No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The aim of the study is to provide an account of the present state of Portuguese in the Johannesburg Portuguese community, and to identify factors influencing the maintenance of, and shift from the mother tongue. South African society necessitates a knowledge and daily use of English, and sometimes Afrikaans. Literacy and proficiency in the Portuguese mother tongue is therefore rapidly decreasing, especially amongst the third generation. Despite this decline, certain factors play a role in maintaining Portuguese. The most important factors in the maintenance of the mother tongue are education, cultural activities, contact with Portugal, parental influence and positive attitudes. If measures are not taken, and an awareness created within the community of the need to create a situation of stable bilingualism, the Portuguese language will continue to be eroded. / 0 objectivo desta tese e analisar o nivel actual da lingua portuguesa, na comunidade Portuguesa em Joanesburgo, e identificar os factores que influenciam a manutenc;ao e ou o afastamento da lingua materna. A sociedade sul-africana necessita de urn conhecimento diario da lingua inglesa e, par vezes da lingua afrikaans. Por conseguinte, a capacidade de ler e escrever fluentemente na lingua portuguesa esta rapidamente a desaparecer, especialmente na 3a gerac;ao. Apesar deste declinio, existem ainda determinados factores que contribuem para a sobrevivencia da lingua portuguesa na comunidade. Os factores mais importantes sao: a educac;ao, as actividades culturais, o contacto com Portugal, a influencia familiar - atitudes positivas tomadas pela propria comunidade. Se nao forem criadas medidas pelos portugueses, que garantam a consciencializac; ao da lingua materna e urn determinado bilinguismo, a lingua portuguesa acasani par desaparecer na Africa do Sul. / Linguistics / M.A. (Linguistics)

The aim of the study is to provide an account of the present state of Portuguese in the Johannesburg Portuguese community, and to identify factors influencing the maintenance of, and shift from the mother tongue. South African society necessitates a knowledge and daily use of English, and sometimes Afrikaans. Literacy and proficiency in the Portuguese mother tongue is therefore rapidly decreasing, especially amongst the third generation. Despite this decline, certain factors play a role in maintaining Portuguese. The most important factors in the maintenance of the mother tongue are education, cultural activities, contact with Portugal, parental influence and positive attitudes. If measures are not taken, and an awareness created within the community of the need to create a situation of stable bilingualism, the Portuguese language will continue to be eroded. / 0 objectivo desta tese e analisar o nivel actual da lingua portuguesa, na comunidade Portuguesa em Joanesburgo, e identificar os factores que influenciam a manutenc;ao e ou o afastamento da lingua materna. A sociedade sul-africana necessita de urn conhecimento diario da lingua inglesa e, par vezes da lingua afrikaans. Por conseguinte, a capacidade de ler e escrever fluentemente na lingua portuguesa esta rapidamente a desaparecer, especialmente na 3a gerac;ao. Apesar deste declinio, existem ainda determinados factores que contribuem para a sobrevivencia da lingua portuguesa na comunidade. Os factores mais importantes sao: a educac;ao, as actividades culturais, o contacto com Portugal, a influencia familiar - atitudes positivas tomadas pela propria comunidade. Se nao forem criadas medidas pelos portugueses, que garantam a consciencializac; ao da lingua materna e urn determinado bilinguismo, a lingua portuguesa acasani par desaparecer na Africa do Sul. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

This dissertation analyzes selected pieces of work related to the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) produced during the twenty-first-century as cultural artifacts to be considered in their historical and socio-political context. Specifically, my dissertation focuses on the relationship between the way the conflict is depicted and the message it conveys. Parting from the premise that there has been an overproduction of lieu de mémoire that has transformed the Spanish war into a cultural trend, the civil war-esque, I study a number of humor works. Precisely, these humorous works deconstruct such trend by considering its most common characteristics: the use of metafiction and nostalgia. The Introduction presents the socio-political situation of contemporary Spain, the civil war-esque trend, and different categories of humor. In the first chapter I focus on the TV-series Plaza de España (2011). By combining the theoretical framework of the sitcom and the Critical Analysis of Discourse, I demonstrate that the program reinforces the official message in regard to the Spanish recent past. In the second chapter I examine the novel La comedia salvaje (2009) by José Ovejero. This parody, understood by the lens of Bakhtin, invites the readers to be skeptical about what they know and what they have been told about the war. In the third chapter I study the film The Last Circus I (2010) by Álex de la Iglesia. Departing from an esperpento, the film leaves this genre behind and transforms itself into a satire which demythifies the traditional research method, such as visiting archives or interviewing witnesses, and opts for imagination to reproduce a traumatic past. Finally, the goal of this dissertation is to help envisage that a wider, and at the same time critical representation, of the Spanish Civil War its possible, and in turn could lead on to a potential change in the Spanish current cultural production as well as its social and political situation.

The research highlights Salvadoran migrants’ identities within the United States since their departure from El Salvador during its Civil War. The purpose of this research is to provide a historical context of the Civil War and an analysis of the transitions of documentation that occur upon arriving to the United States. In doing so, I demonstrate how physical documentation builds an influential and detrimental power over the Salvadoran migrants’ participation within the community. It is important to mention the Civil War because of two reasons: one, for its introduction to various stages of enduring violence, and two, for its impact on migration laws towards Salvadoran refugees. This research not only portrays the various shifts of aggression, but it also distinguishes documentation as a juxtaposition between legality and classism. More importantly, the findings reveal a correlation between these dynamics of violent documentation and the Salvadorans’ distorted, misguided, and inconclusive perceptions that they hold about the concepts of belonging and identity.

The articulation of Portuguese nasalized vowels poses some articulatory problems accompanied by negative acoustic effects for the performance of Brazilian art songs. The main objective was to find strategies that permit the singer to conciliate an idiomatic pronunciation of these vowels with a well-balanced resonance, a desirable quality in classical singing. In order to devise these strategies, the author examined sources dealing with nasalized vowels from varied perspectives: acoustic properties of vowel nasalization, phonetic and phonological aspects ofBrazilian Portuguese (BP), historical views on nasality in singing, and recent vocal pedagogy research. In addition to the overall loss of sonority, the main effect of nasalization is felt mainly in the first formant (F1) region of oral vowels, due to the introduction of nasal formants and antiformants, and to shifts in the tongue posture. Several sources report the existence of a nasality contour in BP, by which a nasalized vowel starts with an oral phase and transitions gradually to a nasal phase. The author concludes that the basic approach to sing nasalized vowels in BP is (1) to find the tongue posture corresponding to the oral vowel congener (the “core vowel”), and (2) to adjust the nasality contour in such a way that the oral portion remains prominent in order to keep the resonance balance consistent during the emission of the vowel. Once the core vowel is determined, standard vowel modification choices can be made according to voice type and the musical context in which the vowel is being sung. Some challenging excerpts from Brazilian art songs are examined, with suggestions for the application of the discussed strategies.

Al investigar este problema en el caso específico de Ecuador podemos ver algunos patrones que otros investigadores y políticos podrían aplicar en otros contextos de abusos laborales y trabajo infantil. En un mundo más consciente de los derechos humanos, es necesario impedir el trabajo infantil donde se pueda o por lo menos asegurar que los niños que trabajan lo hagan en la forma más sana y segura. En esta investigación se analizan las leyes y regulaciones de las últimas dos décadas, la implementación, y los efectos en las vidas de los niños trabajadores. La implementación de las leyes y regulaciones es mayormente analizada a través del papel de las inspecciones. Las entrevistas mencionadas en la investigación son realizadas por otros grupos pero muestran las experiencias de los niños. Usando reportes anuales de Ecuador, Estados Unidos, y organizaciones internacionales la investigación explora las varias razones por las cuales Ecuador no ha logrado eliminar el trabajo infantil. La investigación sugiere recomendaciones para realizar inspecciones más eficaces y hacer esfuerzos más impactantes en el campo de trabajo infantil. Ecuador ya lleva dos décadas de regulaciones e iniciativas dirigidas al trabajo infantil sin embargo no ha logrado erradicar este fenómeno. En fin el bienestar y protección de los derechos de los niños es lo que está siendo comprometido; por eso es urgente poder encontrar las soluciones que harán Ecuador el país exitoso en erradicar trabajo infantil.

[pt] Este trabalho investiga as formações deverbais X-do, com o objetivo de determinar até que ponto tais formações estariam circunscritas à classe dos adjetivos ou, ao contrário, apresentariam propriedades também de substantivos. Inicialmente discorre-se sobre o problema da classificação de palavras segundo diferentes perspectivas, tais como as da gramática tradicional e a do Estruturalismo. A seguir, trata-se da questão da conversão categorial e do tratamento dado pela gramática tradicional (como derivação imprópria) e pela Morfologia Lexicalista com respeito às categorias lexicais. Ademais, trata-se da questão da relação entre o adjetivo em –do e a função gramatical do particípio passado. Também se aborda o papel da metonímia ao lado do processo morfológico de formação de nomes de afetado do tipo X-do. Finalmente, discorrese acerca de casos específicos, coletados a partir do jornal O Globo durante dois meses. O apêndice constitui-se de testes elaborados a fim de identificar quais formações ocorrem como substantivos convertidos, quais ocorrem como substantivos apenas em contextos restritos a ocorrências genéricas e quais ocorrem apenas como adjetivos. As conclusões são apresentadas a partir dos resultados verificados mediante a aplicação dos testes. / [en] This work investigates X-do type deverbal constructions, in order to determine whether such constructions are restricted to the class of adjectives or, on the contrary, they would also present properties that are also typical of nouns. Firstly, we consider the problem regarding word classes according to different perspectives, such as Traditional Grammar and Structuralism. Then, we discuss categorial conversion and its treatment in Traditional Grammar and Lexicalist Morphology. Also, we discuss the relation between the X-do type adjective and the past participle grammatical function. We approach the role of metonymy as well, in connection with X-do formations corresponding to patient or affected roles. Finally, we analyze specific cases, collected from O Globo newspaper for the period of two months. The appendix consists of tests elaborated in order to identify which formations occur as nouns formed by conversion and which occur only as adjectives. Conclusions are presented according to the results obtained through the application of the tests.