This is a sociolinguistic investigation that examines variation in the use of two Ḥōrāni traditional features in the dialect of Saḥam in Jordan. The first sociolinguistic variable is (U). Traditional northern Jordanian Ḥōrāni dialects generally prefer [u] to [i] in words such as: zubde ‘butter’ and dʒubne ‘cheese’. On the other hand, the central and southern Jordanian dialects have [i] in similar environments; thus, zibde and dʒibne. The second sociolinguistic variable is (L). Traditional Ḥōrāni dialects generally prefer the dark variant [ḷ] to the light variant [l]. In other words, while the traditional Ḥōrāni dialects often realise /l/ as [ḷ] in words like: xāḷ ‘uncle’ and g̣āḷ ‘he said’, other dialects realise it as [l], and thus: xāl and gāl. These variables are studied in relation to three social factors (age, gender and amount of contact) and three linguistic factors (position in syllable, preceding and following environments). The sample consists of 60 speakers (30 males and 30 females) from three age groups (young, middle and old). The data were collected through sociolinguistic interviews, and analysed within the framework of the Variationist Paradigm using Rbrul statistical package. The results show considerable variation and change in progress in the use of both variables, constrained by linguistic and social factors. As for the linguistic constraints, the innovative variant [i] was found to be favoured in the environment of a preceding or following coronal sounds. The traditional variant [ḷ] was found to be most favoured when preceded or followed by a back vowel. For both variables, the young female speakers were found to lead the change towards the non-local variants [i] and [l]. The interpretations of the findings focus on changes that the local community have experienced as a result of urbanisation and increased access to the target features through contact with outside communities.

The present study investigates the rhetorical acts employed in classical concert reviews (CR) in British English and Hong Kong Chinese newspapers. It focuses on the uses of praise and criticism of different strength levels, targeting various aspects of the concert. It also explores the views of British and Hong Kong music critics on writing CRs, and factors which might affect their evaluation. This study adopted a mixed-method approach which consisted of textual analyses of CRs and semi-structural interviews with music critics. Drawing on a modified version of Hyland’s (2000) framework for evaluation in academic book reviews, 150 CRs selected from each language were examined in terms of dimensions and structural patterns of evaluation, and types of praise and criticism differentiated by their strengths. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 British critics and 12 Hong Kong critics, which revealed their evaluative styles and factors that might affect their evaluation. Textual analysis results indicated more similarities than differences cross-culturally. Both groups were predominantly evaluative and contained more praise than criticism; more CRs opened and closed positively; evaluation focused primarily on performance; praise was less mitigated than criticism; Booster was the most frequently applied strategy to emphasise praise and criticism; Hedge was the predominant evaluation strategy, though each group also had their own favoured individual strategies to mitigate praise and criticism. Cross-cultural differences were observed upon more detailed examination. Chinese reviews contained more rhetorical acts while English reviews praised more. More English reviews were framed with praise. Only Chinese reviews commented on Concert Management. Interview results showed that British and Hong Kong critics shared more common than different views on evaluation. Cross-cultural differences were nevertheless observed concerning their understanding of the role of the critic and consideration for the readers. In closing, a range of implications regarding the analysis and teaching of evaluation were presented.

Eye movement studies (e.g., lexical ambiguity and semantic plausibility studies) suggesting that word meaning can influence lexical processing relied on contextual information. Therefore, these studies provide only a limited insight into whether the semantic characteristics of a fixated word can be accessed before the completion of its unique word identification. The present thesis investigated the effect of the semantic characteristics of a word in its lexical processing during normal reading. In particular, four experiments were carried out to examine the effects of semantic neighbourhood density (SND, defined by mean distance between a given word and all its co-occurrence neighbours falling within a specific threshold in semantic space, Shaoul & Westbury, 2010a) in normal reading. The findings indicated that the SND characteristics of the fixated word influenced the lexical processing of the fixated word itself and the subsequent words, as evident in early reading time measures associated with lexical processing. These results suggest that a word’s semantic representation can be activated and can influence lexical processing before the completion of unique word identification during normal reading. The findings were discussed in terms of Stolz & Besner’s (1996) embellished interactive-activation model (McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981) and the models of eye movement control during reading.

This thesis presents a new study on the L2 acquisition of pronominal binding in Korean and English in order to examine accessibility to Universal Grammar (UG) (Chomsky 1981, 1986, 2000, 2001) in adult L2 acquisition. Specifically, the study examines the L2 acquisition of grammatical knowledge of the Overt Pronoun Constraint (OPC) (Montalbetti 1984) by English learners of Korean and the L2 acquisition of anaphoric binding by Korean learners of English. The first study investigates L2 speakers’ knowledge of the OPC, typically regarded as a universal constraint and a poverty-of-the-stimulus phenomenon. Previous L2 acquisition studies have only explored OPC effects when the pronoun is in subject position but not in object position. The current study aims to address this gap by investigating whether English learners of Korean can obtain nativelike knowledge of the OPC in subject and object positions. 41 English learners of Korean (intermediate and advanced) completed a co-reference comprehension task and a story-based translation task. Results from the experiment show that L2 speakers can successfully achieve nativelike knowledge of the OPC regardless of pronoun position and the study confirms the prediction that universal constraints need not be learnt. The second study focuses on L2 speakers’ knowledge of feature-based languagespecific constraints of anaphoric binding, following Hicks (2009), to examine the L2 acquisition of locality and orientation. 70 Korean learners of English (low-intermediate, intermediate, and advanced) completed a picture verification task and the results show that neither locality nor orientation constraints are properly acquired by most learners. This finding reveals that L2 speakers have difficulty in acquiring new feature configurations of the target grammar. This study also provides new evidence to support the view that cross-linguistic differences in this domain are derived from the interaction between language-specific feature specifications and universal reflexivisation mechanisms. In accordance with the results from the two studies, this thesis argues that while UG plays a significant role in explaining L2 speakers’ convergence to the L2 grammar, consistent with Full Access to UG (Schwartz & Sprouse 1994, 1996), divergence in L2 acquisition is caused by a failure to reconfigure new feature specifications. This is a result which supports the relevant role that Feature Assembly plays in second language acquisition (Lardiere 2008, 2009).

In the field of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) research, an overarching question is why native English should be exclusively followed by all users around the world regardless of their purposes of communication and identity projection. This provides the starting point of my investigation into Chinese speakers’ perceptions of their English in intercultural communication, which is traditionally considered as ‘learner English’ due to its difference from native English. Influenced by the ELF perspective, I consider Chinese speakers’ English as both fluid and subject to Chinese speakers’ appropriation according to their purposes in engaging intercultural communication, and label it as Chinese speakers’ English as a Lingua Franca (CHELF). Four dimensions of CHELF are considered in this research: linguistic creativity, community, identity and attitude, while the empirical data focuses on CHELF users’ perceptions in order to offer an insight into their attitudes, identities, beliefs, and contextual factors related to their perceptions. The research findings illuminate contrast, complementation, uncertainty and conservation in the participants’ attitudes towards, and identities in, their use of English, and reveal an interplay between a traditional EFL perspective and the ELF perspective that underlined their attitudes and identities. The data highlights contextual factors as playing a key role in influencing, shaping and developing the participants’ perceptions of ELF. Importantly, a good understanding of the concept of ELF makes a difference in the participants’ confidence in their ELF use. The findings thus suggest the possibility of CHELF developing legitimacy, as well as the challenges involved in such a development. This study thus provides a fresh insight into Chinese speakers’ English and contributes to ELF research at large. In particular, the establishment of contextual factors to CHELF users adds to the growing evidence of the necessity of including ELF in pedagogy.

This thesis explored cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in first and second language reading comprehension (RC) among Igbo native speakers who are English as Second Language (ESL) learners in Nigeria. The RC of ESL readers in Nigeria has not previously been investigated. The three studies presented in this thesis explored cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in RC performance in Igbo (study 1), the effect of L2 language proficiency and vocabulary size on the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in ESL reading (study 2), and the effect of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use on ESL RC (study 3), respectively. To explore cognitive and metacognitive strategy use on first language RC performance (study 1), participants did RC tasks in Igbo and completed a reading comprehension strategies (RCSs) questionnaire. Participants reported a medium usage level for ten out of the fourteen reading strategies shortlisted for the investigation. Regression analysis suggests that their RC strategy use explained a significant variance (28.6%) in the Igbo reading scores of the students. No significant difference was recorded in the participants’ reported use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies during the reading task. In study 2, in addition to doing RC tasks in English and completing an RCSs questionnaire, participants sat English language proficiency and vocabulary size tests. High vocabulary size was significantly related to high use of cognitive reading strategies, while low vocabulary size was related to low use of cognitive reading strategies. L2 language proficiency had no effect on RCS use, and reading comprehension strategy use had no effect on RC performance. In study 3, participants did another set of reading tasks and completed a RCSs questionnaire. Cognitive and metacognitive strategy use jointly had a significant positive effect on RC performance, but only metacognitive strategy use uniquely contributed significantly to RC performance. The usage levels for cognitive and metacognitive strategies distinguished high performers from low performers in the RC test, but the cognitive strategy of translation was hardly used by this group of ESL readers. The study finally drew some general conclusions by comparing results from the various studies. This study is an attempt to create awareness among teachers and students in Nigerian schools, on the effect of reading strategies on reading comprehension performance. The findings in the study may therefore contribute in changing how teachers in Nigeria teach reading, and how readers undertake the processing of written text, since it makes it clear that reading strategies, particularly metacognitive strategies substantially facilitate RC. From a theoretical point of view, this study examines the role of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use within the compensatory model of L2 reading, and assesses how they relate to knowledge sources like vocabulary knowledge in the model.

This thesis investigates name giving in early modern Scotland through the collection and analysis of a corpus of 63,460 baptismal records from the Old Parish Registers of eleven parishes between 1680 and 1839. Some use is also made of marital and burial records. Parishes were chosen to represent a range of geographical, linguistic, and social variables, and comprise Auchtermuchty, Dundonald, Durness, Govan, Holm, Kilmallie, Kilrenny, Longside, Saltoun, Tiree, and Tongland. While large collections of first names from both mediaeval and modern Scotland have recently been made available, a dataset of early modern names has not previously been produced. The lack of such data and subsequent lack of analysis are particularly important to redress due to both the political and social upheaval in Scotland during this time, and the development of naming systems in contemporary Europe. This thesis therefore contributes both a dataset of early modern names and preliminary analysis of these names, allowing Scotland to be situated within the wider European context. The principal methodology is quantitative. By this means, the study establishes and compares the name-stock in the different parishes. It also investigates sources of names, such as first names derived from surnames, and female names derived from male names, and highlights regional and other patterns. Naming motivations are investigated through close analysis of name-sharing. Records for 16,426 families are used to establish the incidence of name-sharing with parents, maternal and paternal grandparents, deceased elder siblings, other relatives, and non-relatives such as godparents, landowners, and ministers. Birth order and unusual names are used to investigate the likelihood of name-sharing being deliberate. Rates of name-sharing are also used to demonstrate the varying incidence of conformity to the so-called Scottish ‘traditional’ naming pattern (naming after relatives in fixed sequence). For all naming practices, regional differences between these geographically disparate communities are examined, with particular focus on the Highland/Lowland divide. Although the thesis focuses primarily on first names, middle names are also examined, in terms of the name-stock, the influences behind naming, and the upward trend of this emerging practice throughout the period studied. The research establishes the primacy of mothers’ maiden names in this position, and also investigates the incidence of other types of commemorative middle names. In addition to quantitative analysis, complementary qualitative analysis of 12 case studies is presented. Each case study comprises one extended familial group, making it possible to explore in greater detail how various naming practices were used within individual families.

This thesis presents the results of a classroom experiment designed to investigate the possible transfer-of-training effects of two types of instruction on the acquisition of the past imperfective aspect, subjunctive mood, and causative constructions in French. An input-based practice, Processing Instruction is compared to an output-based practice Traditional Instruction. More specifically, this study examines primary, secondary and cumulative effects of Processing Instruction in the acquisition of three French linguistic features. The purpose of the present thesis is to address some of the issues raised in previous Processing Instruction research, and to, not only, explore further the primary effects of Processing Instruction in the acquisition of French but also and mainly to explore for the first time the possible secondary and cumulative effects of receiving Processing Instruction. The classroom experimental study was carried out with students learning French at the University of Greenwich. They were divided into three groups. The first group received Processing Information treatment, the second group received Traditional Instruction treatment and the third group, serving as a control group, did not receive any instruction on the three target linguistic items over the duration of the investigation. The students were tested in interpretation and production tasks in a pre-test and an immediate post-test.

The field of language motivation is almost 60 years old. Throughout these decades, one idea has been persistent: Motivation is assumed to be a conscious process on which the learner can exert direct control. That this conscious conceptualization might not give the full picture has not been seriously entertained. An important consequence ensuing from this approach is the overreliance on self-report measures, such as questionnaires and interviews. Thus, in effect, the individual’s conscious reflection on their own attitudes and motivation has been the primary source of empirical data for our field. This thesis challenges this hegemony of conscious motivation. It provides an extensive review of the various paradigms of unconscious attitudes and motivation. It traces back their origins, highlights some of their major findings, and reviews the instruments used within each paradigm to circumvent direct self-report (as well as the controversies surrounding these instruments). The review also demonstrates that the adoption of an unconscious perspective is not inconsistent with major theoretical frameworks in the field. It then selects one of these paradigms, namely implicit attitudes, to apply in the context of language learning. Two studies were conducted on two independent samples (with almost 700 participants in total), in two different contexts (the UK and Saudi Arabia), and with different instruments of implicit attitudes (the Implicit Association Test and the Single-Target Implicit Association Test). Study 1 found that openness to language speakers at the implicit level is associated with more openness at the explicit level. Study 2 successfully replicated this finding, and extended it to language achievement—showing that learners with more favorable attitudes toward language speakers at the implicit level achieved higher grades in their English class. This finding could not be explained away by either social desirability or cognitive confounds. The results from these two studies were also meta-analyzed using Bayes factors in order to give an overall picture of the findings. The Discussion chapter wraps up this thesis by highlighting the relevance of this unconscious approach to the field more broadly. This chapter reviews a number of recent studies that have yielded similar findings to those from the current thesis. Some of these findings are then critically reanalyzed and reinterpreted in the context of unconscious motivation, thus demonstrating how adopting an unconscious approach helps view existing findings in a new light. In some cases, the analysis casts doubt on established ideas that have been taken for granted for decades. The overall message of this thesis is not that conscious motivation should be disregarded. Instead, conscious motivation should be complemented with a consideration of the role of unconscious motivation. A conscious-only approach would offer a limited window into human attitudes and motivation.

Research in nonverbal listenership behaviour and instruction-giving has focused on interaction with people while paying inadequate attention to human-agent interaction even as recent research indicates that, increasing pervasive computing is significantly changing how humans interact with intelligent software agents and extending the boundaries of discourse to contexts including satellite navigation systems giving directions to drivers, self-checkout machines in supermarkets and intelligent personal assistants on smartphones. This thesis reports studies that use spontaneous listener facial actions and gestures to understand the nature and pattern of spontaneous nonverbal listenership behaviours, identification and communication in instruction-giving contexts. The research methodology used is as follows. Participants who are all L1 speakers of English (forty-eight in Study 1, six in Study 2) were tasked with assembling two Lego models using vague verbal instructions from a computer interface in Study 1 and a human instructor in Study 2 with a 15-minute time limit per iteration. The interface in study1uses three voices of which two are synthesised and one is non-synthesised human recording by a voice actor while Study 2 used a live human voice. A 24-hour long multimodal corpus was built and analysed from interactions between participants and the interface in Study 1 while a 3-hour multimodal corpus was developed from Study 2. The multimodal corpus was annotated for marked facial actions and gestures occurring at points when participants requested that instructors repeat instructions. Participant requests were nonverbal in HAI and a combination of nonverbal and verbal instructions in HHI contexts. The repetitions were quantified and classified into nine typologies. The results reveal key findings regarding the use of spontaneous nonverbal listenership behaviours as pragmatic markers indicating listener comprehension or incomprehension of instructions, perception of instructor-identities, projection of attitudes, meaning-development, task-execution strategies and interaction management even though, the agent could not attend to them in the same way a human can. Using these results, the thesis submits that there are potentials for applied linguistics theories and research to be used to identify and understand pathways to make agents more responsive to human behaviour, make human-agent interaction more credible and provides a theoretical foundation for future multidisciplinary research.