calling attention to their intersection with themes of linguistic modernity, multilingualism, and language capital. The project’s written submission is separated into three major chapters separated into the themes of narrative, value and text respectively. Each chapter will focus on subjects related to both the research inquiry and the project’s documentary film methodology. Chapter one outlines the intersection of political-historical narratives of nationhood and language that surround the project, and reflects on the practice of internal narrative construction within documentary film. Chapter two firstly focuses on the language valuations within the institutional setting of the classroom and the wider community, and secondly proposes a two-phase perspective of evaluation and value creation as a means to examine the practice of editing within documentary film making. Chapter three addresses the theme of text through discussing the role of literacy acquisition and use in the classroom and community, as well as analysing and reflecting on the practice of translation and subtitle creation within the project.

Syftet med denna undersökning är att bidra med kunskap om de deltagande förskollärares tan-kar och uppfattningar om flerspråkighet i förskolan samt hur dessa förskollärare arbetar för att främja flerspråkiga förmågor. Till grund för denna kvalitativa studie ligger semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra förskollärare från två olika förskolor. Resultatet visar att de deltagande förskollärarna har ett tvetydigt förhållningssätt till flerspråkighet som innehåller utmaningar och möjligheter. Det visar också att de dominerande språkaktiviteterna i verksamheten be-handlar det svenska språket och att flerspråkiga barn får närma sig sitt modersmål i mindre grad. / The aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about the participant preschool te-achers’ thoughts and conceptions regarding multilingualism in preschool and how preschool teachers work to further children’s multilingual abilities. In this qualitative study four pre-school teachers from two different preschools were interviewed using semi-structured intervi-ews. The result shows that preschool teachers have a ambiguously approach thoughts regar-ding multilingualism containing both challenges and possibilities. The result also shows that most language activities in the preschool only concern the Swedish language while the mul-tilingual children have less contact with their native language.

The objective of the thesis is to analyse the questions of multilingualism in the EU from a large range of aspects, in particular from the one associated with its economic impact. The thesis aims to find answers to the questions concerning the necessity or uselessness of a large number of the EU official languages, the impact of multilingualism on its competitiveness and the future of multilingualism in the EU. The first chapter introduces the context of multilingualism in the EU from the administrative, political, juridical, historical and philological points of view. It also shows the development of the EU multilingualism policy. The most important second chapter focuses on the economic aspects of multilingualism in the EU. It analyses the controversial case of the unified European patent and its translations, the ELAN study exploring the effects of insufficient foreign language skills in enterprise on European economy and lastly the report of the Business Forum on multilingualism considering the impact of language skills on business and employment in the EU. The third chapter depicts the main goals of the actual EU strategy for multilingualism in a broader, not only economic context. The fourth chapter is a practical study prepared by the author which presents opinions of 25 Czech specialists working with EU languages of the questions considered in the first three chapters. The thesis confirms the necessity of retaining the actual number of EU official langages, mainly for political reasons. It also points out the economic potential involved in the foreign languages which would -- under certain circumstances -- strenghten the competitiveness of the EU. In the future the multilingualism is expected to be retained and even more encouraged by the EU institutions, member states and by the private sector with the objective of a better utilization of its potential.

Student Number : 0311394E - MA research report - School of Literature and Language Studies - Faculty of Humanities / The present study on ‘Multilingualism and change on the Kinyarwanda sound system post-1994’ focuses on sociolinguistic approaches oriented to the effects of language contact to Kinyarwanda sound change. Many studies on various multilingual societies have been conducted, and most of them have focused on multilingualism and language policy, education and social integration in different multilingual societies. In particular, most studies conducted on the new linguistic configuration of Rwanda have focused on language attitudes in a multilingual context, but none of them has tackled the issue of multilingualism and sound change as a result of language contact. The main hypothesis expounded in this research is that Kinyarwanda sound variants that can be heard from current speech arise owing to Kinyarwanda speakers’ language background. In the light of the literature review on multilingualism and sound change, an extensive analysis of the most prominent linguistic variables of sound variation in Kinyarwanda was done, and its evaluation shows that there have been shifts in the sound system of Kinyarwanda post-1994. It has been shown that some sounds were modified or shifted to other sounds which exist in neighbouring languages because of contact. In addition to that, it has been argued that this sound variation has been possible mainly because Kinyarwanda came into contact with other languages which have different sound systems. It is hoped that this research will add a new dimension to studies of multilingualism within Bantu languages and will contribute to yielding a solution to the Rwandan language problem because of suggestions related to how the Kinyarwanda sound system can be standardized.

Language, schooling and self have always been inextricably intertwined in the life of high school adolescents. Yet, there has been a paucity of research that investigates the relationship between language, identity, and language-in-education policies that often contradict multiple and fluid identity expressions of young adolescents. The aim of this study project was to explore the relationship between multilingualism and identity construction among urban black youth in two heteroglossic schools of Soweto township and to understand identity of black urban youth in South Africa. Two phases of data collection were carried out. First, a baseline survey of language patterns was administered to a total of 138 (n=138) grade 11 adolescent youth ranging from 15-19 years old. The second phase involved focus group discussions comprising 10 and 7 self-selected multilingual adolescents per school in order to approximate out of school multilingual spaces to explore a full range of language use, identity expressions and language attitudes. The results of the study are two pronged. The survey revealed a high degree of multilingualism and multilayered identities among the participants as manifested in all spheres of their lives such as the school yard, home, and conversation with friends. However, this complex identity matrix is constrained by classroom practices that are torn between monolingual policy preferences and actual language mixing. Correspondingly, focus group-based language performance and metacognitive reflections on multilingual performance also revealed that a fluid, mobile and versatile communicative practice referred to as translanguaging, which goes a step further from traditional code-switching, is a norm among these urban youth adolescents. The study concludes by highlighting tensions on identity constructions of highly multilingual urban youth. The pervasiveness of identity construction through the translanguaging phenomenon suggests cross-language boundaries and emergence of new urban identities that are expressed through hybrid varieties such as ‘kasitaal’. Multilingually sensitive education approaches that are considerate of the inextricable relationship between age of identity construction, language and education as well as new areas for further research are recommended.

Tous les pays du monde s’accordent sur le principe selon lequel l’éducation est un domaine prioritaire qui contribue à la construction ou la reconstruction du développement social, culturel, économique et politique d’un pays donné. Chaque pays en privilégiant le secteur éducatif, met au point une vision, une action éducative émergeant des réalités de la société et de la culture en contexte, en vue de rendre cohérent le système éducatif et développement. Raison pour laquelle Cheymol pense que "Le développement passe par l’éducation et l’éducation passe par l’aménagement", (Cheymol, 2004), tel est le but recherché par cette présente thèse. L’éducation reste, quel que soit le contexte, le seul secteur fournisseur de futurs cadres compétents nécessaires à l’évolution d’un pays. Certains pays du Nord qui ont compris cette importance, lui ont accordée et assignée des objectifs et des finalités précis pour son bon fonctionnement. Ils ont certes rencontré des problèmes structurels, méthodologiques, logistiques, etc. dans leurs contextes respectifs. Mais ils ont fourni de gros efforts dans l’amélioration de leur contexte éducatif pour le rendre meilleur. Contrairement à ceux du Sud qui traînent le pas encore en ce domaine par l’absence d’une politique linguistique et éducative, répondant aux besoins et aux aspirations de leurs peuples. Ces pays ont hérité de force ou gré le modèle éducatif occidental et l’ont adopté sans réflexion didactique au préalable. Cette situation fut reconnue par les Etats Généraux de l‘enseignement du français, en ce qui concerne le cas de la plupart des pays francophones au Sud du Sahara, parmi lesquels, le Tchad, héritier du modèle français y figure en mauvaise posture et fait présentement l’objet de notre travail de recherche. Ce système éducatif français tout en imprégnant sa marque éducative et culturelle au Tchad, lui a légué son histoire et sa langue. Cette thèse s’est préoccupée du système éducatif tchadien actuel, en le constituant comme l’un de ses objets principaux et fondamentaux de sa réflexion. L’une des finalités de cette thèse consiste à montrer la crise dans laquelle ce système éducatif se trouve plongée, en raison de son inadaptabilité au contexte tchadien, du manque de politique linguistique et éducative bâtie sur les dimensions intrinsèques au peuple tchadien. La politique tchadienne de l’enseignement "bilingue" français /arabe prônée par l’instance officielle a montré ses limites, c’est pourquoi cette thèse suggère un enseignement bilingue consistant à enseigner simultanément les langues partenaires (langue maternelle/étrangère) dans la perspective d’une politique d’éducation au plurilinguisme, au choix conscient et social de l’enseignement des langues maternelles et étrangères, susceptibles de faciliter la transmission des savoirs et des savoir faire pertinents contextuels, répondant d’une part aux besoins langagiers individuels, collectifs et professionnels de tout citoyen tchadien et d’autre part à l’amorce d’un réel développement économique. Cet enseignement linguistique s’opérera au regard de la perspicacité et de l’efficacité du Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues, mise en œuvre dans le cadre d’enseignement/apprentissage des langues étrangères, cet outil est une avancée notoire susceptible d’aider à la réforme méthodologique de l’enseignement/apprentissage des langues dans certains contextes éducatifs en Afrique, en particulier dans le contexte tchadien. Cette proposition implique de la part de l’instance officielle une nouvelle politique linguistique et éducative au regard du système éducatif actuel qui se paralyse, qui s’agonise à travers les crises structurelles et logistiques qu’il a développées au cours de son histoire coloniale à l’indépendance, entravant son évolution politique et économique actuelle. / This thesis is about of the actual Chadian educational system. One of its objectives is to show the crisis in which Chad is because of the defiency in the linguistic and educational policy. This theses suggests a bilingual education , consisting in a educational policy striving for multilinguilism, likely to make easier for relevant knowledge to be passed on. This linguistic and didactical work leans on The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in the Chadian situation that is nowadays "on a drip".

If we define language fluency as more than simply a way of speaking, but also a way of thinking, acting, and being, then we enter a conversation of language as ‘Discourse’ that was sparked by James Paul Gee. This conversation invokes discrete designations of Discourse as home-based, school-based, dominant, and non-dominant. These designations reveal divisions between Discourses that are believed to manifest themselves in the identity formation of ‘language-minority students:’ those whose home Discourse is non-dominant. The dominant Discourse that these students encounter in school generates two documented paths: Richard Hoggart’s scholarship boy and Herbert Kohl’s not-learner; both paths reflect the limited agency of these students within academia. In order to counteract this delimiting of student agency, this project proposes a progressive shift towards a post-modern conception of identity formation; this can be accomplished by opening the Composition classroom to student authored, non-traditional, ‘hybridized’ Discourses. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.