No description available.

This thesis considers how 'day visitors' to the Peak National Park construct accounts for their behaviour. It takes an inductive approach to the problem of 'day visits' as an under-researched topic within tourism and leisure studies. The thesis examines the discourses within tourism studies and in particular the ways in which notions of what it is to be a 'tourist' are constructed and used in tourism studies. Further it seeks to relocate the notion of tourism within the realm of ordinary social member's understandings, and therefore tourism becomes an object of study within everyday life. The thesis is particularly interested in the concept of motivation for tourism. Rather than regarding tourism motivation as a set of fixed 'needs' the study sets out to demonstrate the inherently social, locally managed and produced nature of motivation for tourism within everyday conversation about tourism. The empirical analysis is based on a small number of semi-structured, conversational interviews with people who had recently been on a 'day visit' to the Peak National Park. It was found that the respondents orient to the production of accounts of their experiences and accounts for their behaviour that served a number of functions. Accounts were found to allow members to construct notions of identity as a resource to achieve credibility in their accomplishment of 'day visitor' experiences in talk. This study considers how 'being a tourist' is accomplished or resisted by the respondents in their talk. Identity construction is also considered in relation to the accomplishment of spatial practice in accounting for 'day visitor' behaviour.

No description available.

Inspired by an ongoing debate in the clinical sciences concerning the value of evil as a label for human behavior (Mowrer 1960, Staub 1999, Wellman 2000, Williams 2004 etc.), this thesis examines the semantic role of AGENT in the lexical items sick and evil. Williams makes the argument that the label evil removes responsibility from the doctor, whereas, the label sick empowers the doctor in bringing about a cure. While this view is not universally accepted in the field, it does bring to light an interesting question in applied linguistic semantics as to the assignment of agency with respect to sick and evil. Based on the close association of the meanings of sick and evil that stems from historical, psychological, and legal perspectives, this thesis assumes that the semantic feature [+/-RESPONSIBILITY] is assigned to either sick or evil at some point along a continuum. This continuum establishes EVIL at one pole and receives [+RESPONSIBILITY] while SICK is at the opposite pole and receives [-RESPONSIBILITY]. Using a variety of prompts to survey 106 respondents, the continuum model is shown to be only partially true. There is a correlation between NON-RESPONSIBILITY and SICK. Also, a continuum exists that allows the assignment of PARTIAL RESPONSIBILITY to both terms. However, there is no definitive significant correlation between RESPONSIBILITY and EVIL. Further conclusions include the indication of adherence to a legal model of guilt, innocence, and insanity in the general conceptions of SICK and EVIL. Also, demographic variation shows little predictive potential in how people perceive SICK and EVIL. This thesis concludes with a proposal for an alternative model using a Greimas Square to represent the conceptions of SICK and EVIL that more appropriately fits the trends found in the survey data.

Esta tese, que se fundamenta nos princípios da Geolinguística contemporânea e da Sociolinguística Variacionista, se propôs a refletir sobre a língua portuguesa falada em quatro cidades do norte mato-grossense (Vera, Santa Carmem, Sinop e Cláudia), e apresenta como resultados a transcrição, catalogação, registros e análises de variantes lexicais em uso pelos sujeitos moradores dessas cidades. Para tanto, utilizou-se de recursos teórico-metodológicos que permitiram a documentação da diversidade linguística lexical desses espaços geográficos no presente e, por conseguinte, descrever um recorte da linguagem efetivamente usada pela comunidade para representar o mundo que a cerca. Dentre eles, a pesquisa de campo para o recolhimento do corpus oral. Essa recolha se fez em dois momentos distintos, primeiramente colheram-se narrativas livres tomadas junto a vinte pioneiros dos quatro pontos de inquérito. Em seguida aplicaramse 210 questões a quarenta sujeitos de ambos os gêneros, e divididos entre vinte migrantes, todos acima de 50 anos, e vinte descendentes nascidos na região (filhos ou netos), de 18 a 40 anos. As questões foram elaboradas a partir dos relatos de experiência pessoal recolhidos e amparadas, fundamentalmente, na versão final do questionário linguístico direcionado ao aspecto semântico-lexical (QSL) aprovada pelo Comitê Nacional do Projeto ALiB (2001). Com as respostas obtidas nestas entrevistas, organizou-se um banco de dados semântico-lexical, transcritos e registrados, posteriormente, em Tabelas Lexicais e Cartogramas. Desses registros de itens lexicais, selecionaram-se 36, aos quais foram tecidas observações de natureza geográfica e sociocultural. O olhar analítico dado permitiu que se apreendessem as influências étnicas e regionais que constituíram e ainda constituem o português falado no norte de Mato Grosso. Essas influências podem se resumidas na junção de todos os idioletos trazidos pelos migrantes de seus Estados de origem. Ressalta-se, ainda, que, para se chegar aos resultados alcançados e apresentados nesta pesquisa, foram utilizados 10 referenciais teóricos que se fundamentaram na teoria da variação de Labov, na concepção de norma de Coseriu e nas noções de estatística lexical de Muller, ainda que devidamente adaptadas à especificidade deste estudo. Assim sendo, compreende-se que esta pesquisa descritiva, interpretativa e reflexiva do caráter multidialetal existente na região em foco, pode contribuir com o acervo científico já existente de estudos geosócio- linguísticos, que visam a registrar e a documentar os diferentes falares e marcas dialetais existentes no território brasileiro. / This thesis, which is based both on the contemporary Geo-linguistic principles and on the variationist socio-linguistics, aims to mull over the Portuguese language spoken in four towns in the North of Mato Grosso (Vera, Santa Carmem, Sinop and Cláudia) and, it presents the transcription cataloguing, records and analyses of lexical variations used by the dwellers of those towns. In order to do so, theoretical-methodological resources have been used, which allowed the documentation of the lexical linguistic diversity of the referred geographical spaces at the present time. Consequently we could describe a snippet of the language effectively used by the community to represent their surrounding world. Among them, the field research which helped us gather the oral corpus. This collection took place in two distinct moments, first the free narratives were gathered involving twenty pioneers from the four towns. Next a 210-item-questionnaire was applied to forty both male and female individuals, divided in 20 migrants all above 50 of age, and 20 descendents born in the region (children or grandchildren), between 18 to 40 years of age. The questions were worked out based on the reports of their personal experience gathered and fundamentally supported on the final version of the linguistic questionnaire aiming the semantic-lexical aspect (QSL), approved by the National Committee of the ALIB Project (2001). With the answers obtained through these interviews we have organized a semantic-lexical data bank, transcribed and registered later on in Lexical Tables and Cartograms. From these registries of lexical items, 36 words were selected, on which we have made remarks both of geographical and socio-cultural nature. The analytical regard allowed us to apprehend the regional and ethical influences that have constituted, and still do, the Portuguese spoken in the North of Mato Grosso. Such influences may be summed up in the junction of all idiolects brought by immigrants from their original states. It is worth pointing out that in order to get to the results gathered and presented in this research, the theoretical 12 references have been used, which were based on the variation theory by Labov; on the conception of precept by Coseriu, as well as on the lexical statistic notions by Muller, although properly adapted to the specificity of this study. Therefore, this descriptive interpretative and reflective research of the multi-dialectal aspect existent in the region in focus may contribute to the existing scientific patrimony of geo-socio-linguistic studies that aim to register and document the different ways of speaking and dialectal marks existing in the Brazilian territory.

Esta tese, que se fundamenta nos princípios da Geolinguística contemporânea e da Sociolinguística Variacionista, se propôs a refletir sobre a língua portuguesa falada em quatro cidades do norte mato-grossense (Vera, Santa Carmem, Sinop e Cláudia), e apresenta como resultados a transcrição, catalogação, registros e análises de variantes lexicais em uso pelos sujeitos moradores dessas cidades. Para tanto, utilizou-se de recursos teórico-metodológicos que permitiram a documentação da diversidade linguística lexical desses espaços geográficos no presente e, por conseguinte, descrever um recorte da linguagem efetivamente usada pela comunidade para representar o mundo que a cerca. Dentre eles, a pesquisa de campo para o recolhimento do corpus oral. Essa recolha se fez em dois momentos distintos, primeiramente colheram-se narrativas livres tomadas junto a vinte pioneiros dos quatro pontos de inquérito. Em seguida aplicaramse 210 questões a quarenta sujeitos de ambos os gêneros, e divididos entre vinte migrantes, todos acima de 50 anos, e vinte descendentes nascidos na região (filhos ou netos), de 18 a 40 anos. As questões foram elaboradas a partir dos relatos de experiência pessoal recolhidos e amparadas, fundamentalmente, na versão final do questionário linguístico direcionado ao aspecto semântico-lexical (QSL) aprovada pelo Comitê Nacional do Projeto ALiB (2001). Com as respostas obtidas nestas entrevistas, organizou-se um banco de dados semântico-lexical, transcritos e registrados, posteriormente, em Tabelas Lexicais e Cartogramas. Desses registros de itens lexicais, selecionaram-se 36, aos quais foram tecidas observações de natureza geográfica e sociocultural. O olhar analítico dado permitiu que se apreendessem as influências étnicas e regionais que constituíram e ainda constituem o português falado no norte de Mato Grosso. Essas influências podem se resumidas na junção de todos os idioletos trazidos pelos migrantes de seus Estados de origem. Ressalta-se, ainda, que, para se chegar aos resultados alcançados e apresentados nesta pesquisa, foram utilizados 10 referenciais teóricos que se fundamentaram na teoria da variação de Labov, na concepção de norma de Coseriu e nas noções de estatística lexical de Muller, ainda que devidamente adaptadas à especificidade deste estudo. Assim sendo, compreende-se que esta pesquisa descritiva, interpretativa e reflexiva do caráter multidialetal existente na região em foco, pode contribuir com o acervo científico já existente de estudos geosócio- linguísticos, que visam a registrar e a documentar os diferentes falares e marcas dialetais existentes no território brasileiro. / This thesis, which is based both on the contemporary Geo-linguistic principles and on the variationist socio-linguistics, aims to mull over the Portuguese language spoken in four towns in the North of Mato Grosso (Vera, Santa Carmem, Sinop and Cláudia) and, it presents the transcription cataloguing, records and analyses of lexical variations used by the dwellers of those towns. In order to do so, theoretical-methodological resources have been used, which allowed the documentation of the lexical linguistic diversity of the referred geographical spaces at the present time. Consequently we could describe a snippet of the language effectively used by the community to represent their surrounding world. Among them, the field research which helped us gather the oral corpus. This collection took place in two distinct moments, first the free narratives were gathered involving twenty pioneers from the four towns. Next a 210-item-questionnaire was applied to forty both male and female individuals, divided in 20 migrants all above 50 of age, and 20 descendents born in the region (children or grandchildren), between 18 to 40 years of age. The questions were worked out based on the reports of their personal experience gathered and fundamentally supported on the final version of the linguistic questionnaire aiming the semantic-lexical aspect (QSL), approved by the National Committee of the ALIB Project (2001). With the answers obtained through these interviews we have organized a semantic-lexical data bank, transcribed and registered later on in Lexical Tables and Cartograms. From these registries of lexical items, 36 words were selected, on which we have made remarks both of geographical and socio-cultural nature. The analytical regard allowed us to apprehend the regional and ethical influences that have constituted, and still do, the Portuguese spoken in the North of Mato Grosso. Such influences may be summed up in the junction of all idiolects brought by immigrants from their original states. It is worth pointing out that in order to get to the results gathered and presented in this research, the theoretical 12 references have been used, which were based on the variation theory by Labov; on the conception of precept by Coseriu, as well as on the lexical statistic notions by Muller, although properly adapted to the specificity of this study. Therefore, this descriptive interpretative and reflective research of the multi-dialectal aspect existent in the region in focus may contribute to the existing scientific patrimony of geo-socio-linguistic studies that aim to register and document the different ways of speaking and dialectal marks existing in the Brazilian territory.

A self-educated shepherd, Scottish writer James Hogg (1770-1835) spoke from a position outside the dominant discourse, depicting issues of his age related to gender, class, and ethnicity by giving voice to people from the margins and, thus (either consciously or unconsciously), revealing gender politics and Britain's imperial aims. Hogg’s contemporary critics received his work rather negatively, viewing his subjects such as prostitution, out-of-wedlock-pregnancy, infanticide, and the violence of war as violating the principles of literary politeness. Hogg’s obstinacy in addressing these issues, however, supports the thesis that his aim was far more significant than challenging the expectations of his contemporary readers. This project shows that pragmatics can be applied productively to literature because its eclecticism offers the possibility of developing a detailed discussion about three aspects of literary communication—the author, the reader and the text—without prioritising any of them. Literature is an instance of language in use (the field of pragmatics) where an author creates the texts and a reader recreates the author’s message through the text. Analysis of Hogg’s flouting of Grice’s maxims for communication strategies and of his defying the principles of politeness enables a theoretically supported discussion about Hogg’s possible intentions, as well as about how his intentions were perceived by the literary establishment of his time; while both relevance theory and Bakhtin’s socio-linguistics enriched by a historically contextualised politeness shed new light on the negative reception of Hogg’s texts.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre d'une sociolinguistique interpersonnelle et s'intéresse à la construction dynamique de la personne, à travers les symbolisations verbales qu'elle produit, dans un milieu pluriculturel et plurilingue. Elle se situe à la croisée d'une science des sujets, encore à construire, et d'une socio-pragmatique, sans refuser d'emprunter à la psychologie sociale ses concepts les plus utiles. S'il nous fallait définir de manière plus précise le cadre épistémologique qui est le nôtre, nous dirions qu'il s'apparente à une sociolinguistique du conflit structurant dans les relations interpersonnelles des sujets. La parole construit l'individu ou, plutôt pourrait-on dire, que la personne se construit par la parole et dans l'altérité. Ainsi mêlons-nous ici la linguistique pragmatique à toutes les disciplines qui se sont intéressées à la construction identitaire. Par cet apport transdisciplinaire nous mettons en évidence la complexité d'une thématique incluant un sujet, lui-même complexe et indivisible intégrant la langue et la personne. Nous nous intéressons plus spécifiquement à l'usage des langues dans une situation de conflit structurant (avec l'autre, avec soi) et à celui de la médiation langagière dans ce milieu tensionnel de la personne face à un autrui déstabilisant. Notre outil privilégié dans le cadre de cette recherche se trouve être l'analyse textuelle (textes issus de la transcription d'entretiens) dont nous redéfinissons les contours et pour laquelle nous proposons un outil de compréhension. Ce travail est fait d'un va et vient constant entre théorie et pratique. Nous pensons, en effet, que ces deux mouvements s'enrichissent mutuellement. Si la connaissance de notre objet est un des objectifs de notre thèse, nous visons aussi à élaborer et tester des outils épistémologiques, méthodologiques, transférables dans d'autres situations. Nous souhaitons ainsi montrer dans cette recherche que la personne se construit de manière dynamique dans l'entre-deux du dire et de l'action, au hasard des rencontres et des identifications partielles. Ce qui fait d'elle un être toujours singulier pris dans les affects, les représentations, dans des discours aux significations multiples qui la fondent symboliquement. / This thesis explores, within an interpersonal socio-linguistics framework, the dynamic construction of a person, through the verbal symbols produced in a multicultural and multilingual environment. It is at the meeting point of a science of subjectivity, yet to be developed, and socio-pragmatics, borrowing also from social psychology’s most useful concepts. Our epistemological framework is related to a socio-linguistics of structuring conflicts in interpersonal relations since words shape individuals, or, rather, a person is built through words and within otherness. Ours is a combination of pragmatic linguistics and all the disciplines interested in the construction of identity. Through this trans-disciplinary approach, our research shows the complexity of an individual, complex and indivisible, integrating language and person. Our specific focus is on the usage of languages in situations of structuring conflicts (with others and the self) and on language mediation in stressful situations where a person is facing destabilising others. Textual analysis (of texts issued from transcriptions of interviews) is our main scientific device, adapted for this research and for which some new comprehension tools are suggested, in a constant back and forth movement between theory and practice as the two points of view are mutually enriching. If investigating our hypotheses is one of the objectives of our work, we aim also at developing and testing epistemological and methodological tools transferable to other situations. This research thus is an attempt to understand how a person is built dynamically between speech and action, random encounters and partial identifications. That makes an individual a unique being, with affects, representations and speeches with multiple interpretations which root him or her symbolically and socially.

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to examine how parents in Sweden at the beginning of the twenty-first century use the process of naming as a resource to contribute to the creation of various identities for both themselves and their child. It is based on a two-component study — a postal survey and qualitative group interviews, both conducted in the city of Göteborg, Sweden — and includes parents with children born during 2007 and 2008. By combining different sources (names, surveys and interviews) and different methods (quantitative and qualitative), this study attempts to elucidate how first names and choices of first names can be given various social meanings. In contrast to previous socio-onomastic studies, this study considers not only whether naming contains any social variation, but also how and why such variation arises. The theoretical framework is a combination of onomastic, sociolinguistic, identity-theoretical and interactional theories. The results demonstrate that parents’ choice of first names for their children is an important social act. Through name choices and discussions of these choices, parents create what is known as social positioning, which in turn contributes to the creation of certain identities both for themselves and their child. A number of resources are identified which are used by parents to create different social positionings. This study also demonstrates how both macro-societal structures and interactional aspects influence this social positioning. Finally, this study argues that the observed social variation is best explained by the parents’ desire to identify with and contribute to the creation of different models for society, in which varying social values and attributes are important.

Text in Afrikaans / In hierdie verhandeling word skoolname as onderafdeling van die Onomastiek behandel. Die gee van skoolname is 'n amptelike aangeleentheid en daarom is die beleid onderliggend aan die handeling onder die loep geneem. Beleid bepaal die ortografiese aard van skoolname en die manifestasie daarvan is sosiolinguisties van belang. Skoolname, wat onder eiename ressorteer, is hoofsaaklik oor 'n semantiese en sosiolinguistiese boeg gegooi, daarom word terme soos verwysing, konvensie en agtergrondbeskrywing aan die hand van veral die teoriee van Devitt, Strawson en Kripke beskryf. Van Langendonck le veral klem op die pragmatiese aard van die eienaam en daarom vorm sy teorie, die hetekenisparadoks van die eienaam, 'n belangrike uitgangspunt by die konsepsuele en pragmatiese aard van skoolname. Die gee van name is In suiwer menslike handeling wat selde ooit ongemotiveer geskied. Die ontstaansmotiewe wat skoolnaamgewing ten grondslag le, word bespreek aan die hand van die verskillende kategoriee. Botsende sosiale faktore soos veral teweeggebring deur kulturele diversiteit beinvloed naamgewing en daarom verander name. Die faktore onderliggend aan naamsverandering word uitgelig en bespreek. Die moontlikheid om ten spyte van 'n multikulturele en multilinguistiese samelewing tog 'n nasionale identiteit te vertoon, word ten slotte ondersoek en bespreek. / In this dissertation, names of schools as a subdivision of Onomastics are dealt with. School names are researched mainly under the cloak of Semantics and Socio-linguistics. Therefore, terms like reference, convention and a backing of descriptions are referred to according to the theories of Devitt, Strawson and Kripke. Van Langendonck specifically emphasises the pragmatic nature of proper nouns in his theory the paradox of the meaning of proper nouns which is an important point of departure in the conceptual and pragmatic nature of the names of schools. The underlying motives in respect of school naming are categorized and discussed according to the motives of origin. Conflicting social factors play an important role in the naming of schools and therefore names also change. These changes are accentuated and discussed. The possibility for a country to reflect a national identity in spite of a multicultural and multilingual society, is explored and discussed. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)