<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>The paper aims to investigate the failure of the American Dream in the novel <em>The Grapes of Wrath </em>and the factors that affect it. Thus, the thesis of the paper is that it is the classes and castes of Californian that prevent the Joad family from fulfilling the American Dream.</p><p>The thesis will be discussed from four focal points of the American Dream: Freedom, Equality, Individualism and Family and Ideal Home. The novel takes place during the Great Depression, a time when many Americans were homeless and unemployed. An attempt will be made to define the American Dream and give a background to it. Furthermore, the binary pair of “self” and “other” will be used as an instrument of analysis.</p>

Motivation i kombination med elevens självkänsla är två viktiga delar inom språkinlärning. Om den ena delen saknas uteblir ofta den språkliga aktiviteten hos eleverna. Uppsatsen är framtagen genom en empirisk studie i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärare och en enkätundersökning med elever. Studiens forskningsfrågor fokuserar på vad som motiverar elever till att tala på engelska samt vad lärare kan göra för att motivera elever till att kommunicera i klassrummet. Tidigare forskning förespråkar att lärare använder målspråket i sin undervisning. Detta anses vara en nyckelfaktor eftersom eleverna hör språket vilket motiverar till muntlig aktivitet. Undersökningen visar bland annat att användning av målspråket i undervisningen och en trygg lärmiljö är viktiga aspekter för lärare som vill skapa ett kommunikativt klassrum på målspråket och stödja elever till ett språkligt självförtroende. Undersökningen utgår från Vygotskys sociokulturella perspektiv samt MacIntyres teori om Willingness to communicate (WTC). Resultatet visar att de flesta elever är positiva till engelska som ämne och majoriteten av eleverna tycker att det är roligt att lära sig ett nytt språk. Studiens resultat stämmer överens med tidigare forskning men för att dra generella slutsatser behövs mer forskning inom området. / <p>Engelska</p>

I studien har rektorer, lärare i engelska och elever på en gymnasieskola blivit intervjuade med utgångspunkt i arbetet med det centrala innehållet och kunskapskraven i kursen engelska 5. Rektorerna och lärarna har beskrivit hur de ser på arbetet med styrdokumenten, ansvaret och betydelsen för eleverna. Eleverna har beskrivit hur de uppfattat arbetet, sin egen insats och vikten av detsamma för deras resultat. Studiens syfte var att synliggöra hur rektorer och gymnasielärare beskriver sitt arbete med att förmedla innehållet i det centrala innehållet och kunskapskraven för engelska 5 och hur elever tolkar och förstår innebörden av dessa, deras användning och betydelse. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts och dessa har analyserats från ett fenomenografisk perspektiv för att uppdaga hur individerna förstått uppdraget. I analysen framställdes översikter av de olika grupperna vilka belyste både likheter och olikheter mellan individerna i gruppen. Rektorerna lyfte fram betydelsen av detta arbete för elevernas kunskapsutveckling och för elevinflytande men förlitade sig helt på lärares profession vad gäller genomförandet. Trots att lärarna kämpade med att förklara innehållet och begreppen i kunskapskraven för eleverna kunde de alla se nyttan av dessa för kunskapsutveckling. Eleverna förstod dock inte alltid betydelsen eller hur de kunde dra nytta av dessa. Eleverna kände till begreppen i kunskapskraven och deras innebörd i varierande grad men de hade inte förståelse för deras betydelse för den egna kunskapsutvecklingen i kursen. Sammanfattningsvis visar resultatet att trots att lärarna är medvetna om svårigheterna med att arbeta med styrdokumenten finns det fortfarande en diskrepans mellan lärares försök att förmedla innehållet och begreppen och elevernas förståelse av hur detta kan appliceras på deras eget lärande. Rektorerna tycktes inte se någon anledning att träda emellan och stötta lärarna. Sammanfattningsvis är det väsentligt att poängtera vikten av att lärare ges möjligheter till samarbete för att utveckla detta arbete och därmed höja kvaliteten på undervisningen. / In this study Heads, English teachers and pupils, at an upper secondary school, have been interviewed regarding how the syllabus in English 5 is taught, made comprehensible, perceived and its use and importance for student performance. The main purpose of this study was to highlight how heads and upper secondary school teachers understand the task of communicating the core content and the knowledge requirements for English 5 and how the pupils interpret and understand the meaning, use and significance of this activity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the transcripts were analysed from a phenomenographic perspective to reveal how both individuals understood the task. In the analysis, group overviews of Heads, teachers and pupils were presented, highlighting commonalties as well as differences between members of the group. The Heads emphasised the implications of this work for learning as well as the importance regarding pupils’ participation in decision-making. The Heads rely solely on teachers’ professionalism. Even though the teachers struggle to make the wording of the assessment criteria clear to the pupils, they all recognised its usefulness for learning. The pupils clearly did not always apprehend its meaning or use. The pupils had a general sense of what the expressions used for the knowledge requirements meant, although there was considerable variation. They were not aware of the full potential of using the criteria to support their progress and the outcome their studies. The study concludes that although the teachers are aware of the difficulties with teaching the content and meaning of the syllabus there is still a discrepancy between the teachers’ attempts to communicate and the pupils’ comprehension of how that knowledge could be able applied to their own learning. Heads do not appear to see a need to intervene or support teachers. The study concludes by arguing that teachers need the opportunities to collaborate in order to advance this work and thus further the quality of their teaching.

Vårt arbete handlar om hur mellanstadielärare kan använda TV- och datorspel i engelskundervisning för att öka elevernas intresse. När en del nyanlända elever kommer till Sverige måste de lära sig svenska och engelska samtidigt, vilket kan kännas som en stor belastning för dem. Här emellertid är barn mycket intresserade av digitala verktyg, som är en möjlighet för dem att lära sig nya saker på ett tilltalande sätt. I denna studie har vi intervjuat två engelsklärare och fyra elever samt genomfört en enkätundersökning med 18 nyanlända elever som deltagare. Resultaten i vår uppsats visar att elever lärde sig nya ord från spelet. Detta gäller både flickor och pojkar. En slutsats vi kan dra är att lärarna bör blanda sina undervisningsformer till nyanlända elever, genom att ha teoretiska lektioner och använda sig av lärorika TV- och datorspel som Minecraft för att kunna motivera nyanlända elever.

In Malaysia what was at first Standard English has over time changed and a variety called Malaysian English has arisen. This variety of English is full of colloquial expressions and the grammar also differs slightly from that of Standard English. This paper surveys Malaysian speakers’ attitudes towards Malaysian English and Standard English. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The results show that the informants consider Malaysian English useful for informal and everyday communication whereas Standard English is more useful for international communication as well as more formal purposes. A good command of Standard English is still regarded as important. It became evident that while the informers were aware of Malaysian English and its linguistic characteristics, identifying them in written sentences was not easy. The informants’ attitudes towards Malaysian English and Standard English showed that one variety does not have to exclude the existence of the other. / Vad som först var standardengelska har i Malaysia över tid ändrats och en ny variant kallad malaysisk engelska har växt fram. Denna variant av engelska är full av lokala uttryck och grammatiken skiljer sig delvis från standardengelskans. Denna studie undersöker talares attityder till malaysisk engelska och standardengelska med hjälp av en enkät. Resultaten visar att malaysisk engelska är användbar för informell och vardaglig kommunikation medan standardengelska är mer användbar för internationell samt mer formell kommunikation. Att behärska standardengelska anses fortfarande vara viktigt. Det blev tydligt att även om informanterna var medvetna om malaysisk engelskas lingvistiska särdrag så var det inte helt enkelt att identifiera dem i skrivna meningar. Informanternas attityder till malaysisk engelska och standardengelska visade att en variant inte nödvändigtvis utesluter den andra.

Tupac Amaru Shakur was a successful African American musician, poet, and actor most renowned for tackling controversial subject matters in his music as well as using it as a platform to highlight his political opinions and social activism. Tupac used African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in his music. AAVE is a form of English, with its own unique vocabulary, typically spoken in urban communities and historically rooted in the American South. The aim of this study is to analyse how Tupac uses language to represent the voiceless America. This research essay focuses on answering two sub-questions. First, what topics/discourses does Tupac rap about in the song Changes and second, how is language used to represent these topic/discourses? Changes, one of Tupac's most prominent song, is studied in a qualitative discourse analysis where AAVE (African American Vernacular English) is in the focus. Also, a minor study is presented in three different tables to compare AAVE words with Standard American (SAE). The results of this study indicate that AAVE in Tupac's music is purposeful, plays a strong role in his persona, presentation, and can be linked to his political activism. In conclusion, through analyzing Changes, this essay illustrates several examples on how Tupac uses linguistic features to explore several themes and highlight the African American struggle in his society.

<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>

<p>The expression /on the one hand…on the other hand/ (OH1 OH2) is a fixed linguistic pattern which is used to emphasize the comparison between two possibly complex propositions (henceforth X and Y). The static syntactic form of the pattern and the specific semantic comparison it evokes are strong indicators that it is a construction of the type discussed in the analytical method Construction Grammar (henceforth CxG). Thus, the aim of this essay is to argue that the pattern OH1X OH2Y is a CxG construction with specific syntactic and semantic constraints, and at the same time to give a descriptive account of the features of the construction. The British National Corpus was used to get examples containing the pattern. The syntactic and semantic features of these examples were analysed and the results were compared with how the traditional descriptive grammarians account for the pattern.</p>