The acquisition of pronouns by French children: A parallel study of production and comprehension

This study examines syntactic and morphological aspects of the production and comprehension of pronouns by 99 typically developing French-speaking children aged 3 years, 5 months to 6 years, 5 months. A fine structural analysis of subject, object, and reflexive clitics suggests that whereas the object clitic chain crosses the subject chain, the reflexive clitic chain is nested within it. We argue that this structural difference introduces differences in processing complexity, chain crossing being more complex than nesting. In support of this analysis, both production and comprehension experiments show that children have more difficulty with object than with reflexive clitics (with more omissions in production and more erroneous judgments in sentences involving Principle B in comprehension). Concerning the morphological aspect, French subject and object pronouns agree in gender with their referent. We report serious difficulties with pronoun gender both in production and comprehension in children around the age of 4 (with nearly 30% errors in production and chance level judgments in comprehension), which tend to disappear by age 6. The distribution of errors further suggests that the masculine gender is processed as the default value. These findings provide further insights into the relationship between comprehension and production in the acquisition process.

The discourse on political pluralism in early eighteenth-century England : a conceptual study with special reference to terminology of religious origin

Doctoral dissertation, University of Jyväskylä

Variations in fathers' discourse on fatherhood and in family alliances during infancy

The aim of this pilot study is to analyse the discourse of fathers of toddlers concerning fatherhood and the link between some particularities in the discourse and family alliance. The sample consists of 13 Swiss first time fathers (5 fathers of girls and 8 of boys). In order to evaluate the paternal discourse, the fathers were given a semi-structured interview, which was later analysed using the research package Alceste. The family alliance, i.e., the degree of coordination among the partners when executing a task together, was assessed through the Lausanne Trilogue Play (Fivaz-Depeursinge & Corboz-Warnery, 1999). The main results indicated an interesting link between classes of paternal discourse grouped around the following themes "affective relationship", "daily routine" and "educational goals", and the family alliance (defined in two major categories; functional and problematic alliances). Finally, clinical perspectives on links between paternal representations and family functioning at an interactive level are discussed

Fertility discourse in parental leave policies' media coverage : a frame analysis of French-speaking Swiss press articles from 1999 to 2009

This paper analyses the media coverage of parental leave policies (parental and paternity leaves) in Swiss French-speaking press articles from 1999 to 2009. Switzerland is one of the rare European countries which has no statutory parental or paternity leave. The aim is to describe the mediatisation of these policies and to analyse the arguments in favour and against their implementation. We investigate the status of a fertility frame - the mobilisation of discourse relating to fertility issues - among the various arguments used to justify or reject parental leave policies. We proceed with a content analysis of 579 press articles, as well as a frame analysis on a subset in which parental leave policies are the central theme (N=206). Results show that paternity leave is the predominant public issue addressed in the dataset. A mediatisation peak was reached in 2007, following an initiative of a member of the Federal executive to implement a short paternity leave. Parental leave policies are predominantly represented in a positive light. The main positive frame is economic, in which leaves are represented as serving the interests of companies. Involved fatherhood and gender equality are also frequently mentioned as positive frames. The fertility frame is only moderately used in articles covering Swiss news on paternity leaves. Conversely, the fertility frame is largely mobilised in articles covering parental leave in other countries. We discuss some interpretations of this discrepancy and suggest future avenues of research on parental leave policies in Switzerland.

Psychosocial analysis of ETA's violence legitimation discourse

This study analyses the fundamental components shaping the violence legitimation discourse of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askasuna). With this aim, a category system has been built, which organizes the psychosocial processes identified in previous studies related to violence legitimation. Based on the proposed category system, a content analysis was conducted on 21 statements of ETA, released between 1998 and 2011. An intraobserver and inter-observer reliability analysis reveals high level stability and replicability of the categorization. The results show, firstly, that outgroup components have a predominant presence over ingroup components. Secondly, in the components hierarchy, we observe that elements referring to identity come in first place, followed in similar frequencies by those related to violence representation and the definition of the situation.

Psychosocial analysis of ETA"s violence legitimation discourse

Este artículo analiza los componentes fundamentales que configuran el discurso legitimador de la violencia de ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna). Con este objetivo, se construye un sistema de categorías, el cual organiza los procesos psicosociales identificados en investigaciones previas relacionadas con la legitimación de la violencia. A partir del sistema de categorías propuesto, se realiza un análisis de contenido en 21 comunicados de ETA publicados entre 1998 y 2011. El análisis de fiabilidad intraobservador e interobservador muestra una alta estabilidad y replicabilidad de la categorización. Los resultados muestran, en primer lugar, que los componentes exogrupales son predominantes respecto a los endogrupales. Segundo, en la jerarquización, se observa la preminencia de los elementos referidos a la identidad, seguido por frecuencias similares los relacionados con la representación de la violencia y la definición de la situación.

Psychosocial analysis of ETA's violence legitimation discourse

This study analyses the fundamental components shaping the violence legitimation discourse of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askasuna). With this aim, a category system has been built, which organizes the psychosocial processes identified in previous studies related to violence legitimation. Based on the proposed category system, a content analysis was conducted on 21 statements of ETA, released between 1998 and 2011. An intraobserver and inter-observer reliability analysis reveals high level stability and replicability of the categorization. The results show, firstly, that outgroup components have a predominant presence over ingroup components. Secondly, in the components hierarchy, we observe that elements referring to identity come in first place, followed in similar frequencies by those related to violence representation and the definition of the situation.

Aproximaciones a la lectura crítica: teoría, ejemplos y reflexiones

Dentro de las ciencias del lenguaje, el Análisis Crítico del Discurso (ACD) aprovecha las aportaciones de los recientes estudios sobre el texto (análisis del discurso, pragmática, sociolingüística, etnografía de la comunicación, teoría de la enunciación, etc.) para definir los propósitos y la metodología del análisis crítico. Ante el mundo multicultural y globalizado en el que vivimos, la única respuesta educativa posible es la necesidad de formar a una ciudadanía, que tenga habilidades críticas de lectura, escritura y pensamiento y participe de modo constructivo en el desarrollo de una comunidad plural, respetuosa y progresista. El artículo explora en la teoría y en la práctica la lectura crítica, para reflexionar sobre la necesidad de fomentar este tipo de práctica lectora en el aula. Para ejemplificar el funcionamiento de la lectura crítica, se trabajan lingüísticamente desde el ACD algunos fragmentos breves de discurso. Se analiza el grado y el tipo de comprensión lectora crítica que muestran 25 exámenes de universitarios españoles de 20 años, estudiantes de Traducción e Interpretación en la Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona, que habían tenido 80 horas de instrucción sobre lengua escrita y análisis deldiscurso en castellano y catalán (con varias sesiones sobre Análisis Crítico del Discurso), en las que se habían analizado cooperativamente textos parecidos al propuesto en el examen.

In the eye of the listener: pupil dilation elucidates discourse processing.

The current study investigated cognitive resource allocation in discourse processing by means of pupil dilation and behavioral measures. Short question-answer dialogs were presented to listeners. Either the context question queried a new information focus in the successive answer, or else the context query was corrected in the answer sentence (correction information). The information foci contained in the answer sentences were either adequately highlighted by prosodic means or not. Participants had to judge the adequacy of the focus prosody with respect to the preceding context question. Prosodic judgment accuracy was higher in the conditions bearing adequate focus prosody than in the conditions with inadequate focus prosody. Latency to peak pupil dilation was longer when new information foci were perceived compared to correction foci. Moreover, for the peak dilation, an interaction of focus type and prosody was found. Post hoc statistical tests revealed that prosodically adequate correction focus positions were processed with smaller peak dilation in comparison to all other dialog conditions. Thus, pupil dilation and results of a principal component analysis suggest an interaction of focus type and focus prosody in discourse processing.

Llegir la ideologia: la realitat i el desig

L'article analitza com nou estudiants universitaris de primer curs comprenen la ideologia de dos editorials que tracten un mateix tema polític des d'una orientació oposada. La metodologia és qualitativa i utilitza qüestionaris oberts i entrevistes semiestructurades per recollir les respostes i els comentaris dels informants, que es contrasten amb l'anàlisi lingüística usant l'aparell teòric de l'Anàlisi del Discurs. Els resultats mostren una gran diversitat de conductes, des de lectors que poden identificar la ideologia i elaborar una resposta personal coherent, fins a lectors que donen interpretacions erràtiques i incoherents. La discussió de les dades suggereix algunes vies per promoure un aprenentatge de pràctiques lectores més crítiques i contextualitzades.