Finite verb forms in a 17th-century Turkic historical text: Qādir ʿAli Beg’s J̌āmiʿ at-Tawārīχ ‘Compendium of Chronicles’

This dissertation provides a comprehensive linguistic analysis of finite verbs in the early 17th century Turkic historical text, J̌āmiʿ at-Tawārīχ ‘Compendium of Chronicles’, written by Qādir ʿAli Beg in 1602. The text is composed in the literary Turkic language of Central Asia, or the so called Chaghatay or Turkī language, during the rule of Uraz Muhammed Khan (1600–1610), likely in the Qasym Khanate (1452–1681). The primary source of this study is the St. Petersburg manuscript, supplemented by the Kazan manuscript when necessary. The linguistic framework integrates functional and typological perspectives to define the semantic notions of verbal categories. It also addresses the morphological, morphophonological, syntactic, and morphosyntactic features of the ‘Compendium of Chronicles’, comparing them with equivalent features in the Kazakh, Tatar, Turkish, and Siberian languages. This methodological approach reveals the strategies employed by Qādir ʿAli Beg to express various finite verb forms, offering new insights into the linguistic structure of the ‘Compendium of Chronicles’. The linguistic analysis of the ‘Compendium of Chronicles’ consists of four parts, each including Latin transcription and English translation of selected sentences. It begins with an exploration of finite verbal categories, providing information on the key concepts of viewpoint aspect, imperative, and modality, including agreement markers. It then examines copular devices and postverbial constructions. These sections constitute the main contribution of the study. The presentation of light verbs demonstrates the basic difference between the grammaticalized auxiliaries in postverbial constructions and the light verbs as derivational devices. The dissertation concludes with an investigation of synthetic and analytic derivation, including diathesis

Filmic Representations of Contemporary American Masculinity in Crisis: The Joker Figure

This dissertation examines the representation of post-9/11 American masculinity in crisis through an in-depth analysis of three significant cinematic depictions of the Joker character: Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008), David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016), and Todd Phillips’s Joker (2019). Anchored in the theoretical framework of masculinity studies and masculinity in crisis discourse, this study explores how these films portray fractured and subverted masculine identities in response to broader socio-cultural and political shifts. R.W. Connell’s conceptualization of hegemonic masculinity serves as the analytical framework. I focus on three critical elements: patriarchy, class hierarchies, and emotional toughness, all of which serve as markers of hegemonic masculinity in crisis. These elements interrogate the tensions within traditional models of manhood and identify how these crises are articulated through the Joker’s cinematic representations. This dissertation contextualizes American masculinity, tracing its evolution from the 20th to the 21st century. It examines cultural shifts influenced by events like 9/11 and the Great Recession. By integrating Stuart Hall’s theory of representation, the analysis explores how cinematic depictions of the Joker reinforce or subvert specific models of masculinity. This study contributes to the understanding of various masculinities in post-9/11 American cinema, reflecting broader socio-cultural anxieties and reshaping dominant gender norms. It analyzes each manifestation of masculinity, determining whether these films react to, represent, or challenge rigid expectations of manhood in the United States. I define Nolan’s Joker as the embodiment of an anarchic masculinity that profoundly rejects hegemonic norms in favor of anarchy and anti-capitalist insurrection. Secondly, I regard Ayer’s Joker as a prime example of dissociative masculinity, which is characterized by emotional disintegration, misogyny, and violent patriarchal traits. I ultimately defined Phillips's Joker as embodying a carnivalesque masculinity, in which Arthur Fleck’s unsightly physique, fractured relationships, and social marginalization combine to facilitate his transformation into a mock-king archetype. Through this role as a carnivalesque jester, he temporarily subverts conventional ideals of manhood, challenging hegemonic structures before ultimately reaffirming his position’s (in)stability. Viewed holistically, this dissertation examines how cinematic representations of the Joker surrounding power dynamics, body politics, and intimacy illustrate the post-9/11 American masculinity in crisis, socio-cultural anxieties, and the shifting challenges to hegemonic ideals in contemporary society. Keywords: Filmic representation, hegemonic masculinity, Joker figure, masculinity in crisis, post-9/11 American masculinity, villain

Test-taking engagement in low-stakes context: An educational data science approach

The research conducted within this dissertation aims to explore and comparatively investigate real-world behavioral outcomes of test-taking engagement in an interactive test environment through self-report and analysis of log and process data. This dissertation brings together three empirical studies on this issue. The instrument used in this research consisted of 10 problems of different complexity requiring interaction to solve, which were suitable for measuring the exploration strategies of different problems. The problems, based on the MicroDYN model, were administered to first-year university students in a low-stakes testing context using the eDia online assessment platform. The exploration of the problems and the interactions used to solve them were recorded in log and process data format, and the effectiveness of different exploration and learning strategies and their impact on problem-solving performance were examined by analyzing these behavioral log data. In addition to self-report questions embedded in different parts of the test, test-taking effort was monitored by the time spent exploring and solving problems and the number of interactions. In the research presented in the first paper, we measured students' test-taking effort using different methods and determined the optimal procedure to diagnose test-taking effort. The results suggest that the number of clicks plays an important role in predicting performance in interactive problem-solving tasks. The responses to the self-report questionnaire did not fully reflect the actual test-taking behavior of the participants. A maximum effort was not required to achieve good results, but only a certain amount. The second study investigated item- and person-level factors that influence test-taking disengagement. For tasks administering later and for more difficult tasks, the proportion of disengaged responses increased. The proportion of disengaged responses was higher among women. Individuals with lower admission scores, lower working memory capacity and lower self-reported effort also had higher rates of disengaged responses. In the third study, we investigated the role of test-taking effort in the knowledge acquisition through exploration behavior. Latent profile analysis of labeled behavioral data to monitor the effectiveness of the exploration strategy identified four groups. The degree of test-taking effort differed between groups and decreased to various degrees during testing. Our results suggest that successful problem solvers put in enough time and effort to solve problems. A sufficient amount of effort does not guarantee a successful outcome, but success is not possible without it. Therefore, practitioners should place considerable emphasis on using methods that improve students' test-taking effort

Önéletírás, önnarráció és önéletrajzi fikció Jókai Mór autobiografikus kisprózájában

Autobiography, self-narration and autobiographical fiction in Mór Jókai’s autobiographical short prose Over his six-decade-long literary career, Mór Jókai published a number of texts that were read by both contemporary and later reception as „autobiographical” or „autobiographically inspired”, and whose canonisation, genre classification and evaluation were determined by this interpretative approach. In my thesis, I attempted to interpret Jókai’s texts traditionally treated as autobiographical by considering the presuppositions of 20th and 21st century autobiographical theories, and tried to „free them” from the „historical accuracy”. My focus was on Jókai's volumes traditionally regarded as collections of autobiographical narratives: these include Emlékeim [My Memories] (1875), Életemből [From My Life] (1886-1887) and Az én életem regénye [The Novel of My Life] (1901). I analysed the texts found in these three volumes, and traced the medial shifts they undertook before they found their way into these volumes. I observed which works Jókai selected from each periodical into which volumes, and later which ones he incorporated into his subsequent compilations and their new editions. I have also taken into careful consideration the selections and biographies compiled by literary historians that have taken these texts as their basis. Throughout his career, Jókai used a number of pseudonyms, from which Kakas Márton evolved over the years into an alter-ego. By using his pseudonyms, he constantly played with his readership, controlling the image of his person and his literary work, since certain registers were only spoken in the voice of his alter-ego. In this way, he was able to maintain his traditional („literary monarch”) role, while at the same time conveying his (critical) views on the cultural milieu and public life of his time, concealed behind irony and humour. I observed how Jókai shaped his own image in the contemporary press and cultural milieu. All this suggests an awareness and a professional, „self-marketing” which was unique in the second half of the 19th century. In short, I have tried to highlight how Jókai shaped his public self-image, his life story, and the arc of his career through these texts. I have also tried to show the ways in which he tried to control the memory of the future