<p> The main purpose of this study is to depict Nagarjuna's implication on how he redefined the Four Conditions (<i>catv&amacr;rah&dotbelow; pratyay&amacr; </i>) as the cognitive linguistic structure by allocating 32 functional metadata throughout the texts of M&umacr;lamadhyamakak&amacr;rik&amacr; (MMK). Following subtle traces of <i>lokasam&dotbelow;vr&dotbelow;tisatya</i> (the conventional truth) in the text of MMK, the integrated framework of a cognitive linguistic structure can be detected. Nagarjuna did not negate nor degrade the conventional truth in the context of MMK. The Four Conditions conceal their cognitive variations underneath language, yet they can be consolidated as a structure of knowledge that has capacity of preservability, in a sense of linear consistency of unchanging combinational conditions, as well as recognizability, in a sense of circular transition of changing between two combinational conditions. Such an algorithm of cognition as well as communication are possible because one is able to detect the conditional changes when the stream of cognitive process evolves from one cognitive entity to another with a paradigm of <i> prat&imacr;tyasamutp&amacr;da</i> that is described as <i>"imasmim&dotbelow; sati idam&dotbelow; hoti</i> (Because this exists that exists.)" of the Early Buddhism. The Four Conditions and their relevant 32 metadata are the foundational platform that N&amacr;g&amacr;rjuna developed in MMK which mutually interlock and capture the cognitive stream in the structure of language.</p>

Thesis (M.S. in Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES))--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Xiaoping Yun. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62). Also available online.

The present thesis deals with two present-day English translations of the Bible - New American Standard Bible, which represents a conservative biblical translation, and Good News Bible, a more liberal translation, written in a way to be readable and accessible to the modern reader. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the two translations in terms of style, focusing on the syntactic and lexical levels. The research is based on a sample of 100 corresponding biblical verses drawn from each of the translations (altogether 200 verses), representing five different narrative parts of the Bible. The analysis of the lexical level is a qualitative one, comparing the nature of the vocabulary used in the two translations; the syntactic level is examined both qualitatively and quantitatively. The thesis attempts not only to describe the findings but also account for them, where possible, in terms of reader reception.

In this ethnographic study, I explore the ways, in which the engagement of Polish Catholics with Swedish society generates both adaptation and resistance. The thesis begins with an overview of the history of the Swedish Catholic Church and notes how Poles became one of the most numerous immigrant groups in Sweden during past decades. I then make use of fifteen in-depth interviews along with more than twenty sessions of observation in a Polish milieu in the Mälaren Valley. Polish Catholics often consider themselves, as one put it, as "weird creatures" in Sweden, not only for being a religious minority, but also due to conflicts between Catholic moral teachings and prevailing modern liberal views in Swedish society. Also, interviewees tend to blame Sweden for weakening the religiosity of their compatriots. Catholicism often presents particular challenges for the adaptation and integration of Poles, especially teenagers, who are, as one out it, seen "like freaks here". Also notable is the controversial stance of parishioners and the clergy on gender questions. While many laity see feminism as a threat, some priests assert that "feminism and Catholicism have so much in common". Among other challenges for the religious life of Poles in Sweden are consumerism, which leads to the formulation "prosperity destroys people" and is seen as a competitor to the church; and the Swedish language, which divides first and second generations. Interviewees also express shared interests with Muslims and solidarity with Orthodox Christians.

Thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney 2006. / Title from electronic thesis (viewed 31/5/10)

Le transfert linguistique est un grand défi contemporain touchant tout particulièrement les langues d’héritage, qui courent le risque d’être remplacées par les langues majoritaires ou dominantes en contexte migratoire (Fishman 2006, 1968). En effet, l’institutionnalisation d’une langue officielle affecte inévitablement l’emploi des autres langues, y compris celles des communautés immigrantes allophones. Les cours de langues d’héritage cherchent à pallier le transfert à travers l’enseignement explicite de la langue, souvent axé sur une variété standard de celle-ci. Or, cette socialisation linguistique formelle et prescriptive n’entraîne pas toujours une attitude positive envers les langues d’héritage, puisque les apprenants sont demandés de les « performer », plutôt que les employer en tant que moyen de communication (Meek 2010, Das 2008). Notre étude se focalise sur le rôle des institutions religieuses dans le maintien des langues d’héritage à Montréal. Nous démontrons que les lieux de culte fondés par et rattachés à une communauté immigrante ouvrent des espaces où la relation entre langue et identité n’est pas fixe, précisément parce que le but des activités et événements n’est pas la langue en tant que telle. Étant donné que la langue n’est pas la cible mais le médium, ces institutions fournissent des conditions propices aux interactions en langue d’héritage. Ce mémoire est basé sur notre terrain ethnographique dans cinq églises à Montréal, chacune caractérisée par une conceptualisation différente de la relation entre la langue et la religion, et reliée à une communauté immigrante allophone distincte. Notre recherche démontre l’importance des institutions affleurant des communautés immigrantes elles-mêmes dans le maintien linguistique. / Language shift from heritage languages to dominant, national languages among immigrant communities has been an important object of study in the sociology of language (Fishman 2006, 1968). The institutionally stabilized and ideologically sanctioned hegemony of the national language inevitably affects the use of all other languages, including those of allophone immigrant communities. Heritage language programs attempt to stay language shift by explicit language instruction often itself focused on a standard variety of the heritage language. However, explicit language socialization does not always foster a positive attitude towards heritage languages, since learners are solicited to “perform” linguistic competence, rather than use them as a means of emergent quotidian communication (Meek 2010, Das 2008). My study focuses on the role of religious institutions in maintaining heritage languages in Montreal. I show that places of worship founded by and linked to an immigrant community generate spaces where the relationship between language and identity is not over-determined, allowing for flexible and heterogeneous engagements with the heritage language. The focus of activities in religious settings is geared towards fostering a sacred community, not language instruction per se. Such settings, in which language is not the goal but the medium of collective activity, provide conditions favourable to interactions in heritage language. This thesis is based on our ethnographic field research in five churches in Montreal, each characterized by a different conceptualization of the relationship between language and religion, and each linked to a distinct allophone immigrant community. My research shows the importance of institutions that emerge from immigrant communities in language maintenance.

Beginning with the 80-s of the 19th century, literature starts to increasingly take language as a problem. First of all, claims of the language for reflecting the truth are questioned, and, consequently, it is revaluated as an instrument of cognition (mostly, negatively). Very often texts, related to a language conundrum, may contain either anti-religions argumentation, or an active use of imagery, tinged with religion, or Biblical symbology. In this work, the interrelation between religiousness, reflected in the text, and its approach to the problematics of the language are investigated. In the shadow of the crisis of the language of literature modernism, such topics as the process of language secularization, language origin, and the crisis of cognition and of a person have also been touched upon. As exemplified by F. Mauthner, W. Benjamin, H. Hofmannsthal и C. Mierendorff, different concepts of the language and ways out of the crisis, offered by them, are presented. Also, their way to interact with religiousness and and mysticism was taken into account. In the result of the research, a certain tendency has been tapped: in case when a language is approached as an instrument that has no relation to mysticism, it shows its incapacity as an instrument of cognition (Mauthner). If a language is viewed...

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

O presente estudo analisa o contato linguístico alemão-português em três comunidades menonitas no sul do Brasil, bem como também o contato linguístico alemão-português-inglês em uma comunidade menonita localizada no estado de Goiás. Todos esses grupos são de origem anabatista (1525). Caracterizam-se, por isso, como étnico-religiosos. Mesmo com o passar dos vários séculos, eles mantêm ainda fortes laços de língua, igreja, família e herança sociocultural, formando assim colônias do tipo “ilhas linguísticas”, resultantes de um processo migratório transnacional. Em 1930, chega, ao sul do Brasil, o primeiro grupo de menonitas que, após um difícil período de colonização em Santa Catarina, migra para o Paraná e Rio Grande do Sul, onde funda as três comunidades selecionadas para este estudo: a comunidade menonita de Curitiba (PR), a Colônia Nova (RS) e a Colônia Witmarsum (PR). Nesses núcleos, instaurou-se - de modo geral - um trilinguismo, do qual fazem parte: o Hochdeutsch (alemão standard), usado para situações formais como a igreja e a escola; o Plautdietsch, uma variante do baixo-alemão empregada para situações informais do dia-a-dia; e o português, principalmente para o contato interétnico. O uso do Hochdeutsch na igreja foi, por décadas, praticamente exclusivo, ou seja, a religião constituiu um fator determinante tanto para a coesão da comunidade menonita, como também para a manutenção do Hochdeutsch. O outro grupo de menonitas, proveniente dos Estados Unidos e Canadá, mais conhecido como os Holdeman Menonitas, chegou a Rio Verde (Goiás) em 1968. Este grupo, por ser mais conservador, segue normas antigas, entre as quais: a ênfase particular no não-conformismo com o mundo, com vestimenta e com a forma de viver. As marcas mais evidentes deste comportamento são o uso de barba por todos os homens e o uso do véu, bem como de vestidos, por todas as mulheres membros da igreja. Esta comunidade, além do português, faz uso principalmente do inglês como língua de imigração. O Plautdietsch, portanto, é atualmente falado somente por algumas pessoas da geração mais idosa. Mesmo vivendo em comunidades mais isoladas, marcadas pela sua fé e religião e usufruindo de uma relativa autonomia, observam-se, em nossos dados, traços de influência característicos do novo meio. Com o contato crescente do alemão com o português, o uso do Plautdietsch e do Hochdeutsch deixou de ser exclusivo, tornando-se o uso do português uma constante em diversos contextos da comunidade, conforme mostra o estudo de Dück (2005). A complexidade da situação linguística observada nas comunidades em estudo levanta uma série de perguntas, sobretudo o papel que o Plautdietsch desempenha nas diferentes comunidades, a sua vitalidade face ao prestígio das línguas-teto (Dachsprachen) português e Hochdeutsch (ou inglês), bem como os fatores que poderiam levar a uma substituição de uma variedade pela outra. São objetivos deste estudo: a) identificar o papel do Plautdietsch em relação ao contexto, considerando as variáveis sociais presentes em cada comunidade e, as funções de vernáculo e de delimitador da identidade étnica dos menonitas, comumente atribuídas à variedade substandard; b) descrever o grau de manutenção e a vitalidade linguística do Plautdietsch em contato com as variedades standard do português, inglês e Hochdeutsch nas comunidades menonitas em estudo; c) comparar as atitudes dos falantes com seus usos linguísticos, identificando processos convergentes e divergentes subjacentes ao estágio atual de vitalidade ou perda da variedade substandard do Plautdietsch; d) descrever o grau de substituição das línguas-teto Hochdeutsch e inglês pelo português (Dachpsrachenwechsel); e) analisar o que a escolha da(s) variedade(s) revela sobre a organização e a coesão étnico-religiosa da comunidade. Para responder a essas questões, este estudo orienta-se pelo modelo da dialetologia pluridimensional e relacional/contatual como ciência ampla da variação, que combina a dialetologia areal com a sociolinguística. Por meio desse modelo, busca-se verificar em que pontos e em que dimensões e parâmetros ocorre determinada variante ou comportamento. A presente pesquisa distingue-se de estudos sociolinguísticos monopontuais, centrados em uma comunidade bilíngue, por comparar contextos diferentes e fatores condicionadores diversos em uma rede de quatro pontos, localizados em três diferentes estados do Brasil. A coleta de dados nessas localidades incluiu a análise de aspectos históricos e demográficos, assim como também entrevistas semidirigidas com pluralidade simultânea de informantes. A partir da análise qualitativa dos dados das entrevistas semidirigidas, as quais têm como base um questionário, os resultados identificaram diferentes fatores que contribuíram para a manutenção/perda da variedade substandard Plautdietsch, bem como fatores que influenciaram no comportamento linguístico, o qual proporcionou uma substituição da língua-teto. Com base nos dados obtidos, constata-se a perda do Plautdietsch, vinculada a fatores como: a falta de prestígio, reforçada pelos próprios líderes e professores da comunidade; ao desprezo ou ausência do suporte institucional; ao grau de urbanização aliado à falta de uma conscientização sobre a importância da língua como marca de identidade de um grupo étnico (Identitätsmerkmal) e o uso e manutenção dessa língua de imigração. Além disso, houve, nas comunidades menonitas da região sul do Brasil, a substituição da língua-teto Hochdeutsch para o português e, na comunidade rural de Rio Verde (GO), a substituição da língua-teto inglês para o português. Entretanto, verificam-se atitudes positivas em relação ao uso e manutenção do Hochdeutsch/ inglês no âmbito familiar das diferentes comunidades. / The present study analyses the German-Portuguese linguistic encounter in three Mennonite communities in southern Brazil, as well as the German-Portuguese-English linguistic encounter in a Mennonite community in the southern State of Goiás (Brazil). These communities are of Anabaptist origin (1525) and thus are characterized as ethnic-religious groups. Although several centuries have passed since their origin, they still maintain strong ties of language, church, family and socio-cultural heritage forming colonies that function as “linguistic islands”, the result of a transnational migratory process. In 1930 the first group of Mennonites comes to Brazil. After a difficult time of colonization in the State of Santa Catarina they migrated to the States of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul where the three colonies selected for this study were established: The Mennonite Community in Curitiba (State of Paraná), Colônia Nova (New Colony in the State of Rio Grande do Sul), and Colônia Witmarsum (Witmarsum Colony in the State of Paraná). In these places, generally speaking, trilingualism was established: Hochdeutsch (standard German), used in formal settings as church and school; Plautdietsch, a low-German variant used for informal settings of daily life; and Portuguese, especially for the inter-ethnic contacts. For decades in the church settings the use of the Hochdeutsch was almost exclusive. Religion constituted a determinant factor for the cohesion of the Mennonite Community, as well as for the maintenance of the Hochdeutsch. Another group of Mennonites, better known as the Holdeman Mennonites, came to Rio Verde (State of Goiás) in 1968 from the United States and Canada. This group is more conservative and thus maintains some former values, such as the nonconformity with the world in terms of clothing and lifestyle. The most evident traits of this behavior are the use of the veil and dresses for all women who are church members and beards for men. This group, besides the Portuguese language, speaks especially the English as their immigration language. The Plautdietsch in this community is only spoken by some of the older generation. Although living in kind of isolated communities, characterized by their faith and religion, and having their autonomy, influences of the new context are visible. With the growing contact of the German with the Portuguese language, the use of the Plautdietsch and the Hochdeutsch lost their exclusivity. The use of the Portuguese language became always more the norm in the community settings, as shown in the study of Dück (2005). The complexity of the observed linguistic situation in the communities researched raises several questions, especially related to the role of the Plautdietsch in these communities and their vitality compared to the prestige of the Dachsprachen Portuguese and the Hochdeutsch (or English), as well as the factors that could foster the exchange of one variety for another. After exposing the research problem and questions, the focus of this research is to: a) Identify the role of the Plautdietsch in the Mennonite communities, focusing on its vernacular role and delimitating the ethnic Mennonite identity; b) Describe the level of maintenance and linguistic vitality of the Plautdietsch in contact with the standard languages: Portuguese, English and Hochdeutsch in the Mennonite communities researched; c) Compare the attitudes of those who speak the language with their linguistic uses, identifying convergent and divergent processes underlying the actual stage of vitality/loss of the substandard variety of Plautdietsch; d) Describe the level of exchange of the Hochdeutsch and English Dachsprachen for the Portuguese; e) Analyze what the language(s) choice indicates concerning the social processes of the communities chosen for the present research. To answer these questions, the present research is guided by the pluridimensional and relational/contact dialectological model, as a broad science of variation that combines the areal dialectology with sociolinguistics. By means of this model we attempt to verify in which points, dimensions, and parameters, a particular variation or behavior occurs. The present research is distinguished from monopontual linguistics, centered in a bilingual community, by comparing different contexts and conditioning factors in a network of four different issues in three Brazilian States. The research data in these communities included the analysis of demographic and historical aspects, as well as semistructured interviews with a simultaneous plurality of informants. Based on the qualitative analysis of the semistructured interviews, with an underlying protocol, the results identified different factors that contributed for the maintenance/loss of the substandard Plautdietsch language variety, as well as factors that influenced the linguistic behavior, which fostered the exchange of the Dachsprache. There is a loss of the Plautdietsch because it is considered a language of less prestige, leading the leaders and teachers of their own community to deemphasize this language; the despicableness or lack of institutional support; the level of urbanization tied to the lack of consciousness of the importance of the language as an identity factor of an ethnic group (Identitätsmerkmal), and the use and maintenance of this immigration language. In addition, in the southern States of Brazil the Dachsprache Hochdeutsch was exchanged for the Portuguese, and in the Rio Verde Community, the Dachsprache English was exchanged for the Portuguese. On the other hand, positive attitudes are seen relating to the use and maintenance of the Hochdeutsch/English in the family spheres of the communities.