Possession is a foundational concept for humans to express, and understanding its intricacies is crucial to piecing together how humans experience the world. However, although possession may be a...Show morePossession is a foundational concept for humans to express, and understanding its intricacies is crucial to piecing together how humans experience the world. However, although possession may be a universal in typological linguistics, it has not been researched under a psycholinguistic. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to ascertain whether two languages’ (Irish and English) different representations of possession can influence how speakers process possessive sentences. The data was collected using a picture-sentence matching task with reaction time acting as a proxy for processing and the psycholinguistic variable of note. The statistical analysis showed that Irish possessive sentences were processed quicker than English possessive sentences. It was concluded that this effect derives from the embodiment necessary to make sense of active English possessives in comparison to passive Irish possessives. This implies that embodiment plays a role in processing possessive sentences in Irish and English.Show less
There exists a confusing and conflicting narrative at the core of the Irish Civil War's historiography. On one hand it has been portrayed as a bitter and savage conflict, while on the other, one in...Show moreThere exists a confusing and conflicting narrative at the core of the Irish Civil War's historiography. On one hand it has been portrayed as a bitter and savage conflict, while on the other, one in which the fighting was exaggerated and overstated. This paper uses a study of the Irish Civil War in the geographical unit of County Kerry to argue that this confusing dichotomy has existed because of the absence of any systematic analysis of that most elemental factor in any armed conflict, the actual violence. Using a micro-level analysis of the violent deaths of National Army soldiers and IRA men in Kerry during the conflict this paper argues that the IRA prosecuted the war using controversial and contentious tactics while a culture of indiscipline in the National Army saw it engage in reprisals and extra-judicial killings as its main means of asserting control.Show less
This thesis explores the relationship between Ireland and Great Britain in times of The Great Famine (1845-1850), and discusses the factors that contributed to the deterioration of this relationship.
