This thesis examines the use of supra-textual devices in the Trotula, a set of Middle English gynecological and obstetrical medical treatises. Through close examination of the thirteen manuscript versions dating between the early or mid-fifteenth century and the late sixteenth century, this thesis studies the way in which punctuation, layout, colour, marginalia and other visual devices are used to structure and present the texts. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this thesis examines the ways in which supra-textual devices are used to organise the texts into units of various type and length (major and minor sections, paragraphs,recipes, sense-units, sentences, clauses, phrases), and how the presentation of these units contributes to the reading of the text, showing that,despite the lack of standardised punctuation practices, each manuscript text uses a consistent system of supra-textual devices. Their use is not haphazard, as has previously been asserted; supra-textual devices are used purposefully to structure the texts and to communicate with the reader. The definitions of ‘sentence’ and ‘sense-unit’ in the Middle English context are also discussed, as well as the terminology used to describe medieval punctuation practices. In particular, the often-made binary division between ‘grammatical’ and ‘rhetorical’ punctuation is examined, showing that this division is neither very informative nor useful in practice for describing the systems of supra-textual devices present in medieval English writing. While the majority of the units can be described in terms of ‘sense-units’, the development towards the modern ‘sentence’ can be evinced in the data. This thesis also examines the role that scribes played in adapting and modifying the textual presentation in their exemplars, arguing that scribes played a key role in modifying the appearance of the manuscript texts to suit the needs of their audiences. Emphasising the importance of contextualisation, the final chapter focuses on the pragmatics of supra-textual devices, and how they can contribute to our understanding of the ways in which these texts were read and used by private individuals, professional medical practitioners or textual communities. This thesis argues that the Trotula had a number of different audiences, with varied literacy skills, and the supra-textual devices in the manuscripts suggest a range of reading practices, from private to communal, silent to oral, intensive to extensive. This thesis demonstrates that a close examination of supra-textual devices can bring new insights into Middle English grammar as well as scribal and reading practices.

This thesis explores PhD-researcher oral presentations (OPs) in five studies on engagement and clarification strategies in a parallel corpus of 88 OP transcription-essay pairs (n=128228 tokens). Corpus and statistical significance procedures identify features that discriminate among researchers' levels of oral achievement and disciplines: gestural-verbal deixis, audience and impersonal identity projection, code glosses, and transformations of written into oral content. Features analyses include distribution across the levels and disciplines subcorpora, recurrent patterns, discourse functions, and pragmatic appropriacy and grammatical variety. The studies reveal that levels differ in the way that presenters mark stance authorship, anticipate the audience need for help, and vary their strategies grammatically. Disciplinary differences re-present the ways in which disciplines (re)produce knowledge. Hard-fields focus on research methods and outcomes is observed in interaction with images, academic identity projection, and technical terms explanation. Soft-field OPs focus on interpretations is observed in opinions towards existing knowledge and use of folk examples. Language choices also reflect the non-expert character of the audience. This thesis contributes to the study of oral academic genres by demonstrating the importance of multimodal, across modes, non-deficiency analyses; confirming disciplinary differences; and proposing ways of understanding levels of achievement based on pragmatic success rather than grammatical accuracy.

The study of metaphor is an interdisciplinary endeavor crossing such fields as cognitive linguistics, psychology, and creativity studies. Two important conclusions on the nature of metaphor have been drawn to date: (1) the ability to use metaphor is a normal human cognitive ability and widespread in language; (2) metaphor is not a unitary construct and varies greatly from the highly familiar and conventional to the creative. Viewing metaphor as lying along a continuum, this thesis narrows the concept of metaphoric competence to creative metaphoric competence, which looks at this ability from a creativity perspective. In this thesis, it is hypothesized that creative metaphoric competence is an underlying competency, which is related to a more general creative competence, and therefore is projected onto both the L1 (Japanese) and L2 (English). In order to test this hypothesis, data from creative metaphor production tasks were collected in both languages. In addition, a number of creativity measurements were also developed with the aim of measuring the multifaceted nature of creativity. Relationships between these variables were investigated. Findings suggest that creative metaphoric competence is an individual difference variable, which could be described as a disposition towards novelty and is related to other measurements of creativity.

Vocabulary knowledge is a multifaceted construct for which complete command comprises mastering various types of knowledge. Achieving this full mastery is deemed challenging and problematic for second language learners, and yet it is key for successful and appropriate language use (Webb & Nation, 2017). By understanding how these various kinds of knowledge behave and relate, practitioners can better systematise when and how they are introduced to the students, and thus facilitate the overall vocabulary learning process. Nevertheless, little is known about how these multiple types of word knowledge are acquired by learners of a second/foreign language. This thesis attempts to contribute to bridging this gap by empirically exploring the knowledge, acquisition and conceptualisation of overall vocabulary knowledge in second languages. Five studies are devoted to this aim. Study 1 examined the knowledge and order of acquisition of four different components of vocabulary knowledge (form–meaning link, collocations, derivatives and multiple meanings) in recall and recognition. It shows that those components vary considerably in their difficulty for second language (L2) learners, and implicational scaling analysis revealed that a consistent order of acquisition of these components can be established. Study 2 investigated how various factors typically identified as influencing vocabulary learning affect the mastery of those four word knowledge components. The results suggest that cognateness status of the target words has the strongest effect on knowledge of most vocabulary aspects by Spanish learners of L2 English, followed by frequency and proficiency. Importantly, this cognate influence raised the question of whether the order of acquisition of word knowledge components retrieved in Study 1 was unique to L2 English learners of cognate languages. Study 3 explored the theoretical conceptualisation of vocabulary knowledge by attempting to provide empirical support for its multidimensionality. Structural equation modelling analyses exposed that the various types of vocabulary knowledge were so interconnected that they could not be considered separate dimensions. This finding suggests that the different aspects of vocabulary knowledge are better seen as various word knowledge difficulty levels that comprise a unidimensional construct. Finally, Studies 4 and 5 tried to provide generalisability to the previous findings by replicating Studies 1 and 3, respectively, with Chinese L2 learners of English. Study 4 investigated the hypothesis that the order of acquisition outlined in Study 1 for Spanish learners depended partially on the cognate status of the participants’ language. The implicational scaling analysis with the non-cognate Chinese population, however, corroborated the order of acquisition of vocabulary aspects previously suggested, indicating that a universal vocabulary acquisition order might exist. Study 5 also confirmed the finding that vocabulary knowledge is not empirically multidimensional. In addition, it provided evidence for the fact that the vocabulary knowledge construct functions similarly across the Chinese and Spanish learners of English as a unidimensional concept. Taken together, the results presented in this thesis support the notion that mastering the various components involved in word knowledge is a slow and incremental process, and demonstrate that some of them seem to be consistently acquired before others. Nonetheless, the findings also suggest that these different types of word knowledge cannot be considered separate dimensions in the learners’ mental lexicon, and thereby the multidimensional structure of vocabulary knowledge might need to be reconsidered. Overall, while more research is needed, these findings offer useful insights for the learning and teaching of vocabulary in a more systematic and efficient manner.

English-medium instruction (EMI) is a growing trend in higher education around the world. In Japan, EMI has recently expanded dramatically and over one-third of Japanese universities now have EMI programs serving both international and domestic students. Amid this rapid growth, much of the EMI development has been ad hoc or characterized by difficult implementation. EMI stakeholders face critical linguistic, cultural, administrative, and institutional challenges. This study explores good practice in EMI programs in Japan by presenting a longitudinal view of four newly implemented undergraduate EMI programs. Findings indicate that the success of an EMI program depends on how stakeholders deal with issues related to program plarming and curriculum development. Effective communication among EMI stakeholders, and between program-level and university leaders, is a key factor in planning, as is the selection, recruiting, and support of faculty members. Stakeholders also need to be aware of the program's position in the university community and how program budgeting may influence its development. The curriculum must be designed based on a realistic understanding of students' incoming language proficiency and has to include effective means to measure and support that proficiency. EMI programs should also strive for internal coherence and meaningful connections to mainstream Japanese-medium programs.

Attitudes towards varieties of English have long been at the forefront of sociolinguistic research. Whilst most of these studies have concentrated on native varieties of English, in recent years, research has turned to non-native varieties that arose as English became the lingua franca across the globe. Research has demonstrated that whilst native varieties are generally viewed as being of a higher status, non-native varieties are sometimes considered more positively in terms of social attractiveness, or ‘solidarity’. However, in recent years, non-native speakers have begun to outnumber native English speakers, thus attitudes towards these speakers may be changing. This study contributes to research on attitudes towards native and non-native varieties of English by conducting a comparative investigation of the attitudes of 317 Taiwanese nationals living in Taiwan and 147 British nationals living in the UK towards different English accents. Online questionnaires utilising both direct (e.g., Likert scales and multiple-choice questions) and indirect (e.g., verbal guise test) methods were employed to examine Taiwanese and British attitudes towards varieties of English. The study examined seven varieties as categorised according to Kachru’s (1992a) three concentric circles: the Inner Circle: Australian English, General American English and Standard Southern British English; the Outer Circle: Indian English; and the Expanding Circle: Japanese English, Spanish English and Taiwanese English. Four key findings emerge from the study. First, both direct and indirect techniques of evaluation demonstrate that both Taiwanese and British respondents largely favour English varieties of the Inner Circle and the Outer Circle over those of the Expanding Circle. Second, the indirect attitude measurements of the verbal guise test demonstrate that both groups prefer the variety of General American English in terms of both status and solidarity. Third, the research found that a number of social variables (e.g., gender, occupation) had a significant effect on speaker evaluations. Fourth, although Taiwanese and British participants were very capable of distinguishing whether a speaker was native or non-native, there were generally no significant correlations between a speaker’s ability to identify different English varieties and their having a favourable attitude towards these. Overall, the findings demonstrated that Taiwanese and British people predominantly share similar attitudes towards varieties of English. Nevertheless, when the effects of the social variables and speaker identifications are considered, native and non-native speakers’ perceptions of different varieties of English might differ. These findings contribute to the understanding of the similarities and differences between native and non-native speakers’ attitudes towards varieties of English in the context of an increasingly globalised world and the rise of the non-native speakers of English therein.

This study examines the nature of a particular type of atypical reference. In [1], it is possible to understand ‘a man who…’ as a newly introduced referent or ‘type’. But once seen in context, where the identity of this particular man has been firmly established, it becomes clear that its function is more definite than indefinite. [1] […] a man who achieved the rare feat of becoming a pivotal member of the Cameron inner circle in the space of just a few months in the summer and autumn of 2007 Expressions such as that in [1], with the structure A(n)+NOUN+RESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSE are examined in the context of British English journalistic opinion writing from four different, but related perspectives: - Readers’ interpretations: Empirical evidence from two experiments shows that readers largely do not interpret the expression as referring to a ‘type’, but rather to the previously mentioned, fully-identified entity. The results also suggest that the amount and detail of conceptual information in the relative clause plays a role in the interpretation. - Cognitive processes in referring: The expression is examined and analysed alongside cognitive models of referring and it is shown that these expressions are considered ‘accessible’ in the mind of the addressee. - Lexical cohesive ties: The meaning relation of co-extension (Hasan 1985) is exploited to explain how these expressions become functionally definite within their specific context. Cohesive semantic ties (i.e. similarity chains)between the expression and the preceding text and on-going discourse aid the transformation from formally indefinite to functionally definite. - Insights on the discourse: Insights from linguists and journalists are brought together to examine the function of these expressions. It is suggested that they have a dual function, to refer to the identified individual as well as to others with similar features. This study concludes that this atypical expression carries both definite and indefinite information and to fully capture its use and function, the entire discourse event needs to be taken into consideration.

Cults are negatively regarded. The way in which they persuade people to join their movements is particularly criticised by, for example, the anti-cult movement. Cults do use language in specific ways to recruit new members. There are, however, other groups who use language similarly, for recruitment purposes, but without stigmatisation. A new framework for rhetorical analysis, incorporating both classical tradition and contemporary work in text analysis, is particularly useful at demonstrating this. This thesis develops such a framework and uses it to analyse the rhetoric of three cults, Scientology, The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Children of God, showing that cults' distinctive negative profile in society is not matched by a linguistic typology. Indeed, this negative profile seems to rest on the semantics and application of the term 'cult' itself. Not only does this analysis increase our understanding of rhetoric, it paves the way for new questions to be asked about the pejoration of cults.

Formulaic sequences are very frequently used in language as a preferred way to convey certain meanings. This thesis looks at distribution, processing, and incidental acquisition of formulaic sequences, by presenting four separate studies on different aspects of formulaicity. Study 1 investigated the distribution of four different categories of formulaic sequences (collocations, idiomatic phrases, lexical bundles, and phrasal verbs) and showed that those four categories vary considerably in terms of frequency. Also, register seems to affect the number of formulaic sequences used, as well as the categories of formulaic sequences preferred. Importantly, this study raised an issue of form variation of formulaic sequences (especially collocations) which seemed to be an under-researched area. Therefore, the following studies investigated the effect of form variation (focusing on non-adjacency) on collocation processing and their incidental acquisition. Studies 2 and 3 used an eye-tracking technique to investigate how native and non-native speakers of English process adjacent and non-adjacent verb-noun collocations. The results suggest that native speakers process both adjacent and non-adjacent collocations faster than matched control phrases, albeit the collocation effect seems to be larger for adjacent collocations. As for non-native speakers, there is a clear collocation effect for adjacent collocations and it is moderated by prior vocabulary knowledge. However, there seems to be almost no effect for non-adjacent collocations. This finding suggests that even advanced non-native speakers process non-adjacent collocations differently than native speakers. Finally, Study 4 tried to take the findings from the previous studies to a classroom. It investigated whether there is any difference between the chances of incidentally acquiring adjacent and non-adjacent collocations from reading. The results suggest low but durable gains for both adjacent and non-adjacent collocations, with no significant differences between these two groups of items. Overall, the results presented in the thesis support the idea that formulaic language is ubiquitous, but suggest that some of the criteria that have been widely used for identifying formulaic sequences might need to be reconsidered. It seems that collocations, at least for native speakers, retain their formulaic status even when presented non-adjacently. They seem to be successfully learned as non-adjacent dependencies as well. While this finding cannot be easily generalized to other types of formulaic sequences, it seems to suggest that a lot more research on form variation of formulaic sequences is needed in order to better understand the scope of the phenomenon.

This thesis explores the use of the word chav in written discourse in Britain published between 2004 and 2008. Taking a critical social semiotic approach, it discusses how chav as a semiotic resource contributes to particular ways of using language to represent the world – Discourses – and to particular ways of using language to act on the world – Genres – suggesting that, though the word is far from homogenous in its use, it is consistently used to identify the public differences of Britain as a class society in terms of personal dispositions and choices, and in taking an ironic, stereotyped stance towards such differences. It is suggested that these tendencies can be viewed as ideological, as contributing to social domination and inequality. Chav is also found to be subject to a great deal of metalinguistic discussion, some of which serves to critique the above tendencies, but much of which does not.