It has been proposed that pidgin languages are similar in their marking of tense and aspect. This study wishes to answer three questions: 1) are there similarities in the marking of tense and aspect in pidgins, 2) are there similarities between the source languages and the pidgins they result in, and 3) does the development of tense aspect marking in pidgins follow the general patterns of grammaticalisation observed in other languages. Two quite different approaches are used to analyse the languages. Firstly the concept of grams is used, that is, a representation of a grammatical category in a specific language, e.g. the perfect in Swedish. Secondly the theory of prominence is used, i.e. that a particular language tends to grammaticalise one of the categories tense or aspect (or mood) rather than the other. The study looks at a sample of seven pidgin languages from around the world and compares them with regards to their marking of tense and aspect. Furthermore the tense-aspect systems of the source languages (lexifiers and substrates) of these pidgins are studied. Regarding the first question, the most obvious similarity is the fact that there is very little grammaticalised marking of tense and aspect at all. A pattern can also be discerned were a pidgin uses either a marker for perfective aspect or for past tense and that future/present markers are grammaticalised at a later stage. As for the similarities between the source languages and the pidgins, the pidginisation process has yielded languages with less grammaticalised forms than the source languages. All gram types found in the pidgins can also be found in their lexifiers. The patterns of grammaticalisation of tense and aspect markers follow universal patterns that have been described in typological studies. The semantic change of inherited or borrowed markers follow general patterns as do the innovations in the pidgin itself.

Thesis (M.A. Agricultural Management (Agricultural Extension)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The aim of the study was to investigate the perceptions of AEPs towards ICT tools to understand why AEPs are not using the ICT tools for their work as expected by the department of agriculture. The data was collected from AEPs by means of selfadministered, semi-structured questionnaire in the Tshebela and Mankweng service centres of Polokwane Local Agricultural Office. The findings firstly, indicate that less than half of the respondents are unaware of the advantages of the ICT tools for their work. This means more than half of the respondents are aware of the advantages of using ICT tools for their extension work. Secondly, the results show that less than half of respondents are aware of the disadvantage of the ICT tools for their extension work. This also implies that more than half of the respondents are not aware of any disadvantages of the tools for their extension work. Furthermore, with regard to the research question about the prominence of four ICT tools used together, the findings indicate that respondents believe that the combined use of four ICT tools (laptop, smart phone, smart pen technology and ESO) is helping them to achieve their extension career goals compared with the use of smart phone and laptop only. The hypothesis test of the influence of selected variables on the number of ICT tools used by AEPs show that the socio-economic characteristics of AEPs such as age, lower income, lack of training in the use of laptop (compatibility), and relative advantages issues such as awareness of disadvantages of the ICT tools have a negative influence on the number of ICT tools used as expected. The test also shows that the other variables such as sex, education, ESO training, SPT training, Smartphone training, unawareness of advantages and prominence positively correlate with the dependent variable. These positive relationships notwithstanding, the test indicates that only training received in the use of smart phone makes a significant contribution to the number of ICT tools used by AEPs. There is evidence from the study findings to suggest that most AEPs are aware of the advantages compared with the disadvantages of ICT tools for their extension work. Furthermore, the positive views expressed by AEPs about the prominence of the use of the four ICT tools together in helping them to achieve their extension career goals over the use of two tools shows that AEPs are motivated to use these four tools together. The department of agriculture should invest more in training AEPs in the use of the four ICT tools because they influence their use. AEPs however, highlighted challenges which hinder their use of the four ICT tools together and which need to be addressed by the department of agriculture to ensure that the four tools are used together. These include access to internet, non-supply of some of the tools by the employer, non-replacement of damaged ICT tools, inconvenient reimbursement structure which requires AEPs to use their own money upfront to purchase data bundle. Keywords: Information Communication Technology, Agricultural Extension Practitioners, awareness of disadvantages, unawareness of advantages, prominence.

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It is well-known that the early assignment of prominence in sequences like THIRteen MEN vs. thirTEEN, (defined as the Rhythm Rule, or post-lexical stress shift), is an optional phenomenon. This dissertation examines some of the factors that encourage the application of stress shift in English and how it is phonetically realised. The aim is to answer two sets of questions related to why and how stress shift occurs in English: 1a) Does prosodic boundary strength influence stress shift? 1b) Does the adjacency of prominences above the level of the segmental string encourage stress shift? 2) How is stress shift realized? a) Is stress shift only a perceptual phenomenon? and b) Which syllables, if any, change acoustically when stress shift is perceived? To answer these questions, four experiments were designed. The first three experiments test whether the strength of the prosodic boundaries before and after the target word (e.g., canteen) influence stress shift. The effect of the strength of the left-edge prosodic boundary was investigated by comparing perceived stress patterns of the target (e.g., canteen) as produced in isolation where it is preceded by an utterance- and a phrase- initial prosodic boundary (the Isolated condition) with its rendition when embedded in a frame sentence (e.g., Say canteen again) where the left prosodic boundary before canteen is weaker (the Embedded condition). Results show a very clear tendency towards late phrasal prominence on the final accentable syllable (e.g., -teen in canteen) in the Embedded condition while in the Isolated condition this pattern appeared in less than half of the targets, showing that the stronger left boundary increased the incidence of stress shift. Two more experiments manipulated the strength of the boundary to the right of the target (#) respectively by changing the syntactic parse of the critical phrase (e.g. canteen cook) in sequences like (1) and by manipulating constituent length as in (2). Results showed that the syntactic manipulation significantly affected the strength of the prosodic boundary between the clashing words which was stronger in (1b) relative to (1a), and affected the incidence of stress shift, which was higher in (1a) relative to (1b). The length manipulation also affected the rate of stress shift, which was significantly higher in the phrase with the shorter word, e.g., soups (2a) relative to phrase with the longer word, e.g., supervisors (2b). (1) Example from the Syntax Experiment a. Who is the canteen (#) cook these days? (Pre-modifier + Noun) b. How do the canteen (#) cook these days? (NP + VP) (2) Example from the Length Experiment a. It should include the canteen (#) soups again. (Shorter constituent) b. It should include the canteen (#) supervisors again. (Longer constituent) Whilst we knew from the literature that the grouping of the clashing words within one Intonational Phrase (IP) encourages stress shift, results from the Syntax and Length experiments indicate that this (i.e., the phrasing of the clashing words within same IP) is not sufficient condition for the occurrence of stress shift, and that fine-grained degrees of boundary strength below the Intonational Phrase can drive changes in prominence pattern. The fact that higher rates of stress shift (and associated significant acoustic changes) were driven by manipulations of constituent length --for sequences with the same syntactic structure-- provides support for the idea that prosodic (rather than syntactic) boundaries directly influence stress shift. The fourth experiment tests the definition of stress clash in English in cases like fourteen candles where the two main lexical prominences are strictly adjacent along the time dimension, in fourteen canoes where the prominences are not adjacent in time, but adjacent at the higher levels of the metrical hierarchy, and in fourteen canteens where the main lexical prominences are not adjacent, and do not clash. This experiment highlighted and resolved an unacknowledged disagreement about what clash status sequences with one weak intervening syllable (e.g., fourTEEN caNOES). The fourTEEN caNOES type were shown to behave like metrically clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANdles) in attracting stress shift, and differently from the non-metrically-clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANTEENS) in discouraging it. These results provide empirical support for the Standard Metrical Theory (e.g. Selkirk, 1984; Nespor & Vogel, 1989) claim that 1) stress clash matters in triggering stress shift and that 2) stress clash in English is defined at the higher prosodic levels and not restricted to the level of the segmental string as indirectly assumed in a growing body of research (e.g., Vogel, Bunnel & Hoskins, 1995; Tomlinson, Liu & Fox Tree, 2014). Along with the establishment of prosodic boundary strength as one of the predictors influencing stress shift, another important contribution of the thesis is providing empirical evidence that the English Rhythm Rule is not solely a perceptual phenomenon and that it is associated with acoustic correlates. The main correlates of perceived stress shift consistently appearing across experiments is the decrease in the duration of the main lexical prominence of the target (e.g., -teen in canteen) and the increase of fundamental frequency and Sound Pressure Level peaks and on the initial syllable (e.g., canin canteen), when followed by a main clashing phrasal prominence. The acoustic analysis shows that the first accentable syllable also contributes in the perception of stress shift. This latter result does not lend support to the deletion formulation of the Rhythm Rule (Gussenhoven, 1991) which stipulates that the impressions of stress shift are solely associated with changes of prominence in the last accentable syllable of the target (e.g. -teen in canteen). Along with the determination of the acoustic correlates of perceived stress shift in English, the present research 1) indicates that fine-grained gradations of prosodic boundary strength can influence stress shift, 2) shows that while stress clash can increase the incidence of stress shift, stress shift can take place even in environments completely free of stress clash, and 3) provides evidence that stress clash should not be construed simply as the concatenation of two main lexical prominences along the time dimension.

本篇論文檢視台灣華語為母語之正常幼童以及構音異常幼童之滑音[j],[w], [ɥ]發展與產製表現，採長期觀察之方式，詳細描述正常幼兒滑音產製之出現及穩定年齡、頻率、正確率和發展順序，並且比較此三滑音於各音節位置之產製表現，進而比較兩組幼童之台灣華語滑音產製及音韻歷程之使用行為。本研究以標記理論及位置層級理論來檢驗幼兒滑音之發展與表現。 本研究總共觀察了四位幼童，將其分為兩組，第一組為兩位正常幼童，年齡在九個月至二十八個月和十個月至二十九個月，為期十九個月的觀察，另一組為兩位構音異常幼童，年齡在三歲十個月至四歲三個月和四歲三個月至四歲九個月，為期六個月的觀察。每兩週收錄一次長達一小時之語料，並利用錄製之高規格影音檔做譯寫及分析。 研究結果顯示，正常幼兒之滑音出現順序和穩定順序皆符合標記理論之預測，無標音早於有標音，其滑音產製之穩定度與音節位置相關，音節首位之滑音表現較音節中與音節末之滑音表現來的穩定，這與位置層級理論之推測相符合。構音異常幼童組中發現了有別於正常幼童之特殊取代模式，由較晚習得語音取代較早習得語音，其所產製的語音中會違反華語的音法限制。音韻歷程之表現在兩組幼童中皆偵測到刪除、換位、取代三種模式，其中皆以刪除為主要策略。 / The purpose of the present study is to report the developmental process of three Mandarin glides [w, j, ɥ] in terms of three word positions by examining the age of emergence and stabilization, the order of stabilization, and accuracy rate of thechildren’s production, and further compare the normative data with phonological disorder data in order to explore the possible phonological processes. This study alsoaccounts for the developmental process of glides on the basis of markedness theory and positional prominence hierarchy. A longitudinal study was carried out for the investigation of two normally-developing children, aged between 0;9-2;4 and 0;10-2;4, and two phonologically-disordered children, one of whom is between 4;3 and 4;9, and the other between 3;10 and 4;3. The data were collected at two-week intervals. The results showed that the order of glide emergence and stabilization of the normally-developing group is in accordance with the markedness theory. The unmarked [j], [w] precede marked [ɥ]. Moreover, the stabilization order of the three glides in terms of the three syllable positions was found to reflect the interaction between markedness constraint and positional prominence hierarchy. The unmarked glide in the initial position is the first to stabilize and the marked glide in the non-initial position is the last to stabilize. On the other hand, the children in the phonologically-disordered group were found to consistently replace the presumably earlier-developing glide with a presumably later-developing one, which differs from the process used in the normally-developing group. Furthermore, this group of children produced the combination that violates the phonotactic constraints of Taiwan Mandarin. In addition, there are three phonological processes, including deletion, metathesis, and substitution detected in children’s data. The most commonly used process is deletion in both groups of children.

The work presented in this thesis comes in pursuit of the ultimate goal of building spoken and embodied human-like interfaces that are able to interact with humans under human terms. Such interfaces need to employ the subtle, rich and multidimensional signals of communicative and social value that complement the stream of words – signals humans typically use when interacting with each other. The studies presented in the thesis concern facial signals used in spoken communication, and can be divided into two connected groups. The first is targeted towards exploring and verifying models of facial signals that come in synchrony with speech and its intonation. We refer to this as visual-prosody, and as part of visual-prosody, we take prominence as a case study. We show that the use of prosodically relevant gestures in animated faces results in a more expressive and human-like behaviour. We also show that animated faces supported with these gestures result in more intelligible speech which in turn can be used to aid communication, for example in noisy environments. The other group of studies targets facial signals that complement speech. As spoken language is a relatively poor system for the communication of spatial information; since such information is visual in nature. Hence, the use of visual movements of spatial value, such as gaze and head movements, is important for an efficient interaction. The use of such signals is especially important when the interaction between the human and the embodied agent is situated – that is when they share the same physical space, and while this space is taken into account in the interaction. We study the perception, the modelling, and the interaction effects of gaze and head pose in regulating situated and multiparty spoken dialogues in two conditions. The first is the typical case where the animated face is displayed on flat surfaces, and the second where they are displayed on a physical three-dimensional model of a face. The results from the studies show that projecting the animated face onto a face-shaped mask results in an accurate perception of the direction of gaze that is generated by the avatar, and hence can allow for the use of these movements in multiparty spoken dialogue. Driven by these findings, the Furhat back-projected robot head is developed. Furhat employs state-of-the-art facial animation that is projected on a 3D printout of that face, and a neck to allow for head movements. Although the mask in Furhat is static, the fact that the animated face matches the design of the mask results in a physical face that is perceived to “move”. We present studies that show how this technique renders a more intelligible, human-like and expressive face. We further present experiments in which Furhat is used as a tool to investigate properties of facial signals in situated interaction. Furhat is built to study, implement, and verify models of situated and multiparty, multimodal Human-Machine spoken dialogue, a study that requires that the face is physically situated in the interaction environment rather than in a two-dimensional screen. It also has received much interest from several communities, and been showcased at several venues, including a robot exhibition at the London Science Museum. We present an evaluation study of Furhat at the exhibition where it interacted with several thousand persons in a multiparty conversation. The analysis of the data from the setup further shows that Furhat can accurately regulate multiparty interaction using gaze and head movements. / <p>QC 20121123</p>

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur Generation X och Y:s attityd till ett varumärke påverkas av produktplacering. Metod: I studien genomfördes en undersökning med hjälp av experimentell design och enkät med 169 respondenter. Varje respondent fick ta del av ett avsnitt från TV-serien Solsidan där det förekommer produktplacering. Därefter fick respondenterna svara på en enkät om de produktplaceringar som förekom i avsnittet. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Resultaten visar att generationerna i de flesta fall har samma inställning till produktplacering generellt. Vår slutsats är att både Generation X och Y har en positiv attityd till ett varumärke som använts i en produktplacering i TV-serien Solsidan. Vi kan se ett undantag vid tydlig produktplacering där båda generationerna visar en negativ attityd. För samtliga varianter av produktplacering går det inte att se någon skillnad mellan generationernas attityd, då Generation X och Generation Y har samma attityd. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vårt förslag till vidare forskning är att genomföra samma typ av studie med fler respondenter. Ytterligare ett förslag är att utföra samma typ av studie med hjälp av en kvalitativ undersökning. Uppsatsens bidrag: Det teoretiska bidraget är vår jämförande studie mellan Generation X och Generation Y och deras attityd till varumärket via produktplacering. Vårt praktiska bidrag är att utöka kunskapen för marknadsförare att använda de olika varianter som finns inom produktplacering. Detta för att kunna hjälpa de som använder produktplacering för att nå olika ålderskategorier, då de vill få en positiv inverkan på attityd till varumärket hos konsumenterna de vill nå ut till. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to compare how Generation X and Y´s attitude towards a brand is influenced by product placement. Method: In the study, a survey was conducted using experimental design with 169 respondents. Each respondent was asked to watch a specific episode from the TV-series Solsidan where product placement occurs. Thereafter the respondents answered a survey about product placements that appeared in the episode. Results &amp; conclusion: According to the results, Generation X and Y in most cases have the same attitude to product placement in general. Our conclusion is that both Generation X and Y have a positive attitude towards a brand used in a product placement in the TV-series Solsidan. We can see an exception in prominent product placement where both generations show a negative attitude. For all kinds of product placement, there is no difference between generation's attitude, since Generation X and Generation Y have the same attitude. Suggestions for further research: Our proposal for further research is to do the same type of study with more respondents. Another suggestion is to do the same type of study using a qualitative survey. Contribution of the thesis: The theoretical contribution is our comparative study between Generation X and Generation Y and their attitude towards brands through product placement. Our practical contribution is to expand the knowledge of marketers to use the different kinds of product placement. This in order to help those who use product placement to reach different age categories, as they want a positive impact on the consumer's brand attitude.

The political interest of an individual has always been a factor in theindividual’s decision to vote in an election or not. But is it only theindividuals own interest that decides if they participate in the election, or arethey affected by what media they consume and how the media frames theissues? The dominant explanation for if individuals decide to participate inelections are rooted in a couple of different factors, their socioeconomicalsituation, and their cultural background, but this essay focuses on how mediaaffects individuals voting behaviour. Other studies have looked at how mediaexposure affects individuals’ participation. They found that media exposurehas a positive effect on the individual’s likelihood of participating ininstitutional political situations. This essay uses data from SOM-institute toanalyse how media consumption affects the individual’s likelihood toparticipate in the national election. The results show that media consumptioninfluences the individuals decision to vote however, the extent of mediaconsumed does not matter for participation as expected as it also could havea negative effect on participation. The other part of the result is that thesource of the media is not important to if it increases the individuals’ interestin politics. This indicates that for the individual the extent of mediaconsumed and from what source, does not have a major effect on their votingbehaviour.

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