The sociolinguistic constraints on the Quotative system: British English and US English compared

The recent advent and rapid spread of two new vernacular options, go and like, within the (say) variable has attracted a growing body of research in variationist sociolinguists. This thesis examines the synchronic functions of these new quotatives and considers pragmatic, discourse, and social factors. The investigation is based on an analysis of very large corpora of spontaneous spoken British and American English. This cross-variety comparison gives me the opportunity (i) to investigate a case of rapid language change that is happening concurrently with the time of research and (ii) to consider to what extent social and linguistic constraints hold globally.A variationist study of the constraints which govern the quotative system is valuable for the following reasons: By investigating the patterning of the (say) variable as a whole, we gain insights into the rule-governed variability of innovative features and their rival variants (say, tell, think, cry, ...). A look at the entire quotative system reveals the intimate interplay of competing choices within the (say) variable. My project aims at understanding how the system as a whole reacts to the intrusion of newcomer variants. A sharply delimited and hitherto stable set of variants - such as the (say) variable - presents the unique opportunity to investigate the restructuring of all variants as new ones come in. This is especially interesting when we look at competing choices which have the same [- canonical] underlying semantic feature, such as unframed quotes. The data show that far from ousting the unframed or say-variant, like and go add options within the vernacular categoryA comparative study on the patterning of non-canonical variants within the quotative pool produces important insights into phenomena such as reallocation, competition within one socio-pragmatic field, as well as interaction of variants ii within the same variable. In this light, the restructuring of all quotative variants during the rapid intrusion of the robust new variant like gives us an important test-case for various explanatory parameters for language change that have been raised in the literature, i.e. Romaine's claims about language and gender (2003), the reallocation hypothesis as raised by Britain (2002) and Britain and Trudgill (1999), the reformulation of the standard vs. non-standard dichotomy into local vs. supra-local variants by Foulkes and Docherty (1999) and the Milroys' findings (1998) concerning network and class.Furthermore, research in variationist sociolinguistics has revealed the importance of intralinguistic constraints in situations of competing grammars (Meyerhoff 2000, Preston 1991, Rickford and MacNair-Knox 1994). Using a synthetic approach which looks at both intralinguistic and extralinguistic constraints, I attempt to explain the variability at all levels within the variable in order to account for as much of the variability as possible. Investigation into an array of linguistic factors reveals that linguistic constraints on the members of the (say) variable are indeed very important and quite robust.A cross-variety comparison gives insights into how much we can generalize our findings: do locally separate systems handle the situation in the same way? The comparison of pragmatic and sociolinguistic factors reveals some interesting but subtle differences in go's and tike's development in different locales. This raises more fundamental linguistic questions, such as are whether we are indeed comparing the same variable in the US and in Britain. My findings give evidence of the restructuring processes in the quotative system as a whole that accompany the arrival of a newcomer variant, like, in two varieties, British English and US English. There is evidence that different systems find idiosyncratic solutions to similar problems. This finding constitutes an important contribution to the growing body of research on globalisation phenomena and supra-local trends (Buchstaller 2003, Kerswill 2003, Meyerhoff and Niedzielski 2003, Tagliamonte and Hudson 1999, Trudgill 1983, 1994, and many others)

Subshifts as Models for MSO Logic

We study the Monadic Second Order (MSO) Hierarchy over colourings of the discrete plane, and draw links between classes of formula and classes of subshifts. We give a characterization of existential MSO in terms of projections of tilings, and of universal sentences in terms of combinations of "pattern counting" subshifts. Conversely, we characterise logic fragments corresponding to various classes of subshifts (subshifts of finite type, sofic subshifts, all subshifts). Finally, we show by a separation result how the situation here is different from the case of tiling pictures studied earlier by Giammarresi et al.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0904.245

Ideology is a double-edged sword : the role of ideology in helping and hindering the interactive development of support for social change

The research presented in this thesis explores the role of ideology in shaping group members' responses to social inequality with a particular focus on the interactive development of support for social change. This research employs a predominantly social identity based approach to explaining how advantaged members of society who nominally support social change become more willing to collectively act to achieve that change. In particular, I focus on how the opinion-based group interaction method can be harnessed to energise different aspects of supporters' identification with an opinion-based group formed around support for Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and how this can in turn influence their support for normatively aligned attitudes and behaviours. Utilising the opinion-based group interaction methodology enables me to manipulate the ideological content present during interaction to determine what impact this content may have on the interactive development of support for social change. Based on a theoretical review of the literature, I propose that this role may be two fold. On the one hand, where consensus around an ideology that favours social change is achieved then this will energise the normative alignment of a social change identity formed around support for action, positive attitudes and beliefs, which will consequently result in more sustainable support for social change. On the other hand, where consensus fails to materialise or forms around ideologies which discourage social change, then this normative alignment will be compromised, and will undermine support for social change. The first two studies investigate the impact of imposed ideological understandings of the intergroup context upon the effectiveness of the opinion-based group interaction method in promoting more active support for social change. Thus, in Study 1, I manipulated the perceived stability of Indigenous disadvantage in order to determine the effect of changing perceptions of the stability of the intergroup context upon aspects of identification as an opinion-based group member and support for collective action following interaction. The results showed that in the absence of any imposed meaning group members showed a stronger sense of connection to their group and willingness to engage in action following interaction when compared to a non-interacting baseline control. However, when Indigenous disadvantage was framed as unstable for interacting groups this enhanced ingroup ties as expected but undermined action intentions whilst framing this disadvantage as stable had little to no effect. These results appeared to be related to perceptions of consensus among the discussion groups. The role of consensus in this process was therefore followed up in Study 2 where the framing imposed on discussion groups was related to a government apology as a necessary first step on the path to achieving Reconciliation. While this manipulation did not evoke collective guilt among group members it did result in reduced support for action and less perceived consensus, and produced a stronger sense of connection to the group following interaction. Unlike in Study 1, however, when the interaction was not framed then discussion had no impact on the different aspects of identification or on action intentions rather than the expected increase despite higher levels of perceived consensus. In order to determine whether the imposition of ideological content was undermining the ability of discussion groups in the framed conditions to achieve consensus, Study 3 was designed to allow group members to select their own framing. Thus, in this study, interactions were framed with content that group members had endorsed prior to participating regarding which approach to Reconciliation was best, either a social justice or a social cohesion approach. This study demonstrated the enervating effects of consensus around an ideology which minimises the role of social change in reducing intergroup inequality. More specifically, group members who interacted with a social cohesion frame saw their identity as supporters as less central and had lower levels of support for collective action following interaction, although, interaction did lead to an increased sense of connection to the group. In contrast, consensus around a social justice ideology, which favours social change as a means of redressing intergroup inequality, did provide some support for the energising role of ideological consensus. However these results must be viewed with some caution due to a very small sample size. The data from these interaction-based studies was then aggregated to enable a stronger test of the potentially negative impact of ideology on the normative alignment of identity relevant attitudes and behaviours. The results show that for highly contentious issues even interaction with like minded others has the potential to undermine the alignment of a social change identity and that this enervation can be further exacerbated by ideological dissensus or consensus around an ideology which opposes social change. A fourth study was conducted in order to follow up on the associations between particular ideological content, specifically right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, as predictors of support for social change as well as how the different aspects of identification as a supporter of Reconciliation may relate to the endorsement of identity relevant attitudes and behavioural intentions. This study revealed that ingroup affect and centrality, the two aspects of identification that remained largely unaffected by interaction, provided the strongest predictors of identity relevant attitudes and action intentions. However, both social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism improved the prediction of these variables, suggesting that even among supporters of social change, endorsement of these ideological beliefs may help to fine-tune predictions of just who will and who will not engage in collective action to bring about social change. In conclusion, this thesis provides support for the double-edged role of ideology in the interactive development of support for social change. This suggests that for social movements on contentious issues,bringing supporters together in order to build support for and commitment to action is not automatically beneficial for forming sustainable social change identities. Discussion may be important, but discussion without the resolution of ideological differences is not a panacea for a lack of progress

Subshifts as Models for MSO Logic

We study the Monadic Second Order (MSO) Hierarchy over colourings of the discrete plane, and draw links between classes of formula and classes of subshifts. We give a characterization of existential MSO in terms of projections of tilings, and of universal sentences in terms of combinations of ''pattern counting'' subshifts. Conversely, we characterise logic fragments corresponding to various classes of subshifts (subshifts of finite type, sofic subshifts, all subshifts). Finally, we show by a separation result how the situation here is different from the case of tiling pictures studied earlier by Giammarresi et al

Scholarship in Review 89(1)

Scholarship in Review was a magazine highlighting research and scholarly activities at Central Washington University, published by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research.https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/scholarship_in_review/1005/thumbnail.jp

What´s wrong with an artfake? Cognitive and emotional variables influenced by authenticity information of artworks.

What’s wrong with art fakes? We tested effects of art “forgery” on aesthetic appreciation and the quality of paintings in a multidimensional manner comprising cognitive and emotional variables: When naïve participants were exposed to replicas of works by renowned artists, information about the alleged authenticity status had a major effect on the perceived quality of the painting, and even on artist-associated values such as artist talent. All these variables were negatively influenced when depictions were labeled as copies compared to identical ones labeled as originals. Our findings show the importance of symbolic and personal values as modulators in art appreciation

A Prehistory of n-Categorical Physics

This paper traces the growing role of categories and n-categories in physics, starting with groups and their role in relativity, and leading up to more sophisticated concepts which manifest themselves in Feynman diagrams, spin networks, string theory, loop quantum gravity, and topological quantum field theory. Our chronology ends around 2000, with just a taste of later developments such as open-closed topological string theory, the categorification of quantum groups, Khovanov homology, and Lurie's work on the classification of topological quantum field theories.Comment: 129 pages, 8 eps figure

Crooked Data: (Mis)Information in Contemporary Art

The University of Richmond Museums exhibited Crooked Data: (Mis)Information in Contemporary Art on February 9 through May 5, 2017, in the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art. The exhibition features art by twenty-one contemporary artists and studios who work with data in nontraditional ways. Some artists incorporate data from known sources, using it as an aesthetic device divorced from its originally intended interpretive function. Others gather and manifest data that might normally be considered not worthy of collecting. And some of the works explore alternatives to standard data visualization forms and practices.Some of the works featured in Crooked Data include a selection from R. Luke DeBois’ series A More Perfect Union, in which the artist presents maps of states, replacing the names of cities and towns with the most frequently used words from residents’ online dating profiles that are unique to that region. For example, in the map of Virginia, the city of Richmond and local towns are represented by the words “tobacco,” “reasonable,” and northern Virginia, not surprisingly, is denoted by the words “Pentagon,” “diplomat,” and “beltway.” Other works in the exhibition include Blast Theory’s app Karen which features a pseudo life coach who provides personalized personality profiles based on user input. Nathalie Miebach translates science data into sculpture, installation, and musical scores. In the series Wars and Conflicts, Dan Mills uses vintage maps as a space to investigate global data on international tensions, conflicts, and refugee statistics. Clement Valla reproduces Google Earth images that reveal anomalies within the system, images that are correctly formed with the data used by the software but are incorrect in accurately depicting their subjects. Artists included in the exhibition: William Anastasi (American, born 1933) Blast Theory (British Artists group) David Bowen (American, born 1975) Martin Brief (American, born 1966) Stephen Cartwright (American, born 1972) Jax de León (American, born 1986) R. Luke DuBois (American, born 1970) Hasan Elahi (American, born in Bangladesh, 1972) Laurie Frick (American, born 1955) Chad Hagen (American, born 1970) Holly Hanessian (American, born 1958) Tiffany Holmes (American, born 1968) Brooke Inman (American, born 1983) Nathalie Miebach (American, born 1972) Dan Mills (American, born 1956) Casey Reas (American, born 1972) Ward Shelley (American, born 1950) Sosolimited (American design studio) Stamen Design (American data visualization practice) Clement Valla (American, born 1979) Lee Walton (American, born 1974) The exhibition included an artwork created by University of Richmond students enrolled in the fall 2016 Introduction to Printmaking class, taught by Brooke Inman, Adjunct Professor, Department of Art and Art History, University of Richmond. Their screen-printed mural consists of data derived from usage statistics from the University’s Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness. Digital America, an online journal on digital culture and art, will be featured three art works in conjunction with the Crooked Data exhibition on its website (www.digitalamerica.org). Each piece in the online gallery explores the deceptive nature of digital data through various digital media. Digital America is supported by the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Richmond. Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition is curated by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University Museums. It is presented in cooperation with the University’s Departments of Art and Art History, Geography and the Environment, Boatwright Memorial Library, the Digital Scholarship Lab, Recreation and Wellness, and Partners in the Arts. The exhibition and programs are made possible in part by the University’s Cultural Affairs Committee, Data Blueprint, and funds from the Louis S. Booth Arts Fund. The exhibition is accompanied by an online catalogue featuring works in the exhibition and interviews conducted by Elizabeth Schlatter and Lindsay Hamm, ’17, art conservation (interdisciplinary studies) major, University of Richmond.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/exhibition-catalogs/1005/thumbnail.jp

Properties of Two-Dimensional Words

Combinatorics on words in one dimension is a well-studied subfield of theoretical computer science with its origins in the early 20th century. However, the closely-related study of two-dimensional words is not as popular, even though many results seem naturally extendable from the one-dimensional case. This thesis investigates various properties of these two-dimensional words. In the early 1960s, Roger Lyndon and Marcel-Paul Schutzenberger developed two famous results on conditions where nontrivial prefixes and suffixes of a one-dimensional word are identical and on conditions where two one-dimensional words commute. Here, the theorems of Lyndon and Schutzenberger are extended in the one-dimensional case to include a number of additional equivalent conditions. One such condition is shown to be equivalent to the defect theorem from formal languages and coding theory. The same theorems of Lyndon and Schutzenberger are then generalized to the two-dimensional case. The study of two-dimensional words continues by considering primitivity and periodicity in two dimensions, where a method is developed to enumerate two-dimensional primitive words. An efficient computer algorithm is presented to assist with checking the property of primitivity in two dimensions. Finally, borders in both one and two dimensions are considered, with some results being proved and others being offered as suggestions for future work. Another efficient algorithm is presented to assist with checking whether a two-dimensional word is bordered. The thesis concludes with a selection of open problems and an appendix containing extensive data related to one such open problem