The purpose of this research was to test the predictions of the Accessibility Hierarchy (AH) theory (Keenan & Comrie, 1977) applying it to the Russian language. According to this theory, relative clauses (RC) are acquired in a fixed unidirectional order: from subject (S) - the highest (unmarked) and more susceptible to relativization position - to object of comparative (OCOM) - the lowest (marked) and less susceptible to relativization position. Since some researchers (Hamilton, 1994) claim that the AH is multidirectional rather than unidirectional, this study takes into consideration these findings as well. The present study attempts to determine (a) if learners of the Russian language are able to make generalizations about more unmarked RC positions after receiving instruction only on a relatively marked relative clause position (in this study it is OPR - object of a preposition), and (b) if instruction on unmarked relative clause position facilitates learners' ability to generalize that learning to marked relative clauses. Participants of the study were Brigham Young University students studying Russian as a second language. Two groups, the basic treatment group (BG) and the complex treatment group (CG) with a total of fifty-four subjects, completed pretests and posttests, each of which included two elicitation tasks: a combination test (CT) and a grammaticality judgment test (GJT). Both groups received instruction between the tests. The BG received instruction on the subject (S), the direct object (DO), and the indirect object (IO) RC positions. The CG received instruction only on the OPR position. Three types of error, incorrect adjacency, incorrect morphological RC ending, and pronoun retention, were analyzed separately. In addition, the CT investigated the acquisition of pied-piping structure in the OPR and GEN types. The results of the research support Hamilton's (1994) findings and suggest that generalization is clearly not unidirectional. Regardless of type of instruction the subjects of both groups generalized their learning in both directions.

The current study examines the effect of repeated reading aloud upon speaking fluency. Because there is little evidence in the literature that the practice of repeated reading aloud can have a positive effect upon speaking fluency, the primary goal of this study was to investigate this relationship further. For the purposes of the study, speaking fluency was defined as fluidity and smoothness of speech with little pausing and hesitation. It is measured by evaluating the following fluency features: speech rate, number of pauses, length of pauses, phonation/time ratio, and articulation rate. The repeated measures experimental design of the study involved current and former Brigham Young University students learning Russian as a foreign language. They were divided into two groups: control and experimental. The participants in the experimental group performed repeated reading aloud activities daily, while those in the control group read the same passages silently. All participants took weekly speaking tests consisting of simple speaking prompts. The final post-test included both reading aloud and speaking tests. The speech samples collected from the tests were evaluated using computer-based analysis as well as scores from three raters who are native speakers of the Russian language. The statistical analysis and comparison of these scores revealed mixed results. The rater scores did not exhibit any statistically significant difference between the groups, which could be attributed to overall low inter-rater reliability and short duration of the experiment. On the other hand, the computer-generated scores for mean length of pauses, phonation/time ratio, and speech rate of the experimental group were better than those of the control group. This difference proved to be statistically significant based on the results of one-way and repeated measures ANOVA analyses. Unfortunately because of the high attrition rate and short duration of the study, these results cannot be generalized. Therefore further research is necessary to confirm or reject these findings

Technology is changing education. Just 30 years ago, instructors were using slow, inefficient technology such as projectors and reels of film, whereas today they have instant access to video from anywhere in the world. This capability has the potential to change the way that language is being taught and learned. Instead of students relying solely on their teacher and textbook for linguistic input, they have access to the Internet which holds a seemingly endless amount of information. This study was inspired by the belief that it is possible to maximize the potential benefit from that availability by implementing the theory that people learn language best when they have access to comprehensible input (Buri, 2012; Crossley, Allen, & McNamara, 2012; Krashen, 1985; Shintani, 2012; Zarei & Rashvand 2011). It also implements the belief of some second-language acquisitions theorists that subtitled video provides language learners with more comprehensible input than non-subtitled video alone (Borrás & Lafayette, 1994; Chun & Plass, 1996; Danan, 2004; Di Carlo, 1994). Thus, this study used interactive subtitled video to investigate the effects of three word definition types on participants' vocabulary comprehension and involved the selection of 120 Russian (L2)words of equal difficulty that were randomly sorted into one of four groups -- three treatments and a control group. Each treatment group contained 30 Russian words with a different type of definition in English (L1): dictionary definitions, which provided the viewers with the definition they would find in the bilingual dictionary; glosses which provided the viewers with the exact meaning of the word only as it pertains to the given context; and annotations which provided an explanation to clarify a word's use in different contexts or its non-traditional uses. Participants totaled 53 men and women ages 18-30 from 4 countries, US, Canada, Germany, and Sweden, who were advanced L2 learners of Russian. To control for the possible effects of a pretest, some of the subjects took a vocabulary pretest, and then all subjects watched a film in Russian with Russian subtitles, which was immediately followed by a vocabulary posttest. Results showed that annotations were most conducive to vocabulary gains, followed by glosses, dictionary definitions, and no definition, respectively. Although this was not the case for all participants, this outcome did hold for the majority, and several possible reasons for this outcome are discussed.

The present study was designed to understand the retrospective account of the learning experience of four successful learners of Russian who made substantial oral gains as measured by the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) during a semester study abroad (SA) program in Moscow, Russia. Each participant made as much as two sublevels' improvement on the ACTFL scale, even those who began with Advanced level proficiency. Specifically, the study examines what students believe, how they exercise their agency, cope with constraints, and take advantage of affordances in out-of-class contexts. The qualitative data includes semi-structured interviews while quantitative data consists of pre- and post-program OPI scores. This research addresses the question of second language learning in a foreign language immersion program through thick description and through cross-case analyses. Findings were interpreted in relation to van Lier's theory of the ecology of language learning (2004) and the notion of affordances which suggests that if learners are proactive and outgoing (or initiate interactions) they will perceive language affordances as valuable and will use them. This theoretical approach provides a means to understand how most students were able to improve in oral performance while lacking meaningful contact with native speakers (NSs) or struggling to make friends with them. Regardless of the difficulties encountered during their time in Russia, students exercised their agency through participating in more self-initiated non-interactive activities without being directed by others. Each of the students perceived the meaning of his or her learning experience in a different way, demonstrating how the SA experience is highly individualized. This study argues that regardless of students' individual differences, they have one key principle in common: autonomous behavior. Further research is needed to investigate what fosters learners' autonomy and contributes to learners' self-efficacy.

Целью данной работы является многоаспектное изучение функционирования концепта счастье в сознании носителей языка. Объектом исследования является смысловое поле концепта счастье в русском языке, а предметом работы – исследование структуры значения концепта счастье с точки зрения различных подходов (когнитивного, психолингвистического, метафорического). / The aim of this work is a multifaceted study of the functioning of the concept happiness in the minds of native speakers. The object of the study is the semantic field of the concept happiness in Russian language, the subject is the research of the structure of the concept’s meaning in terms of different approaches (cognitive, psycholinguistic, metaphoric).

No description available.

Obtaining a computational understanding of the brain is one of the most important problems in basic science. However, the brain is an incredibly complex organ, and neurobiological research has uncovered enormous amounts of detail at almost every level of analysis (the synapse, the neuron, other brain cells, brain circuits, areas, and so on); it is unclear which of these details are conceptually significant to the basic way in which the brain computes. An essential approach to the eventual resolution of this problem is the definition and study of theoretical computational models, based on varying abstractions and inclusions of such details. This thesis defines and studies a family of models, called NEMO, based on a particular set of well-established facts or well-founded assumptions in neuroscience: atomic neural firing, random connectivity, inhibition as a local dynamic firing threshold, and fully local plasticity. This thesis asks: what sort of algorithms are possible in these computational models? To the extent possible, what seem to be the simplest assumptions where interesting computation becomes possible? Additionally, can we find algorithms for cognitive phenomena that, in addition to serving as a "proof of capacity" of the computational model, otherwise reflect what is known about these processes in the brain? The major contributions of this thesis include: 1. The formal definition of the basic-NEMO and NEMO models, with an explication of their neurobiological underpinnings (that is, realism as abstractions of the brain). 2. Algorithms for the creation of neural \emph{assemblies}, or highly dense interconnected subsets of neurons, and various operations manipulating such assemblies, including reciprocal projection, merge, association, disassociation, and pattern completion, all in the basic-NEMO model. Using these operations, we show the Turing-completeness of the NEMO model (with some specific additional assumptions). 3. An algorithm for parsing a small but non-trivial subset of English and Russian (and more generally any regular language) in the NEMO model, with meta-features of the algorithm broadly in line with what is known about language in the brain. 4. An algorithm for parsing a much larger subset of English (and other languages), in particular handling dependent (embedded) clauses, in the NEMO model with some additional memory assumptions. We prove that an abstraction of this algorithm yields a new characterization of the context-free languages. 5. Algorithms for the blocks-world planning task, which involves outputting a sequence of steps to rearrange a stack of cubes in one order into another target order, in the NEMO model. A side consequence of this work is an algorithm for a chaining operation in basic-NEMO. 6. Algorithms for several of the most basic and initial steps in language acquisition in the baby brain. This includes an algorithm for the learning of the simplest, concrete nouns and action verbs (words like "cat" and "jump") from whole sentences in basic-NEMO with a novel representation of word and contextual inputs. Extending the same model, we present an algorithm for an elementary component of syntax, namely learning the word order of 2-constituent intransitive and 3-constituent transitive sentences. These algorithms are very broadly in line with what is known about language in the brain.

No / The status and understanding of marketing in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia are tracked over a 40-year period, making extensive use of Russian-language sources. In the late Soviet period marketing is seen as a Western business system that was not applicable to an economy based on extreme centralisation and state-inspired conditions of shortage. With the collapse of communism, marketing is variously seen as still not quite suitable for Russian conditions, as a sales support activity or as a branch of public relations. At the same time great confusion arises over the nature of marketing owing to the problems of converting Western marketing terms into Russian, for which there are often no equivalents. Translations of Western marketing textbooks reveal translators' unabated struggles with marketing terminology and the unsatisfactory results. Literal translations, where possible, or direct transliteration into Russian merely add to the confusion. It is argued that this state of affairs is symptomatic of a wider unease about the market economy and scepticism about its relevance for Russia.

The Army has approximately 2000 soldiers on active duty trained to be Russian linguists for duties as intelligence specialists. To maintain this group, 1100 to 1300 candidates are sent annually to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, for an intensive 47 week basic Russian language course. Attrition rates for this course have been averaging a relatively high 20-30% for many years and studies have shown skills achieved at DLI decline rapidly after course completion. In addition, of those candidates completing this course, only 40-60% achieve the desired skill level 2 (of 5) upon graduation. In 1986-87, the Army collected data on a number of individual characteristics of soldiers going through four basic language courses (Spanish, German, Russian & Korean) for a four year longitudinal study to try to improve this situation. This research examined data for the Russian language students in listening skills for the DLI basic course through Advanced Individual Training (AIT), or approximately the first two years, to determine variables that might improve prediction for the selection of successful Russian linguists. The criterion variables were the scores achieved on the Defense Language Proficiency Test III (DLPT) listening section at the completion of DLI and during the follow-on training at AIT. Predictor data collected at the beginning and during DLI included variables on cognitive, personality (e.g., empathy), motivation/learning strategy and biographical (e.g., gender) characteristics. This study examines 23 variables in multiple regression and discriminant analyses to determine predictors or predictor combinations for success in second language learning. This effort was supplemented by a qualitative analysis based primarily on 36 interviews with Army Russian linguists in field assignments. Findings indicated improvements may be possible in the prediction of successful Russian linguist candidates by using additional screening instruments prior to assignments to DLI. For success on the DLPT at the end of DLI, the use of instruments to measure study habits, motivation, verbal ability, critical thinking, self confidence and prior language experience provided an increase over the Army's current baseline (predictor set Multiple R = .509 vs baseline = .359). For AIT, the Army's current predictor variables did not show up in the final equation. Again, an increase in predictive power was demonstrated with study habits, verbal ability, critical thinking, self confidence and ambiguity tolerance variables in the final equation (predictor set Multiple R = .516 vs baseline = .244). Additional insights were provided from the analysis of information gathered during interview sessions with Army Russian linguists in field assignments. / Ph. D.

The aim of this dissertation is to describe the sphere of use of the Russian Instrumental case in written sources from the eighteenth century. The research is based on approximately 11,300 instances of the use of the Instrumental and almost 2,400 constructions with other cases, excerpted from documents of various genres and styles. The corpus includes texts written by forty eighteenth-century authors, and contains works of poetry and drama, literary prose, letters, memoirs and learned tracts. Previous studies of the Instrumental case have in the main dealt with the development of the system of its meanings in the Old Russian period, or else have described its condition in modern times. The present work attempts to systematise its most typical uses and to trace the changes in the function of the Instrumental that took place during the period when a national literary language was coming into being in Russia. The research is primarily focused on the competition between the Instrumental case and other means of expression of particular meanings. In particular it describes (with statistical data) the variation in case forms within the predicate, with the function of an object, and also of the agent in passive constructions. A detailed description is given of those meanings of the Instrumental which are known from the earliest period and still in active use in the eighteenth century, but nowadays perceived as archaic. The most important of these are the Instrumental of cause, and also various uses of the Instrumental without a preposition to indicate time or place.