published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

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The English suffix -s is usually used to mark third person singular present tense, noun plurals, possessives, and in some adverbs, but it is also used in words like news, linguistics, measles, billiards, belongings, riches, oats, shivers, scissors, etc. In the literature so far, words like these have been studied mainly from the diachronic perspective, according to their morphological features and within the realm of count and mass nouns, and the suffix -s has been called a plural marker, possessive marker, pseudo-morpheme, or nominalizer. But these functions identified for the English suffix -s can't successfully explain usages of the suffix -s in all the non-plural English nouns, especially those that are not abstract nouns.In this dissertation a survey on the use of English non-plural nouns in -s is conducted with middle school students, college freshmen, college seniors, college professors and staff members as subjects using six different grammatical tests. It is found that the High School group and Staff Members always stand out as different from College Students and Professors suggesting that education level or the heterogeneousness of education levels does play a role in affecting the subjects' use of the English non-plural nouns in -s. In the survey, the subjects' performance in different types of tests is statistically different indicating that different kinds of tests affect the subjects' performance and grammaticality judgment differently.The FROWN-based study shows that most of these English non-plural nouns in -s are not used very frequently in contemporary American English, revealing that most of the English reference grammars are using obsolete or historical examples. The corpus-based study also tells us that most of the cases of these English non-plural nouns in -s are in non-subject positions, making it harder for us to test the number status of these words. But this large number of non-subject cases just means that we can't tell whether these words are intrinsically plural or singular and in fact except for only a few clearly marked plural cases there is a strong tendency towards generic interpretations for these non-plural nouns in -s. Actually it is this in-determinateness that makes the appearance of the new morpheme or new functions of old morphemes possible.The data from the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed, Online (OED), supports Stahlke, Cheng & Sung's (forthcoming) argument that in the late 16th and early 17th century a new morpheme--the nominalizer -s, was developed in the English language to turn adjectives and concrete nouns into abstract nouns. The data on the historical semantic development of English non-plural nouns in -s from the OED also reveals the process of a semantic shift of Adj. -+ Sing. N -+ Pl. N -+ Col. N - Gen. N. This process of semantic shift is strongly evidenced by the disappearance of singular forms of the English non-plural nouns -s in the late 16th and early 17th century and successfully explains why the English nouns in -s have the generic interpretation and require singular verb agreement. / Department of English

In "Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention," Cynthia Selfe charges the field of composition not to simply consider technology a tool, but to "pay attention" to the rhetorical and social implications of those tools. In one sense, paying critical attention to technological literacies echoes the decade-old call for Computers and Writing practitioners to use research as a means of assessing online activities, suggesting that teachers not remain satisfied with the unreflective excitement that has been the operative epistemology of the field from its beginning. In another sense, Selfe's recent call enlists teachers and students in reflective and evaluative class discussion and writing on the technological literacy tools they are learning to use.This dissertation responds to both of these implications as it studies a semester of first-year college composition students within a synchronous online classroom environment. The question that guides my study is, in its most basic form, what happens during synchronous online writing conferences? And to speak to that question, I design an ethnographic context-sensitive text analysis employing grounded theory for data coding, a methodological model adaptable for future research in synchronous online classroom activity. I focus on three issues that have continually arisen in the scholarship surrounding synchronous conferencing: aspects of online language, the implications of the environment within object-oriented MUDs (MOOs), and the use of social constructionism as a theoretical foundation for synchronous conferencing.With the findings from my study, I conclude the dissertation by offering pedagogical suggestions to teachers and students for critically assessing synchronous online discourse. My articulation of assessment mandates that students and teachers engage in it together, collaboratively reflecting on what happens online and learning about synchronous online discourse-a significant ingredient in contemporary literacy. / Department of English

Typescript (photocopy) / Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1979. / Bibliography: leaves 195-197. / x, 197 leaves, bound 29 cm

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1982. / Bibliography: leaves 228-239. / Microfiche. / xiv, 239 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education