Browsing by master's degree program "Englannin kielen ja kirjallisuuden maisteriohjelma"
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(2018)Tutkielma käsittelee englannin kielen roolia kansainvälisenä kommunikaation kielenä, lingua francana (ELF), ja sen ilmenemistä lukion pitkän (A1) englannin oppimateriaaleissa. Englanti on globaali kieli, jota puhutaan enemmän toisena ja vieraana kielenä kuin äidinkielenä. Tämän vuoksi on tärkeää, että oppilaat kuulevat myös muiden kuin englantia äidinkielenään puhuvien henkilöiden aksentteja ja heidän välisiään keskusteluja (ELF-tilanteita). Lisäksi englannin kansainvälistä roolia painotetaan vuoden 2015 opetussuunnitelmassa, joten sen tulisi näkyä opetusmateriaaleissa. Tutkielman tarkoitus on selvittää, mitä aksentteja opetusmateriaalien äänitteillä kuullaan ja millaisissa tilanteissa. Tutkielman aineistona ovat kolmen kurssin oppikirjat kahdesta englannin oppikirjasarjasta, Otavan julkaisemasta Insights-sarjasta sekä Sanoma Pro:n julkaisemasta On Track-sarjasta. Aineistoksi valikoituivat näiden kuuden kirjan tekstit sekä tehtävät ja niiden äänitteet. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan sekä kvalitatiivinen että kvantitatiivinen. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä osassa esitellään oppikirjojen sisältöanalyysi, jossa selvitetään, mitä aksentteja kirjojen äänitteillä voidaan odottaa kuultavan ja millaisissa konteksteissa. Toisessa osassa kuvataan äänitteiden aksenttianalyysi. Analyysissa tunnistettiin ja luokiteltiin äänitteillä kuultavat aksentit ja tilanteet, joissa niitä kuullaan. Aksentit kategorisoitiin Kachrun (1985) englannin käytön piirien mukaan sisä- ulko-, ja laajenevaan piiriin. Kategorisoinnin tulokset esitetään kvantitatiivisesti, mutta kontekstit, joissa aksentteja kuullaan analysoidaan kvalitatiivisesti. Tutkimuksen pohjalta voidaan todeta, että molemmissa sarjoissa sisäpiiriin kuuluvat aksentit ovat selkeässä enemmistössä ulko- ja laajenevaan piiriin kuuluviin aksentteihin nähden. Tämä osoittaa, että molemmat sarjat painottavat englantia äidinkielenään puhuvien henkilöiden aksentteja. ELF-tilanteita on molemmissa sarjoissa erittäin vähän ja kaikissa tilanteissa on sisäpiiriin kuuluva puhuja yhtenä osapuolena. Nämä tulokset osoittavat, että oppikirjat eivät täysin ota huomioon opetussuunnitelman korostamaa englannin kielen kansainvälistä roolia. Tämä lisää opettajien työmäärää, sillä heidän täytyy tuottaa lisämateriaaleja kursseille, mikä vie aikaa muulta opetukselta.
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(2021)Tutkielma käsittelee Gillian Flynnin romaaneja Teräviä esineitä (Sharp Objects, 2006), Paha paikka (Dark Places, 2009) ja Kiltti tyttö (Gone Girl, 2012). Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan romaanien naishahmoja ja heidän käyttämäänsä väkivaltaa ja pyritään selvittämään, miten nämä hahmot vastaavat yleisiä stereotyyppejä väkivaltaisista naisista. Teoreettisena lähtökohtana käytetään feminististä kriminologiaa, erityisesti tutkimuksia narratiiveista, joita yleisesti käytetään kuvailtaessa rikollisia naisia ja selitettäessä heidän väkivaltaisuuttaan. Näistä narratiiveista tutkielmassa keskitytään kolmeen, joissa väkivaltaiset naiset käsitetään joko hulluiksi, pahoiksi tai uhreiksi. Tutkielmassa käsiteltävät henkilöhahmot jaetaan kahteen väkivaltaisen naisen arkkityyppiin, joita käsitellään erikseen kuhunkin liittyvien stereotypioiden kautta. Näistä ensimmäinen on väkivaltaiset teinitytöt. Tutkielmassa esitän, että Flynnin tyttöhahmot ovat tietoisia modernin yhteiskunnan teinityttöihin kohdistamista käsityksistä ja odotuksista ja osaavat käyttää niitä hyödykseen oman väkivaltansa salaamiseksi. Lisäksi kartoitan seksuaalisuuden ja väkivallan yhtymäkohtia, jotka koskevat romaaneissa nimenomaan teinityttöjä ja jotka liittyvät erityisesti yhteiskunnalliseen ”paha”-narratiiviin. Toinen tutkielmassa analysoitava arkkityyppi on väkivaltainen äiti. Flynnin romaanien äitihahmot satuttavat sekä omia lapsiaan että muita, ja heidän motiivinsa vastaavat selkeämmin olemassa olevia stereotyyppejä, erityisesti ”hullu”- ja ”paha”-selityksiä. Yhdistän äitihahmojen väkivallan myös heidän tytärtensä ja omien äitiensä väkivaltaisuuteen ja siten myös ”uhri”-narratiiviin, joka liittyy olennaisesti kysymyksiin väkivallan periytyvyydestä. Tutkielmassa todetaan, että Flynnin nais- ja tyttöhahmot osaltaan sekä rikkovat että vahvistavat stereotyyppejä naiseudesta ja väkivallasta. Naisten rooli romaanien pääasiallisina väkivallan tekijöinä kyseenalaistaa jo itsessään perinteisiä sukupuolirooleja, mutta osa hahmoista päätyy edustamaan stereotyyppisiä käsityksiä naisten väkivallasta. Toisaalta osa hahmoista, etenkin Amy romaanissa Kiltti tyttö, vastustaa tällaista yksinkertaista lukemista, mikä voidaan nähdä osoituksena Flynnin kritiikistä fiktion ja muun median stereotyyppisiä naiskuvia kohtaan.
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(2021)In this thesis, I study intensifiers, which are the adverbs that either strengthen or weaken the modified word. The intensifiers that strengthen the meaning of the following lexeme are called amplifiers, whereas the intensifiers that weaken the following lexeme are called downtoners. In turn, these groups of intensifiers are divided into various categories. In particular, I concentrate on maximizers, a category of amplifiers, and mitigators, a category of downtoners. The study is limited to the American variety of English. The aim of this research is twofold. Firstly, I analyze the frequency distributions of maximizers and mitigators across different registers in American English. Secondly, I discuss the reasons for the possible register variation between the different categories of intensifiers. Therefore, I conduct both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data. I use the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) as my data. I chose it for the current research due to its large size of around 1 billion words, as well as the fact that its contents are fairly evenly divided by register. Consequently, it enables the comparison of the studied lexemes across the registers in American English. Furthermore, COCA has a function of viewing a sample in the expanded context, thus making possible the qualitative analysis of the samples. The most significant finding was the preference for maximizers in informal written registers and for mitigators in formal written registers. Further, the formal spoken register, represented by unscripted TV and radio show conversations, clearly preferred maximizers to mitigators. On the contrary, the informal spoken language of TV shows and movies had a low frequency of both categories of intensifiers. As concerns the reasons for this variation, there can be several theories. One of them is the collocational patterns of the intensifiers. Another reason is the stylistic and functional characteristics of the registers. For example, academic prose style favors hedging, or tentative language. Therefore, the academic register has a high frequency of mitigating adverbs. Instead, radio show hosts may have a preference for using definitive, attention-catching phrases and thus are more likely to use maximizers such as incredibly or extremely.
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(2023)This thesis studies present-day discourses on transgender athletes in the English news media. It defines discourses as linguistic activities as well as social practices that are in a dialectic relationship with the material world. Discourses are seen as powerful tools for spreading ideologies, and news media is seen as an influential technology for producing discourses. The focus of this study is to investigate what types of meanings and definitions are linked to transgender athletes and what type of gender ideologies are behind these meanings. The method applied in the study is Corpus-assisted Critical Discourse Analysis. The material consists of articles published by three English newspapers: Daily Mail, The Guardian, and The Times. The articles were published in 2022, and report on or mention transgender athletes. The whole sample of 209 articles is first analyzed with corpus techniques and then a scaled-down sample of 69 articles is analyzed with Critical Discourse Analysis. The results show that the discourses on transgender athletes in the English news media largely follow already acknowledged patterns of reporting on transgender athletes and identities. These patterns rely on medico-legal definitions of sex/gender, where ‘biology’ and ‘science’ are used to argue for the binary sex/gender system. Transgender athletes are described as threats to fair competition and are seen to cause division and conflicts within the sporting world. A significant finding is also that transgender athletes are utilized to argue for gender segregation outside of the sporting world. Here, an underlining discourse that transgender women are essentially biological males is used to justify their exclusion from ‘women-only’ spaces. As a result, gender self-identification is portrayed as something dangerous and possible to exploit.
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(2019)With the construction of the largest water dam in the world, China’s Three Gorges Dam, many severe environmental problems have emerged along the Yangtze River. Its constructor, the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC), publishes an annual environmental report (AER) to address the ecological problems. This study aims to investigate these reports from the perspective of ecolinguistics under the Story Theory put forward by Arran Stibbe (2015). This study addresses three questions: 1) Are there any beneficial, ambivalent, or destructive discourses in China Three Gorges Corporation's annual environmental reports? 2) If so, how is each story being constructed? 3) What suggestions and implications can we obtain from the analyses of these stories? To answer these questions, 10 English AERs published from 2008 to 2017 by CTGC were collected to compile a corpus with a size of 114,770 tokens. Six story types, including frame, metaphor, evaluation, identity, erasure, and salience, were then chosen for analysis with the combination method of ecolinguistics, corpus linguistics, and critical discourse analysis. The results show that, within the frame story, the sustainable development frame and the green development frame were ambivalent discourses. Within the metaphor story, RIVER AS A TOOL FOR MAKING MONEY, NATURE IS A MACHINE, ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE IS AN ACCIDENT, and COMPANY IS A HUMAN were destructive discourses; NATURE IS A COMPETITION and CLIMATE CHANGE IS A WAR were ambivalent discourses. Within the evaluation story, using three purr-words (clean, new, and renewable) to describe energy formed a destructive discourse. Within the identity story, the use of the pronouns we and our distanced more-than-human participants from human participants, which formed a destructive discourse. Within the erasure story, the nominalization of the word pollute formed a destructive discourse. Within the salience story, describing endangered fish species with abstract words and describing fish as a type of resource formed two destructive discourses, and using the basic level word fish formed a beneficial discourse. Based on these judgments, this study concludes that the beneficial discourse should be promoted, the destructive discourses should be resisted, and the positive parts of the ambivalent discourses should be highlighted while their negative parts should be rejected. These findings can contribute to our understanding of the ecological discourse of the water dam.
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(2019)Tutkielma käsittelee persoonapronominien käyttöä Yhdysvaltojen presidenttien kansakunnan tilaa käsittelevissä puheissa (State of the Union Address) poliittisen diskurssianalyysin näkökulmasta ja korpuslingvistiikan kvantitatiivisia menetelmiä hyödyntäen. Työssä selvitetään millaisia funktioita persoonapronomineilla on ja onko niiden käytössä eroja presidenttien välillä tutkimalla niiden frekvenssejä eli esiintymistiheyksiä sekä niiden kollokaatteja eli samassa kontekstissa esiintyviä sanoja. Aineistoni koostuu vuosina 1980-2018 pidetyistä kansakunnan tilaa käsittelevistä puheista, joiden esittäjinä olivat presidentit Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama ja Donald Trump. Kokoamani korpus on kooltaan 219 365 sanaa ja se on annotoitu käyttäen ohjelmaa, joka merkitsee tekstiin sanaluokat (part-of-speech tagger). Korpusanalyysiä varten käytettiin AntConc-tietokoneohjelmaa, joka mahdollistaa frekvenssi- ja kollokaatiohaut. Tutkielma osoittaa, että persoonapronominien käytössä suurimmat erot ovat usein presidentin eri puheiden välillä eivätkä eri presidenttien välillä. Sisäisen vaihtelevuuden laajuus viittaa siihen, ettei eri presidenteillä ole selkeitä tai johdonmukaisia pronominityylejä. Monikon ensimmäisen persoonan pronomineja käytetään puheissa selkeästi eniten verrattuna muihin persoonapronomineihin, mikä saattaa kertoa niiden funktiosta yhteisen amerikkalaisen identiteetin vahvistamisessa ja presidentin halusta esiintyä osana laajempaa yhteisöä. Kollokaatioanalyysi osoittaa, että eri persoonapronomineja käytetään erilaisissa konteksteissa ja erilaisiin tarkoituksiin. Esimerkiksi yksikön ensimmäisen persoonan pronominit esiintyvät usein kommunikaatioverbien ja mentaalisten verbien kanssa, kun taas monikon ensimmäisen persoonan pronominit esiintyvät konteksteissa, joissa käytetään kansallista tai sodankäyntiin liittyvää retoriikkaa. Toisen persoonan pronominit toimivat lauserakenteessa hyvin usein objekteina eivätkä subjekteina, mikä osoittaa niiden olevan keino puhutella yleisöä ja luoda interaktiivinen suhde kuuntelijoihin. Monikon kolmannen persoonan pronomineja käytetään tutkimuksen mukaan lähinnä viittaamaan tavallisiin amerikkalaisiin ja heidän arkielämäänsä.
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(2024)This study uses corpus-assisted discourse analysis for a case study of how some game masters (GMs) use address to participate in the construction of player-character identities in the linguistic setting of a tabletop roleplaying game (TRPG). Discourse analysis has been used to study TRPG gameplay before (White, 2011), but it has been rare and in the past decade, the proliferation of TRPG content online featuring gameplay (often called actual-play content) has enabled the use of much larger datasets than before. These datasets in turn enable corpus-assisted research to take place. The basis of this study is the discourse analytic understanding of identity as being discursively constructed, where one not only constructs and uses identities, but can also be cast into them by others (Antaki, 2013). TRPGs are understood as a linguistic setting in which multiple names are often applicable to the same person; the player’s own name, and the name of the character created for the game. These names refer to different identities, and using one or the other is understood to be an instance of momentary casting into that identity. In addition, a model was adapted from previous roleplaying game (RPG) studies regarding layers of rules and goals (Montola, 2008) into layers of speech in order to understand the structure of discourse around the gaming table. For data, a corpus was collected of transcripts of two popular TRPG actual-play series, and data from different GMs was divided into different subcorpora. The address patterns of seven GMs were studied to compare the choice frequencies of address terms in different speech layers and between different genders of speakers and addressees. This analysis was supplemented by close reading of some data points to analyze the potential factors behind certain address term choices. All GMs included in the study were found to vastly prefer address by character name, though the strength of this preference varies between individuals, with no effect from the gender of the speaker. Speech layers were found to be a major factor in the choice of address terms, and the speech layers themselves were found to vary in prevalence depending on the style and content of the game. Only the middle layer, endogenous speech, was found to be necessary to running the game, but speech in this layer was found to have such varied functions that a more detailed typology may be needed. The different aspects of addressee gender could not be properly isolated as variables, but there are signs warranting further study of possible weakening of the preference for character names when addressing participants with nonbinary characters and characters of a gender different from the player.
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(2024)This thesis takes an ecocritical perspective, reading Christine Carbo’s The Wild Inside (2015) and Charlotte McConaghy’s Once There Were Wolves (2021) as narratives that criticise anthropocentricism, or human exceptionalism, and raise environmental questions and concerns. Both are crime novels with human violence as a distinct theme, have clear ecological themes, and feature wildlife in contact with humans. This amounts to the novels putting forward pointedly violent and abusive portrayals of humans, which highlights animals and nature as being ultimately subject to human power. The way that these works present anthropocentricism as a problematic worldview is examined through the topics of human separation from nature, the complex issue of wildness and the human need to manage it, and empathy as a reflective process and potential motivational force. These issues are addressed using the frameworks of ecocriticism, animal studies, and empathy studies. The ideas and terms from research by Elisa Aaltola (2018; 2023) and by Lori Gruen (2015; 2018) in animal studies and empathy studies become especially central in the discussion on anthropocentricism and human–animal separation, making it clear that animal interests, along with environmental concerns, are at the core of these novels. The shared interest of ecocriticism and narrative empathy about the power that narratives can have on attitudes and potentially on real-world action is also a crucial part of the study, discussed using the works of Greg Garrard (2023) and Suzanne Keen (2006; 2007). The narrative similarities that are relevant to examining how Carbo’s and McConaghy’s novels approach ecological topics and present anthropocentrism as a problematic worldview also feature in this discussion: the first-person character narrators let the reader see the narrators’ thoughts and feelings, asking the reader to think about ecological issues, and enable sympathetic depictions of wildlife. Similarities in characterisation between the two novels, on the other hand, portray humans as violent and destructive, in contrast to the wildlife, grizzly bears and grey wolves, whose lives are in the stories put at risk for human needs.
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(2023)This thesis examines the use of alchemical imagery in selected love poems and religious verse by John Donne. Donne’s alchemical imagery has been argued to represent a blend of eschatology and alchemy, and the mystical imagery can be interpreted as a psychological representation of what Jung calls the “projection of the process of individuation”. The intersection of mystical alchemy, eschatology, and psychological integration materializes as a rich literary concoction in the following poems: “A Litanye”, “Resurrection. Imperfect”, “A Nocturnall vpon St Lucies Day”, “An Elegie vpon the death of the Ladie Marckham”, and “The Extasie”. Through close reading, this thesis employs a combination of textual criticism and Jung’s psychoanalytic treatment of alchemy. This thesis demonstrates the purpose of alchemy in Donne’s poetry to clarify, first, “why alchemy?”, and second, “what makes alchemy a potent tool for the poet?”. The alchemical influence in Donne’s poetry has been broadly recognized by literary critics, but an integrated Jungian analysis provides a more substantial and psychologically informed understanding of Donne’s poetic conceits and images. In this thesis, I present textual and historical readings within the context of the Jungian theory of individuation. The purpose of using Jung’s psychoanalytic concepts is to deepen our critical understanding of the spiritual and physical experiences of Donne as psychologically descriptive and significant. This thesis shows that Donne’s use of alchemical imagery illustrates his psycho-spiritual processes and self-formation in textual form. Close reading and the integration of Jungian alchemical theories help bring these processes to the surface, making what is concealed manifest in Donne’s words. While staying rooted in Christian doctrine, Donne utilizes alchemy as a tool for textual mappings of the internal motion of his soul. By appropriating alchemy as a poetic tool, Donne also participates in a diachronic thread of alchemical thinking from the wake of Hermeticism to 20th-century psychoanalysis and modern-day embodied schemata in cognitive science. The chosen imagery serves as a culturally appropriate vehicle for making sense of abstract subject matter during the golden age of alchemical developments. Furthermore, Donne’s verse shows that for the poet no union and wholeness can be achieved without love as the proverbial alchemist, and neither can he experience redemptive transmutation without God as the “Arch-Chymist”. By turning to psychoanalysis and Jungian concepts, this thesis shows that the process of individuation, and mystical union – coniunctio – is lodged in his verse. The unification of conscious and unconscious mind is textually illustrated in Donne’s reflections on the nature of love and spirituality. Indeed, the selected poems carry a distinct consciousness that seeks moral-intellectual refinement and purification to emulate the divine and to endure the transmutation process to become unified with the divine. Finally, the connection between love and alchemical transmutation lies in the union Donne seeks on spiritual and physical levels.
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(2023)In this sociolinguistic study that applies multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) methods the aim was to examine what kinds of ideas of health are expressed in the American dietary guidelines and what kind of health discourse these ideas are a part of. Based on Machin and Mayr’s (2012) ideas on semiotic resources, linguistic and visual patterns, that can communicate ideas, ideologies, power patterns, attitudes and other messages, the study focuses on ten pages of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. The expressed sentence structures and word choices, among other visual and linguistic factors, are evaluated, and then connected to the sociocultural background. This qualitative sociolinguistic study found that through the choices the authors and other creators of the U.S. dietary guidelines report 2020-2025 have made, the Guidelines express neoliberal health views and contribute to health discourse that has the potential to sustain similar views. Linguistic and visual analysis concludes that especially the individual’s responsibility and freedom are underlined in the Guidelines’ language and content. The analysis also notes the contrasting expression of the role of the environmental factors, such as the food and retail establishments and manufacturers, and the multimodal aspects that in addition to the neoliberal discourse of health express other discourses of health.
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(2022)This qualitative study examines multimodal storytelling in online corporate stories. Corporate stories are realized in a particular genre, the About page, and moral discourse is conveyed through references to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To examine how CSR has been incorporated into corporate storytelling and how it functions within the About page, the study begins with an examination of the About page as a genre. The research data consists of stories from five Finnish companies working in the textile and apparel industry: Aarre, Vimma, Kaiko, Uhana, and Pure Waste. The companies were chosen as they share similarities regarding multiple aspects (e.g., company size, product range, and target audience). The stories were firstly analyzed for their schematic components and expressive resources (Bateman 2008, 2014), and then further subjected to critical multimodal discourse analysis (Machin and Mayr 2012) to critically examine the expressive forms used in the components. Although the layout structure varied among the stories of the data, the presence of several schematic components was constant in all stories. Based on the current analysis, the components which were present in most of the stories constitute the core components of the genre of About page: mission, essence, founder(s), foundation, products, production, and social responsibility. The analysis revealed that not only is CSR present on the pages as its own schematic component, but direct and indirect references to CSR themes were used as justification and motivation within other schematic components as well, thus framing CSR as an essential component of the corporate identity. These corporate stories cater to the consumer narrative in which social responsibility plays a central role by establishing an environment in which one can keep on purchasing new clothes while adhering to those values. The products are laden with socially responsible attributes, framing social responsibility as a fashion statement.
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(2020)Tämä englanninkielinen tutkielma analysoi retoriikkaa Winston Churchillin ja Barack Obaman poliittisissa puheissa. Tutkielma esittelee kahden poliitikon tavat kirjoittaa puheita ja heille ominaiset puhetyylin keinot, sekä analysoi kolme puhetta molemmilta. Tutkielma sisältää johdannon, teoreettisen kirjallisuuden esittelyn, Churchillin sekä Obaman lyhyet elämäkerrat, poliitikkojen puhetyylin ja puheiden kirjoitustapojen esittelyt, kolmen puheen analyysin molemmilta puhujilta sekä yhteenvedon. Tutkielman liitteenä on puheet, joita työssä analysoidaan. Tutkielma esittelee myös molempien poliitikkojen uskonnollisen taustan. Työn teoreettinen aineisto pohjautuu antiikin Kreikan aikaiseen Aristoteleen Retoriikka-teokseen sekä antiikin Rooman aikaiseen tuntemattoman kirjoittajan puheoppaseen Rhetorica ad Herennium. Nämä teokset ovat tärkeimmät retoriikasta laaditut oppaat, joiden teorioihin myöhempien aikakausien kirjat pohjautuvat. Muu aineisto koostuu teoksista, jotka esittelevät poliitikkojen elämäkertoja, heidän puhetapojaan sekä retoriikan termistöä. Puheiden analysoinnissa metodina on kirjallisuustutkimuksen määrittelemä lähiluku. Aineiston kautta selviää, että Winston Churchill ja Barack Obama kirjoittivat puheensa itse uransa alkuvaiheessa, mutta presidentin ja pääministerin asemassa heidän aikansa ei enää riittänyt tähän. Puheissaan Churchill personifioi maita ja hän viittasi Liittoutuneiden ja natsi-Saksan vastaiseen sotaan hyvän ja pahan taisteluna. Hänen puhetyylinsä oli pessimistinen ja pääministeri lupasi kärsimyksiä sekä tuhoa vuodesta toiseen. Barack Obaman puhetyyliin kuuluvat parafraasit, somaattiset fraasit sekä sananlaskut, hänen puheidensa yleinen teema on amerikkalainen unelma. Analyysin tuloksena selviää, että Churchill ja Obama pyrkivät vaikuttamaan kuulijan tunteisiin ennen kaikkea kristillisten kielikuvien ja viitteiden kautta. Tutkielman johtopäätöksenä on, että molemmat poliitikot ovat käyttäneet klassisen retoriikan metodeja puheissaan, lisäksi molemmat ovat käyttäneet kristinuskon sanastoa ja kuvastoa vaikuttaakseen kuulijoihin. Jokaisessa aineiston kuudesta puheesta on kristillisiä käsitteitä, jotka yhdistävät suurinta osaa Yhdysvaltojen ja Iso-Britannian kansalaisista. Jatkotutkimusta varten olisi hyödyllistä laajentaa Churchillin ja Obaman puheiden aineistoa ja lähilukua käyttäen tutkia, millä tavoin poliitikot ovat käyttäneet kristinuskon teemoja vaikuttaakseen kuulijoihinsa. Tämä selventäisi uskon asemaa kahden vaikutusvaltaisen länsimaisen poliitikon retoriikassa ja osana yhteiskunnallista diskurssia.
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(2022)The research focuses on the productive e-learning exercises in upper secondary school English learning materials provided by four publishers in their e-textbooks. Digital learning materials have become increasingly common, and the introduction of the new National Core Curriculum for general upper secondary schools has prompted publishing houses to publish new materials, with an even bigger focus on the digital version. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive description and a critical evaluation of the variety of productive e-learning exercises that the publishers provide. Previous research on this topic in the Finnish context is very limited and learning materials in general have mostly been studied by master’s students in universities. The materials for the analysis come from the productive e-learning exercises that are related to text chapters in the four publishers’ (Sanoma Pro, Otava, Edita, and Studeo) e-textbooks. All the analysed materials are brand new and have not been researched before. The research method for this study is content analysis, which is conducted through both quantitative and qualitative methods. The analysis was conducted by coding the data based on three main categories that are What is the learner expected to do?, Who with?, and With what content?, and in several subcategories under them. The findings show that the available published materials provide a wide variety of different e-learning exercises for the upper secondary school students. Most often the results of the comparative analyses showed similarities, rather than dramatic differences between the four publishers’ materials. With regards to the four characteristics of learning, the results of the study showed that one of them was supported especially well (students’ activity and initiative), two were supported well (sense of community and clear, authentic, and demanding exercises), and only one characteristic was not supported well enough (learning skills) by the analysed e-learning exercises. The current study provides useful data for the, still lacking, learning material research in the Finnish context. The presented findings give insight to the publishers into what factors should be considered when designing exercises for new products. For teachers, the findings can be useful when making use of one of the e-textbooks in the classroom, whilst planning lessons and courses, or when choosing which publisher’s material they would like to use next.
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(2023)This thesis analyses COVID-19 vaccine discourse in online news in December 2022 by applying APPRAISAL, in particular, the APPRECIATION subsystem, and corpus-based methods such as frequency, keyword, and concordance line. The analysis addresses three research questions based on a dataset of 599 concordance lines, from the Coronavirus corpus representing twenty English speaking countries. The study identifies the top twenty adjectives associated with COVID-19 vaccines, classifying them into four main categories according to their social value and particular characteristics. The main findings show that positive attitudes emerge through interpersonal meaning in online news. Mainly, journalists portray the vaccine discourse under WHO’s ideology, hoping for a ‘New normality’. On the other hand, negative attitudes showcased challenges and controversies. Hence, the study emphasizes the importance of shaping public health communication and opinions built on transparent scientific and consensual information. That is the study stresses the value of providing the public with accurate and well-supported information to shape a better understanding and opinions related to health concerns. Finally, the methodological contribution suggests implementing uniqueness as a new subcategory, but the existing subcategory, balance, deserves more attention whether to implement it or not in future studies. The study also highlights the impact of political ideologies on COVID-19 vaccine discourse, and thus recommends future research on attitudes in non-English-languages areas.
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(2024)The linguistic landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) is an established high-interest topic, with AI researchers expressing concern toward anthropomorphisms (the use of human terms to describe inanimate entities or concepts) in AI design and discourse (Watson 2019; Salles, Evers, and Farisco 2020; Weidinger et al. 2022; Deshpande et al. 2023). Even the term itself implies “intelligence” in order to illustrate advanced computational capacity. By employing Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Lakoff and Johnson 1980) and Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) (Pragglejaz Group 2007), the specific human terms employed in a technology journalism context, and what these metaphors may convey to their readers, can be named and examined. For this purpose, a corpus was compiled of AI news from the US technology news site The Verge during the year 2023. Concordance lines were analyzed for anthropomorphic language surrounding a single term: the acronym “AI”. This study sought to answer whether anthropomorphic conceptual metaphors can be identified within AI reporting in a tech news site corpus (RQ1), what source domains are represented among these metaphors and how these metaphors can be categorized (RQ2), and what effects these metaphors may have on their readers (RQ3). The roughly 300 articles examined reveal a pattern of agency, labor, and physicality metaphors. Agency metaphors illustrated AI in terms of self-determination and autonomy, further categorized into cognition, behavior, and affect. Labor metaphors had AI take on the role of the laborer in a broad variety of AI use cases, as opposed to the role of a tool. Physicality metaphors used physical human terms for the structural analogies they provide. Conceptual metaphors that do not fit this categorization are analyzed as miscellanea. This study argues that these anthropomorphic conceptual metaphors can function as effective explanatory analogies but may at times create or proliferate misleading notions about AI capabilities.
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(2021)This thesis examines the role of the three female protagonists in Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun. The thesis argues against the interpretation of the play as pro-integration and assimilationist and posits instead that there is an inherent radicalism in the play that reflects the feminist and political views of its author. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the feminist themes are highlighted through the three female protagonists of Raisin: Ruth, Beneatha and Lena Younger. In order to further assess these themes, the 1959 play is contrasted with three screen adaptations, by Daniel Petrie (1961), Bill Duke (1989), and Kenny Leon (2008). This comparison is carried out with a particular focus on how the protagonists are represented in these adaptations. The thesis begins with a discussion of the historical context in which the play was written, set and performed for the first time. This is followed by a discussion of Hansberry’s biographical background, in order to contextualise and clarify her political beliefs so as to better support the main arguments in the thesis. These arguments are also supported by the works of the Black feminist scholars Patricia Hill Collins, bell hooks, and Tricia Rose. The thesis examines the play and each of the three screen adaptations separately, presenting a close literary analysis of the play before contrasting it with the three films. The literary analysis discusses three core aspects of the play that serve as a rejection of racist and patriarchal values: the rejection of the American dream; the domestic sphere of the play; and the subversion of racialised gender roles and stereotypes. This analysis highlights the ways in which Black women experience a specific form of double oppression due to their race and gender, an experience that is reinforced by the use of racialised gender roles and stereotypes. This thesis argues, however, that Hansberry uses the female protagonists to reject these roles and the racist and sexist ideology from which they stem. The film analysis places the films within their temporal and socio-cultural contexts to observe how they reflect, highlight or undermine the three core aspects discussed in the literary analysis. This analysis reveals the significant role played by context in producing starkly different representations of the female protagonists. The analysis of these works, written and visual, demonstrates the enduring significance of Hansberry’s famous play, which continues to be revived and performed. The conclusion underlines the importance of challenging representations that perpetuate racist and sexist ideologies, and of granting agency to groups that have long been under- or misrepresented across mediums.
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(2020)Advertising has been an area of interest in linguistic research for the past decades due to its pervasiveness and role in shaping our notions and values in society. This study sets out to examine the socio-cultural practices in a specific field of advertising discourse, influencer marketing on social media. Influencer marketing is a recent branch of marketing, brought forth by the popularity of social media. In Influencer marketing, the products are marketed by individual influencers instead of corporations or companies. Brands turn to social media influencers in order to reach a wider audience and to utilize the influencers’ social media presence and their ability to influence their audience to promote their products and to turn this social power into capital. The hypothesis is that this key difference between traditional marketing and influencer marketing. The aim of this study is to present a critical discourse analysis to examine the social context and relationship between the influencer and the reader. The methodologic approach applied to the analysis of the data is critical discourse analysis, more specifically Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. Critical discourse analysis and Fairclough’s model allow focus on the linguistic properties in addition to the production and reception processes of discourse and the socio-cultural practices within discourse. The data and its analysis deemed that influencer marketing reveals consumerist ideologies that promote purchasing of goods as a means to reach happiness and well-being, as presented by the social media influencers.
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(2021)Avhandlingens syfte är att undersöka hur orenhet, äckel och hot skapar konstskräck i utvalda berättelser från Clive Barkers Books of Blood och Thomas Ligottis Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Båda verken är novellsamlingar från 1980-talet, och kan klassificeras som skräcklitteratur. Min analys koncentrerar sig på hotfulla utrymmen och omgivningar i novellerna och beskrivningar av abjekta och äckliga kroppar. Min analys grundar sig på Noël Carrolls teori om hur konstskräck, en sorts fiktiv skräckkänsla som kan uppstå genom att läsa skräcklitteratur, alltid består av en kombination av både äckel och hot. Äcklet innehåller alltid någon form av orenhet, och det orena skapas då någon kategorisk gräns överträds. Jag använder mig dessutom av Julia Kristevas koncept om abjektet, som också beskriver något orent och innebär en sorts gränsöverträdelse; abjektet är någonting som är en blandning av vanligtvis skilda kategorier och kan skapa en våldsam chock för den som vittnar en blandning eller störning av dessa kategorier. Jag använder också Martha Nussbaums teori om äckel för att analysera det orena i verken. Min analys visar hur karaktärernas trygga utrymmen som beskrivs i verken invaderas av olika monster och väsen som är orena, och förvandlar dem till hotfulla omgivningar genom sin närvaro. Dessa inkräktare kan vara olika varelser, som spöken, demoner och mördare, eller mer abstrakta varelser och krafter som symboliserar ett mer ogripbart hot. I Barkers noveller sker invasionen ofta stegvis i större, allmänna utrymmen som storstäder, och i Ligottis verk i mer privata omgivningar som det egna hemmet. Avhandlingen undersöker också varför äckliga och orena kroppar ses som abjekt: kropparna bryter någon sorts kategorisk gräns och orsakar en djup och radikal störning i vår världsbild eller självbild som följd. I Barkers noveller skapas olika kroppsabjekt bl.a. via skildringar av kroppar med sjukliga egenskaper och drag som påminner om lik, genom att beskriva överträdelser av accepterade gränser gällande fysisk kontakt med djur och detaljerade beskrivningar av lidande människokroppar. I Ligottis verk riktas abjektet och äcklet i stället mot den egna kroppen, då karaktärerna eller deras kroppsdelar ofta genomgår olika formskiftningar och förvandlingar eller smittas ner med främmande substanser. De abjekta monsterkropparna kan symbolisera delar i olika förtryckande samhällssystem, och dessa system tvingar ofta karaktärerna att bli en del av dessa hierarkier. Hotet som monstren och de abjekta kropparna skapar kan vara enbart fysiskt, men också ha moraliska, psykologiska eller politiska nivåer och kan rikta sig mot enskilda karaktärer eller större samhällen och gemenskaper. De orena skräckfigurerna representerar och förkroppsligar alla dessa hot, och när de möts i skräcklitteratur, fungerar de som fysiska manifestationer och spegelbilder av karaktärernas rädslor och skapar konstskräck.
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(2023)This study investigated Finnish students’ attitudes towards English accents. Since the topic had not been studied recently in the Finnish context and mostly with upper secondary students, the study set out to provide current insight into the topic. Furthermore, to observe how age, education, and proficiency level are related to the attitudes, students at both lower and upper secondary level and at both regular and bilingual (Fi-En) programs were selected as informants. The attitudes were studied via a combination of direct and indirect methods. First, a widely used indirect attitudinal measure, the verbal-guise technique, was employed to observe what kinds of immediate reactions different accents elicit in the students. The students heard authentic samples of eight different accents, two native and six non-native, and evaluated them on various adjectives on a semantic differential scale. Second, the students answered questionnaire items regarding their familiarity with accents and their views and practices in relation to speaking English. Altogether 156 students completed the survey. Mainly quantitative analysis of the students’ answers showed that although their attitudes towards the accents were mostly positive, they had significantly more negative attitudes towards non-native than native English accents. Furthermore, accent strength seemed to be a discriminating factor with mild-accented speakers preferred over heavy-accented speakers. While all students showed very similar preferences with respect to the accents, the strength of the attitudes somewhat varied between the respondent groups with bilingual upper secondary students indicating more positive attitudes than the rest of the students. With respect to the different characteristics that the speakers were rated on, the students considered native speakers very competent, intelligent and fluent, whereas non-native speakers were regarded as more honest than competent. The students were very adept at categorizing the speakers as native or non-native; however, apart from the British and heavy Finnish accent, they struggled with recognizing the speakers’ accents. Although no significant correlation was found between accent recognition and attitude, the better the students identified the speaker as non-native, the more negative attitudes they showed towards the speaker. The study found that although Finnish students’ attitudes towards non-native accents have become more positive compared to previous studies, they are still somewhat subject to the native speaker, standard language ideology. Further research is still needed to provide deeper insight into the ideologies functioning behind this, at least covert, preference for native speakers.
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(2023)This thesis examines Finnish upper secondary school English teachers’ practices and beliefs regarding authenticity and autonomy in the EFL classroom. The aim of the study is to find out how EFL teachers promote experiences of authenticity and learner autonomy in the classroom and this way create connections to students’ use of English outside school. The study is also interested in English teachers’ attitudes towards authenticity and autonomy as well as the teachers’ support for students’ Extramural English use. Research on EFL learners’ Extramural English use has reported of a gap between formal and informal language learning settings, and this thesis investigates the applicability of experiences of authenticity and learner autonomy in bridging this gap. The data of the study consists of qualitative classroom observations and interviews with English teachers. Four upper secondary school English teachers participated in the study. Three lessons were observed from each teacher, which adds up to twelve observed lessons in total. The observations focused on the teachers’ motivational practice and teaching materials. In addition, semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted with the teachers after the classroom observations. Qualitative content analysis was applied to both sets of data to describe the teachers’ practices and attitudes towards authenticity and autonomy in language learning. The data analysis shows that while the teachers used a variety of motivational strategies to promote authenticity and autonomy in the classroom, each teacher also had their preferred motivational practices that characterised their teaching. Comparing the classroom observation data and the interview data revealed a connection between the teachers’ practices and their definitions and attitudes towards authenticity in language learning. While the teachers considered authenticity and autonomy important in language learning, they perceived promoting them in class as difficult due to constraints such as available time and materials. Authenticity and autonomy were promoted in the classroom mostly by using strategies of teacher discourse, which aimed at arguing for the relevance or purpose of the learning tasks and connecting the learning to students’ everyday lives. Interestingly, the teachers were not especially keen on supporting their students’ Extramural English practices and questioned whether students desire experiences of authenticity and autonomy at all in school. The results of the study shed light on the complex relationship between formal and informal language learning settings from the EFL teachers’ perspective.
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