Browsing Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Linguistics by Title
Now showing items 118-137 of 196
-
Parallel Architecture, Parallel Acquisition: Cross-Linguistic Evidence from Nominal and Verbal Domains
(Georgetown University, 2017)This dissertation explores parallels between Complementizer Phrase (CP) and Determiner Phrase (DP) semantics, syntax, and morphology–including similarities in case-assignment, subject-verb and possessor-possessum agreement, ... -
Phonetic variation in Washington DC: Race, neighborhood, and gender
(Georgetown University, 2016)This dissertation explores the speech of African American and European American residents in the District of Columbia, approaching from both variationist and discourse-analytic perspectives. The study investigates the ... -
Phonetics and Phonology of 'Voiced-Aspirated' Stops: Evidence from Production, Perception, Alternation and Learnability
(Georgetown University, 2019)There has been a long-standing debate regarding the featural representation of 'voiced-aspirated’ stops. Traditional models, including Laryngeal Realism (Honeybone, 2005; Iverson & Salmons, 1995; Beckman et al., 2013), assume that -
Phonological Variation at the Intersection of Ethnoracial Identity, Place, and Style in Washington, D.C.
(Georgetown University, 2013)This dissertation examines phonological variation in Washington, DC, which has remained under-explored in urban sociolinguistics. The paucity of research on language in DC relates to its dialectal marginality, its unique ... -
Positioning, Storylines, Master Narratives, and Intertextuality: Student Veteran Discourse about Decisions, Transitions, and Communities of Practice
(Georgetown University, 2022)While existing research recognizes the importance of transitions in military members’ lives, there are few, and to my knowledge no micro-level discourse analytic, studies illuminating how military veterans talk about their ... -
Power and Solidarity in Moral, Affective, and Epistemic Positioning: Constructing Identities in Everyday Vietnamese Family Discourse
(Georgetown University, 2020)Expanding scholarship on Vietnamese interaction (e.g., Luong, 1990; Sidnell and Shohet, 2013) and discursive identity construction in families (e.g., Tannen, Kendall, and Gordon, 2007), this study explores everyday ... -
Power through Participation: A sociolinguistic approach to identifying leadership in executive education classroom discourse
(Georgetown University, 2017)Studies of power in professionals’ relationships are generally situated in the workplace (e.g. Holmes & Chiles, 2010; Schnurr & Chan, 2011). Inspired by this work, I extend the study of power to interactions between ... -
A Principled Cognitive Linguistics Account of English Phrasal Verbs
(Georgetown University, 2014)There have long been attempts to discover some systematicity in the semantics of English phrasal verbs. However, previous research has focused exclusively on the contribution of the multiple meanings of the prepositions ... -
Problematizing Minority Voices: Intertextuality and Ideology in the Court Reporter's Representation of Rachel Jeantel's Voice in the State of Florida v. George Zimmerman Murder Trial
(Georgetown University, 2017)In 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, who, after a month-long highly-publicized trial, was acquitted of second-degree murder. In this study, I examine the testimony of Martin’s childhood friend and key ... -
Quantitative Authorship Attribution of Users of Mexican Drug Dealing Related Online Forums
(Georgetown University, 2012)As the violence in the Mexican drug war escalates, a proliferation of social media sites about drug trafficking in Mexico was followed by the murder of some of their users, and the eventual disappearance of many of those ... -
Raciolinguistic Ideologies in Multiracial Heritage Speakers and the Denial of Racial Authenticity
(Georgetown University, 2022)This study examines the role raciolinguistic ideologies play in the racial exclusion and denial ofracial authenticity of one-white parent mixed-race individuals through the qualitative sociolinguistic and discourse analysis ... -
Read all about it: A linguistic analysis of the media's construction of rape
(Georgetown University, 2016)This paper investigates the way the media discusses the topic of rape, with respect to both its overall distribution and description in a spoken news corpus, as well as a qualitative analysis of a more recent article. Past ... -
Reassembling Ethnicity: Stylistic Variation in African American English Prosody
(Georgetown University, 2012)This dissertation investigates the social meaning of prosodic rhythm (using the Pairwise Variability Index, or PVI) and falsetto phonation in African American English (AAE), and how these paralinguistic features vary within ... -
Reciprocity in Online Social Interactions: Three Longitudinal Case Studies of a Video-mediated Japanese-English ETandem Exchange
(Georgetown University, 2018)Reciprocity is a key principle of eTandem, a telecollaborative arrangement where learners of different native languages meet online and use one language during half of the session and then do the same for the other language. ... -
Referenceless Evaluation of Natural Language Generation from Meaning Representations
(Georgetown University, 2021)Automatic evaluation of NLG usually involves comparison to human-authored references which are treated as the ground truth. However, these references often fail to adequately capture the range of valid output for an NLG ... -
Referenceless Evaluation of Natural Language Generation from Meaning Representations
(Georgetown University, 2021)Automatic evaluation of NLG usually involves comparison to human-authored references which are treated as the ground truth. However, these references often fail to adequately capture the range of valid output for an NLG ... -
Reframing Metalinguistic Awareness for Low-Literate L2 Learners: Four Case Studies
(Georgetown University, 2016)The present dissertation seeks to expand the notion of metalinguistic awareness by exploring how it relates to L2 literacy and L2 learning, and also what it means to be “low-literate” in adult L2 English acquisition. The ... -
Responding (or not) on Facebook: A sociolinguistic study of Liking, Commenting, and other reactions to posts
(Georgetown University, 2015)Although social-networking sites have become increasingly dialogic – with automated response buttons and spaces for comments available under almost every bit of content – the audience patterns and hearership norms that ... -
Rethinking Post-Entry Language Assessment Policies in the Context of U.S. Higher Education: A Socially Responsible Approach
(Georgetown University, 2021)Many higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United States have developed what is called post-entry language assessment (PELA) policies. The stated goal of PELA policies is to help admitted international students succeed ... -
Rethinking Post-Entry Language Assessment Policies in the Context of U.S. Higher Education: A Socially Responsible Approach
(Georgetown University, 2021)Many higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United States have developed what is called post-entry language assessment (PELA) policies. The stated goal of PELA policies is to help admitted international students succeed ...
