The present study adopts an acoustic approach to analyze Mandarin Chinese speakers’ production of English and Mandarin alveolar and velar nasal codas /n, ŋ/ in different preceding vowel contexts. Its purposes are to explore the interrelationship between nasal codas and the preceding vowels in both L1 (First Language) and L2 (Second language) production and to identify and explain similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 production. Specifically, 20 native Mandarin Chinese speakers performed a word-list reading task involving 22 English and Mandarin test words with three types of rimes, VN (Vn or Vŋ, i.e., a monophthong vowel followed by /n/ or /ŋ/), VGn (a diphthong vowel followed by /n/), and VG (a diphthong vowel). In total, 88 tokens (22 words x 4 repetitions) were collected for each speaker, and all tokens were measured by using the phonetic software, Praat. First, mean F1-F0 and F3-F2 (differences between the first and fundamental formant frequencies and between the third and second formant frequencies) over the first and the second half of vowel duration were measured to estimate vowel height/backness changes over the duration. Also, N1/N2/N3 (the first, second, and third nasal formants) at the midpoint of nasal murmur duration and the band energy difference (∆dB) between 0-525 Hz and 525-1265Hz bands over the nasal murmur duration were calculated to predict the alveolar or velar nasal place. Last, the vowel and nasal murmur duration (V_D & N_D) in each token were used to indicate the degree of vowel-nasal coupling. Two-tailed paired-wise t-tests and repeated measures one-way ANOVA tests were used to examine the statistical significance of the above acoustic measurements across test words. The main results show that there is a strong vowel-nasal coarticulation effect in Mandarin VN and English VGn production but not in English VN production; specifically, nasal place in Mandarin VN and English VGn rimes covaries with vowel quality change over the duration. In contrast, there is a significant durational difference among English VN rimes but not among Mandarin VN and English VGn rimes; specifically, Vŋ rimes are longer than Vn rimes in English. The strong vowel-nasal coarticulation effect in the Mandarin VN and English VGn production and the significant durational difference in the English VN production can be both related to rhythmic factors.

The present body of research examined adult bilinguals who acquired a second language (L2) from an early age and who subsequently developed language dominance in that language. The question investigated is whether such "early L2-dominant bilinguals" attain a native level of proficiency in their second language. This possibility was explored by comparing bilinguals who had Cantonese L1 (logographic, morphosyllabic), Vietnamese L1 (alphabetic, morphosyllabic) or some "Other" L1 (alphabetic, non-morphosyllabic) to English monolinguals on various tasks in English (L2). The ability to process spoken stimuli was examined using phoneme deletion, spelling-to-dictation, and auditory comprehension tasks. The results showed that bilinguals from all backgrounds had greater difficulty than monolinguals on tasks that required sublexical skills, with the morphosyllabic groups performing the most poorly. The processing of print was investigated using reading aloud and reading comprehension tasks. In contrast to the auditory tasks, only Cantonese L1 bilinguals displayed any discernable difference from monolinguals on reading. Cantonese L1 bilinguals did, however, outperform monolinguals on orthographic memory tasks, such as the spelling of idiosyncratic L2 words. The findings therefore indicated that L1 linguistic structure influences L2 processing in adulthood, despite the former having become subordinate. In order to elucidate whether transfer effects arise solely from early exposure to L1, or whether L1 maintenance also plays a role, the L1 and L2 proficiency of a separate sample of Cantonese L1 bilinguals was examined. However, no meaningful relationship between L1 and L2 proficiency was found. Finally, a sample of late bilinguals were also tested in order to determine whether the L1-specific effects observed in early bilinguals are simply an attenuated version of those in late bilinguals,. The results revealed that the development of language dominance in L2 does lead to qualitatively different outcomes in L2 for early bilinguals. The findings from the present research are most consistent with the Competition Model (e.g., Hernandez, Li, & MacWhinney, 2005), which espouses the notions of L1 transfer and entrenchment to explain second language acquisition. Overall, the research indicates that native attainment in L2 is not assured for all early L2-dominant bilinguals.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009. / Title from screen (viewed on August 28, 2009). Department of World Languages and Cultures, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Elena Natal, Nancy A. Newton, Marta M. Antón. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-63).

Η αλματώδης αύξηση της ταχύτητας του επεξεργαστή δημιούργησε ένα χάσμα μεταξύ αυτού και της κύριας μνήμης. Η αρχιτεκτονική υπολογιστών καλείται να δώσει λύση στο πρόβλημα αυτό εφαρμόζοντας νέες τεχνικές στην ιεραρχία μνημών. Να αποκρύψει δηλαδή αυτή την καθυστέρηση έχοντας όμως περιορισμούς στην σχεδίαση ως προς τον χώρο και την κατανάλωση. Για τον λόγο αυτό προτείνουμε μια νέα τεχνική που συνδυάζει συμπίεση και πρόγνωση αποστάσεων επαναχρησιμοποίησης. Η συμπίεση αυξάνει την αποθηκευτική δυνατότητα της μνήμης και η πρόγνωση αποστάσεων επαναχρησιμοποίησης βοηθά στην σωστή επιλογή του μπλοκ προς συμπίεση. Η διπλωματική εργασία έχει ως στόχο την διερεύνηση του μοντέλου συμπίεσης με αλγόριθμο (FPC) και πρόγνωσης βάση εντολής αποστάσεων επαναχρησιμοποίησης (IbRDP) σε κρυφές μνήμες δευτέρου επιπέδου, ως προς την βελτιστοποίηση που μπορεί να επιφέρει στην ταχύτητα εκτέλεσης των προγραμμάτων καθώς και σε άλλες παραμέτρους. Διερευνήθηκαν διάφορα μοντέλα και στο βέλτιστο μοντέλο επετεύχθησαν σημαντικές αυξήσεις στην ταχύτητα εκτέλεσης των μετροπρογραμμάτων (16% αύξηση γεωμετρικού μέσου IPC στο 1ΜΒ) ενώ μόνο ένα μετροπρόγραμμα παρουσίασε έντονη μείωση της τάξης του 17 %. / the gap of speed between CPU and main memory is a problem than need to be solved by proposing new techniques on cache hierarchies, so the delay of fetching data from the main memory will be eliminated. We propose a new techinque of compression and reuse distance prediction. This compression will increase the capacity of L2 cache memory and the reuse distance prediction will find the most appropriate block to compress The thesis aims to search the combinational model of compression (FPC) and Reuse distance Predictor (IbRDP)on L2 cache memories. Several models have been simulated and the optimal model had increased execution speed of benchmarks (16% improvement in geometric mean IPC 1MB) while only one bencmark reduced its execution speed by 17%.

Nous sommes partie de l’hypothèse cognitive centrale que le lexique en L1 comme L2 occupe le premier rôle dans l’apprentissage d’une langue. Nous avons examiné, à cet effet, la spécificité de l’apprentissage du lexique en L2, conditionné par la L1, et le rôle restreint que joue le lexique en L2 pour redéfinir des catégories d’une réalité partagée et catégoriser des aspects d’une réalité nouvelle. Le dernier volet de notre hypothèse a porté sur le phénomène de conscientisation que l’apprenant est susceptible de déployer par rapport à ses actes langagiers et l’effet que cette conscientisation peut avoir sur son interlangue. Le lexique en L2 constituerait des points d’ancrage attentionnels privilégiés chez l’apprenant, à partir desquels il exerce son activité langagière. Pour tester nos hypothèses centrale et satellite, nous nous sommes appuyée sur la capacité d’introspection de 6 apprenants que nous avons induite dans le cadre d’une recherche-action caractérisée par un processus intersubjectif où sujets et chercheur furent partie prenante. Notre dispositif d’expérimentation a consisté en 2 types d’échange qui se sont déroulés en L1 en milieu scolaire : questionnaires et entretiens. Les questionnaires devaient amener les sujets, au moyen du questionnement oral, à s’exprimer sur leurs représentations générales de l’apprentissage du lexique ; les entretiens devaient nous aider à sonder les représentations métalinguistiques et les processus cognitifs des sujets à partir d’une production écrite en L2. Notre recherche-action est suivie d’une postface qui fait part d’une réflexion didactique et de pistes pédagogiques issues de notre réflexion théorique et de notre analyse des données. / We support the central cognitive hypothesis that lexis in L2 as in L1 plays the primary role in the process of learning a new language. To this end, we have examined the specificity of L2 lexis learning, conditioned by the L1, and the role (however limited) played by L2 lexis in redefining categories of a shared reality and in categorization of aspects of an expanded reality.The last element of our hypothesis addressed the phenomenon of awareness that the learner is able to develop with respect to language production and the effect that this awareness can have on resulting interlanguage. L2 lexis constitutes the thoughtful personal grounding from which the language learner exercises his or her linguistic activity.To test our central and satellite hypotheses, we relied on the introspective abilities of six learners invited to participate in an action research characterized by an intersubjective process in which the researcher took active part with each learner studied. Our experimental design comprised two types of interaction that took place in the L1 at school: oral questionnaires and interviews.The questionnaires needed to lead the student subjects, by means of oral questioning, to reflect upon their general perceptions of lexis learning. The interviews needed to help us to survey the subjects’ metalinguistic productions and cognitive processes, based on a written production in L2. Our action research is followed by a postscript involving a didactic reflection and the pedagogical implications stemming from our theoretical deliberations and our analyses of the data.

Bilinguals have been posited to have, compared to monolinguals, enhanced cognitive control, consequently exhibiting greater cognitive reserve, which is thought to subsequently delay the onset of clinical expression of dementia. Based on recent evidence suggesting that the more languages one manages the greater cognitive reserve, and that trilinguals undergo greater exercise in language control than bilinguals, this thesis investigated the effects of trilingualism and ageing on cognitive control, in young adults to older adults. As the thesis investigated the novel field of trilingualism and cognitive control, task complexity, the age of second and third language acquisition, language use, and physical and cognitive activity were also, importantly, assessed, as these are possible influencing factors in test performance. The participants completed several cognitive tasks; namely the Simon task, the Inhibition of return task, the Stroop task (inhibition) and the N-back task (working memory). The novel discovery of a trilingual (and bilingual) disadvantage was observed, which could explain some previous inconsistent findings in the bilingualism literature, where trilingualism may influence bilinguals’ test performance, as trilinguals and multilinguals are often mixed in with the bilingual group. Furthermore, the results suggest that second language acquisition and language use does not consistently predict performance in trilinguals (and bilinguals), nor does cognitive activity, although physical activity may modulate language group differences. Importantly, the results from this novel investigation of the effects of trilingualism and ageing on cognitive control suggest that trilingualism (and bilingualism) can, in some cases, be detrimental to cognitive control.

Es importante para todos los estudiantes de L2 desarrollar la capacidad de expresarse según las normas gramaticales de la lengua meta. En este estudio nuestro objetivo ha sido investigar qué errores gramaticales son los más frecuentes en textos escritos por estudiantes en el curso Spanska 3 en el bachillerato en Suecia. También hemos querido entender más sobre los errores con ayuda de estudios anteriores y teorías lingüísticas. Las fuentes primarias del estudio consisten en 30 textos en forma narrativa, con el tema En vacaciones. El método que hemos usado para recolectar los datos tiene su origen en el Análisis de Errores. El análisis de los datos consiste en dos partes: un análisis cuantitativo y un análisis cualitativo. En total hemos obtenido 251 errores de los textos, en categorías gramaticales diferentes. El resultado del análisis cuantitativo muestra que las categorías de errores de verbos, concordancias y artículos son las más grandes. Las categorías de errores de preposiciones, pronombres personales y adjetivos posesivos son las categorías menores. En el análisis cualitativo hemos usado teorías de la interlengua y de las estrategias de comunicación para entender más sobre los errores de nuestro estudio. También hemos presentado nuestra actitud didáctica hacia los errores de los estudiantes.

abstract: Using a sociocultural framework, this dissertation investigated the writing processes of 31 ESL learners in an EAP context at a large North American university. The qualitative case study involved one of the four major writing assignments in a required first-year composition course for ESL students. Data were collected from four different sources: (a) A semi-structured interview with each participant, (b) process logs kept by participants for the entire duration of the writing assignment, (c) classroom observation notes, and (d) class materials. Findings that emerged through analyses of activity systems, an analytical framework within Vygotskian activity theory, indicate that L2 writers used various context-specific, social, and cultural affordances to accomplish the writing tasks. The study arrived at these findings by creating taxonomies of the six activity system elements - subject, tools, goals, division of labor, community, and rules - as they were realized by L2 writers, and examining the influence that these elements had in the process of composing. The analysis of data helped create categories of each of the six activity system elements. To illustrate with an example, the categories that emerged within the element division of labor were as follows: (a) Instructor, (b) friends and classmates, (c) writing center tutors, (d) family members, and (e) people in the world. The emergent categories for each of the six activity system elements were then examined to determine if their effects on L2 writing were positive or negative. Overall, the findings of the present study validate arguments related to the post-process views that an explanation of L2 writing processes solely based on cognitive perspectives provides but only a partial picture of how second language writing takes place. In order for a more comprehensive understanding of L2 writing one must also account for the various social and cultural factors that play critical roles in the production of L2 texts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2012

abstract: This investigation's goal was to add to the small body of research on pragmalinguistic acquisition of L2 Spanish. Specifically, it centered on the production of complaints in Spanish. Data was collected via a written Discourse Completion Task (DCT) of a complaint-provoking situation presented in a website voiceboard to two non-native speaker (NNS) students groups of different proficiency levels and to a native speaker (NS) control group. The lower proficiency group was comprised of 11 NNS enrolled in a 200 level beginning/intermediate Spanish grammar class and the advanced proficiency group of 11 NNS enrolled in a 400 level advanced Spanish conversation and composition class. Neither group contained any participants who had studied abroad or lived in a Spanish-speaking country for more than 3 months. The control group consisted of 10 NSs of Spanish who were all natives or current residents of Northern Mexico. Data from the DCT was categorized into strategies which were organized into Head Acts and Supporting Moves, Deference and Solidarity Politeness systems, according to the frameworks of Blum-Kulka, et al. (1989) and Scollon and Scollon (1983), respectively. The results of the analysis revealed that all three groups of participants have overarching similarities in the use of multiple Head Acts, some used several times throughout a response, to realize a complaint and used some Supporting Moves to mitigate these Head Acts. The lower proficiency group diverged from the advanced proficiency group and NS control group in that lower proficiency students not only used a fewer total strategies and strategy types, but also preferred Head Acts and Supporting Moves that expressed discomfort or dislike over strategies that expressed criticism, or requested a solution from the listener, these being the primary strategies preferred by the advanced proficiency and control group participants. It was also found that the percentage of Supporting Moves decreased with the raise in proficiency level, also. After a discussion of the results, pedagogical implications are given based on these results to help students notice and acquire pragmalinguistcally appropriate responses to complaint-provoking situations. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Spanish 2012

This paper provides empirical evidence on the determinants of foreign ownership in manufacturing industries. Foreign ownership, according to the theory of international production, is the result of the combination of comparative and competitive advantage. An adequate examination of the ownership structure of an industry requires the ability to establish empirically the extent to which international competitiveness of firms rests on comparative and competitive advantage. Analysis is based on a sample of the 30 largest manufacturing firms in Austria. The distinction and definition of comparative and competitive advantage as used in this paper and following from it the conclusions about the ownership structure are consistent with the empirical evidence about the share of employees in foreign-owned firms on the industry level. In particular, the classification of firms as foreign- or domestically-owned is in line with the revealed performance differences between foreign and domestic firms. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series