Linguistics Dissertations and Theses
Browse by
Recent Submissions
-
Acoustic and perceptual evidence of complete neutralization of word-final tonal specification in Japanese
(University of Kansas, 2002-05-31)This study investigates the extent to which Japanese lexical pitch-accent distinction is neutralized in word-final position. Native speakers of Tokyo Japanese produced minimal word pairs differing in final accent status. ... -
Acoustics and Perception of Clear Fricatives
(University of Kansas, 2007-05-31)Everyday observation indicates that speakers can naturally and spontaneously adopt a speaking style that allows them to be understood more easily when confronted with difficult communicative situations. Previous studies ... -
An ERP investigation of individual differences in the processing of wh-dependencies by native and non-native speakers
(University of Kansas, 2018-08-31)This study examines the processing of wh-dependencies by native English speakers and Mandarin Chinese-speaking learners of English. Wh-dependencies involve a long-distance relationship between a fronted wh-word (e.g., who) ... -
A lower Chehalis phonology
(University of Kansas, 1969) -
Sibilant Contrast: Perception, Production, and Sound Change
(University of Kansas, 2017-08-31)This study examines sibilant place contrast in the [_i] context in terms of its typology across Chinese dialects and its role in the historical development of Mandarin sibilants. The typology across 170 Chinese dialects ... -
How Native Chinese Listeners and Second-Language Chinese Learners Process Tones in Word Recognition: An Eye-tracking Study
(University of Kansas, 2017-08-31)Chinese and English differ in the types of information they use to convey meaning in words: unlike English, Chinese uses lexical tones (i.e., pitch movement) to contrast word meanings (e.g., in Chinese, the word “ma” can ... -
Explicit teaching of Japanese mimetic words using voicing, gemintion, and reduplication rules
(University of Kansas, 2017-05-31)Mimetics are commonly used by Japanese native speakers to express the manner of actions and sensations. However, they are often not taught explicitly in many Japanese language classrooms. The current study tested a novel ... -
Nominalization in Pulaar
(University of Kansas, 2017-05-31)There are a few strategies to construct nominal structures and phrases. The Pulaar infinitive, for instance is used genitive nominalization and other non-finite clauses with nominal properties. Relative clause (RC) ... -
The role of argument structure in Meꞌphaa verbal agreement
(University of Kansas, 2017-08-31)This dissertation explores aspects of Me\textcharis{ꞌ}phaa morphosyntax, from verb roots to verb-initial word orders. I argue that patterns of agreement map directly onto the syntax of argument structure, which in turn ... -
THE USE OF SEGMENTAL AND SUPRASEGMENTAL INFORMATION IN LEXICAL ACCESS: A FIRST- AND SECOND-LANGUAGE CHINESE INVESTIGATION
(University of Kansas, 2017-08-31)The present study investigated first language (L1) and second language (L2) Chinese categorization of tones and segments and use of tones and segments in lexical access. Previous research has shown that English listeners ... -
Second language lexical processing: influence of teaching method and word characteristics
(University of Kansas, 2004)Word learning was investigated in two experiments: a word translation experiment and a picture naming experiment. Two groups of bilinguals, differing in second language proficiency, were taught 40 Spanish words using one ... -
Production and perception of Korean and English word-level prominence by Korean speakers
(University of Kansas, 2015-08-31)Prominence refers to the relative emphasis that may be given to a syllable in a word (word-level prominence) or to one or more words in a phrase (phrase-level prominence). Korean has been claimed to have both word-level ... -
The nature of variation in tone sandhi patterns of Shanghai and Wuxi Wu
(University of Kansas, 2016-08-31)The primary goal of this dissertation is to understand the variation patterns in suprasegmental processes and what factors influence the patterns. To answer the questions, we investigated the variation patterns of tone ... -
Tracking Bilingual Activation in the Processing and Production of Spanish Stress
(University of Kansas, 2016-08-31)Language bias and proficiency have been proposed to modulate cross-language activation, but it is unclear how they operate and whether they interact. This study sheds light on these questions by investigating whether stress ... -
Processing morphologically complex words in native and non-native French
(University of Kansas, 2016-08-31)This dissertation investigates how individuals who learned French after childhood process inflected French verbs. Two experiments test the hypothesis that non-native speakers lack the grammatical representation responsible ... -
Observing the contribution of both underlying and surface representations: Evidence from priming and event-related potentials
(University of Kansas, 2016-08-31)This dissertation aims to uncover the role of the acoustic input (the surface representation) and the abstract linguistic representation (the underlying representation) as listeners map the signal during spoken word ... -
A Grammatical Sketch of Comox
(University of Kansas, 1981)Comox is a Salish language spoken on both sides of the Gulf of Georgia on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. Before white contact, it was spoken on Vancouver Island from the Salmon River in the north to the present ... -
The online use of markedness information in L1 and L2 Spanish gender agreement
(University of Kansas, 2015-12-31)ABSTRACT The present study focuses on the acquisition and processing of gender agreement by second language (L2) learners of Spanish, whose first language (L1; English) lacks gender. Some L2 theories argue that these ... -
An analysis of the Arabic Pidgin spoken by Indian workers in Saudi Arabia
(University of Kansas, 1996) -
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN PREDICTIVE PROCESSING: EVIDENCE FROM SUBJECT FILLED-GAP EFFECTS IN NATIVE AND NONNATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH
(University of Kansas, 2015-08-31)This study examined whether native and non-native speakers of English show evidence of predictive processing in the domain of syntax, and investigated the extent to which linguistic and non-linguistic factors modulate ...