School of Languages and Cultures

Reduplication is found in almost every language (Inkelas, 2012, p. 378), and hence understanding it well is a priority for linguistic theory.  Yet common to much of the literature is a stated need for more empirical data for making valid cross-linguistic comparisons, and developing and testing associated theories (Urbanczyk, 2007, p. 492; Raimy, 2011, p. 11; Hurch & Mattes, 2009, pp. 303, 318).  This empirical gap is particularly salient for Australian Indigenous languages, with existing typologies displaying a lack of comprehensiveness in their coverage, and detail in their phonological analysis.

This thesis makes significant progress towards filling this gap, by establishing an empirical and methodological framework for the first comprehensive phonological typology of reduplication in Australian languages.  Specifically, the present study reports a detailed empirical survey of reduplication in 43 Australian languages, based on an initial survey of 276 sources, focusing on the phonological patterns and complex phenomena associated with the process in each language. 

The methodology employed sets the survey apart from similar typological studies, both through its exhaustive coverage of documented reduplicative forms within each language, and its finely grained, microvariate approach to documenting and describing the intricacies of each form.  This ensures the full breadth of complexities and idiosyncrasies are captured in each language, and enables more informative and effective comparison and analysis, both at the language level, and cross-linguistically.

The study makes two significant contributions to the study of reduplication.  Firstly, it sets out a comprehensive and finely-detailed inventory of the reduplicative forms, patterns and complex phenomena which exist in the surveyed languages, and assesses the resulting corpus to evaluate prominent claims and questions in the study of reduplication.  Secondly, it establishes a comprehensive and empirically meticulous methodological framework for surveying reduplication, based on highly detailed and consistently applied categorisations of the data.  This opens up the findings to researchers of all theoretical backgrounds, and prepares the language sample to be expanded exhaustively in the future.

This seminar explores the experiences of discrimination as reported by LGBTIQ and Muslim Brisbanebased participants during semi-structured interviews. Data were classified in order to develop a taxonomy of discrimination that foregrounds two types of discrimination: verbal and behavioural. In this seminar we will exemplify these types and offer a comparative analysis of the main active and passive coping strategies used in the construction of the experiences from a discourse analytical perspective. The results show that discrimination is an overt phenomenon and that participants are stressed by the ever present possibility of facing it. Findings of this study will also be discussed in the light of Social identity theory and in particular Branscombe et al. (1999) rejection-identification model which explains an often-employed strategy whereby the stigmatized individual strengthens their ties with their minority group as a psychological strategy to improve their self-esteem. The findings of this qualitative study contribute to the field of Discourse Studies and complement applied disciplines such as Social Psychology and Mental Health.

Historias clandestinas es la historia real de niños que vivían en una casa de seguridad y cuya familia estuvo intensamente comprometida con la Resistencia contra la dictadura militar en Chile. Esta novela gráfica a través de imágenes emocionantes y maravillosas da cuenta de los riesgos y actividades diarias que mantuvieron a esta familia a salvo mientras pretendían llevar una vida ‘normal.’ El libro muestra un fragmento de un período hasta ahora poco conocido porque poco se ha hablado de la vida de los resistentes, de su cotidiano y en tal sentido este viene a constituirse en un valioso material histórico. Con un lenguaje simple y conciso, la historia se reconstruye a partir del recuerdo de quienes eran niños en la época, develando el denso y peligroso clima social y político, lo que da mayor relieve al coraje, la entrega y el amor de los que tomaron la decisión de resistir pese a todo.

The translation of sexuality has proven to be challenging throughout the times due to the dominant mores at the time of translation. Framed within Critical Translation Studies, this article examines cases of heterosexist manipulation in the Spanish translation of " The Happy Prince " by Oscar Wilde. It proposes that Wilde's specific intent in using the fairy tale genre is not transmitted in any Spanish version of the story, from its first translation in 1900 to date (2018). We show that the translations manipulate both grammatical gender and sexuality in such a way that one of the messages of the story, the value of homosexual love, is omitted entirely to become the standard and conventional view of sexuality that dominates contemporary Western tradition. The article indicates the linguistic, stylistic and cultural choices that should be considered for a new translation of the story.

This book offers a way forward toward a better understanding of perceived discrimination from a critical discourse studies perspective. The volume begins with a discussion of quantitative studies on perceived discrimination across a range of disciplines and moves toward outlining the ways in which a discourse-based framework, drawing on tools from cognitive linguistics and discursive psychology, offers valuable tools with which to document and analyze perceived discrimination through myriad lenses. Rojas-Lizana provides a systematic account, grounded in a critical approach, of perceived discrimination drawing on data from discourse from two minority groups, self-identified members of an LGBTIQ community and Spanish-speaking immigrants in Australia, and explores such topics as the relationship between language and discrimination, the conditions for determining what constitutes discriminatory acts, and both the copying and resistance strategies victims employ in their experiences. A concluding chapter offers a broader comparison of the conclusions drawn from both communities and discusses their implications for further research on perceived discrimination. This volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars in critical discourse studies, social policy, gender and sexuality studies, and migration studies.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction: ‘…to make me feel like the outsider’

Chapter 2: Situating Perceived Discrimination Studies

Chapter 3: Analysing Perceived Discrimination in the area of Discourse Studies

Chapter 4: ‘He called me it.’ Perceived Discrimination in the discourse of people identifying as LGBTIQ in Australia

Chapter 5: ‘She said no because I talk funny.’ Perceived Discrimination in the discourse of Spanish speaking immigrants in Australia

Chapter 6: Coping with discrimination: From resistance to avoidance

Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusion ‘…they have no idea what this is like’

Routledge Critical Studies in Discourse

Routledge Critical Studies in Discourse publishes high quality original research monographs broadly in the area of critical discourse studies. It seeks theoretically innovative and empirically rigorous research that advances our critical understanding of the interrelations of discourse and social processes, including all aspects of power relations (such as maintenance and perpetuation of dominance; negotiations of power and resistance; as well as solidarity formations for group empowerment). The series supports interdisciplinary research, and welcomes investigations of new topics, domains, issues, frameworks and methods, as well as fresh perspectives on established ones, from a variety of international and cultural contexts. A broad understanding of "discourse" is adopted in the series to include systematic and explicit analyses of spoken/written language and other modes of semiosis (e.g. visual images, sounds, gestures and actions).

The limited legal process regarding the crimes committed by the civic-military dictatorship in Chile (1973-1990) inhibits democratic coexistence among its population to this day. The Museum of Memory and Human Rights, located in Santiago, is a place of collective memory which has given visibility to this historical period within the limited reconciliation that has developed in the country. One way of identifying the effect that this Museum has had on the Chilean people is to analyse the textual register left in the Visitor Book (VB), which is a voluntary and anonymous form of citizenship expression. In this article, we use a discourse analytical approach to examine the comments left in the VB in the years 2015-2016. The analysis identifies the reflections that this place of memory evokes in different visitor demographics in relation to coexistence and democracy. The results show that the effect the Museum has on these citizens varies greatly due to the different experiences and identities that mark their gaze; however, the large majority engaged positively with the narrative and space of the Museum, as shown by the fact that most comments reproduced the speech acts of thanking and congratulating. Reflective comments and emotions emphasised the national importance of having a place of memory for remembering, learning, pondering and healing. Reflections on democracy related to the human rights discourse of “Never Again” and the discourse of “Lest We Forget”.

Keywords: Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos in Chile, Memory, Exercising Citizenship, Nunca más, Visitor Book.

The translation of sexuality has proven to be challenging throughout the times due to the dominant mores at the time of translation. Framed within Critical Translation Studies, this article examines cases of heterosexist manipulation in the Spanish translation of “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde. It proposes that Wilde’s specific intent in using the fairy tale genre is not transmitted in any Spanish version of the story, from its first translation in 1900 to date (2018). We show that the translations manipulate both grammatical gender and sexuality in such a way that one of the messages of the story, the value of homosexual love, is omitted entirely to become the standard and conventional view of sexuality that dominates contemporary Western tradition. The article indicates the linguistic, stylistic and cultural choices that should be considered for a new translation of the story.

The translation of sexuality has proven to be challenging throughout the times due to the dominant mores at the time of translation. Framed within Critical Translation Studies, this article examines cases of heterosexist manipulation in the Spanish translation of “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde. It proposes that Wilde’s specific intent in using the fairy tale genre is not transmitted in any Spanish version of the story, from its first translation in 1900 to date (2018). We show that the translations manipulate both grammatical gender and sexuality in such a way that one of the messages of the story, the value of homosexual love, is omitted entirely to become the standard and conventional view of sexuality that dominates contemporary Western tradition. The article indicates the linguistic, stylistic and cultural choices that should be considered for a new translation of the story.

This discourse analysis study identifies the discursive strategies and linguistic resources addressers of Letters to the Editor in Australian community papers employ to construct their view of homosexuality; a view which uses the discourses of biology and religion to justify both rejection and acceptance. The analysis of the discursive strategies found in the texts identifies the use of certain 'commonsense arguments', as presented in Discursive Psychology, to justify and legitimate the addressers' positions, as well as the use of keywords in relation to Cognitive Linguistics' concepts. The identification of these elements in the elaboration of the letters' discourses helps to recognise the addressers' standpoint assumptions and their competing values. It was found that although the same discourse of legitimation (the Bible) is used in some of the arguments, addressers apply their own experience to their views of this discourse and thus create opposing arguments. What they have in common, however, is that they are basing the responsibility for rejection or acceptance not on themselves but on the narratives they use. This is used as a justification strategy that helps to avoid issues that could be socially condemned in their web of conversations.

One of the most frequently asked questions in the wake of the genocide which took place in Rwanda in 1994 has been 'how could it happen?,' or more specifically, how could it be that so many thousands of individual citizens throughout the country could be motivated to turn on their neighbours in a concerted groundswell of violence, killing them without mercy. Many of the scholars and journalists who sought to elucidate the origins of the genocide in the country's colonial and post-colonial history have highlighted the significance of the stigmatisation of the Tutsi population during this period (Prunier 1995; Braeckman 1995; Hintjens 1999; Mugesera 2004). In this connection, the introduction of identity cards by Belgian authorities in 1933, which categorically established each individual's 'ubwoko' [ethnicity], intrinsically promoted the notion that ethnic difference was an important consideration for Rwandan society. More tangibly, these cards subsequently facilitated the widespread exclusion of the Tutsi population from schools and workplaces. They were also used by genocide perpetrators in 1994 to identify their victims, to the extent that they have been regarded as tantamount to 'death warrants' (Des Forges 1999: 19). Stigmatisation was also an essential feature of the anti-Tutsi propaganda that was disseminated from the 1950s onwards in meetings, newspaper articles and political tracts (Mugesera 1994). Among the key characteristics of this propaganda discourse was the representation of Tutsi as 'inyenzi' [cockroaches] or 'inkota' [snakes]; in other words, as vermin to be exterminated. This deliberate and systematic dehumanisation of Fletcher Words That Can Kill

This study investigates persistent grammatical errors carried over from first to second year students of Spanish as a Foreign Language at the University of Queensland in Australia. The corpus consisted of 151 written tests produced by students in first year (first and second semesters), and 44 written tests in second year (first semester only). Data collection was carried out by identifying grammatical errors and classifying them according to linguistic criteria, such as the language area and the grammatical system affected. The analysis was based on an Error Analysis methodology (Corder 1967; Richards 1980; Fernandez 1997) indicating that morphosyntactical errors in the concordance grammatical system are the most frequent grammatical errors in first year students, and that these errors persist by the second year of instruction.

Este estudio analiza una muestra de los diez mil comentarios registrados durante la transmisión de Facebook en vivo de la experiencia digital “Sintoniza con la memoria” del Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. En esta experiencia se escuchan grabaciones radiales en tiempo real del día del golpe de estado en 1973. Mediante el análisis del discurso, categorizamos y analizamos los comentarios para entender el impacto de la experiencia en la audiencia. Los resultados muestran que el efecto se expresa principalmente en discursos relacionados con: la continuidad de la memoria en la contingencia nacional, el emocionar que produce como actividad auditiva y el tipo de discurso ético ciudadano que la acompaña. Se encontró además que la pandemia desempeña un papel secundario dada la importancia política del Estallido social en Chile.

Originally published in Spanish in 2014, "Clandestine Stories" is a gripping memoir written and illustrated by siblings Ariel and Sol Rojas Lizana. It delves into the clandestine lives of a family navigating the frictions of history and politics during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile (1973-1990). The book sheds light on the events of September 11, 1973, Chile's own 9/11, and the regime's impact on ordinary lives.
Now, with the English release of "Clandestine Stories," a wider audience can experience these stories of survival, solidarity, doubt, and hope. The book joins the ranks of powerful graphic memoirs like "Maus," "Persepolis," and "March," providing an intimate perspective on some of the most turbulent moments of the 20th century.

The Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile hosts regular travelling exhibits about the country's recent traumatic past of 1973-1990. In this article, I study the visitor books (VBs) that accompanied travelling exhibits to the cities of Valdivia and Puerto Montt to examine their effect on the audience. The entries reflected a variety of writers, from younger generations to survivors and witnesses. The analysis shows that the VBs are used to exercise the right to memory, to confirm their 'duty to remember' manifested in the presence of transitional justice discourses, and to express emotions that seem to reflect a positive and healing effect. Moreover, it was proven that the nature of the visitor's memory (direct or postmemory) would showcase different reactions to the exhibit experience.

In 2020, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile started the digital project Epistolario de la memoria, which aggregates letters addressed to victims of the civic-military dictatorship (1973–1990). The first epistolary consisted of 34 letters from grandchildren to their disappeared or executed grandparents, which constitutes the corpus of this article. The letters were analysed to examine the grandchildren’s aims, commonalities, and postmemory discourse. The results show that for these young people, the victims are a constant and desired presence in their everyday life. Grandparents are memorialised in sobremesas (family conversations), through photographs and artefacts, as well as through embodied forms of memory such as names passed to descendants and inheritance of personality traits. In their letters, these grandchildren highlight their inherited memories, manifest their commitment to memorialisation and justice, express the pain of absence, and reflect on the presence of the past in the present. This study informs the field of Trauma and Memory Studies and Discourse Studies.