“And I was like ‘ah yeah, what are they talking about?’” – The use of quotatives in New Zealand English

Research in recent years has shown that the use of quotatives such as say, think and be like is an important narrative tool in English interactions. These devices can be used to make a story more immediate and entertaining and to make the tone of a conversation more personal. The form be like in particular, being a relatively new quotative that is often associated with the speech of young women, has been found to work as a marker of informality. The interpersonal functions of quotatives as well as recent changes observed within quotative systems make them an interesting device to investigate, both in terms of gender differences as well as differences between varieties of English. This paper focuses on the uses of quotatives in New Zealand English, based on a corpus of roughly 5 hours of dyadic interactions between native New Zealand university students (same sex and mixed sex pairs). The study seeks to establish the quotative inventory of New Zealand English for this speaker group. The data is analysed in terms of the forms and frequencies of quotatives and gender differences, and the results are discussed in the context of similar studies conducted for other varieties of English

Magnetism and Afterglow United: Synthesis of Novel Double Core‐Shell Eu2+^{2+}‐doped Bifunctional Nanoparticles

Afterglow–magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) offer enormous potential for bioimaging applications, as they can be manipulated by a magnetic field, as well as emitting light after irradiation with an excitation source, thus distinguishing themselves from fluorescent living cells. In this work, a novel double core–shell strategy is presented, uniting co‐precipitation with combustion synthesis routes to combine an Fe$_{3}$O$_{4}$ magnetic core (≈15 nm) with an afterglow SrAl$_{2}$O$_{4}$:Eu$^{2+}$,Dy$^{3+}$ outer coat (≈10 nm), and applying a SiO$_{2}$ protective middle layer (≈16 nm) to reduce the luminescence quenching caused by the Fe core ions. The resulting Fe$_{3}$O$_{4}$@SiO$_{2}$@SrAl$_{2}$O$_{4}$:Eu$^{2+}$,Dy$^{3+}$ NPs emit green light attributed to the 4f$^{6}$5d$^{1}$→4f$^{7}$ ($^{8}$S$_{7/2}$) transition of Eu$^{2+}$ under UV radiation and for a few seconds afterwards. This bifunctional nanocomposite can potentially be applied for the detection and separation of cells or diagnostically relevant molecules

The use of pragmatic devices by German non-native speakers of English

Mastering the pragmatic norms of another language is one of the greatest challenges to non-native speakers. One particularly difficult aspect of pragmatic conventions is the appropriate use of pragmatic devices such as like, you know, I think, and or something like that which have been found to serve a number of important textual and interactive functions in discourse. This study investigates the use of such devices by non-native speakers in cross-cultural conversations in terms of frequency and function in order to establish to what extent L2 usage differs from native speaker norms. In particular, the study examines the use of the English pragmatic devices like, eh and General Extenders (and things like that, or something like that) by German non-native speakers of English (GNNSE) in interactions with native speakers of New Zealand English (NSNZE). The results are compared with the use of these forms in native-native conversations in New Zealand English and the use of close equivalent forms in German by the same GNNSE. The analysis is based on a corpus of approximately 18 1⁄2 hours of dyadic conversation or about 224,338 words of transcription

Preparation, Structure and Spectroscopic Properties of NH 4 [Ln(S 2 CNH 2 ) 4 ] ⋅ H 2 O (Ln=La, Eu)

The title compounds were prepared under mild ambient conditions by a facile co-precipitation route. NH4[Eu(S2CNH2)4] ⋅ H2O (a) and NH4[La(S2CNH2)4] ⋅ H2O (b) crystallize isotypically in the monoclinic space group P21/c with a=8.4461(3), b=13.6367(3), c=16.2945(5) Å, β=103.759(2)° (for (a)), and a=8.50484(9), b=13.84476(16), c=16.20816(17) Å, β=103.7644(11)° for (b), respectively. The spectroscopic data reveal the presence of a ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) process of low energy in a and in the solid solutions NH4[La1−xEux(S2CNH2)4] ⋅ H2O (x=0.016 and 0.05). Despite of the consequent efficient luminescent quenching, it was possible to recorded excitation and emission spectra at room temperature. These spectra are characterized by narrow bands due to intraconfigurational-4f transitions of the Eu3+ ion. However, broad bands associated to the LMCT state were also observed, mainly for the solid solutions NH4[La1−xEux(S2CNH2)4] ⋅ H2O (x=0.016 and 0.05). Consequently, an intramolecular energy transfer mechanism is proposed, taking into account the role of the LMCT on the spectroscopic properties of dithiocarbamate complexes

Synthesis, Structures, Thermal and Luminescence Properties of Zn and Cd Halide Coordination Polymers with 2‐Cyanopyrazine

Reaction of MX2 (M = Cd, Zn; X = Cl, Br, I) with 2‐cyanopyrazine leads to the formation of compounds with the composition CdX2(2‐cyanopyrazine)2 (X = Cl; CdCl, X = Br; CdBr and X = I; CdI) and ZnX2(2‐cyanopyrazine)2 (X = Cl; ZnCl, X = Br; ZnBr and X = I; ZnI/I). In the crystal structures of the Cd compounds and in ZnCl, the metal cations are octahedrally coordinated and are linked into chains by the halide anions via common edges. In contrast, in the crystal structures of ZnBr and ZnI/I the metal cations are tetrahedrally coordinated into discrete complexes. Further investigations show that a second modification of ZnCl2(2‐cyanopyrazine)2 exists (ZnI/II), which is formed by kinetic control. The thermal properties of the 2‐cyanopyrazine rich compounds were investigated by TG‐DTA and temperature dependent XRPD measurements. Upon heating the Cd compounds, all 2‐cyanopyrazine ligands are removed in a single step with no indication of the formation of a 2‐cyanopyrazine deficient phase. A similar behavior is observed for ZnI, whereas for ZnCl and ZnBr, TG‐DTA measurements suggest the formation of a 2‐cyanopyrazine deficient phase that, in case of ZnBr, cannot be isolated and, for ZnCl, cannot be obtained pure. The emission of these compounds is shifted from the blue to orange depending on the crystal structure and the nature of the halide anion

Meeting the cultural and service needs of Arabic international students by using QFD

Quality has become an important factor in global competition for many reasons. Intensive global competition and the demand for better quality by customers has led organizations to realize the benefits of providing quality products and services in order to successfully compete and survive. Higher education institutions are one example of these organisations. Higher education institutions work in an intensive competitive environment worldwide driven by increasing demands for learning by local and international students. As a result, the managers of these sectors have realized that improving the quality of services is important for achieving customer satisfaction which can help survival in an internationally competitive market. To do this, it is necessary for organizations to know their customers and identify their requirements. To this end, many higher education institutions have adopted principles of total quality management (TQM) to improve their education quality which leads to better performance through involvement of every department to achieve excellence in business. This chapter considers the importance of measuring quality in order to assist universities to proactively manage the design and improvement of the social and academic experiences of postgraduate international students, and plan management decision-making processes to deliver high-quality services in a globalized business of provision of higher education. Higher education institutions must operate effectively and efficiently and be able to deliver quality programs, by seeking to better understand the needs of their customers to be competitive in this market space

Use of general extenders by German non-native speakers of English

Based on a corpus of ca. 181/2 hours of dyadic interactions between nearstrangers, this paper investigates the use of general extenders (GEs) by native speakers of New Zealand English (NSNZE) and German (NSG) in terms of their forms and frequencies. The results are compared with the use of GEs produced by German non-native speakers of English (GNNSE). GEs are a group of pragmatic devices such as and things like that, or something, which have been associated with expressing epistemic modality and interpersonal politeness. The results of the study suggest that, while NSG use GEs more frequently than NSNZE, GE construction in English is more flexible than in German. Furthermore, GNNSE seem to transfer some NSG forms to English, creating nonnative-like structures. An increased awareness of the native norms in terms of construction and use of GEs might help non-native speakers facilitate communication in cross-cultural interactions and establish interpersonal rapport.20 page(s

"And I was like 'ah yeah, what are they talking about?'" - The use of quotatives in New Zealand English

Research in recent years has shown that the use of quotatives such as say, think and be like is an important narrative tool in English interactions. These devices can be used to make a story more immediate and entertaining and to make the tone of a conversation more personal. The form be like in particular, being a relatively new quotative that is often associated with the speech of young women, has been found to work as a marker of informality. The interpersonal functions of quotatives as well as recent changes observed within quotative systems make them an interesting device to investigate, both in terms of gender differences as well as differences between varieties of English. This paper focuses on the uses of quotatives in New Zealand English, based on a corpus of roughly 5 hours of dyadic interactions between native New Zealand university students (same sex and mixed sex pairs). The study seeks to establish the quotative inventory of New Zealand English for this speaker group. The data is analysed in terms of the forms and frequencies of quotatives and gender differences, and the results are discussed in the context of similar studies conducted for other varieties of English.14 page(s