Linguistics

This study was intended to examine the effects of prolonged auditory deprivation on the vowel and voice production characteristics of children who received no intervention. (1) It was expected that the deaf children in the study would significantly differ from the norms with respect to acoustic characteristics of their vowels and voices due to (i) the deterioration of speech motor programs acquired before the onset of deafness, (ii) lack of well-tuned feedforward commands and (iii) the absence o

This study was intended to examine the effects of prolonged auditory deprivation on the vowel and voice production characteristics of children who received no intervention. (1) It was expected that the deaf children in the study would significantly differ from the norms with respect to acoustic characteristics of their vowels and voices due to (i) the deterioration of speech motor programs acquired before the onset of deafness, (ii) lack of well-tuned feedforward commands and (iii) the absence o

This study was intended to examine the effects of prolonged auditory deprivation on the vowel and voice production characteristics of children who received no intervention. (1) It was expected that the deaf children in the study would significantly differ from the norms with respect to acoustic characteristics of their vowels and voices due to (i) the deterioration of speech motor programs acquired before the onset of deafness, (ii) lack of well-tuned feedforward commands and (iii) the absence o

When speakers of different dialects interact, their specific dialect features may change over time. Recent work shows that the motivation for such changes can be due to many interrelated factors such as developmental, linguistic, and social effects. This dissertation expands this inquiry by examining second dialect acquisition by mobile speakers relocating between two regions, one urban and characterized by a prestigious dialect, and one rural, whose dialect is stigmatized. The participants in t

Teacher Language Competence describes the communicative skills that L2 teachers require to teach successfully. Its partial competence “giving feedback” is considered influential to student learning and constitutes a central component of facilitating L2 acquisition. As dialogic feedback conversations are a valuable source of (comprehensible) input, acquiring the linguistic means to engage in effective L2 feedback is particularly relevant for L2 teachers. This dissertation encompasses a quasi-expe

The study explores the distinctive patterns of language use in political discourse across selected outer circle (Cameroon and Ghana) and inner circle (US and South Africa) varieties, using a corpus-based approach. More specifically, the research sets out to investigate the use of two types of linguistic features, namely, personal pronouns and kinship metaphors. In a first analysis, I adopt an alternative approach to investigating the use of personal pronouns in political discourse. The approach

When speakers of different dialects interact, their specific dialect features may change over time. Recent work shows that the motivation for such changes can be due to many interrelated factors such as developmental, linguistic, and social effects. This dissertation expands this inquiry by examining second dialect acquisition by mobile speakers relocating between two regions, one urban and characterized by a prestigious dialect, and one rural, whose dialect is stigmatized. The participants in t

Teacher Language Competence describes the communicative skills that L2 teachers require to teach successfully. Its partial competence “giving feedback” is considered influential to student learning and constitutes a central component of facilitating L2 acquisition. As dialogic feedback conversations are a valuable source of (comprehensible) input, acquiring the linguistic means to engage in effective L2 feedback is particularly relevant for L2 teachers. This dissertation encompasses a quasi-expe

The study explores the distinctive patterns of language use in political discourse across selected outer circle (Cameroon and Ghana) and inner circle (US and South Africa) varieties, using a corpus-based approach. More specifically, the research sets out to investigate the use of two types of linguistic features, namely, personal pronouns and kinship metaphors. In a first analysis, I adopt an alternative approach to investigating the use of personal pronouns in political discourse. The approach

When speakers of different dialects interact, their specific dialect features may change over time. Recent work shows that the motivation for such changes can be due to many interrelated factors such as developmental, linguistic, and social effects. This dissertation expands this inquiry by examining second dialect acquisition by mobile speakers relocating between two regions, one urban and characterized by a prestigious dialect, and one rural, whose dialect is stigmatized. The participants in t

Teacher Language Competence describes the communicative skills that L2 teachers require to teach successfully. Its partial competence “giving feedback” is considered influential to student learning and constitutes a central component of facilitating L2 acquisition. As dialogic feedback conversations are a valuable source of (comprehensible) input, acquiring the linguistic means to engage in effective L2 feedback is particularly relevant for L2 teachers. This dissertation encompasses a quasi-expe

The study explores the distinctive patterns of language use in political discourse across selected outer circle (Cameroon and Ghana) and inner circle (US and South Africa) varieties, using a corpus-based approach. More specifically, the research sets out to investigate the use of two types of linguistic features, namely, personal pronouns and kinship metaphors. In a first analysis, I adopt an alternative approach to investigating the use of personal pronouns in political discourse. The approach

Learning new languages is a complex task involving both explicit and implicit processes (i.e., that do/do not involve awareness). Understanding how these processes interact is essential to a full account of second language (L2) learning, but accounts vary as to whether explicit processes help, hinder, or have no effect on acquisition of implicit processing routines. Studies using an artificial language paradigm suggest that participants can learn L2 morphosyntactic regularities that they are una

Sentences in natural language are routinely interpreted as stronger than would be expected from the lexical meanings of the overt lexical items alone. This has led to the postulation of exhaustification (strengthening) mechanisms in pragmatics and semantics. Such exhaustivity effects have largely been discussed for logical vocabulary, focused expressions, and predicates forming entailment scales with other predicates. Relying on recent work on additive particles, I argue that exhaustivity is at

This dissertation uses computational modeling to examine the relationship between information-theoretic factors and the actuation and direction of language change. It models the emergence of vowel quality mutation (VQM), meaning stem vowel alternations that participate directly in morphosyntactic exponence and which have their historic origin in long-distance coarticulation with former suffix vowels (e.g. early Germanic *fōt-s ~ *fōt-iz --> English ‘foot’ ~ ‘feet’; Surkum kùɟ-ɛ̀ ~ kùɟ-ʌ̀, cf

The present thesis investigates a set of issues related to the domain of complementation within the West-African Manding language Jula. We focus on two complements types: infinitival clauses and finite ko-clauses. The discussion of these two complement types is centered on four topics: (i) the relation of the complement clause to the (hosting) matrix clause, (ii) the internal and external syntax of complement clauses, (iii) the function and syntax of complementizers, and (iv) referential depende

Learning new languages is a complex task involving both explicit and implicit processes (i.e., that do/do not involve awareness). Understanding how these processes interact is essential to a full account of second language (L2) learning, but accounts vary as to whether explicit processes help, hinder, or have no effect on acquisition of implicit processing routines. Studies using an artificial language paradigm suggest that participants can learn L2 morphosyntactic regularities that they are una

Sentences in natural language are routinely interpreted as stronger than would be expected from the lexical meanings of the overt lexical items alone. This has led to the postulation of exhaustification (strengthening) mechanisms in pragmatics and semantics. Such exhaustivity effects have largely been discussed for logical vocabulary, focused expressions, and predicates forming entailment scales with other predicates. Relying on recent work on additive particles, I argue that exhaustivity is at

This dissertation uses computational modeling to examine the relationship between information-theoretic factors and the actuation and direction of language change. It models the emergence of vowel quality mutation (VQM), meaning stem vowel alternations that participate directly in morphosyntactic exponence and which have their historic origin in long-distance coarticulation with former suffix vowels (e.g. early Germanic *fōt-s ~ *fōt-iz --> English ‘foot’ ~ ‘feet’; Surkum kùɟ-ɛ̀ ~ kùɟ-ʌ̀, cf

The present thesis investigates a set of issues related to the domain of complementation within the West-African Manding language Jula. We focus on two complements types: infinitival clauses and finite ko-clauses. The discussion of these two complement types is centered on four topics: (i) the relation of the complement clause to the (hosting) matrix clause, (ii) the internal and external syntax of complement clauses, (iii) the function and syntax of complementizers, and (iv) referential depende

Learning new languages is a complex task involving both explicit and implicit processes (i.e., that do/do not involve awareness). Understanding how these processes interact is essential to a full account of second language (L2) learning, but accounts vary as to whether explicit processes help, hinder, or have no effect on acquisition of implicit processing routines. Studies using an artificial language paradigm suggest that participants can learn L2 morphosyntactic regularities that they are una

Sentences in natural language are routinely interpreted as stronger than would be expected from the lexical meanings of the overt lexical items alone. This has led to the postulation of exhaustification (strengthening) mechanisms in pragmatics and semantics. Such exhaustivity effects have largely been discussed for logical vocabulary, focused expressions, and predicates forming entailment scales with other predicates. Relying on recent work on additive particles, I argue that exhaustivity is at

This dissertation uses computational modeling to examine the relationship between information-theoretic factors and the actuation and direction of language change. It models the emergence of vowel quality mutation (VQM), meaning stem vowel alternations that participate directly in morphosyntactic exponence and which have their historic origin in long-distance coarticulation with former suffix vowels (e.g. early Germanic *fōt-s ~ *fōt-iz --> English ‘foot’ ~ ‘feet’; Surkum kùɟ-ɛ̀ ~ kùɟ-ʌ̀, cf

The present thesis investigates a set of issues related to the domain of complementation within the West-African Manding language Jula. We focus on two complements types: infinitival clauses and finite ko-clauses. The discussion of these two complement types is centered on four topics: (i) the relation of the complement clause to the (hosting) matrix clause, (ii) the internal and external syntax of complement clauses, (iii) the function and syntax of complementizers, and (iv) referential depende

This dissertation presents a series of case studies concerned with whether the signal in a given set of measurements that we take in the course of linguistic inquiry reflects grammatical competence or performance factors. We know that performance and competence do not always covary, yet it is not uncommon to assume that measurements that we take do transparently reflect the underlying grammatical competence that is the target of inquiry. This has been a very useful and fruitful assumption in the

Earning a degree in higher education provides additional employment choices for every college student. It is an important factor for sustaining future earnings and job stability. The general problem is deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals face higher unemployment and underemployment rates than hearing peers. The specific problem addressed was how more deaf or hard-of-hearing students enrolled in higher education, however only a few completed a degree program (Garberoglio et al., 2019). Seven dea

This dissertation presents a series of case studies concerned with whether the signal in a given set of measurements that we take in the course of linguistic inquiry reflects grammatical competence or performance factors. We know that performance and competence do not always covary, yet it is not uncommon to assume that measurements that we take do transparently reflect the underlying grammatical competence that is the target of inquiry. This has been a very useful and fruitful assumption in the

Earning a degree in higher education provides additional employment choices for every college student. It is an important factor for sustaining future earnings and job stability. The general problem is deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals face higher unemployment and underemployment rates than hearing peers. The specific problem addressed was how more deaf or hard-of-hearing students enrolled in higher education, however only a few completed a degree program (Garberoglio et al., 2019). Seven dea

This dissertation presents a series of case studies concerned with whether the signal in a given set of measurements that we take in the course of linguistic inquiry reflects grammatical competence or performance factors. We know that performance and competence do not always covary, yet it is not uncommon to assume that measurements that we take do transparently reflect the underlying grammatical competence that is the target of inquiry. This has been a very useful and fruitful assumption in the

Earning a degree in higher education provides additional employment choices for every college student. It is an important factor for sustaining future earnings and job stability. The general problem is deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals face higher unemployment and underemployment rates than hearing peers. The specific problem addressed was how more deaf or hard-of-hearing students enrolled in higher education, however only a few completed a degree program (Garberoglio et al., 2019). Seven dea