Play is a universal activity among children that can be indicative of a child’s developmental level. Additionally, play provides an avenue for children to practice certain skills and can be a causal agent in developmental change. Pretend play is especially important given the underlying cognitive and affective processes that are involved in pretense. Play is also strongly linked with creativity and psychosocial adjustment. Children with better play skills also demonstrate higher levels of creativity, emotion knowledge, social adjustment, and problem-solving abilities. Research suggests that culture and language also play an important role in child play development. Furthermore, parent play beliefs can impact how children develop play skills. Understanding differences in play development and related factors can inform interventions to improve play skills in this population. Additionally, research indicates a relationship between language and play and creativity. Learning more than one language may be related to children’s play skills and creative capacities. Thus, one aim was to investigate differences in play, creativity, and psychosocial adjustment between children in general education classrooms and children in an immersive bilingual education program (TWI program). A total of 117 child participants ages 5-10 years in kindergarten through 5th grade were recruited for this study. Participants completed tasks related to play and creativity and their parents completed questionnaires regarding parent play beliefs and child psychosocial adjustment. Results regarding play, creativity, and psychosocial adjustment indicated a strong relationship between play and creativity, consistent with prior research; however, no significant relationship was found between play and psychosocial adjustment. The TWI group demonstrated more imagination in their play and obtained higher scores on divergent thinking and fluency, which are measures of creativity, compared to those in the general education group. In the overall sample, parent play beliefs were not significantly related to pretend play skills. Overall, the results from the current study indicate that learning a second language in an immersive bilingual setting, play, and creativity are positively related to one another. These findings can inform future interventions. For example, incorporating play into language learning interventions may further enhance or improve language acquisition. Further exploration of the relationships between each of these variables is needed. Additionally, research regarding play, creativity, and parent beliefs in diverse populations is still necessary to understand the underlying cognitive processes that may be shared among these factors.

The author of the thesis describes current tendences of the Castilian-basque bilingualism from the linguistic, social and political point of view. After the introduction to the general overview of the linguistic situation in Spain, the author geographically and historically specifies the Basque-speaking area and then she closely deals with the extension, typology, linguistic characteristics of the Basque language in comparison with the Castilian and its historical background. In the second part of the thesis focused on bilingualism, the author first generally identifies this phenomenon with the related problematic issues of its clasification and then she describes in details the bilingulistic scheme of the present Basque country, the evolution of the implementation of the Basque language into the school curriculum and its current position in education against the legislative background; later on the author defines linguistic models of the education system and programmes aimed to support the Basque language and culture in today´s Basque society. In the conclusion of the thesis, the author analyses her own qualitative research conducted among bilingual speakers in the Basque and Navarre Autonomous Communities. The thesis is written in Czech and contains a summary in Spanish.

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Orientador: Terezinha de Jesus Machado Maher / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T14:25:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Braz_EvodiadeSouza_M.pdf: 877635 bytes, checksum: 731d1779af6995cc4b101d34c52139a2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: O presente estudo foi realizado na região de fronteira Brasil / Venezuela, mais precisamente no município brasileiro de Pacaraima, localizado no extremo norte do estado de Roraima. Objetivando analisar representações sobre línguas e nacionalidades, a pesquisa focou a área comercial turística da cidade de Pacaraima, no perímetro urbano do município. Desenvolvido nos limites fronteiriços com Santa Elena de Uairén, cidade venezuelana, o comércio de Pacaraima representa a principal atividade econômica da cidade e o primeiro ponto de encontro entre brasileiros e hispânicos, sobretudo venezuelanos e peruanos. A pesquisa, interpretativista e de cunho etnográfico, foi viabilizada, nesse contexto bilíngue, através de conversas informais (registradas em notas de campo), de entrevistas semi-estruturadas (gravadas em áudio) e de registros fotográficos. As perguntas de pesquisa que orientaram a análise dos dados foram: a) De que forma as identidades nacionais são representadas pelos participantes da pesquisa, isto é, pelos comerciantes brasileiros da fronteira Brasil / Venezuela? e b) Que representações são construídas pelos comerciantes brasileiros da fronteira Brasil / Venezuela acerca das línguas utilizadas no comércio, português e espanhol, e de suas diferentes variedades? Utilizando contribuições teóricas de diferentes áreas (Linguística Aplicada, Estudos Culturais, Antropologia e Sociologia), foram discutidos os conceitos de língua (COX e ASSIS-PETERSON, 2007; CESAR e CAVALCANTI, 2007), identidade (CUCHE, 2002; HALL, 2006; BAUMAN, 2005), nacionalidade (BERENBLUM, 2003) e representação (HALL, 1997). A análise realizada sugere que embora a brasilidade seja vista positivamente no confronto com outras identidades nacionais, a identidade dos brasileiros da região é percebida como frágil e conflituosa quando construída tendo como referência os problemas locais. De forma análoga, atribui-se um valor positivo à língua portuguesa quando essa é comparada ao espanhol, em suas diferentes variedades, embora esse prestígio diga respeito a uma variedade outra que não ao português utilizado na região. No que se refere às representações acerca da língua espanhola, há evidências de que as variedades mais distantes dessa língua (a variedade peninsular e a variedade utilizada em Caracas) são as únicas que têm prestígio, já que o espanhol local é estigmatizado / Abstract: The present study was conducted in the frontier between Brazil and Venezuela, more precisely in Pacaraima, a Brazilian district located up northern Roraima State. Focusing on the commercial and tourist section of urban Pacaraima, its aim was to analyze representations of local different languages and nationalities. Quite close to Santa Elena de Uairén, a Venezuelan town, the commercial zone of Pacaraima represents, not only the most important economic activity or the area, but a significant meeting point between Brazilians and their Hispanic neighbors. The data of this research, which was interpretativist an ethnographic in nature, was collected though informal conversations (registered in field notes) and semistructured audio-taped interviews, as well as photographs taken in such bilingual context. Two research questions guided the data analysis: a) How are national analysis represented by research subjects, that is, by Brazilian salespeople in the frontier of Brazil and Venezuela? and b) What representations are constructed by Brazilian salespeople in the frontier of Brazil and Venezuela in regard to the languages (Portuguese, Spanish and their sociolinguistic varieties) used in commerce? Making use of contributions from different theoretical areas (Applied Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Anthropology and Sociology), concepts such as language (COX e ASSIS-PETERSON, 2007; CESAR e CAVALCANTI, 2007), identity (CUCHE, 2002; HALL, 2006; BAUMAN, 2005), nationality BERENBLUM, 2003) and representation (HALL, 1997) were discussed. Data analysis suggest that although Brazilian identity is seen positively when contrasted with other national identities, the identity of Brazilians who live in the area is perceived as being fragile and conflictive when thought of in terms of local existing problems. Similarly, a positive value is attributed to Portuguese when compared to Spanish and its varieties, although such prestige refers, not to the Portuguese variety spoken locally, but to the way this language is used elsewhere. As far as the representations of Spanish is concerned, results showed that more distant varieties of this language (such as the varieties used in Spain and in Caracas) are considered to be the only prestigious ones, since the local variety of Spanish is stigmatized / Mestrado / Multiculturalismo, Plurilinguismo e Educação Bilingue / Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

In this study the role that language plays in the expression of intelligence, bilingualism, and the process of assessing selected cognitive abilities was explored. The primary purpose of the study was to determine if individuals who are allowed to move from one language to another when they provide responses to test items produce results that are different than those obtained by bilingual examinees assessed in one language only. The results indicate that the Experimental Group obtained significantly higher results than the Control Group on all the tests and subtests used. The Experimental Group code-switched more frequently and the examiners only code-switched with that group. The frequency of the code-switching behaviours explains, in great part, all the differences noted in the results as very few other sources of differences were identified, even when groups were compared on sex, first language and relative proficiency in French and in English. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The present investigation examines the process of velar palatalization, a feature of Catalan, as seen in the Catalan and in the Spanish of the bilingual speech community of Majorca, Spain. Velar palatalization involves a change in a velar consonant’s place of articulation from velar to palatal; that is, /k, g/ acquire a secondary palatal articulation or acquire a completely new place of articulation. Velar palatalization usually occurs before /i, e, ɛ/ due to coarticulation. Some languages, however, also present this feature before /a, ə/ and word-finally. This is the case of certain dialects of Majorcan Catalan. Traditional descriptions have observed (a) the presence of velar palatalization before front vowels in all dialects of Majorcan Catalan (non-palatalizing area), and (b) the presence of velar palatalization also before /a, ə/, and word-finally only in certain areas of Majorca (palatalizing area). The aims of this dissertation are threefold. The first aim is to provide acoustic data for /k/ in the Catalan spoken in the traditionally palatalizing area, taking as an example the dialect of Manacor, a town of 43,000 inhabitants on the southeastern area of Majorca; and in the Catalan spoken in the non-palatalizing area, taking as an example the dialect of Artà, a town of 7,400 inhabitants on the northeastern coast of Majorca. Providing acoustic data for this contrast is relevant because it has only been documented through descriptive observations. Secondly, my dissertation analyzes vowel /a/ in the Catalan spoken in the two areas. It has been suggested that velar palatalization before /a/ can occur in languages in which /a/ is especially fronted (e.g. French). A comparison of /a/ production from both areas can provide clues regarding the relationship between the process of /k/ palatalization and /a/ fronting (i.e., if /a/ is equally fronted for both areas but there is a palatalization distinction, this could be interpreted as evidence that /a/-fronting triggered /k/-palatalization for the palatalizing area). The third aim of this dissertation is related to societal bilingualism. In situations of language contact, it is not unusual for cross-linguistic transfer to occur; that is, it is common for a bilingual’s language A to affect the perception and production of this bilingual’s language B speech sounds. In particular, this dissertation examines whether velar palatalization, for the individuals that prove to manifest it in their Catalan, is transferred from their first to their second language. The results suggest, first, that there exists, in fact, a difference in the distribution of the process of velar palatalization between the two communities and, importantly, that the process of velar palatalization has been phonologized for the speakers of the palatalizing area. Secondly, the findings suggest that the processes of velar palatalization and /a/-fronting might have stemmed from a relationship of mutual influence in its inception. Finally, there is no evidence of phonological transfer of the process of velar palatalization from dominant to non-dominant speech. The implications of these findings to theories of phonologization as well as of consecutive bilingualism are discussed.

Thesis (M. A. (Translation and Linguistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / This study reveals that language dynamisms affect the compilation of Northern Sotho – English bilingual dictionaries. In this regard, the study shows that the role of translation equivalence cannot be taken for granted. To fully grasp what translation equivalence entails, the study compared formal equivalence with dynamic equivalence. Although there are merits in adopting foreign terms and concepts, the study investigates the problem lexicographers and terminologists of English–Northern Sotho or Northern Sotho–English bilingual dictionaries encounter and suggests possible solutions. Different strategies and procedures for dealing with non-equivalence between the source and target languages are also discussed. Lastly, the study recommends that language dynamism is inevitable if Northern Sotho is to thrive as one of the functional languages in the world. The consequences of shunning dynamism are dire as this might lead to language death.

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Both of these theoretical positions - the linguistics and the behavioristic - are introduced here as parallel structures within which a study of language can proceed. As this study is developed, each strand is evident to some extent, with a synthesis of the two evolving in a psycholinguistic model which characterizes actual language use. This model, with the addiction of a bilingual dimension, is then discussed in light of schizophrenic language deviations.

The study applies an ethnography of speaking to the study of a bilingual child, with the construct of a frame as the unit of analysis. The child was observed and tape recorded playing a commercial game in Chinese with her mother, and in English with her father. Both activity frames and conceptual frames were analyzed toward answering (1) what frames were performed during game play (2) how those frames differed between Chinese and English (3) what conceptual frames were produced in languages spoken and (4) how those conceptual frames differed between each language. In brief, the study applied an ethnographic perspective toward describing how the organization of activity and language compared between both languages, through the play of a single game. The study discovered that each parent enacted different roles with the daughter during the play of the game. Whereas the mother, who had previous experience with game, performed an expert-novice role during game play, the father with his lack of experience in playing the game, took a novice-expert stance with respect to the daughter. The activity frames and conceptual frames followed accordingly, with the games in Chinese dominated by frames featuring directing and reporting on the part of the mother. In contrast, the English games reported the daughter dominating talk with informing and reporting functions of frames. Of the conceptual frames, Chinese presented game objects and events as changes of state; objects were evaluated according to notions of permission and convention. Conversely, English conceptualized objects as independent things existing with attributes, and events as discrete objects with defined spans of time. The study discovered a tight relationship between utterance, its function, and its frame for embedding topic-relationships. This relationship hints at dual activity-conceptual systems among bilingual children, warranting further attention by educators to integrate three dimensions into language classroom instruction: grammar form, speech function, and conceptual contents. As this study demonstrates, bilingual children do much more than talk in two languages. / Ph. D.