Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Diss. 2003--Barcelona, 2003. / Bibliografía: p. [249]-265.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 224-232).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-45).

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This historical sociolinguistic study investigates the language of English seamen in the seventeenth century. Built on language data compiled from log books (Matthews 1935) and a survey of the maritime population from 1582, the author argues that the seafaring community had developed its own sociolect, which was based on the dialects of Southern England. Writers (e.g. Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe) and historians describe this “Ship English”: [S]ailors stood out from landsmen in a variety of ways. In the first place by their dress [...] Sailors were also recognisable by their speech, in which technical terms, slang and oaths had thickened to produce a private language. (Burke 1996:44-45) Following Ross and Bailey (1988), the author argues that this sociolect emerged from dialect contact (Trudgill 2004) aboard ship, with Southern dialects as the major input varieties: Several phonological features of Southern Early Modern English (e.g. diphthongization of Middle English /u:/ and /a:/, split of /u/ into /ʌ/ and /ʊ/, /w/-/v/ interchange) are pervasive in the data. Apart from being a interesting case study in itself, the results might be of importance for research on pidgins and creoles and colonial dialects: it has been argued (Hancock 1976) that nautical English has had a profound impact on the emergence of anglophone creoles because it – rather than some kind of Standard English – was the actual “superstrate” variety for most creoles. For the same reason, it might have influenced the emergence of the overseas varieties of English. / text

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy

This study investigates a well-explored topic, the relationship between gender and language, with a unique set of data--Japanese translations of highly gendered discourse contexts in Cosmopolitan and Playboy magazines. In both magazines, being attractive, heterosexual (wo)men is one of the ultimate goals. Therefore, choosing the 'right' words and expressions to display their gender identities is expected to be important for the writers. For this reason, language use in both magazines is expected to correspond to hegemonic masculinities and femininities in today's Japan.Comparative analysis of the two languages is limited to an examination of the use of passive voice. The results suggest one gender-specific constraint--Japanese women avoid maintaining the inanimate subject of English passive sentences--and one language-specific constraint--Japanese passive sentences are preferred when the speakers discuss their personal relationships.In addition to the comparative analysis of passives in English and Japanese, gender differences for the Japanese data are also examined in other linguistic aspects. Over 14,000 Japanese sentences from Cosmopolitan Japan and Playboy Japan were divided into three groups of senders (authors)--male, female, and editorial--and compared in relation to the following three aspects: person referential forms, sentence endings, and directive expressions. The results suggest that male senders of both magazines are moderately masculine, while female senders of both magazines are extremely feminine. This may suggest that sociocultural pressure on Japanese women to preserve their 'women's language' is strong, while such pressure is not obvious with men's language use.This study further argues that male-centered and female-centered discourse communities in the two magazines provide their readers not only sociocultural conventions of language use, but also gender-specific socialization experiences and different senses of preferred social structures. More specifically, the readers of Cosmopolitan Japan learn the importance of peer approval, and the importance of gender difference, hierarchy, and politeness as a part of femininity. However, they may not learn how to make femininity and power coexist. In contrast, the readers of Playboy Japan learn the value of independence and may learn that gender and hierarchy/power are not rigid and that one can be simultaneously feminine and powerful, and masculine and polite.