Browsing by Subject "eleet"

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) weakens the concerned person’s ability to repair their own speech. AD has also been shown to affect the use of gestures during speech. This study looks at the actions of persons with AD during self-repair sequences in a group context. and examines the length of the repair sequences, the number of repair initiations and repairs and their distribution among the people taking part in the discussions. The study also investigates how people with AD use manual gestures during self-repair sequences. The connection between word-searching and gestures was also examined. The research method is based on the theoretical frameworks of conversation analysis, multimodal interaction analysis and repair sequence theory. The research material consisted of self-repair sequences and the manual gestures within those sequences recorded from group therapy sessions directed at people diagnosed with dementia. The participants of the study were six females with AD. The video recordings were analyzed using ELAN- computer program. The speech and gestural interaction of the participants was annotated in temporal synchronicity. ELAN was able to provide numeric data, but some of the data was calculated manually. Due to a lack of research on this study’s topic, it was necessary to develop the method to be used in the study. The research data comprises 183 self-repair sequences. 91,8 % of those consisted of a single turn. The mean length of the sequences was 6,2 seconds. Within the self-repair sequences, there were 496 self-initiations and 26 other-initiations. Within the self-repair sequences, 216 self-repairs and 22 other-repairs were detected. Word-search was the most common type of self-repair (37 %). Three out of six subjects produced 92,9 % of the repair-sequences. Half of the self-repair-sequences contained manual gestures. 177 gestures were observed. Three of the subjects produced 96,6% of all the gestures. Two of them produced gestures during 60 % of their repair sequences while producing 87% of all gestures. The subject producing third most gestures did so in about one third of her repair sequences. The most-used gesture type was rhythmic gesture (37,2%). Of all gestures 67,8% were produced during word-searches. The method made it possible to describe, at a general level, the gesture use of persons with AD during repair-sequences containing self-repair. According to the results, there is a lot of individual diversity in the phenomenon. However, the skewness and small number of participants in the study make this assumption uncertain. The results imply that persons with AD use gestures to support their speech. It is possible that more gestures occur during word-searches. Therefore, the use of gestures must be taken into consideration during speech repair. It can also be assumed that persons with moderate stage of AD are able to perceive the problematic parts in their own speech and are able to produce repairs if they are given enough time to process.

Tutkielma käsittelee perinteisessä japanilaisessa tanssissa eli nihonbuyōssa käytettävää rekvisiittaa – dōguja. Ne ovat tärkeä osa nihonbuyōta, mutta tutkielmassa pyritään selvittämään vielä syvällisemmin niiden käytön merkitystä erityisesti tanssin kannalta ajateltuna. Tavoitteena on selvittää, millainen rooli dōgulla on eleessä. Strategiallisesti tutkimuskysymystä tarkastellaan empiirisen tutkimuksen ja tapaustutkimuksen avulla, mutta tutkielmaan yhdistyy lisäksi historiantutkimuksellisia piirteitä. Tutkimusaineistoon kuuluu sekä havainnoimalla koottua tanssiharjoituksiin liittyvää aineistoa että alan kirjallisten teosten muodostamia valmiita dokumentteja. Vaikka aiheen käsittelytavassa onkin havaittavissa hermeneuttisen tutkimusmenetelmän piirteitä, aineistoa tutkitaan varsinaisesti tanssianalyysin menetelmällä. Teoreettisena viitekehyksenä käytetään esine- ja eletutkimuksesta johdettuja teoriakäsitteitä, joista tärkeimmät ovat mitate eli esineiden viittaussuhteet sekä tanssianalyyttisen sanaston muodostavat nihonbuyōn eletyyppien luokat konkreettinen, abstrakti ja vihjaileva. Tutkimus osoittaa, että valtaosasta dōguilla tehdyistä nihonbuyōn eleistä voidaan erotella dōguille kolmentyyppisiä rooleja: korostava, konkretisoiva ja luova. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan myös päätellä, että dōgun käyttö vaikuttaa tanssiin kahdella tavalla: Ensinnäkin fyysisellä tasolla dōgun materiaalisella olemuksella on vaikutusta liikeratojen ja kinesfäärillisen ulottuvuuden muodostamiseen. Toiseksi dōgun käytöllä on syvempikin taso, jonka tehtävä on välittää mielikuvia ja joskus jopa vaikuttaa psykologisesti lisäämällä eleisiin jännittävyyttä tai yllättävyyttä.

Gesture use plays an important role in children's early communication, because it provides children with a way of expressing themselves already before they are able to speak. Earlier studies have shown that gestures and gesture-word combinations may also play a role in predicting later language development. However, there is not much research evidence concerning the gesture use of very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children yet. At the same time, many studies have shown that VLBW children face an increased risk of later difficulties in language development. Since gestures might provide insight into child's later language development already before the child is able to speak, gestures could make it possible to detect potential language difficulties early on. Therefore, it would be important to gain more information about the gesture development of VLBW children also. In this master's thesis, I aim to study the gesture use of VLBW children by comparing the gestures and gesture-word combinations of 18-month-old VLBW children to those of 18-month-old full term (FT) children. Another aim is to compare the gestures and gesture-word combinations of 18-month-old children to their expressive vocabularies and early grammatical skills at two years of age. The data of this thesis has been collected as part of a bigger study, The language development of very-low-birth-weight children, which is a sub study of the PIPARI study (Development and functioning of very-low-birth-weight infants from infancy to school age). The participants of this master's thesis study were 10 VLBW and 10 FT children. The participants' gestures were analysed from 10-minutes-long videotaped sessions by categorizing gestures into ritualized requests, deictic, iconic and conventional gestures as well as play schemes. In addition, gesture-word combinations were counted from the videotapes. Children's language skills at two years of age (the size of expressive vocabulary and the mean length of the three longest utterances, M3L value) were measured with the help of the Finnish version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. Mann-Whitney U-test and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used in the statistical analysis. There were no statistically significant differences in the gesture use or the amount of gesture-word combinations between 18-month-old VLBW and FT children. Neither VLBW nor FT children had statistically significant correlations between 18-month-old gestures and 2-year-old language skills. Instead, the gesture-word combinations of 18-month-old VLBW children did correlate statistically significantly and quite strongly with 2-year-old VLBW children's expressive vocabularies and M3L values. For FT children the correlation between gesture-word combinations and expressive vocabulary did not reach statistical significance, while the correlation between gesture-word combinations and M3L values was almost statistically significant considering the significance level of 5 %. That is to say, based on this study, it seems that for VLBW children especially gesture-word combinations may have an important role in providing information of later language skills.

Objectives. The aim of this thesis was to obtain information about the development of pointing gesture use among typically developing Finnish speaking children, at the age of 1–3 years. Pointing gesture use was analysed every six months at 1;0, 1;6, 2;0, 2;6 and 3;0 years. The relation between children’s pointing gesture use and vocabulary development at the age 3 and 5 was explored. Relation between the use of pointing gestures and language development has been found in many international studies, but with regard to Finnish, there is only little research on pointing or use of gestural communication in play situations between children and parents. Methods. The data consisted of video recordings of five children and the results of language tests evaluating children’s vocabulary development. The video material was annotated with computer software ELAN. ELAN was used to mark the pointing gestures used by the children and the types of these pointing gestures (declarative/ imperative pointing). Childrens vocabulary development was assessed with Bo Ege test at the age of 3, and with the Boston Naming Test and Type/Token Ratios at the age of 5. Tables, graphs and calculation of percentages and means were used as statistical description of the phenomena. Non-parametric statistical tests were also used: The Friedman test to determine the distribution of pointing gestures used by children in different age points 1;0, 1;6, 2;0, 2;6 and 3;0, and Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient to explore the re-lation of pointing gestures and vocabulary development. Results and conclusions. All children used pointing gestures, althought there were notable individual differences in the amount of pointings. The greatest increase in the quantity of pointings used was found between the age range 1;0–1;6 years. Children used most pointing gestures at the age of 1;6. All children used considerably more declarative than imperative pointings. The proportion of declarative pointings of the pointing gestures used, increased between the ages 1;0–1;6 and then remained constant until the age of 3;0. No significant correlations were found between pointing gesture use and vocabulary development. However, from this thesis, it appears that children with typical vocabulary development tend to use pointing gestures to a large extent, and of the pointings they use, the proportion of declarative pointing gestures is considerably higher than the imperative ones.

Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään kahdeksan ranskalaisen TED Talk -puhujan kielellisiä keinoja puhutella yleisöään persoonapronominien vous, nous ja on avulla. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa havainnoidaan multimodaalisen diskurssianalyysin avulla puhutteluun liittyviä eleitä, ja tutkitaan, löytyykö puhuttelun ja eleiden väliltä suhdetta. TED Talkkeja on tutkittu verrattain vähän, ja aiemmissa tutkimuksissa on analysoitu vain englanninkielistä aineistoa. Lisäksi aikaisempia tutkimuksia syvennetään multimodaalisen diskurssianalyysin avulla. Tutkimuksen hypoteesina on, että puhujat puhuttelevat ja viittaavat yleisöön persoonapronominien vous, nous ja on avulla sekä käyttävät sen yhteydessä eleitä. Aineistoon valittiin kahdeksan ranskankielistä TED Talk -puhetta, joista puolet puheenpitäjistä olivat naisia ja puolet miehiä. Puheiden aiheet käsittelivät samankaltaisia teemoja kuten politiikkaa, tasa- arvoa ja demokratiaa. Tutkimusmenetelmä oli sekä kvantitatiivinen että kvalitatiivinen. Jokainen puhe litteroitiin niistä hetkistä, joissa puhujat käyttivät tutkittuja persoonapronomineja. Tämän jälkeen persoonapronominit analysoitiin kontekstia tarkastellen, jonka jälkeen ne jaoteltiin eri kategorioihin. Kategoriat, joihin yleisöön viitattiin, olivat kollektiivinen vous sekä inklusiiviset nous ja on. Eleiden analysointia varten TED Talk -puheet tutkittiin niistä tilanteista, joissa puhuttelua esiintyi. Myös eleiden määrä laskettiin ja löydettiin kaksi eletyyppiä: deiktisiä ja ikonisia eleitä. Analyysin avulla pystyttiin havainnoimaan mahdollista suhdetta puhuttelun ja eleiden välillä. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että jokainen kahdeksasta puhujasta käytti on pronominia. Seitsemän heistä puhuttelivat yleisöään nous ja vous persoonapronominin avulla. Sen lisäksi he käyttivät suurimmaksi osaksi deiktisiä eleitä samanaikaisesti puhuttelun yhteydessä. Vous ja on pronominien yhteydessä, deiktiset eleet kohdistuivat pelkästään yleisöön, kun taas nous yhteydessä puhujien eleet kohdistuivat myös heitä itseään kohti. Vous pronominin yhteydessä löydettiin myös yksi ikonisen eleen piirre, kun taas nous pronominin kolme sekä kymmenen ikonista elettä. Eleitä esiintyi noin joka toisen kerran puhuttelun yhteydessä persoonapronominien käytössä. Tämän tutkimuksen valossa voidaan todeta, että eleiden ja puhuttelun väliltä löytyi yhteys.

Apraxia and aphasia occur frequently together. Producing speech and using other means of communication such as gesturing is challenging for persons with a severe apraxia-aphasia. Prior research concerning the recovery of persons with a severe apraxic-aphasic disorder is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the possible changes in gesturing among persons with severe apraxic-aphasic disorder between one and three years after stroke. The goal was to investigate the changes in recognizability of the gestures produced after a verbal command. Additionally, the possible effects on recognizability of the gestures by showing a picture of an object related to the gestures or a gesture model were investigated. The sample used in this study was part of the Long-term recovery from apraxia-aphasia after a left hemisphere stroke research project and included seven persons with a severe apraxic-aphasic disorder. The gesturing was assessed using The Florida Apraxia Screening Test-Revised (FAST-R) on two study occasions – after one year and after three years of stroke. The results were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings of this study suggest that changes in gesturing among persons with severe apraxic-aphasic disorder are possible between one and three years after stroke. However, there was much variation in the performance between the participants. The performance on gesturing after a verbal command improved in four persons and remained approximately the same in three persons. At group level the changes in gesturing after a verbal command were not statistically significant. Generally, showing a gesture model improved the recognizability of the gestures substantially more compared to showing a picture. Persons with severe apraxic-aphasic disorder can benefit from showing a picture or gesture model in gesture production, but there was considerable variation between the participants.