Thesis (D.Litt. et Phil)--Universiteit van Suid-Afrika, 1995.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

Thesis (D.Litt. et Phil)--Universiteit van Suid-Afrika, 1995.

Second language (L2) decoding – the sub-lexical process of mapping the graphemes of an alphabetic writing system onto the phonemes they represent – is argued to underpin various aspects of L2 learning, particularly vocabulary acquisition. Recently, second language acquisition research has shown increased interest in decoding, consistently finding evidence for L1-to-L2 transfer effects on learners’ processing mechanisms and outcomes. Correspondingly, studies conducted in Modern Foreign Language (MFL) classrooms in English secondary schools – an under-researched context – have found that beginner learners of French tend to (a) pronounce L2 words according to English decoding conventions and (b) make poor progress in this aspect of L2 learning. Recent official guidance for MFL teachers has addressed this problem by advocating an explicit focus on decoding, but there is a lack of convincing evidence (both in the MFL context and more widely) that explicit L2 decoding instruction can be effective. The current study therefore trialled two programmes of French decoding instruction for beginner MFL learners, delivered in ten- to fifteen-minute segments over around thirty lessons. Three intact secondary school classes followed a phonics-based approach; three classes from another school followed a programme in which learners were encouraged to derive the pronunciations of French graphemes from ‘source words’ in a memorized poem; and six classes in two other schools received no explicit decoding instruction. Participants (N=186) completed pre- and post-tests of French decoding; a sub-sample (N=15) also completed task-based self-report interviews. The two intervention groups made significantly more progress than the comparison group in terms of the number of graphemes pronounced ‘acceptably’, although the magnitude of the difference between the groups was small. Compared to the comparison group, the two intervention groups also appeared to show different and more extensive patterns of change in their realizations of individual graphemes, even where their pronunciations were still not ‘acceptable’. Finally, self-report data generally revealed little change in participants’ strategic reasoning, either in the intervention or comparison group. Together, these findings suggest that explicit instruction can improve beginner learners’ proficiency in decoding L2 French, but that their progress may follow a longer and more complex trajectory than simply moving directly from ‘incorrect’ to ‘correct’ forms. Further research is required to assess the effects (if any) of a given improvement in decoding proficiency on other language-learning outcomes; and to design and evaluate alternative programmes of instruction.

Cette thèse de doctorat s’inscrit principalement, mais non entièrement, dans le domaine de la phonologie générale et romane. Elle a pour objet d’étude plusieurs phénomènes de sandhi attestés dans quelques variétés de gallo-roman : français, occitan, wallon, franco-provençal. Comme une grande partie des phénomènes phonologiques postlexicaux étudiés sont panromans, la thèse ne les analyse pas comme des processus isolés, mais à travers leur variation diatopique et diachronique, c’est-à-dire comme des manifestations concrètes de tendances communes aux langues romanes, tout en essayant d’expliquer leur motivation par des principes phonologiques universels, ainsi que par les méthodes de l’analyse contrastive.Dans cette thèse on pourrait délimiter trois grandes parties thématiques. La première a une portée théorique et englobe les chapitres I et II où sont présentées et analysées des données d’une soixantaine de langues parlées dans le monde entier. Dans cette partie je passe en revue les diverses acceptions controversées du terme de sandhi en vue d’en proposer ma propre définition grâce au formalisme de la phonologie prosodique. La deuxième partie a une portée phonologique et englobe les chapitres III, IV et V où sont étudiés trois phénomènes de sandhi de l’espace gallo-roman, à savoir la liaison, le redoublement phonosyntaxique et les alternances vocaliques avec zéro en syllabe initiale. La dernière partie thématique est représentée par le chapitre VI qui a une portée sociolinguistique. Les trois phénomènes de sandhi en question y sont comparés et analysés à la lumière des facteurs pour leur variation, parmi lesquels la tradition graphique occupe une place privilégiée. / This doctoral dissertation thesis pertains primarily, but not solely, to the field of general phonology and Romance phonology. The object of investigation are a number of sandhi phenomena attested in several Gallo-Romance varieties: French, Occitan, Walloon, and Franco-Provençal. The larger part of the postlexical phonological phenomena under investigation is pan-Romance and therefore they are not analyzed as isolated processes. They are interpreted with respect to their diatopic and diachronic variation, in other words, as specific manifestations of tendencies common to all Romance languages. The explanation for such common tendencies is sought in universal phonological principles and by the established methods of comparative analysis.Three large thematic parts can be distinguished in the thesis. The first part comprises the first two chapters and is theoretical in nature. Data from over 60 languages spoken in various parts of the world are presented and analyzed in this part. It also contains a critical review of the highly controversial existing usages of the term “sandhi” and attempts to offer a new original definition in the framework of prosodic phonology. The second part is devoted to concrete phonological analyses and comprises chapters III, IV and V. The sandhi processes in the Gallo-Romance language space are studied in details: liaison, phonosyntactic doubling and elision of vowels in initial syllables. The last thematic part, presented in chapter VI, is devoted to sociolinguistic observations. The three phenomena mentioned above are compared and analyzed with regard to the factors governing their variation, among them the orthographic tradition.

This M.A. thesis contributes to the research of regional marked features in the region under the Giant Mountains (Podkrkonoší), which is a part of the north-eastern dialectal group of the Czech language. The aim of the thesis is to describe spontaneous language of the speakers both in rural (Nová Ves nad Popelkou, Syřenov, Újezdec, Žďár u Kumburku) and urban areas (Lomnice nad Popelkou, Semily), with special regard to phonology and morphology. The research was restricted to the oldest generation only, that means to the people who were born in 1951 and earlier. The data were obtained by recording semi- structured interviews with informants. These data were then analyzed, compared and described in terms of Common Czech, regional and local dialect features. One part of the thesis consists of short description of the idiolect of each spokesman and of speech samples of informants. The results of the research are presented separately for each feature for both groups investigated (rural and urban speakers). In the conclusion of the thesis, the author summarizes the results gained. The rural speakers of the Lomnice microregion still use some dialectal features typical for the region under the Giant Mountains (Podkrkonoší), whereas in the urban areas these features are not present to such a high degree....

La présente thèse a pour but d'étudier l'apprentissage morphosyntaxique du français comme langue seconde (L2). Elle cherche à examiner l'hypothèse proposée par certains modèles linguistiques et neurocognitifs selon laquelle les difficultés observées chez des bilingues tardifs à maitriser les connaissances morphosyntaxiques en L2 peuvent s'expliquer par un échec lors de la représentation mentale et le traitement de l'information morphosyntaxique, en comparaison avec les locuteurs natifs. Ainsi, les travaux présentés dans cette thèse utilisent des mesures électrophysiologiques afin de déterminer si ces difficultés sont associées (a) à la réalisation phonologique des inflexions morphologiques de la langue cible et (b) à l'interférence de la langue maternelle (L1). Les résultats démontrent que les apprenants tardifs sont capables d'acquérir des représentations morphosyntaxiques similaires à celle des locuteurs natifs. Nous avons également montré que l'information phonologique comprise dans les inflexions morphologiques joue un rôle important dans l'apprentissage morphosyntaxique en L2. Ces résultats nous ont permis de conclure que la capacité des apprenants bilingues à traiter l'information morphosyntaxique en L2 est moins influencée par la L1 à un niveau avancé d'apprentissage, tout en restant affectée par les propriétés morphosyntaxiques de la langue cible. De plus, ces résultats plaident en faveur des modèles linguistiques et neurocognitifs qui postulent que le traitement morphosyntaxique chez les bilingues avancés implique les même processus cognitifs que ceux des locuteurs natifs. / This thesis investigates morphosyntactic learning in adult second language (L2) learners of French. It examines the assumption posited by linguistic and neurocognitive models according to which L2 learners' difficulty in fully mastering morphosyntactic knowledge is due to a failure to mentally represent and process morphosyntactic information in a native-like manner. The series of experiments presented in this thesis use ERPs to investigate whether the difficulties that late L2 learners encounter in processing morphosyntactic agreement can be explained by (a) the phonological realization of inflectional morphology in the target language and (b) interference from the learners' native language (L1). The findings demonstrate that late L2 learners can achieve native-like processing of morphosyntactic knowledge at high levels of proficiency, regardless of the status of the morphosyntactic system in their L1. In addition, we provide evidence that phonological information contained in inflectional morphology plays an important role in the acquisition and processing of morphosyntactic agreement in L2. It is thus argued that L2 learners' processing of morphosyntactic agreement is less influenced by the L1 at high levels of proficiency, while still being potentially affected by the specific morphosyntactic properties of the target language. These findings give further support to linguistic and neurocognitive models positing that morphosyntactic processing in adult L2 learners involves mental representations and cognitive mechanisms similar to those used by native speakers.

Faculty of Humanities School of Literature, Language and Media University of the Witwatersrand A Master’s Dissertation / This study investigates how Hausa, a West Chadic language (Afro Asiatic phyla) remodells loanwords from English (Indo – European) to suit its pre-existing phonology. Loanword adaptation is quite inevitable due to the fact that languages of the world differ, one from another in many ways: phonological, syntactical, morphological and so on (Inkelas & Zoll, 2003, p. 1). Based on this claim, receptor languages therefore employ ways to rephonologize new words borrowed into their vocabularies to fit, and to conform to native structure demands. Hausa disallows complex onsets, preferably operates open syllables and avoids consonant clustering in word-medial positions as at its best can tolerate no more than a single consonant at a syllable edge (Clements, 2000; Han, 2009). On the contrary, English permits complex onsets as well as closed syllables (Skandera & Burleigh, 2005). Such distinctions in both phonologies motivate for loanword adaptation. Hausa therefore employs repair strategies such as vowel epenthesis, consonant deletions and segmental substitutions and/or replacements (Newman, 2000; Abubakre, 2008; Alqhatani & Musa, 2014) to remodell loanwords. For analytical purposes, this research adopts theoretical tools of Feature Geometry (FG) (Clements & Hume, 1995) and Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince & Smolensky, 2004) to clearly illustrate how loanwords are modified to satisfy Hausa native demands (Kadenge, 2012). Vowel epenthesis in Hausa involves two main strategies: consonantal assimilation and default insertions. During consonantal assimilation, coronal and labial segments spread place features unto the epenthetic segment in the process determining the vowel type and/or quality, while in the case of default insertions, fresh segments are introduced context independently. Concerning segmental substitutions, most notably are English consonants /p/ and /v/ maximally replaced with similar ones, [f] and [b] that exist in Hausa on the basis that former and latter segments share same phonation features

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a relação entre conhecimento implícito e explícito em quatro atividades de Língua Portuguesa propostas no material didático do Programa Ler e Escrever. Esse programa orienta práticas de alfabetização em escolas municipais e estaduais do Estado de São Paulo, desde 2007. Buscou-se verificar a presença e o tratamento dado a quatro instâncias linguísticas fonológica, morfológica, sintática e ortográfica nas atividades que compõem a sequência didática Dicionário o pai dos inteligentes, proposta no Caderno Guia de Planejamento e Orientações Didáticas professor 2a série, Volume I. Essa sequência tem como objetivo possibilitar que o aluno aprenda a utilizar dicionários com autonomia, o que implica reconhecer esses livros como representantes de um gênero textual, apropriando-se de suas finalidades e funcionamento. Para a realização da análise foram descritos os objetivos, planejamento e encaminhamento de cada atividade, procurando-se, nesse contexto, identificar os conhecimentos linguísticos presentes em cada etapa, em relação às quatro instâncias mencionadas, tendo-se como foco seus níveis de explicitação. Constatou-se que não há menção explícita às quatro instâncias linguísticas nas orientações e encaminhamentos didáticos quanto às atividades analisadas. A hipótese que justifica a contribuição do presente trabalho é que se professores que orientam e encaminham tais atividades conhecerem tal explicitação eles poderão ter mais intencionalidade e realizar questionamentos que otimizem seu fazer pedagógico. Disso se conclui que, ainda que na etapa da escolarização correspondente ao terceiro ano do Ensino Fundamental os alunos não necessitem da explicitação dos conhecimentos linguísticos relacionados à fonologia, morfologia, ortografia e sintaxe, professores conhecendo esses conteúdos podem promover um ensino da língua com maior nível de intencionalidade e, portanto, qualidade / This paper aims to examine the relation between implicit and explicit knowledge in four Portuguese Language activities proposed in the teaching materials Programa Ler e Escrever (Reading and Writing Program). This program guides literacy practices in state and municipal public schools of São Paulo since 2007. The aim was to verify the presence and treatment of four language instances - phonological, morphological, spelling and syntactic in the activities that make up the instructional sequence Dictionary \"the father of the intelligent ones\" proposed in Caderno Guia de Planejamento e Orientações Didáticas professor 2ª série, Volume I. (Notebook Planning and Teaching Guidelines - teacher - second series, Volume I). This sequence aims to enable the student to learn to use dictionaries with autonomy, which implies recognizing these books as representatives of written text genre, appropriating their purpose and operation. To perform the analysis, objectives were described, as well as the planning and instruction of each activity, looking up, in this context, to identify the language skills present in each step, in relation to the four instances mentioned, having focused their levels of explanation. It was found that there is no clear mention of the four language instances in guidance and educational referrals for the activities analyzed. The hypothesis that justifies the contribution of this study is that if teachers who guide and handle these activities knew such explanations they could have more intentionality and ask questions that would optimize their pedagogical task. It follows that, even that students at the stage of the third grade of elementary school do not require the explicit language skills related to phonology, morphology, syntax and spelling, teachers knowing such content could promote language teaching with higher level of intentionality and therefore quality