This study analyzes negative particle variation (i.e., the variable presence or absence of the negative particle ne) in synchronous French chat discourse within a labovian-inspired framework. Selected morphosyntactic, lexical, and phonological constraints are considered. Multivariate analyses performed by GoldVarb 2001 revealed that subject type (i.e., NP, [- overt] subject environment, pronoun) and the phonological environment preceding the position of neregardless of its presence or absenceare determining factors in the variation. In addition, discursive-pragmatic effect was explored in a sub-sample of data. The results indicate that ne is seldom present in verbal negation during explanatory discourse style, yet it is very likely to be retained in ludic, emphatic, and proverbial styles.

After providing an historical overview of the French spelling system and orthographic variation, this study analyzes selected internal (i.e., linguistic) factors and one external (i.e., social) factor that can influence the use of diacritics in online French-language chat sessions. From a corpus of synchronous computer-mediated communication, 3,855 tokens of graphemes capable of bearing diacritics were coded with the following scheme: Letter, Diacritic, Grapheme (i.e., Letter and Diacritic combined), Date of Participation, and Age Group of Participant. A multivariate (VARBRUL) analysis determined that Grapheme exerts the most influence on variation.

This study partially replicates and re-explores specific dimensions of a textbook analysis of the presentation and use of specific grammatical elements and sociolinguistic variants in textbooks published in the United States for learners of French. Authenticity is situated as a central construct in the analysis of interrogatives, relative pronouns, and the negative particle ne in selected textbooks and ancillary materials. The findings reveal that little progress has been made over the past twenty years in integrating authentic representations of discourse into French-as-a-foreign-language textbooks.

The late seventeenth century was a crucial era in establishing territorial claims on the North American continent. In order to strengthen France's hold on the Quebec colony, Louis XIV sent 770 women across the Atlantic at royal expense in order to populate New France. Since that time, these women known as the filles du roi, have often been reduced to a footnote in history books, or else mistakenly slandered as women of questionable morals. This work seeks to clearly identify the filles du roi through a study of their socioeconomic status, educational background, and various demographic factors, and compare the living conditions they had in France with those that awaited them in Canada. The aim of this undertaking is to better understand these pioneer women and their reasons for leaving France, as well as to identify the lasting contributions they made to French-Canadian culture and society.

This exploratory case study aims to develop a set of best practices for integrating online discussion forums into the foreign language curriculum, focusing specifically on a group of learners in an advanced French grammar course at a large, public U.S. university. During a period of two months, 26 participants completed a series of tasks designed to provide three different types of data: 1) exploration and analysis of interactional, linguistic, and social features of Web forum discourse; 2) participation in Web forums; and 3) feedback from students. Since the feedback received from two questionnaires was ultimately the most consistent and reliable type of data collected, this study focuses on students' participation patterns and their perceptions of Web forums as a communication space having the potential to provide opportunities for learning French. Although some students indicated that they would neither consider visiting a French-language Web forum nor actually visit one, in both cases, more than half of the participants who completed these questionnaires indicated that they would both consider visiting a French-language Web forum and might actually visit one. Since encouraging students to use French beyond the classroom and to engage in the lifelong use of French for personal enrichment (following the …

Manuel Machado is known as one of the most innovative Spanish modernist poets of the twentieth century. Despite his recognition as a literary figure in Spain, the mimetic descriptions in Machado's poetics are interpreted as mere innovations in Spanish poetry. Those mimetic descriptions are examples of ekphrasis in Spanish literature. Ekphrasis is both a literary and representational art. The mimetic dimension in Machado's poetry is ignored or misinterpreted by the critics of his poetics. This study written in Spanish investigates the use of ekphrasis in terms of Machado's poetic style. An analysis of Manuel Machado's ekphrastic poems will determine: ekphrastic poetry is a representational art; how visual and acoustic aspects of Machado's poems create enargeia; and the manifestation of ekphrasis in Spanish verse. In using Machado's poems, this project will contribute to future explorations of ekphrasis in Spanish literature.

Translation and subtitling has always been a complicated dimension of the motion picture industry for years. The problem of dealing with linguistic elements in films and conveying them to audiences of different languages across the globe encompasses many difficulties regarding forms and structures of other languages. One of the more highly researched topics in French linguistic studies has been the use of address pronouns and a range of aspects related to their use and interpretation. Many studies have been conducted over the last sixty years in order to determine and understand these variables. An analysis of several of these studies reveals the many complexities involved in second-person pronoun choice in the French language and the development of the idea of pronoun choice as an act of social identity. The focus of this study is to provide an analysis of the use of formal and informal address pronoun use in the French subtitling and dubbing of an American film, Maid in Manhattan, in order to add, on a broader level, a way to differentially examine perceived norms in a variety of contexts within this medium.

The release of the two films, Madame Bovary (1992) by Claude Chabrol and Le Colonel Chabert (1994) by Yves Angelo, arouses an interest in a method which studies the rapport between the seventh art and literature. Following the studies of the narratologists, Gerard Genette, Yves Reuter, Gerard-Denis Farcy, Celestino Deleyto, Andre Gaudreault and Francois Jost, a method of analyzing and studying the relationship between literature and cinema can be developed. The principal interest of a comparative study can reside in the relationship between the story and the narration of the two genres of works. The study conducted at this level of analysis allows the appreciation of the impoverishments or the enrichments operated by the adapter. The comparative analysis of the works of Flaubert, Chabrol, Balzac, and Angelo reveal the problems relative to the cinematographic adaptation.

This thesis presents a study of events in the life of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, a lyric poetess and dramatist during the Romantic period, as motivating forces in her literary career. As might be expected in the case of a true representative of the Romantic period, Avellaneda's passions and personal life are reflected in all of her works. She uses human and divine love as the main themes throughout all of her literary production, especially in her lyric poetry and the four tragedies chosen for this study: Munio Alfonso (1844), El Príncipe de Viana (1844), Saúl (1849), and Baltasar (1858).

The purpose of this investigation is to show the relationship between the autobiographical information evidenced by the principal female characters in Emilia Pardo Bazan's major novels and her influence on nineteenth-century feminism in Spain. The changing nature of Pardo Bazan's feminism is studied through an analysis of two literary phases in her work. In the first, classified as naturalistic, Pardo Bazan concentrates on the nineteenth century woman and her limited role within society. The second phase reveals a change of perspective as the author creates a character type: this "new woman" is an expression of her feminist beliefs. As Pardo Bazan sought support for feminist goals, diverse intellectual activities characterized her life and became an integral aspect of her art.

This study is an assessment of the topics of religion and fantasy in several novels of Ram6n Sender which various critics have characterized as being particularly concerned with one or both of the topics. Both published and unpublished works of criticism and history have been, consulted. The "Introduction" provides biographical and critical information. Chapter II documents in the characterization and the observations and actions of characters significant reflections of the author's attitude toward religion. In Chapter III the primary emphasis is upon the illogical, the absurd, and the grotesque, The "Conclusion" states that in the opinion of critics, in the significance of characterization, and by his own admission, Sender is liberal, anticlerical, humanistic, and occasionally attracted to the fantastic.

This study presents a biographical sketch of the author, a historical background of his period, an overview of his known works, an investigation of the definition and literary criticism of the "pasos," and summaries of and critical commentaries on the twenty-four known "pasos" of the Spanish dramatist whose work is considered to have significantly influenced the evolution of the Spanish theatre. The "pasos," brief comical dramatizations of realistic situations, involving diverse types of common people, reflecting witty and charming humor, are written in a prose style considered by critics to be equal to that of Cervantes and Rojas. The sources of investigation have been two volumes of his known works by the Real Academia Espanola, an edition of Pasos completos, literary histories, and several articles.

The problem with which this study is concerned is that of demonstrating the importance of communication and travel in the Siglo de Oro as seen in selected picaresque novels. This study is divided into five chapters. The introductory chapter includes a literary and chronological history of the period and, in the interest of clarity, a plot summary of the selected picaresque novels. The second, third and fourth chapters discuss the various means of urban, rural and maritime communication and travel. The concluding chapter summarizes the study and asserts that communication and travel were of utmost importance during the Siglo LeQ ro and that the picaresque novel, describing faithfully the society that produced it, is a valuable data source for research of this kind.