Swedish relative clause extractions: The Small Clause Hypothesis

On the basis of data from Swedish, this thesis investigates the Small Clause Hypothesis put forth by Kush et al. (2013). The hypothesis is suggested to account for the rare possibility of relative clause extraction, a phenomenon that poses a challenge for syntactic theories of locality. In brief, the hypothesis states that the possibility to extract from relative clauses is restricted to cases where the matrix contains a small clause-selecting verb. In that case the parser can reconstruct the complex noun phrase involving a relative clause as a small clause (from which extraction is not blocked). Language variation is claimed to be derivable from differences with regard to properties of the relative pronoun. A detailed investigation of the Small Clause Hypothesis and the analysis based on that, against data from Swedish, reveals that the predictions generated by the proposal are not borne out. First, a number of extraction examples retrieved from the literature constitute counterexamples to the claim that relative clause extraction is restricted to small clause-selecting matrix verbs. Second, Kush et al.’s (2013) assumptions about the role of the Swedish relative complementizer in the parsing process are implausible in light of data from other Scandinavian languages and extraction data from the relevant small clauses. Finally, the results of a controlled acceptability judgment experiment on Swedish relative clause extractions showed no statistically significant differences between matrix predicates. The conclusion of the thesis is that Swedish relative clause extractions do not provide any support for the Small Clause Hypothesis and therefore that another explanation for the phenomenon must be sought

More than Meets the Eye: an Eye-tracking Experiment on the Beauty Contest Game

The beauty contest game has been used to analyze how many steps of reasoning subjects are able to perform. A common finding is that a majority seem to have low levels of reasoning. We use eye-tracking to investigate not only the number chosen in the game, but also the strategies in use and the numbers contemplated. We can show that not all cases that are seemingly level-1 or level-2 thinking indeed are {they might be highly sophisticated adaptations to beliefs about other people's limited reasoning abilities

Can Personality Explain what is Underlying Women's Unwillingness to Compete?

There is ample evidence that women do not react to competition as men do and are less willing to enter a competition than men (e.g., Gneezy et al.(2003), Niederle and Vesterlund (2007)). In this paper, we use personality variables to understand the underlying motives of women (and men) to enter a competition or avoid it. We use the Big Five personality factors (Goldberg (1981), McCrae and Costa JR (2003)), where especially neuroticism has been related to performance in achievement settings. We first test whether scores on the Big Five are related to performance in our experiment, and second how this is related to incentives. We can show that the sex di fference in the willingness to enter a competition is mediated by neuroticism and further that neuroticism is negatively related to performance in competiton. This raises the possibility that those women who do not choose competitive incentives "know" that they should not

Mobility control as state-making in civil war: Forcing exit, selective return and strategic laissez-faire

This paper addresses the question of how different actors attempt to control mobility during civil war, and how mobility control and processes of state-making interact in such settings. Mobility in civil wars is often considered a political act by the various actors involved: Leaving the country can be perceived as an act of opposition, as can moving between territories which are controlled by different, opposing factions. Drawing on literature on strategic displacement and migration politics and combining this with empirical insights from the ongoing wars in Libya and Syria, the paper identifies three mechanisms of mobility control in civil war settings: forcing exit, selective return as a form of expulsion, and strategic laissez-faire as the intentional absence of regulation regarding displacement and return. The analysis reveals that all three mechanisms are employed by state actor(s), rebels, and militias, and can be understood as elements of a new (post)war order that includes some citizens while excluding others depending on perceptions of political threats. We interpret the three mechanisms as ways in which actors in civil war settings attempt to manipulate a country’s demography in their own favour in a process of state-making. The paper is based on fieldwork conducted between 2018 and 2021 in Syria, Lebanon, Libya, and Tunisia

Perceiving Migration Crises: A View from the European Neighbourhood

For a long time now, "crisis" has been the dominant trope in European discourses on migration. This perception is extremely Eurocentric, as migration to the European Union is minimal compared to other world regions. How do non-EU states such as Tunisia and Turkey, which are bound to the EU through neighbourhood policies and agreements, view not only migration movements perceived as "critical" within the EU but also the ensuing migration agreements? Tunisian media discourses on the EU migration deal of June 2018 show that Tunisian political analysts are aware that the "migration crisis" is actively constructed by political actors in the EU for the latter's own political gain. In Tunisia itself, no such "crisis" was diagnosed - at least in media discourse -despite the high and rising number of forced migrants entering the country. Instead, political reporting focused on local domestic crises and on Tunisia's mediating role within the neighbouring conflict in Libya. Similarly, the reporting in Turkey on the negotiations leading up to the joint EU-Turkey statement of March 2016 shows an acute awareness of European constructions of a "migration crisis." Despite Turkey's rapid development from a migrant-sending state to one of the most important host states for forced migrants in the world, Turkish media reporting focused on local issues and conflicts and on Turkey's strategic interests in the Syrian conflict. EU perceptions of migration as a crisis and discrepancies between a rhetorical commitment to humanitarian values and real-life actions are carefully received and critically evaluated in neigbouring states, highlighting the need to better understand perceptions of the EU, as this can be expected to impact future cooperation. The EU should build knowledge on local and national discourses on migration in (potential) partner states; reflect upon who gains from the narrative of forced migration as a "crisis" both within and outside of the EU; and address severe protection gaps for refugees and migrants in partner states when negotiating cooperative migration governance

Handlungsmuster von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern beim Einsatz neuer Medien. Grundlagen eines Projekts zur empirischen Unterrichtsforschung

Ziel des vorzustellenden Projekts ist es in einem ersten Schritt, Handlungsmuster von Lehrpersonen beim Einsatz von neuen Medien im Unterricht der Fächer Deutsch, Mathematik und Informatik der Sekundarstufe II zu identifizieren. Zu diesem Zweck werden Videoaufnahmen von 30 Unterrichtsstunden im Hinblick auf zugrunde liegende ‚Unterrichtsscripts’ (i.e. didaktische Routinen) analysiert und die subjektiven Theorien der Lehrkräfte zum Lehren und Lernen erhoben. Bei der Zusammensetzung der Stichprobe findet neben der Variation der Fachzugehörigkeit der Expertisegrad der Lehrpersonen bezogen auf den Einsatz neuer Medien Berücksichtigung, und zwar in zwei Abstufungen (hoch – niedrig). Auf diese Weise wird ermöglicht, in einem zweiten Schritt begründet Hypothesen zu Zusammenhängen zwischen Handlungsmustern sowie Fach und Expertise als Kontextfaktoren zu generieren und mögliche Geltungsbereiche zu beschreiben. Über diese Grundlagenforschung hinausgehend sollen in einem dritten Schritt anhand der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse Interventionen entwickelt werden, die eine Weiterentwicklung von Lehrerhandeln beim Einsatz neuer Medien im Unterricht ermöglichen. Hier stellt sich allerdings die Frage, wie sich Handeln grundsätzlich verändern lässt