UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
DET HUMANISTISKE FAKULTET
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Hjemmeeksamen/heimeeksamen i
LING4140– Språkvitenskapelig metode
Høst/haust 2011
Publisering: Mandag/måndag 21. november kl. 13
Innlevering: Torsdag 24. november på ekspedisjonen i 1. et. , Henrik
Wergelands hus i åpningstiden/opningstida (kl. 12.30-15)
Oppgavesettet er på 5 sider, forsiden medregnet.
Oppgåvesettet er på 5 sider medrekna framsida.
Sensur: Torsdag 15. desember 2011
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Eksamen LING4140
Bokmål:
Vedlagt følger fire korte beskrivelser av lingvistiske prosjekter. I noen av dem er mål og
problemstillinger helt eksplisitte, i andre er de mer skjult. Identifiser målene og
problemstillingene for hvert prosjekt, og diskuter (med referanse til pensumlitteraturen)
hvilke forhold som må bestemme valg av metoder for datainnsamling og analyser for å
kunne besvare forskningsspørsmålene.
Besvarelsen bør ikke overstige 2000 ord (utenom litteraturlisten).
Nynorsk:
Vedlagt følgjer fire korte skildringar av lingvistiske prosjekt. I somme av dei er mål og
problemstillingar heilt eksplisitte, i andre er dei meir skjulte. Identifiser måla og
problemstillingane for kvart prosjekt, og diskuter (med referanse til pensumlitteraturen)
kva forhold som må bestemme val av metodar for datainnsamling og analysar for å kunne
svare på forskningsspørsmåla.
Svaret bør ikkje overstige 2000 ord (utanom litteraturlista).
I.
The relationship between vocabulary size and gender assignment
across the North Germanic languages – typical and atypical
development
The overall aim of this project is to investigate acquisition of gender in typically
developing children learning four different North Germanic languages, Icelandic,
Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. Moreover, findings from this group will be compared
to those of a group of children with Williams Syndrome learning Norwegian. More
specifically, the project addresses the following questions:
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When do gender distinctions first show up in TD children learning North
Germanic languages, and in children with Williams syndrome learning
Norwegian?
When are gender distinctions mastered (i.e. 90 % gender marking correct, cf.
Brown 1973) in these groups (four languages + WS/Norwegian)?
If it turns out that there are differences between the languages in onset and/or age
when gender assignment is 90 % correct, can these differences be related to
o the type of gender system,
o phonology (e.g. Danish vs Swedish, both two-gender systems, but with
different phonologies)
o presence or absence of morphological case on nouns, adjectives, articles
and pronouns?
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II.
What is the role of frequency in gender acquisition (cf. Szagun et al., 2007, p.
450)
To what extent do phonological regularities play a role? cf. (Szagun et al., 2007,
p. 467)
To what extent does learning of a case system interfere with learning of the
gender system? Cf. Szagun et al. (2007, p. 468)
Do error patterns vary from one language to the next?
Samtale og taleflyt
Samtalen er den mest grunnleggende og universelle av alle former for
mellommenneskelig kommunikasjon og den arenaen der identiteter og relasjoner skapes,
befestes og forhandles. Med økt fokus på begreper som tekst, kontekst, diskurs har vi de
siste tiårene sett en oppblomstring av forskning på muntlige tekster – samtaler – som
strukturelle og interaksjonelle fenomener. Innenfor feltene språk-/talevansker og logopedi
er det særlig samtaler med og mellom afasirammede som er blitt studert, både i nasjonalt
og internasjonalt perspektiv (se f eks Wilkinson 1999, Goodwin (ed.) 2003, Lind 2005a).
Innenfor taleflytvansker (stamming og løpsk tale) finnes det langt mindre publisert
forskning (se Tetnowski & Damico (2001) og referanser der).
Det er mange typer samtaler og relasjoner det kan være nyttig å få beskrevet; en type
interaksjon som peker seg ut i logopedisk sammenheng, er den mellom logoped og
klient/elev/bruker. Interaksjonen/samtalen mellom logopeden og personen med en språk/talevanske er det "stedet" der behandlingen (terapien) kan sies å foregå (Byng 1995), og
dermed blir det viktig å få beskrevet/utforsket hva som skjer i slike interaksjoner, og
hvordan de forløper. (Samtidig er det selvfølgelig viktig å vurdere overføringsverdien fra
denne typen interaksjon til andre, kanskje enda mer økologisk valide, typer
interaksjoner.)
Følgende forskningsspørsmål vil være sentrale:
 Hvilke strategier bruker personen som stammer?
 Hvordan håndterer personen som stammer, situasjoner der samtalen går i stå?
 Hvordan takler logopeden slike situasjoner?
 Hvordan påvirker logopedens atferd den språklige atferden til personen som
stammer?
 Hva slags signaler gis/gis ikke?
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III.
Lexical and syntactic constructions in aphasic and non-aphasic
speech
Introduction
Aphasia is a complex of persistent language disorders due to acquired focal brain damage
in a mature brain (Lesser & Milroy 1993). It is estimated that aphasia directly affects
about 20 000 individuals in Norway, and that on average 16-17 persons acquire aphasia
every day (Corneliussen et al 2006). This disorder strikes suddenly and affects people of
all ages, men and women. It generally has severe consequences for the quality of life of
the individual, and as a persistent disorder it is costly for the individual as well as for
society (Jordan & Kaiser 1996).
Background and status of knowledge regarding aphasia
Aphasia may cause difficulties in all language modalities and in relation to different
linguistic levels (phonology, lexicon, grammar). The condition is characterised by
extensive variation, intra-individually as well as inter-individually (Lesser & Milroy
1993). Depending on the site and size of the lesion, the degrees and types of language
difficulties persons with aphasia experience, differ. The linguistic performance of the
individual usually varies contextually, depending upon several factors, e.g. the
communicative task, the relation to the co-participant and the degree of cognitive
overload. The symptoms of aphasia may also differ cross-linguistically, depending on the
relative complexity of various linguistic structures in different languages (cf. Menn et al
1995).
Despite the extensive variability characteristic of aphasia, both research and clinical
experience show that a certain degree of subcategorization of syndromes is possible and
relevant (Drai & Grodzinsky 2006). The most obvious distinction may be drawn between
those aphasic speakers with a fluent speech production combined with difficulties with
comprehension to a greater extent than production (Edwards 2005), and those with a nonfluent speech production combined with relatively better preserved abilities in
comprehension than in production (Menn et al 1995). These two clinical types of aphasia
are generally detected on standard aphasia tests, such as Norsk grunntest for afasi (The
Norwegian Basic Aphasia Assessment) (NGA) (Reinvang & Engvik 1980).
In the last few years, different types of tests facilitating more systematic assessments
of the linguistic abilities of aphasic speakers have been adapted and standardized for
Norwegian, viz. Pyramide- og palmetesten (Howard & Patterson 2005), Verb- og
setningstesten (VOST) (Bastiaanse et al 2006) and Psycholinguistic Assessment of
Language Processing in Aphasia (PALPA) (Kay et al 1992, Norwegian version
forthcoming 2008). None of these tests, however, include assessment of the production of
discourse or connected speech.
Anomia is a characteristic feature of aphasia, irrespective of aphasia type, with
obvious consequences for communication in daily life. Aphasic speakers use an array of
strategies when dealing with the anomia, e.g. paraphrases/reformulations, substitutions,
perseverations and overuse of particular lexical and syntactic constructions (Lind et al, in
prep.). The different strategies may illuminate aspects of the structure and function of the
mental lexicon: are we dealing with a homogeneous lexicon with a maximally
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economical structure (few stored forms and extensive reliance on grammatical rules), or
is the lexicon far more heterogeneous, a storage of multiple and various types of forms
interrelated in a network? Ultimately, this question is related to the more basic
ontological question concerning the autonomous or non-autonomous status of language
as a mental concept.
Main goals
The present project has three main goals:
1. to improve our knowledge of the language difficulties associated with aphasia in
Norwegian with a particular focus on spoken discourse production
2. to establish normative data on spoken discourse production, thus facilitating the use
of a standard picture description task in aphasia assessments
3. to investigate the possible relation between visual attention and anomia in aphasic
speakers through the use of eye-tracking technology
IV
Multicultural London English and Multicultural Paris French
This is a sociolinguistic project which aims to compare the effect of language contact on
contemporary London English and contemporary Paris French. It will pay particular
attention to patterns of variation and change in the main languages, English and French,
that are influenced by varieties spoken by minority ethnic groups, including AfroCaribbeans in the UK and French Caribbeans and Maghrebis in France.
The project is the first systematic comparison of two large Western metropolitan areas
from a sociolinguistic perspective. By comparing language variation and change in the
two locations we will attempt to identify general processes of language contact and
language variation and change in large multicultural metropolises. We seek a better
understanding not only of sociolinguistic aspects of language contact and language
change but also of social questions connected with migration and the consequences for
education.
Our aim is to compare innovations in discourse-pragmatics, morphosyntax and
phonology in each city, determining the extent to which innovations relate to ethnicallybased variation as well as to more traditional processes such as dialect levelling in the
UK and the influence of 'le français populaire' in France. We will pay particular attention
to processes involving ‘crossing’ and code-switching.
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