A Game of Confidence: Literary Dialect, Linguistics, and Authenticity builds a bridge between literary-critical and linguistic approaches to representations of nonstandard speech in literature. Important scholarship both in linguistics and in literary criticism has sought to develop rigorous inquiry into deviations from standard written language to represent features of nonstandard spoken language in literature. I argue that neither field, however, has fully embraced the idea that, by definition, 'literary dialect' necessitates an interdisciplinary approach. Furthermore, neither has successfully integrated the other's very different theories and methods. As a result, 'literary dialect' provides an exciting opportunity for new scholarship connecting recent developments in literary history, sociolinguistics, and digital humanities. The goals of my project are two-fold: First, to analyze within their own cultural and historical contexts previous attempts by authors, readers, and scholars to fix the supposedly empirical accuracy of literary dialect representations; second, to model what I take to be an empirically more valid use of linguistics for analyzing literary artists' representations of nonstandard speech. My work provides a necessary intervention for literary dialect criticism, particularly for the many arguments that have sought a degree of objectivity for assertions about the artistic or socio-political merits of a dialect text based on vague linguistic generalizations. My dissertation's primary focus is on the period that has served historically as the locus classicus for scholarship on American dialect literature: The second half of the nineteenth century when local colorists, regionalists, and realists used 'real' American voices as the foundation for a realistic American literature. By analyzing the production and historical reception of literary dialect texts from this period I show how assessments of 'authenticity' have been a constant in the critical response to these texts for nearly a century and a half. Having underscored the critical problems inherent in linking artistic and political evaluations of dialect texts to the 'authenticity' of their literary dialects, I then draw on recent developments in the digital humanities, computational linguistics, and sociolinguistics to employ a methodology for generating and interpreting literary-linguistic data on literary dialects. / text

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG VERGLEICHE IN DER OBERLITAUISCHEN MUNDART Ein Bild wird meistens mit Hilfe von Metaphern, Metonymien und Gleichnissen geschaffen. Bilder können in drei Gruppen gegliedert werden: konkrete (visuelle und akustische) und abstrakte (relationale). Zu einer Art der Schaffung von visuellen und seltener akustischen Bildern gehört der Vergleich. Es werden zwei Arten des Vergleiches unterschieden: bildhafter (Gleichnis) und sachlicher (Vergleich). Gleichnis (bildhafter, stilistischer Vergleich) ist ein Stilmittel auf der Grundlage der expressiven Gegenüberstellung eines Gegenstandes, einer Handlung, einer Eigenschaft anderen Erscheinungen anhand eines gemeinsamen (realen oder vermeintlichen) Merkmals, und der sachliche Vergleich in der wörtlichen Bedeutung beruht auf der Gegenüberstellung zweier Erscheinungen in der Hinsicht der Qualität oder Quantität (K. Župerka). Die sachlichen Vergleiche in den analysierten Texten der Mundart von Oberlitauern werden meistens mit den Vergleichspartikeln kaip, už (wie, als), sowie durch Komparativ und Superlativ gebildet, und die Gleichnisse enthalten die Vergleichspartikel kaip (wie). Die meisten Gleichnisse der oberlitauischen Mundart sind in dem Buch von K. B. Vosylytė Lietuvių kalbos palyginimų žodynas (1985) festgehalten. Das sind fest gefügte (usuelle) Vergleiche. Den anderen Teil bilden die lexisch freien, situativen (okkasionellen) Gleichnisse. Die Gleichnisse der oberlitauischen Mundart sind nach den Wirklichkeitsbereichen... [to full text]

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This thesis discusses the first language acquisition of three morphosyntactic mechanisms of transitivity alternation in arctic Quebec Inuktitut. Data derive from naturalistic longitudinal spontaneous speech samples collected over a nine-month period from four Inuit children aged 2;0 through 2;10 at outset. Both basic and advanced forms of passive structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to English-speaking children, but consistent in age with speakers of non-Indo-European languages reported on in the literature; potential explanations of this difference include frequency of caregiver input and details of language structure. Morphological causatives appear slightly later in the acquisition sequence, and their first instances reflect use of unanalyzed routines. Lexical causatives are present from the earliest ages studied. Evidence of a period of overgeneralization of lexical causatives in one subject at the same time as the morphological causative shows signs of being productively acquired suggests that the seeming overgeneralization may reflect nothing more than as yet unstable use of the morphological causative. Noun incorporation structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to Mohawk-speaking children; potential explanations of this difference include details of language structure and relative language use in the environments of the learners. Findings are considered in light of current debates in the literature concerning continuity versus maturation of grammatical structure, and concerning the functional categories available to the child at early stages of acquisition. Data presented argue against maturation, and suggest that all functional categories can be accessed by the Inuktitut-speaking child early in the acquisition process.

This thesis is a sociolinguistic investigation into the use of local referent honorific suffixes by speakers of Osaka Japanese (OJ). Its main goal is to add to our understanding of the variation and change in the use of honorification among Japanese speakers, by including a combination of methodologies and frameworks within the scope of one discussion. The analysis covers both local referent honorific suffixes HARU, YARU and YORU, as well as Standard Japanese forms, (RA)RERU and so called special verbs. The main focus, however, is on providing a detailed examination of the local referent honorific suffix HARU. An analysis of the distribution patterns of this honorific allows us to explore (i) ongoing changes in its use across three generations of speakers, and (ii) the indexicality of its meaning in use, including the changing social meanings attached to the form see in the analysis of interactions, distribution and metapragmatic comments. The analysis shows that the use of both local and standard honorifics in informal conversations of OJ users is decreasing significantly among younger speakers. However, it also highlights the different linguistic behaviour of young men and young women in this speech community, and links their use of HARU with local linguistic and cultural ideologies, showing how they may be affecting both perceptions and patterns of use of the form. Additionally, the analysis in this dissertation looks at various levels of linguistic structure, allowing us to explore whether the Osaka honorific system does indeed function as a single system, or whether different forms at different levels of linguistic structure have their own histories and trajectories. The analysis suggests that the honorific resources available to OJ users (both standard and local features) need to be seen as a continuum (cf. Okamoto 1998), rather than separate and distinct systems. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed in the analysis. The quantitative analysis investigates the ongoing changes in the frequency of use of HARU, as well as its distribution according to a range of social and linguistic functions. The qualitative analysis suggests that HARU is socially meaningful for the speakers, performing multiple functions in the interpersonal domain of discourse. Combining the two approaches to study Japanese honorifics in naturally occurring conversations is an attempt at bridging the gap between a number of previous studies.

This study investigates adolescents' use of standard English in situations requiring careful speech. An account is given of the historical, political, linguistic and educational development of the concept of standard English, with particular emphasis on spoken standard English. Popular conceptions of 'correct speech' are also considered, and all of these are related to requirements in the National Curriculum for England and Wales for the teaching of spoken standard English. This is related to a specific case, namely that of Tyneside English. This variety is described, and an account is given of the area and its main social and econornIc characteristics. Twenty four adolescents are chosen from two schools which contrast highly in terms of socioeconomic profile. The individuals are also selected to provide a spread of levels of attainment, and both sexes are equally represented. M Phonological, grammatical, lexical and discourse variables are quantified using Labovian quantification techniques and approaches which involve counting non-standard variants over a period of time. Principal linguistic variables are: glottalised variants of (p) (t) and (k); non standard verb and pronoun forms; non-standard lexical items, and certain kinds of discourse markers. This process provides evidence of the extent to which young people use or do not use spoken standard English. It is shown that in more careful speech young people from more and less privileged backgrounds use only small frequencies of non-standard variants, but that within this relatively small number differences do exist: certain items are used mainly by less privileged boys, others mainly by girls, others by more privileged individuals in general. Use of non-standard speech is shown to differ for different groups at different linguistic levels. Important differences in gender and in social class emerge, but attainment also appears to have a significant bearing on children's use of spoken standard English. The study concludes by discussing pedagogical approaches which might increase awareness of issues associated with standard English.

Thesis (M.A. (Linguistics))--Mahidol University, 1983.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bryn Mawr college, 1915. / Vita. University Microfilms facsimile reprint. Chapter IV contains the text of the Lay each line "accompanied by a corresponding line of Gaimar's text if one is to be found."

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bryn Mawr college, 1915. / Vita. University Microfilms facsimile reprint. Chapter IV contains the text of the Lay each line "accompanied by a corresponding line of Gaimar's text if one is to be found."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.