This dissertation is an ethnographic study of institutional politics in postcolonial societies, in this case, contemporary Mali. It examines the ways in which transitions to democracy have transformed everyday politics not only through the creation of new institutional arrangements, but through the promotion of new understandings of social and political authority. In particular, this research examines the expectations that democratic institutions place on political deliberation and public speech, as well as the multiple ways in which democratic political speech has failed to fulfill those expectations. To address these questions, it combines Linguistic and Political Anthropology in the analysis of everyday discussions that took place in institutions of political representation in contemporary Mali—from the National Assembly to local councils and party meetings. This linguistic evidence was collected during fifteen months of fieldwork in Bamako and Kita, Mali, in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Each chapter is centered on one of the various categories that mediate the relationship between political speech and action—such as authority, representation, and intention. My analyses of discursive patterns within the specific political context of Mali lays bare an oscillation between a serious engagement with democratic political discussion on the one hand, and its rejection through expressions of suspicion and disbelief on the other. Drawing on J. L. Austin’s speech act theory, I argue that democratic political speech suffers “infelicity,” or a recurrent difficulty in authenticating formal political speech and investing it with added performative force.

Studies across different languages over the past three decades have claimed that compliments are formulaic in nature, realized by only a few syntactic and semantic formulae. Much of the research employs elicitation or ethnographic field notes data, which biases the analysis to single utterance, explicit and formulaic compliments. However, my observations of Chinese compliments in naturally occurring conversation paint a different, much more sophisticated, picture. The current study investigates the realization of spontaneous Chinese complimenting behavior in the speech communities of Shanghai and other cities in China. Over 200 speakers from different walks of life were audio-recorded in a vast array of natural settings. Three hundred compliment-response sequences were selected for analysis. Adopting a combination of the pragmatic speech act analytic approach and the discursive pragmatic analytic approach, the current study examines the pragmatic-discursive structure of Chinese complimenting in conversation sequences over multiple turns involving two or more parties. Results of the study reveal that Chinese compliments and compliment responses are not isolated, single utterance acts, but rather multi-turn discursive events. Chinese compliments operate as pragmatic-discursive strategies working together over the discourse in a core and support relationship. Among the 3,835 compliment strategies identified, 525 are core strategies and 3,310 are support strategies. The core compliment strategy is normally the first general summative statement initiating a compliment topic. Seven major support compliment strategies—agreement, comment, example, repetition, intensification, quote, and comparison—fulfill three major pragmatic-discursive functions: to align with, to elaborate, or to emphasize the core or another support strategy. The seven major support compliment strategies are further realized by a wide variety of substrategies and linguistic forms with no formulaicity and predictability in lexical or syntactic distribution. The different pragmatic-discursive strategies interact such that the participants negotiate and “co-construct” the compliment event. The analysis indicates that context, both interaction-external and interaction-internal, is crucial in the construction and interpretation of a compliment action.

This thesis argues that the rhetoric of perception opens and closes the Gospel of Luke and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, and occurs throughout both narratives as a central plot device. The epistemological theme created by this involves how characters understand the major events of the narrative, especially what seems to be a central element: Jesus’ identity as the Messiah and the scriptural necessity of his suffering and resurrection. The suspense created by the rhetoric of perception allows the author to both communicate key tenets of his theology, as well as offer the audience a model for accomplishing the purpose of his writing, to ‘recognise the certainty’ of his story (Luke 1:1–4). In the Gospel of Luke, suspense is created by the juxtaposition of divine revelation to the disciples and the divine concealment that produces their misunderstanding. This conflict reaches its resolution in the Gospel’s final scenes, in which Jesus opens the mind of the disciples to understand the Scriptures, enabling them to understand what was earlier concealed, the scriptural necessity of the Messiah’s death and resurrection. In Acts, the conflict of misunderstanding is no longer primarily internal to the disciples but external: It is a characteristic of those who do not believe, those to whom the disciples-turned-apostles preach, and it must be overcome through the repentance and belief of the hearers. The resolution provided by the conclusion of Acts is much more negative than that of the Gospel: In the Empire’s capital city, far from that place of illumination where the disciples earlier came to understanding, the proclamation of the gospel is essentially rejected by a Jewish audience to whom is applied the description of Isaiah 6:9–10, rich in its epistemological metaphor.

This thesis addresses the moral permissibility of illegal acts of animal liberation in the form of civil disobedience, acts of rescue, and acts of sabotage. Animal liberation movements have been the subject of much media and political attention, with particular focus on use liberationist strategies of intimidation, vandalism, and harassment. Governments have mobilised state apparatus in surveillance, infiltration, and investigation, and have characterising radical activism as 'terrorism'. The variety of illegal activities aimed at preventing harm to non-human animals, particularly those involving violence towards property or persons, have often been classified together under the term 'animal liberation' and assumed to be wrong. I argue that the assumption of wrongness is questionable because it fails to give significant weight to the justification for acts of animal liberation. I pose the question as to whether and what illegal practices of animal liberation are ethically justifiable. I begin by arguing that non-human animals are worthy of moral consideration for their own sake, because their sentience above a basic level, particularly their capacity to suffer, gives moral agents reasons to acknowledge and respect their goods. Following this, I defend the claim that liberal democratic states that fail to treat animals living within them with respect are unjust. This injustice provides a justification for civil disobedience on behalf of non-human animals. Following this, I argue that beings worthy of moral consideration are owed positive duties of aid and easy rescue and I extend third-party intervention theory to non-human animals under threat from humans. I explore the limits to the duties of aid and intervention, using principles drawn from those of humanitarian intervention to identify duty bearers, and I weigh those duties against duties to fellow citizens and the state.

Given the small body of existing research concerning focus on form at post-task stage in task-based language teaching, the present study adopts post-task transcribing as a focus on form activity and explores the effects of transcribing under various conditions. In addition, two task types are adopted in multiple task sessions to explore task effects and task practice effects on learners' oral performance. / Ninety-six participants, divided into five experimental groups and one control group completed four tasks with a one-week interval between each task. Different experimental groups were assigned various post-task activities respectively. No post-task activity was adopted in the control group. Task performance was measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, fluency and lexical performance. / The findings are multifaceted. First of all, the adoption of post-task transcribing was found to be efficient for different formal aspects of task performance. In the second place, the pair-based transcribing brought about more syntactically complicated language, whereas the individual condition at the post-task stage led to an improvement in lexical sophistication. Thirdly, further revision after transcribing had complex effects on accuracy and complexity. Fourthly, interactive tasks proved to be more promising for a better overall task performance. Last but not least, multiple task practices were found to be beneficial for learners' lexical performance. / The findings were discussed in light of the concept of noticing and attention, Levelt's speaking model, socio-cultural theory and other related SLA theories. Based on the theoretical discussion, pedagogical implications have been proposed. / This research argues that in task-based language teaching, more attention should be paid to the post-task stage regarding its effect on focus on form. Specifically, it suggests that (a) a post-task transcribing activity can be adopted as a feasible focus on form activity in L2 classrooms; (b) different conditions for the operation of post-task transcribing may bring about distinct effects on various aspects of task performance; (c) different task types have different effects on learners' performance; (d) multiple task sessions are necessary for L2 language improvement. Further, the present study calls for a process-product approach in further studies concerning the effects of post-task focus on form activities. / Li, Qian. / Adviser: Peter Skehan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-278). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendix III also in Chinese.

Nombreuses sont les études portant sur les grands personnages de la maison de Navarre à l’époque moderne, mais leurs serviteurs n’ont pas encore fait l’objet d’une étude approfondie. Cette thèse a pour ambition d’examiner les 106 serviteurs de la Maison de Navarre qui sont présents dans les actes notariés tourangeaux de la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle conservés aux Archives départementales d’Indre-et-Loire. Complétées par des manuscrits (comptes royaux, mandements, quittances, etc.) conservés à Pau et à Paris, ces soucres éclairent la vie de ces individus, leurs liens de parenté et leurs rôles au sein des Maisons royales navarraises. À la lumière de cette documentation, nous découvrons les structures et le dynamique interne d’un « milieu navarrais » de Tours, dont le « coeur » était constitué d’une poignée de familles au service principalement des maisons de Jeanne d’Albret et d’Henri de Navarre, futur Henri IV / The early modern members of the royal family of Navarre have been the subjects of many academic studies, but the servants of their household have not yet been studied in depth. This dissertation aims to examine the 106 members of the household of Navarre whose presence is noted in notarial acts from 16th century Tours, stored in the Departemental Archives of Indre-et-Loire. These texts, combined with other manuscripts (royal accounts, letters, receipts, etc.) from Pau and from Paris, allow us to examine the lives of these individuals, how they were related, and what roles they played in the royal households of Navarre. Using source documents, we observe the structures and the internal dynamics of the « Navarrese milieu » that existed in the city of Tours, and its « heart » composed of a handful of families who primarily served the households of Jeanne d’Albret and of Henri de Navarre, the future king Henri IV

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Os textos de caráter instrucional apresentam como fator comum a estipulação de procedimentos, feitos por um locutor com vistas a levar os interlocutores a determinado objetivo relacionado ao seu uso. A execução de tarefas, por parte dos indivíduos, é fator condicional para o atingimento das finalidades de uso dos mesmos. Entretanto, ao predispor os procedimentos, na superfície textual, ocorrem discrepâncias acerca da forma como as tarefas são informadas, de modo a evidenciar uma maior ou menor rigidez quanto ao nível impositivo dos procedimentos. A fim de analisar como essas especificidades afetarão a produção dos sentidos na leitura, escolheram-se quatro gêneros de caráter instrucional, a saber: a receita, a bula, o manual técnico e o contrato para verificar como se dá a predisposição dos procedimentos feitos, essencialmente, por meio de frases imperativas e declarativas. A pesquisa se propõe a cotejar as marcas linguísticas de cada um dos textos, inerentes às frases de procedimentos com fatores interlocutivos pressupostos pela teoria dos atos de fala. Para tanto, verifica-se o enfoque teórico dado, sobretudo pelos seguintes autores: Austin (1962), Searle (2002), Said Ali(1964), Bechara (1977), Cunha (1978), Rocha Lima(1976) e Azeredo (2011), de modo a mostrar uma análise dos elementos textuais e interlocutivos na composição discursiva dos enunciados escolhidos. A pesquisa mostrou a existência da relação entre a forma como sentidos são assumidos e as atitudes de instruir e acatar dos indivíduos, a partir das frases usadas nos textos para instruir / Texts of instructional character have as common feature the settlement of specific procedures, determined by the speaker, who intends to bring his/her counterpart to a determined purpose related to the use of the genres approached by both of them. The task execution by the involved individuals is a determining issue to the achievement of their usage purposes. However, while predisposing these procedures in the textual level, discrepancies concerning the way the tasks are informed arise, evidencing a greater or lesser rigidity concerning the imposing level of procedures. In the interest of analyzing the ways these specificities affect reading meaning-making, four instructional-character texts were selected, namely: recipe, bulla, users guide and contract. Through the study of the mentioned genres we verify the predisposition of the related procedures, proposed essentially by imperative and declarative sentences. This dissertation intends to assemble the linguistic markers of the examined texts, inherent to procedure sentences with conversational factors assumed by the theory of speech acts. In order to do so, it is verified the theoretical approach given by the following authors: Austin (1962), Searle (2002), Said Ali (1964), Bechara (1977), Cunha (1978), Rocha Lima(1976) e Azeredo (2011) . Therefore, this investigation intends to portray an analysis of textual and conversational elements within the discursive composition of the chosen statements. The research has shown the existence of a relationship between how meanings are made and the attitudes of instructing and obey by the individuals, from the phrases used in the texts to instruct

No description available.

No description available.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / Esta dissertaÃÃo apresenta um estudo variacionista dos atos de comando, codificados pelo imperativo, pela perÃfrase ir mais infinitivo, pelo infinitivo e pelo gerÃndio, na fala de professores de Fortaleza/CE. Para tal anÃlise, adotamos os pressupostos teÃricometodolÃgicos da SociolinguÃstica Variacionista e do Funcionalismo LinguÃstico. O objetivo geral da pesquisa à investigar fatores linguÃsticos e extralinguÃsticos que condicionam a variaÃÃo das formas de codificaÃÃo dos atos de comando. Os dados foram submetidos ao tratamento estatÃstico do programa GOLDVARB. Foram analisados 410 dados, obtidos atravÃs de gravaÃÃes de aulas de 18 professores do Ensino Fundamental e MÃdio da rede Municipal e Estadual de ensino em Fortaleza. Os professores foram agrupados em trÃs faixas etÃrias (20 a 30 anos; 35 a 45 anos; mais de 50 anos) e nas trÃs Ãreas em que a disciplina ministrada està inserida (Linguagens, CÃdigos e suas Tecnologias; CiÃncias da Natureza, MatemÃticas e suas Tecnologias; CiÃncias Humanas e suas Tecnologias). A anÃlise dos dados indica que o fenÃmeno em estudo à condicionado por fatores linguÃsticos, menÃÃo explÃcita do manipulado, marcas de polidez e forÃa do comando, e pelo fator extralinguÃstico faixa etÃria. Palavras-Chave: Atos de comando. Imperativo. Modalidade. SociolinguÃstica. Funcionalismo. / This dissertation presents a variationist study of acts of command in Portuguese, codified by the Imperativo, by the periphrasis ir may infinitivo, by the infinitivo, and by the gerÃndio, in the speech of teachers from the city of Fortaleza, in the Brazilian state of CearÃ. In order to conduct the analysis, we adopted the theoretical and metodological presuppositions of Variationist Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Functionalism. The general aim of this study is to investigate linguistic and extralinguistic elements that condition the variation of forms of codification of the acts of command. The data was submitted to statistical treatment on the program GOLDVARB. An analysis of 410 data obtained through the recordings of teaching sessions of 18 Elementary and High School teachers of state and town schools was conducted. These teachers were grouped into three age groups (20 to 30, 30 to 45, may 50), and into the three areas in which the subject is inserted (Languages; Codes and Technologies; Natural Sciences; Mathematics and Technologies; Humanities and Technologies). The data analysis indicated that the considered phenomenon might be conditioned by linguistic elements, explicit mention of the manipulated, politeness markers, and force of command, and by the extralinguistic element age group.