The thesis explores the form, function and sociolinguistic distribution of explicit apologies in the spoken part of the British National Corpus. The sub-corpus used for the study comprises a spoken text mass of about five million words and represents dialogue produced by more than 1700 speakers, acting in a number of different conversational settings. More than 3000 examples of apologising are included in the analysis. Primarily, the form and function of the apologies are examined in relation to the type of offence leading up to the speech act. Aspects such as the sincerity of the apologies and the use of additional remedial strategies other than explicit apologising are also considered. Variations in the distributions of the different types of apologies found are subsequently investigated for the two independent variables speaker social identity (gender, social class and age) and conversational setting (genre, formality and group size). The effect of the speaker-addressee relationship on the apology rate and the types of apologies produced is also examined. In this study, the prototypical apology, a speech act used to remedy a real or perceived offence, is only one of a number of uses of the apology form in the corpus. Other common functions of the form include discourse-managing devices such as request cues for repetition and markers of hesitation, as well as disarming devices uttered before expressing disagreement and controversial opinions. Among the speaker social variables investigated, age and social class are particularly important in affecting apologetic behaviour. Young and middle-class speakers favour the use of the apology form. No substantial gender differences in apologising are apparent in the corpus. I have also been able to show that large conversational groups result in frequent use of the form. Finally, analysis of the effects of the speaker-addressee relationship on the use of the speech act shows that, contrary to expectations based on Brown & Levinson’s theory of politeness, it is the powerful who tend to apologise to the powerless rather than vice versa. The study implies that formulaic politeness is an important linguistic marker of social class and that its use often involves control of the addressee.

<p>The thesis explores the form, function and sociolinguistic distribution of explicit apologies in the spoken part of the British National Corpus. The sub-corpus used for the study comprises a spoken text mass of about five million words and represents dialogue produced by more than 1700 speakers, acting in a number of different conversational settings. More than 3000 examples of apologising are included in the analysis.</p><p>Primarily, the form and function of the apologies are examined in relation to the type of offence leading up to the speech act. Aspects such as the sincerity of the apologies and the use of additional remedial strategies other than explicit apologising are also considered. Variations in the distributions of the different types of apologies found are subsequently investigated for the two independent variables speaker social identity (gender, social class and age) and conversational setting (genre, formality and group size). The effect of the speaker-addressee relationship on the apology rate and the types of apologies produced is also examined.</p><p>In this study, the prototypical apology, a speech act used to remedy a real or perceived offence, is only one of a number of uses of the apology form in the corpus. Other common functions of the form include discourse-managing devices such as request cues for repetition and markers of hesitation, as well as disarming devices uttered before expressing disagreement and controversial opinions.</p><p>Among the speaker social variables investigated, age and social class are particularly important in affecting apologetic behaviour. Young and middle-class speakers favour the use of the apology form. No substantial gender differences in apologising are apparent in the corpus. I have also been able to show that large conversational groups result in frequent use of the form. Finally, analysis of the effects of the speaker-addressee relationship on the use of the speech act shows that, contrary to expectations based on Brown & Levinson’s theory of politeness, it is the powerful who tend to apologise to the powerless rather than vice versa.</p><p>The study implies that formulaic politeness is an important linguistic marker of social class and that its use often involves control of the addressee. </p>

The thesis explores the form, function and sociolinguistic distribution of explicit apologies in the spoken part of the British National Corpus. The sub-corpus used for the study comprises a spoken text mass of about five million words and represents dialogue produced by more than 1700 speakers, acting in a number of different conversational settings. More than 3000 examples of apologising are included in the analysis. Primarily, the form and function of the apologies are examined in relation to the type of offence leading up to the speech act. Aspects such as the sincerity of the apologies and the use of additional remedial strategies other than explicit apologising are also considered. Variations in the distributions of the different types of apologies found are subsequently investigated for the two independent variables speaker social identity (gender, social class and age) and conversational setting (genre, formality and group size). The effect of the speaker-addressee relationship on the apology rate and the types of apologies produced is also examined. In this study, the prototypical apology, a speech act used to remedy a real or perceived offence, is only one of a number of uses of the apology form in the corpus. Other common functions of the form include discourse-managing devices such as request cues for repetition and markers of hesitation, as well as disarming devices uttered before expressing disagreement and controversial opinions. Among the speaker social variables investigated, age and social class are particularly important in affecting apologetic behaviour. Young and middle-class speakers favour the use of the apology form. No substantial gender differences in apologising are apparent in the corpus. I have also been able to show that large conversational groups result in frequent use of the form. Finally, analysis of the effects of the speaker-addressee relationship on the use of the speech act shows that, contrary to expectations based on Brown &amp; Levinson’s theory of politeness, it is the powerful who tend to apologise to the powerless rather than vice versa. The study implies that formulaic politeness is an important linguistic marker of social class and that its use often involves control of the addressee.

This study examines the extent of the impact of proficiency and language use on sociophonetic variation in Indian English (IE). It is based on an oral corpus using the methods and tools of the PAC project and derived from a pool of South Delhi-based highly proficient speakers. The investigation was conducted using quantitative and qualitative methods and focused on two understudied variables: (1) the fricative realisation of th, and (2) the realisations of the vowels in words of the NORTH and FORCE lexical sets. First, the results demonstrate that a significant amount of variation which cannot be accounted for by the traditional age, gender and social class factors can be explained by the language use parameter. A degree of correlation was found between the volume of use of English in a range of domains, and how speakers take advantage of the sociolinguistic potential of prestigious forms. This offers indications on the location of the leaders of the linguistic change. The second central feature of this study is derived from the investigation of the NORTH versus FORCE distinction. It is argued that the general maintenance of this distinction in IE provides evidence for the endo-normative nature of this variety. In the light of these findings, issues ultimately relating to the debate over nativeness are discussed.

Submitted by Cristiane Chim (cristiane.chim@ucpel.edu.br) on 2018-08-06T13:39:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIELA TORNQUIST MAZZAFERRO.pdf: 6634163 bytes, checksum: b3be1b37f9ceeae1f0fcfe8335b5bc71 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T13:39:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIELA TORNQUIST MAZZAFERRO.pdf: 6634163 bytes, checksum: b3be1b37f9ceeae1f0fcfe8335b5bc71 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES# / #2075167498588264571# / #600 / This study aims to describe, analyze and formalize the behavior of the non-final and final post-tonic mid-vowels from the Portuguese spoken language in the extreme south part of Brazil, more specifically, the five bordering cities in Uruguay: Acegua, Chui, Jaguarao, Quarai and Santana do Livramento. This interest has come as a necessity for the mapping of the Portuguese spoken language in communities which are on the border of Uruguay, a Spanish speaking country, and taking into consideration that the vowel systems of the Brazilian Portuguese language (BP) and the Spanish language show different structures and functioning: seven of them are the phonological vowels of BP language and, according to Câmara Jr. (1977), in the non-final post-tonic position there is an operation of four vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, which passes to only three in the final atonic position: /a/, /i/, /u/, due to the neutralization process. Differently, the Spanish language, in all of its phonological positions, presents the system of five vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/, regardless of the tonicity of the syllable. It was assumed as a research hypothesis, which considered the studies such as Vieira (1994, 2002, 2009) and Machry da Silva (2009), that the speakers of the Brazilian cities bordering Uruguay have presented differences in the use of the non-final and final atonic vowels when compared to the Portuguese spoken language from the remaining part of Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil due to the influence of Spanish phonology. Combined with limited studies focused on the research of the spoken BP in the southern border of the country, this research is based on Variationist Sociolinguistics with its particularity of proposing phonological analysis and the formalization of the results based on the Stochastic Optimality Theory. The corpus of the study consisted of data from 40 (forty) informants - eight informants from each of the cities previously mentioned. Two types of procedures were proposed for data collection: a specific instrument to obtain non-final post-tonic vowels and a sociolinguistic interview to obtain final post-tonic vowels. The data was transcribed, signed and submitted to the RBRUL computer software with the control of linguistic and extralinguistic variables. Statistical results indicated that these variables were relevant for the elevation of the non-final post-tonic vowels process in the five cities surveyed. Yet, they seem to indicate that the motivation for the occurrence (or not) of the process is found when in contact with the Spanish language, a homogenized factor, which is present in all of the border cities. The elevation process of the post-tonic vowels was present in all of the border cities: regarding the non-final post-tonic vowels, the indices were lower than the remaining of the state and the country, being more effective with the mid-vowel /o/ than the mid-vowel /e/, which corroborates the proposal of Camara Jr. (1977). Regarding the final post-tonic vowels, the effectiveness of the process reached levels above 70% for the vowel /e/ and 95% for the vowel /o/ with categorical results for the cities of Chui and Jaguarao, which provided evidence that this process may be indicating a change in the BP language on the border. The formalizations supported by the Stochastic Optimality Theory showed that by means of restrictions and hierarchization is possible to represent the atonicity as a motivator of the study process as well as to express the tendency for vowel elevation in BP language as a result of the neutralization process. The analysis of the data suggests that the behavior of the post-tonic vowels on the border communities with cities of Uruguay presents some particular features that keep the spoken Portuguese language on the border distant from the spoken BP of the remaining part of the state and the country. / Este estudo descreve, analisa e formaliza o comportamento das vogais médias postônicas não finais e finais no português falado no extremo sul do Brasil, mais especificamente em cinco cidades que fazem fronteira com o Uruguai: Aceguá, Chuí, Jaguarão, Quaraí e Santana do Livramento. O interesse está na necessidade de um mapeamento do português falado em comunidades que fazem fronteira com o Uruguai, país de fala espanhola, já que os sistemas vocálicos do português brasileiro (PB) e do espanhol mostram diferentes estruturas e funcionamento: sete são as vogais fonológicas do PB e, segundo Câmara Jr. (1977), na posição postônica não final há o funcionamento de quatro vogais: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, passando para apenas três na posição átona final: /a/, /i/, /u/, em virtude de um processo de neutralização; diferentemente, o espanhol apresenta, em todas as posições fonológicas, o sistema de cinco vogais: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/, independentemente da tonicidade da sílaba. Assumiu-se como hipótese de pesquisa, considerando estudos como o de Vieira (1994, 2002, 2009) e de Machry da Silva (2009), que os falantes das cidades brasileiras fronteiriças com o Uruguai, por influência da fonologia do espanhol, apresentam diferenças no emprego das vogais átonas não finais e finais, em se comparando com o português falado no restante do Rio Grande do Sul e do Brasil. Aliando-se aos estudos voltados para a investigação do PB falado na Fronteira Sul do País, esta investigação está fundamentada na Sociolinguística Variacionista, com a particularidade de propor a análise fonológica e a formalização dos resultados com base na Teoria da Otimidade Estocástica. O corpus do estudo foi constituído por dados de 40 (quarenta) informantes – oito informantes de cada uma das cidades. Foram propostos dois tipos de procedimentos para a coleta dos dados: um instrumento específico para a obtenção de vogais postônicas não finais e uma entrevista sociolinguística para a obtenção de vogais postônicas finais. Os dados foram transcritos, fichados e submetidos ao programa computacional RBRUL, com o controle de variáveis linguísticas e extralinguísticas. Os resultados estatísticos indicaram que essas variáveis se mostraram relevantes para o processo de elevação das vogais médias postônicas não finais nas cinco cidades pesquisadas, mas parecem indicar que a motivação para a ocorrência (ou não) do processo se encontra no contato com o espanhol, fator homogeneizado, tendo em vista o fato de estar presente em todas as cidades fronteiriças. O processo de elevação das vogais postônicas mostrou-se presente em todas as cidades de fronteira: quanto às vogais postônicas não finais, os índices foram inferiores ao restante do Estado e País, sendo mais efetivo com a vogal média /o/ do que com a média /e/, o que corrobora a proposta de Câmara Jr. (1977); quanto às vogais postônicas finais, a efetivação do processo alcançou índices acima de 70% para a vogal /e/ e de 95% para a vogal /o/, com resultados categóricos para as cidades de Chuí e Jaguarão, trazendo evidências de que esse processo de variação pode estar indicando uma mudança no PB da fronteira. As formalizações com o suporte da Teoria da Otimidade Estocástica evidenciaram que, por meio de restrições e de sua hierarquização, é possível representar a atonicidade como motivadora do processo alvo do estudo, bem como expressar a tendência à elevação vocálica no PB como resultante do processo de neutralização. As análises dos dados permitem afirmar que o comportamento das vogais médias postônicas nas comunidades de fronteira com cidades do Uruguai apresenta especificidades que distanciam o português fronteiriço do PB falado no restante do Estado e do País.

大部分在台灣的客家人都會說中文,但是其中有些客家人說國語時會留下客語的遺跡。本篇論文已語言上,場合正式性上,地理區域,以及社會因素等方面探討部分客家人把國語的/ɕ/唸成[s]的原因。 本篇論文包含量化分析以及質化分析,在量化分析上透過面對面的交談,念文章,以及唸單字等方法來收集資料。量化分析上總共有32位受試者,且受試者依照性別,教育程度,年齡以及地理區域以二分法的方式。而在質化分析上的受試者和量化分析的受試者為同一批人,但只有29位再次參與調查。 本篇主要的發現為: (1)在語言內部因素中,字頻,鄰近音,以及音節結構對於語音變異皆有影響。(2)語音變異的確有擴散的現象。(3)在語言外部的因素中,年齡以及地理區域的影響比場合正式性及性別來得大,但教育程度的影響則很微弱。整體而言:(1)本篇調查的語音透過語言內部,場合正式性,社會以及地理空間擴散 (2)語言內部以及語言外部皆對與音變異有影響,但語言外部的因素的影響比內部因素來得大。 / Most Hakka speakers in Taiwan, if not all, speak Mandarin Chinese. Among them, many leave some traces of their Hakka background in their Mandarin pronunciation. This thesis aims at analyzing the linguistic, situational, geographical, and social causes of the emergence of [s] as a phonetic variant of /ɕ/ in Mandarin by Hakka speakers. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to locate the internal and the external constraints on the target phonetic variation. Those data for quantitative analyses were collected from the linguistic production by 32 native speakers of Hakka in casual conversation, reading passage, and reading characters. Subjects of this study are equally distributed to two genders, two education levels, two age groups, and two geographical areas (namely, in Taoyuan City and Chungli City, two cities in which a large proportion of Hakka speakers reside) . As for data for qualitative analyses collected from 29 of the 32 subjects of the quantitative tests, only those parts of the qualitative design that were implemented correctly were analyzed. The major findings of this study are (1) among the internal factors, word frequency, preceding vowels, and syllable structure were found to be influential to the target phonetic variation; (2) the target phonetic variation does expands through lexical diffusion; and (3) among the external factors, age and geographical area are more influential than situational formality and gender, but the impact of education level is weak. General conclusion of this study include (1) this target phonetic variation is expanding gradually through linguistic, situational, and social/geographical spaces; and (2) both internal and external factors are effective, with external factors being more influential than internal factors. Key words: phonetic variation, lexical diffusion, formality, Hakka dialect, sociolinguistic variation, ethnic identity