The DSpace digital repository system captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material. http://localhost:80 2012-05-21T00:30:41Z 2012-05-21T00:30:41Z Zhang, Jieqiang. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3827 2012-04-20T05:36:29Z 2012-04-12T16:00:00Z

Title: Poetry as postmodern. Authors: Zhang, Jieqiang. Abstract: According to Brian McHale, “Poetry from certain points of view had been postmodern before the postmodern, or had always already been postmodern.” This paper will examine exactly how poetry can be considered to be postmodern. It will undertake a study of Denis Donoghue’s On Eloquence, and attempt to show how Donoghue’s description of literary eloquence correlates with postmodernism, in its yearning for non-referentiality, its impulse for anarchy, its desire for play, its devotion to pleasure, its creation of textual worlds, and its gesture toward language’s metaphoric nature. Since poetry is the textual art that exemplifies literary eloquence the most, it follows that poetry exhibits these postmodern tendencies most clearly, particularly postmodernism's interest in limits, its preoccupation with the metaphysics of absence. The paper will then make a case for how the poetic form is intimately concerned with silence, and thus, is inherently geared toward an exploration of the limits of language: how the poem’s visual shape can be seen as a metaphor for silence, how the poem is actually made of ruins—of the “ruined” poetic verse—and finally, how poetry’s near-condition of music is its desire to detach itself from the real world, into an imaginative textual reality.

2012-04-12T16:00:00Z Wong, Elke Pao Yi. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3823 2012-04-20T05:36:28Z 2012-04-12T16:00:00Z

Title: An insider’s guide to the street dance subculture in Singapore. Authors: Wong, Elke Pao Yi. Abstract: This paper examines the vibrant subculture of street dance (dance styles that have evolved outside the studio) in Singapore. It conceptualises the social space of street dance, through processes of construction, consumption and contestation. This paper pays homage to the social order that dancers respect; an order they have established and continued to shape. It examines the methods dancers use to establish territories within physical and aural space. It also traces the flows between the local-global street dance landscape; a platform where channels of ideology, knowledge and talent are created and produced. Most of the research is situated at *SCAPE, a spanking-new shopping mall in Singapore, and the latest home to local street dance subculture.

2012-04-12T16:00:00Z Ho, Sher Min. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3824 2012-04-20T05:36:28Z 2012-04-12T16:00:00Z

Title: The effects of music-induced emotions on English-Chinese bilinguals' resolution of standing ambiguity. Authors: Ho, Sher Min. Abstract: Cross-linguistic studies have shown that speakers of different languages have differing strategies in resolving sentences with standing ambiguity (Felser, 2003; Shen, 2006) with most languages preferring NP2 or NP-low attachment (e.g. English, Danish) while some others prefer NP1 or NP-high attachment (e.g. Greek, German). The strategy taken by Chinese speakers remain controversial with some studies showing it to be a NP-low preferring strategy (Shen, 2006) while some others show otherwise (Cai, 2010). The strategies adopted by bilingual speakers have yet to be thoroughly explored. External factors like lexical factors (Felser, 2003) and animacy (Desmet et. al, 2006) are also found to be of influence on speakers’ strategies in resolving these sentences. This study investigates the strategies of English-Chinese bilinguals in their resolution of sentences with standing ambiguity and also the effects of emotional cues on these strategies. 75 English sentences were used in the study with 50 manipulated (BIASED) sentences and 25 neutral (UNBIASED) sentences. The biased sentences are manipulated in a way that adjectives are added to both NP1 and NP2 where the context of attaching the relative clause to NP1 would give rise to a sadder context than when attached to NP2. Since music is proven to have an effect on its listeners’ emotions, whether directly or indirectly (Trainor, 2003; Levinson, 1997), sad music is used to induce sad emotional cues for the context of reading the sentences. 27 English-Chinese bilinguals in Singapore participated in two experiments, 9 in Experiment 1 and the other 18 in Experiment 2. Participants in Experiment 1 rated 75 sentences on a scale of 1 to 7 on how they feel the relative clause should be attached (1: most NP1; 7: most NP2). To eliminate possibility of inherent ‘bias-ness’ in the sentences, the ratings were used for counterbalancing Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, 18 participants were asked to read the sentences with either no music, neutral music or sad music in the background. A question is asked after each sentence regarding the relative clause and responses are recorded through the pressing of number keys on a keyboard.

2012-04-12T16:00:00Z Nguyen, Thi Gia Hoang. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3825 2012-04-20T05:36:28Z 2012-04-12T16:00:00Z

Title: The pursuit of enlightenment and the Singaporean buddhist monastics. Authors: Nguyen, Thi Gia Hoang. Abstract: The primary goal of this paper is to understand why some Singaporeans decide to follow the Buddhist monastic way of life. Situating the research in the context of the modern, capitalist, multicultural Singapore society, I have used Berger and Luckmann’s (1966) sociology of knowledge to explore and explain the process of becoming Buddhist monastics of some Singaporeans. Through field work at various Buddhist sites in Singapore and in-depth interviews with Singaporean Buddhist monastics who are residing locally and overseas, the findings reveal that the process of becoming a Buddhist monastic involves the socialization of individuals into the Buddhist reality, the de-reification of other realities, and lastly, the re-socialization into the Buddhist monastic reality. These findings are later linked to broader changes and persistence in Buddhism in Singapore, which have been characterized by some authors as a trend towards Reformist Buddhism.

2012-04-12T16:00:00Z