MS Glasgow Hunter 252 is the sole surviving manuscript copy of the 'Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles'. The present PhD thesis, funded by a Glasgow University Scholarship and supervised by James Simpson and Peter Davies, explores the language of this collection of bawdy tales, attributed to the court of Philippe III de Bourgogne (1396-1467). Most existing studies on the language of the 'Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles' have offered a literary (e.g. stylistic, narratological) perspective, and very few have considered the document within the wider context of French historical linguistics. The present thesis aims to fill this gap by: •Presenting elements of linguistic interest within the document (dialectalisms, archaisms, rare features, cultural references, etc.), through a comprehensive survey of phonology, morphology, syntax and vocabulary. •Expanding and reassessing existing theories on orthographic standardisation and dialectal input in written and, more speculatively, spoken Middle French. •Providing scriptological evidence towards the localisation of other textual resources within the online 'Dictionnaire du moyen français (1330-1500)'. •Investigating the authenticity of the mise-en-scène of the 'Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles'; reflecting on linguistic practices and note-taking at the Court of Burgundy. •Exploring spoken language as rendered by direct speech passages, with special consideration of linguistic variation and stereotyping. •Publishing textual databases for future analysis (tables of main spelling variants, alphabetical list of words, etc.).

Although speech and language therapy practitioners commonly place great weight on standardised, static assessment, the procedures may not be fully representative, and reveal little about the child’s learning potential or the direction that intervention should take. Vygotsky’s theories, particularly his notion of the Zone of Proximal Development, underpin a range of approaches within the complementary assessment paradigm known as Dynamic Assessment (DA) (Vygotsky 1986). The term is used for assessments consisting of ‘active intervention by the examiners and assessment of examinees’ response to intervention” (Haywood and Lidz 2007 P1) The current project investigated the application of Dynamic Assessment to a population of children with previously identified Language Impairments. As in parallel studies of intelligence, both manifest skills of language, and underlying processes used in manipulating and constructing language as a tool, were elucidated. The contribution that such an assessment can make to extending the understanding of language impairment, and in devising intervention programmes was investigated. This thesis describes the development of a Dynamic Assessment task requiring implicit knowledge of syntactic structure. The construction of the procedure was a novel adaptation and combination of established DA methodologies that are described and evaluated in Chapter 1. The task, which is essentially a sentence anagram, comprised 12 items specifically selected to assess particular grammatical structures reported in Chapter 2 to be problematic in children with Specific Language Impairments (SLI). The details of the task construction are reported in Chapter 3. The measure was employed on 24 children aged 8-10, with identified language impairment, and the results are reported in Chapter 4. Inter-rater reliability of the test measure was 88%, and the sensitivity of the test to change over time was demonstrated. Information about participants’ ability to transfer learning between items, their ability to use less directive prompts, their strategy use, and their metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness was extracted, and reported to the speech and language therapists working with the children. Evaluation of the test is discussed in Chapter 5. The thesis also reports on an investigation of the role of the information derived from the DA in informing intervention programmes (Chapter 6). The same cohort of 24 children with SLI was randomly allocated to two groups. Reports from the DA were used to inform the ongoing language intervention of one of the groups of children. In Chapter 7 the outcomes of therapy from that group were compared to the outcomes of the group receiving regular intervention. Differences between groups were nonsignificant although the gains achieved by subgroups of children were predicted, and in particular children making little progress in their ongoing therapy were shown to derive most benefit from the modified intervention. The information was rated as useful by participating SLTs who altered the nature of their intervention strategies. Discussion of the results and identification of factors such as emotional and behavioural issues that affect progress in intervention are discussed in Chapter 8. Implications for further development of the DA paradigm are discussed, and conclusions are summarized in Chapter 9.

The traditional view of language comprehension is that the meaning of a sentence is composed of the meaning of each word combined into a fully specified syntactic structure. These processes are assumed to be generally completed fully and automatically. However, there is increasing evidence that these processes may, in some circumstances, not be completed fully, and the resultant representation, underspecified. This is taken as evidence for shallow processing and is best typified, we argue, when readers fail to detect semantically anomalous words in a sentence. For example, when asked, “how many animals did Moses take on the Ark?” readers often incorrectly answer “two” failing to notice that it was Noah and not Moses who built the Ark. There has been surprisingly little work carried out on the on-line processing of these types of anomalies, and the differences in processing when anomalies are detected or missed. This thesis presents a series of studies, including four eye-tracking and one ERP study that investigates the nature of shallow processing as evidenced when participants report, or fail to report, hard-to-detect semantic anomalies. The main findings are that semantic anomaly detection is not immediate, but slightly delayed. Anomaly detection results in severe disruption in the eye movement data, and a late positivity in ERPs. There was some evidence that non-detected anomalies were processed unconsciously in both the eye movement record or in ERPs, however effects were weak and require replication. The rate of anomaly detection is also shown to be modulated by processing load and experimental task instructions. The discussion considers what these results reveal about the nature of shallow processing.

This thesis examines language variation and change in a context of minority language revitalisation. In particular, I concentrate on young fluent speakers of Scottish Gaelic, a minority language of Scotland that is currently undergoing revitalisation. Data from three groups of speakers are presented: older speakers in the Isle of Lewis, a Gaelic heartland area in north-west Scotland; adolescent Gaelic-speakers in Lewis learning the language in immersion schooling; and adolescent Gaelic-speakers in immersion schooling in Glasgow, an urban centre where Gaelic has not traditionally been spoken as a widespread community language. The sociolinguistic analysis examines potential language changes, explores patterns of linguistic variation, and uncovers the role that Gaelic plays in identity formation for each of the participants. In order to gain an insight into the role of Gaelic in different speakers’ lives, I report on ethnographic studies carried out in Lewis and in Glasgow. The phonetic analysis then explores patterns of variation in the production of laterals, vowels, and tone and intonation. The results indicate large differences between the speech of older and adolescent speakers in Lewis, while differences between young speakers in Lewis and Glasgow suggest that Glasgow Gaelic is developing as a phonetically and socially distinct variety of the language. For example, older speakers in Lewis speak Gaelic as a partial tone language, unlike young people in Lewis and in Glasgow. Differences are also present between young people in Lewis and in Glasgow, such as in the acoustics of the vowel [ʉ], the production of the lateral system, and intonation patterns. The developments detailed in this thesis are the result of a complex interaction between the internal sound structure of Gaelic, language contact with varieties of English, identity construction, and differing conceptions of the self. All of these factors are conditioned by the status of Gaelic as a minority endangered and revitalised language. In exploring these avenues, I advance an account of language variation and change and apply it to a context of minority language revitalisation.

This thesis was motivated by turn-of-the-century concerns in Chinese translation studies about the validity of the long-held translation principles proposed by Chinese translator Yan Fu and about the relevance of Yan's paradigmatic translation project to future research. It rereads the translation practice and intellectual thought of Yan Fu by adopting an interdisciplinary approach restructuring past studies that have been isolated in the areas of intellectual history and translation theory. The examination of his translation practice through a series of metaphor suggests, contrary to existing consensus, that faithfulness to the source text is irrelevant to his translation project. His translation principles are not pure literary notions; rather they are tied to the Confucian literary and exegetical tradition. These findings unfold new potentialities for a major research topic that has been challenged as having reached a cul-de-sac and point to a new direction for development in Chinese translation studies. New findings from the field of intellectual history help to clarify existing inconsistencies and political biases concerning Yan Fu's persona and historicize him as a persistent seeker of the Confucian dao. This testifies to the need to reassess his translation project in relation to the Confucian-based Chinese tradition. Close examination of his remarks on translation, correspondence and other writings suggests that his words and deeds are steeped in Confucian poetics, which represents a totally different concept from modern pure literary poetics. His commitment to Confucian ontological faith and ultimate concern for spiritual or cosmological transcendence are similar to the ends of some of the most influential translators in Chinese history and marks a higher level operation of translation as a tool for higher learning than as an occupation. Through translation as-intellectual critique, Yan mended indigenous coordinates for gauging alien propositions and constructed a hybridized discourse for reforming indigenous epistemology and methodology. His manipulative translations, as he claimed in his last extended translation, were intended for metaphorical explication of a certain subject with the source text as a point of departure, rather than an end to return to. Ironically the repercussions of the manipulative evolutionary discourse he engendered became further manipulated by the newer generations and fuelled more violent changes in a system on the verge of a crisis. While this subsequently led to the disruption of the conservative Confucian poetics and the gradual reform agenda he had desired, the reexamination of his translations and translation practice sheds light on system regeneration and the inheritance of Chinese culture in a modern world. The presentation of Yan Fu's translations suggests that he followed the Confucian literary tradition, which allowed exegetical and eisegetical interpretation of classics and commentaries for narrating the dao, and attempted mediation of a changing dao through translation as intellectual critique. Hermeneutical rereading of his xin-da-ya translation principles in relation to the Confucian exegetical tradition frees the study of his principles from recurrent perspectives and offers a systematic approach to the study of xin, da and ya as core values in Confucian poetics meaning faith, decorum and virtue respectively. His exercise of Confucian cosmological faith through translation releases the source text for a dialogue with a broader cosmic text, whereby the interaction of time and tradition-bound discourses obliges the translator to repeatedly highlight and transcend his own interpretive horizons and move the physical text beyond its original psychological and historical contexts, evincing dynamic interaction with the reader. This perspective offers a philosophical dimension to translation and valourizes translation as a virtuous act of conduct in the Chinese tradition and as cosmological transference of concepts and images in human's pursuit of truth and being. The promotion of the complex notion of translation beyond the word itself to the realm of metaphor facilitates exchange between languages and systems at the level of tertium comparationis and enables reasoning at the level of the universal logos. In the present study of Yan Fu, this helps to avoid recurrent arguments and leads to more balanced and constructive perspectives for the future development of a major research topic in Chinese translation studies. It also opens the possibility of exchange between a traditional theory and modern theories and between the Chinese translation tradition and other traditions.

This thesis is premised on the fundamental notion of religious translation as a process of interpretation and adaptation that arises out of a complex iinguistic and cultural interplay. Its aim is to examine the types of interpretative problems one encounters as a society deeply rooted in Biblical and Christian practices struggles to integrate the rituals and formulae of Buddhism. As part of a cultural system, the translation of a religion cannot be explored in a vacuum, but needs to be viewed in the mutual interdependence with other elements of such system. Starting from Giambattista Vico's hypothesis that 'whenever men can form no idea of distant and unknown things, they judge them by what is familiar and at hand' (1744) this thesis aims to look at the interplay of local and foreign traditions in the translation and domestication of a Japanese new religious movement, Soka Gakkai, that has migrated from East to West. Through the notion of 'cultural repertoire', i.e. the aggregate of options utilized by a group of people for the organization of life', this work explores the extent in which Catholicism in Italy has influenced the formation of both religious sense and religious vocabulary. It will be argued that in Italy, the translation of an entire set of Japanese key-concepts pertaining to the sphere of religion has been measured on the yardstick of Christian vocabulary, and thus influenced by the search of 'perfect equivalences'. This operation has, in time, secured the successful dissemination of Soka Gakkai in the territory. At the same time, however, the overlap of Catholic and Buddhists practices has given rise to a peculiar form of hybrid religion that can be defined as 'Catho- Buddhism'.

This study analyses the current role of police-suspect interview discourse in the England & Wales criminal justice system, with a focus on its use as evidence. A central premise is that the interview should be viewed not as an isolated and self-contained discursive event, but as one link in a chain of events which together constitute the criminal justice process. It examines: (1) the format changes undergone by interview data after the interview has taken place, and (2) how the other links in the chain – both before and after the interview – affect the interview-room interaction itself. It thus examines the police interview as a multi-format, multi-purpose and multi-audience mode of discourse. An interdisciplinary and multi-method discourse-analytic approach is taken, combining elements of conversation analysis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics and critical discourse analysis. Data from a new corpus of recent police-suspect interviews, collected for this study, are used to illustrate previously unaddressed problems with the current process, mainly in the form of two detailed case studies. Additional data are taken from the case of Dr. Harold Shipman. The analysis reveals several causes for concern, both in aspects of the interaction in the interview room, and in the subsequent treatment of interview material as evidence, especially in the light of s.34 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The implications of the findings for criminal justice are considered, along with some practical recommendations for improvements. Overall, this study demonstrates the need for increased awareness within the criminal justice system of the many linguistic factors affecting interview evidence.

Statistics show that the world wide web is dominated by a few widely spoken languages. However, in quieter corners of the web, clusters of minority language speakers can be found interacting and sharing content. This study is the first to compare three such clusters of Irish language social media users. Social network analysis of the most active public sites of interaction through Irish – the Irish language blogosphere, the Irish language Twittersphere and a popular Irish language Facebook group – reveals unique networks of individuals communicating through Irish in unique and innovative ways. Firstly, it describes the members and their activity, and the size and structure of the networks they share. Then through focused discourse analysis of the core prolific users in each network it describes how the language has been adapted to computer-mediated communication. This study found that the largest networks of Irish speakers comprised between 150-300 regular participants each. Most members were adults, male, and lived in towns and cities outside of the language’s traditional heartland. Moreover, each group shared one common trait: though scattered geographically, through regular online interaction between core members they behave like communities. They were found to have shared histories, norms and customs, and self-awareness that their groups were unique. Furthermore, core users had adapted the language in new and innovative ways through their online discourse. This study is the first comprehensive audit of who is using the Irish language socially on the web, where they are forming networks online, and how they are adapting the language to online discourse. It makes a unique contribution in re-imagining what constitutes an Irish language community in the context of the Network Society. In the process, it contributes to the growing body of sociolinguistic research into globalisation and local identity on the web.

This thesis examines the translation of dialect in drama in German-speaking Europe, exploring the complex influences on the choice of strategies by practitioners. Utilising paradigms of Descriptive Translation Studies, polysystem theory and norms theory, it investigates how the target culture influences dialect translation practice. The study offers, for the first time, a systematic overview of the functions of dialect in drama, and the translation strategies available, identifying the influences on dialect translation practice in northern Germany, German-speaking Switzerland and Scotland. Based on these, three research areas are explored, focussing on northern Germany, German-speaking Switzerland and Luxembourg: - the sociolinguistic situation and the emergence of oral standard; - the use of dialect in German-language drama as a stylistic device in particular genres and, especially, for socio-political functions; - how the translation process illuminates the norms for drama and dialect translation and their connection with both sociolinguistic factors and norms of German drama production. Three case studies exemplify the findings, illustrating the complexity of targetculture- related factors that had an impact on translating three British plays into standard and into Swiss German, Low German and Luxembourgish: Stephen Greenhorn’s Passing Places, John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World and Ray Cooney’s Run for Your Wife. This study offers a unique insight into drama and dialect translation in Germanspeaking Europe. It demonstrates that the introduction of an oral standard mitigates against dialect use in German original drama and translations; that changing relationships between German-speaking countries, nationalist movements and efforts to raise the status of a dialect encourage its use in drama; and that genres like comedy, murder mystery, farce, but also Naturalist, Realist and folk plays are more likely to use, and be translated into, dialect. It suggests similar projects for other countries, and will be of relevance to theatre and translation practitioners.

This thesis attempts to investigate the structure of Libyan Arabic discourse in general and interviews as a text-genre text-form in particular. This investigation includes conjunctions and their influence on the cohesion of interviews and certain other textual phenomena, i.e. repetition, parallelism and their unequivocal significance in text cohesion. To this effect, random samples were taken from two Libyan Arabic interviews, i.e. sample text 1 and sample text 2 to who how the structure of these texts is made up. To achieve these objectives, this study uses a semantic, structural and pragma-semio-textual approach to analyse and then translate the texts chosen, as language in this study is considered to be a form of behaviour (Halliday 1973) that cannot be studied in isolation from its social, cultural and contextual contexts in which it is used. Our textual analysis has shown interesting results. First, interviews have their own generic structure and such structure is presented in specific stages. Second, interviews favour the cohesive type of lexical repetition not only for cohesion purposes but also for persuasive functions as well. Third, interviews use many parallel constructions for conviction and persuasive functions.