The main claim defended is that a notion of discursive rationality emerges from the framework of Austinian speech act theory, and, moreover, is an appropriate tool for the resolution of the identified normativity problem. I thus propose a qualified endorsement of an approach owed in large part to Habermas's concept of communicative action.

Language is a form of human expression. It is the way people communicate with one another to express thoughts, ideas, decisions, desires and essentially to relay information successfully. There are numerous types of language, perhaps the most common of which are the written and spoken languages. Other forms include sign language, Braille and even primitive smoke signals. The term language comes via French, from the Latin word lingua meaning tongue. Even today, the spoken language is often referred to as tongue. It is not known exactly when language began or even how it began, although a common theory is that it began as an imitation of natural sounds of animals such as grunts, groans, whistles and barks. What is known, however, is that language changes everyday as it is influenced by human and historical changes. Words that exist in our vocabulary today did not exist for example a hundred years ago. Nor, perhaps, will they exist a hundred years from now. This is the same for all languages around the world, including the Italian language. Since the beginning of Italian history, Italians have spoken innumerable varieties of language. Discussions concerning these countless varieties could continue incessantly; and for this reason it is important to outline immediately the aim of this discussion. Throughout the ensuing chapters, all information gathered and analysed, has been done in order to achieve one aim: to discuss the existence of a standard Italian language in Australia as well as various dialects and regional varieties, and to analyse its promotion since Italian immigration to Australia. There is an immense wealth of information about Italian and English languages and so it is my objective not to be lost in general discussion but rather to adhere to my main aim as closely as possible / Master of Arts in Interpreting and Translation

This investigation into the origins of Scottish Standard English in the eighteenth century is conducted using the correspondence of James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife, to his factor William Rose over a 26 year period in the late eighteenth century, supported by biographical and historical linguistic data. The presence in Fife's writing of contemporaneously identified Scotticisms has been used as an indication of Fife's use of Scots language. A linguistic analysis of the Scotticisms found in Fife's writing showed no restriction in the use of any linguistic category. A quantitative investigation as to which extralinguistic factors of influence promoted the use of Scotticisms showed that the topic of Fife's communication was the greatest influence on his of Scotticisms but that purpose also played a part in determining his Scots language use. Fife's use of Scotticisms was also influenced by his social networks, with an increase in Scots lexicon in letters from Scotland and an increase in Scots syntax when there was no social pressure present to maintain Standard English. A qualitative analysis of Fife's use of Scotticisms showed that he employed Scots variants for pragmatic purposes. Referring to theories of second language acquisition and language contact, these results were interpreted to suggest that Fife maintained the Scots language of his childhood and acquired Standard English by education to become a bilingual adult, although from the relatively standardised nature of his writing. it appears that some vernacular shift had taken place throughout his lifetime. The evidence from Fife's correspondence suggests that any Scots language remaining in the otherwise generally Standard English in Scotland might be due to incomplete shift to Standard English, requirements of register, and pragmatically motivated selection of Scots. All these options require that the emerging speakers of Scottish Standard English had a degree of bilingualism in Scots and English.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-71).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-71). Also available in print.

M.A. / The aim of this dissertation is to establish the relevance, if not, of the debate surrounding standard and non-standard language with specific reference to the current South African situation. Some background to the debate is provided by means of a concise study of literature where opposing perspectives of several South African and foreign linguists are analysed. The debate is consequently viewed from an educational perspective. Attention is also paid to extra-linguistic factors currently influencing the unique linguistic situation in South Africa; South Africa's membership of Africa as well as its twenty-first century time-spirit comes under scrutiny. An empirical study tries to establish attitudes of a group tertiary college students towards varieties of English, i.e. Standard English, Black English Vernacular and Black South African English. Certain deductions are made from all aquired information whereupon some recommendations follow.

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Arts

This thesis presents an analysis of third person accusative pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese. With the aim to analyze the variation between the use of standard (prescribed by normative grammar) and non-standard pronouns found in oral language, I gathered data from three kinds of TV show (news, non-scripted and soap-opera) in order to determine which form of pronoun is more common and if there is any linguistic and/or sociolinguistic factors that will influence on their usage. Based on data collected, I demonstrate that non-standard forms are favored in general and that the rules prescribed by normative grammar involving standard forms are only followed in specific contexts. Among all the variables considered for the analysis, the ones that showed to be significant were the kind of show, the context of the utterance, the socio-economic status of the speaker and verbs in the infinitive. Considering my results, I provide a discussion regarding to which extent the distribution of the 3rd-person pronouns on TV reflect their use by Brazilians and a brief discussion of other issues related to my findings conclude this work. / February 2016

Dissertation (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation offers metalexicographical criteria for the compilation of standard translation dictionaries in non-standardized languages. It particularly focuses on the role that the proposed dictionary model can play in the language standardization, with special reference to Fang. These criteria are based on different theoretical frameworks. Criteria for the dictionary structure are particularly based on Hausmann & Wiegand's General Theory of Lexicography, while a discussion of the role that dictionaries can play in the standardization process of languages is particularly based on criteria introduced by Zgusta. This dissertation is structured as follows: • Chapter 1, Introduction and problem statement, presents the motivation for the choice of the present topic, as well as the theoretical frameworks that I use to build my metalexicographical criteria. • Chapter 2, Fang and its dialects, focuses on the concerned language and its dialects. Apart from a historical overview of the Fang people, a wide inventory of works that have been implemented in Fang, as well as the choice and the motivation of the standard dialect are presented. • Chapter 3, Dictionaries and corpora, highlights the strong relationship between the compilation of modern dictionaries and electronic corpora. More precisely this chapter intends to demonstrate the importance of electronic corpora in the lexicographic practice. In this regard, the importance of some software and new corpus methods are also demonstrated. • Chapter 4, Aspects of the dictionary structure, mainly focuses on different structures of the dictionary and how data should be spread and organized in each dictionary component. A detailed account is given of the structure of each dictionary component. • Chapter 5, Dictionaries and standardization, focuses on the main purpose of the dissertation and demonstrates why and how the dictionary can be an instrument in the standardization process of languages, with specific reference to Fang. • Chapter 6, Concluding remarks, reviews all chapters by highlighting the focal points of each of them. Some perspectives or potential new developments are foreseen in order to pave the way for the elaboration of new theoretical frameworks and the improvement of the proposed dictionary model. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif bied metaleksikografiese kriteria vir die samestelling van standaard vertalende woordeboeke vir nie-gestandaardiseerde tale. Die fokus is veralop die rol wat die voorgestelde woordeboekmodel kan speel in taalstandaardisering, met spesifieke verwysing van Fang. Hierdie kriteria is gebaseer op verskillende teoretiese raamwerke. Kriteria vir die woordeboekstruktuur is veral gebaseer op Hausmann en Wiegand se algemene leksikografieteorie, terwyl 'n bespreking van die rol van woordeboeke in die standaardiseringsproses van tale veral gebaseer is op kriteria wat deur Zgusta voorgestel is. Die proefskrif is soos volg saamgestel: • Hoofstuk 1 bied 'n motivering vir die keuse van die betrokke onderwerp asook vir die teoretiese raamwerke waarvolgens die metaleksikografiese kriteria geformuleer is. • Hoofstuk 2 fokus op die betrokke taal, Fang, en sy dialekte. Naas 'n historiese oorsig van die Fang sprekers word 'n wye keuse uit die Fang literatuur asook die keuse van 'n standaarddialek aan die orde gestel. • Hoofstuk 3 wys op die sterk verhouding tussen die samestelling van 'n moderne woordeboek en elektroniese korpora. Hierdie hoofstuk benadruk die belang van elektroniese korpora vir die leksikografiese praktyk. In hierdie verband word daar ook verwys na die belang van sekere sagtewareprodukte asook nuwe korpusmetodes. • Hoofstuk 4 is veral gerig op die verskillende woordeboekstrukture en op hoe data versprei en in die verskillende woordeboekkomponente aangebied moet word. Die struktuur van elke woordeboekkomponent word in besonderhede bespreek. • Hoofstuk 5 fokus op die hoofdoel van die proefskrif en wys hoe en waarom In woordeboek, met spesifieke verwysing na die situasie van Fang, In instrument kan wees in die taa Istandaardiseri ngsproses. • Hoofstuk 6 gee In oorsig oor die voorafgaande hoofstukke en wys op sekere belangrike aspekte wat bespreek is. Nuwe ontwikkelinge wat voorsien word om die weg te baan vir die ontwerp van nuwe teoretiese raamwerke ter verbetering van die voorgestelde model word beklemtoon.

The thesis deals with the language practices of French-speaking reggae singers. The work investigates how Jamaican musical inspiration came to the French scene, and which phonetic, morphosyntactic and especially lexical devices are found there. An inseparable object of research, equally undescribed, was the vernacular of francophone reggae fans. The empirical part investigates a random sample of French reggae (approx. 50 thousand words). The songs differ geographically, chronologically (1979-2010) and musically (roots, raggamuffin, dancehall). The research not only focuses on popular and colloquial French, slang, urban language, musical influence or poetry, but also on the coherence between themes and functions fulfilled by francophone reggae. A list of neologisms shows preferences in lexicogenic processes. Furthermore, the method includes a web survey answered by 189 French-speaking reggae fans, who represent the 'new speech' community. As a result, the hypothesis of a new vernacular, independent from rap, is confirmed. The specific hybridity is defined by code switching and more than a hundred English and Jamaican borrowings, which are commonly used by the fans.