11 research outputs found

    Variation in the Vowel System of Mišótika Cappadocian: Findings from Two Refugee Villages in Greec

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    This paper discusses changes in the vowel system of contemporary Mišótika, the Cappadocian variety originally spoken in Misti. We compare the speech of native speakers from two Cappadocian refugee communities and analyse the differences between the two, taking into consideration mechanisms of language contact and linguistic change, and also the social parameters that influence the dialectal system. The study is based on recordings of native speakers of Mišótika who live in two different villages, one in the prefecture of Kilkis (Neo Agioneri), and the other in Thessaloniki (Xirohori). Although these villages are very close to one another, they present two major differences. Neo Agioneri is a homogeneous village, whereas Xirohori is a mixed village, since not only Cappadocians but also other Greek-dialect speakers live there. 78 Another distinguishing characteristic between the two villages is the attitude of the inhabitants towards Mišótika. It seems that speakers from Neo Agioneri are more receptive to the use of the dialect. The inhabitants from Xirohori, by contrast, present a different attitude, reflecting the consequences of social stigmatization and linguistic attrition that their dialect has undergone after the population exchange of the 1920s. To conclude, the current vowel system of Mišótika seems to diverge significantly from the older one described by Dawkins (1916). At the same time, the preliminary findings of our research indicate that there are also differences in the phonological status of the vowels between speakers of the same linguistic system. Dawkins, R. M. 1916. Modern Greek in Asia Minor: a Study of the Dialects of Sílli, Cappadocia and Phárasa with Grammar, Texts, Translations and Glossary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Negative vaccine voices in Swedish social media

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    Vaccinations are one of the most significant interventions to public health, but vaccine hesitancy creates concerns for a portion of the population in many countries, including Sweden. Since discussions on vaccine hesitancy are often taken on social networking sites, data from Swedish social media are used to study and quantify the sentiment among the discussants on the vaccination-or-not topic during phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of all the posts analyzed a majority showed a stronger negative sentiment, prevailing throughout the whole of the examined period, with some spikes or jumps due to the occurrence of certain vaccine-related events distinguishable in the results. Sentiment analysis can be a valuable tool to track public opinions regarding the use, efficacy, safety, and importance of vaccination

    Outcome of long-term language contact : Transfer of Egyptian phonological features onto Greek in Graeco-Roman Egypt

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    In this work I have studied the language contact situation between Egyptian and Greek in Roman period Egypt. I have analysed the language use of a corpus written by Egyptian scribe apprentices, OGN I (Ostraca greci da Narmuthis), rich with nonstandard variation due to the imperfect Greek learning of the young scribes. I concentrated on finding Egyptian phonological influence from the misspellings of the vowels that displayed variation atypical for native language writers. Among the nonstandard features were, for example, underdifferentiation of foreign phonemes, the reduction of word-final vowels, allophonic variation that matched Coptic prosodic rules, and coarticulation of consonants on vowels. All of these linguistic characteristics can be found also in the near-phonetic nonstandard spellings of Greek loanwords in Coptic, which I used as parallel reference material. Studying the similarly phonetically-based orthographic variants in Arabic loanwords in Coptic from a later period gave me information on Coptic vowel qualities, by which I could confirm that most of the nonstandard vowel variation in the texts of OGN I was not related to Greek internal phonological development but Egyptian influence. During the project I began to suspect that there might have been an independent Egyptian Greek variety in existence, similarly to for example Indian English, with transfer features from especially the phonological level of Egyptian. I found enough conclusive evidence of a variety of this type to be able to continue research on it after the doctoral dissertation. In order to be able to obtain knowledge of the spoken level of these languages which are no longer spoken, I used modern phonetic research as my aid, and especially concentrated on loanword phonology. I believe I have found enough evidence of the methods of integration of these loanwords and foreign words into Egyptian to be able to contribute to the ongoing debate about whether loan adaptation is based on the phonological level or the phonetic one. I found evidence of both, quite often working simultaneously

    Outcome of long-term language contact : Transfer of Egyptian phonological features onto Greek in Graeco-Roman Egypt

    Get PDF
    In this work I have studied the language contact situation between Egyptian and Greek in Roman period Egypt. I have analysed the language use of a corpus written by Egyptian scribe apprentices, OGN I (Ostraca greci da Narmuthis), rich with nonstandard variation due to the imperfect Greek learning of the young scribes. I concentrated on finding Egyptian phonological influence from the misspellings of the vowels that displayed variation atypical for native language writers. Among the nonstandard features were, for example, underdifferentiation of foreign phonemes, the reduction of word-final vowels, allophonic variation that matched Coptic prosodic rules, and coarticulation of consonants on vowels. All of these linguistic characteristics can be found also in the near-phonetic nonstandard spellings of Greek loanwords in Coptic, which I used as parallel reference material. Studying the similarly phonetically-based orthographic variants in Arabic loanwords in Coptic from a later period gave me information on Coptic vowel qualities, by which I could confirm that most of the nonstandard vowel variation in the texts of OGN I was not related to Greek internal phonological development but Egyptian influence. During the project I began to suspect that there might have been an independent Egyptian Greek variety in existence, similarly to for example Indian English, with transfer features from especially the phonological level of Egyptian. I found enough conclusive evidence of a variety of this type to be able to continue research on it after the doctoral dissertation. In order to be able to obtain knowledge of the spoken level of these languages which are no longer spoken, I used modern phonetic research as my aid, and especially concentrated on loanword phonology. I believe I have found enough evidence of the methods of integration of these loanwords and foreign words into Egyptian to be able to contribute to the ongoing debate about whether loan adaptation is based on the phonological level or the phonetic one. I found evidence of both, quite often working simultaneously

    Language as topos : a study of Turkish polysemy

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    The study of polysemy connibutes to our understanding of different topologies of language. Polysemy implies metaphorical richness and provides clues to linguistic ontology in that it effects translation between the verbal and the non-verbal, linking the articulated and the tacit, i.e. language and silence. Implicit in the Turkish saying bir dil, bir insan (one language, one person) is an image of language as at once the mark of humanness and the defining feature of human variation, while another formulaic saying, dilin kemigi yoktur (the tongue has no bone(s)), implies a flexibility of meaning and intention which, without language, would be unavailable to humans. Taking certain features of Turkish polysemy as a guide, this thesis steers an analytic pathway through the rich diversity of modem Turkish ideational culture as it is lived by various members of the Turkish community in Melbourne. Migration to a new environment entails not only physical relocation but also ideational adjustment to new thought worlds. Language is a key to this process of reorientation, as people living in different cultural niches have recourse to different epistemological moorings for reality construal. Changes in cultural niche, as in the case of migration, highlight changes in ideational orientation. Taking a phenomenological approach to language based on the sensory parameters of sound and vision, this thesis explores the various topologies inherent in language use by focusing on polysemy, against a background of multilingualism and literacy. Turkish ideational life is an arena of contested realities. Polysemic terms such as yol (pathway), gurbet (temporary absence from home), acik/kapalz (open/closed) and sag/sol (right/left) as well as the tacit inside and outside orientate meaning within and between different discursive practices. Polysemy points also to different concepts of knowledge and power, as well as to different metaphors of humanity. Language itself is a metaphor of humanity and of knowledge/power

    Clinical markers of developmental language disorder in Arabic

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    Data on the typical and impaired acquisition of Arabic is limited and only a few standardized Arabic language assessments are available. As a result, the identification of developmental language disorder (DLD) in Arabic is notoriously challenging. Developing new diagnostic language tools is thus imperative to facilitate early and accurate identification of DLD in Arabic-speaking children with a view to developing relevant interventions. This thesis addressed this issue by investigating potential clinical markers of DLD in Arabic through three theoretically grounded studies focusing on the linguistic and processing deficits that characterize Arabic speaking children with DLD and could be used as indicators of the presence of the disorder. Study 1 showed that the production of verb tense and subject-verb agreement is generally impaired in 5-year-old Arabic-speaking children with DLD relative to same-age peers. Study 1 showed that poor use of present tense and subject-verb feminine agreement could be potential grammatical markers of DLD in Arabic. Study 2 revealed that nonword repetition is an area of difficulty for 4 to 6-year-old Arabic-speaking children with DLD. Importantly, Study 2 found that poor nonword repetition accurately identified 93% of children with DLD and 93% of age-matched TD children, suggesting that poor nonword repetition could also be a possible clinical marker of DLD in Arabic. Study 3 reported poor sentence repetition abilities in 4 to 6- year-old Arabic-speaking children; the sentence repetition task correctly identified more than 90% of children with DLD and more than 90% of age-matched TD children. Study 3 thus suggests that poor sentence repetition may also hold promise as a potential clinical marker for the presence or absence of DLD in Arabic. The findings of this thesis could help enhance the diagnostic practices of DLD in Arabic-speaking children by focusing clinicians’ attention on relevant tasks which could aid diagnosis. The findings extend our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of DLD. Specifically, the language difficulties of Arabic-speaking children with DLD seem to reflect a combination of deficits in linguistic knowledge and processing capacity. This thesis is the first study to my knowledge to address the issue of clinical markers of DLD in Arabic and as such it paves the way and highlights the need for further research to better characterize the linguistic and non-linguistic, as well as the functional limitations in Arabic-speaking children with DLD

    Développement bilingue de la phonologie chez les enfants allophones d’âge préscolaire

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    Dans le contexte actuel, les enfants bilingues ne bénéficient pas de la même qualité de soins que leurs pairs unilingues. Pour les troubles du développement des sons de la parole, les enfants bilingues sont sous-représentés dans le bureau de l’orthophoniste (Stow et Dodd 2005). Cette problématique est notamment liée à un manque de données sur le développement bilingue des populations linguistiquement diverses (Verdon et al., 2015). Dans cette thèse, nous voulons répondre à cette problématique en décrivant l’acquisition des consonnes par des enfants d’âge préscolaire dans un contexte de bilinguisme. La production de consonnes est d’ailleurs un moyen utilisé fréquemment comme un indicateur diagnostique des troubles de développement des sons de la parole (par exemple Shriberg et al., 1997). Cette présente thèse s’intéresse d’abord à la précision consonantique en français d’un groupe d’enfants allophones (Chapitre 3). Les résultats démontrent que les enfants allophones ont une précision consonantique similaire à celle de leurs pairs unilingues francophones indépendamment du taux d’exposition au français à la maison. Cette étude illustre par ailleurs que les enfants allophones produisent des erreurs que nous définissions comme atypiques selon le modèle de développement unilingue. En raison de l’absence d’évaluation dans la langue maternelle de l’enfant, il n’était pas possible d’expliquer ce type d’erreurs. Ainsi, la suite de la thèse a évalué les deux langues des enfants bilingues provenant de la communauté algérienne du Québec, une communauté en forte croissance. L’analyse du développement consonantique des enfants bilingues arabe-français a permis d’évaluer l’hypothèse de transfert interlinguistique (Chapitres 4 et 5). Les résultats de ces deux études ont soutenu l’hypothèse de transfert positif par une précision consonantique supérieure pour les consonnes partagées par les deux langues. De plus, ces résultats ont soutenu l’hypothèse de transfert négatif par des exemples de transfert bidirectionnel de consonnes spécifiques d’une langue à l’autre. Le chapitre 5 décrit le développement des consonnes de quatre enfants bilingues arabe-français de 3 ans à 4 ans 6 mois. Cette étude longitudinale a permis d’observer des différences individuelles dans le développement. Finalement, le chapitre 6 s’est intéressé aux facteurs internes et externes à l’enfant associés à la production de consonnes dans un contexte bilingue. Les résultats d’une cohorte d’enfants bilingues simultanés arabe-français âgés de 4 ans décrivent une relation intralinguistique entre le vocabulaire réceptif et expressif et la précision consonantique. Les résultats décrivent aussi une corrélation interlinguistique entre le niveau de vocabulaire expressif en français et la précision consonantique en arabe. Enfin, une corrélation significative a été notée entre l’expériente courante à la langue arabe et la précision consonantique en arabe. Les données de cette thèse démontrent la complexité du développement bilingue de la production de consonnes. Elles suggèrent que la production de consonnes varie selon les systèmes phonologiques des langues, les compétences langagières de l’enfant et l’environnement linguistique de l’enfant. Des recherches futures sur d’autres combinaisons de langues sont nécessaires afin de développer un modèle robuste qui explique le développement bilingue simultané de la phonologie.In the current environment, bilingual children do not receive the same quality of care as their monolingual peers. For speech sound disorders, bilingual children are underrepresented in the speech-language pathologist’s office (Stow and Dodd 2005). One reason for this problem is a lack of data on bilingual development in linguistically diverse populations (Verdon et al., 2015). In this dissertation, we aim to address this issue by describing the acquisition of consonants by preschoolers in a bilingual context. Indeed, consonant production is a frequently used measure as a diagnostic indicator of developmental speech sound disorders (e.g., Shriberg et al., 1997). This thesis first examines consonantal accuracy in French for a group of allophone children (Chapter 3). The results show that allophone children have a consonantal accuracy similar to their monolingual francophone peers independently of the rate of exposure to French at home. This study also illustrates errors in allophone children that could not be explained due to the lack of assessment in the child’s native language. Thus, the remainder of the thesis assessed both languages of bilingual children from the rapidly growing Algerian community in Quebec. The analysis of the consonant development of Arabic-French bilingual children allowed for the evaluation of the cross-linguistic transfer hypothesis (Chapters 4 and 5). The results of these two studies supported the positive transfer hypothesis by showing higher consonantal accuracy for consonants shared by the two languages. In addition, these results supported the negative transfer hypothesis by showing lower consonantal accuracy for Arabic anf French specific consonanats. There are also examples of bidirectional transfer of specific consonants from one language to the other, but number of examples is limited. Chapter 5 described the consonant development of four Arabic-French bilingual children from 3 years to 4 years 6 months. This longitudinal study allowed us to observe individual differences in development. Finally, Chapter 6 focused on child- internal and child-external factors associated with consonant production in a bilingual context. Results from a cohort of 4-year-old simultaneous Arabic-French bilingual children describe an intralinguistic relationship between receptive and expressive vocabulary and consonantal accuracy, and a cross-linguistic correlation between French expressive vocabulary 8 and Arabic consonantal accuracy. Finally, a significant correlation was noted between exposure to Arabic language and Arabic consonantal accuracy. The data in this thesis demonstrate the complexity of bilingual development of consonant production. They suggest that consonant production varies according to the phonological systems of the languages, the child's language skills, and the child's language environment. Future research on other language combinations is needed to develop a robust model which explains the simultaneous bilingual development of phonology

    Semitic Dialects and Dialectology

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    Characterised by the multiplicity and diversity of research and methodology, the European tradition of Semitic linguistics has always supported fieldwork and highly valued the data obtained in this way as it allows to create an interesting dynamic for linguistic studies itself. In the spirit of this tradition and to uphold it, the present book is a collection of articles based on data gathered primarily during field research expeditions. The volume is divided into two parts—Studies on various specific linguistic issues and Texts containing previously unpublished transcriptions of audio recordings in Arabic dialects, Maltese and Jibbali/Shehret.Die europäische Tradition der semitischen Linguistik, die sich durch Vielfalt der Forschungsmethoden auszeichnet, hat dialektologische Feldforschung immer hoch geschätzt, da die gewonnenen Sprachaufnahmen im Kontext der älteren Sprachformen gesetzt werden und somit eine hochgradig interessante Dynamik in der Sprachwissenschaft ermöglichen. Im Geiste dieser Tradition und um sie aufrechtzuerhalten, ist das vorliegende Buch eine Sammlung von Artikeln, deren Daten vor allem während der Feldforschung gesammelt wurden. Der Band gliedert sich in zwei Teile - Studien zu verschiedenen spezifischen linguistischen Fragestellungen und Texte mit bisher unveröffentlichten Transkriptionen von Audioaufnahmen in arabischen Dialekten, Maltesisch und Jibbali/Shehret
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