Sewanee Senior Theses 2011
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Item Explaining Changes in Register in Middle Tennessee: More than Just Formality(University of the South, 2011-05-01) Hayes, DeanSince the field of linguistics is fundamentally based on the classical grammarian tradition, which evolved to study classical languages, the concepts of formal and informal speech are frequently used to analyze register change in modern languages, such as English, that do not indicate formality structurally. This notion of formal and informal speech, embedded in the traditional Western conceptions of language, stems from the feature of Romance languages (in addition to other European languages, such as Russian and even Finnish) in which different pronouns and verb forms are used for the second person depending on the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener; for example, in Spanish one uses tú with friends and usted with strangers and superiors. However, since English has lost this feature, the literature uses another linguistic feature to fill the slot in the classical grammarian tradition for formality: register change, or the use of differing linguistic varieties in different social settings. According to this model, a standard dialect is spoken around superiors, and a folk dialect is spoken around friends, analogous to the use of different pronouns and verb forms in many European languages. I hold that the classical model of formality does not aptly describe the nature of register change in Southern English; the comparison with the Romance languages inherent in the usage of terms such as “formal” and “informal” registers hinders a better understanding of the true factors at work. Instead of considering the shift from a folk dialect to a standard dialect as a measure of formality, I will demonstrate that the causes for such a shift are in fact much more complicated and include more than a single variable. Indeed, if formality is the basis for register change, then the entire register should change as a whole for a given social setting, when in fact phonological features are changed in some circumstances, grammatical in others, and different speakers exhibit either process to different degrees. In place of this rigid model, one can envision a continuum between the nonstandard and standard dialects consisting of phonological and lexical/morphological features that change depending on various social factors, such the speakers’ cultural allegiances, sense of social standing with respect to the listener, and linguistic competence in the given register. While formality is indeed reflected by certain variable elements contained within this system, different speakers, depending on their particular social backgrounds, express formality in different ways, and other social factors at work, such as the shifting cultural elements mentioned above, are obscured by the use of the classical concept of formality.Item La raza, la patria, y la injusticia: identidad en la Nueva Cancian chilena y la Nueva Trova cubana(University of the South, 2011-05-01) Moody, JonathanLa Nueva CanciÃn chilena y la Nueva Trova Cubana, aunque las dos parezcan diferentes, intentaban crear una nueva identidad cultural popular y una nueva conciencia social a travÃs de la mÃsica que unirÃa la clase baja mayoritaria y fundarÃa una estabilidad polÃtica sin el conflicto de clases sociales y las injusticias del gobierno y la Ãlite minoritaria. Veremos a travÃs de canciones especÃficas de los movimientos que estas nuevas identidades se crearon al navegar por el pasado y el presente. Sobre todo, los dos emplean los temas de la raza, la patria y la injusticia para protestar los males del pasado y del presente y para proponer su nueva visiÃn para el futuro de la sociedad. Esta investigaciÃn va a enfocarse en las obras de dos iconos musicales de la Nueva CanciÃn, Violeta Parra y VÃctor Jara, y dos iconos de la Nueva Trova cubana, Pablo MilanÃs y Silvio RodrÃguez.Item El rol de la ficción como respuesta a la violencia política en Argentina(University of the South, 2011-05-01) Roberson, DerrithLa literatura y la historia son dos elementos fundamentalmente necesarios para una sociedad. Las dos tienen sus propias funciones y los directores Luis Puenzo y Héctor Babenco escogen crear obras de ficción en vez de recontar historias sobre la dictadura más reciente de Argentina y la violencia en general que sucedió en el país durante los años setenta. Hay muchas obras escritas sobre la dictadura y los eventos que la rodearon, y en las dos películas bastante conocidas “Kiss of the Spider Woman” y “La Historia Oficial,” es evidente que los directores valoran el hecho de reflexionar sobre la historia.Item Identidad y feminismo en Gabriela Mistral: una mujer que lo fue todo(University opf the South, 2011-05-01) Robb, JennyMuchos críticos e historiadores han comentado sobre la manera cómo deben ser interpretadas la vida y la obra de Gabriela Mistral. Algunos examinan su poesía, su prosa, y su biografía preguntándose si ella fue ante todo una intelectual o una madre espiritual. Otros examinan la actitud de Gabriela hacia el rol de la mujer y se preguntan si ella puede ser considerada una feminista que resalta las contribuciones y la importancia del papel de la mujer en la sociedad; o una tradicionalista que no rechaza el modelo patriarcal al invitar a sus contemporáneas a quedarse en casa con los niños. Al respecto está claro que ella tuvo una vida bastante complicada, y el afirmar que no fue una feminista, una madre o una intelectual no tiene sentido, porque en realidad ella fue todo esto y mucho más. Es decir, en Gabriela Mistral encontramos una mujer que lo es todo. Para examinar la imagen propia de Mistral, en este ensayo analizo la intersección entre su vida, algunos de los elementos que influían sobre sus opiniones y sentimientos, y sus obras de literatura. En particular, examinaré varios fragmentos de su poesía, incluyendo los poemas titulados “Pan,” que refleja sus conexiones cercanas con su hogar y sus creencias religiosas, y “Una palabra,” en el cual se puede apreciar la tristeza que experimenta más tarde en su vida. También, analizaré algunas obras de prosa publicadas por Mistral incluyendo Lecturas para mujeres, una antología que ella compiló para educar a la mujer mexicana, y los “Recados,” en la cual incluyó un elogio a la extraordinaria escritora mexicana del siglo XVII titulado “Silueta de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz”.Item Rendering the Pastoral: Time, Evanescence and Moral Enlightenment in Shakespeare’s Green Worlds(University of the South, 2011-05-01) Mooradian, RebeccaIn his 1717 edition of Pastorals, Alexander Pope included a new introduction to the work, entitled, “Discourse on Pastoral Poetry.” In this opening, he attempts to summarize and define the traditional characteristics of pastoral works, drawing on the genre’s creators, Theocritus and Virgil. Pope defines a pastoral as “an imitation of the action of a shepherd” and finds that, “[a] pastoral is an image of what they call the golden age: so that we are not to describe our shepherds as shepherds at this day really are, but as they may be conceived then to have been, when the best of men followed the employment” (19). Pope goes on to state that the job of the poet, consequently, is to “use some illusion to render a pastoral delightful; and this consists in exposing the best side only of a shepherd’s life, and in concealing its miseries” (20). To modern readers this definition may appear too narrow, as it excludes any work in which the natural world and its inhabitants are portrayed in a less idealized light. As Joseph Brodsky indicates in his essay, “On Grief and Reason,” an eclogue may contain tenebrous elements; Brodsky discusses Robert Frost’s “Home Burial” as a dark pastoral, enlarging Pope’s definition of the genre to include any “exchange between two or more characters in a rural setting, returning often to that perennial subject, love” (234). It is with Brodsky’s more expansive understanding of the genre that this paper will explore the pastoral plays of William Shakespeare.