Propuestas de Títulos de Trabajos Fin de Grado para el curso 2015-2016 Bernardo Santano Moreno The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Composition, Surviving Manuscripts and Their Relationship The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a complex set of seven major manuscripts, of which the earliest is known as the Parker Chronicle. It is accepted that in the 9th century a chronicle was drawn up in the kingdom of Wessex. Some of the sources used for the composition of this Chronicle have been identified, other sources have been suggested. The paper should analyse the main hypotheses about the composition of the original Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the characteristics of the surviving manuscripts and the way in which they interrelate. The Wanderer and the Search for Christian Consolation The Wanderer is an Old English Elegy in which the protagonist, the eardstapa, describes the hardships and sufferings he is going through in exile. The speaker also meditates about the temporary values of earthly life. The paper should focus on these meditations and their psychological and religious interpretations. Piers Plowman as a Satire of Contemporary Religious Corruption Piers Plowman is a fourteenth-century alliterative poem by William Langland. Three versions and multiple manuscripts have survived making the textual tradition of this work one of the most complex and interesting in medieval English literature. The poem is framed as a series of dream visions in which the narrator deals with contemporary religious issues used by radical reformists as a manifesto of their own beliefs. The student should focus on these ideas and how they relate to the Peasants Revolt (1381). King Horn and the Development of the Romance in the English Language King Horn, composed around 1225, is considered the oldest surviving Middle English romance. The poem shows some influence from the rhyming ballad meters of Anglo-Norman poetry, but it also retains characteristics of Old English verse. Horn and other early English romances belong to a group of poems known as the Matter of England. The text has been preserved in three manuscripts in combination with Latin and French verse, religious material, and love poems, which suggests a complexity of attraction to be taken into account when interpreting the text. The poem is also highly concerned with political aspects. The paper should analyse the formal aspects of the poem as well as its motifs and possible sources and influences.
Títulos TFGs: 1. Teaching modern languages in an Irish context (Reflective language teaching). Villiers School/Castletroy College, Limerick. 2. Fictional (re)presentations of Irish English. An Analysis of The Spinning Heart, by Donal Ryan. 3. Television dialogue. Fictional representations of spokennes. 4. Enregistering dialect in clothes, souvenirs and the web.
TFG Title Proposal by Diana Villanueva Romero 2015-2016 Nature in Jean Rhys s Wide Sargasso Sea In Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) Dominica-born British writer Jean Rhys rewrites Charlotte Brönte s Jane Eyre from the perspective of Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester s insane Creole wife. In this novel an abundance of motifs create the atmosphere of mystery that surrounds the evolution of the main character from sweet and naïve Antoinette Cosway to desperate and betrayed Bertha Mason. Having in mind the development of postcolonial ecocriticism as a theory that aims at paying attention to the interconnections between environmental and postcolonial discourse, this thesis aims at analyzing the role played by nature and the more-than-human world in Jean Rhys s Wide Sargasso Sea. Suicide as Liberation in American Literature: The Case of Kate Chopin s The Awakening Women s literature in English offers many examples of how suicide can become a strategy of liberation for women who feel they have no escape in a society made by and for men. In Kate Chopin s novel The Awakening (1899), female protagonist Edna Pontellier, whose views on marriage and family are far from conventional, commits suicide in an attempt at liberating herself from the strictures of nineteenth-century social mores in Creole Louisiana. This thesis aims at analyzing the meaning of suicide in American women s literature by concentrating on the case of Kate Chopin s The Awakening. Mental Health in Charlotte Perkins Gilman s The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper (1892) as a response to the consequences of a rest cure she was prescribed to recover from an episode of postpartum depression. She found such a cure incapacitating and rebelled against the medical establishment of the time through the writing of this short novel. This thesis aims at analyzing nineteenth-century views on women s health, both mental and physical, through the close reading of Gilman s novel. The Rape of the Lock in Translation This thesis aims at comparing two translations into Spanish of Alexander Pope s poem The Rape of the Lock (1712-1714). Extra Titles Environmental Awareness in The Hunger Games In Suzanne Collins s The Hunger Games (2008) environmental awareness is present through the depiction of a post-apocalyptic world where the main characters find solace in what remains of the past environmental integrity of 1
planet Earth. This thesis aims at analyzing the environmental discourse of this young-adult piece. Female Empowerment in The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins s The Hunger Games (2008) is a science fiction novel where Katniss Everdeen, the female protagonist, is a young woman able to confront the political maneuvers of the Capitol, the metropolis that controls the nation of Panem in North America. This thesis aims at analyzing the elements that contribute to the empowerment of the main female character throughout the novel. 2
1. Estudio paratextual de una obra literaria: Las obras literarias consideradas canónicas tienen una presencia constante en el mercado literario en la forma de distintas ediciones. Estas ediciones cambian y se transforman, mostrando diferentes paratextos en cada una de sus reencarnaciones: distintas portadas, contraportadas, introducciones, reseñas, citas...elementos que acompañan al texto literario y contribuyen a construir su prestigio y la imagen de autor. Esta propuesta de TFG consiste en que el alumno lleve a cabo un estudio pormenorizado de dichos paratextos y de su valor en relación con la obra literaria. 2. Acercamiento a la poesía o prosa de Sylvia Plath. La autora americana Sylvia Plath es una de las escritoras más importantes dentro de la literatura escrita en inglés. Su figura, en tanto que poeta, novelista y autora de historias cortas, merece una mayor atención crítica en nuestro país, donde la reciente publicación de traducciones de sus obras ha contribuido a suscitar el interés hacia ella. En propuesta de TFG consiste, precisamente, en que los alumnos estudien con más profundidad y detenimiento distintos aspectos de la producción de Sylvia Plath. 3. Literatura escrita por mujeres en lengua inglesa. En el espacio de prestigio que es el canon literario, las mujeres han ocupado tradicionalmente un lugar periférico. No obstante, gracias a las aportaciones de la crítica feminista--especialmente a partir de la década de los 60--el foco de atención ha recaído en nuevos nombres de autoras y en obras que habían sido olvidadas o ignoradas. Esta propuesta de TFG consiste en la recuperación y estudio de obras de autoría femenina que hayan sido consideradas "marginales" o sobre las que la crítica ha pasado de puntillas.
Títulos + descriptores de TFG curso 2015-2016. Fiona MacArthur 1. Talking about anger in English. This piece of work will study the way ordinary speakers of English express themselves when talking about anger. The linguistic evidence to be analysed will be gathered from dictionaries, scholarly descriptions and internet sources (chats, blogs, etc.) where native speakers of English write about this feelings. 2. The polysemy of body part terms in English: the case of finger. Using evidence found in a large corpus (for example, the BNC or the COCA) as well as in dictionaries, this piece of work will examine how the word finger is used in contemporary English, and how the different senses of the word may be related to each other. 3. Animal metaphors in English; cat and dog. Cats and dogs are among the best-known mammals, among other reasons because they the most popular household pets. This dissertation will explore how English speakers use their knowledge of these animals to speak about humans in conventional metaphors and idioms. 4. English idioms and proverbs based on the weather This piece of work will examine popular wisdom in English-speaking societies which is communicated through fossilized phraseological units. It will focus on those which make reference to weather conditions.
Títulos para los Trabajos de Fin De Grado dirigidos por Gustavo A. Rodríguez Martín 1. Phraseological Units in Newspaper Headlines (Sports Section) Phraseological units are fundamental elements in the linguistic repertoire of newspaper headlines, especially because of their recognizable form, memorability and stylistic potential. The purpose of this project is to compile a corpus of newspaper headlines from the online sports section of several British and American newspapers in order to analyze both quantitatively and qualitatively their role in the effect of the headlines in question. The bibliography for this piece of work will mainly draw from the theoretical postulates of phraseology and the discursive study of headlinese. 2. Phraseological Units in Newspaper Headlines (Business Section) Phraseological units are fundamental elements in the linguistic repertoire of newspaper headlines, especially because of their recognizable form, memorability and stylistic potential. The purpose of this project is to compile a corpus of newspaper headlines from the online business section of several British and American newspapers in order to analyze both quantitatively and qualitatively their role in the effect of the headlines in question. The bibliography for this piece of work will mainly draw from the theoretical postulates of phraseology and the discursive study of headlinese. 3. Opening Stage directions in the Plays of Bernard Shaw: 1893-1912. Bernard Shaw is known, among other things, for the lengthy stage directions of his plays. In particular, the opening stage directions of every play and, to a lesser degree, of every act within each play, include a series of elements that go beyond the usual theatrical suggestions and/or dramatic commentary. For example, Shaw adds political and philosophical digressions, anecdotal information, and narrative elements. In sum, these characteristics led some critics to argue that Shaw wrote his plays to be read, rather than to be performed. This piece of work will look into the opening stage directions in the plays Shaw produced in the first twenty years of his playwriting career, in order to evaluate the dramatic and stylistic function of these texts.
4. Opening Stage directions in the Plays of Bernard Shaw: 1913-1932. Bernard Shaw is known, among other things, for the lengthy stage directions of his plays. In particular, the opening stage directions of every play and, to a lesser degree, of every act within each play, include a series of elements that go beyond the usual theatrical suggestions and/or dramatic commentary. For example, Shaw adds political and philosophical digressions, anecdotal information, and narrative elements. In sum, these characteristics led some critics to argue that Shaw wrote his plays to be read, rather than to be performed. This piece of work will look into the opening stage directions in the plays Shaw produced in the years leading to and after the First World War (but before he started writing shorter pieces that foreshadow the theatre of the absurd), in order to evaluate the dramatic and stylistic function of these texts.
1. The Birth of the Historical Novel in English Literature: Sir Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott started his literary carrier by writing poetry but with the publication in 1814 of Waverley the English Literature saw the birth of a new genre: the historical novel. 2. Jane Austen s English. Is the English used by Jane Austen in her novels different from the present day language? 3. Charles Dickens and the English Society of the Victorian Era. Most of Dickens s novels depict the problems affecting the English Society of the Victorian Era: poverty, lack of education, bad housing, poor environmental surroundings, Dickens s novel Hard Times deals with some of those problems. 4. Oscar Wilde as novelist: The Picture of Dorian Grey. The Picture of Dorian Grey was a polemic novel not only because it was understood as a criticism of the Victorian society but also because of its severe judgment on the art for art s sake movement.
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Cohesion in English: conjunctions In this piece of work the student will explore how different types of conjunctions (additive, adversative, temporal, etc.) contribute to the cohesion of the text in English Adverbial clauses in English: reason and purpose In this piece of work the student will explore these two kinds of adverbial clauses in English as they occur in different kinds of texts and contexts
Temas para TFG, curso 2015-2016. Manuel Sánchez García English collocations In this piece of work, attention will be paid to collocation in English, both from the point of view of grammar and from a semantic perspective. Thus, a survey of the main combinational restrictions imposed by collocation will be offered, next to an overview of the impact of those restrictions on meaning. English compounds Together with affixes, compounds are perhaps the most pervasive wordcreation mechanism in English. In this piece of work, a general overview of the main combinational processes involved in compounding in English will be offered, together with an analysis of some of their peculiarities, such as hyphenation, their degree of semantic transparency or the way compounding affects pronunciation. Conceptual metaphor in the language of mobile phones It almost goes without saying that technological progress has a direct impact on everyday language, for newly invented machines and processes need new names to go by. However, languages such as English show a certain degree of resistance against the creation of wholly new words. Instead, a number of linguistic mechanisms operate so that technological innovations are given suitable names. One of those mechanisms is semantic extension by means of metaphor. In this piece of word, a fairly general approach to conceptual metaphor will be used in order to study its role as a generator of new meanings for previously existing words. This will be tested within a semantic area particularly prone to innovation nowadays, that of mobile telephone technology. The literary text All poems, plays, novels and short stories are, first and foremost, texts. This self-obvious statement implies that they share a number of features with such other varieties of texts as newspaper articles, doctoral dissertations or shopping lists. However, it is also true that they possess other characteristics making them different and special, for they are, after all, literary texts. This piece of work aims at offering a general account of the main features that make literary texts literary, thus distinguishing them from any other varieties of texts.
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Title: Code-switching: An Analysis of Texts Description: This project will focus on a variety of texts to carry out an in-depth analysis of the translation techniques to render Code-switching from English into Spanish. The student will as well study and classify the difficulties of translating this literary device from Castilian Spanish into English. The project should give the student a more comprehensive knowledge of the translation techniques learned in the Translation I and II subjects of the degree. Title: Literary Translation: A Comparative Analysis of Texts Description: In this project the student will analyze different translations into Spanish of the same text in English. The aim of this study is to research how the different translators render terms and expressions from one language into another and how they solve linguistic problems and difficulties. This project should develop the translation and editing techniques learned by the student in the Translation subjects of the degree. Title: A Study of Self-translation Description: This project aims to present a study of self-translation, a very interesting and important practice from the perspective of literary and translation studies. The student will analyze its characteristics by focusing on a selection of texts written and translated by the same author.