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This dissertation reexamines the assumption that regards the language of a text to be primarily discursive and propositional, signifying the antecedents to its real world, whether real or hypothetical. It will be argued that such an assumption reduces the meaning of the text to the nexus of its historical relationships. A methodological reconsideration sets out to reconceive the text of I John as a function of language, i.e., a communicative event encapsulating a series of speech acts which constitute the subjectivity of both writer and reader/hearer and which make truth claims about the world and about God though scarcely in propositional form. Important to this re-evaluation is J. L. Austin's fundamental observation that linguistic sequences rather than describing actions, are themselves action where an appropriate circumstance and linguistic convention delimit the potential speech acts possible within the limits of certain speech act circumstances. In addition, Jacques Derrida's significant conclusion that the act of writing is constitutive of the writing subject is linked with Donald Evan's realization of the self-involving character of religious language in which speech acts of the commissive, expressive, representative, and directive types and their implicature play a primary role in making explicit intention and attitude.

Four areas of morphosyntax in Arabic-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) were investigated: tense, subject-verb agreement, determiners, and prepositions. Spontaneous production data were analyzed for accuracy and error types in using these morphemes. Two groups of typically-developing Arabic-speaking children served as Mean Length Utterance (MLU)-matched and chronological age-matched controls. The results indicate that Arabic-speaking children with SLI were significantly different from the two control groups of children on percentage correct use of tense and subject-verb agreement. Furthermore, when an error in verbal inflection occurred, the substitute form was usually an underspecified/default form, namely the imperative. / The findings of the study are discussed in light of existing theoretical accounts of SLI. Three positions are examined: (a) tense marking constitutes the locus of SLI grammatical difficulties (Extended Optional Infinitive hypothesis, Rice & Wexler, 1996); (b) morphosyntactic problems stem from deficits in agreement relations (Grammatical Agreement Deficit account, Clahsen, 1989; Clahsen, Bartke, & Gollner, 1997); and (c) trouble with inflectional morphology is less pronounced in children with SLI acquiring richly inflected languages (Sparse Morphology account, Leonard, Bortolini, Caselli, McGregor, & Sabbadim, 1992). Special characteristics of Arabic such as its intricate morphological system and null subject properties make it particularly valuable in determining universal versus language-specific aspects of SLI. Clinical implications for SLI in Arabic and directions for future research are also explored.

Infant vocalization undergoes dramatic changes during the transition from newborn cooing and infant babbling toward the production of meaningful speech. However, the processes underlying these changes are not fully understood, particularly at the age at which ambient language input begins to influence infant babbling. The aim of this study was to describe the babbling produced by Arabic infants―using acoustic and phonetic metrics―and then examine the effects of linguistic environmental input on babbling by comparing the babble produced by Arabic infants to that produced by English and French infants. Speech samples were collected from infants learning Arabic (N = 31; age: 281-591 days), English (N = 20; age: 303-553 days) or French (N = 23; age: 311-566 days). Each utterance was transcribed according to the International Phonetic Alphabet and then coded according to infraphonological categories. Two studies were conducted. Study one aimed to describe the vowel space of Arabic infants and then compare it to the vowel space of English and French infants. First (F1) and second (F2) formant frequencies were identified in all vowels produced with full resonance, normal phonation, and speech-like duration. These F1 and F2 frequencies were used to calculate the compact-diffuse (F2 - F1) and grave-acute ([F2+F1]/2) values for each vowel so that the extreme corners of each infant's vowel space could be identified. Multiple regression and analysis of variance analyses were used to examine the effects of language and age on the infant vowel space (centre, corners, and area of the space). Developmental changes in the expansion of the vowel space toward the grave corner were observed in all language groups. In addition, a language-specific pattern of changes on the vowel space were observed with age: Arabic infants showed unchanged F1 and F2 values at the centre of the space, expansion toward the compact corner, a larger vowel space than infants in the other language groups at all ages studied; French infants showed a decreased F1 and unchanged F2 values at the centre, an expansion toward the diffuse corner, and a shrinking from the acute corner toward the center of the vowel space; and English infants showed decreased F2 values but unchanged F1 values at the centre of the vowel space. Study two aimed to describe the consonantal repertoires of Arabic infants and then compare these consonantal repertoires across three infant language groups. Infants were organized into three age groups (10-12, 12-15 and 15-18 months), and the consonants produced in canonical (CS) and marginal (MS) syllables with normal phonation were grouped into manner and place categories. Analysis of variance revealed no significant crosslinguistic differences in the frequency of production of any manner or place categories.This study showed developmental and language-specific changes in the infant vowel space when vowels were submitted to acoustic analysis. However, early crosslinguistic differences in vowel space were not accompanied by crosslinguistic differences in the consonantal repertoires based on phonetic transcription analyses. The overall findings from the current study provide evidence for the interactional hypothesis and suggest that the development of infant babbling is influenced by a complex interaction of endogenous and exogenous processes including biological development of the vocal tract and language input from the ambient environment. / La vocalisation du nourrisson subit des changements importants, du gazouillis du nouveau-né et du babillage du bébé vers la production de la parole significative. Cependant, on ne comprend pas entièrement les processus sous-jacents à ces changements, en particulier l'âge auquel l'acquisition de la langue ambiante commence à influencer le babillage. L'objectif principal de cette étude était de décrire le babillage des tout-petits apprenant l'arabe à l'aide de mesures acoustiques et phonétiques et d'examiner les effets de l'apport de l'environnement linguistique sur le babillage infantile en comparant le babil produit par les jeunes enfants arabes à celui d'enfants apprenant l'anglais ou le français. Des échantillons de parole ont été recueillis auprès de jeunes enfants apprenant l'arabe (N=31; tranche d'âge: 281-591 jours), l'anglais (N=20; tranche d'âge: 303-553 jours) ou le français N=23; tranche d'âge: 311 à 566 jours). Chaque énoncé a été transcrit conformément à l'API, puis codé selon les catégories infraphonologiques.Deux expériences ont été menées. La première visait à décrire l'espace vocalique acoustique des jeunes enfants arabes, et de le comparer à celui de jeunes enfants anglais et français. Les 1res (F1) et 2es (F2) fréquences de formants ont été identifiées dans toutes les voyelles produites avec pleine résonance, phonation normale et durée comme celle de la parole. F1 et F2 ont été utilisées pour calculer les valeurs compact-diffus (F2 - F1) et grave-aigu ([F2 + F1] / 2) pour chaque voyelle, pour identifier les coins extrêmes de l'espace vocalique de chaque enfant. La régression multiple et l'observation des analyses de variance ont été utilisées pour examiner les effets de la langue et de l'âge sur l'espace vocalique infantile (centre, coins, et zone de l'espace). Des changements développementaux dans l'expansion de l'espace vocalique vers le coin grave ont été observés dans tous les groupes linguistiques. De plus, un modèle de changements spécifique au langage de l'espace vocalique a été observé avec l'âge: les enfants arabes ont montré des valeurs F1 et F2 inchangées au centre de l'espace, une expansion vers le coin compact, un espace vocalique plus grand que les enfants des autres groupes de tous les âges étudiés. Les enfants français ont montré une diminution de F1 et des valeurs F2 inchangées au centre, une expansion vers le coin diffus, et un rétrécissement du coin aigu vers le centre de l'espace vocalique et les enfants anglais ont montré une diminution des valeurs F2 et des valeurs F1 inchangées au centre de l'espace vocalique. La deuxième expérience visait à décrire les répertoires consonantiques des enfants arabes et de comparer ces répertoires consonantiques dans trois groupes linguistiques de jeunes enfants. Les consonnes qui ont été produites dans les syllabes canoniques (CS) et marginales (MS) avec la phonation normale ont été incluses dans l'analyse. Les enfants ont été divisés en trois groupes (10-12, 12-15 et 15-18 mois), et les consonnes, regroupées en catégories phonétiques en fonction de la manière et du lieu de production. L'analyse de variance n'a pas révélé de différences significatives translinguistiques dans la fréquence de production pour toutes catégories de manière ou lieu.L'étude a montré des changements développementaux et spécifiques au langage dans l'espace vocalique des tout-petits quand les voyelles ont été soumises à une analyse acoustique. Cependant, des différences translinguistiques précoces dans l'espace vocalique n'étaient pas accompagnées par des différences translinguistiques dans les répertoires consonantiques selon les analyses de transcription phonétique. L'étude actuelle a fourni des preuves de l'hypothèse interactionnelle et suggère que le développement du babillage infantile est influencé par une interaction complexe des processus endogènes et exogènes, notamment le développement biologique du conduit vocal et la langue de l'environnement ambiant.

Mötley Crüe is a glam metal cult group that was popular mostly during the 1980s. They are still well-known for their decadent lifestyle. Since 2001, the four members of the band (Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil and Mick Mars) have published no less than six autobiographies, amounting to a dense and varied autobiographical project. This doctoral dissertation examines Mötley Crüe's autobiographical project in terms of its performativity, or in other words, its accomplishments. The mythical narratives that are told act on rock culture on four levels in particular: sex, drugs, rock n' roll and wisdom. In order to understand what Mötley Crüe's autobiographical discourses mean, I chose to do close readings of numerous passages which offer us narratives taking us into their debauched lives, and rely on the many "I"'s weaved into the text. As a contribution to cultural studies, my analysis of these different narratives benefits from the theoretical input of many fields of research, including communication studies, gender studies, literature, sociology and art history. This research shows that rock culture has moved to welcome sensational discourses (sensational both in terms of the bodily sensations described and the strong impressions these discourses create), like those articulated in the autobiographies (and the first, in particular) by members of Mötley Crüe. At the same time, the group's later autobiographies reveal another movement: their autobiographical discourses correspond more and more with the values through which rock culture is consecrated, as they speak more and more of their songs, their artistic visions and their creativity. / Mötley Crüe est un groupe culte de glam metal qui a surtout été populaire pendant la décennie 1980, et qui demeure connu à ce jour pour le style de vie débauché de ses membres. Depuis 2001, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil et Mick Mars ont publié un total de six autobiographies, ce qui constitue un projet autobiographique dense et varié. Cette thèse propose d'étudier le projet autobiographique du groupe Mötley Crüe du point de vue de sa performativité, autrement dit, sur le plan de ses accomplissements. Les récits mythiques qui y sont racontés agissent au sein de la culture rock à quatre niveaux : sexe, drogues, rock n' roll et sagesse. Pour comprendre ce que les discours autobiographiques des membres de Mötley Crüe signifient, j'ai opté pour des lectures rapprochées de plusieurs passages, constituant autant de récits immersifs sur leur vie décadante, mettant à profit les différents « je » tissés à même le texte. Mon projet de recherche relevant des cultural studies, l'analyse de ces différents récits passe par l'apport théorique de plusieurs champs de recherche, dont les études en communication, les gender studies, la littérature, la sociologie et l'histoire de l'art. Il ressort de cette recherche que la culture rock est maintenant différente et plus accueillante envers les discours sensationnalistes (compris comme les sensations corporelles et les fortes impressions que ces discours créent), tels que ceux articulés par les membres de Mötley Crüe dans leurs premières autobiographies. Par ailleurs, les dernières autobiographies du groupe révèlent un autre mouvement : leurs discours autobiographiques s'accordent de plus en plus avec les valeurs de la culture rock consacrée, alors qu'ils discourent à propos de leurs chansons, de leurs visions artistiques et de leur créativité.

Monolinguals harness language-specific prosodic cues for the purpose of segmenting out words from the speech stream. However, if and how bilinguals are able to do so in both their languages is less certain. 41 adult English-French bilinguals heard streams of both English- and French- accented nonsense syllables, and then performed a recognition task for syllable sequences. There was no difference between the performance of English- and French- dominant bilinguals, nor between simultaneous versus sequential bilinguals. As a group, English-French bilinguals did show evidence of different segmentation strategies between the English and French language streams. It is therefore concluded that in certain conditions, bilinguals appear to be able to switch stress-based segmentation strategies between their languages. The use of the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) as a promising new method for measuring language dominance is also discussed. / Les monolingues utilisent les indices prosodiques spécifiques à la langue afin de pouvoir extraire les mots du flot de la parole continue. Toutefois, on n'est pas encore parvenu à expliquer si et comment les bilingues réussissent cette tâche perceptuelle dans leurs deux langues. 41 adultes bilingues anglais-français ont entendu deux flots de parole continue, composés de syllabes dépourvues de sens: un flot était énoncé avec une prononciation anglophone, l'autre avec une prononciation francophone. Ensuite, les participants ont subi une tâche de récognition pour des séquences de syllabes. La dominance d'une langue et l'âge d'acquisition de la deuxième langue n'influençaient point comment les adultes bilingues réagissaient à la tâche. Comme groupe, les bilingues anglais-français semblent alterner leur stratégie de segmentation selon la langue entendue . Nous concluons donc que les bilingues ne traitent pas leurs deux langues de façon identique, du moins dans certaines conditions. L'utilité du Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) comme une mesure nouvelle et prometteuse pour établir la langue dominante est également discutée.

Phonetic perception becomes native-like by 10 months of age. A potential mechanism of change, distributional learning, affects the perception of 6-8-month-old infants (Maye et al., 2002). However, it was anticipated that perception may be more difficult to change by 10 months of age, after native categories have developed. In fact, some evidence suggests that by this age, the presence of social interaction may be an important element in infants’ phonetic change (Kuhl et al., 2003). The current work advances the hypothesis that infants’ level of attention, which tends to be higher with social interaction, may be a salient factor facilitating phonetic change. Three experiments were designed to test infants’ phonetic plasticity at 10 months, after phonetic categories have formed. A non-social distributional learning paradigm was chosen, and infants’ attention was monitored to probe whether a facilitating role would be revealed. In Experiment 1, 10-month-old English-learning infants heard tokens from along a continuum that is no longer discriminated at this age that formed a distribution suggestive of a category boundary (useful distinction). The results failed to reveal evidence of discrimination, suggesting that the distributional information did not have any effect. A second experiment used slightly different sound tokens, ones that are farther from the typical English pronunciation and are heard less frequently in the language environment. Infants still failed to discriminate the sounds following the learning period. However, a median split revealed that the high attending infants evinced learning. Experiment 3 increased the length of the learning phase to allow all infants to become sufficiently high attending, and revealed phonetic change. Thus, after phonetic categories have formed, attention appears to be important in learning.

Previous research has revealed that very young infants discriminate most speech contrasts with which they are presented whether the contrasts are native or non-native while adults have difficulty discriminating non-native speech contrasts but easily discriminate those contrasts holding meaningful (phonemic) status in their native language. Several studies have shown that this reorganization in phonetic perception from language-general perception to language-specific perception occurs at about 10 to 12 months: infants this age attend only to native phonemic contrasts. It is of interest to determine if exposure to a phonetic variant plays an important role in influencing perception. We know from previous research that absence of exposure does not always lead to a lack of discrimination. This thesis was designed to determine if exposure per se maintains discriminability. To this end English-speaking adults and infants were tested using a phonetic distinction that does not hold phonemic status in English but does occur in English. This distinction involves the phonetic variants [da] and the stop produced following /s/ transcribed as [ta]. When tested in an identification procedure, English-speaking adults identify both [da] and (s)[ta] as members of one English phonemic category (i.e. [da]). When tested in a discrimination procedure and a category change procedure, adults discriminate (s) [ta] from [da] (albeit not as well as would be expected for a native phonemic contrast). With respect to infants, 6- to 8-month-olds discriminate this distinction revealing further support for broad-based phonetic perception at this age. However, 10- to 12-month-old infants do not discriminate, suggesting that the native phonemic status of the contrast (but not exposure) is the important factor in the reorganization. Discussion centers around how these results add to the existing literature and why infants of 10- to 12-months would fail to discriminate a native phonetic distinction.

<p> This study explores the lived experience of civilian nontherapists who voluntarily bear witness to veterans' first-person narratives of war in the United States. Mythology and anthropology demonstrate that listening to warriors' war stories was a common practice in many ancient and aboriginal societies. A growing body of contemporary study suggests today's veterans are best served by returning to civilian societies who listen to veterans and know their experiences. This research sought to document and understand the experience of civilian witnessing, its impact on witnesses, and whether or not the experience was valuable or perspective changing for the witnesses. The research deepens the understanding of the relationship between war veterans and civilian society and the communal holding of war memories. </p><p> Ethnographic, autoethnographic, and hermeneutic phenomenological methodological approaches were used, with the research process and data being viewed through the lenses of depth psychology and liberation psychology. Subjects for ethnographic study and opportunities for autoethnographic study were found through Soldier's Heart, a small nonprofit organization that regularly brings together civilians and veterans in retreat settings and in journeys that take veterans and civilian to places where wars were fought. Data were gathered through observation, conversation, formal interview, and the experiences of the researcher. </p><p> Bearing witness to the first-person narratives of veterans was a powerful and valuable experience for the witnesses represented in this study. Witnesses described the experience as a journey in which they moved from not listening to listening, from listening to hearing, from hearing to recognition, and from recognition to bearing witness. Witnesses reported gaining new insights about war, veterans, themselves, psyche, society and the importance of community. Witnesses reported new or deeper connections to veterans. For most witnesses, the experience challenged contemporary beliefs and practices about the relationship between veterans and civilians, and it brought new perspectives on the role nontherapists may play in veteran homecoming. While witnesses reported that the experience was at times difficult and painful, all found the experience personally valuable and saw the need for more civilians to become involved in listening to veterans. Keywords: witness, witnessing, bearing witness, veterans, narratives, storytelling, civilians.</p>

<p> How an organization responds to victims is central to crisis communication management and protecting organizational reputation. While there is significant literature about best practices for crisis response, one area which has not been explored is the relationship of empathic communication and corporate reputation during times of conflict. This study examined this relationship through a study of the British Petroleum Gulf Oil crisis of 2010. The qualitative study used focus groups with working professionals and personal interviews with communication experts. The research is grounded in Coombs' (1998) Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), and Benoit's (1977) image restoration theory, which is used to describe how organizations respond to accusations to maintain a favorable reputation. The study found that empathy during a crisis has a positive influence on corporate reputation. This study supplements the existing literature on best practices for crisis response strategies. The application of this research is valuable to organizations because it will help them handle crises, protect its stakeholders, improve the conditions of its victims, and preserve their reputation. Further research is necessary to determine if the use of empathy during non-crisis situations also has an impact on organizational reputation, and to explore the relationship between the role of empathy and corporate financial performance.</p>