In this exploratory case study, I take a constant comparative methods type approach to exploring a shift in second language acquisition (SLA) away from approaches built on the assumption that language participants in the U.S. are monolingual English speakers (Block, 2003; Ortega, 2009, 2013; Thompson, 2013; Valdés, 2005), with little initial investment in the language or its culture (Rivera-Mills, 2012; Valdés, Fishman, Chavéz, & Pérez, 2006). This bias has entrenched a monolingual speaker baseline for statistical analysis within many experimental designs (Block, 2003; Ortega, 2009, 2013; Thompson, 2013; Valdés, 2005). Further, I redress this methodological bias by applying sociocultural theoretical (SCT) (Vygotsky, 1986) approaches to investigating Spanish heritage language learners (SHLLs). Heritage Language Acquisition (HLA) has an established tradition of situating its research within socio-cultural context when considering language-learning phenomena, laying groundwork for relating these contextual factors to the issues in delivering pedagogically sound HL instruction. Ducar (2008) identifies a specific gap in HLA literature, where HLL voices are underrepresented and Valdés et al. (2006) further highlights the need for the development of resources and strategies for accommodating HLLs specifically. I attempt to fill these gaps under SCT by using qualitative methods that incorporate HLL voices into the broader HLA discussion (Ducar, 2008). I take a bottom up approach to resource and task design targeted to serve Spanish heritage language learners (SHLLs) in the U.S. by first surveying the population’s backgrounds and motivations at universities that serve an over 20% student body of Hispanic/latin@ students. Next, I propose a supplemental resource whose agile design is able to adapt to the unique needs of these SHLLs. Further, I investigate in what ways one technological resource, the virtual world Second Life (SL), may be adopted to meet Spanish HLL (SHLL) needs. In this second part, I analyze how one SHLL, who I will refer to as David, used this SL resource. I was guided in this analysis by asking: “In what ways does differentiating HL instruction with SL afford identity mediation through symbolic artifacts within SL?” and “In what ways can task design and extension activities be adapted to meet specific SHLLs’ needs without overly constraining their creative language use or the open format of SL?”. I do this by first taking a snap shot via anonymous survey of 47 SHLLs across the U.S., attending 133 universities with a high level of undergraduate latin@/Hispanic students (20% or higher) that offer concentrations in Spanish (see http://www.collegedata.com). The respondents needed to be currently enrolled in a course advancing them beyond the Novice High level of proficiency as defined by ACFTL (2012). My analysis and discussion of these responses is organized around trends illuminated with descriptive statistics in their backgrounds and then motivations. Finally, I draw on open ended responses to create a qualitative analysis and present vignettes that highlight SHLL voices, while exemplifying trends found through word count analysis and axial coding of the data. Next, I explore the case of a single SHLL, reporting a familial connection to the language and studying intermediate Spanish at a university in the U.S, and his experience with SL. My analysis of David’s case draws on data from a pre-survey that was designed to elicit data on his background, align discussion with established criteria for matching HLL backgrounds to learning needs, and elicit his emic perspective about using SL to study his HL. Additionally, the community of inquiry framework (COI) (Arbaugh, Cleveland-Innes, Diaz, Garrison, Ice, Richardson, & Swan, 2008) guided me in meticulously designing SL tasks that elicited data about David’s engagement with the SL environment, its affordances, and the HL. These also provided insights into what ways that he chose to expand or deepen his command of the HL. I coded these data with Dedoose, a qualitative research tool, using a three-stage coding process similar to axial coding, building code trees and constantly relating themes to one another until saturated thematic categories emerge. I build a critical discussion of what this coding process reveals in relation to the case-study’s research focuses above, the guiding research questions, and relate the resulting findings to possible implications for teaching Spanish to SHLLs in the U.S., instructional design for this population within specific intuitional constraints, and for task design that leverages specific affordances that SL may offer SHLLs. In Part I, I present a rationale for introducing two new research questions to help guide my investigation of the survey of 47 SHLLs: “In what ways do SHLL motivations for studying their HL differ and how might these motivations be best accommodated through instructional design?” and “In what ways do SHLL backgrounds differ and influence their objectives for studying their HL?”. I then used these research questions to analyze these data and weave a discussion. At the beginning of each stage of this analysis I explain the methodology behind the analysis and the generation of any figures or tables that helped me in interpreting the data and answering the research questions. Ultimately, I create vignettes to highlight SHLL voices (Ducar, 2008) and weave a narrative grounded in the major trends and themes sown together throughout the chapter. In Part II, I present rationale for modifying my original three research questions, removing the second one completely due to lack of data: “In what ways do SHLL backgrounds differ and influence their objectives for studying their HL?” and “In what ways do SHLL motivations for studying their HL differ and how might these motivations be best accommodated through instructional design?”. I interweave my exploratory analysis and discussion about David’s background and motivations with that of the previous chapter to related David’s case to the larger data set. Further, I use the COI framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000, 2001) and Dörnyei’s (1994, 2005, 2009, 2014) work on motivation to analyze my instructional design in relation to David’s experience within the SL Lab. I analyze David’s motivational attractor states from a qualitative perspective as he progressed through to completion of the lab and compare motivational factors between David and pilot study participants. Based on these findings I offer some recommendations for both revising the proposed resource’s design and for the design of other resources that might capitalize on what I have learned during the course of this investigation. During the course of these investigative efforts I also encountered some challenges and surprising rewards. I reserve a section of this study to discuss some of these challenges, such as institutional barriers, demands on student time, strains on student motivation, and instructional design adaptations that frequently failed to address these challenges despite being research supported approaches. I correspondingly recount how these challenges coupled with moments of collegial collaboration to help both myself as a researcher and the project to grow, persevere, and adapt during the long course of the investigation. It is my sincere hope that sharing this personal perspective provides greater context to the study and insight for other researchers that would take on similar research endeavors.

Depuis la loi du 24 juillet 2006 relative à l’immigration et l’intégration et la mise en place du Contrat d’Accueil et d’Intégration (Contrat d’Intégration Républicaine depuis 2016), la formation linguistique pour les adultes migrants allophones est obligatoire lorsque leur niveau en langue française est inférieur au niveau A1 du Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues. Les organismes de formation dispensant ces formations en Français langue d’intégration accueillent les stagiaires dont le point commun est la prescription obligatoire, le contexte de formation étant fortement marqué par l’hétérogénéité des profils, notamment plurilingues. La recherche proposée ici et menée en Région Bretagne s’attache à analyser les représentations liées aux accents, du point de vue de la perception, de la réception et de l’enseignement afin de comprendre les enjeux sous-tendus par les usages de cette notion chez les stagiaires et les formateurs. Ainsi, ce travail analyse des discours épilinguistiques axiologiques présentant les accents comme marqueurs identitaires, révélateurs des rapports à la norme du français et aux langues « déjà là » en contexte de migration, pour déceler et comprendre les sentiments d’insécurité linguistique et d’illégitimité liés aux enjeux socio-politiques de l’injonction à l’intégration. / Since the French law of 24 July 2006 on immigration and integration and the implementation of the Reception and Integration Contract (called the Republican Integration Contract since 2016), language training has become compulsory for adult allophone migrants with French language proficiency below level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The training organizations that provide these French as a language of integration courses, host trainees with compulsory registration in common, within a training context that is strongly characterized by a diversity of profiles, particularly multilingual ones. The research proposed here, conducted in the Region of Brittany, analyses representations of accents, from a perception, reception and teaching perspective, in order to understand the challenges underpinning the uses of this notion among trainees and trainers. Thus, this work analyses the axiological epilinguistic discourse that presents accents as identity markers revealing relationships to both standard French and “pre-existing” languages in a migration context. Its objective is to identify and understand the feelings of linguistic insecurity and illegitimacy linked to socio-political integration-related challenges.

Este trabalho analisa as formas de realização da lateral pós-vocálica na cidade de Lages/ SC sob a luz da Teoria Variacionista, visto que, no português brasileiro, a lateral /l/, quando em posição final de sílaba, é realizada de forma variável, podendo ser realizada como [l] alveolar, [t] velar, semivogal [w], apagamento [Ø] ou rotacismo [r]. De acordo com a literatura, essa variação pode ocorrer tanto em função de condicionantes sociais quanto lingüísticos. Devido aos resultados obtidos na rodada do programa, optamos por uma análise binária para a vocalização da lateral contra essas demais formas de realização do fonema /l/, todavia fazemos comentários que julgamos pertinentes com relação a todas elas. A realização de /l/ pós-vocálico como [t] ou [w] pode ser comprovada através de trabalhos como os de Lopez (1979), Cagliari (1981), Sêcco (1977), Quednau (1993), Tasca (1999) e Espiga (2001). Essas variantes, na Fonologia Tradicional, são consideradas livres ou de aplicação imprevisível, visto que são atribuídas a um indivíduo ou a um grupo social ou regional. Porém, de acordo com a proposta de Labov (1966, 1969, 1972), essa variação livre não é tão imprevisível quanto aparenta ser. Os fatores lingüísticos e sociais podem funcionar como condicionadores, favorecendo ou não o uso dessas formas variantes. Nossa análise dos dados é comparada e contrastada com os resultados obtidos em estudos anteriores e demonstra que os fatores sociais idade, escolaridade e sexo são relevantes à aplicação de uma regra variável assim como os fatores lingüísticos acento, fronteira de morfema e contexto fonológico precedente. Por fim, fazemos um estudo sobre os fatores extralingüísticos favorecedores das diversas formas de realização da lateral, baseado nos dados fornecidos por cada um dos informantes dessa pesquisa. / This paper aims to analyze the output forms of the post-vocalic lateral in the community of Lages/SC under the Variation Theory, since, in Brazilian Portuguese, the lateral /l/, when in the final position of a syllable, is performed in a variable manner, ranging from [l] alveolar, [t] velar, semivowel [w], deletion [Ø] to rhotacism [r]. According to literature, such variation may happen due to either social or linguistic factors. Due to the results obtained after running the software, we chose a binary analysis for the vocalization of the lateral against those other forms of realization of the phoneme /l/, however comments that we deem appropriate regarding all of them are made. The output of post-vocalic /l/ as [:] or [w] becomes evident in the works of Lopez (1979), Cagliari (1981), Sêcco (1977), Quednau (1993), Tasca (1999), and Espiga (2001). Those variants, in the Traditional Phonology, are considered free or of unexpected application, as they are regarded to an individual or to a social or regional group. However, according to Labov (1966, 1969, 1972), such free variation is not as unexpected as it seems to be. The linguistic and social factors may act as conditioners, so that they may or may not favor the use of those variant forms. The analysis of our data will be compared and contrasted with the results achieved in previous studies and will show that social factors such as age, educational background and sex are relevant to the application of a variable rule as well as the linguistic factors stress, morpheme border and precedent phonological context. To end, we analyze the social factors that favor the many output forms of /l/, based on data supplied by each of the interviewees used in this research.

A proposta desta tese é analisar os fatores lingüísticos e sociais relacionados à variação na concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural com base nas entrevistas dos 90 informantes que compõem o VarX – Banco de Dados Sociolingüísticos Variáveis por Classe Social de Pelotas/RS –, estratificados conforme gênero, classe social, faixa etária: 45 são do gênero masculino e 45 do feminino, 30 da classe social média alta, 30 da média baixa, e 30 da baixa; 30 da faixa etária entre 16 e 25 anos, 30 da faixa etária entre 26 e 49 anos e 30 da faixa etária com mais de 50 anos. Pretendemos, dessa forma, contribuir para a descrição da concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural do português popular brasileiro. Para a análise dos dados, utilizamos metodologia quantitativa com base na interface Windows para o Varbrul e em formulário de codificação de dados. Na análise, discutimos a presença versus a ausência de concordância verbal de terceira pessoa do plural; e a concordância verbal padrão versus nãopadrão de terceira pessoa do plural. Os resultados mostram que, em Pelotas, há variação de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, mas com predomínio do uso da marca, uma vez que existe presença de desinências verbais em 4.317 contextos (de um total de 5.263), perfazendo 82%, e em 945 contextos não ocorrem marcas de concordância, perfazendo 18%. Também, constatamos, com base na amostra em estudo, particularmente no resultado das variáveis sociais que há indícios de aquisição de concordância verbal de 3ª pessoa do plural, visto que há um aumento gradual de emprego de marcas de concordância, cuja direção é dos informantes mais velhos para os mais novos, sendo que os mais novos apresentam maiores percentuais e peso relativo de emprego de desinências verbais de 3ª pessoa do plural. No estudo da concordância verbal padrão versus não-padrão, analisamos a distribuição das formas padrão versus não-padrão, envolvendo tanto ausência de marca quanto formas alternantes de realização da marca, enfatizando as variáveis sociais. E observamos que, em Pelotas, há altos percentuais de emprego de formas padrão, em decorrência de aspectos sociais e culturais. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the linguistic and social factors related to the variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural based on interviews of 90 informants who make up the VarX –Sociolinguistics Database Variable by Social Class of Pelotas/RS –, stratified according to gender, social class, age: 45 are males and 45 females, 30 of the upper middle class, 30 of the low middle class, and 30 of the low social class; 30 are between 16 and 25 years of age, 30 between 26 and 49 and 30 of the age group over 50 years. We intended, therefore, to contribute to the description of the verbal agreement of 3rd person plural of the popular Brazilian Portuguese. For data analysis, we used quantitative methodology based on the Windows interface for Varbrul and on data encryption form. In the analysis, we discussed the presence versus the absence of verbal agreement in the third person plural, as well as the standard verb agreement versus the non-standard third person plural. The results show that, in Pelotas, there is variation in verbal agreement of 3rd person plural, but with predominance of the use of the mark, since the presence of verbal endings occurs in 4317 contexts (of a total of 5263), consisting of 82%, and in 945 contexts there are no agreement marks, totaling 18%. We also found, based on the sample under study, particularly the outcome of the social variables that there is evidence of acquisition of 3rd person plural agreement, since there is a gradual increase in use of verb agreement marks, whose direction goes from the older to the younger informants, given that the younger have higher rates and relative employment of verbal endings of 3rd person plural. In the study of standard versus non-standard verbal agreement, we analyzed the distribution of standard versus non-standard forms, involving both the absence of marks as well as alternate forms of the realization of the mark, emphasizing the social variables. And we observed that in Pelotas there are high percentages of use of standard forms as a result of social and cultural aspects.

The core of the present master's thesis is a sociolinguistic analysis of the conversational marker 'che' in Rioplatense Spanish. Initially, the history and concept of conversation analysis are presented. The process of grammaticalization and the classification of pragmatic markers are also described. Secondly, the author defines sociolinguistics and, on the basis of William Labov's work, explains methodological problems related to collecting real language data. The terms Rioplatense Spanish and 'porte?o' are widely described as well. Further, 'che' is investigated theoretically as a case of interjection that resulted in a conversational particle. The proper sociolinguistic investigation is based on three methods: introspection, qualitative and quantitative analysis. Functions of 'che', as well as its occurence according to different social factores are studied in this work.

This paper aims to introduce a concept called digital dialogical network. This concept is inspired by a similar concept called medial dialogical network, which was elaborated in past sociolingustic research. Whereas the concept of medial dialogical network is used to describe dialogical interactions, which may take place in a sequence of published media contributions, the concept of digital dialogical network aims to describe similar interactions which may take place in a series of language contributions published on the internet. Furthermore, this paper shows some language behaviour similarities between rappers and youtubers. Those are also social groups, language of which has been used as a primary language data source.

Reading the Fourth Gospel, one is struck by the amount of talk about Jesus. Many of the reports in John describing such talk reflect the social process of gossip in concert with other processes and dynamics involved in constituting social personages in the ancient Mediterranean world. Although there have been a few general treatments of gossip in the New Testament, none have focused on the subject of the gossip in John’s gospel, Jesus, the generative cause of the emergence of gossip traditions. The aim of this research project is to explore how gossip is involved in constituting Jesus as a shamanic figure in the Fourth Gospel. Building on the research of Pieter F. Craffert, and thus beginning with understanding Jesus as a shamanic figure, a viable framework for identifying and explaining features and functions of gossip is constructed after considering sociolinguistic studies and a number of ethnographies of extant traditional cultures of the Mediterranean. The framework is then brought to bear on texts in the Fourth Gospel reporting or describing gossip, in order to see how gossip contributes to constituting Jesus as a shamanic figure. As a result, this research offers a significant contribution to New Testament studies as it 1) represents an exploration and appropriation of gossip that has scarcely been exploited in the field, 2) provides a viable theoretical framework for positioning gossip vis-à-vis other pivotal first-century Mediterranean social values and processes, 3) models a new way to see and understand John’s gospel, and 4) is suggestive of an alternative to the reigning paradigm of conventional historical Jesus research in that it involves linking literary features about oral phenomena in John to a historically plausible figure thoroughly embedded in his social, cultural, and historical world. / New Testament / D.Th. (New Testament)

Focusing on a series of multiparty recordings carried out between the months of October and March 2012 and drawing on a theoretical framework based on work of linguists such as Auer (1999), Backus (2005), Bakker (2000), Maschler (2000) and Matras (2000a and 2000b), this thesis traces the evolution of a continuum of language alternation phenomena, ranging from simple code-switching to more complex forms of 'language alloying' (Alvarez- Càccamo 1998) such as mixed codes and fused lects in multilingual Mauritius. Following Auer (2001), the different conversational loci of code-switching are identified. Particular emphasis has been placed upon, amongst others, the conversational locus of playfulness where, for instance, participants' spontaneous lapses into song and dance sequences as they inspire themselves from Bollywood pop songs and creatively embed segments in Hindustani within a predominantly Kreol matrix are noted. Furthermore, in line with Auer (1999), Backus (2005) and Muysken (2000), emerging forms of language mixing such as changes in the way possessive marking is carried in Kreol and instances of semantic shift in Bhojpuri/ Hindustani words like nasha and daan have been highlighted and their pragmatic significance explained with specific reference to the Mauritian context. Finally, in the fused lect stage, specific attention has been provided to one key feature namely phonological blending which has resulted in the coinage of the discourse marker ashe and its eventual use in the process of discourse marker switching. In the light of the above findings, this thesis firstly critiques the strengths and weaknesses of the notion of the code switching (CS) continuum (Auer 1999) itself by revealing the difficulties encountered, at the empirical level, in assigning the correct label to the different types of language alternation phenomena evidenced in this thesis. In the second instance, it considers the impact of such shifts along the language alternation continuum upon language policy and planning in contemporary Mauritius and advocates for a move away from colonial language policies such as the 1957 Education Act in favour of updated ones that are responsive to the language practices of speakers. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

La présente thèse propose une description multidimensionnelle (phonologique, phonéticoacoustique et sociolinguistique) des caractéristiques phonético-phonologiques de l’anglais néo-zélandais (NZE) contemporain ainsi qu’une étude théorique et empirique de l’évolution de cette variété. Notre travail de recherche s’inscrit dans le cadre du programme PAC (Phonologie de l’Anglais Contemporain : usages, variétés et structure) et se fonde sur les données authentiques et récentes du corpus PAC Nouvelle-Zélande que nous avons constitué à Dunedin, la capitale de l’Otago, au sud de l’île du Sud de la Nouvelle-Zélande. Notre analyse se concentre sur deux phénomènes qui permettent d’étudier la variation et le changement en NZE : la rhoticité et le ‘r’ de sandhi, ainsi que les changements vocaliques impliquant notamment les voyelles antérieures brèves des ensembles lexicaux KIT, DRESS et TRAP. En nous appuyant sur une étude phonético-acoustique des voyelles produites par les locuteurs du corpus PAC-NZ, nous proposons une modélisation des changements impliquant ces voyelles dans le cadre de la Phonologie de Dépendance. Nous intégrons également une réflexion théorique sur les modélisations linguistiques et sociolinguistiques qui ont été proposées dans la littérature sur le changement linguistique en général, et sur l’évolution du NZE en particulier, et montrons la nécessité d’intégrer des facteurs internes et externes pour rendre compte de l’évolution d’une variété comme le NZE contemporain. / This thesis offers a multidimensional description (phonological, phonetic-acoustic and sociolinguistic) of the phonetic and phonological characteristics of contemporary New Zealand English (NZE) as well as a theoretical and empirical study of its evolution. Our work fits into the framework of the PAC program (Phonology of Contemporary English: usage, varieties and structure) and is based on the recent and authentic data collected for the PAC New Zealand corpus recorded in Dunedin, the capital of Otago, in the south of the South island of New Zealand. Our analysis focuses on two phenomena that allow us to study variation and change in NZE: rhoticity and sandhi-r, as well as vocalic shifts, which notably involve the short front vowels in the lexical sets of KIT, DRESS and TRAP. On the basis of a phonetic-acoustic study of the vowels produced by the PAC-NZ informants, we provide an account of the shifts involving these vowels within the framework of Dependency Phonology. We also integrate a theoretical reflection on the linguistic and sociolinguistic accounts that have been presented in the literature on linguistic change generally and on the evolution of NZE specifically, and show that it is necessary to take internal as well as external factors into account when modeling the evolution of a variety such as contemporary NZE.

O escravismo colonial brasileiro durou mais de três séculos e foi determinante não só por moldar a sociedade na época, como por causar um grande impacto sobre as línguas, sobretudo as faladas pelos trabalhadores africanos escravizados. Por esse e outros motivos, pode se dizer que praticamente não existem registros escritos sobre as línguas e práticas linguageiras dos cativos. Esta dissertação de mestrado, que tem como base teórica a Sociolinguística e a Sociolinguística Histórica, analisa como as classes dominantes perceberam e registraram as práticas linguageiras dos africanos escravizados e libertos em escritos produzidos entre o século XIX e meados do século XX. Para isso, busca-se compreender o processo histórico-social da escravidão de africanos no Brasil, que vai desde a chegada dos primeiros africanos até a Abolição, além da situação sociolinguística dos períodos colonial e imperial brasileiros. A partir das principais características das relações sociais escravistas e da realidade sociolinguística resultante do impacto do escravismo, elaboram-se considerações no que se refere às esferas sociais em que os trabalhadores escravizados circulavam, as suas reais possibilidades de comunicação, ao modo como geriam as situações que envolviam as línguas, às chances de praticar e transmitir suas línguas, etc Por fim, analisa-se a percepção das classes dominantes sobre as línguas africanas e os hábitos de linguagem dos africanos escravizados em escritos de intelectuais, como gramáticas, ensaios e dicionários. Podem-se destacar duas das conclusões. A primeira, é que a escravidão colonial brasileira e os escravizados, que sustentaram todas as atividades nos meios rural e urbano, foram e continuam a ser minimizados de diversas formas. A segunda, é que o princípio da pureza da língua foi criado e seguido pelas classes dominantes para fazer uma separação de classes através da língua, sem considerar que os escravizados tiveram um aprendizado difícil da língua portuguesa, o que resultou no português que se fala hoje no Brasil. / The Brazilian colonial slavery lasted more than three centuries and it determined the society of the time and caused a considerable impact on languages, especially on those spoken by the enslaved African workers. For this and other reasons, it is possible to say that there are not written records about the languages and the practice of languages of the captives. This Masters dissertation, which has Sociolinguistics and Historical Sociolinguistics as theoretical basis, analyses how the ruling classes perceived and recorded the practices of languages of the enslaved and freed African in written productions between the nineteenth and the mid twentieth centuries. To do so, it is essencial to understand the historical and social process of African slavery in Brazil, since the arrival of the first African until the Abolition, also the sociolinguistic situation of the colonial and imperial periods. Through the main characteristics of the slave social relations and the impact of slavery and its resulting sociolinguistic reality, it is elaborated considerations about the social sphere in which the enslaved workers were, their real possibilities of communication, the way they managed the situations involving languages, the chances to practice and to transmit their languages, etc. Lastly, it is analysed the perception of the ruling classes about African languages and language habit in written records, as grammars, essays and dictionaries. It is possible to highlight two of the conclusions. First, the Brazilian colonial slavery and the enslaved, that sustained all the activities in rural and urban environment, were and continue to be minimized in various ways. Second, the principle of purity of the language was criated and followed by the ruling class to separate classes through language, without considering that the slaved had a tough learning of Portuguese language, fact that resulted in the Portuguese spoken nowadays in Brazil.