Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-311). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: Dale A. Koike. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Whereas some researchers claim that the holistic processing of the right hemisphere is essential for contextual integration in language pragmatics (Myers, 2001, Myers, 2005), results of other studies point to involvement of executive processes of the frontal lobes (McDonald & Pearce, 1998; Bernicot & Dardier, 2001). This study examined the role of frontal lobes in language pragmatics by testing performance of young adults and older adults on selected standardized pragmatic inferences called 'implicitures'. Implicitures were first presented free-standing and then embedded in contexts that either supported (enabling contexts) or cancelled (cancelling contexts) their preferred meaning. First, implicitures were examined using behavioral reaction time measures in young adults. The second part of the project addressed the question about involvement of frontal lobes in language pragmatics by testing older adults with varying degrees of frontal function on processing of implicitures. Finally, event-related potential responses to implicitures with and without context in young adults were explored. Results revealed a strong relationship between frontal lobes and performance on implicitures in canceling contexts in older adults. There was no significant effect for free-standing implicitures and implicitures presented in enabling contexts. In addition, an N400 was observed to free-standing implicitures, but implicitures in context elicited a negative component in the later 400 ms window at the anterior sites. These results indicate that frontal lobes are important for pragmatic processing requiring integration of linguistic context with an utterance for the correct interpretation. Consequences of our findings for models of impliciture processing and accounts of neural architecture underlying language pragmatics are considered.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 362-383).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-250).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Linguistics, March 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Center for Language Studies, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 26-28).

<p> Listener vs. speaker-oriented speech: Studying the language of individuals with autism There are many mechanisms speakers utilize in conversation that aid a listener's understanding. However, there are also many characteristics of speech where it is unclear whether they serve listener or speaker-oriented functions. For example, speakers frequently produce disfluencies such as "um or "uh," which are helpful to listeners, indicating that the speaker is not finished speaking yet. We do not know, however, if these are used intentionally to aid listeners. In addition, the tendency to place animate items as sentential subjects may benefit either speaker or listener. Since individuals with autism engage in minimal listener-oriented behaviour, they are a useful group to differentiate these functions. Results showed that individuals with autism used fewer ums and uhs, and more silent pauses than controls, but used animacy similarly. This suggests that the use of ums and uhs is for the benefit of listeners, but the bias toward animate subjects is not.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

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