This paper looks at the relationship between emotion and vowel length in spontaneous speech, specifically during narratives. It is hypothesized that during emotionally-laden speech, vowel length will be longer in duration than when in non-emotional speech. Data is drawn from the Univerisity of California, Santa Barbara linguistic corpus, with conversations focused on individuals in and around Southern California. The paper builds on work by Dabbs et al., Banse & Scherer, Estes & Adelman, and others regarding the nature of cognitive monitoring, as well as stance as discussed by Ochs & Schieffelin, Ochs, Kärkkainen, Local & Walker, and how emotion is displayed in speech. Tokens chosen for analysis are /ɑ/, /ɑɪ/, and /ə/. Three of each token in first syllable position is collected for analysis from both emotional and non-emotional speech. Analysis of tokens then takes place by (mean) averaging each token's length for each speaker in each stance, then the total vowel average time is calculated again for each speaker in each stance. Beyond intra-vowel, intra-speaker averages, inter-speaker average is calculated to assess consistency of the vowel length changes between stances. The paper finds that the length of tokens shows an average increase during intraspeaker emotional speech.

This thesis explores the ways in which teenage girls use narrative performance to negotiate participation, social and gender identity, and individual authority in order to establish ratified and equal statuses of power within their social peer group. Although previous work on narrative discourse has shown that narratives can act as the catalyst for the complex co/construction of identity especially in social situations of talk, little work has been done to focus on the way teenagers, particularly girls, use this discourse to their benefit as they fulfill social and gender goals in social and conversational settings. Furthermore, while multimodal, narrative performance has been discussed as a cognitive and participation centered function of narrative discourse, this work has been largely quantitative. Consequently, the field of sociolinguistics, predominantly in the realm of narrative discourse, could use more work on the social function of narrative performance. This project, then, combines an analysis of teenage girls’ narrative co/construction in social contexts with a qualitative analysis of their use of narrative performance to show the ways in which this combination allows the girls to do complicated social and linguistic work to manage membership statuses, via complex participation frameworks. Data for this project consists of 5, one hour long, audio and video recorded instances in which four teenage girls, who make up an established peer group, hang out during regular social meetings. An analysis carried out via a lens of Narrative Discourse influenced by Conversation Analysis (CA), revealed that teenage girls are doing a great deal of power negotiation during their social interactions and that moments of narrative, particularly those in which narrative performances are utilized, function to make these negotiations both visible and therefore more influential on overall group dynamics. Suggestions for how this research could be continued in the future are discussed.

This study attempted to explore one aspect of the communicative styles of Japanese and Americans: their approach to discourse. In a literature review, four distinctive characteristics were surveyed: linear/nonlinear presentation, inductive/ deductive reasoning, explicit/implicit communication, and analytical/emotional statements. The American style of argument was characterized by: 1) a linear presentation as evidenced by its preference for a sequential paragraph development, its reliance on logic, and its direct introduction of the subject. 2) either inductive or deductive reasoning. 3) explicit communication as shown by its emphasis on the use of concrete language, definite qualifiers, clearly stated conclusions and a wider perspective. 4) analytical and objective statements. The Japanese style of argument is characterized by: 1) its nonsequential presentation, noncontiguous paragraphs, its apparent disregard of logic and indirect introduction of the subject. 2) neither inductive nor deductive reasoning. 3) implicit communication as shown by its emphasis on the use of ambiguous language, the frequent use of conditional qualifiers, implied conclusions and a narrower perspective. 4) emotional and subjective statements. The literature review corroborated the author's hypotheses that Japanese express themselves in an ambiguous manner, whereas Americans express themselves in a more clearly defined manner. The differences of style of arguments were tested in a statistical setting using content analysis of current newspapers.

Despite advances in medical technologies, interpersonal communication remains the primary tool physicians use to exchange information, make diagnoses, and treat patients (Cameron & Williams, 1997; Groopman, 2007; Ong, de Haes, Hoos, & Lammes, 1995). In the medical encounter effective communication between physician and patient is essential so that beneficial health and wellbeing outcomes are achieved for patients. Taking a discourse analytic approach, this study examined interactions occurring between international medical graduate (IMG) residents, attending physicians, and patients during the treatment advice phase of the supervised medical encounter. The aim of the study was to examine the co-constructed nature of the delivery and receipt of treatment advice and the ways in which physicians and patients managed interpersonal relations through the negotiated activity. The theoretical framework of pragmatic competence was utilized to underpin the study. Physician-patient interactions served as the primary data source. Medical encounter interactions between five different IMG residents and 31 patients were observed and audio-recorded. Observations and a post-medical encounter survey completed by patients served as secondary data sources. The analysis of the data revealed that this medical speech activity embedded within the medical encounter was realized through the use of a variety of discourse strategies and contributions from multiple participants as they attended to the interpersonal and transactional goals associated with the delivery and receipt of treatment advice. Findings provided insights into how multi-party discourse worked to jointly construct and negotiate treatment recommendations. Findings indicated that IMG residents utilized indirect advice giving strategies. Additionally, both IMG residents and patients utilized interrogatives in various ways to engage actively in the treatment decision-making process. Finally, the data revealed how the participants attended to each other's face needs as they worked to enhance, maintain, or challenge face through the dynamic process of negotiating relationships.

<p>When children encounter new subjects in school, they are also faced with new ways of using language. Learning science thus means learning the language of science, and writing is one of the ways this is accomplished. The present study investigates writing in natural sciences in grades 5 and 8 in Swedish schools. Major theoretical influences for these investigations are found within the socio-cultural, dialogical and social semiotic perspectives on language use.</p><p>The study is based on texts written by 97 students, interviews around these texts and observations from 16 different classroom practices. Writing is seen as a situated practice; therefore analysis is carried out of the activities surrounding the texts. The student texts are analysed in terms of genre and in relation to their abstraction, density and use of expansions. This analysis shows among other things that the texts show increasing abstraction and density with increasing age, whereas the text structure and the use of expansions do not increase.</p><p>It is also argued that a central point in school writing must be the students’ way of talking about their texts. Analysis of interviews with the students is thus carried out in terms of text movability. The results from this analysis indicate that students find it difficult to talk about their texts. They find it hard to express the main content of the text, as well as to discuss it’s function and potential readers.</p><p>Previous studies argue that writing constitutes a potential for learning. In the material studied in this thesis, this potential learning tool is not used to any large extent. To be able to participate in natural sciences in higher levels, students need to take part in practices where the specialized language of natural science is used in writing as well as in speech.</p>

This dissertation was a discourse analysis study, drawing upon discursive psychology, poststructural understandings of discourse, conversation analysis, and a social relational model of disability. The purpose of this study was to explore how autism was performed as an interactional event among children with autism labels, the therapists who work with them, and their parents, in the context of a pediatric therapy setting. I interrogated how the participants’ everyday discursive practices were shaped and, at times, constrained by the social and political institutions that often work to define autism and the related, official plans of treatment. A total of 12 families agreed to participate, resulting in the participation of 12 children with autism labels, three to 11 years of age, six fathers, and 11 mothers. The participants included three speech therapists, two occupational therapists, one physical therapist, one teacher/social group facilitator, and one medical secretary/sibling support group facilitator. Data sources included conversational data from the therapy sessions of the participating children and their therapists, 14 parent interviews, eight therapist interviews, documents used within the therapy sessions, demographic surveys/information from the participating therapists and parents, and two interviews with a state advocate and clinical directors focused on qualifying for services. Findings from the interview data highlighted the varied meanings and performances of autism, while pointing to the related political and social conditions that make the naming and treating of autism (im)possible. Findings drawn from the therapy session data pointed to how the participants’ discursive practices worked to reframe “behaviors of concern,” and to transgress normative communication patterns. The following conclusions were drawn from the findings: (a) autism, as a construct, remains open to multiple meanings, while being inextricably linked to institutionalized practices; (b) in therapy talk, therapists and children with autism labels often co-construct alternative accounts of problematic behaviors; and (c) therapy talk can function to reframe non-normative communication and behavioral patterns, expanding what is constructed as “acceptable.” The findings point to the complexities of defining and performing autism labels, and highlight the ways in which therapy talk can function to reframe behaviors and communication patterns presumed to be pathological.

When it comes to the production and reception of texts, most linguists will readily agree that writers as well as readers constitute and follow typical text patterns as they produce and read texts. It has become common today to describe text patterns as typical sets of manifestations of formal, thematic, and pragmatic features that arise from resemblances between different texts and that are inscribed in the communicative memories of a language community. However, speakers also transcend text patterns every day and oscillate between following and overstepping textual rules. This thesis investigates how speakers categorize linguistic knowledge in text patterns, and follow and transcend these patterns in everyday communication, using the example of Rainald Goetz’ text Loslabern. Excerpts from reviews about Loslabern illustrate how readers perceive the text: Some readers consider Loslabern as a ‘ruined’ text that falls apart, whereas others describe Loslabern as ‘ocean-like’ and fluid. Based on these reader experiences, the thesis attempts to answer the following central question: How can we describe ‘Loslabern’ and connatural texts from the viewpoint of textual linguistics in accordance with the readers’ intuitions? The thesis proposes and discusses three options: Textual linguistics may describe Loslabern i) as a broken text, ii) in terms of different concepts of text pattern, and iii) in terms of a novel concept of text pattern. The analytical section focuses on a discussion of different concepts of text pattern: discrete structural and prototypical pragmatic concepts. It examines how these concepts fall short of describing Loslabern in accordance with the readers’ intuitions. Following Wittgenstein and his concept of family resemblance, it creates a multi-dimensional and open concept of text patterns. This concept enables textual linguistics to depict the intertextual embeddedness of Loslabern and other texts systematically, to gain insight into the mechanisms of forming and transcending text patterns, and to describe Loslabern in accordance with the diversity of readers’ intuitions. In doing so, the thesis points at new directions in linguistics as well as literary studies.

When children encounter new subjects in school, they are also faced with new ways of using language. Learning science thus means learning the language of science, and writing is one of the ways this is accomplished. The present study investigates writing in natural sciences in grades 5 and 8 in Swedish schools. Major theoretical influences for these investigations are found within the socio-cultural, dialogical and social semiotic perspectives on language use. The study is based on texts written by 97 students, interviews around these texts and observations from 16 different classroom practices. Writing is seen as a situated practice; therefore analysis is carried out of the activities surrounding the texts. The student texts are analysed in terms of genre and in relation to their abstraction, density and use of expansions. This analysis shows among other things that the texts show increasing abstraction and density with increasing age, whereas the text structure and the use of expansions do not increase. It is also argued that a central point in school writing must be the students’ way of talking about their texts. Analysis of interviews with the students is thus carried out in terms of text movability. The results from this analysis indicate that students find it difficult to talk about their texts. They find it hard to express the main content of the text, as well as to discuss it’s function and potential readers. Previous studies argue that writing constitutes a potential for learning. In the material studied in this thesis, this potential learning tool is not used to any large extent. To be able to participate in natural sciences in higher levels, students need to take part in practices where the specialized language of natural science is used in writing as well as in speech.

Research conducted in the readability of texts shows that there is an extensive problem with learners' of all phases academic skills in terms of reading comprehension and insight into writing texts in accordance with generally accepted academic standards. It is important that sufficient attention and research are devoted to possible solutions to this problem, since various theorists have found that effective reading and writing skills are of great importance for learners' academic progress and achievement. A reason for this is that most academic material that is made available to learners appear in written format, and that learners have to report on their knowledge in the same format. Although educational institutions formulate academic texts (of which study guides form part) with a high readability level, the current study investigates some problems and shortcomings that appear in study guides. If the readability of the mentioned study material is increased in light of text linguistic insights, learners should have greater accessibility to the textual content, which could impact positively on academic achievement. With the above mentioned in mind, this study focuses on a text linguistic approach to investigating the readability of study guides which are written for first-year learners at a tertiary institution. The main problem addresses how lexical cohesive devices and conjunction markers can be included as part of a text linguistic approach to writing study guides, and how this can be used by authors of study guides in practice as a tool to increase the efficiency of the writing process. The research is conducted on the basis of various theories, which include Systemic Functional Linguistics, Halliday and Hasan's Cohesion theory and Stotsky's adaptation thereof for written academic texts, as well as Hyland's theory about academic metadiscourse. Applicable insights regarding text linguistic criteria for writing academic texts, which are identified through this literature study, are converted into a framework for text analysis and then implemented to investigate the effective use of specific textual markers in the obtained study guides. This will be done in a descriptive and primarily qualitative manner. Ten Afrikaans study guides, pertaining to diverse subject groups, and which were recently used at a tertiary institution as introductory study guides for first-year learners, form the data of this study. In order to conduct a reliable investigation, the data is analised procedurally (with reference to the mentioned text analytical model) by hand and also using WordSmith Tools. Based on both the literature study and the text analysis, guidelines that can be used when writing Afrikaans study guides are formulated from a text linguistic point of view. These guidelines may be used to supplement the existing guide used by writers of study guides at the particular institution. The possibility also exists that these guidelines can be used to improve and standardise the quality and readability of the mentioned learning material. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Research conducted in the readability of texts shows that there is an extensive problem with learners' of all phases academic skills in terms of reading comprehension and insight into writing texts in accordance with generally accepted academic standards. It is important that sufficient attention and research are devoted to possible solutions to this problem, since various theorists have found that effective reading and writing skills are of great importance for learners' academic progress and achievement. A reason for this is that most academic material that is made available to learners appear in written format, and that learners have to report on their knowledge in the same format. Although educational institutions formulate academic texts (of which study guides form part) with a high readability level, the current study investigates some problems and shortcomings that appear in study guides. If the readability of the mentioned study material is increased in light of text linguistic insights, learners should have greater accessibility to the textual content, which could impact positively on academic achievement. With the above mentioned in mind, this study focuses on a text linguistic approach to investigating the readability of study guides which are written for first-year learners at a tertiary institution. The main problem addresses how lexical cohesive devices and conjunction markers can be included as part of a text linguistic approach to writing study guides, and how this can be used by authors of study guides in practice as a tool to increase the efficiency of the writing process. The research is conducted on the basis of various theories, which include Systemic Functional Linguistics, Halliday and Hasan's Cohesion theory and Stotsky's adaptation thereof for written academic texts, as well as Hyland's theory about academic metadiscourse. Applicable insights regarding text linguistic criteria for writing academic texts, which are identified through this literature study, are converted into a framework for text analysis and then implemented to investigate the effective use of specific textual markers in the obtained study guides. This will be done in a descriptive and primarily qualitative manner. Ten Afrikaans study guides, pertaining to diverse subject groups, and which were recently used at a tertiary institution as introductory study guides for first-year learners, form the data of this study. In order to conduct a reliable investigation, the data is analised procedurally (with reference to the mentioned text analytical model) by hand and also using WordSmith Tools. Based on both the literature study and the text analysis, guidelines that can be used when writing Afrikaans study guides are formulated from a text linguistic point of view. These guidelines may be used to supplement the existing guide used by writers of study guides at the particular institution. The possibility also exists that these guidelines can be used to improve and standardise the quality and readability of the mentioned learning material. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.