This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the determinants for the optimal choice of contract terms on a unique type of debt instrument: Eurobonds. A discussion of corporate finance theories that postulate the use of debt contract features for mitigating financing inefficiencies provides the foundation for the development of the empirical investigation. More specifically, theories that associate the choice of debt features namely, maturity, call options, convertible options, and protective covenants with firm's and market's characteristics are discussed in detail. Emphasis is also given to the theoretical predictions about the interdependencies established between the debt features that are viewed as alternative control devises for mitigating debt-contracting costs. Panel data and simultaneous-equations estimation methods are used to regress the relevant debt features on a set of proxies for firm characteristics, market conditions, and related contract features for a sample of 377 Eurobonds issued by UK companies over the period 1986-1999. The evidence from both panel data and simultaneous-equations analyses provide strong support to the prediction that both callable and short-term debt and convertible and debt with protective covenants are used as alternative control devises to mitigate agency costs. Further evidence suggests, however, that contrary to the fundamentals guiding the choice of maturity and callability structures, the use of convertible options and protective covenants in Eurobond contracts seems to be determined by equity agency costs rather than debt agency costs. Some support is also found for the risk uncertainty theory underlying the use of convertibles and for the liquidity risk arguments regarding the choice of protective covenants. No support is found for signalling and interest tax-shield hypotheses. Some proposals for further research on debt contract design are identified and discussed.

This thesis investigates language acquisition and evolution, using the methodologies of Bayesian inference and expression-induction modelling, making specific reference to colour term typology, and syntactic acquisition. In order to test Berlin and Kay�s (1969) hypothesis that the typological patterns observed in basic colour term systems are produced by a process of cultural evolution under the influence of universal aspects of human neurophysiology, an expression-induction model was created. Ten artificial people were simulated, each of which was a computational agent. These people could learn colour term denotations by generalizing from examples using Bayesian inference, and the resulting denotations had the prototype properties characteristic of basic colour terms. Conversations between these people, in which they learned from one-another, were simulated over several generations, and the languages emerging at the end of each simulation were investigated. The proportion of colour terms of each type correlated closely with the equivalent frequencies found in the World Colour Survey, and most of the emergent languages could be placed on one of the evolutionary trajectories proposed by Kay and Maffi (1999). The simulation therefore demonstrates how typological patterns can emerge as a result of learning biases acting over a period of time. Further work applied the minimum description length form of Bayesian inference to modelling syntactic acquisition. The particular problem investigated was the acquisition of the dative alternation in English. This alternation presents a learnability paradox, because only some verbs alternate, but children typically do not receive reliable evidence indicating which verbs do not participate in the alternation (Pinker, 1989). The model presented in this thesis took note of the frequency with which each verb occurred in each subcategorization, and so was able to infer which subcategorizations were conspicuously absent, and so presumably ungrammatical. Crucially, it also incorporated a measure of grammar complexity, and a preference for simpler grammars, so that more general grammars would be learned unless there was sufficient evidence to support the incorporation of some restriction. The model was able to learn the correct subcategorizations for both alternating and non-alternating verbs, and could generalise to allow novel verbs to appear in both constructions. When less data was observed, it also overgeneralized the alternation, which is a behaviour characteristic of children when they are learning verb subcategorizations. These results demonstrate that the dative alternation is learnable, and therefore that universal grammar may not be necessary to account for syntactic acquisition. Overall, these results suggest that the forms of languages may be determined to a much greater extent by learning, and by cumulative historical changes, than would be expected if the universal grammar hypothesis were correct.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the je-ne-sais-quoi through its history and its pre-history. When we are moved by something we cannot identify, but whose effects we cannot fail to recognize, how should we try and come to terms with our experience? The je-ne-sais-quoi rises to prominence as a keyword in such discussions during the period studied. This thesis offers the first full-length study of the word and its significance to literary and philosophical writing of that period. It traces its precursors, its rise as a noun in mid-seventeenth-century France and England, and its fall from grace. Previous historical work has generally restricted the word's application to aesthetics; this study examines its significance in the philosophy of nature and the passions as well as culture. It combines historical method and philosophical enquiry to inform the close analysis of examples. The aim is to consider what the je-ne-sais-quoi is and how it finds expression in writing. A fourfold thesis is proposed, (i) The lexical je-ne-sais-quoi, in its core meaning, refers to an inexplicable force with sudden and vital effects, (ii) This force remains ever on the move by unsettling sedimented words, passing through current ones, and abandoning these as they too undergo sedimentation, (iii) The word history of the je-ne-sais-quoi,/em> encapsulates this movement. The term is first used to unsettle its semantic precursors (by Descartes and others), becomes current in writing of the mid-seventeenth century (that of Corneille and Pascal in particular), but soon settles into the sediment of polite culture (as Méré, Bouhours, and English Restoration comedy show), (iv) Returning the word to the mobile non-substantival forms of its pre-history in Montaigne, to whom a chapter-length study is devoted, uncovers a form of writing that captures the force of the je-ne-sais-quoi better than the settled word itself. The task of literature is to lend form to the je-ne-sais-quoi by naming it in its inexplicable reality and by describing how it falls, like a disaster, into our experience.

This thesis investigates language acquisition and evolution, using the methodologies of Bayesian inference and expression-induction modelling, making specific reference to colour term typology, and syntactic acquisition. In order to test Berlin and Kay�s (1969) hypothesis that the typological patterns observed in basic colour term systems are produced by a process of cultural evolution under the influence of universal aspects of human neurophysiology, an expression-induction model was created. Ten artificial people were simulated, each of which was a computational agent. These people could learn colour term denotations by generalizing from examples using Bayesian inference, and the resulting denotations had the prototype properties characteristic of basic colour terms. Conversations between these people, in which they learned from one-another, were simulated over several generations, and the languages emerging at the end of each simulation were investigated. The proportion of colour terms of each type correlated closely with the equivalent frequencies found in the World Colour Survey, and most of the emergent languages could be placed on one of the evolutionary trajectories proposed by Kay and Maffi (1999). The simulation therefore demonstrates how typological patterns can emerge as a result of learning biases acting over a period of time. Further work applied the minimum description length form of Bayesian inference to modelling syntactic acquisition. The particular problem investigated was the acquisition of the dative alternation in English. This alternation presents a learnability paradox, because only some verbs alternate, but children typically do not receive reliable evidence indicating which verbs do not participate in the alternation (Pinker, 1989). The model presented in this thesis took note of the frequency with which each verb occurred in each subcategorization, and so was able to infer which subcategorizations were conspicuously absent, and so presumably ungrammatical. Crucially, it also incorporated a measure of grammar complexity, and a preference for simpler grammars, so that more general grammars would be learned unless there was sufficient evidence to support the incorporation of some restriction. The model was able to learn the correct subcategorizations for both alternating and non-alternating verbs, and could generalise to allow novel verbs to appear in both constructions. When less data was observed, it also overgeneralized the alternation, which is a behaviour characteristic of children when they are learning verb subcategorizations. These results demonstrate that the dative alternation is learnable, and therefore that universal grammar may not be necessary to account for syntactic acquisition. Overall, these results suggest that the forms of languages may be determined to a much greater extent by learning, and by cumulative historical changes, than would be expected if the universal grammar hypothesis were correct.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Hamburg.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Erlangen, 1912. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-71).

Thesis (M. A. (Translation Studies and Linguistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / This mini dissertation investigate term creation in Northern Sotho/ Sepedi as a language. The research design for this study was exploratory because the researcher managed to determine the research design and data collected from the participants. The qualitative methodology was applied in this study to find in-depth knowledge on the investigation. The two samplings namely: random and purposive were used to select twenty participants such as teachers, lecturers, language practitioners, lexicographers and registered third year students of Northern Sotho at University of Limpopo. The study investigate various strategies in term creation namely: transliteration, semantic transfer, borrowing, paraphrasing, and many more. It was clear from the participants that transliteration and paraphrasing are mostly used in term creation. It is recommended that terms should be harvested by specialised individuals in order to perform term creation.

After the literature analysis has been performed, the present research states that terms are related with the scientific discourse, i.e. they are used exclusively by educated people. On the whole, the peculiarities of marketing terms and their translation into Lithuanian are analyzed here. Special attention is paid to the semantics of marketing terms, the issues related with the translation of marketing terms are discussed and the solutions to the issues are suggested in the thesis. / Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizavus mokslinę literatūrą konstatuojama, kad terminai – mokslinio diskurso, t.y. išsilavinusiu žmonių savastis. Taip pat šiame darbe nagrinėjami rinkodaros terminų ypatumai ir jų vertimas į lietuvių kalbą. Ypatingas dėmesys skiriamas rinkodaros terminų semantiniam dalykam, gilinamasi į problemas susijusias su rinkodaros terminų vertimu, bei pasiūlomos išeitys joms spręsti.

Linguistic terms and all use cases were collected from Vincas Urbutis book “Word-building theory”. It was found 1464 different linguistic terms, which were used 4143 times. It was established, that almost 13 of all linguistic terms are descended from Lithuanian (373 terms or 25,5 % of all linguistic terms), 16 other language (216 terms or 14,8 % of all linguistic terms) and 23 of all linguistic terms are hybrids (875 or 59,8 % of all linguistic terms). For the most part of other language one-word terms are descended from classical – the Latin (104 terms or 40 % of all one-word terms) and the Greek (52 terms or 20 % of all one-word terms) – languages. It was found 13 terms or 5 % of all one-word terms, which are descended from the French language and 7 terms descended from other languages. 302 compound terms are Lithuanian (25,1 % of all compound terms). It was found 40 international compound terms (3,3 % of all compound terms). The biggest part of compound terms forms hybrids (71,6 % of all compound terms). From the respect of structure, terms are different – one-word (260 terms or 17,8 % of all terms) and compound (1204 terms or 82,2 % of all terms). The biggest part of one-word terms forms derivatives (150 terms or 57,7 % of all one-word terms), other part (110 terms or 42,3 % of all one-word terms) forms primary terms. The biggest part of linguistic terms are built with suffixes (114 terms or 43,8 % of all one-word terms). Mostly derivatives of suffixes are action names (4... [to full text]

Šiame magistro darbe aptariami geležinkelių transporto terminai, kurių buvo surinkta 1049 pavyzdžiai. Terminai buvo rinkti iš šešių AB „Lietuvos geležinkeliai“ parengtų dokumentų rinkinių. Visi rasti terminai aptariami pagal jų sudėties ypatumus, kilmę, analizuojama vienažodžių terminų daryba, o sudėtinių terminų – sintaksiniai dėmenų santykiai ir jų morfologinė raiška. / In the Master‘s Thesis, the railway-related terms (total 1049) are discussed upon. The terms were collected from six sets of documents executed by AB „Lietuvos geležinkeliai“ /the joint-stock company „Lithuanian Railways“/. All terms collected were discussed upon according to the peculiarities of their composition and origin; in respect of single-word terms, their formation is analyzed, and in respect of composite terms, the syntactic relations of their components and the morphological expression of the latter are analyzed.