Whole document restricted at the request of the author. / Within a context of Italian women's literary, intellectual, and feminist thought, the dissertation employs two specific literary texts that transgress generic borders, Clara Sereni's Casalinghitudine (1987) and Fabrizia Ramindino's Althénopis (1988), to elucidate paternal and maternal negotiations as a projected model of writing home. Motivated by feminist trespasses upon and resistances to the "fathered" academic canon, the dissertation provides a third literary example through my renegotiation of the theoretical argument in poetic form. Printed on tracing paper, my poetic text overlays and haunts the dissertation with subjective intersections, poetry, and prose that emerge from my research and that constitutes a significant part of my poetry collections published to date. My academic argument draws upon an interdisciplinary heritage by enlisting the thought of French, Italian, and Anglo/American feminisms alongside Italian cultural, literary, and history studies. Part One locates the mother and the maternal in the context of Western feminist theories, Italian feminist thought, and Italian culture. With close reference to the primary texts, it analyses the implications of the missing mother, the surrogate mother, the uncanny in the mother/daughter relationship, maternal kinesis, maternal thresholds, and maternal junctures in terms of a woman writing home. Part Two considers the ramifications of the father figure in the work of six intellectuals (Simone de Beauvoir, Adrienne Rich, Nancy Chodorow, Julia Kristeva, Hélène Cixous, and Luce Irigaray), in an Italian cultural, historical, legal, political, and literary context, and in the light of Italian feminist approaches to the father. Maintaining close links with the two primary texts, I analyse the missing father, the father as authority, and the manner in which in writing home, writing the father traverses and transgresses thresholds such as the cooking pot, the body, and the written page. With a debt to Rosi Braidotti and Adriana Cavarero, I conclude that in writing home, a woman renegotiates both the maternal and paternal through what I have named the practice of equilibrium writing. For the woman writer, equilibrium writing comprises writing out of her roots, writing as both weaving and unweaving, writing out of kinetic movement in order to write a provisional and subjective centre, and writing conjunctions and coalitions. In an extension of Italian feminist approaches to "authority," I contend that such a textual negotiation of the mother and the father constructs a state of auto/authority for the woman writing.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / Alderson (2005) suggests that diagnostic tests should identify strengths and weaknesses in learners' use of language, focus on specific elements rather than global abilities and provide detailed feedback to stakeholders. However, rating scales used in performance assessment have been repeatedly criticized for being imprecise, for using impressionistic terminology (Fulcher, 2003; Upshur & Turner, 1999; Mickan, 2003) and for often resulting in holistic assessments (Weigle, 2002). The aim of this study was to develop a theoretically-based and empirically-developed rating scale and to evaluate whether such a scale functions more reliably and validly in a diagnostic writing context than a pre-existing scale with less specific descriptors of the kind usually used in proficiency tests. The existing scale is used in the Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment (DELNA) administered to first-year students at the University of Auckland. The study was undertaken in two phases. During Phase 1, 601 writing scripts were subjected to a detailed analysis using discourse analytic measures. The results of this analysis were used as the basis for the development of the new rating scale. Phase 2 involved the validation of this empirically-developed scale. For this, ten trained raters applied both sets of descriptors to the rating of 100 DELNA writing scripts. A quantitative comparison of rater behavior was undertaken using FACETS (a multi-faceted Rasch measurement program). Questionnaires and interviews were also administered to elicit the raters' perceptions of the efficacy of the two scales. The results indicate that rater reliability and candidate discrimination were generally higher and that raters were able to better distinguish between different aspects of writing ability when the more detailed, empirically-developed descriptors were used. The interviews and questionnaires showed that most raters preferred using the empirically-developed descriptors because they provided more guidance in the rating process. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for rater training and rating scale development, as well as score reporting in the context of diagnostic assessment.

This thesis discusses two characteristics of language which affect translation, using English and Japanese examples. However, the general points made in the thesis are not specific to these two languages. One characteristic of language is that it encodes particular perceptions of experience by its users. Word meaning is defined in this thesis in terms of the typical experience the language user associates with a word. Concepts for which there are no single lexical items are encoded by putting together words which the speaker thinks best characterise the concept. This particular characterisation of a concept may become established in the language community. If the members of a language community form a habit of characterising a concept in a particular way, it may become difficult to perceive the concept in any other way. In translation, this may lead the translator to impose characterizations established in her own language on the other language. However, such difficulties can be overcome because of the creative capacity of people everywhere to learn new ways to perceive the world. And language provides the mechanism to encode such novel perception. This is the other characteristic of language discussed in this thesis. We can use an existing word to encode a new kind of experience which we perceive as having some connection with the kind of experience associated with the word. Such novel application of a word can be understood because upon hearing the word, the typical experience associated with the word is evoked in the hearer's mind, and using her knowledge, the hearer constructs a mental model which she thinks best accounts for the combination of experiences evoked in her mind by the linguistic forms. Defining word meaning and sentence meaning in terms of mental images allows us to understand the process of translation: Upon hearing/reading the source language text, the translator constructs a mental model based on the text. She then bases her translation on this mental model, which becomes a rich source of information. Because the translator is not moving directly from one language to the other, no direct correspondences between the linguistic forms of the two languages need to be sought. This also explains why it is relatively easy to translate between two languages whose users share similar experiences and therefore can build similar mental models, even if the languages are typologically very different from each other.

This thesis explores L1 attrition among young Korean-English late bilinguals. Thirty Korean immigrants to New Zealand, who had arrived at the age of 12-13 years and had spent at least 2 years in New Zealand, participated in the study. Ten monolingual Korean children aged 12 years served as a comparison group for L1 data. Linguistic data in both L1 and L2 were elicited by a standardised picture-naming test and a story-retelling task supplemented by a stimulated recall protocol. Information related to social variables and language use patterns was elicited through a questionnaire and interviews. Skehan (1996; 1998; 2001) proposes three dimensions of linguistic performance— accuracy, fluency, and complexity. The general findings suggest that accuracy and lexical diversity in L1 are most susceptible to attrition and that there is general positive transfer from L1 to L2 skills. While there is no direct negative interaction between L1 and L2 proficiency, analysis reveals that increasing L2 fluency and a decrease in L1 use have possible indirect effects on attrition in L1 accuracy but not in L1 lexical diversity. The data suggest that, while the frequency of return visits to the homeland is an important social variable, language use involving the father and siblings is also an important factor in attrition or maintenance of L1 proficiency of adolescent late bilinguals. Qualitative analysis conducted on five cases corroborates the quantitative findings. Analyses of speech samples reveal that synthetic structures with semantic ambiguity are most susceptible to L1 attrition. The qualitative analysis also highlights the role of L2 socialisation in L1 attrition in adolescent immigrant children who negotiate their language use and identities in an L2-dominant environment and show different patterns of attrition in their L1.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / This thesis establishes a critical edition of the diaries of Geneviève Bréton (1849-l9l8) written between 1874 and 1914. As 'diary' and 'journal' are synonyms, the words are used interchangeably throughout the thesis. Geneviève Bréton was an educated, privileged and literary woman, the third child in a prestigious Parisian family. In this thesis, I argue that her diaries or private writing play the role of an alternative to, for a woman, socially stigmatized public writing. Although she wrote compulsively throughout her life, experimenting with the novel, she devotes most attention to the diary genre, exploring it beyond its conventional parameters as a feminine outlet. Diaries provide a compromise for Bréton as she finds a way around the limitations imposed by sexual difference and cultural mores in nineteenth-century France. As a woman, and as a wife, she accepts the social and cultural imperatives of her environment but, where possible, on her own terms. I argue that for Bréton, the daughter of publishers and friend of writers, the diary genre is a surreptitious entry into their world, her private form of literary expression and creation. I suggest that she recognises this fact at the end of her life when she herself undertakes the preparation of her 1867-1871 journals for publication. The 1874-l9l4 diaries are held in manuscript form in the archives of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. The first five years of the diaries, based on the material prepared by Bréton, were published in 1985. The present work will facilitate further publications. The corpus of the later diaries, transcribed over a four-year period in the National Library archives in Paris, is preceded by a three-part introduction: a presentation and discussion of the methodology chosen to transcribe the diaries; an analysis of the nineteenth-century family, social, and literary contexts that influence the writing; and the development of a thesis on the rationale behind the existence of the diaries, their character, content, and volume. Bréton began the task of editing and retyping her journals. This edition of the subsequent journals carries on the undertaking of 'publishing and republishing Silenced texts' Julia Swindells, 'Liberating the Subject? Autobiography and "Women's History": A Reading of the Diaries of Hannah Cullwick' in The Personal Narratives Group eds., Interpreting Women's Lives: Feminist Theory and Personal Narratives, 1989, p.24.: that of drawing out the untold stories of creativity and rebellion against confinement which are part of history and literary history.

The thesis is divided into five parts. The first consists of a revue of the opinions of the critics on the work of Georges Bernanos, and then proceeds to define the aims of the thesis: (i) to combat the pernicious idea that we are dealing with a "Catholic Opus", one where the term "Catholic" would imply "idealistic" or "out of touch with reality", and to arrive at a different way of approaching the work; (ii) to lay bare the hidden unity of the work since the new interpretation we are seeking will derive from the relation of the parts to the whole; (iii) to show the radical nature of Bernanos's thought which lays bare the roots of the Discontents of our Civilisation and, by so doing, imparts a prophetic tone to his writings. In the second part Bernanos is placed within the context of his times and compared to other intellectuals, both Catholic and non-Catholic, in order to separate the "Catholic" from the "non-Catholic" elements in his work. Next, using the methods of Charles Mauron, we study the Youthful Works. In the third part, following the methods of Lucien Goldmann, we place the Novels in the context of Ecclesiastical Politics. In the fourth part we trace the transformation of the Novelist into the political pundit, then we go back to La Grande peur des bien-pensants to retrace the origins of his political thinking. Chapter twelve, "Birth of the Modem World", traces the development of capitalism in France and concomitant evolution of the value-system and ways of thinking. The fifth part contains the second half of the "Ecrits de Combat" entitled "The Modem World" which gives us Bernanos's view - a prophetic view - of the world we inhabit at present, Then the Conclusion. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Error Analysis has been widely used in studies of second language learning. At the same time, foreign language learning (as opposed to teaching), has largely been ignored as an object of research. The research had three major aims: to examine the potential of Error Analysis in foreign language learning by the development and trialling of a complex new coding schedule for analysing learner errors in French; to provide some descriptive data on the written errors and performance of foreign language pupils over a complete scholastic year; and to explore the nature of foreign language learning strategies used by the pupils studied. The thesis opens with a statement of purpose and method. This is followed by a short discussion of theories, topics and techniques in second and foreign language learning. The development of two forms of the coding schedule used to analyse errors is described and discussed. Recode checks and the development of 'Coding Confidence Levels' are presented. Procedures used in a longitudinal study of errors are then described. This study acted as an important trial for the coding schedules, known as Foreign Language Error Analysis: French (FLEAF). All written French produced by eight pupils in the same school class was collected over the 1978 New Zealand school year (February to December). The group were in their second year of high school French and had an average age of 14 years 5 months midway through the study. Background information is given about the subjects, including results of selected IEA French (Population II) tests administered during the year. Some description of the year's work is given, followed by general and case study analyses of errors. Selected results from both the longer (FLEAF-L) and shorter (FLEAF-S) coding schedules are then tabulated and discussed. Particular attention is paid to variables coding possible explanations for errors. Detailed analyses of errors in word order, negation and gender are offered, along with a review of correct performances for selected aspects. These analyses lead to two preliminary hypotheses which could in part explain the occurrence of errors. One hypothesis relates to the frequency with which pupils had been required to focus through drills on the point at issue, the other to the number of choices available to the pupil at the time of error. Discussion of Error Analysis and pupil strategies is then presented. It is concluded that Error Analysis has a valid role in developing hypotheses for a theory of foreign language learning. Five such hypotheses, suggested by the longitudinal study, are presented. It is argued that these five could all be classified on one of a proposed five levels of 'Operating Procedures' (McLaughlin, 1978a). Selection of a unique cluster of operating procedures would constitute the learning/performance 'strategy' of a particular pupil. These notions are incorporated into a tentative framework for a theory of foreign language learning. A modified 'Principle of Least Effort' (Zipf, 1965), is suggested as a key factor in the early stages of learning a foreign language, and ideas for subsequent research are proposed. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

The Apostolic Fathers is the name given to the body of literature, written in Greek, which dates from immediately after the New Testament period. The works cover the last decade of the 1st century AD, and the first half of the second century. They give a varied picture of the moral and doctrinal state of the early Christian Church in a period characterised by constant threat of persecution and martyrdom on the one hand, and growth in theological and ethical understanding on the other. The works considered in this thesis are the genuine letters of Ignatius; the Shepherd of Hermas; the Epistle of Barnabas and the Didache; the letter to Diognetus; the Clementine Homily (commonly called II Clement); the letters of Polycarp to the Philippians and the Martyrdom of Polycarp. The study begins with an essay on the development of the language of faith. This traces the use of the pistis group from Homer to the New Testament, and shows how the Homeric and Classical Greek usages were taken by the Septuagint and applied in a religious context to God and salvation, and how this process was further developed in the New Testament into a full-blown technical vocabulary of faith. The Apostolic Fathers take this process a step further, and there is a broadening of the meanings of the cognates, together with resultant changes in the linguistic usage. All the occurrences of pistis and its cognates in the Apostolic Fathers are examined in detail. In each case there is comment of the meaning of the words within the wider context in which they are set in each work. The Greek is given, together with a translation, and obscure passages are elucidated.

In the last two decades there has been a significant shift in Bible translation, away from the approach developed by Eugene A. Nida of the United Bible Societies. The practice of Bible translation in the modern era was greatly influenced by Nida, and still is to a great extent. His ‘functional equivalence’ approach to translation gave priority to communicating the meaning of the text instead of merely retaining the form. His approach also included testing the translation to ensure that average readers understood the meaning. Nida’s approach was expanded upon by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) into what is known as the ‘meaning-based’ approach. The difference between it and the functional equivalence approach is mainly one of degree, with the meaningbased approach being freer in several respects than Nida’s approach. However, there has been a movement away from Nida (as well as SIL’s meaning-based approach) among many Bible translators. The reasons for this shift are varied, although one major influence has been the growing awareness that the language communities who are the recipients of these translations should have a major part in deciding what kind of translation will be prepared. Such communities often prefer more literal translations. Yet they are seldom given the background information they need to make an informed decision about what approach is appropriate for them, partly because no studies exist which document the objective evaluation and comparison of different approaches to translation of the Bible. This thesis documents actual testing of three types of translation in the Thai language to determine which one most clearly communicates the meaning of the Bible. It was found that the meaning-based translation communicated most clearly for some stories that were tested, the functional equivalence translation achieved the second best results, and a semi-literal translation had the most significant communication problems. The findings also provide dramatic evidence about the limits any translation of the Bible has for people who have never heard its message before. This thesis also describes a new kind of testing of translation quality which the author developed in order to objectively compare different translations in Thai. Subjects were asked to read translated passages and then take a written multiple-choice test about the meaning of the translation. This new kind of testing has several advantages over the kind of testing in general use by most Bible translators.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / This PhD thesis explores the Aotearoa / New Zealand influence in the post-World War II writing of English author, Anna Kavan. In response to her provocatively worded 1943 Horizon-published article on the socio-cultural features of that country, I sought evidence of the source of her apparent disdain. Imperialist in tone and disparaging of the post-colonial Other, the article contributed to the reflective dialectic of national identity of her temporary home. The discovery of unpublished and not previously discussed short stories, written during Kavan’s stay in Aotearoa / New Zealand, revealed a contrarily positive perspective, and offered an anomalous body of material that illuminate the early wartime experiences of the residents of Auckland's North Shore. Comparison between the stories in the manuscript and work published by Kavan since World War II exposed the compellingly autobiographical nature of her writing. This revelation was underscored by a second discovery, that of a previously-unseen cache of correspondence, letters sent from Kavan to her Aotearoa / New Zealand lover, the conscientious objector and author, Walter [Ian] Hamilton. The letters, unpublished short stories, and published work, collectively manifest an intertextuality which reinforces their status as autobiographical. Close analysis has determined that much of Kavan's 'fiction’ is in fact thinly disguised life-writing, a construct which would otherwise be unnoticed, in the absence of back-grounding evidence. This thesis further proves Kavan's authorial appropriation of thematic aspects of the Aotearoa / New Zealand vocabulary, geography, and historical aesthetic. The thesis also corrects extant inaccurate biographical material, particularly with respect to the years 1939 - 1943. Discovery of a small collection of photographs, featuring Kavan in a New Zealand context, has added impetus to the move to install her as a transient constituent on the continuum of New Zealand literature.