http://hdl.handle.net/2123/94 Wed, 22 May 2013 18:58:13 GMT 2013-05-22T18:58:13Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/8803 Title: The Language of Clinical Empathy Authors: Watson, Olivia Abstract: This Honours thesis examines the language of clinical empathy in an attempt to broaden understanding of what constitutes effective communication in medicine. Linguistic theories of appraisal, affiliation and intonation are applied in a case study analysis of an expert interpersonal communicator, using recorded data from patient consultations. A new graded model of empathic responses is introduced, which uses linguistic criteria to categorise potential responses according to the degree of empathy conveyed. The appropriateness of the different response options is shown to be dependent on the context in which they are used, and this relationship is analysed sensitive to both ideational and attitudinal factors. This thesis extends existing work on affiliation to examine bonding in a professional context, and introduces the concept of 'empathic contours' where empathy develops over several conversational moves. It targets the difficulty in defining, and therefore teaching, interpersonal skills in medicine by proposing some systematic strategies for describing the language of expressions of empathy. In this way it offers the medical discipline a new framework for understanding and teaching empathic communication. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/8803 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7116 Title: Knowledge and Multisemiosis in Undergraduate Physics Authors: Doran, Yaegan Abstract: Physics is arguably the most fundamental of the sciences, yet many students disengage with it at a very early level. This thesis lays the groundwork to understanding why this is the case by using Systemic Functional theory to study how knowledge is conveyed to students within two undergraduate physics textbooks. Further to this, it uses Bernstein’s (1999) notion of ‘knowledge structure’ to describe the nature of knowledge within the discipline of physics itself. The thesis finds that mathematics and images work with written language to convey technical knowledge. Moreover, these semiotic resources can become technical, transcending the text to become part of the assumed knowledge of the field. Finally, it shows that mathematics in particular allows physics to integrate its various sub-fields and produce general theories that can be applied to real world. This thesis presents the first attempt using linguistic analysis at describing the nature of physics and how it is recontextualised for pedagogical purposes. As part of this, the thesis extends multiple theoretical frameworks including multimodality, theory of knowledge and genre theory. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7116 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/6770 Title: Children's Silences in Mareeba Aboriginal English Authors: Watts, Janet Abstract: This thesis examines the role of silence in conversations between teacher’s aides and 5-6 year old Indigenous Australian children at school. Recent studies of conversation among adult Aboriginal Australians have observed that a positive value is ascribed to silence, and that it is not percieved as indicating a breakdown in communication. Studies of Aboriginal children in school settings have similarly remarked on the prevalence of silence, observing that Indigenous students appear reticent to speak in certain types of classroom interaction. This thesis uses a Conversation Analysis approach to analyse in depth the role of silence in one-on-one conversations between young Indigenous children and teacher’s aides. These conversations were recorded in Mareeba in Far North Queensland, with children who speak varieties of Aboriginal English at home. Factors influencing the extent to which the children were silent in these conversations are considered. The results of this study are in line with previous research, in finding that factors such as the language variety spoken by the children, the structure of the discourse, and whether or not the interlocutor is Indigenous play a role in the extent to which the children are silent. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/6770 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5837 Title: The Semantics of ja and ye: Semantic variation in Marathi motion verbs Authors: Ward, Nick Abstract: Ja and ye ('go' and 'come' respectively, from the Indian language Marathi) are first semantically examined as basic verbs of physical motion. Then instances which vary from this basic 'sense' of the words are analysed with respect to theories of polysemy via semantic extension (through metaphor and metonymy), and deixis. Some evidence is found to support theories of 'figurative' deixis, utilizing the concept of 'subjectivity' as a primary grounding force in our construction of meaning. Subjectivity is also implicated in the dominant mechanism of semantic shift by 'result' metonymy, wherein the word designating the event is semantically narrowed to designate only the result or outcome of the event. In discussing semantic extension through metaphor, the fundamental problem of distinguishing metaphorical from literal meaning is addressed, and 'image schemas' are invoked in the analysis of ja and ye. Data are chiefly from books on Ayurveda, and hence largely focus on the use of the ja and ye with reference to the human body. Description: Supervised by William Foley Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:11:25 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5837 2010-02-04T22:11:25Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5836 Title: Typing friendship into being: vocatives in Facebook wall-to-wall conversations Authors: Walkley, Amelia Abstract: Individuals may write themselves, their communities and their friendships into being on social network sites (Sundén 2003) (boyd 2008). That is, they write themselves into being by providing information about themselves in the form of personal profiles; they write their communities into being by setting up groups with which to connect with like-minded people; and they write their friendships into being by displaying contact lists and through continual interaction with their friends online. Since communication is key to the upkeep of friendship ties, a linguistic perspective has the potential to expand on the idea of writing friendship into being through a consideration of the ‘writing’ itself. The Facebook wall-to-wall conversation is a new means of computer-mediated communication and may be conceptualised as a way of typing friendship into being. Facebook ‘Friends’ write on each other’s ‘profile walls’ in turn, and in doing so they augment the interpersonal connection between them that originated offline by undertaking strategies of positive face enhancement in tandem. As semi-synchronous, semi-public dialogues in plain text, the wall-to-wall conversation is exclusive to two Facebook users as active participants, but visible to a special public of their mutual Facebook Friends. This thesis considers the type, semantic form, sentence position, orthography and pragmatic function of vocatives in a corpus of Facebook wall-to-wall conversations engaged in by students from the University of Sydney, Australia and from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. The vocatives are examined qualitatively through a lens of (Im)Politeness theory, drawing from Brown and Levinson (1987), Kerbrat-Orecchioni (1992; 2002) and Culpeper (1996; 2008) with a focus on positive politeness, mock deference and mock impoliteness. The joint engagement in creativity, playfulness and humour with regards to the formation and exchange of vocatives is attested in both the Australian English and the Swiss French corpora. Description: Supervisors: Caroline Lipovsky (French Studies), Jane Simpson (Linguistics) Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:53:25 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5836 2010-02-03T04:53:25Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5797 Title: Non-predicating adjectives: a semantic account Authors: de Zwaan, Alan Abstract: This thesis provides a semantic account of non-predication in the adjectives of English. Particular attention is paid to adjectives that are only non-predicating when they modify certain types of nouns; both agentive nouns and degree nouns are decomposed semantically into two distinct semantic elements, one of which consists of the referent (referential element) and another which consists of either an action associated with the noun or a quality already expressed by it (non-referential element). The other main focus of the thesis is denominal adjectives which have a structure like that of modifying nouns and which are differentiated from regular quality attributing adjectives via their semantic structure that does not express a single quality. The semantics of regular predicating adjectives is discussed, and it is found that predication requires an adjective to attribute a quality directly to the noun referent. Adjectives which have a function that does not meet this description are then restricted to the attributive (prenominal position). It is suggested that the prenominal position allows for a greater variety of semantic behaviours due to the relationship between the two phrasal elements not being made explicit. Description: Supervised by Nick Riemer Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:06:05 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5797 2010-01-13T22:06:05Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5796 Title: The Grammar of Nouns and Verbs in Whitesands, an Oceanic Language of Southern Vanuatu Authors: Hammond, Jeremy Abstract: Whitesands is an under-described language of southern Vanuatu, and this thesis presents Whitesands-specific data based on primary in-situ field research. The thesis addresses the distinction of noun and verb word classes in the language. It claims that current linguistic syntax theory cannot account for the argument structure of canonical object-denoting roots. It is shown that there are distinct lexical noun and verb classes in Whitesands but this is only a weak dichotomy. Stronger is the NP and VP distinction, and this is achieved by employing a new theoretical approach that proposes functional categories and their selection of complements as crucial tests of distinction. This approach contrasts with previous analyses of parts of speech in Oceanic languages and cross-linguistically. It ultimately explains many of the syntactic phenomena seen in the language family, including the above argument assignment dilemma, the alienable possession of nouns with classifiers and also the nominalisation processes. Description: Supervised by Bill Foley and Jane Simpson Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:05:54 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5796 2010-01-13T22:05:54Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5385 Title: Negative Evidence in Linguistics: The case of Wagiman Complex Predicates Authors: Wilson, Aidan Abstract: In this thesis I will justify the use of negative forms of evidence as a permissible means of analysing grammatical constructions. I do this by presenting a test case, a grammatical construction that is not entirely understood, and attempting to understand and explain further aspects of it by appealing to negative forms of evidence. The constructions that form the object of this investigation are complex predicates in the Wagiman language. It will be necessary first, to provide a detailed explanation of Wagiman complex predicates; the elements that comprise them, the way those elements combine and the limitations that hold on them. Following that, negative evidence of the combinations that are possible and combinations that are impossible will provide the means by which to identify the constraints that limit complex predicates. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5385 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5335 Title: Loanword Adaptation: A study of some Australian Aboriginal Languages Authors: McManus, Hope Abstract: This thesis is a case study of some aspects of the adaptation of English words in several Australian Aboriginal languages, including Martu Wangka, Gamilaraay and Warlpiri. I frame my analysis within Smith’s (to appear) source-similarity model of loanword adaptation. This model exploits loanword-specific faithfulness constraints that impose maximal similarity between the perceived source form and its corresponding loan. Using this model, I show that the conflict of the relevant prosodic markedness constraints and loanword-specific faithfulness constraints drives adaptation. Vowel epenthesis, the most frequent adaptation strategy, allows the recoverability of a maximal amount of information about the source form and ensures that the loan conforms to the constraints of language-internal phonological grammar. Less frequent strategies including deletion and substitution occur in a restricted environment. The essence of the present analysis is minimal violation, a principle that governs loanword adaptation as well as other areas of phonology. Description: Supervised by Toni Borowsky Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:59:35 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5335 2009-08-10T10:59:35Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2255 Title: Prepositions and preverbs in Hellenistic Greek Authors: Budd, Noella Abstract: This thesis traces the history of usage of a group of words (‘P-words’) that were adverbial particles in Proto-Indo-European and became in Greek, as in many other IE languages, both prepositions and verbal prefixes. It adopts a corpus-linguistic approach which, when allied with a suitable statistical method and a theoretical framework for analysis of syntactic change (grammaticalisation), allows for the detection and sometimes the explanation of trends in usage which may be invisible to a general reader. However, this method relies on the availability of suitably tagged texts for analysis; such tagging exists for the New Testament, the basis of the statistical analyses of this study, and a few other documents of roughly the same period of Greek, but not for large portions of text from other periods. The finding of this paper is that the method is reliable and likely to produce interesting results once diachronic comparisons and same-period genre and register comparisons become possible with the production of standardised grammatical tagging of texts, a program that is being pursued in New Testament studies and has potential for much wider use in Greek linguistics. Description: The thesis was supervised by Jane Simpson, with Vrasidas Karalis (Department of Modern Greek). Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:48:13 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2255 2008-03-14T05:48:13Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2237 Title: A Longitudinal Study of Ngarrindjeri Authors: Bannister, Corinne Abstract: This thesis aims to follow the changes that occur in Ngarrindjeri, a language from South Australia, over a period of 130 years. Over this period of time the speakers underwent great social and cultural change, with the settlement of white people, and the language changed from being a vibrant living language to one where only a few lexical items can be remembered. Particular attention is given to the syntactic changes, with a focus on case, the pronominal system and the antipassive function. A range of sources have been used; however Meyer’s grammar from 1843 and the Berndt texts, recorded in the 1940s, plus the accompanying analysis provided by Cerin (1994), receive the main focus because they are the most extensive descriptions of the language. The other sources are used when necessary to fill in the gaps. Chapter one introduces the language and the source material. It also discusses general concepts in language attrition. Chapter two deals with nominal morphology, with a particular focus on how the cases have changed. It also contains some reanalysis of the forms, which differs slightly from previous analyses. Chapter three address the pronominal morphology and identifies and explains discrepancies among the sources. This chapter contains information on the personal pronouns, reflexive pronouns and also a small section on how the pronominal system influenced a change in word order. Chapter four addresses the antipassive in Ngarrindjeri. Previous work on the antipassive has been scarce, so firstly this chapter establishes the form of the antipassive. Next it identifies the semantic uses of the construction. Finally, there is an investigation into the existence of a syntactic antipassive and the type of pivots that may also exist. Description: Supervisor: Jane Simpson Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:01:41 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2237 2008-02-25T23:01:41Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2181 Title: Psychotic victims: Risk, compassion and blame in mental health discourses Authors: Moore, Rose Abstract: Recent theories of evaluative language, such as Appraisal theory, aim to use fine-grained qualitative analysis to look at the way social reality is constructed and reflected in text, and how we are aligned through the use of evaluative resources in text. This thesis uses Appraisal theory to look at the way the identity of people with psychotic illness is constructed in a corpus of recent broadsheet feature articles on the topic of schizophrenia, and how we - as readers and members of society- are positioned to perceive people who have psychotic illness. It also looks at the way that the roles and responsibilities of institutions such as the court and prison system, the mental health system and government are evaluated, and outlines the strategies which are used to construe people with psychotic illness as victims, both of their illness and of social institutions. These findings are in direct contrast to much of the previous research on representations of psychotic illness in the media, which has predominantly found that people with psychotic illness are portrayed as violent and a danger to society. This thesis contributes to a growing body of literature which uses Appraisal theory to identify evaluative patterns in text and add to our understanding of how meaning is made. It also describes patterns of evaluation with regard to certain groups of people (those with psychotic illness, their families, and institutions such as the government, health system and prison system) which appear to mark changing attitudes towards psychotic illness. Description: The thesis was supervised by James Martin. Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:19:34 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2181 2008-01-10T22:19:34Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1919 Title: Spatial Reference in Momu Authors: Blake, Fiona Abstract: Spatial reference - how we communicate notions such as location, motion and direction - is an important area of current research. Recent studies involving detailed analysis of geographically and typologically diverse languages have uncovered extensive and unexpected variation in the means languages utilise to encode spatial relations. This thesis aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about the cross-linguistic representation of the spatial domain. It is an analysis of fieldwork data which was collected for a preliminary investigation into the spatial reference system of Momu (also known as Fas), a Kwomtari language spoken in the West Sepik region of Papua New Guinea. The analysis focuses on descriptions of static location, motion and the use of frames of reference. In Momu, all basic locative, directional and motion verbs are deictically anchored, such that there are few expressions of spatial reference that do not obligatorily require deictic specification. This thesis demonstrates the particular attention Momu pays to the specification of deixis across all major sub-areas of the spatial domain. Description: This honours thesis was submitted in June 2007, and was supervised by William Foley. Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1919 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1726 Title: Gender and codemixing in Hong Kong Authors: Wong, Kwok-Lan Jamie Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship of gender and codemixing behaviour in Hong Kong. Data were obtained through the use of a questionnaire and a language diary experiment from 10 young women and 10 young men who had just joined the workforce. It was found that educated young women in Hong Kong are more likely to codemix (Cantonese sentence with English words or phrases) than their male counterparts. However, this difference shown up in the sex grouping could not be said to be a pure gender difference. Rather, this difference seemed to be difference among the females themselves. By looking into the historical and cultural background of Hong Kong, the researcher suggested that Hong Kong young women’s higher use of mixed code nowadays was caused by their desire to dissociate themselves from the traditional role of women in the Chinese culture. Furthermore, it was found that young women working in a more competitive environment would codemix more than those working in a less competitive environment. The findings in this paper confirm the constructionsts’ view that the construction of gender is interwoven with other social constructions of identity in a complex way, so that it is important for researchers interested in gender and language use to look into the cultural and historical background of a speech community instead of focusing solely on the differences shown up in sex groupings. Description: Honours thesis, Department of Linguistics, supervisors Dr Ahmar Mahboob and Dr Toni Borowsky Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1726 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1105 Title: The diachronic evolution of directional constructions in Mandarin Authors: McElvenny, James Abstract: This thesis investigates the diachronic evolution of directional constructions found in Mandarin and other modern varieties of Chinese. What I call directional constructions are usually called 'directional complements' in most work on Chinese grammar. They consist of a series of particles and their associated syntactic constructions. The particles follow after verbs and typically indicate a direction of motion associated with the event expressed by a verb. For example, in the sentence 'ta zouchulai' 'He walks out hither', the verb 'zou' 'walk' expresses the action of walking and the directional particle 'chulai' indicates that the action is performed going from inside to outside and in the direction of the speaker. Directional particles can also have a variety of abstract senses that are derived from their basic directional senses through metaphor. I trace the diachronic evolution of the directional particles and their associated syntactic constructions from their origins as independent verbs in various syntactic constructions in pre-Qin varieties of Chinese up to their present state in Modern Mandarin. I identify the various formal and functional properties of the constructions at each stage in the history of the language and show how these properties change from one stage to another. I also investigate the factors that condition these changes. My research is based on a corpus of vernacular texts that cover each period in the development of the constructions from pre-Qin times up to the present. I present my analysis of each stage in the development of the constructions within the Construction Grammar framework. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1105 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2123/139 Title: Topic and focus in Ngardi Authors: Honeyman, Tom Abstract: This paper examines the discourse pragmatics of the non- configurational (free word order) Australian language Ngardi. Ngardi is a Ngumbin language spoken by a small number of people east of the Kimberleys. I examine Topic and Focus in equational sentences and question forms gathered from transcripts of card games played by Ngardi speakers. I examine this data from the Information Structure perspective as defined by Lambrecht (1994) and include some discussion of Choi's (2001) NEW and PROM binary features. I conclude that a range of constituents to the left of the obligatory pronominal clitics are conditioned by discourse pragmatic factors. Description: This is an Honours thesis based on field data and grammatical analysis collected by Lee Cataldi with help from Tjama Napanangka. The supervisors were William Foley and Jane Simpson. Fri, 21 Oct 2005 05:46:25 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2123/139 2005-10-21T05:46:25Z