Denna uppsats undersöker, med metoden samtalsanalys, två samtal på engelska mellan infödda talare av engelska och svenskar med engelska som sitt första främmandespråk. Fokus ligger på form och funktion för fenomenet allo-repetition i dessa två samtal, d.v.s. repetition av vad någon annan har sagt tidigare. Inom samtalsforskning kring samtal på modersmålet har man funnit att repetitionen har många funktioner på såväl ett innehållsmässigt som ett socialt plan. Genom att använda sig av olika typer av repetitioner förhåller sig samtalaren till både ämnet och de andra samtalarna, samtidigt som koherens skapas. Också inom andraspråksforskningen har repetitionen som fenomen undersökts, och har där funnits anta vissa former beroende på om de används av inlärarna själva eller de mer språkligt kompetenta infödda talarna. I denna studie undersöks avancerade inlärare av engelska, d.v.s. inlärare med en god kunskap om målspråket. Repetitionens roll i dessa samtal granskas i förhållande till såväl repetitionens roll i samtalet på modersmålet som repetitionens roll i andraspråksinlärning. I analysen framkom att det främst är de sociala motiven som utgör skäl för repetitionerna, och rollerna som infödd talare respektive inlärare förefaller inte ha någon relevans för användandet av repetitioner. Det förekommer inga direkta bevis för aktiv och medveten inlärning, men däremot kan man anta en potentiell inlärning i ett slags ”biprodukt” av den sociala verksamheten som samtalen utgör, då det t.ex. skapas syntaktiska strukturer, vilka upprepas av de olika deltagarna med mer eller mindre variation. Det kan vidare konstateras att repetitionerna används på ett mycket kontextbundet sätt, och att de två samtalens olika karaktär således delvis ger olika resultat vad beträffar repetitionerna.

<p>English is the most expansionist language in the world today. Currently, native speakers are outnumbered by non-native speakers by a ratio of 3:1, a ratio that is set to grow to 10:1 within the next ten years. One of the consequences of a language growing so rapidly is that its new users tend to ignore already accepted standards. In what linguists refer to as the outer and expanding circles of English-speakers (mainly in Africa and Asia) new varieties and standards of English are now being invented.</p><p>In this study, the effects of the current expansion of English on the teaching of English in Swedish upper-secondary schools are explored. Questions raised include: Should teachers of English in Sweden reflect the changing nature of English in their teaching? Should they readily adopt the New Englishes that are emerging or should they teach with the standard they have always used? The national curriculum for the teaching of English in Sweden is discussed in some detail. The guidelines therein are evaluated in terms of their ability to capture the changing face of English as well as their ability to give solid guidance to teachers in a classroom situation.</p><p>Findings derive from linguistic literature and from interviews conducted with English teachers at upper-secondary level. One of the main conclusions of the study is that whilst the national curriculum recognises the global diversity of English, its goals are overambitious in what it tries to achieve and thus it fails to provide teachers with practical guidance in their day-to-day teaching. A recommendation, therefore, is that the curriculum should be clearer in spelling out the importance of adhering to native standard varieties of English. However this does not mean that teachers should ignore the cultural diversity of the English-speaking world.</p>

<p>The literature on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter is prolific. People have written on various topics dealing with issues such as translation, etymology and diverse areas concerning the language. In this essay, I examine whether linguistic features such as reporting verbs, adverbs of manner and adjectives contribute to the depiction of heroic and villainous characters. Before conducting this research, my assumptions were that there would be a great difference in the value of the words depending on the character they were associated with. I wanted to see if the heroic characters used verbs and adverbs with positive connotations, and the villainous characters verbs and adverbs with negative connotations. I also wanted to know if the adjectives describing the characters could, in themselves, clearly indicate whether a character was a hero or a villain.</p><p>The results of my research suggested that the choice of particular verbs and adverbs contributed only indirectly to the depiction of the characters. Without context, it was not possible to know if the character was a hero or a villain simply by identifying the verbs and adverbs used to describe their speech. By contrast, the choice of particular adjectives did appear to indicate more clearly whether a character was hero or villain. Finally, the results of my research indicated that context, rather than the use of particular linguistic features was often the most important factor in contributing to the portrayal of characters in the novel.</p>

<p>Within the framework of Jackendoff’s conceptual semantics, this study investigates the semantic properties that govern the distribution of object control (such as <i>John persuaded Mary to help Sally</i>) and exceptional case marking (such as <i>John wanted Mary to help Sally</i>) in English. In contrast to Jackendoff’s approach to control, one central idea here is that the<i> to-</i>infinitive complements under discussion should receive a uniform semantic analysis, and thus that control behaviour cannot be explained in terms of semantic argument type of the complement clause. In order to arrive at such an analysis of these<i> to-</i>infinitival complements, they are taken to constitute Situations in conceptual structure, and clauses (TPs) in syntax.</p><p>It is argued here that it is indeed possible to establish the character of the semantic properties that govern the two constructions OC and ECM. Not only does the semantic type of the governing predicate play a role—attitude predicates, as opposed to force dynamic predicates, are exclusively coded as ECM in syntax—but also the realisation of the semantic argument position that corresponds to the Patient/Beneficiary role in conceptual structure. With force dynamic predicates, OC will arise when this argument position is filled with an explicit argument. When it is empty, or left implicit, however, the result will be ECM in syntactic structure.</p>

<p>This paper investigates the role of Swedish blogs as a channel for introduction and establishment of English loans. The direct loans, covering both single-word loans and phrasal loans, were collected from nine blogs at three points in time: 2000, 2004 and 2008. The dimensions of frequency, distribution, formal integration and establishment in Swedish normative dictionaries were used to analyze the samples as unintegrated, interim or established loans in accordance with Chrystal (1988). A newspaper corpus was used to compare the borrowings’ time of appearance to see whether the blogs have a more active role in introducing borrowings than newspapers have.      Of the single-word loans accounted for, 24 were unintegrated, 19 interim and 5 established. The phrasal loans showed 27 unintegrated, 30 interim and 1 established borrowing. When compared to the newspaper corpus, 10 single-word loans and 32 phrasal loans occurred only in blogs or in blogs before they occurred in the corpus, while 38 single-word loans and 26 phrases occurred in the corpus before or at the same time as in the blogs. Nine of the unintegrated or interim loans in the blogs were subsequently established in a Swedish dictionary. The results indicate that blogs do have a role in introducing and establishing borrowings in Swedish, but from this qualitative investigation it is not possible to determine the magnitude of their influence.</p>

<p>Thomas Pynchon’s <em>V.</em> is often criticized for its preoccupation with meaninglessness and the  inability to make sense of ‘who’ or ‘what’ <em>V</em>. is about. The failure to make sense of <em>V</em>. is thematized within the novel particularly during the sacred moments or epiphanies which critics describe as ‘bizarre’, ‘disturbing’ or ‘unsettling’. These sacred moments raise issues that cannot be answered by traditional tools. Yet, critics and readers have responded to the novel with readings that reinscribe conventional modes of making sense and show a resistance to the inadequacy of traditional tools. This dissertation examines how Pynchon undermines modernist notions of the sacred moment as “moments of vision” which yield a higher knowledge or revelation. I argue that the sacred moments in <em>V</em>. allude to George Bataille’s notion of waste within a restricted and general economy. The violence of the sacred moments in <em>V</em>. are examined in relation to waste, sacrifice, the erotic, the inanimate, sovereignty and laughter. I conclude that rather than bringing about death, entropy and apocalyptic endings, the epiphanies’ violence and wasteful expenditure reveal the power structures at work in the literary use of the sacred. Paradoxically, the necessary existence of wasteful expenditure increases sense-making and offers the critic/reader the possibility of confronting waste, “the accursed share”.</p>

<p>The concept of distorting the line between fiction and reality appears to be one of the main themes in Ian McEwan’s <em>Atonement </em>(2001) as well as in Joe Wright’s screen adaptation of the novel, released in 2007. With the focus on the main character Briony Tallis this essay explores the influence that literature and fiction have on her, how they bring her to blur the line between them and reality and, to a lesser extent, the different ways in which the novel and its screen adaptation address this issue. Briony is first introduced as an author, underlining the importance that imagination holds for her, and it is this overactive imagination that causes her to misinterpret real events and thus accuse Robbie Turner for a crime he did not commit. To redeem herself Briony turns to fiction in an attempt to re-write the past; by blurring the line between fiction and reality, as defined by the restrictions of her novel, Briony gives Robbie and Cecilia a future within the pages of her book. The literary motifs and symbols, that are present within her novel, enhance the influence fiction and literature have on her. This is also emphasized by her characters’ relationship with literature, their use of literary works, and their characters.  Briony, the character, strives to become Briony the author, thus emphasizing the importance that literature holds for her. Because Briony is trapped within the boundaries of her own imagination she has, in writing her novel, managed to hold Robbie and Cecilia captive in her imaginative world. Thus, finally achieving what she has been striving to do for during the greater part of her life: Briony, the author, can atone for the terrible ordeals that she caused decades previously.</p>