This dissertation investigates second language (L2) development in the domains of morphosyntax and semantics. Specifically, it examines the acquisition of definiteness and specificity in Russian within the Feature Re-assembly framework (Lardiere, 2009), according to which the hardest L2 learning task is not to reset parameters but to reconfigure,…

After the re-establishment of independent Estonian statehood in 1991, Russian lost its privileges as the dominant and official language in Estonia, and Estonian continued as the only official language. This paper attempts to map the position of a Russian-speaking teacher within the sociological categories of power and language, based on the…

The issues of social, cultural, and language adjustment and the integration of repatriates into the Kazakhstani society are crucial factors in maintaining a stable society. The complicated process of self-identification of ethnic Kazakhs is a major aspect of their sociolinguistic "penetration" into Kazakh society. In this work we…

This dissertation represents a study of the formation of "-sja" passives of Russian verbs of governing and wanting. I explore five imperfective verbs of governing: "zavedovat" "manage"; "komandovat" "command"; "pravit" "govern"; "rukovdit" "direct"; and "upravljat" "manage"; as well as four imperfective verbs of wanting: "iskat" "seek"; "trebovat"…

This study investigated various roles played by host, homeland, and global media in the lives of immigrant families from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, former USSR) to Israel and Germany, as well as the place of different media in family conflicts, consolidation, and parenting strategies. The study was based on focus group interviews…

This paper deals with current questions in revitalizing the regional language Latgalian, one of the varieties native to Latgale, a region located in the eastern part of Latvia. It first provides an overview of domains where Latgalian is used and highlights recent changes in these. Based on linguistic landscape data as well as interviews with…

Affectivity is an important dimension in humans' social and individual lives. It is either a stimulating or hindering aspect of language learning. This article aims to draw attention to material culture as a powerful, but mostly neglected source of data on the use and acquisition of languages, and demonstrates the close and intricate links between…

Researchers have explored the experiences of minority teachers (Irvine, 2003) and racial minority immigrant teachers in the context of schooling and curriculum development (Subedi, 2008). Many studies on immigrant teachers have focused on problems regarding their adjustment to the new culture and the construction of their identities; fewer…

This dissertation examines the process of acquisition of semantic classes of reflexive verbs (RVs) in Russian by L2 learners with a native language English. The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap between current linguistic knowledge and the pedagogical literature existing in English on reflexives in Russian. RVs are taught partially and…

The dissertation outlines a framework for understanding variation in ultimate attainment and syntactic structure in second language acquisition by positing a distinction between competence-based and generalized learning processes. Within this framework, competence-based learning is theorized to employ inductive learning processes to acquire a…

Parents' assessment of children's development in the first and the second language is an essential part of their family language policy (FLP) and an important component of parent-child communication. This paper presents a pilot study focused on Russian-speaking immigrant parents' assessment of their children's language knowledge in Russian as a…

Using the 2 theoretical lenses of representation (Barthes, 1977) and ownership of language (Higgins, 2003), this article offers a critical analysis of representations of Russian speakers in 9 widely used Russian language textbooks aimed at university-level learners. Particular attention is paid to representations of Russian speakers other than…

This dissertation investigates licensing conditions of dependent indefinite pronouns, such as negative concord items and pronouns that depend on the presence of a c-commanding quantifier. In Chapter 2, I examine freestanding negative concord items in Russian. I provide a novel empirical generalization that freestanding negative concord items…

The public has always had a keen interest in textbooks on history. Despite all the differences among textbooks on national histories, most countries have a similar focus: the task of shaping the new generations' positive image of their own people in its long or short history, while not disregarding any sinister, dark, at times frightful pages of…

This descriptive study examines when and how students use Russian-English dictionaries while reading informational texts in Russian and what success they have with word lookup. The study uses introspective verbal protocols (i.e., think-alouds) to follow how readers construct meaning from two texts while reading them for a limited time first…