School of Languages and Linguistics - Theses
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Item‘For noble and valiant France’: French-Australian relations, French Australian identities during the First World War( 2020)This thesis investigates the perception, projection, and mobilisation of French identity in Australia during the First World War. Australia’s participation on the Western Front from 1916 onwards meant that more Australians than ever before had a tangible connection with France, and it became a place of trauma as well as fascination. Yet, from the beginning of the conflict, French identity, language, and culture took on a heightened significance in Australia. French-Australians and their networks of francophones and francophiles played an important role in shaping this mobilisation of identity and culture, despite their numerically small proportion of the population. Drawing on a wide variety of French and Australian sources, this thesis examines the responses of French-Australians to the war and analyses how French identity was expressed in both civilian and military contexts. This thesis represents the first study to incorporate an extensive use of French sources to examine Australia’s First World War experience, and to analyse the role played by French-Australian relations. The French sources, notably the French diplomatic archives, demonstrate that the discourse regarding French identity was driven by a diverse range of people, in multiple spheres, and on many levels of society. French-Australian connections and networks based on social, political, cultural, and linguistic identities reveal a transnational influence which is not widely known. From diplomats and government officials, to businessmen, soldiers, charity workers and the ordinary man on the street, many people took part in, and were influenced by, the discourse. In the public domain, French national identity, French cultural imagery and essentialised images of France and French people were linked to the rhetoric of patriotism and were used to influence public opinion and support for the war. On the home front, the French-Australian fundraising organisations drew on transnational connections and successfully combined cultural representations with patriotism and fundraising. In the military sphere, French national identity had implications for men of military age who were subject to French military service obligations, and their experiences reveal a wide range of opinions and attitudes towards French identity. Examining how French identity was projected and mobilised, by whom, and for what purpose, provides a new perspective from which to understand this pivotal period of Australian and French shared history.
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ItemBehind the presence of Chinese: the linguistic landscape of Box Hill( 2016)With the ongoing trend of globalisation, more attention has been paid to multilingual and multicultural communication in the urban area. Such growing interests have made linguistic landscape (LL) studies, which address languages on public signage, a popular approach to sociolinguistics and social semiotics in the past few years. Previous LL literature has been preoccupied with the spread of English in multilingual cities around the world with little attention to the role of Chinese in the Australian urban context. As such, the current study aims to conduct a LL study concerning the use of Chinese in Box Hill. To achieve this aim, I used photographs of signs, such as street signs, shop names and promotional signs, as the source of data. A multi-layered approach combining quantitative and qualitative analyses are employed to firstly give an overview of the language combinations in Box Hill and secondly dive deeper into the intentions and ideologies underlying linguistic and semiotic choices. Findings of this study show that different signs have their respective language choices and semiotic preferences, and these can be understood in relation to the social context and cultural knowledge. This study revealed the status of Chinese language in an English-dominant environment. It contributed to the field of LL by promoting a multimodal perspective of photographic data, and made an effort to extend multimodal theories to accounting for signs with a Chinese origin. The study has important implications for linguistic and visual literacy. It suggests that language learning should not be based solely on linguistic knowledge, but also include cultural understandings. In addition, visual literacy is as important as linguistic literacy and are key in deciphering the meaning of signs in the modern world.
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ItemUne étude comparative de l’adoption d’un nouveau remède antiscorbutique en Angleterre et en France au temps des voyages de découvertes aux Terres Australes( 2018)The navies of France and England explored Indo-Pacific regions in the 18th and 19th centuries, seeking new scientific knowledge and territories. Although equal in technical and navigational skills, the health of their crews was very different. When French explorer Nicolas Baudin encountered English explorer Matthew Flinders off the south coast of Nouvelle Hollande in 1802, the English crew was healthy while the French was scorbutic. From 1795, British crews were protected from scurvy by a daily ration of lemon juice preserved in alcohol. While adoption of this innovation was judged late by sociologist Everett Rogers, according to his theory Diffusion of Innovations, its adoption almost a century later by the French was even more so. This work explores reasons for late adoption by both navies, referring to Rogers’ theory. Scurvy was inevitable during prolonged sea journeys, appearing after 2-3 months. Landfall was the only remedy, but for reasons unknown. The real cause, lack of dietary vitamin C (ascorbic acid), causing fatal haemorrhages, was discovered in 1932. However, 17th century British and French explorers had discovered that citrus fruits cured and prevented scurvy, believing erroneously that their acid content was antiscorbutic. Their discoveries were ignored. Putative causes and remedies for scurvy were proposed, in the context of prevailing medical ideologies such as Galenism or iatromechanics. In 1747 James Lind experimented and showed that only oranges and lemons cured scorbutic sailors. Lind also prepared a “rob” (heat-distilled preparation of juice) which was not tested. Half a century passed before Gilbert Blane, knowing that heat destroyed antiscorbutic property, persuaded the British Navy to adopt alcohol-preserved lemon juice. In England, debate over spurious remedies, including malt used by James Cook, delayed adoption of lemon juice. In reality, consumption of fruit and vegetables on frequent landfall during expeditions explains why Cook’s crews remained healthy. Likewise, in France, debate over spurious causes such as consumption of meat, delayed adoption of lemon juice. A vegetarian diet, which did not contain fresh produce, remained in force for over a decade. An important hindrance was, ironically, the invention of a process by Nicolas Appert in 1802 to preserve heat-sterilised food in glass jars which enabled consumption of food, otherwise available only on shore, during long sea journeys. The process prevented putrefaction of food and preserved its taste, but unknown to Appert and French authorities, also destroyed its antiscorbutic property. Not until the Crimean war in the 1850s, did French authorities realise that preserved food did not prevent scurvy in contrast to lime juice which maintained health of their British ally. A Commission was established in 1856 to investigate preparations of citrus fruit but erroneously recommended a heated preparation based on acidity and taste, not on antiscorbutic property. A decree of 1860 ordered consumption of lemon juice but could not be fulfilled. Additional decrees of 1874 and 1894 encouraged delivery and consumption of lemon juice but its need dissipated with the introduction of steamships which shortened sea journeys. Citrus juice was never effectively adopted by the French Navy, compromising voyages of discovery.
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ItemScreening Germany in Australia: analyzing the Australian Festival of German Films as cultural diplomacy( 2018)Cultural diplomacy increased in importance in German foreign policy following World War II (WWII) and reunification in 1989. The German model of cultural diplomacy emerged out of the need for a separation of powers between state and cultural politics, and resulted in a unique approach in which the Goethe-Institut (Goethe Institute – GI) became and remains the principal actor representing German culture and language abroad. The GI was re-established after WWII and now operates in 191 countries. As distinct from propaganda, contemporary German diplomacy aims to portray a realistic and multi-faceted image of Germany; it utilises public engagements, various media and – in particular – film. Other nations are adopting this strategy, as the growing number of nationality-based film festivals worldwide shows. Researchers in the emerging field of film festival studies have hitherto scrutinised the role of film festivals in the circulation of film, global cinephilia, as public spheres, as transnational spaces and time events, but not yet as part of cultural and contemporary cinematic diplomacy. My research adds to extant research on contemporary cinematic and cultural diplomacy through analysis of the Festival of German Films in Australia’s (AFGF) role in German cultural diplomacy. The AFGF was the largest festival of German films outside of Germany and was organised by the GI in collaboration with the German Films Service and Marketing GmbH. The AFGF was established in Sydney and Melbourne in 2002, and ran until 2016; it was a platform for Germany and German culture, as well as a marketplace for presenting German films to Australian audiences and distributors. I analyse developments in AFGF programming, choice of films and time-events, with particular focus on the period 2013–15. My research employs a mixed-method approach comprised of audience surveys, audience focus groups, and stakeholder interviews complemented by event and film analysis. My analysis focuses on the three most prominent themes in films and curation of the AFGF from 2002–15: the two world wars, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic), and multicultural Germany. In understanding film festivals as socially constructed, I analyse each category in accordance with Lefebvre’s tripartite concept of physical, curated and lived space. I emphasise an understanding of the AFGF as a time-event and of the roles of its component time-events. These time-events are curated occasions; the GI highlights particular films and themes by screening them on either opening or closing nights, or as part of special events, such as a question-and-answer session or an associated culinary or musical experience. I conclude the thesis by emphasising the potential and the challenges of cinematic diplomacy with a particular focus on contemporary German cinematic diplomacy. Further, I highlight increasingly transnational aspects of the AFGF and their relationship to the cultural diplomatic role Germany holds as an advocate for human rights as a consequence of WWII and the following processes of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (dealing with the past).
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ItemCrafting the image and telling the story: a cross-cultural analysis of winery identity in France and Australia( 2017)This research explores the construction of winery identity in France and Australia. Focusing on wine producers’ perspectives, it is based on case studies of four wineries in Bordeaux (France) and The Grampians (Australia). The research concerns premium, boutique wine producers in both regions. To situate the study in context, the thesis begins with an historical account of the global wine industry, and of each of the two regions. An ethnographical grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyse data from the four case study wineries. Data was collected in the form of interviews, observations and published material, and was analysed using a coding process to organise the data into thematic categories. A detailed ethnographical account of each winery was drawn, revealing producers’ motivations, aspirations, philosophies and values. Relationships and change emerged from the data as the two most significant concerns for the wineries as a group. In a rapidly changing market, increased competition and changing consumption habits have augmented the importance of relationships in the wine world and forced producers to rethink how they operate. The research revealed that their principal question is how to continue producing authentic, quality wine while adapting to globalisation, fierce competition, new modes of communication and changing consumer desires. Through exploring the significance of relationships and change, the analysis produced a theory of the way wineries define their identity, craft their image and tell their story in response to the changing market and as a means of ensuring future success. Thus, via the case studies, the research explores the development of winery identity in France and Australia in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in a global context. As a cross-cultural study that considers the many factors that constitute and influence how wineries craft their image and tell their story, it aims to elucidate the interaction between production, consumption, commercialisation and culture in a global marketplace.
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ItemThe Russian language in an Australian environment: a descriptive analysis of English interference in the speech of bilingual Russian migrants( 1973)The purpose of this dissertation is to present a descriptive analysis of English interference phenomena observed in Australian Russian as spoken in the urban communities of Melbourne, Sydney and. Brisbane. The project concentrates on vocabulary and idiom (the level at which the bulk of interference phenomena occurs) but phonological and grammatical aspects are introduced in the analysis of integration processes in Chapter IV. Chapter I contains a survey of previous work on bilingualism, language contact and linguistic interference. The basic concepts pertaining to this type of investigation are discussed and defined. Fieldwork is also described. Material for the study was gathered in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. It consists of tape-recorded interviews with individual informants and group conversations on the following topics: daily activities, including work and recreation, and memorable events that had occurred before and after migration to Australia. Forty-six informants were used in the investigation and they represent both adult and childhood bilinguals, and a cross-section of the different backgrounds that characterise the Russian migrant population in Australia. As well as a classification of the informants, Chapter I also contains a brief outline of the history of Russian migration to Australia and a description of Russian community activities and efforts towards Russian language maintenance in Australia. Chapter II is concerned with a discussion of the fundamental causes of interference in Australian Russian speech. Actual contextual examples of interference phenomena are described, classified and as far as possible explained using the author's own observations and the findings of other researchers in this field. The analysis shows that interference in the speech corpus may be correlated with sociocultural, structural and psychological factors and that the situations in which Russian and English are used, as well as the attitudes of the speaker, play an important role in conditioning the extent and nature of interference. Chapter III presents a classification of interference phenomena according to different modes of interference, namely, the transfer of English identities (words and expressions in their entirety of form and meaning); the transfer of English distributions (the semantic extension of Russian words on the model of English and the translation of English expressions); the transfer of English identities and distributions to form bilingual compounds and phrases. The transfer of English identities was found to outnumber other modes of interference in the corpus. Chapter IV describes the integration processes used by the informants to adapt English items to the phonological and morphological systems of Russian. The examples show a clear pattern of sound substitution of Russian phonemes for English ones, a strong tendency to assign the majority of English nouns to the masculine gender, a preference for the productive declension, conjugation and word-formation patterns. A number of words and expressions are classified as socially integrated or adopted into Australian Russian on the basis of their frequency and range of occurrence. Chapter V discusses the few examples of code-switching between English and. Russian that occur in the corpus. The Conclusion contains a recapitulation of the main findings of this project and a brief discussion of what these findings indicate about the changing function of Russian in Australia. The three Appendices contain a description of the informants, sample interviews and extracts from Unification relevant to Chapter I.
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ItemThe process of the assessment of writing performance: the rater's perspective( 2000)The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the process by which raters of texts written by ESL learners make their scoring decisions. The context is the Special Test of English Proficiency (step), used by the Australian government to assist in immigration decisions. Four trained, experienced and reliable step raters took part in the study, providing scores for two sets of 24 texts. The first set was scored as in an operational rating session. Raters then provided think-aloud protocols describing the rating process as they rated the second set. Scores were compared under the two conditions and comparisons made with the raters' operational rating behaviour. Both similarities and differences were observed. A coding scheme developed to describe the think-aloud data allowed analysis of the sequence of rating, the interpretations the raters made of the scoring categories in the analytic rating scale, and the difficulties raters faced in rating. Findings demonstrate that raters follow a fundamentally similar rating process, in three stages. With some exceptions, they appear to hold similar interpretations of the scale categories and descriptors, but the relationship between scale contents and text quality remains obscure. A model is presented describing the rating process. This shows that rating is at one level a rule-bound, socially governed procedure that relies upon a rating scale and the rater training which supports it, but it retains an indeterminate component as a result of the complexity of raters' reactions to individual texts. The task raters face is to reconcile their impression of the text, the specific features of the text, and the wordings of the rating scale, thereby producing a set of scores. The rules and the scale do not cover all eventualities, forcing the raters to develop various strategies to help them cope with problematic aspects of the rating process. In doing this they try to remain close to the scale, but are also heavily influenced by the complex intuitive impression of the text obtained when they first read it. This sets up a tension between the rules and the intuitive impression, which raters resolve by what is ultimately a somewhat indeterminate process. In spite of this tension and indeterminacy, rating can succeed in yielding consistent scores provided raters are supported by adequate training, with additional guidelines to assist them in dealing with problems. Rating requires such constraining procedures to produce reliable measurement.
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ItemOn some uses of the conversational token Mm( 1995)This thesis examines the conversational token Mm, using a core corpus of one hour each of seven Australian couples' conversation. Mm is a common conversational object in the Australian data set, with over 700 instances in the core corpus. Despite its frequent occurrence, it has been little studied in the past. It is a highly indexical, interactional token, as well as being one of the semantically most empty tokens of conversation. Mm belongs to what is probably a closed set of receipt tokens of various kinds in English, which are objects that claim some kind of attention from their producer, who is in a primarily listener role at the time of their utterance. Related tokens include Mm hm, Uh huh, Yeah, Oh, Okay, Right, and probably No. Mm was also found to be flexible and multifunctional, with seven uses found: as a lapse repair token, a degustatory token, a repair initiator, a hesitation marker, a 'quotatory' token, an answer token and a receipt token, the last with three subtypes: as an acknowledger, as a continuer, and as an assessment. The last two are intonational adaptations, from the more typical acknowledging function. By far the most frequent use found in the Australian data set was the acknowledging use, which is one of its uses as a receipt token. Mm in this role was found to be rare in American data examined, but common in British data. As a receipt token (as well as in its other uses), Mm was found to be distinctive from related tokens, most notably in its use as a retrospective, sequence closing item showing weak commitment to the talk to which it is oriented; in many instances it is a weaker version of Yeah. Most typically it is a free-standing token in second position in the sequence. It is quite often followed in the same turn by other brief response objects such as agreement tokens, assessments, collaborative completions, clarification sequences, or topic boundary marking objects. It typically says that its producer has nothing substantial to add to the topic of the talk to which it is oriented, most obviously when the Mm is followed by substantial same speaker talk. Such talk is almost invariably on a topic other than the topic of the talk to which the Mm that precedes it is oriented. The handful of cases where Mm is followed by same speaker on-topic talk show an illocutionary rather than the more usual topical distancing from the talk. Both topical and illocutionary distancing support the interpretation that Mm is a token indicating weak commitment to the talk to which it is oriented. The effect of intonational mappings on Mm is also shown in this thesis. Typically, the receipt token Mm has falling intonation, in which case it is a weak acknowledging or affirming object. If it takes a fall-rising contour, it becomes a continuer similar to Mm hm and Uh huh. If it takes a rise-falling contour, it becomes a relatively weak assessment token, showing heightened involvement in the talk. This thesis goes some way to positioning Mm as a member of a set of receipt tokens, including Mm hm and Yeah. Further work is required to show how these and other related tokens, notably Uh huh, Oh, Okay, and Right can be differentiated more thoroughly, and how they may constitute membership of an interactional, recipiency paradigm in conversation.
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ItemHow do people respond when receiving compliments?: cross-cultural comparisons between Taiwanese, Taiwanese Australian and Australians( 1997)This study is to examine responses to compliments of Taiwanese, Taiwanese Australians and Australians. Three politeness principles: Brown & Levinson’s (1987) politeness theories, Leech’s (1983) and Gu’s (1990) politeness maxims were applied to explain data of three cultural groups. Chapter 1 is introduction. It outlines the general background of complimenting behaviours. The researcher claimed that different cultural values might turn a compliment into a insult. It is important and useful to study responses to compliments of different cultures. Past studies on Chinese compliment responses were conducted either in China or used Chinese from China as subjects. These findings could not be applied to Chinese in Taiwan entirely. The overall purpose of this study has two aspects. Firstly, to examine strategies used by three groups and compare them. Three politeness theories will also be used to discuss them in order to find out which theory was suitable for three groups. Secondly, interpersonal variables such as gender, distance and status will also be discussed. The definitions of politeness, compliments and responses to compliments are given. Chapter 2 is a literature review. First, it briefly outlines four major perspectives in the study of politeness: the social-norm view, the conversational-maxim view by Leech (1983), the face-saving view by Brown & Levinson (1987) and the conversational-contract view. Gu (1990) by adopting the conversational-maxim view, designed a Chinese politeness model which includes four maxims: the self-denigration, the address, the tact and the generosity maxims. Second, studies compliments and compliment responses within one cultural context are presented. Third, cross cultural comparisons on compliment responses are discussed, these included Gao’s (1984), Chen’s (1993) studies on Chinese. However, both studies used Chinese from China as subjects. The findings indicate that most Chinese preferred to reject compliments or used indirect strategies to avoid self-praise in order to show politeness. There are three cases of cross-cultural comparisons between bilinguals and monolinguals. The most similar one to the present study is by Valdes & Pino (1981). They studied ethnographic compliment responses among bilingual Mexican American speakers, monolingual English-speaking Americans and monolingual Spanish-speaking Mexicans. Chapter 3 is methodology. This study used two methods to collect data. First, natural observations were used to collect real-life examples of compliment responses, about 1164 examples were collected. Second, discourse completion tasks were designed to elicit compliment responses. The discourse completion tasks were completed by 120 subjects. Each cultural group had 40 subjects, including 20 males and 20 females. Two versions of the questionnaire were designed, one in Chinese and one in English. Both Taiwanese and Taiwanese Australian speakers used the Chinese version while Australians used the English version. The responses were categorized into 20 strategies and three types: accept, reject and indirect. The results of the questionnaire data were analysed by using statistics. Chapter 4 is results. This includes the results of ethnographic and questionnaire data. The ethnographic data showed that both Taiwanese and Taiwanese Australians preferred indirect strategy types, though the favourite strategy might be different while Australians preferred accept strategy type. There were differences in responding to compliments according to the three variables of gender, status and distance. However, some of the differences were not obvious. The questionnaire data showed there were significant cultural differences in responding to compliments. The percentages of strategy types of three groups were similar. The gender effect was not significant but distance and status variables were. Further statistical analysis indicated these were due to the combinational effects of gender x distance and gender x status. For different kinds of compliments, subjects also preferred different kinds of strategies. Chapter 5 is discussion and conclusions. The first part is comparisons between ethnographic and questionnaire data. Both data yield similar findings thought more strategies were elicited from questionnaire data. The second part is comparisons between three groups. The findings indicated that three cultural groups were different. Taiwanese Australians adopted both two cultures and created their own politeness principles. They seemed to use indirect strategies, modest denial rejections (similar to Taiwanese) and accept strategies (similar to Australians). Taiwanese subjects also used accept strategies though not as much as the other cultural groups, the percentage was higher than any of past findings of Chinese samples. By applying three politeness theories, it was found that only Leech’s (1983) conversational maxims were adoptable by three groups. While Brown & Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory could not explain the indirect and modest denial strategies used by Taiwanese, Gu’s (1990) Chinese politeness principles also failed to explain commonly used accept strategies by three cultural groups. There were several limitations of this study. First the ethnographic data did not include a wider range. Second, only compliment responses were examined. Further studies should examine compliment-compliment responses pairs. This study concluded with suggestions of future studies of Taiwanese politeness in compliment-complimenting responses pairs. Since most Taiwanese speakers spoke Mandarin and Southern Min (Taiwanese), in order to find insightful details, Southern Min (Taiwanese) should be studied.
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ItemAssessing the second language proficiency of health professionals( 1990)This thesis reports on the development of an Australian Government English as a Second Language test for health professionals, the Occupational English Test (OET) , and its validation using Rasch Item Response Theory models. The test contains sub-tests of the four macroskills, each based on workplace communication tasks. The thesis reports on the creation of test specifications, the trial ling of test materials and the analysis of data from full test sessions. The main research issues dealt with are as follows: 1. The nature of the constructs involved in communicative language testing. The term proficiency is analysed, and its relationship to a number of models of communicative competence examined. The difficulty of incorporating into these models factors underlying test performance is identified. 2. The nature of performance tests. A distinction is introduced between strong and weak senses of the term performance test, and related to the discussion in 1 above. 3. The content validity of the OET. This is established on the basis of a questionnaire survey, interviews, examination of relevant literature, workplace observation and test data. 4. The role of classical and Rasch IRT analysis in establishing the qualities of the test. Classical and Rasch IRT analyses are used to establish the basic reliability of the OET sub-tests. The Writing sub-test is shown to be somewhat problematic for raters because of the nature of the writing task involved. Analysis of data from the Reading subtest demonstrates the superiority of the Rasch analysis in the creation of short tests with a specific screening function. 5. The role of Rasch IRT analysis in investigating the construct and content validity of the test and hence of communicatively-oriented tests in general. Rasch analysis reveals that the sub-tests are satisfactory operationalizations of the constructs 'ESL listening/ speaking/ reading/ writing ability in health professional contexts. For the Speaking and Writing sub-tests, the analysis reveals that responses of raters in categories associated with perceptions of grammatical accuracy have a more important role in the determination of the candidate's total score than was anticipated in the design of the test. This finding has implications for the validity of communicatively oriented tests in general, and illustrates the potential of IRT analysis for the investigation of the construct validity of tests. 6. The appropriateness of the use of Rasch IRT in the analysis of language tests. The nature of the debate about 'unidimensionality' in Rasch analysis is reviewed. It is argued that the issue has been substantialy misunderstood. Data from the two parts of the Listening sub-test are analysed, and statistical tests are used to confirm the unidimensionality of the data set. It is concluded that Rasch analysis is appropriate for a language test of this type. 7. The behaviour of raters in the rating of oral and written production in a second language. The findings reported in 5 above suggest that the behaviour of raters is crucial to understanding what is being measured in a communicative test of the productive language skills. The research demonstrates the value of Rasch IRT analysis in the empirical validation of communicatively oriented language tests, and the potential of large-scale test development projects for theoretical work on language testing.