Browsing by Author "Harrison, K. David"

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    A long-distance dependency analysis of Mandarin bei-passives in LFG
    (2009) Hsu, Brian; Harrison, K. David; Lee-Schoenfeld, Vera
    This paper presents an account of bei-passives in Mandarin Chinese within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG). I propose treating bei-passives as a type of long-distance dependency (LDD) construction analogous to English tough-type sentences, and discuss the merits of this analysis. Recent research on the topic has generally concluded that “short” and “long” passives have separate derivations (Huang, Li, & Li 2009). Since this account can be challenged upon grounds of desired theoretical simplicity and explanatory adequacy, one desired outcome is a uniform derivation of bei-sentences. The LDD analysis proposed here is able to account for the defining properties of long bei-passives, including unbounded dependencies and resumptive pronouns. I also argue that the unique control structure of “adversative passives” can be explained naturally by an LDD structure. However, certain differences between short passives and long passives cannot be completely accounted for under the present account, and should encourage further inquiry.
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    African American Language Styles in Afrocentric Schools
    (2004) Josephs, Keisha M.; Harrison, K. David
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    Akan vowel harmony
    (2004) O'Keefe, Michael; Harrison, K. David
    Akan, a Ghanaian language in the Kwa subbranch of the Niger-Congo family~ exhibits a robust system of vmvel harmony for tongue root position. Much of the research on Akan has also posited the existence of a system for rounding harmony as well. In this thesis, I argue that both systems are well-attested and highly consistent. First, I demonstrate that it is possible to produce a coherent, consistent description of Akan vowel harmony. I then examine the pa tterns of harmony and demonstrate that it is easily understood when its different domains - stems, prefixes, and suffixes - are examined independently. Based on this information, it is possible to demonstrate that tongue root harmony applies universally, while rounding harmony occurs directional! y. After fully describing the harmony system, I take a preliminary look at an Optimality Theory account. I compare and contrast Stem Control and Agreement theory, as proposed by Bakovic (2003), andAligrunent theory, as modeled by Akinlabi (1997). On evaluation of the data, I demonstrate that Alignment explains a larger portion of the Akan data, but that Stem Control has some interesting implications for dealing with "irregular" forms. This thesis is organized as follows: In chapter 1, I give a general overview of work on Akan phonology and, on Akan orthography and vowels. In chapter 2, I give a systematic, organized description of the vowel harmony system based on the published literature. In chapter 3, I expand on this framework using data coLee ted from speakers, Chapter 4 prese; Optimality Theoretic approaches to VC)wel harmony, Chapter 5 evaluates the effe, the theories with respect to Akan data.
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    Bakit-Why? An analysis of the Sociolinguistic Motivations behind Taglish
    (2013) Sanchez, Vanessa; Harrison, K. David
    Taglish, the mixture of Tagalog and English, is prevalent among Filipinos inside and outside of the Philippines. It is found nearly everywhere in the country and in diasporic communities in the United States: it is present in quick exchanges of strangers in the streets, throughout dialogues in various media programs, as well as formal discourse in places like universities and courthouses. In this thesis paper, I identify the underlying foundations and uses for code-switching in Taglish, switching between Tagalog and English in specifically sentential-level. Through a corpus of Taglish instances collected from Philippine media, Youtube, and live informants, I analyze code-switching to propose its meaningful use among its speakers. I draw on current linguistic and ethnographic data to assess the advantages that code-switching offers to Filipinos in the Philippines as well as the United States. Through linguistic and anthropological lenses, I uncover how Taglish allows Filipinos to alter their perceptions of self and establish inclusion to certain established groups. By identifying the intricacies of its syntax and sociolinguistic motivations, I suggest that the use of Taglish in the motherland and abroad does not pave the way for either complete adaptation or rejection of the English language in the country, but rather offers an enrichment of communication among its speakers.
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    C'est pas blesipo: Variations of Verlan
    (2007) Peters, Nathaniel; Harrison, K. David
    Verlan is a language game that has long existed in France, but became widely-used by youth from the banlieues, the French suburban “ghetto,” in the 1970s. It reverses a Standard French word to produce a new form that acts both as a method of encryption and a marker of identity. Much work has already been done on the phonological operations behind Verlan and on its sociolinguistic setting in modern France. I analyzed the existing literature and four corpora spanning between 1991 and 2001 to determine which Verlan words did not follow the rules of transformation and whether there were any rules or sub-rules underlying these exceptions. I also performed a pilot experiment to determine whether Verlan could be easily learned and successfully learned by two native speakers of French. Both the analysis and the experiment showed that “correct” forms of Verlan do not depend on exactly following the rules of transformation or on other set principles; rather, they depend on knowing which rules the group applies to create specific terms. They also showed that Verlan has become harder to speak “correctly” over time. Today, knowing the tastes and conventions of the group of listeners is just as important as knowing the general rules of transformation, a sign that as Verlan becomes more widespread, its original speakers will create more exceptions and idiosyncrasies to maintain it as a marker for their identity and a method for linguistic concealment.
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    Co? Was? German-Polish Linguistic Attitudes in Frankfurt (Oder)
    (2011) Clark, Megan; Harrison, K. David
    In this study I analyze the linguistic attitudes held by Polish and German speakers in the border towns of Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany and Slubice, Poland, held together by a cross-border university. I consider the historical background in the relationship between the two communities, including but not limited to the effect of Germany and Poland's separate entrances into the European Union and Schengen zone, which have divided the two countries until recently, as well as the adoption of the Euro in both Germany and, later, Poland. With consideration of this history, I explore the concept of linguistic attitudes in other border communities to mark parallels and differences in the attitudes of speakers on each side of the border, most notably different because of the presence of the university on both sides of the dividing river. I supplement this research with a study conducted on speakers themselves within each side of the community to explore the underlying thoughts and ideas behind attitudes toward speakers of the other language, investigating why so many Polish speakers are fluent in German, while only a few German students endeavor to learn Polish. The research we have conducted here explores a very important aspect of language attitudes as a proxy for European geo-political relations as exemplified in the role of Poland as an outlier in the European Union due to its late joining and reluctant acceptance of the Euro. Though student relations on the border are strong, the heart of Slubice remains untouched by German residents, despite full osmosis of Polish citizens into the heart of Frankfurt. Scholars of European relations and linguistic attitudes alike will find merit in this thesis as a study of attitudes both toward speakers and of speakers.
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    Dead Education in Italy: Formulating Methods to Increase Literacy Among the Deaf Population
    (2006) Alberti, Joe; Napoli, Donna Jo, 1948-; Harrison, K. David
    This thesis sets out to examine the ways in which using an all sign language approach can help increase literacy among Deaf children in an enrichment setting in Italy. The children are fifth grade students mainstreamed at the local elementary school in a mostly oral education program with a little Total Communication instruction from an assistant. By working with no more than two children at any given time in an after-school setting, proven literacy methods for hearing students are used along with other new methods in an effort to increase the level of literacy in the children participating in the the study. While neither child is a native sign language user, the sign language is still the most easy to use and best understood language for instruction for the children. Aside from using games and activities to activate the children's interest in learning the workings of the written language, other techniques involving all forms of literacy are used with mixed success. In the end, the most effective lessons were the ones in which the pace of the lesson was tailored especially for the students delivered in a modified Total Communication approach by using the written language simultaneously with sign language instruction. By illustrating the differences between the two languages throughout our lessons, the children were able to better understand the written language without using the oral language for instruction.
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    Effects of Language Attitudes on Education in Arusha
    (2015) Riffenburgh, Kelley; Harrison, K. David
    This thesis examines language attitudes toward Swahili, English, and other languages in Tanzania. Swahili and English, Tanzania’s two official languages, are analyzed to a greater extent than other languages. However, the language dynamics in Tanzania, a highly multilingual nation, have been greatly influenced by the presence of over a hundred other languages, and this influence should be recognized. I provide some history of Tanzania to set the context for an examination of language there, focusing especially on the post-independence period, when pushes for socialism significantly affected the use of language within the country. From there, I investigate what the current language situation appears to be, drawing on my own experiences in Tanzania in the spring of 2014 and survey data acquired after my return to the United States. My analysis shows positive attitudes toward both Swahili and English, with English often being viewed more favorably as an international language, while Swahili is viewed more favorably as an intra-national language. However, the positive attitudes shown toward Swahili fail to extend to the realm of post-primary education, where there is an (over)emphasis on use of English instead of Swahili, often to the detriment of students’ overall education and acquisition of English. I conclude by urging further development of bilingualism in post-primary education.
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    Endangered Languages, Linguistics, and Culture: Researching and Reviving the Unami Language of the Lenape
    (2009) Hoffman, Maureen; Harrison, K. David
    As many as half of the world's nearly 7,000 languages are poised to become extinct within the next century. When these languages die, it will impact the endangered language community and the academic community alike. Language plays a large role in identity formation, and the loss of a language has significant consequences for its speakers. Endangered language communities also stand to lose valuable cultural practices, such as oral histories, traditional songs and poetry, and other art forms that are tied to language. Linguistics, on the other hand, is at risk for losing half of the subject matter it studies. The study of linguistics, along with other academic disciplines, can greatly benefit from the information found in endangered languages. Conversely, endangered language communities can benefit from expertise of linguists, particularly in regard to language revitalization efforts. The goals of linguists, however, may not always coincide with the goals of the endangered language speakers themselves. As a result, academic culture and traditional culture may clash, causing tensions between linguists and the community. Through an examination of my own experiences conducting linguistic research on sentence intonation in an endangered language, Unami, as well as the experiences of member of the community who learned Unami as a second language, I argue that while there may be occasional conflicts between the interests of linguists and those of speakers of endangered languages, through mutual respect and an awareness of sensitive issues, linguistics and endangered language communities both can benefit from greater cooperation.
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    The Evolution of Orality in Samoa
    (2007) Nunes, Cheryl; Harrison, K. David
    Orality and literacy are two very different yet permanently related aspects of human language. All languages have their origins in primary orality, and only a fraction of all existing languages have actually ever been written down. This research focuses on the adoption of literacy by the Pacific island nation of Samoa1 and the active response taken by Samoan citizens in the face of this tremendous cultural shift. Samoa was colonized by British missionaries in the 1830s, and within decades they had established literacy in the local language. It was not until after the turn of the twentieth century that the English language gained priority in Samoa, and this fact has allowed for a strong sense of ‘Samoan-ness’ to persist beneath an evolving Samoan society. Though many Samoan oral traditions have undergone transformations at the hands of literacy and westernization, these changes have not necessarily entailed a loss of the Samoan culture. On the contrary, Samoans have used the tools of the colonizers to ensure a proliferation of Samoan identity and a redistribution of orality, finely exemplified through the literary works of Albert Wendt and Sia Figiel. These Samoan writers have indigenized the arena of creative literature, through an innovative use of the English language and unique styles of writing that serve to emphasize native orality and secure an enduring sense of Samoan self. Through resilience and creativity, Samoans have refused to simply let literacy transform their traditions, but rather they have actively perpetuated Samoan culture through adapted outlets of expression, and an adopted world language.
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    An Examination of the Notion of Simplicity and Its Use in Both Linguistics and Biology
    (2010) Stott, Helen; Harrison, K. David
    This paper seeks to examine the notion of simplicity and its use in both linguistics and biology. The paper focuses on the Minimalist Program and its attempts to bring biology in line with linguistics, linguistics in line with biology, and both in line with physics. There is a brief description of the areas where minimalism and biology overlap followed by three examples from biology - the Calvin Cycle, signaling in the brain, and reproductive adaptations in rotifers.
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    Fitting the Mold: Morphology of Yombe and Navajo Folktales
    (2013) Daniels, Grey; Harrison, K. David
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    Foreign accented speech transcription and accent recognition using a game-based approach
    (2009) Akasaka, Rio; Harrison, K. David
    While significant improvements have been made in reducing sentence error rate (SER) and word error rate (WER) of automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology, existing systems still face considerable di culty parsing non-native speech. Two methods are common in adapting ASR systems to accommodate foreign accented speech. In the first, accent detection and identification is followed by an accent-specific acoustic model (Faria 2006, Chen et al. 2001) or dictionary (Fung and Kat 1999). Accents have also been classified by severity (Zheng et al. 2005, Bartkova and Jouvet 2007). The alternative is to use acoustic or phonetic models from both native and non-native speech (Bouselmi et al. 2006, Matsunaga et al. 2003). It has been shown that the use of accent-specific data improves recognition rate (Arslan and Hansen 1996, Humphries et al. 1996) but success rates vary among languages. In either case, specific information needs to be obtained regarding particular accents, and the process of adapting existing corpora to train language models is both time-consuming and tedious, limiting advances in the eld. We introduce the Foreign Accented Speech Transcription Game (FASTGame) as a way to transform the transcription process into a more enjoyable format. The FASTGame is a `game with a purpose' designed to obtain normalized orthographic transcriptions of foreign accented speech from native listeners. The FASTGame is accessible online through the social networking website Facebook and contains two tasks. The first asks the player to determine the native language of a foreign accented speaker of English from four available options as rapidly as possible. Players are incentivized by scores that reflect how well they perform. For this task they are based on accuracy and speed. In addition to examining the specific cues that trigger accent recognition, analysis can be made on the data about user responses to novel accents. The second task asks the player to transcribe a phrase spoken by a foreign accented speaker of English. Their scores are calculated based on agreement with other users. In the event that transcriptions have not already been written, scores are assigned randomly. All transcriptions for a particular recording are then aggregated and the correct transcription will then be generated based on multiple agreement. Existing continuous speech recognition software fail to accurately produce transcriptions for such recordings, which are also of varying audio quality and accent severity. By performing time-alignment on the transcriptions provided with this game, valuable training data can be used to improve language models for accented speech. In both tasks of the game, steps are taken in order to avoid repeated plays and undesirable data conditioning. The FASTGame was created as an alternative to existing methods for obtaining tran- scriptions, and its primary merit is in supplementing large speech corpora with additional data in a relatively inexpensive and effortless manner.
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    Fortis/Lenis Affricates in Colonial and Modern Valley Zapotec
    (2014) Berklein, Flora; Lillehaugen, Brook Danielle, 1976-; Harrison, K. David
    This thesis focuses on the phonological connections between three modern varieties (Mitla, Isthmus, San Lucas Quiaviní of the Zapotec language and Colonial Valley Zapotec, a variety spoken roughly 500 years ago. Zapotec is a group of Oto-Manguean languages currently spoken in the Oaxaca region of Mexico. Zapotec is underrepresented in current linguistic scholarship thus this project provides an exciting opportunity to understand how modern Zapotec relates to colonial Zapotec in a concrete and specific way that has not been studied before. Modern varieties of Zapotec show fortis/lenis contrasts (see Broadwell 2013), which can loosely be defined as the distinction between "strongly" and "weakly" produced consonants. My thesis examines fortis/lenis affricates as they exist in MZ, SLQZ, and IZ and looks at whether this contrast is represented in the orthography of CVZ, and how it is represented. An affricate is a sound that consists of a stop followed by a fricative (controlled release of air)–like the sound at the beginning and end of the English word church. Using the 100-item Swadesh list and some additional semantically-related lists I selected, I identified instances of fortis and lenis affricates in MZ, SLQZ, and IZ. I used the Fieldworks Language Explorer database to find the CVZ cognates of these words. Using the concordance feature of the FLEx database, I searched through all texts contained in the database for instances of each of these words. All instances of non-{ch} representations of affricates in CVZ correspond to modern lenis affricates. Though this correlation proved statistically insignificant, doubling the figures in the same proportion does yield significance, so I conclude that this research uncovers a pattern that warrants further investigation.
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    From Shibboleths to Shared Terminology? The Divisive Place Names of Northern Ireland
    (2014) Murray, Maureen; Harrison, K. David
    In Northern Ireland, a region that has experienced longstanding ethno-political conflict, terminology has become a veritable minefield (Mitchell 1999). In accordance with the work of Cordula Hawes-Bilger (2007), this paper will view such terminological differences as linguistic aspects of the Northern Ireland conflict and will support the idea that the language in Northern Ireland has become a war zone unto itself by means of the metaphorical conception WORDS ARE WEAPONS (based on the work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980)). However, this paper will look specifically at place names as a battleground for ethno-political ideology, based on work done in the field of Critical Toponymies (see especially Berg and Vuolteenaho (2009)). I will be limiting myself to the terms 'Londonderry,' 'Northern Ireland,' and 'the Republic of Ireland' and their variations. These variations include 'Derry,' and 'Derryl Londonderry'; and 'Ulster,' 'the Six Counties,' 'the North (of Ireland)'; and 'Eire,' 'the South (of Ireland),' 'Irish Republic,' 'Free State' and 'the 26 Counties,' respectively. In particular, I plan to look at the ways in which the use of geographical terminology pertaining to the Northern Ireland conflict has changed over time and across the ethno-political divide to determine if the relative peace throughout the last 15 years has resulted in less use of politically charged place names among the main actors in the Northern Ireland conflict, namely the Republicans and Unionists within Northern Ireland itself. This work should be of interest to those involved in Peace and Conflict Studies, Sociolinguistics, and Critical Toponymies.
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    Heritage Language Loss in the Chinese Community in Argentina
    (2011) Ho, Calvin; Harrison, K. David
    A rapid linguistic shift is happening in the Chinese community in Argentina, one of the newest immigrant groups in the country. Second- and third-generation Chinese-Argentines are quickly abandoning their home language variety (e.g. Taiwanese or Fujianese) for Spanish. At the same time, their parents are sending them to weekend language schools to acquire Standard Mandarin, a variety distinct from the language of the home. Through an ethnographic study of a weekend language school in Buenos Aires Chinatown, I seek to explore the phenomenon of language loss in the Chinese-Argentine community. In order to provide sufficient background to explain the linguistic and sociological phenomena observed, this paper will begin by providing a description of the Chinese community in Argentina, outlining theories of language loss in minority communities, and reviewing historical language shifts in China and Argentina. After laying out this framework, I will then describe the ethnographic project and analyze the observations I gathered in the field. I find that the Chinese community in Argentina is generally following the Fishman (1965) model of language shift, in which the Argentine-born second-generation is dominant in Spanish and chooses to raise children in that language, meaning that subsequent generations are monolingual in Spanish. However, weekend language schools complicate this shift by teaching Standard Mandarin to the youth of the community. Because second- and thirdgeneration children are still acquiring Standard Mandarin in these schools, Chinese language and culture are being maintained at some level; however, it is still unclear how stable this maintenance is. What is clear is that because there is little to no reinforcement outside of the home, non-standard varieties of Chinese will not survive past the second generation. I hope that this paper will spur further research on the Chinese-Argentine community, on which there is very little social science literature.
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    Horsin' Around with Math: Content-Related Feedback in Math Pedagogy
    (2011) Shin, Michael; Renninger, K. Ann; Harrison, K. David
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    How Do You Pronounce A ";"?: The Repackaging of Visual-Textual Pieces for the Aural-Oral Medium
    (2006) Spitalewitz, Lisa; Napoli, Donna Jo, 1948-; Harrison, K. David
    In this thesis, I address the issue of whether there is a difference between listening to and reading a book, and how much it is possible to determine if one is better than the other for the purposes of retaining information. I started by interviewing people in the audiobooks industry, and moved on to doing original experiments and analyzing the data.
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    The Indonesian Language as a result of wider communication
    (2010) Dakan, Myles Louis; Harrison, K. David
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    La mobilite du francais regional
    (2018) DeBrine, Joseph E.; Harrison, K. David