Teses / dissertações sobre o tema "Were language"

L’elaborato si propone di analizzare una selezione di cinque brani musicali tratti dalla discografia della cantautrice statunitense Suzanne Vega, per poi tentarne una traduzione commentata dalla loro lingua originale, l’inglese, a quella italiana. Scopo di questo elaborato di tesi è quello di dimostrare come i brani musicali di Suzanne Vega, in puro stile cantautorale e folk, siano da considerarsi, dal punto di vista sia linguistico che contenutistico, a tutti gli effetti dei testi poetici, e che debbano essere maneggiati come tali al momento della traduzione. A una visione d’insieme sulla teoria della traduzione poetica e di brani musicali, è seguita una panoramica sulla vita e la produzione musicale, testuale e artistica della cantautrice. Si è passati dunque alla contestualizzazione e all’analisi dei testi originali, per poi arrivare alla traduzione vera e propria dei brani, e al successivo commento ragionato.

This is a small quantitative study with focus on colloquial English words with an Old Norse origin. The essay aims to study the history of the Viking invasion and its impact on the English language and to answer the question to what extent Old Norse has influenced modern English vocabulary. Also, the quantitative study aims to answer how well elderly British people are familiar with colloquial English words with Old Norse origins and their denotative meaning and also whether there is a difference in knowledge depending on where in Britain one lives. A quantitative questionnaire was designed to research elderly British people’s knowledge of fifteen different colloquial words with Old Norse origins and to see whether the respondents recognized the words and if they knew the words. This questionnaire was then sent to managers working for AgeUK. The managers in their turn distributed the questionnaire to elderly people in their municipality. The results indicate that the elderly people living in parts of Britain that were part of the Danelaw have a better understanding of the words researched. The research has also shown that different spellings of the words exist and that the denotative meaning of the words might differ depending on from where in Britain one originates.

Excerpt: In 1975, Bob Dylan invited Sam Shepard, the young playwright who had ignited the Off-Broadway and London theatre scene, to go on tour with him in order to write scenes and dialogue for a film of the Rolling Thunder Revue.

Since the 75th anniversary of the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane in 2003, a growing number of journalists and historians writing about the disaster have incorporated Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God as part of the official historical record of the hurricane. These writers often border on depicting Their Eyes as the authentic experience of black migrant workers impacted by the hurricane and subsequent flood. Within the novel itself, however, Hurston theorizes on the potential epistemic violence that occurs when a piece of evidence—a photograph, fallen body, or verbal artifact—is used to judge a person. Without a person's ability to use self-representation to give an "understandin'" (7) to go along with the evidence, snapshots or textual evidence threaten to violently separate people from their prior knowledge of themselves. By offering the historical context of photographs of African Americans in the Post-Reconstruction South, I argue that Janie experiences this epistemic violence as a young girl when seeing a photograph of herself initiates her into the racial hierarchy of the South. A few decades later, while on trial for shooting her husband Tea Cake, Janie again faces epistemic violence when the evidence of Tea Cake's body is used to judge her and her marriage; however, by giving an understandin' to go along with the evidence through self-representation, Janie is able to clarify that which other forms of evidence distort and is able to go free. Modern texts appropriating Their Eyes run the risk of enacting epistemic violence on the victims of the hurricane, the novel, and history itself when they present the novel as the complete or authentic perspective of the migrant workers in the hurricane. By properly situating the novel as a historical text that offers a particular narrative of the hurricane rather than the complete or authentic experience of the victims, modern writers can honor Hurston's literary achievement without robbing the actual victims of the hurricane of their voice.

The use of myth in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God has been touched on by a few critics, but the wealth of Hurston's knowledge of different cultures offers readers a number of stories and tales from which to draw possible analogues to her characters. In fact, readers can trace Greek, Roman, Norse, Babylonian, Egyptian, African and African-American mythic elements in her character Tea Cake Woods. Hurston uses these analogues to enrich the characterization and to posit her theories of love and happiness in the modern age.

In scholarship discussing Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s self-realization is central to her identity, and many scholars view and discuss her as a cultural hero. But her success is conditional on circumstance rather than composition of character, a fact this essay explores through a careful comparison between Janie and Tweet, a character from Ellen Douglas’ Can’t Quit You, Baby; specifically, while Janie ultimately succeeds in her world—even while confronting gender oppression—she improbably avoids the additional, crippling subjugation of racial prejudice that Tweet endures. Through this and a discussion of definitions and Hurston’s work as a folklorist/writer, I attempt to show that Janie can be more effectively described as a folk hero, a title that: (1) accurately identifies her functions in her fictional society and in literary fiction and (2) satisfies Hurston’s goals in the novel while also accurately reflecting Janie’s journey to self fulfillment.

The study of early cross-linguistic diplomatic epistolography was first introduced in Brownlees' (2012) comparative study of Italian and English personal newsletters. Given the field’s young age and the strong need for both further research and the retrieving of new, untranscribed and unanalysed data, the present study set out to help move this field forward by examining, at both a textual superstructure and semantic macrostructural level, two sets of unchartered diplomatic newsletters which representatives at foreign courts despatched back to their respective home countries. The first set of original manuscripts comprises periodical newsletters which Baron Christer Bonde, the Swedish ambassador-extraordinary to England, wrote to Charles X, King of Sweden, between 1655-6, whereas the second set consists of letters sent in 1680 by John Robinson, England’s chargé d’affaires in Sweden, to Sir Leoline Jenkins, Secretary of State for the Northern Department of England. The analysis has shown that whereas the textual superstructures of the two diplomats’ correspondences remain similarly robust, the instantiating semantic macrostructures display not only stylistic and compositional, but also narrative, variation.

The Coyote Cycle of oral history of the Coeur D’Alene people is rich in etiological content. These narratives seek to anchor the ethnic Snchitsu’umsh group geographically as well as provide context to the origin of much of the Coeur D’Alene world, such as the origin of the native tribes, the release of salmon to feed the people, and much more. The texts will be used to provide evidence of this etiological intention and show that in many cases the oral histories tie the ethnic community with specific geographical locations on their traditional lands. A specific case study of an auxiliary character with emphasis on thematic role in the narratives explains some of the intent in these oral histories. Lastly, by tracing some historical changes in the language and assessing ways in which the community has responded to language attrition, specifically, that issues of language purity have arisen as a consequence of this attrition. Evidence will show that the language borrowed some words from English and French as well as created its own words for many of the new concepts upon contact.

Proučavane su koroziona postojanost i tendencija lepljenja različitihmaterijala u kontaktu sa tečnom Al–Si–Cu legurom. Ispitivanjem suobuhvaćeni čelik za rad na toplo, plazma nitrirani čelik i dupleksslojevi sa CrN, TiAlN, TiAlSiN i CrAlN prevlakama, različitog nivoapovršinske hrapavosti. Za ispitivanja pomenutih fenomenaprimenjena je metoda izvlačenja, koja je unapređena kako bi se povećalenjena tačnost i verodostojnost simulacije procesa livenja. Korozioniefekti su pojačani tako što su uzorci osim kratkog kontakta sa odlivkomzadržavani i u dužim periodima u kontaktu sa tečnom legurom (5 i 20min). Uprkos opštim stavovima, za ispitivane materijale jeustanovljeno da su sile izvlačenja uzoraka iz Al–Si–Cu odlivakanezavisne od njihovog hemijskog sastava. Uticaj hrapavosti je izraženkod uzoraka sa prevlakama kod kojih pri smanjenju hrapavosti dolazi dopovećanja sile izvlačenja. Sve ispitane prevlake su sklone mehaničkomlepljenju Al–Si–Cu legure za svoje površine, ali sa aspekta korozije utečnom metalu značajno prevazilaze performanse čelika i plazmanitriranog sloja. Duži kontakt livene legure sa površinama prevlakauzrokovao je niže vrednosti sila izvlačenja, što je posledicaoksidacije površina prevlaka. Ustanovljeno je da su ispitivaneprevlake inertne ka tečnoj leguri aluminijuma. Međutim, dolazi dooksidacije i korozije materijala podloge kroz greške rasta koje suprisutne u prevlakama. Stečena znanja o identifikovanimmehanizmima habanja i propadanja zaštitnih slojeva prevlakaposlužiće daljem razvoju dupleks slojeva namenjenih za zaštitu alataza livenje pod pritiskom.
Corrosion resistance and soldering tendency of different materials in moltenAl–Si–Cu alloy were studied. Hot-working tool steel, plasma nitrided steel andduplex layers with CrN, TiAlN, TiAlSiN and CrAlN top coatings, which wereproduced to various degree of surface roughness, were covered by the study.An ejection test was employed for investigation of the concerned phenomena.The ejection test was improved in order to increase its accuracy and thereliability of process simulation. Samples were examined in both short andextended periods of contact (5 and 20 min) with liquid casting. Castingsolidification was extended in order to intensify the corrosion effects. Contraryto common findings, it was found that the ejection force of the investigatedmaterials does not depend on their chemical composition. For the coatedsamples, a pronounced dependence of the ejection force on the surfaceroughness was found. The ejection force increases with decrease in surfaceroughness. All investigated coatings are prone to mechanical soldering by Al–Si–Cu alloy. Still, their corrosion resistance substantially exceeds the corrosionresistance of steel and plasma nitrided layer. Longer exposure of coatedsamples to cast alloy induced lower ejection forces, which is a consequenceof coatings oxidation. It was found that the investigated coatings are inert toliquid aluminium. However, the underlying material undergoes oxidation andcorrosion through coating growth defects. The findings concerning the wearmechanisms of protective layers support further development of duplex layersintended for die casting tools protection.

Previous research from the perspective of the sociocultural theory of learning indicates that discussion and interaction with other people promote language learning. The purpose of the present study is to examine discussions of 12 German university-level students solving a linguistic task, a translation, in groups during their Swedish language lessons. The key point is to investigate the benefits of collaborative tasks in language learning. When translating the text together, the students verbalized their hypotheses about the Swedish grammar and compared their implicit conceptions with their fellow students. The students used many different strategies to give explanations to problematic linguistic phenomena. The discussions were usually democratic, but it has also shown that the students’ language skills and personality played a central role in the decision making process. Moreover, the analysis reveals that the translations produced by the groups were more accurate than those written individually. Finally, implications of these results and pointers to further exploration are discussed.

The sexual abuse of children in South–Africa, and across the world, is becoming a daily phenomenon. Such abuse of children takes place in every class, culture and race. Forensic social workers are appointed for sexual abuse cases to assess the alleged victims of sexual abuse in order to determine the likelihood that sexual abuse actually took place. The problem in South–Africa is two–fold: first, only a few social workers are qualified forensic social workers and second, most of the forensic social workers in South–Africa are white females who cannot speak or understand all the 11 official languages of South–Africa. Yet the children who are victims of sexual abuse come from cultures and races where these 11 languages are spoken. This then raises the problem of the language barrier between the forensic social worker and the alleged victim of sexual abuse. The appointment of language interpreters for forensic interviews is evidently the only way to overcome the language barrier. There is a great need for language interpreters as their role is crucial to the forensic process. However, many forensic social workers have experienced serious problems with language interpreters during the forensic interviews and have remarked that the mere presence and behaviour of the language interpreter is often so detrimental to the forensic assessment that they prefer to do without them. The problem of the language barrier remains, however, and the problems of the appointment of the language interpreters have to be addressed to enable forensic social workers to conduct forensic assessments successfully and thereby assist in ensuring justice in such criminal cases. The researcher in this study believes that the communication barrier that exists between the forensic social worker, the alleged victim of sexual abuse and the language interpreter is a crucial issue that requires immediate attention to ensure effective service delivery in the judicial system of South–Africa. The article format was selected in accordance with Regulation A.11.2.5 for a Master’s degree in (Social Work in Forensic Practice). The article complies with the requirements of the Journal CARSA.
Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Bibliography: pages 161-168.
Hierdie studie het gemik op 'n herwaardering van Elise Muller se bydrae tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde. Hennie Aucamp het met Elise Muller. Verhale en essays 1942-1981, die eerste stap tot herwaardering geneem ten opsigte van Elise Muller en haar prosawerk. So ook het Nel in haar skripsie met waardering gekyk na die bekende en haas onbekende werk van Muller. Hierdie nuwe kyk na die werk van Elise Muller word in die tesis verder gevoer. Dit poog om die onbekende, "ander" Elise Muller op die voorgrond te stel. Ten einde die "ander" Muller te belig, was dit nodig om te let op die tradisionele Muller. 'n Ondersoek na beide Muller se vernuwende en tradisionele bydrae tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde het dit duidelik laat blyk dat sy heel gebalanseerd en genuanseerd te werke gaan met die tradisionele Afrikaner ideologieë.

- Einleitung - Was, wo und wann im Roman T - Autoreferenz zu Чапаев и Пустота - Die Relation der literarischen Welten im Textuniversum Pelevins - Обнажение приема20 durch Metatextualität - Fazit: Fortschreiben der Romane als schriftstellerisches Konzept - Literaturverzeichnis - Zur Autorin

This thesis is a compendium of scientific works and engineering specifications that have been contributed to a large community of stakeholders to be copied, adapted, mixed, built upon and exploited in any way possible to achieve a common goal: Integrating Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Language Resources Using Linked Data The explosion of information technology in the last two decades has led to a substantial growth in quantity, diversity and complexity of web-accessible linguistic data. These resources become even more useful when linked with each other and the last few years have seen the emergence of numerous approaches in various disciplines concerned with linguistic resources and NLP tools. It is the challenge of our time to store, interlink and exploit this wealth of data accumulated in more than half a century of computational linguistics, of empirical, corpus-based study of language, and of computational lexicography in all its heterogeneity. The vision of the Giant Global Graph (GGG) was conceived by Tim Berners-Lee aiming at connecting all data on the Web and allowing to discover new relations between this openly-accessible data. This vision has been pursued by the Linked Open Data (LOD) community, where the cloud of published datasets comprises 295 data repositories and more than 30 billion RDF triples (as of September 2011). RDF is based on globally unique and accessible URIs and it was specifically designed to establish links between such URIs (or resources). This is captured in the Linked Data paradigm that postulates four rules: (1) Referred entities should be designated by URIs, (2) these URIs should be resolvable over HTTP, (3) data should be represented by means of standards such as RDF, (4) and a resource should include links to other resources. Although it is difficult to precisely identify the reasons for the success of the LOD effort, advocates generally argue that open licenses as well as open access are key enablers for the growth of such a network as they provide a strong incentive for collaboration and contribution by third parties. In his keynote at BNCOD 2011, Chris Bizer argued that with RDF the overall data integration effort can be “split between data publishers, third parties, and the data consumer”, a claim that can be substantiated by observing the evolution of many large data sets constituting the LOD cloud. As written in the acknowledgement section, parts of this thesis has received numerous feedback from other scientists, practitioners and industry in many different ways. The main contributions of this thesis are summarized here: Part I – Introduction and Background. During his keynote at the Language Resource and Evaluation Conference in 2012, Sören Auer stressed the decentralized, collaborative, interlinked and interoperable nature of the Web of Data. The keynote provides strong evidence that Semantic Web technologies such as Linked Data are on its way to become main stream for the representation of language resources. The jointly written companion publication for the keynote was later extended as a book chapter in The People’s Web Meets NLP and serves as the basis for “Introduction” and “Background”, outlining some stages of the Linked Data publication and refinement chain. Both chapters stress the importance of open licenses and open access as an enabler for collaboration, the ability to interlink data on the Web as a key feature of RDF as well as provide a discussion about scalability issues and decentralization. Furthermore, we elaborate on how conceptual interoperability can be achieved by (1) re-using vocabularies, (2) agile ontology development, (3) meetings to refine and adapt ontologies and (4) tool support to enrich ontologies and match schemata. Part II - Language Resources as Linked Data. “Linked Data in Linguistics” and “NLP & DBpedia, an Upward Knowledge Acquisition Spiral” summarize the results of the Linked Data in Linguistics (LDL) Workshop in 2012 and the NLP & DBpedia Workshop in 2013 and give a preview of the MLOD special issue. In total, five proceedings – three published at CEUR (OKCon 2011, WoLE 2012, NLP & DBpedia 2013), one Springer book (Linked Data in Linguistics, LDL 2012) and one journal special issue (Multilingual Linked Open Data, MLOD to appear) – have been (co-)edited to create incentives for scientists to convert and publish Linked Data and thus to contribute open and/or linguistic data to the LOD cloud. Based on the disseminated call for papers, 152 authors contributed one or more accepted submissions to our venues and 120 reviewers were involved in peer-reviewing. “DBpedia as a Multilingual Language Resource” and “Leveraging the Crowdsourcing of Lexical Resources for Bootstrapping a Linguistic Linked Data Cloud” contain this thesis’ contribution to the DBpedia Project in order to further increase the size and inter-linkage of the LOD Cloud with lexical-semantic resources. Our contribution comprises extracted data from Wiktionary (an online, collaborative dictionary similar to Wikipedia) in more than four languages (now six) as well as language-specific versions of DBpedia, including a quality assessment of inter-language links between Wikipedia editions and internationalized content negotiation rules for Linked Data. In particular the work described in created the foundation for a DBpedia Internationalisation Committee with members from over 15 different languages with the common goal to push DBpedia as a free and open multilingual language resource. Part III - The NLP Interchange Format (NIF). “NIF 2.0 Core Specification”, “NIF 2.0 Resources and Architecture” and “Evaluation and Related Work” constitute one of the main contribution of this thesis. The NLP Interchange Format (NIF) is an RDF/OWL-based format that aims to achieve interoperability between Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools, language resources and annotations. The core specification is included in and describes which URI schemes and RDF vocabularies must be used for (parts of) natural language texts and annotations in order to create an RDF/OWL-based interoperability layer with NIF built upon Unicode Code Points in Normal Form C. In , classes and properties of the NIF Core Ontology are described to formally define the relations between text, substrings and their URI schemes. contains the evaluation of NIF. In a questionnaire, we asked questions to 13 developers using NIF. UIMA, GATE and Stanbol are extensible NLP frameworks and NIF was not yet able to provide off-the-shelf NLP domain ontologies for all possible domains, but only for the plugins used in this study. After inspecting the software, the developers agreed however that NIF is adequate enough to provide a generic RDF output based on NIF using literal objects for annotations. All developers were able to map the internal data structure to NIF URIs to serialize RDF output (Adequacy). The development effort in hours (ranging between 3 and 40 hours) as well as the number of code lines (ranging between 110 and 445) suggest, that the implementation of NIF wrappers is easy and fast for an average developer. Furthermore the evaluation contains a comparison to other formats and an evaluation of the available URI schemes for web annotation. In order to collect input from the wide group of stakeholders, a total of 16 presentations were given with extensive discussions and feedback, which has lead to a constant improvement of NIF from 2010 until 2013. After the release of NIF (Version 1.0) in November 2011, a total of 32 vocabulary employments and implementations for different NLP tools and converters were reported (8 by the (co-)authors, including Wiki-link corpus, 13 by people participating in our survey and 11 more, of which we have heard). Several roll-out meetings and tutorials were held (e.g. in Leipzig and Prague in 2013) and are planned (e.g. at LREC 2014). Part IV - The NLP Interchange Format in Use. “Use Cases and Applications for NIF” and “Publication of Corpora using NIF” describe 8 concrete instances where NIF has been successfully used. One major contribution in is the usage of NIF as the recommended RDF mapping in the Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) 2.0 W3C standard and the conversion algorithms from ITS to NIF and back. One outcome of the discussions in the standardization meetings and telephone conferences for ITS 2.0 resulted in the conclusion there was no alternative RDF format or vocabulary other than NIF with the required features to fulfill the working group charter. Five further uses of NIF are described for the Ontology of Linguistic Annotations (OLiA), the RDFaCE tool, the Tiger Corpus Navigator, the OntosFeeder and visualisations of NIF using the RelFinder tool. These 8 instances provide an implemented proof-of-concept of the features of NIF. starts with describing the conversion and hosting of the huge Google Wikilinks corpus with 40 million annotations for 3 million web sites. The resulting RDF dump contains 477 million triples in a 5.6 GB compressed dump file in turtle syntax. describes how NIF can be used to publish extracted facts from news feeds in the RDFLiveNews tool as Linked Data. Part V - Conclusions. provides lessons learned for NIF, conclusions and an outlook on future work. Most of the contributions are already summarized above. One particular aspect worth mentioning is the increasing number of NIF-formated corpora for Named Entity Recognition (NER) that have come into existence after the publication of the main NIF paper Integrating NLP using Linked Data at ISWC 2013. These include the corpora converted by Steinmetz, Knuth and Sack for the NLP & DBpedia workshop and an OpenNLP-based CoNLL converter by Brümmer. Furthermore, we are aware of three LREC 2014 submissions that leverage NIF: NIF4OGGD - NLP Interchange Format for Open German Governmental Data, N^3 – A Collection of Datasets for Named Entity Recognition and Disambiguation in the NLP Interchange Format and Global Intelligent Content: Active Curation of Language Resources using Linked Data as well as an early implementation of a GATE-based NER/NEL evaluation framework by Dojchinovski and Kliegr. Further funding for the maintenance, interlinking and publication of Linguistic Linked Data as well as support and improvements of NIF is available via the expiring LOD2 EU project, as well as the CSA EU project called LIDER, which started in November 2013. Based on the evidence of successful adoption presented in this thesis, we can expect a decent to high chance of reaching critical mass of Linked Data technology as well as the NIF standard in the field of Natural Language Processing and Language Resources.

Walter Benjamin formulated the concept of the aura in 1930 while experimenting with hashish. He describes an aura as the essence of an object that is only present in the act of perception. The aura changes from one occurrence of its perception to another. After the hashish trance, the perceiver can not remember the essence of an object - it's aura. The aura has an ambiguity, as well as various meanings in Benjamin's works: a) The aura is used in bourgeois art appreciation and criticism as a criteria to access art. Aura refers to subjective perception or ability, the paradigm of enlightenment. b) The aura is the unique perception of the essence or materiality of an object, one that cannot be represented by means of the signification of language. c) The aura exists in perception, therefore in the relationship between subject and object. d) Benjamin attributes perception of the aura as close, yet distanced in order to describe an auratic perception. e) An auratic perception exists outside of everyday life/routine and only as an autonomous artistic perception. f) An experience can be auratic in so far as an individual can understand the essence of his/her environment in relation to history. By postulating an auratic experience that grasps materiality in its totality Benjamin 4uestions the position of the subject in German Idealism, epitomised by Hegel's practical idea. At the same time Benjamin realises that materiality cannot be represented in its totality in the discourse of signification. Thereby the aura can only gain a metaphoric access to representation. Technology denies any auratic perception or experience, as such the auratic exists only in the hypothesis of a historical origin, such as a metaphysical paradisical condition. The commodity structure stands as a paradigm for modern perception and experience. Commodity fetishism denies the subject an auratic interaction and the relation between subject and object is phantasmagoria!. An auratic perception or experience is replaced by one determined by technology. Benjamin calls the latter one of actuality. Thereby the commodity denies an experience leading to the concept of totality. Benjamin's formulation of the concept of the aura has been seen as his turn to Marxism. A clear demarcation has been drawn between his metaphysical and Marxist writings. My thesis argues that such a division is inadequate and that the common demoninator between Benjamin's earlier and later work has not been analysed sufficiently. Bibliography: pages 225-236.

Die „Wege zum Neutschechischen“, die Tat’ána Vykypělová nachverfolgt, haben ebenso innersprachliche wie äußere – gesellschaftliche, politische und im „langen 16. Jahrhundert“ (S. 57) vor allem konfessionelle – Ursachen. Vf. strebt in ihren kenntnisreichen und sprachgeschichtlich weitsichtigen „Studien zur Geschichte der tschechischen Schriftsprache“ deshalb eine neue „synthetische“ Darstellung der Sprachgeschichte an, die äußere und innere Faktoren aufeinander bezieht (S. 19f.). Im Mittelpunkt steht die konfessionelle Markierung sprachlicher Merkmale, deren Standardisierung oder deren Verlust mit eben dieser Markierung in Verbindung zu bringen sei.

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Problem der Sprache in der Dichtung Paul Celans (1920-1970). Der Gegenstand der Forschung sind die metasprachlichen und metapoetischen Reflexionen in den Texten Paul Celans. Interpretiert werden Gedichte der mittleren Schaffensperiode (aus den Bänden Sprachgitter,1959, Die Niemandsrose, 1963, Die Atemwende, 1967) sowie poetologische Rede Der Meridian (1960). Folgende Probleme sind als Grundlage der Forschung zu verstehen: 1. Das Problem der Subjektivität in poetischen Texten Paul Celans. In der Arbeit wird versucht, die Zusammenhänge zwischen dem im Text sprechenden Subjekt und der Sprache selbst festzustellen und zu beschreiben, wobei ein großes Augenmerk auf die Ambivalenzen Stimme / Schrift, Bewusstsein / Schrift, Erinnern / Vergessen, Identität / Differenz gerichtet wird. Es werden die Figurativität der poetischen Sprache und die Mechanismen der Bedeutungsübertragung analysiert. Man beachtet dabei den Überfluss von der Bedeutung sowie die Schwierigkeit den Sinn zu rekonstruieren. 2. Das Problem der Entfaltung des Anderen. In der Dissertation wird das „fremde Wort“ in Celans Texten untersucht, indem man die Zweideutigkeiten das Eigene / das Fremde, das Schreiben / das Lesen des Anderen, Abgeschlossenheit / Offenheit des Zitats berücksicht. Die Sprache wird als Reservoir der Dichtung und die Dichtung als einmaliges poetisches Ereignis aufgefasst. Es wird versucht die Korrelation von Subjektivität und Sprachlichkeit in den poetischen... [der volle Text, siehe weiter]
Disertacija skirta kalbos problemos analizei Paulio Celano (1920-1970) kūryboje. Tyrimo objektas – Paulio Celano tekstų metakalbinės ir metapoetinės refleksijos. Interpretuojami brandžiojo Celano kūrybos periodo rinkinių Kalbos grotos (Sprachgitter 1959), Niekieno rožė (Die Niemandsrose, 1963), Kvėpavimo posūkis (Die Atemwende, 1967) eilėraščiai ir poetologinė kalba Meridianas. Darbe keliamos dvi pagrindinės problemos: 1. Poetinės kalbos subjektyvumo problema. Kalbančiojo subjekto ir kalbos santykis gvildenamas, atsižvelgiant į balso / rašto, sąmonės / rašto, atminties / užmaršties, tapatybės / skirtumo ambivalencijas. Celano kalbos sampratos savitumas atskleidžiamas, apibendrinant kalbos kaip poezijos rezervuaro ir eilėraščio kaip vienetinio poetinio įvykio santykių problemą. Analizuojamos poetinės kalbos figūros (prozopopėja, antropomorfizmas, katachrezė) kaip prasmės perkėlimo mechanizmai, atsižvelgiama į reikšmės perteklių ir galutinės prasmės neprieinamumą. 2. Kitybės sklaidos problema. Apibrėžiama Celano tekstų suvokimo specifika, tekstų orientacija į skaitytoją. Aptariamas „svetimas žodis“ poetiniuose tekstuose, atsižvelgiama į eilėraščio savasties ir svetimybės ryšius jame, „kito“ skaitymo / rašymo, citatos baigtinumo / tęstinumo dviprasmybes, „svetimo žodžio“ poveikį teksto reikšmių kūrimuisi.
This thesis analyses problems of language in the works of Paul Celan (1920-1970). The main theme of thesis is metalanguage and metapoetical reflections of Paul Celans texts. The interpreted writings are selected from the collections of Paul Celan’s poetry: Sprachgitter (1959), Die Niemandsrose (1963), Die Atemwende (1967) and the speech Meridian. This thesis paper raises and discusses two main problems. 1. The problem of subjectivity of poetic language. The relationship between the lyrical subject and his language is analyzed with respect to the ambivalences of voice / writing, consciousness / writing, memory / forgetfulness, identity / difference. The uniqueness of Celan’s concept of language is disclosed by generalizing the problem of language as a poetical reservoir and the problem of a poem as unique poetical act. The figures of poetical language, that enable the transfers of meaning, are analyzed: prosopopoeia, anthropomorphism, catachresis. The surplus of meaning and unavailability of final meaning are also taken into the account. 2. The problem of diffusion of otherness. The specificity of perception of Celan’s works and the orientation towards the reader is determined. “Other texts” in poetical texts are discussed, considering the relationships in poetical work between “self and the other”, the reading / writing of “the other”, the finiteness of quotation / succession of ambiguity, the effect of “other texts” on the process of meaning creation.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to determine whether participation in a dual-language program by English-language learners (ELLs) contributed to the literacy development of this student population. This qualitative research spanned 5 months and was conducted within an elementary school located in central Florida. It is important to note that the researcher was also a teacher within the dual-language program under study, hence possessed an inside perspective of the program and the progression of several participating students. The study was guided by the following research questions: 1. What factors contribute to the improved literacy development for ELLs through participation in a two-way, dual-language program? 2. What factors contribute to the failure to improve the literacy development for ELLs participating in two-way, dual-language programs? As an ethnographic study, the qualitative methods of observation, interviewing, and examination of artifacts (i.e., work samples) were employed. ELLs attending the 1st through the 5th grades were observed during their Literacy Block and interviewed regarding their feelings about learning two languages. Parents and teachers were also interviewed to determine their beliefs surrounding the contribution of the dual-language program to the literacy development of the participating ELLS. Work samples, including reading scores and journal samples, were also examined. The four processes of the W. P. Thomas and V. P. Collier (1997) prism model--sociocultural processes, linguistic processes, academic development, and cognitive development--served as the theoretical framework for the data analysis. The prism model facilitated elaboration of how all processes involved in the development of the ELLs' literacy skills are related and intertwined. After triangulation of the data from the observations, interviews and work samples, ten factors affecting second-language acquisition for ELLs participating in a dual-language program were discovered in this study. Nine appeared to contribute to successful literacy development and one factor appeared to contribute to failure in the acquisition of second-language literacy skills. Based upon the findings, it appears that participation in a dual-language program indeed contributes to literacy development in ELLs. Contributions to the field and recommendations for related future research are presented.
Ed.D.
Department of Educational Studies
Education
Curriculum and Instruction

Bibliography: pages 154-155.
In discussing the drowning figure in the work of DJ Opperman, it is assumed that the themes of decline and resurgence are central to the work of the author. With respect to these dual motifs the following became apparent: (a) that the decline inevitably leads to new life, and of necessity, must precede it. (b) This universal paradox of decline and resurgance is characterised by an endless repetition in time. (c) Man as an individual is inextricably caught between the dichotomous forces of birth and death. The individual is recognisable throughout Opperman's work. Through man's intimate connection with water as a medium of birth and death, the individual or "enkeling" is also seen as the drowned figure or "drenkelingfiguur". Reference to this drowned figure carries the joint connotations of drowning or submergence and decline. The condition of decline indicates the disappearance of the drowning figure below the water-line or surface. Such alienation can also be brought about by means of other elements which can become the metaphorical equivalent of water as the medium of submergence.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As can be seen from the very different language backgrounds of their students, tertiary institutions in South Africa have become increasingly diverse in the past few years. Consequently, their campuses are now multilingual in character and there is increasing pressure on these institutions to use more than one language of instruction. As part of the solution to this issue, the North-West University (NWU) has introduced classroom interpreting. At present, it is the only South African university that uses full-scale classroom interpreting. Other universities who use classroom interpreting (among them the University of the Free State) are currently doing so only in pilot projects. This study investigates the possibility of using interpreting at Stellenbosch University, and more specifically in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. It focuses on the receptiveness to and the potential of such a practice as well as on its logistic implications. In addition, the study explores the successes in using interpreting during lectures as well as the hindrances in doing so. It also explores the links between the language policy of the University and classroom interpreting and whether this practice is at all attainable in the faculty in question. The empirical part of the study involved an experiment in the first half of the first semester in 2010 in the Department of Social Work in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences to determine whether it would be feasible to use interpreting during lectures. An interpreting service was used to interpret lectures on various occasions in a second year as well as a third year class. The type of interpreting used was whisper interpreting with Sennheiser equipment. The study found that it would indeed be possible to have an interpreting service during lectures. Although a few problems were highlighted, they were shown to be surmountable. The majority of students who took part in the trial expressed a need for an interpreting service, even though they were happy with the University’s language policy. One of the conclusions reached is that close cooperation between the interpreter and the lecturer is of cardinal importance because it creates a relationship of trust, which in turn helps to ensure that the interpreting service is successfully implemented.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tersiêre instellings in Suid-Afrika het die afgelope paar jaar toenemend meer divers geraak soos blyk uit studente se uiteenlopende taalagtergronde. Dit het daartoe gelei dat kampusse tans gekenmerk word deur meertaligheid en dat daar toenemende druk op hierdie instellings is om onderrig in meer as een taal aan te bied. As deel van die oplossing vir hierdie kwessie het die Noordwes-Universiteit (NWU) klaskamertolking geïmplementeer. Gevolglik is die NWU tans die enigste Suid-Afrikaanse universiteit wat volskaals van klaskamertolking gebruik maak. Ander universiteite (waaronder die Universiteit van die Vrystaat) gebruik ook klaskamertolking, maar tans slegs as ’n loodsprojek. Hierdie studie stel ondersoek in na die moontlikheid van tolking aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch, en meer spesifiek in die Fakulteit Lettere en Sosiale Wetenskappe. Die studie fokus op die ontvanklikheid vir en potensiaal van sodanige praktyk sowel as die logistiese implikasies daarvan. Buiten laasgenoemde fokus die studie ook daarop om die suksesse van asook struikelblokke in die toepassing van tolking tydens lesings vas te stel. Daar word gekyk na hoe die taalbeleid van die Universiteit met klaskamertolking skakel en of sodanige praktyk hoegenaamd haalbaar is in die betrokke fakulteit. Die empiriese gedeelte van die studie behels dat daar gedurende die eerste helfte van die eerste semester van 2010 ’n proef gedoen is in die Departement Maatskaplike Werk in die Fakulteit Lettere en Sosiale Wetenskappe ten einde die haalbaarheid van tolkpraktyk tydens lesings vas te stel. Daar is van ’n tolkdiens gebruik gemaak en daar is tydens verskillende geleenthede oor ’n bepaalde tydperk in ’n tweedejaars- sowel as ’n derdejaarsklas getolk. Die tipe tolking wat plaasgevind het, was fluistertolking met behulp van Sennheisertolktoerusting. Die studie bevind dat ’n tolkdiens tydens lesings wel moontlik is. Enkele oorkombare probleme is ook uitgelig. Die meerderheid studente wat aan die proef deelgeneem het, het ’n behoefte aan ’n tolkdiens, selfs al is hulle tevrede met die Universiteit se taalbeleid. Een van die gevolgtrekkings waartoe gekom word, is dat noue samewerking tussen die tolk en die dosent van kardinale belang is aangesien dit ’n vertrouensverhouding skep wat op sy beurt die suksesvolle toepassing van die tolkdiens help verseker.

This dissertation analyses the formation, function and portrayal of language and the subject in the narrative cycle The Thirtieth Year (Das dreißigste Jahr) by the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973), in light of the theories brought forward by the poststructural movement. The traditional outlook on the subject is one that regards it as being autonomous. This autonomy is challenged by the narrative cycle: the analysis shows, how subjects are constructed by a web of interconnecting discourses. In fact, the very qualities from which the subject forms its identity are conferred by the other, which forbids any notion of reflecting on the subject in an autonomous manner. The narratives demonstrate, how the subject will always find itself in an indefinite process of becoming, a process which solicits a different approach, i.e. a change of consciousness for its acknowledgement - one which offers the subject a space to probe its own becoming. Subsequently, this different method of acknowledgement is also confined to the given order. The re-imagining, which the different subjects perform throughout the narrative cycle, show, that Bachmann's subjects are neither fully predestined, nor are they fully autonomous. Although agency is outlined by the given order, the subject is still able to re-evaluate its agency in previously unmediated ways. This shows that ways of existing are not as unalterable as suggested by the given structures. By re -assessing all approaches of autonomous agency, this narrative cycle sensitises the reader to structures that form the subject, and possible ways in which it is thereby oppressed. The narratives expose the mechanisms that form socially recognisable subjects and, more importantly, give voice to those subjects, who find themselves on the periphery of the normative majority. To do so, the dissertation employs theories, which have been categorised as 'poststructural.' These theories lend themselves well to disclosing the repressive character of governing norms and to problematize attempts to universalise certain paradigms. For instance, the assumption that language constitutes identity of the subject, amongst other factors, is re-evaluated in the sense that language and discourse, in fact, restrict and limit the subject in its quest for identity. Bachmann's later works (i.e. Malina (1971), Simultan (1970), Der Fall Franza (1978)) have been the subject of poststructural scrutiny, especially from a feminist perspective. The narrative cycle The Thirtieth Year, however, has received little attention by theorists employing poststructural means of analysis. The dissertation therefore sets out to show that valuable insights can be gained when reading the text from a poststructural perspective.

Bibliography: pages 235-244.
This study in literary semantics focuses primarily on aspects of the primordial. It proposes a functional description of the primordial, as well as a model to explain how language and linguistic processes are insufficient to bring about accurate communication in a social environment. Certain significant findings come to the fore in terms of the relationship between language, communication and the primordial reality. The study was begun with the basic premiss of a link between the specific symbols relating to mirrors and water, and the primordial dimension. The fact that there are general references to this concept over a fairly wide range of subjects and fields of study brought about the need to clarify somewhat the "grey area" that is called into question whenever such allusions are made. The reason for this confusion is that the idea of the primordial has been a very misunderstood concept. The term has in the past been used to a large extent as an academic buzzword, with users often not being aware of the full implications thereof. The little that is known about this subject often results in fairly serious misconceptions when the term is employed. The study attempts to describe and to define the concept of the primordial, with reference to two key aspects of this idea: the primordial dimension as a base for universal meaning and reference, and the primordial concept as the actual reference point for the related linguistic term. In this way it is shown that all referential and interpretative systems, such as language, are based loosely on the primordial.

Learning a second language is different from learning our first one. A lot of rules from the first language, concerning e.g. grammar, intonation and phonology, are so firmly rooted within learners that they will transfer them to the new language regardless of whether they are correct or not. Studies show that the way we are tuned in to the sounds of our first language can make it difficult for us to perceive the phonemes of a new language correctly. In order to study the relationship between Swedish speakers’ faulty production of English vowels and their perception of them, ten subjects participated in a perception test to find out how well they could distinguish between minimal pairs containing phonemes that Swedes often have problems pronouncing correctly. They were also recorded while reading sentences containing the same minimal pairs. The results from the perception test were compared to graphs showing how consistent the subjects were in their pronunciation of these phonemes. The study shows that although some phonemes proved to be more difficult for the subjects to perceive a difference between, a faulty production of these sounds cannot be explained by misperception alone.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2004.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Dec. 2, 2008), Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-02, Section: A, page: 0497. Chair: Jerome C. Harste.

Simulationssprachen sind in Bezug auf die Unterstützung neuer domänenspezifischer Konzepte mit einer dem Problem entsprechenden prägnanten Darstellung nicht flexibel erweiterbar. Dies betrifft sowohl die Sprache in ihren Konzepten als auch die Unterstützung der Sprache durch Sprachwerkzeuge. In dieser Arbeit entsteht der neue Sprachentwicklungsansatz Discrete-Event Modelling with Extensibility (DMX) für die Entwicklung flexibel erweiterbarer Simulationssprachen für domänenspezifische Anwendungsfelder, der eine effiziente Entwicklung der Sprache und eine effiziente Ausführung von Modellen erlaubt. Der Fokus der Arbeit liegt auf der zeitdiskreten ereignisbasierten Simulation und einer prozessorientierten Beschreibung von Simulationsmodellen. Der Ansatz unterscheidet Basiskonzepte, die zur Basissprache gehören, und Erweiterungskonzepte, die Teil von Erweiterungsdefinitionen sind. Es wird untersucht, welche Basiskonzepte eine Simulationssprache bereitstellen muss, so dass eine laufzeiteffiziente Ausführung von prozessorientierten Modellen möglich ist. Die hohe Laufzeiteffizienz der Ausführung wird durch die Konzeption einer neuartigen Methode zur Abbildung von Prozesskontextwechseln auf ein C++-Programm gezeigt. Der Spracherweiterungsansatz ist nicht auf Simulationssprachen als Basissprachen beschränkt und wird daher allgemein beschrieben. Der Ansatz basiert auf einer Syntaxerweiterung einer Basissprache, die mit einem Metamodell und einer kontextfreien Grammatik definiert ist. Die Ausführung von Erweiterungskonzepten wird durch eine Konzeptreduktion auf Basiskonzepte erreicht. Der Ansatz stellt bestimmte Voraussetzungen an eine Basissprache und erlaubt bestimmte Arten von Erweiterungen, die in der Arbeit untersucht werden. Die Eignung des Anstatzes zur Entwicklung einer komplexen domänenspezifischen Simulationssprache wird an einer Sprache für Zustandsautomaten gezeigt.
Simulation languages are not extensible regarding the support of new domain-specific concepts with a concise representation. This includes the concepts of a language as well as the language tools. In this dissertation, the new approach Discrete-Event Modelling with Extensibility (DMX) is developed. DMX allows to create flexible domain-specific simulation languages by defining extensions to a base language. The approach allows to develop these languages efficiently and also to execute simulation models in a runtime efficient way. The focus of this dissertation is on process-oriented descriptions of discrete-event simulation models. The approach distinguishes base concepts which are part of the base language and extension concepts which are part of extension definitions. The dissertation investigates the necessary base concepts which should be included in a base simulation language in order to execute process-oriented models efficiently. The high runtime efficiency of executions is achieved by creating a new method for mapping process context switches to a program in C++. The runtime efficiency can be transferred to extension concepts as well. The extension approach is described in a general way because it is not limited to a simulation language as a base language. The approach is based on the syntax extension of a base language, which is defined by a metamodel and a context-free grammar. The execution of extension concepts is achieved by concept reduction to base concepts. The approach has a number of requirements to the base language and allows certain kinds of extensions, which are desribed in the dissertation. The possibility to define a complex domain-specific simulation language is shown by applying the approach to the development of a state machine language.

This essay examines the relationship between language, identity, power and visibility in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019). This is achieved by applying post-colonial theories regarding double consciousness, and the construction of an Other. Theories put forward by Spivak and Fanon are also discussed in relation to this. By looking at how language is used, both by characters and author, we can see what an immense role language playes in the construction of identity and in the establishing of power.

The central concern of this thesis is to investigate the development of the personal identity of the main characters in four novels, a novella, and a short-story, written in German by authors from different countries who have immigrated to post World War II Germany and Switzerland. Earlier research concerning these identity processes is reviewed with emphasis on the relevance of the different theoretical models of development of personal identity used. A model called “identity-balance”, first described by the German sociologist Lothar Krappmann, is used in analysing the changes in personal identity. This model is preferred because of Krappmann’s strong emphasis on interaction, process, and openness. Based upon the results of the interpretations a modification of Krappmann’s model is suggested in order to better shed light upon identity processes following migration. As languages are shown to play a great role in these processes, aspects concerned with multilingualism and the part languages play in the “identity-balance” are discussed throughout the thesis. The textual interpretations reveal the connection between three lines of change: changes in personal identity, changes in society following migration, and changes in the field of literature.

Nach einem Rekurs über den Utopiebegriff wurden sowohl im diarischen Werk als auch in der veröffentlichten Prosa Brigitte Reimanns utopische Konzeptionen aufgespürt. Gesucht wurde das Utopische sowohl in den Beschreibungen einer konkreten Gesellschaftsutopie, als auch in den literarischen „Verfeinerungen“ einer kruden Ideologie, wie im kritischen Hinterfragen des „Noch-Nicht-Bewussten“ (Ernst Bloch). Als ästhetische Utopien wurden auch Wunschbilder des Alltags, Träume, Märchen und Mythen gedeutet. Ausführliche Untersuchungen beschäftigten sich mit der Gestaltung der weiblichen Figuren und ihrer Entwicklung von der ideologisch (auch männlich) indoktrinierten Protagonistin zur „freien“ Ich–Gestalterin. Nachgewiesen wurde sowohl im diarischen Werk, als auch in der veröffentlichten Prosa eine Wandlung des Utopieverständnisses von der Gesellschaftsutopie zur subjektiven „Augenblicksutopie“, die im Deutungshorizont der Literatur der Romantik auch als DDR-spezifische Innerlichkeit verstanden werden könnte, welche mit ihrem Rückzug ins Individuelle die ritualisierte DDR-Öffentlichkeit desavouierte.
After a study of the term of Utopia, Utopian concepts were discovered both in the diary texts and in the published prose of Brigitte Reimann′s oeuvre. The Utopian was searched in the descriptions of concrete social Utopia as well as in the literary Verfeinerungen of crude ideology and in the critical research of the Noch-Nicht-Bewusste (Ernst Bloch). Wishful thinking, dreams, fairy-tales and myths were interpreted as an aesthetic Utopia. Detailed researches were engaged in a study of representation of feminine characters and their development from the ideological indoctrinated protagonist to the “free” Ich-Gestalterin. The change in understanding of Utopia from the social Utopia to the Augenblicksutopie could be proved both in the diary texts and in the published prose of Brigitte Reimann. In the Deutungshorizont of Romantic literature it may be understood as a specific DDR-Innerlichkeit, which with its retreat into individualism showed up the ritual public.

This thesis investigates models of subjectivity and agency in early twenty-first-century pop-feminist fiction and non-fiction. Non-fiction accounts of subjectivity (Haaf, Klingner and Streidl, 2008; Valenti, 2007; Moran, 2011 et al.) draw on poststructuralist notions of incoherent, performative identity, yet retain the assumption that there remains a sovereign subject capable of claiming full autonomy. The pop-feminist non-fictions reflect a neoliberal model of entrepreneurial individualism where self-optimisation replaces an ethics of intersubjective relations. In exploring the theoretical blind-spots of pop-feminist claims to female autonomy and agency, this thesis sets out to demonstrate that pop-feminist non-fiction lacks an actual feminist politics. My methodology is comparative and primarily involves the close reading of a corpus of pop-feminist texts from the Anglo-American and German contexts. I utilize my corpus of current essayistic pop-feminist texts as a fixed point of reference, deeming them to be representative of a pervasive kind of contemporary postfeminist thinking. Through the employment of the first-person narrative voice the literary authors explore how subjects are constituted by discourse but also how the subject may shape her choices/actions. Subjectivity becomes a generative capacity characterised by expansive and self-reflexive negotiations between self and other. The fictional portrayal of this process prompts an imaginative and extrapolative process of identification and dis-identification in the reader which opens up a site for the exercise of critique. Through my close readings of the novels (Riley, 2002; Walsh, 2004; Thomas, 2004; Grether, 2006; Roche, 2008; Bronsky, 2008; Baum, 2011; Hegemann, 2010) I develop a model of intersubjective dependency, drawing on Judith Butler’s later work (1994, 1999, and 2005), and identify versions of this model in the 1980s-1990s work of American postmodern feminist writers Kathy Acker and Mary Gaitskill. My thesis reveals hitherto un-discussed lines of literary and critical influence on the contemporary British and German novelists emanating from Acker and Gaitskill, suggesting that their texts may be viewed as representative of a critical pop-literary interest, spanning approximately three decades and shifting across cultural contexts, in the encounter between female subjectivity and agency in the face of late-capitalist manifestations of social constraint.

This thesis is about the German children’s book ‘The flying classroom’ [Das fliegende Klassenzimmer] written by the author Erich Kästner. The living conditions and requirements for upbringing have changed since the book was first published in 1933, and yet Kästner’s book conveys values and educational intentions that, in my opinion, are still relevant and valuable today in relation to the educational goals of the contemporary school system. To strengthen this hypothesis, I analysed which values and virtues are being propagated, what the intention behind those are, and how they are being represented in the children’s book and its latest adaption from 2003. My focus is on the character of the teacher Dr Bökh alias Justus, the just. In order to investigate Kästner’s educational intentions, I used a qualitative and intermedial content analysis with the book as a starting point and compared it with the adaption of 2003 to examine possible differences between them. Furthermore, I’m interested in what is expected and demanded of today’s teacher, the image one has of him or her, and how this relates to the teacher figure in Kästner’s children’s book. In order to come closer to answering the research question, I also examined external factors, such as historical contexts, to be able to justify possible changes in the communication of values during the period post-war until today. My thesis aims to show that – although times have changed – the values conveyed in the children’s book have remained the same and the book is thus attributed to authentic Zeitgeist.

Die vorliegende Studie analysiert in einem intertextuellen Vergleich die beiden Romane “Nach Mitternacht” von Irmgard Keun und “Kassandra” von Christa Wolf. Dabei wird in einem dialogischen Verfahren herausgearbeitet, wie die beiden Schriftstellerinnen durch die Stimmen der Hauptfiguren zu den Themen Emanzipation, Kriegserfahrung, Emigration und Flucht aus weiblicher Sicht Stellung nehmen. Es handelt sich um zwei Werke, die in einer Zeit der politischen Unterdrückung entstanden und die sich mit den Möglichkeiten auseinandersetzen, literarische Ehrlichkeit zu behalten, obwohl sich das Lesepublikum in einer Gesellschaft befindet, die unter strenger Zensur steht. Dabei wird besonders berücksichtigt, inwiefern sich die weibliche Erzählstimme abhebt von den Stimmen männlicher Erzähler in einer ähnlichen politischen Lage. Verschiedene Verzahnungen von Diktatur und Patriarchat werden durch die Perspektive weiblichen Erlebens und Erzählens beleuchtet. Im Vordergrund steht die Frage, ob sich die Sprache von weiblichen literarischen Figuren deutlich unterscheidet von dem Sprachgebrauch der männlich besetzten Heldenrollen, und wie sich dies in den beiden Romanen jeweils äußert. Die offizielle Sprache der Macht wird der subversiven Sprache der individuellen Stellungnahme gegenübergestellt.

The present dissertation examines constructions of femininity in the lyrical and didactical works of Elisabeth von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1510-1558). It shows how this widow ruler and promoter of the reformation transforms and re-interprets contemporary ideas about women and gender according to her own personal interests, and how gender roles are thus negotiated in her texts. In accordance with current theoretical ideas about subjectivity, discourse, and gender, it is shown among other things how Elisabeth von Braunschweig-Lüneburg uses established genres to further her own personal agenda, and how she manipulates contemporary notions of gender in order to create authority for herself as a political force, as an upholder of Christian virtues, and, most importantly, as a writer. The analysis is based on an understanding of subjectivity as dialogical – as a negotiation with the surrounding culture – and of gender as socially constructed. Using the theories presented by Judith Butler and Joan Wallach Scott as a basis, the study shows how Elisabeth works within the various discourses available to her in order to describe established gender roles in a fashion that challenges prevailing notions of femininity and a woman’s place in society. The study focuses on a number of aspects of femininity important in Elisabeth’s texts as well as in the cultural context in which they were written. The textual construction of woman as writer, ruler, preacher, wife, mother, and widow is examined. The dissertation presents not previously acknowledged insights into the ambivalence coloring Elisabeth’s descriptions of women and femininity.

Developing an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system for the Somali language, though not novel, is not actively explored; hence there has been no success in a model for conversational speech. Neither are related works accessible as open-source. The unavailability of digital data is what labels Somali as a low resource language and poses the greatest impediment to the development of an ASR for Somali. The incentive to develop an ASR system for the Somali language is to contribute to reducing the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Somalia. Researchers acquire interview audio data regarding maternal health and behaviour in the Somali language; to be able to engage the relevant stakeholders to bring about the needed change, these audios must be transcribed into text, which is an important step towards translation into any language. This work investigates available ASR for Somali and attempts to develop a prototype ASR system to convert Somali audios into Somali text. To achieve this target, we first identified the available open-source systems for speech recognition and selected the DeepSpeech engine for the implementation of the prototype. With three hours of audio data, the accuracy of transcription is not as required and cannot be deployed for use. This we attribute to insufficient training data and estimate that the effort towards an ASR for Somali will be more significant by acquiring about 1200 hours of audio to train the DeepSpeech engine

This thesis examines the role of the colonial American jury, particularly the petit jury, during the quarter century leading up to the American Revolution. The thesis argues that the colonial jury at the inferior and superior court levels was central to a "law court culture" that provided colonists with the education, language and experience to assume the responsibilities of participatory, autonomous citizenship, as opposed to a passive subjecthood that deferred to social and political authority. Within their law court culture, colonial American jurors acted as powerful, independent decision makers, representatives of their communities judging matters of law as well as fact. Jurors sometimes even acted as arbiters in highly charged political disputes, to challenge the power of governors and of the empire itself. When outside British forces threatened this colonial American law court culture and the independence of those citizen jurors, Americans began to perceive themselves as a people apart from the English, uniting to preserve and protect their institutions, particularly their law court culture.

This thesis is a compendium of scientific works and engineering specifications that have been contributed to a large community of stakeholders to be copied, adapted, mixed, built upon and exploited in any way possible to achieve a common goal: Integrating Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Language Resources Using Linked Data The explosion of information technology in the last two decades has led to a substantial growth in quantity, diversity and complexity of web-accessible linguistic data. These resources become even more useful when linked with each other and the last few years have seen the emergence of numerous approaches in various disciplines concerned with linguistic resources and NLP tools. It is the challenge of our time to store, interlink and exploit this wealth of data accumulated in more than half a century of computational linguistics, of empirical, corpus-based study of language, and of computational lexicography in all its heterogeneity. The vision of the Giant Global Graph (GGG) was conceived by Tim Berners-Lee aiming at connecting all data on the Web and allowing to discover new relations between this openly-accessible data. This vision has been pursued by the Linked Open Data (LOD) community, where the cloud of published datasets comprises 295 data repositories and more than 30 billion RDF triples (as of September 2011). RDF is based on globally unique and accessible URIs and it was specifically designed to establish links between such URIs (or resources). This is captured in the Linked Data paradigm that postulates four rules: (1) Referred entities should be designated by URIs, (2) these URIs should be resolvable over HTTP, (3) data should be represented by means of standards such as RDF, (4) and a resource should include links to other resources. Although it is difficult to precisely identify the reasons for the success of the LOD effort, advocates generally argue that open licenses as well as open access are key enablers for the growth of such a network as they provide a strong incentive for collaboration and contribution by third parties. In his keynote at BNCOD 2011, Chris Bizer argued that with RDF the overall data integration effort can be “split between data publishers, third parties, and the data consumer”, a claim that can be substantiated by observing the evolution of many large data sets constituting the LOD cloud. As written in the acknowledgement section, parts of this thesis has received numerous feedback from other scientists, practitioners and industry in many different ways. The main contributions of this thesis are summarized here: Part I – Introduction and Background. During his keynote at the Language Resource and Evaluation Conference in 2012, Sören Auer stressed the decentralized, collaborative, interlinked and interoperable nature of the Web of Data. The keynote provides strong evidence that Semantic Web technologies such as Linked Data are on its way to become main stream for the representation of language resources. The jointly written companion publication for the keynote was later extended as a book chapter in The People’s Web Meets NLP and serves as the basis for “Introduction” and “Background”, outlining some stages of the Linked Data publication and refinement chain. Both chapters stress the importance of open licenses and open access as an enabler for collaboration, the ability to interlink data on the Web as a key feature of RDF as well as provide a discussion about scalability issues and decentralization. Furthermore, we elaborate on how conceptual interoperability can be achieved by (1) re-using vocabularies, (2) agile ontology development, (3) meetings to refine and adapt ontologies and (4) tool support to enrich ontologies and match schemata. Part II - Language Resources as Linked Data. “Linked Data in Linguistics” and “NLP & DBpedia, an Upward Knowledge Acquisition Spiral” summarize the results of the Linked Data in Linguistics (LDL) Workshop in 2012 and the NLP & DBpedia Workshop in 2013 and give a preview of the MLOD special issue. In total, five proceedings – three published at CEUR (OKCon 2011, WoLE 2012, NLP & DBpedia 2013), one Springer book (Linked Data in Linguistics, LDL 2012) and one journal special issue (Multilingual Linked Open Data, MLOD to appear) – have been (co-)edited to create incentives for scientists to convert and publish Linked Data and thus to contribute open and/or linguistic data to the LOD cloud. Based on the disseminated call for papers, 152 authors contributed one or more accepted submissions to our venues and 120 reviewers were involved in peer-reviewing. “DBpedia as a Multilingual Language Resource” and “Leveraging the Crowdsourcing of Lexical Resources for Bootstrapping a Linguistic Linked Data Cloud” contain this thesis’ contribution to the DBpedia Project in order to further increase the size and inter-linkage of the LOD Cloud with lexical-semantic resources. Our contribution comprises extracted data from Wiktionary (an online, collaborative dictionary similar to Wikipedia) in more than four languages (now six) as well as language-specific versions of DBpedia, including a quality assessment of inter-language links between Wikipedia editions and internationalized content negotiation rules for Linked Data. In particular the work described in created the foundation for a DBpedia Internationalisation Committee with members from over 15 different languages with the common goal to push DBpedia as a free and open multilingual language resource. Part III - The NLP Interchange Format (NIF). “NIF 2.0 Core Specification”, “NIF 2.0 Resources and Architecture” and “Evaluation and Related Work” constitute one of the main contribution of this thesis. The NLP Interchange Format (NIF) is an RDF/OWL-based format that aims to achieve interoperability between Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools, language resources and annotations. The core specification is included in and describes which URI schemes and RDF vocabularies must be used for (parts of) natural language texts and annotations in order to create an RDF/OWL-based interoperability layer with NIF built upon Unicode Code Points in Normal Form C. In , classes and properties of the NIF Core Ontology are described to formally define the relations between text, substrings and their URI schemes. contains the evaluation of NIF. In a questionnaire, we asked questions to 13 developers using NIF. UIMA, GATE and Stanbol are extensible NLP frameworks and NIF was not yet able to provide off-the-shelf NLP domain ontologies for all possible domains, but only for the plugins used in this study. After inspecting the software, the developers agreed however that NIF is adequate enough to provide a generic RDF output based on NIF using literal objects for annotations. All developers were able to map the internal data structure to NIF URIs to serialize RDF output (Adequacy). The development effort in hours (ranging between 3 and 40 hours) as well as the number of code lines (ranging between 110 and 445) suggest, that the implementation of NIF wrappers is easy and fast for an average developer. Furthermore the evaluation contains a comparison to other formats and an evaluation of the available URI schemes for web annotation. In order to collect input from the wide group of stakeholders, a total of 16 presentations were given with extensive discussions and feedback, which has lead to a constant improvement of NIF from 2010 until 2013. After the release of NIF (Version 1.0) in November 2011, a total of 32 vocabulary employments and implementations for different NLP tools and converters were reported (8 by the (co-)authors, including Wiki-link corpus, 13 by people participating in our survey and 11 more, of which we have heard). Several roll-out meetings and tutorials were held (e.g. in Leipzig and Prague in 2013) and are planned (e.g. at LREC 2014). Part IV - The NLP Interchange Format in Use. “Use Cases and Applications for NIF” and “Publication of Corpora using NIF” describe 8 concrete instances where NIF has been successfully used. One major contribution in is the usage of NIF as the recommended RDF mapping in the Internationalization Tag Set (ITS) 2.0 W3C standard and the conversion algorithms from ITS to NIF and back. One outcome of the discussions in the standardization meetings and telephone conferences for ITS 2.0 resulted in the conclusion there was no alternative RDF format or vocabulary other than NIF with the required features to fulfill the working group charter. Five further uses of NIF are described for the Ontology of Linguistic Annotations (OLiA), the RDFaCE tool, the Tiger Corpus Navigator, the OntosFeeder and visualisations of NIF using the RelFinder tool. These 8 instances provide an implemented proof-of-concept of the features of NIF. starts with describing the conversion and hosting of the huge Google Wikilinks corpus with 40 million annotations for 3 million web sites. The resulting RDF dump contains 477 million triples in a 5.6 GB compressed dump file in turtle syntax. describes how NIF can be used to publish extracted facts from news feeds in the RDFLiveNews tool as Linked Data. Part V - Conclusions. provides lessons learned for NIF, conclusions and an outlook on future work. Most of the contributions are already summarized above. One particular aspect worth mentioning is the increasing number of NIF-formated corpora for Named Entity Recognition (NER) that have come into existence after the publication of the main NIF paper Integrating NLP using Linked Data at ISWC 2013. These include the corpora converted by Steinmetz, Knuth and Sack for the NLP & DBpedia workshop and an OpenNLP-based CoNLL converter by Brümmer. Furthermore, we are aware of three LREC 2014 submissions that leverage NIF: NIF4OGGD - NLP Interchange Format for Open German Governmental Data, N^3 – A Collection of Datasets for Named Entity Recognition and Disambiguation in the NLP Interchange Format and Global Intelligent Content: Active Curation of Language Resources using Linked Data as well as an early implementation of a GATE-based NER/NEL evaluation framework by Dojchinovski and Kliegr. Further funding for the maintenance, interlinking and publication of Linguistic Linked Data as well as support and improvements of NIF is available via the expiring LOD2 EU project, as well as the CSA EU project called LIDER, which started in November 2013. Based on the evidence of successful adoption presented in this thesis, we can expect a decent to high chance of reaching critical mass of Linked Data technology as well as the NIF standard in the field of Natural Language Processing and Language Resources.:CONTENTS i introduction and background 1 1 introduction 3 1.1 Natural Language Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.2 Open licenses, open access and collaboration . . . . . . 5 1.3 Linked Data in Linguistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.4 NLP for and by the Semantic Web – the NLP Inter- change Format (NIF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.5 Requirements for NLP Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.6 Overview and Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2 background 15 2.1 The Working Group on Open Data in Linguistics (OWLG) 15 2.1.1 The Open Knowledge Foundation . . . . . . . . 15 2.1.2 Goals of the Open Linguistics Working Group . 16 2.1.3 Open linguistics resources, problems and chal- lenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1.4 Recent activities and on-going developments . . 18 2.2 Technological Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.3 RDF as a data model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.4 Performance and scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.5 Conceptual interoperability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 ii language resources as linked data 25 3 linked data in linguistics 27 3.1 Lexical Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.2 Linguistic Corpora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.3 Linguistic Knowledgebases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.4 Towards a Linguistic Linked Open Data Cloud . . . . . 32 3.5 State of the Linguistic Linked Open Data Cloud in 2012 33 3.6 Querying linked resources in the LLOD . . . . . . . . . 36 3.6.1 Enriching metadata repositories with linguistic features (Glottolog → OLiA) . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3.6.2 Enriching lexical-semantic resources with lin- guistic information (DBpedia (→ POWLA) → OLiA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 4 DBpedia as a multilingual language resource: the case of the greek dbpedia edition. 39 4.1 Current state of the internationalization effort . . . . . 40 4.2 Language-specific design of DBpedia resource identifiers 41 4.3 Inter-DBpedia linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 4.4 Outlook on DBpedia Internationalization . . . . . . . . 44 5 leveraging the crowdsourcing of lexical resources for bootstrapping a linguistic linked data cloud 47 5.1 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 5.2 Problem Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 5.2.1 Processing Wiki Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 5.2.2 Wiktionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 5.2.3 Wiki-scale Data Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 5.3 Design and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 5.3.1 Extraction Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 5.3.2 Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 5.3.3 Language Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 5.3.4 Schema Mediation by Annotation with lemon . 58 5.4 Resulting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 5.5 Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 5.6 Discussion and Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 5.6.1 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 5.6.2 Open Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 6 nlp & dbpedia, an upward knowledge acquisition spiral 63 6.1 Knowledge acquisition and structuring . . . . . . . . . 64 6.2 Representation of knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 6.3 NLP tasks and applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 6.3.1 Named Entity Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 6.3.2 Relation extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 6.3.3 Question Answering over Linked Data . . . . . 67 6.4 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 6.4.1 Gold and silver standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 6.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 iii the nlp interchange format (nif) 73 7 nif 2.0 core specification 75 7.1 Conformance checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 7.2 Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 7.2.1 Definition of Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 7.2.2 Representation of Document Content with the nif:Context Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 7.3 Extension of NIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 7.3.1 Part of Speech Tagging with OLiA . . . . . . . . 83 7.3.2 Named Entity Recognition with ITS 2.0, DBpe- dia and NERD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 7.3.3 lemon and Wiktionary2RDF . . . . . . . . . . . 86 8 nif 2.0 resources and architecture 89 8.1 NIF Core Ontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 8.1.1 Logical Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 8.2 Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 8.2.1 Access via REST Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 8.2.2 NIF Combinator Demo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 8.3 Granularity Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 8.4 Further URI Schemes for NIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 8.4.1 Context-Hash-based URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 9 evaluation and related work 101 9.1 Questionnaire and Developers Study for NIF 1.0 . . . . 101 9.2 Qualitative Comparison with other Frameworks and Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 9.3 URI Stability Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 9.4 Related URI Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 iv the nlp interchange format in use 109 10 use cases and applications for nif 111 10.1 Internationalization Tag Set 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 10.1.1 ITS2NIF and NIF2ITS conversion . . . . . . . . . 112 10.2 OLiA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 10.3 RDFaCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 10.4 Tiger Corpus Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 10.4.1 Tools and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 10.4.2 NLP2RDF in 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 10.4.3 Linguistic Ontologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 10.4.4 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 10.4.5 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 10.4.6 Related Work and Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 10.5 OntosFeeder – a Versatile Semantic Context Provider for Web Content Authoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 10.5.1 Feature Description and User Interface Walk- through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 10.5.2 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 10.5.3 Embedding Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 10.5.4 Related Work and Summary . . . . . . . . . . . 135 10.6 RelFinder: Revealing Relationships in RDF Knowledge Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 10.6.1 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 10.6.2 Disambiguation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 10.6.3 Searching for Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 10.6.4 Graph Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 10.6.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 11 publication of corpora using nif 143 11.1 Wikilinks Corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 11.1.1 Description of the corpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 11.1.2 Quantitative Analysis with Google Wikilinks Cor- pus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 11.2 RDFLiveNews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 11.2.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 11.2.2 Mapping to RDF and Publication on the Web of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 v conclusions 149 12 lessons learned, conclusions and future work 151 12.1 Lessons Learned for NIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 12.2 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 12.3 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

This project revolves around Small Histories, an online web-based software system for the uploading and sharing of life stories: http://www.smallhistories.com. I created Small Histories to explore the ways in which the internet can facilitate the urge to tell, share and compare one’s personal history and, by doing so, generate an online network of interlinked personal narratives connected to historical times, events and places. The project originated with a personal event: the tracing of my biological Israeli father in 1997 and my subsequent explorations of my Israeli and German family histories. The stories I encountered in these explorations differed, depending on who was telling them. The Small Histories system was a response to the potential of the burgeoning internet to represent such differing viewpoints, and to generate new forms of encounters with the past. Since then the system has developed in tandem with the internet, especially the explosive growth over recent years of what has been called social software. Conceptually, this project explores the fast-evolving social internet as a setting for auto/biographical narrative practice and how this overlaps with and changes accepted notions of performance, community formation, identity construction and acts of memory. As a framework for these investigations, I propose that the internet is a catalyst without precedent for the production of performances of reconstruction, where fragments of the past are dug up, collected, assembled and presented as an imaginative reconstruction of ‘what used to be’, in an attempt to re-establish a lost sense of roots, identity and belonging; a coherent narrative of identity in an era of fragmentation.