Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-174). Also issued in print.

Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-174).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-189).

Zugl.: London, Episcopal Univ., Magisterarbeit, 2006

The research in this dissertation reveals that Nepali refugees in Louisville have developed several identities that sometimes overlap and contradict one another when one tries to classify this population into distinct units or ethnic groups. Self-identity is important for evangelical mission strategists because evangelical mission strategy is dominated by a desire to reach “people groups” and diaspora peoples are not easily broken up into distinct people groups. Chapter 1 presents the research questions and methodologies. The research questions are, 1. Diaspora peoples cannot be placed into distinct groups without seriously distorting reality. What does this mean when trying to reach diaspora peoples in North America? 2. How do diaspora people draw boundaries between their group and the “others”? Do they draw boundaries? The research methodology includes a literature review, semi-structured interviews, narrative research, grounded theory, participant observation, and the data was analyzed producing two case studies. Chapter 2 provides a framework for relating findings of this dissertation within this field of study. It summarizes and analyzes the relevant literature from the fields of missiology and cultural anthropology especially as it concerns diaspora and ethnic identity. The literature review comes from secular and evangelical sources. Chapter 3 concentrates on the refugee community from Burma in Louisville. It includes a history of the community describing where the refugees came from and how they arrived in Louisville, including biographical studies from different ethnic perspectives. The biographical studies demonstrate different viewpoints from people within this group. The case study identifies the way this group categorizes themselves and draw boundaries defining the “other.” Chapter 4 addresses the complexity of the refugee community from Nepal, including a history of the community describing where they came from and how they arrived in Louisville. Like chapter 3, it includes biographical studies from different perspectives within the community. Chapter 4 concludes with how Nepali-speaking refugees from Bhutan identify and categorize themselves and place boundaries between themselves and other groups. The last two chapters conclude with research implications and the conclusion. The distinct boundaries between people groups are eroded by diaspora peoples moving to urban areas in North America. In missiologists desire to reach people groups they often place diaspora peoples into distinct categories of ethnic groups where they do not exist in reality. The theory that diaspora peoples have fluid identities as described by anti-anti-essentialists such as Douglass, Friedman, and others puts a major wrinkle in the idea that diaspora peoples can be fit into distinct categories. This dissertation a presents a new methodology for missiologists studying ethnic groups and planting homogenous churches among diaspora populations in North America based on fuzzy set theory.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1989. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 4, 2001." Also available in print.

Aspect splits can affect agreement, Case, and even preposition insertion. This paper discusses the functional ‘why’ and the theoretical ‘how’ of aspect splits. Aspect splits are an economical way to mark aspect by preserving or suppressing some independent element in one aspect. In formal terms, they are produced in the same way as coda conditions in phonology, with positional/contextual faithfulness.This approach captures the additive effects of cross-cutting splits. Aspect splits are analyzed here from Hindi, Nepali, Yucatec Maya, Chontal, and Palauan.

This thesis seeks to identify the place and significance of religion in constructions of ethnic identity and experiences of belonging among Gurungs in the UK. It assesses both the vision of Gurung ethnic identity put forward by ethnic organizations, which is itself much disputed, and the extent to which this vision either reflects or shapes religion 'on the ground'. It argues that debates and controversies surrounding Gurung religious identity are influenced by ethnic politics in Nepal, by social changes and modernist ideas about the superiority of world religions over local traditions, by the pervasive discourse regarding exclusivity in religion, as well as by historical, but highly contested, status differences within Gurung society. It also suggests that those debates are complicated by divergent conceptions of 'religion', and of how 'religion' relates to 'culture'. When considering religion 'on the ground', the thesis assesses the extent to which Buddhism and Bon are practised as an expression of Gurung culture, thus reinforcing a sense of belonging within the Gurung community, and the extent to which particular religious traditions strengthen a broader Nepali identity or universal orientation, whereby religious belonging outweighs ethnic loyalties. It concludes that both orientations are in evidence and, in general, are considered mutually reinforcing. However, from the perspective of Christian Gurungs and followers of Sai Baba - paths often considered foreign to Gurung culture - a tension is more evident. For many Nepalis, however, religious identity is complex and multiple. Many include elements of different religious traditions in their regular practice and there is a whole range of customs, values, attitudes and understandings of religion which are shared by Nepalis but which are understood to belong to no particular religion, or to all. I suggest that it is as much through these aspects of religion, as through commitment to the vision of Gurung religious identity officially promoted, that a sense of commonality and belonging is created within the diaspora.

This dissertation has two main purposes: (a) to provide an analysis of the past tenses in Nepali and compare them with those of English from a discourse pragmatic perspective; and (b) to investigate how Nepali learners of English use the English past tenses in terms of forms, meanings, and functions.A major claim of the dissertation is that tenses and aspects play various discourse functions in Nepali. Although Nepali has various past tenses as in English, their actual use is different from those of English. A significant difference between the use of the past tenses in English and Nepali is revealed in the use of the past perfect tense. In Nepali, unlike in English, the past perfect does not always require the existence of the past reference point between the event time and the speech time. Although used in similar as well as different contexts, the past perfect in both languages is found to express background information. In the analysis of the Nepali past tenses, one of the major arguments is that the traditionally termed `unknown past' does not have `past' as part of its basic meaning. The main function of this verb form is to express the speaker's unawareness of a situation at the time of its happening, whether in the past or the future.After the discussion of the Nepali past tenses in comparison with the English past tenses and aspects, an error analysis of Nepali EFL learners' use of the English past tenses in written essays is carried out. It was hypothesized that Nepali learners would make a wide variety of errors in the use of the English past tenses. Because of differences in the use of the past perfect and the past tense in the habitual sense between Nepali and English, it was expected that Nepali ESL learners would make errors in those areas. However, overgeneralization due to difference in the use was found only in a very few cases. Most of these errors cannot be traced to Nepali influence. One area, however, where Nepali has a clear effect on the students' use of English is in indirect speech. I argue that Nepali speakers do not change tenses in English indirect speech appropriately because verb tenses in Nepali are not changed from direct speech to indirect speech as in English.It is hoped that this dissertation will enhance the understanding of grammatical categories such as tense and aspect in general and of Nepali tense and aspect systems in particular. In general, this dissertation showed contribute to several areas of study in discourse analysis, second language acquisition, language transfer and contrastive analysis. A major significance of this dissertation is its demonstration of the role of tense and aspect in Nepali in the expression of various discourse functions. / Department of English