title: A grammar of the Neverver language of Malakula (Vanuatu)

authors: Barbour, Julie Renee

subjects: endangered languages

abstract: A grammar of the Neverver language of Malakula (Vanuatu) is a synchronic account of the endangered Neverver language spoken by the Mindu and Sakhan peoples.  The description is one outcome of a larger project to document the Neverver language, and it is based on a large and varied corpus of communicative events collected from Neverver speakers residing in the villages of Limap and Lingarakh.  The description includes an account of the phonological system of the language, where complex segments with prenasalisation, including bilabial and alveolar trills, contrast with plain segments.  Heterogeneous and geminate sequences of consonants are permitted in the language, provided syllable onsets and codes are simple.  Epenthesis can be employed to ensure that the maximal CVC syllable template is adhered to.  The nominal system displays classes of common, personal, and local nouns, along with independent pronouns, and a set of pronominal-nouns.  Possessive constructions suggest an earlier system based on the semantic notion of alienability; today constructions are formed by a combination of semantic and phonological properties.  The nominal modifying particle is employed in one type of possessive construction, as well as in relative clauses with definite heads.  Verbs are either inherently transitive or intransitive; valency increase is achieved with suffixation, while valency decrease can be achieved with reduplication.  Reduplication is common in the corpus and typically serves as a marker of low transitivity.  In keeping with the basic constraint on syllable structure, the reduplicative prefix has a CV(C) template.  In terms of verbal morphology, Neverver is a mood-prominent language, with all verbal predicates being marked for either realis or irrealis mood.  Further tense/aspect distinctions can be indicated with optional verbal morphology.   The basic word order of verbal predicates is SVO, and the language is both head-initial and head-marking.  A number of complex constructions have been identified in the language.  Complex nuclei, including incorporated objects and nuclear serial verb constructions, contrast structurally with core serial verb constructions.  Concordant mood marking characterises core serial constructions, while sentential complements display varying patterns of mood dependency.  Adverbial subordination and subordinating tail-head linkage contrast with coordinate structures, including syndetic coordination and juxtaposition.  A variety of inter-propositional semantic relations are expressed through these complex structures.

text: A grammar of the Neverver language of Malakula (Vanuatu) A grammar of the Neverver language of Malakula (Vanuatu) is a synchronic account of the endangered Neverver language spoken by the Mindu and Sakhan peoples.  The description is one outcome of a larger project to document the Neverver language, and it is based on a large and varied corpus of communicative events collected from Neverver speakers residing in the villages of Limap and Lingarakh.  The description includes an account of the phonological system of the language, where complex segments with prenasalisation, including bilabial and alveolar trills, contrast with plain segments.  Heterogeneous and geminate sequences of consonants are permitted in the language, provided syllable onsets and codes are simple.  Epenthesis can be employed to ensure that the maximal CVC syllable template is adhered to.  The nominal system displays classes of common, personal, and local nouns, along with independent pronouns, and a set of pronominal-nouns.  Possessive constructions suggest an earlier system based on the semantic notion of alienability; today constructions are formed by a combination of semantic and phonological properties.  The nominal modifying particle is employed in one type of possessive construction, as well as in relative clauses with definite heads.  Verbs are either inherently transitive or intransitive; valency increase is achieved with suffixation, while valency decrease can be achieved with reduplication.  Reduplication is common in the corpus and typically serves as a marker of low transitivity.  In keeping with the basic constraint on syllable structure, the reduplicative prefix has a CV(C) template.  In terms of verbal morphology, Neverver is a mood-prominent language, with all verbal predicates being marked for either realis or irrealis mood.  Further tense/aspect distinctions can be indicated with optional verbal morphology.   The basic word order of verbal predicates is SVO, and the language is both head-initial and head-marking.  A number of complex constructions have been identified in the language.  Complex nuclei, including incorporated objects and nuclear serial verb constructions, contrast structurally with core serial verb constructions.  Concordant mood marking characterises core serial constructions, while sentential complements display varying patterns of mood dependency.  Adverbial subordination and subordinating tail-head linkage contrast with coordinate structures, including syndetic coordination and juxtaposition.  A variety of inter-propositional semantic relations are expressed through these complex structures.

year: 2009

title: Brokering practices among international EAL students at a New Zealand university

authors: Lee, Sherrie

subjects: academic support

abstract: The numbers of international students enrolled in higher education in Anglophone countries have increased in the past decade, with the majority of students originating from Asian countries such as China. While it is in the interest of these universities to support international students during their study, there is a tendency for institutions to view students’ learning in a deficit mode, for example, characterising students in terms of their limited English proficiency. Many studies of students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) are situated in formal instructional contexts that privilege Western academic norms, an environment which constrains students’ agency. In order to make visible the agency of international EAL students, as well as to contribute to the limited research on students’ informal academic learning, this study set out to examine a phenomenon in cross-cultural contexts known as brokering. Brokering refers to help-seeking social interactions, where students seek assistance with unfamiliar academic texts and practices from brokers who are able to bridge knowledge gaps.
A multi-methodological approach underpinned by a social constructionist paradigm was used to investigate the nature of brokering practices among 10 first-year, international EAL students, nine of whom were ethnic Chinese, at one New Zealand university. The study employed focused ethnography, where regular semi-structured interviews were conducted during students’ initial 15-week semester. Records of brokering interactions associated with three key informants were also collected in the form of audio-recorded observations and screenshots of instant message exchanges on mobile phones. The data analysis was informed by brokering-related concepts from sociology and studies on immigrant communities, as well as conversation analytical concepts such as epistemic asymmetry, and politeness theories in pragmatics.
The study found that participants sought brokers among peers and non-peers for their academic needs. Brokering practices encompassed language brokering, literacy brokering, and resource brokering, with each type of brokering addressing particular aspects of academic learning. Unlike non-peer brokering, which was typically facilitated by English-speaking staff, peer brokering mostly took place in homophilous interactions, that is, between those of similar ethno-lingual backgrounds. Peer brokering relationships were also found to be valued not only for instrumental action in terms of obtaining knowledge, but also for expressive action in terms of engaging in shared sentiment. The analysis of the key informants’ brokering interactions further demonstrated how agency was enacted through the seekers’ maintenance and negotiation of relative knowledge positions, which was supported by politeness and face-management strategies. Peer brokering dynamics afforded greater scope for student agency, while the hierarchical social relations in non-peer brokering did not.
By integrating theoretical frameworks from different disciplines, this thesis has provided a unique conceptual lens for understanding international EAL students’ academic-related brokering practices. It has also highlighted the need for international education practitioners to be sensitive to first-year international students’ needs for culturally appropriate support. The thesis concludes that if institutions are aware of international EAL students’ brokering practices, and take on a brokering role themselves, they will better serve the intercultural goals of international education.

text: Brokering practices among international EAL students at a New Zealand university The numbers of international students enrolled in higher education in Anglophone countries have increased in the past decade, with the majority of students originating from Asian countries such as China. While it is in the interest of these universities to support international students during their study, there is a tendency for institutions to view students’ learning in a deficit mode, for example, characterising students in terms of their limited English proficiency. Many studies of students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) are situated in formal instructional contexts that privilege Western academic norms, an environment which constrains students’ agency. In order to make visible the agency of international EAL students, as well as to contribute to the limited research on students’ informal academic learning, this study set out to examine a phenomenon in cross-cultural contexts known as brokering. Brokering refers to help-seeking social interactions, where students seek assistance with unfamiliar academic texts and practices from brokers who are able to bridge knowledge gaps.
A multi-methodological approach underpinned by a social constructionist paradigm was used to investigate the nature of brokering practices among 10 first-year, international EAL students, nine of whom were ethnic Chinese, at one New Zealand university. The study employed focused ethnography, where regular semi-structured interviews were conducted during students’ initial 15-week semester. Records of brokering interactions associated with three key informants were also collected in the form of audio-recorded observations and screenshots of instant message exchanges on mobile phones. The data analysis was informed by brokering-related concepts from sociology and studies on immigrant communities, as well as conversation analytical concepts such as epistemic asymmetry, and politeness theories in pragmatics.
The study found that participants sought brokers among peers and non-peers for their academic needs. Brokering practices encompassed language brokering, literacy brokering, and resource brokering, with each type of brokering addressing particular aspects of academic learning. Unlike non-peer brokering, which was typically facilitated by English-speaking staff, peer brokering mostly took place in homophilous interactions, that is, between those of similar ethno-lingual backgrounds. Peer brokering relationships were also found to be valued not only for instrumental action in terms of obtaining knowledge, but also for expressive action in terms of engaging in shared sentiment. The analysis of the key informants’ brokering interactions further demonstrated how agency was enacted through the seekers’ maintenance and negotiation of relative knowledge positions, which was supported by politeness and face-management strategies. Peer brokering dynamics afforded greater scope for student agency, while the hierarchical social relations in non-peer brokering did not.
By integrating theoretical frameworks from different disciplines, this thesis has provided a unique conceptual lens for understanding international EAL students’ academic-related brokering practices. It has also highlighted the need for international education practitioners to be sensitive to first-year international students’ needs for culturally appropriate support. The thesis concludes that if institutions are aware of international EAL students’ brokering practices, and take on a brokering role themselves, they will better serve the intercultural goals of international education.

year: 2019

title: 'The voices caused him to become porangi': Maori Patients in the Auckland Lunatic Asylum, 1860-1900

authors: Burke, Lorelle J.

abstract: Histories of the asylum have raised a number of important questions about the way 'race' intersects along colonial, medical and legal boundaries. The experience of Maori patients at the Auckland Lunatic Asylum was a site where colonial attitudes towards 'race' were played out along such lines. By employing 'race' as a category of historical analysis, one can attempt to investigate how the asylum processes in Aotearoa/New Zealand exemplified the question of 'race' in an effort to make more visible the experiences, attitudes and responses of Maori asylum patients. 
This thesis examines colonial 'madness' by investigating the experiences of Maori patients at the Auckland Lunatic Asylum from 1860-1900. Using patient case records from this period this thesis interrogates the experiences of Maori patients in a colonial asylum, away from their whanau, communities, and tribal networks; what factors contributed to this, and how colonial attitudes towards these patients were acted out. The first chapter therefore, explores the 'medico-legal' management of these Maori patients, followed in Chapter Two by a broad overview of the Maori patients themselves. Chapter Three analyses the case records in more depth illustrating the complex interplay between 'race', gender, 'whiteness' and culture. Chapter Four looks at the way Maori dealt with the insane away from European institutions such as the asylum, emphasising how colonial histories of medicine now paying attention to Indigenous peoples in their context, and to medical pluralism, which reflects European models on one hand and on the other, Maori modes. 
In considering Maori patients, this thesis reflects on the very 'human experience' that can be revealed by using asylum case files, and what such sources may suggest about 'race' as an implicit part of colonial asylum administration. More widely, the paper also reflects on colonisation, Maori and the asylum, and the ways in which Maori used the asylum.

text: 'The voices caused him to become porangi': Maori Patients in the Auckland Lunatic Asylum, 1860-1900 Histories of the asylum have raised a number of important questions about the way 'race' intersects along colonial, medical and legal boundaries. The experience of Maori patients at the Auckland Lunatic Asylum was a site where colonial attitudes towards 'race' were played out along such lines. By employing 'race' as a category of historical analysis, one can attempt to investigate how the asylum processes in Aotearoa/New Zealand exemplified the question of 'race' in an effort to make more visible the experiences, attitudes and responses of Maori asylum patients. 
This thesis examines colonial 'madness' by investigating the experiences of Maori patients at the Auckland Lunatic Asylum from 1860-1900. Using patient case records from this period this thesis interrogates the experiences of Maori patients in a colonial asylum, away from their whanau, communities, and tribal networks; what factors contributed to this, and how colonial attitudes towards these patients were acted out. The first chapter therefore, explores the 'medico-legal' management of these Maori patients, followed in Chapter Two by a broad overview of the Maori patients themselves. Chapter Three analyses the case records in more depth illustrating the complex interplay between 'race', gender, 'whiteness' and culture. Chapter Four looks at the way Maori dealt with the insane away from European institutions such as the asylum, emphasising how colonial histories of medicine now paying attention to Indigenous peoples in their context, and to medical pluralism, which reflects European models on one hand and on the other, Maori modes. 
In considering Maori patients, this thesis reflects on the very 'human experience' that can be revealed by using asylum case files, and what such sources may suggest about 'race' as an implicit part of colonial asylum administration. More widely, the paper also reflects on colonisation, Maori and the asylum, and the ways in which Maori used the asylum.

year: 2006