The present study was carried out to investigate the possible effects of two types of form-focused instruction (henceforth FFI) on the acquisition of a specific feature of the Italian verbal morphology system: namely the future tense, which has hitherto never been researched within this framework. Processing instruction was compared to a more traditional type of grammar instruction output-based. The impact of these two types of FFI was investigated on a well documented strategy (Musumeci 1989) used by second language (henceforth L2) learners when interpreting tenses. This strategy consists in giving precedence to lexical items (in this case temporal adverbs, i.e. oggi, domani) over morphological markers during learner's interpretation of tenses. In order to carry out this investigation, first year students (39 subjects) in their second semester, learning Italian at the University of Greenwich were randomly assigned to three groups. One group received processing instruction, which involved grammar explanation and comprehension practice directed at altering the way second language learners process input and make correct meaning-form connections; the other group received output-based type of instruction which consisted in an explanation of grammar rules followed by written and oral practice which was directed at altering the way L2 learners produce the target language; the third group was used as a control group and received no instruction. The groups were exposed to two consecutive days of instructional treatment and pre-tests and post-tests were carried out. The tests consisted of an aural interpretation task, a written completion text and an oral limited response production task. A delayed post-test was also administered to assess the possible effects of instruction after three weeks. Based on previous research carried out in a feature of Spanish (Cadierno 1993) verbal morphology, it was hypothesised that processing instruction would have positive effects on the accuracy with which subjects interpreted sentences in Italian (future tense vs present tense) in which temporal reference is only expressed by verb morphology. It was also hypothesized that the effects of processing instruction would be visible on the production of both the written and the oral task. A further hypothesis was that the effects of instruction would/hold over a post-test session three weeks later. Overall the statistical analyses carried out on the data supported the three hypotheses of this study. The results obtained in this research provide some evidence that processing instruction has positive effects on the acquisition of Italian verbal morphology, these effects being greater on the developing system of beginners, L2 learners, than output-based instruction. However the output-based group performed better than the control group in the interpretation task. This is an interesting finding as it was not hypothesised, but is likely to have significant implications for further research within this framework. The present study also showed that processing instruction was successful in altering the way in which learners processed the input and its effects had also an impact on the way learners produced future tense at sentence level in both a written and an oral production task. Finally, these effects were proved durable over a three week period. The results obtained in the present study have implications at two levels. At the theoretical level this study provides further support for the role that input processing plays in SLA. At the pedagogical level it demonstrates the effectiveness of processing instruction not only on an interpretation task but also on a written and oral production task. This is further evidence of the suitability of this pedagogical approach to encourage linguistic competence among L2 learners.

This dissertation describes and analyses a selection of morphosyntactic phenomena from the nominal, verbal and clausal domains of Barese, an upper southern Italian dialect of Puglia. Chapter 2 analyses pragmatically unmarked and marked sentential word orders in Barese. Barese is a null-subject language whose unmarked transitive word order is (S)VO, in which syntactic constituents can be displaced in accordance with their pragmatico-semantic relevance to the discourse. One peculiarity of Barese regards intransitives encoding a loco-temporal (c)overt argument, where VS and SV orders may both mark sentence-focus. While VS encodes a null loco-temporal argument, SV serves to encode broad focus whenever S is ‘accessible’ in the mind of both discourse participants forming part of their ‘common ground’. Chapter 3 examines the structure of Barese nominal expressions, focusing on the interaction between adjectives, possessives and demonstratives. Barese nominals nearly systematically precede adjectives and possessives, except for a small class of rudimentary evaluative adjectives which may occur prenominally. These orders, derived via the phrasal movement of the nominal across its modifiers, are contrasted with the head movement of a morpholexically restricted class of kinship nominals which can be modified by a defective set of enclitic possessives. The final section analyses the behaviour of Barese demonstratives, which only occur in prenominal position. In particular, a peculiar Barese structure which combines the definite article with the distal demonstrative pronoun is analysed, highlighting how it specifically marks discourse-old referents. Chapter 4 describes the mechanisms of auxiliary selection and past participle agreement operative in Barese. In relation to the former, Barese displays three different factors which may determine auxiliary selection, namely person, tense and mood. These three dimensions of variation are analysed in terms of parameter hierarchies which formalise the complexity of the semantic features involved in the selection of the auxiliaries HAVE and BE. It is argued that this complexity reflects different diachronic stages of auxiliary selection across different generations of speakers. The final section investigates Barese active past participle agreement which, unlike auxiliary selection, displays a conservative distribution licensed by direct objects and Undergoer subjects. The peculiarity of Barese, however, is that agreement is morpholexically limited to a small number of ‘strong’ participles which mark agreement exclusively through metaphonetic alternation. The final chapter is concerned with Barese progressive and andative periphrases which variously show inflected forms of the lexical verb in the 2SG-3SG of the present in place of the infinitive. These structures have been argued for Salentino and Sicilian dialects to have developed from instances of coordination with Latin AC ‘and’, which were then reinterpreted as instances of (pseudo-)coordination, namely subordination. In contrast, a different origin for these inflected forms of the lexical verb is proposed for Barese, where AC-coordination is not historically attested. It is argued that the loss of the infinitival ending -RE produced morphophonological identity, viz. syncretism, between the 3SG(/2SG) present and the infinitive, enabling the latter to be reinterpreted as a finite form within the periphrasis. This spred further across the neighbouring dialects to include more grammatical persons (3SG/2SG > 1SG > 3PL > all), as well as past and irrealis paradigms.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em História. / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-24T06:28:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 260095.pdf: 1053032 bytes, checksum: b0e6cc326728920c8341e1299808e3a6 (MD5) / Estudo das relações entre modernidade e tempo tomando como referência os romances Vida salobra, de Tito Carvalho, Rede, de Salim Miguel, e São Miguel, de Guido Wilmar Sassi, escritos nas décadas de 1950 e 60 em Santa Catarina. Tais romances são considerados como lugares de agenciamentos discursivos em torno de conceitos como os de cultura, identidade, nação e região e, também, como lugares que permitem pensar a importância da narrativa para a construção e concretização da noção de tempo na modernidade.

This thesis is concerned with Spanish weak dative pronominals. Similar elements-generally labelled as clitics- in many languages have been focus of much research in Linguistics. The present study, however, abstracts away from classic approaches that had the external form of clitics as their main focus and provides description and analysis of very specific uses of dative pronominal items, namely when they appear on ditransitive constructions, with psychological predicates or in a configuration where they are not lexically specified in the valency of the verb, the so-called non-selected datives. The analysis of the dative in ditransitive constructions is twofold. We claim that the distribution of the dative in such configurations has semantic and syntactic implications. The presence of the dative pronoun is becoming grammaticalised and provides an entailment of affectedness. In instances of clitic doubling where we have both the pronoun and a noun phrase, we are treating the pronoun as the element that the predicate subcategorises for and the noun phrase is linked to it through information structure. This analysis is quite innovative as it ensures both elements are linked but they retain syntactic independence, in contrast with their treatment in previous approaches. With psychological predicates, we are concerned with what the status of the dative marked argument is; as previous approaches have contradictory views of it as subject or object. We analyse this dative with the tools provided by Lexical Mapping Theory and disagree with previous accounts by proposing an analysis of this dative as OBJɵ. With regards to non-selected datives in Spanish, they have not been widely discussed in the literature. We describe the different types and propose a finer grouping based on their ability to be treated as derived arguments. We sketch an analysis that adds a dative argument to the valency of a predicate through a lexical operation.

The published work submitted herewith involves the application of Relevance theory (as a theory of verbal communication) to the description of Galician and Spanish, and to translation. The phenomena studied within these areas are examined from the point of view of language use. This allows us to see them together as instantiations of language and thus as being theoretically and fundamentally of a kind. As a result, they are also subject to the same principles of communication. The theoretical approach used and applied throughout is that of Relevance theory. This approach allows for an explanatory theory of verbal communication, which encompasses the two areas under study and thus provides a unitary theoretical framework to account for the phenomena examined. The various aspects of language description and translation explored here are therefore seen as instances of verbal communication to be studied precisely under a single general theory (and not as instances of different fields that should be examined by different theories). This submission is structured in three parts. The first part involves an introduction to the publications submitted, which includes a brief literature review. This review provides an overview of the most important approaches to communication, including the code mode, the Gricean approach and the approach adopted here, namely, Relevance theory. This introductory part also includes a discussion of the overall coherence of the publications submitted, together with their impact and contributions in the wider context of the field of study. The second part of this submission deals with applications of Relevance theory to the description of Galician and Spanish in a range of areas, including prepositional direct objects, presuppositional effects, interpretive use of language, and non-declarative sentences. In all these cases, current approaches are reviewed and critiqued, and alternative accounts are provided as applications of the theoretical framework provided by Relevance theory. The third and final part of this submission deals with applications of Relevance theory to translation in a number of areas, including interlingual interpretive use of language, interlingual enrichment, interlingual impoverishment, and degrees of acceptability in translation. One of the main themes in common between all these areas is the notion of discrepancy between original and target texts in translation. It is shown that many of these translation discrepancies arise from the gap found in verbal communication between what is encoded and what is communicated. Some of the most important types of gap that exist in verbal communication are examined in detail and their impact on translation explored throughout.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-26T07:50:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 304096.pdf: 5356332 bytes, checksum: eedc7ba56d8c2b13b399001548235906 (MD5) / Esta tese teve como objetivo a análise das protagonistas, bem como de outras mulheres e suas experiências e conflitos em romances urbanos de Erico Verissimo: Clarissa, Caminhos cruzados, Música ao longe, Um lugar ao sol, Olhai os lírios do campo e Saga - as quais expressavam o mundo representado por seus saberes, tensões e dramas humanos à margem dos padrões sociais vigentes na época contextualizada - 1930 a 1940. Verificou-se que a trajetória de vida dessas mulheres ganhou destaque por acompanharem as mudanças ocorridas naquele período, em especial nos grandes centros urbanos e, mais do que isso, apontaram para uma condição feminina diferenciada da existente até então, antecipando as mudanças da sociedade ocorridas anos mais tarde em relação ao sexo feminino. Erico Verissimo sinalizava, portanto, na ficção essa nova mulher, emancipada, corajosa, preocupada, justa e protagonista de sua própria história.

During the most crucial years of the early republic (1780-1830), Jeffersonian Philanthropy saw the incorporation of the Native American into American citizenry as an ideal cornerstone for the building of the new nation. This assimilation would take many forms, yet the most discussed are intermarriage, the acceptance of Christianity, and the Native influence on the story of the nation's founding. This study examines the ways in which the literary genre of the Frontier Romance portrays, influences, and critiques Native American assimilation and interacts with political and social writing of the early republic. Intermarriage between Native and European Americans is discussed in a chapter on Rowson's Rueben and Rachel, Child'sHobomok, and Sedgwick's Hope Leslie. Christianity and the Native American is discussed in a chapter on Bleecker's The History of Maria Kittle, Brown's Wieland, Sedgewick's Hope Leslie, and the anonymously published work The Christian Indian. Lastly, the Natives role in shaping the American individual is discussed in a chapter covering Brown's Edgar Huntly, James McHenry's The Wilderness, and the third novel in James Fennimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, The Prairie.

This thesis provides an analysis of the works of Gabriel García Márquez and Wilson Harris in the cross-cultural context of the Americas, emphasizing the importance of myth as well as history in their attempts to explore the hybridity of post-colonial identity. García Márquez' phrase “la soledad compartida" is interpreted as the process of a spiritual Journey in which both writers articulate the quest to reintegrate the fractured American psyche. Historical and political contexts are provided to focus the nature of fragmentation, and insights from the new physics to re-iterate the presence of the 'real world' which continues to inform both writers in their experiments with linguistic and literary conventions. Realism is seen as insufficient for defining the reality of the Americas and a framework of magical realism is offered as a more appropriate context in which to approach both writers. My methodology is cross-cultural and interdisciplinary, referring to a variety of Latin American and Caribbean writers, and drawing on history, myth, psychology, and physics, as well as debates about post-colonialism and postmodernism, to support my argument that Harris and García Márquez present a vision of the world in which there is creative hope for the future.

This thesis explores Vercors's writings, with particular reference to his moral and political attitudes, from 1942 to the present. It includes his clandestine wartime publications, the subsequent development of his theory of human 'rebellion', with its strong ethical connotations, and the various polemical and fictional texts in which, in the post-war period, he expresses support for communist aims and for progressive causes such as anticolonialism. Vercors's chairmanship of the CNE in the mid-1950's is examined through his memoirs as well as through his articles and speeches of the time. After the author's overt withdrawal from fellow-travelling in 1957, his more selective political commitment is traced through the remaining years of the Algerian conflict, while the memoirs and other works of reflection that have appeared in the latter part of his career recapitulate the overall development of his political attitudes and reveal certain changes of view. Vercors's more general theory of human value has, on the other hand, remained constant, and he offers it as a starting- point for better understanding between men of all nations and ideologies. The analysis follows this broad chronological pattern, first in relation to the moral elements, then the political; but there is frequent cross- reference between the two aspects, in keeping with the author's own emphasis on their close interconnection in his outlook. The extent of his combined fictional and non-fictional output is such that three successive chapters are devoted to the exploration of his moral attitudes, then three, similarly, to the political responses. There is also reference, where appropriate, to critical commentary on Vercors's work and to other background sources; and the appendices contain Vercors's direct response to specific questions put to him during the preparation of the present study. This thesis is intended to contribute to the field of modern French studies through its comprehensive coverage of Vercors's writing in two major areas of commitment.

Submitted by Roberth Novaes (roberth.novaes@live.com) on 2018-09-27T14:44:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO_ANDRÉ LECLERCQ.pdf: 870122 bytes, checksum: 75451349cd190259c67bb0b370d6dd62 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Setor de Periódicos (per_macedocosta@ufba.br) on 2018-09-28T19:07:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO_ANDRÉ LECLERCQ.pdf: 870122 bytes, checksum: 75451349cd190259c67bb0b370d6dd62 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-28T19:07:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO_ANDRÉ LECLERCQ.pdf: 870122 bytes, checksum: 75451349cd190259c67bb0b370d6dd62 (MD5) / Escritor prolixo e multifacetado, Voltaire deve muito de sua fama a seu ferrenho anticlericalismo, estampado, em maior ou menor grau, em toda sua imensa obra. Num século em que os alicerces político-religiosos da organização social ainda mantêm-se firmes, o autor encontra no acúmulo de informações provindas de um Oriente em que a Europa se faz cada vez mais presente, material que alimenta seus impulsos polêmicos. Esse trabalho busca, através de pesquisa bibliográfica, investigar a relação que se estabelece entre esse anticlericalismo e esse orientalismo no ambiente discursivo do conto filosófico, a partir das possíveis convergências e divergências entre duas posturas autorais de Voltaire: a do historiador e a do romancista. Na medida em que essas duas posturas correspondem a duas modalidades enunciativas distintas, buscamos caracterizá-las levando em consideração o contexto nas quais se inscrevem no século XVIII, particularmente no que diz respeito ao orientalismo e ao domínio religioso. A postura do historiador, no Essai sur les Moeurs nomeadamente, demonstra fazer um uso das fontes disponíveis – obra dos orientalistas acadêmicos, relatos de viajantes e sobretudo observações dos jesuítas no extremo-Oriente – em total desarmonia com as orientações ideológicas do regime: os esforços concentram-se na tentativa de solapar o quadro interpretativo fornecido pela tradição judaico-cristã, numa reflexão centrada nas origens das civilizações e das religiões. Transplantados para o universo ficcional dos contos, os dados coletados pelo historiador desvinculam-se facilmente de pretensões documentais, fenômeno favorecido pelo teor geral que assumem na época as ficções em prosa, ou romances, produções esteticamente desvalorizadas, evoluindo na clandestinidade e num anonimato calculado, onde o exotismo tende a investir-se num jogo alegórico transfigurador. Assim, em Zadig ou la destinée, conto emblemático desta perspectiva, objeto de nossa primeira análise, o anticlericalismo de Voltaire encontra sua significância numa leitura vertical, onde a eficiência dos elementos textuais orientais parece inversamente proporcional à sua exatidão referencial. História e romance, de modo geral, divergem em suas orientações, salvo em uma das últimas ficções romanescas orientais do autor, Les Lettres d’Amabed, objeto de nossa segunda análise. A ambientação torna-se muito mais factual e o conjunto repercute descobertas recentes por parte do philosophe a respeito da civilização indiana. Aqui, anticolonialismo e anticlericalismo unem forças, participando de uma visão crítica do devir histórico e sustentando formas particularmente corrosivas de crítica. / Écrivain prolixe et multiforme, Voltaire doit beaucoup de sa renommée à son anticléricalisme acharné, visible, à des degrés divers, dans toute son immense oeuvre. En un siècle où les fondements politico-religieux de l’organisation sociale sont encore solides, l’auteur trouve dans l’accumulation d’informations en provenance d’un Orient où l’Europe se fait chaque fois plus présente, une matière qui alimente ses élans polémiques. Ce travail vise explorer la relation qui s’établit, entre cet anticléricalisme et cet orientalisme dans le milieu discursif du conte philosophique, à partir des possibles convergences et divergences entre deux postures d’auteur chez Voltaire : celle de l’historien et celle du romancier. Étant donné que ces deux postures correspondent à deux modalités énonciatives distinctes, nous avons cherché à les caractériser en tenant compte du contexte dans lequel elles s’inscrivent au XVIIIe siècle, particulièrement en ce qui concerne l’orientalisme et le domaine religieux. La posture de l’historien, nommément dans l’Essai sur les Moeurs, montre une utilisation des sources – oeuvre des orientalistes académiques, relations de voyage, et surtout les observations des missionnaires jésuites en Extrême-Orient – en totale disharmonie avec les orientations idéologiques du régime : les efforts se concentrent dans la tentative d’ébranler le cadre interprétatif fourni par la tradition judéo-chrétienne, dans une réflexion centrée sur les origines des civilisations et des religions. Greffées dans l’univers fictionnel des contes, les données collectées par l’historien se détachent facilement des prétentions documentaires, phénomène favorisé par la teneur générale qu’assument à l’époque les fictions en prose, ou romans, productions esthétiquement dévalorisées, évoluant dans une clandestinité et dans un anonymat calculé, où l’exotisme tend à être investi dans un jeu allégorique transfigurateur. Ainsi, dans Zadig ou la destinée, conte emblématique de cette perspective et objet de notre première analyse, l’anticléricalisme de Voltaire trouve son sens dans une lecture verticale, où l’efficacité des éléments textuels orientaux paraît inversement proportionnelle à leur exactitude référentielle. De manière générale, histoire et roman divergent dans leurs orientaltions, sauf dans l’une des dernières fictions romanesques de l’auteur, Les Lettres d’Amabed, objet de notre seconde analyse. L’environnement devient beaucoup plus factuel et l’ensemble répercute des découvertes récentes du philosophe au sujet de la religion indienne. Ici, anticolonialisme et anticléricalisme s’unissent et participent d’une vision critique du devenir historique tout en soutenant des formes particulièrement corrosives de critique.