Discourse Goals Research Articles

The role of hyperbole in conveying emotionality: the case of victim speech

ABSTRACT Figurative expressions are commonly used in everyday language as a device for conveying emotion. Hyperbole (e.g. “It took ages for him to arrive”) specifically can provide linguistic emphasis; especially when speakers wish to convey emotional evaluations of negative situations. In sexual crime cases, the victim’s behavioural emotionality often enhances credibility, however, some research suggests that hyperbole-induced linguistic emotionality can be perceived negatively. In this study, we examined whether hyperbole impacts perceived emotionality and assessed the extent of this impact on measures of valence, intensity, and appropriateness. Participants were professionals (police officers) or jury-eligible laypersons who rated testimonies containing either hyperbolic or non-hyperbolic expressions. Results suggested that the use of hyperbole increased the perceived emotional intensity of the testimony, but made testimonies appear less emotionally appropriate than non-hyperbolic counterparts. In addition, regardless of the presence of hyperbole, laypersons judged the scenarios to be more unpleasant, and more emotionally intense compared to professionals. Findings suggest discrepancies between hyperbole usage and discourse goals, versus its perception. That is, hyperbole effectively enhances emotionality, but its role in victim speech may come with more caveats than anticipated, particularly when considering the proposed importance of victim emotionality in establishing credibility.

Antinomies of globalization goals in social and humanities discourse

Antinomies of globalization goals in social and humanities discourse

Метаантропологічна узгодженість «трансцедентального обміну» у правовій комунікації

Abstract. The problems of meta-anthropological consistency of "transcendental exchange" in legal communication are considered. Emphasis is placed on the results of activities, their driving force, which can be an equally powerful means of both constructive and correlative action. A summary of the meta-anthropological approach to methods of overcoming aggression, impatience, conflict expression is highlighted. Transcendental exchange is based on showing sincere interest in the fate of a person, restraining emotions in conflict communication. It was established that the goal of the anthropological model of communicative interaction is equally extended to various spheres of activity: politics, economics, morality and law, etc. Its main functional role was noted: to ensure the effective interaction of legal subjects, their effective efforts to establish effective contacts that do not violate human rights and basic freedoms. The meta-anthropological interpretation of the exchange of opinions in legal communication is based on a complex socio-psycho-linguistic process. What actualizes the universalism of various models of social practices in communication. The concept of law as communication at the level of the sectoral legal goal of discourse is confirmed.

Nature of Science: A Comparative Analysis of the High School Physics Textbooks in Indonesia and Korea

Over the past two decades, the goal of supporting students and teachers in developing views on the Nature of Science (NoS) has been increasingly central to the vision and discourse goals for global physics education reform. Understanding the Nos is a critical and essential component of scientific literacy. The main objective of this study is to present a comprehensive picture of the NoS in physics textbooks in Indonesia and South Korea. This research is a descriptive study, and the data source consisted of 10 high school physics textbooks (five textbooks from each country). The textbooks were chosen based on the results of a Google Forms survey about the most common use of physics textbooks in schools. The results show that the total number of NoS elements presented in Indonesian physics textbooks is 71, of which 47 are on the cognitive-epistemic aspect, and 24 relate to the social-institutional aspect. In contrast, the number of NoS items presented in Korean physics textbooks is 84, with 54 on the cognitive-epistemic aspect and 30 on the social-institutional aspect. This study also revealed that 59% of the NoS in Indonesian physics textbooks were located in the main text, 35% were found in secondary texts, while 6% were presented in both. Similarly, 48% of NoS items in Korean physics textbooks were located in the main text, 44% in secondary texts, and 8% were presented together. Therefore, this study concludes that Korean high school physics textbooks contain more NoS than Indonesian high school physics textbooks.

Analysis of Civic Education Discourse in Universities Based on Numerical Analysis Kruskal Algorithm

Abstract This paper first proposes the discourse system of ideological and political education in colleges and universities, which mainly includes discourse goal innovation, discourse structure innovation, discourse paradigm innovation and discourse behavior innovation. Secondly, to facilitate the analysis and comparison of the data set, it is necessary to standardize various data and construct a similar relationship matrix based on the standardized data. Then, the correlation between teachers’ and students’ characteristics is incorporated to cluster the users to derive the user similarity and the final predicted rating of the Civic Education resources. Simulation experiments and statistical analysis validate the Kruskal algorithm-based example study of Civic Education discourse in colleges and universities. The results show that the measures of value perception and discourse power are in a reasonable interval, with a minimum value of 1 and a maximum value of 5, and the mean values are between 3.72 and 4.03, and the standard deviations are all greater than 0.75, reflecting the wide distribution of the samples, indicating that this study can improve the efficiency of the recommendation of Civic Education resources and the accuracy of discourse power analysis.

Reflections on the cognitive purpose of comparative law (comparative jurisprudence)

The article showing that the highest goal of each autonomous general legal discourse is the construction and implementation of its vision and mission as a special picture of the world – a conceptualized and structured model of an aspect or fragment of reality accessible through its research program and methods. Depending on different types of scientific rationality, this picture of the world can be considered as a subject, object or goal of a scientific discipline, but it continues to be the main question of the latter, even if it is not formulated as such. The claim to the right to construct and present one’s own picture of the world as common to all legal discourses has actually been and is a key point of competition and dominance between legal philosophy, legal theory and comparative jurisprudence (comparative law) during the last two centuries. The author argues that only comparative jurisprudence’s awareness of its own fundamental experience and continuity, available opportunities and valuable advantages in creating a picture of the world can bring it from a semi-marginal state to a well-deserved central status among general legal disciplines in the scientific and educational agenda. In addition, a realistic and inductive picture of the world of comparative jurisprudence is better for considering and modeling the existing and potential serious challenges of legal development. Key words: scientifi c picture of the world, cognitive goal of science, comparative law, comparative jurisprudence.

КОНТРАФАКТИВНАЯ СОВЕТСКАЯ ФОТОГРАФИЯ В ПРОСТРАНСТВЕ АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНОГО ИСКУССТВОВЕДЧЕСКОГО ДИСКУРСА: ОЦЕНОЧНЫЕ АСПЕКТЫ

The paper studies the axiological interpretation of Soviet photographs in British and American art reviews by examining the basic concepts STATE, ARTIST, and WORK OF ART. The analysis draws on the methods of cognitive discourse analysis, narratology, pragmatics, and semantics. Accepting R. Barthes’ view of the photograph as “a message without a code”, we hold that the main goal of art discourse is to construct an intermediary code to facilitate communication between the Operator and the Spectator, especially in the presence of a time/culture gap between the two. Through aesthetic distancing, art reviewers shift the axiological focus from the ethical implications of Soviet photographs towards their aesthetic value, encouraging a transcultural and transtemporal dialogue between the reader/viewer and the photographer. The analysis has enabled us to expand the framework of photographic roles (Operator, Spectrum and Spectator) suggested by Barthes and later complemented with the role of the Demonstrator, which is central to this study. The role of the Emptor, added here to the Barthian set of core roles, emerges as the ultimate role of the Soviet state vis-à-vis photography.

Функциональные особенности метафорических моделей в бразильском президентском дискурсе

The paper analyzes functional peculiarities of the main metaphorical models in the discourse of two most significant political figures in Brazil at the moment: ex-president L.I. da Silva (2003–2010) and current president J. Bolsonaro (since 2018). The research required application of an integrated approach to metaphor as both a mental, discursive and culturally conditioned phenomenon. Metaphorical models in the individual presidential discourse are understood as backbone elements of discourse, interconnected and non-existent outside the discursive field. The material for the study was comprised of the scripts of presidents' public speeches, published in the media and on the official website of the President of Brazil. The author shows that in the discourse of L.I. da Silva, the metaphorical model "governance – playing football" prevails, while in the discourse of J. Bolsonaro dominates the model "governance – marriage". The study stresses that the source sphere of the metaphorical model is represented by a concept that is of high importance both for the personal and national concept sphere, what is consistent with the main goal of the presidential discourse. The paper claims that metaphorical models play an important role in the implementation of the self-presentation strategy by the discourse subject, specifying his role status. The research has proved that this function is implemented due to the use of president's figure as one of the elements of target domain, and the peculiarities are stipulated by the element of source sphere, which is projected upon it.

Handy Literacy Practice Using Instagram Among Twelve Graders: Pragmastylistic Viewpoint

Abstract. The student’s communication in writing has a different style. It is interesting to be studied since it relate with literacy practice especially in using technology. Thus, this current study was conducted to explore the figurative language and discourse goals made by students in their Instagram posts. This study also describes the student’s strategy in using figurative language to create an Instagram post as a literacy practice. The study use Qualitative method with documentation and interview as the instruments. Seventy-one student’s Instagram posts were analyzed, and 5 of the students who posted them interviewed. The finding is interesting because only little student who used figurative language and has a clearly discourse goal in their Instagram post. The data shows that only 16,9% of students used figurative language in Instagram posts. Only found 3 figurative languages are used by the student, 7 sentences classified as Metaphor, 3 sentences are Simile and Personification. Metaphor is one of the types of figurative language mostly found in the Instagram post. The result also shows that there are 5 discourse goals found in this study, they are being humorous, protecting the self, comparing similarities, showing positive emotion, and guiding another action. Comparing similarities is the majority of discourse goals of students in their Instagram posts. Although student has limited writing style in using figurative language for creating an Instagram post, the student can create an appropriate picture and caption to share the idea to communicate using Instagram.Keywords: Figurative Language, Discourse Goal, Literacy Practice

Question design in veterinary consultations: Question forms and client responses in accomplishing problem presentation in a Malaysian context

Question design by medical practitioners has been shown to have important consequences on how patients present their problems in clinical consultations. Linguistic structure of questions as part of question design implements different communicative and pragmatic functions, and hence, affects patients’ response in different ways. This study examined types of questions asked by veterinarians in the problem presentation phase of the clinical consultation in relation to their linguistic forms and functions. Veterinary illness consultations were video-recorded and veterinarians’ question types, their linguistic forms and clients’ response in the interaction were identified and examined. The results show that the general inquiry question implemented using the open-ended wh-question structure and the closed-ended declarative interrogative are the preferred forms used by veterinarians to solicit patients’ presenting problems from clients. Also, alignment of the linguistic form of questions with their pragmatic functions and the discourse goal of problem presentation affects clients’ ascription of veterinarians’ actions. The findings from the study can inform veterinarian communication training for more effective veterinarian-client communication to accomplish problem presentation in clinical consultations.

Concealment in Police-Suspect Interaction in Ibadan, Nigeria


 Police-suspect interaction, henceforth, PSI, is an integral aspect of forensic discourse. Existing scholarly works have engaged PSI from the linguistic and non-linguistic viewpoints. However, studies have been silent on the role of concealment in extracting confessional statements from suspects. It is against this backdrop that this study examines the discursive roles of concealment in PSI with a view to describing concealment strategies and their implications in police interrogation. The study is anchored on Dell Hymes’ ethnography of communication (EOC), considering its unequivocal engagement with contextual linguistic resources in representing participants’ goals in discourse. Interrogation sessions on conspiracy, felony, stealing, affray, and illegal possession of arms were tape-recorded at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State. The study adopts the non-participant observation technique, unstructured and structured interviews. A discursive engagement of Dell Hymes’ EOC in investigating concealment in PSI Ibadan, reveals that IPOs and suspects adopt veiling, jargonisation, lexical replacement, hedging and deflection as concealment strategies. While suspects resort to concealment to seek exclusion, ignorance, withdrawal and anonymity, IPOs’ concealment strategies were orchestrated to seek suspects’ co-operation, allay suspects’ fears, boost suspects’ confidence, achieve confession with minimal input and protect suspects’ rights during interrogation sessions. Further studies on PSI could engage a comparative analysis of the use of concealment in PSI and civil cases.
 Key words: Forensic discourse, confessional statement, concealment, police-suspect interaction, Ibadan

Managing information, interaction and team building in nurse shift-change handovers

Whilst there is a wealth of literature on medical handovers, discourse analytic work based on recorded interactional data on these pivotal speech events in health care is less prevalent. This case study of a shift-change nursing handover at a UK hospital Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) takes a microanalytical perspective on nurses’ talk and interaction, which enables us to examine its structural and functional complexity at utterance level. Our methodological approach comprises observations, one semi-structured interview with senior nursing staff (and many informal conversations with various staff), and in total twelve audio-recordings of interactions during, and around, the twice-daily shift-change handovers. By adopting ‘a multiple goals in discourse’ perspective and the framework of activity analysis, we demonstrate the nurses’ interactional management of multiple discourse and activity roles and pursuance of goals that transcend the medically and institutionally crucial transmission of information. This shows the nurses’ orientation to the handover task as not only a structured institutionally regulated event, but also one that tolerates more spontaneous activities that can potentially contribute to team cohesion and staff well-being.

Discourse and Communication Translation Model and Translation Strategy: an Experimental Study

A longitudinal mediated asynchronous procedural experimental study is presented, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the correlation between the discourse and communication translation model and the translation strategy. Subjects’ retrospective self- and peer commentaries are analyzed. It is shown that the subjects’ evaluation of translation solutions implemented in the target text is based on their own translations and translating objectives, as reflected both in the self- and peer commentaries. The following translation dominants are revealed by the experiment: target text audience (recipient); source text style; source text type (genre), target text type (genre); individual linguistic features of the target text; discourse goals; discourse nodal points; discourse values; communication functions; typical properties of communication; and communication strategies. It is demonstrated that the discourse and communication translation model has a positive effect on the consistency and the degree of detail of source text analysis, and allows translators to make more informed decisions. It is noted that if changes in the target text are mainly caused by the translator’s decision to make corrections when re-accessing the text, these changes reflect the described translation dominants. It is shown that the model indirectly affects the quality of translation, depending on the degree of implementation of the translation strategy, taking the additional factors into account.

The strategy of informing and tactics of its realization in the polemical discourse of the print mass media

All areas of our life, including interaction between people is now under the influence of technological progress. Information becomes available through various means, including the Internet variants of the press publications. In this sense, the polemical discourse of the print media becomes very popular with participants of communication – both the addresser and the addressee who get the possibility to take part in solving different urgent problems which arise in the society. The specifics of this kind of communication requires careful analysis in order to clarify the mechanisms of achieving the main goal of the polemical discourse of the print mass media, as well as compare them on the material of two languages – English and Russian. Mechanisms of realizing the communicative strategy of informing which are represented by the communicative strategies and have specific features have not been studied yet as the polemical discourse of the print mass media in its complete form has appeared only recently, at the end of the 20th century. The developed methodology was tested on the material from the English-language newspaper “The Guardian” and the Russian-language newspaper “SB. Belarus Today”. As a result, the authors have identified the set of communicative tactics which serve the realization of one of the main communicative strategies of the polemical discourse of the print mass media – the strategy of informing. Moreover, the comparative analysis of the data obtained on the material of two not related languages can be used at practical classes in linguistics to develop students' skills in article writing and modeling strategic situations.

The President and the viper

Applying conceptual blending theory, the paper analyses the construction of the meaning of a satirical text ridiculing the language employed by politicians to frame the debate on current political and social issues. In particular, it focuses on the language used by Donald Trump in explaining his anti-immigration stances through a poem based on the fable about the farmer and the viper, and a satirical text providing a new version of the poem, which criticizes Trump’s immigration policy. The paper examines the creation of the humorous meaning of the text in conceptual blending. The humorous meaning is created in the blended space due to the unusual combination of related structures, which results in incongruity (Coulson 2002; Marín-Arrese 2003). Furthermore, as blending can be used as a rhetorical tool influencing the audience to change the reality and even act upon it (Coulson 2006; Coulson & Oakley 2006; Coulson & Pascual 2006; Oakley & Coulson 2008), the analysis of the construction of the meaning of the satirical text as a product of conceptual blending can reveal rhetorical and argumentative goals in political discourse.

LEXICO-SEMANTIC AND FUNCTIONAL PECULIARITIES OF BUSINESS DISCOURSE AS MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

The article considers the communicative-pragmatic approach to the study of business discourse, analyzes the relationship between the business and the Internet space, reveals the genre specificity of blogs and the peculiarities of business discourse. The intentional base of business discourse is the struggle for power, which predetermines its main functions and methods of their implementation, speech acts, strategies and tactics. The goal of business discourse is not to describe, but to convince, having awakened intentions in the addressee, to give ground for persuasion and induce to action, in which the manipulative orientation of business discourse is manifested. Speech integration, orientation and aggression are widely used in accordance with the illocutionary purpose of expressing intentionality. Discourse is political when it accompanies a political act in a political setting. It has both common language functions and characteristic features of business discourse. The most important functions of social control and the legitimization of power can be considered, since it is they who have manipulative influence on the public, thereby achieving the main goal business discourse - the possession of power and control of society. In this research discourse can be used in any forms of communication related to the sphere of language. Such a definition of discourse involves the study of political language material taking into account the cultural, spatial and temporal conditions of its existence, as well as socio-cultural and personal characteristics of its creators and authors. In this regard, the issues of discourse analysis, as the most influential on public consciousness and widespread in the business, identifying its linguistic and extra-linguistic features are highlighted today, which requires to the system-forming signs of discourse, its units, basic concepts and functions prove the topicality of our research. Practical part identifies the main lexico-semantic, stylistic-syntactic and pragmatic features of modern business discourse in websites and mass business. It deals with a description of the functional and pragmatic capabilities of lexical and stylistic means in posts in political in websites and mass business, analyzes the pragmatic potential of these units and determines the range of their communicative and pragmatic functions. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that it considers the features of the web-site discourse from semantic, stylistic and communicative-pragmatic aspect, which will further deepen and expand the special knowledge in the conceptual world view of the English-speaking community and their fixation on the linguistic map. The purpose of the research work is to consider the most effective language means of representing the communicative and pragmatic potential of business discourse in web-sites and mass business. In the achievement of the main purpose of the study, the following tasks were set: - to characterize the phenomenon of discourse as a linguistic phenomenon; - to consider the specifics of the linguistic picture of the world in the framework of business discourse; - to identify the features of the functional, mainly linguo-cultural and stylistic peculiarities business discourse, reflecting business discourse in web-sites and mass business; - to stablish the general conditions for the productivity of lexical and stylistic and syntactic means in website discourse.

Sustainable Development: Regional Aspect of the Global Agenda

The presented study analyzes current trends in the spreading of the sustainable development concept in regional management practices.Aim. The study aims to evaluate the reflection of sustainable development problems in regional management practices.Tasks. The author examines the concept of sustainable development in the context of the modern approach to territorial development management; analyzes the way problems of sustainable development are represented in modern studies of regional economy; determines the degree of involvement of regional authorities in the promotion of sustainable development goals.Methods. This study uses general scientific methods of cognition to examine the specific features of representation of sustainable development goals in scientific discourse on the regional economy and the extent of regions’ involvement in the achievement of sustainable development goals (through the example of the environmental factor). The study uses information publicly available on the official websites of the UN and the Russian Federal State Statistics Service. The author’s opinion is based on the materials presented in analytical reviews of events at business forum, economic publications on the sustainable development of the regional economy. and the author’s own calculations.Results. The formation of the sustainable development concept and a mechanism for controlling the achievement of goals into which the process of sustainable development can be decomposed is described. Scientific discourse on the directions of regional economic studies that address the problems of sustainable development is analyzed. The performance indicators of regional authorities in achieving sustainable development goals are analyzed.Conclusions. National development management requires active interaction between the federal center, regional authorities, administrative bodies, and businesses in the development of the national agenda and integration of sustainable development goals into it. At present, none of the actors in this process show significant signs of activity.

Дискурс-«логофаг»: границы лингвокреативности и стереотипности в рекламе

The paper deals with the boundaries between linguistic creativity and linguistic stereotyping in relation to advertising discourse. Advertising discourse borrows language techniques and units from other discourses that allow defining the “secondary” nature of its semiosis and language. Taking it into account, the study compares advertising with the avant-garde artistic discourse which is genetically and typologically one of the main discourses-“donors” of advertising which can be described as discourse-“logophagus”. In the comparison of discourses, the paper reveals two types of linguistic creativity: linguistic and discourse creativity. Linguistic creativity is the creation of new linguistic units with the aim of forming a new language or updating existing one. Dis- course creativity is updating at the “microstructure level” of discourse aimed at the most successful achievement of discourse goals and increasing the effectiveness of communication. Discourse creativity is basic to advertising discourse. The study proposes a two-stage model of language manipulation. The aim of the first stage is “deautomatization” of the recipient’s perception that meets the criteria of linguistic creativity, while the aim of the second one is recipient’s “automazation” that corresponds to stereotyping. The paper explores the features of linguistic creativity and stereotyping in poetry and advertising on the basis of three text types: the avant-garde poetic text (“In the Car” (1913) by Mayakovsky), the hybrid avant-garde and advertising texts (“The White Red Wedge of White” (1920) by Lisitzky and “Soviet Alphabet” (1919) by Mayakovsky and Jakobson) and the contemporary advertising text. As a result, the study models a scale of linguistic creativity in advertising discourse. Linguistic creativity is a gradual phenomenon, the degree of which can increase or decrease depending on the existence, frequency and degree of manifestation of a particular parameter in the discourse. The main features of linguistic creativity are structural (the existence or not of linguistic anomalies), semantic (the existence or not of polysemy; explicit / implicit expression of information) and pragmatic (“strong” / “weak” communication) criteria.

Linguistic Pragmatics of English Language Restaurant Online Discourse

The paper presents an analysis of linguistic pragmatics of restaurant online discourse that is plunged into studying the content of English versions of British restaurant websites. The authors state that the investigated segment of virtual restaurant communication is organized on the basis of a linguistic-and-pragmatic model, which is constructed from the following components: discourse goal, discourse addresser's intention / communicative-pragmatic purposes with corresponding strategies and tactics. Special attention is paid to the main communication strategies of the discourse under analysis, among which there are the strategies of creating positive emotional mood, constructing an attractive image of the restaurant, increasing the activity of restaurant guests. It is established that these strategies are implemented by a set of tactics. The authors distinguish and describe verbal (lexical, lexical-grammatical and stylistic features), as well as non-verbal means that are used by site moderators for implementing the desired tactics. It is stated that the most frequent linguistic means are lexical units with emotional-expressive and attitudinal meanings, metaphorical and pleonastic constructions, modal verbs, superlatives; interrogative-responsive and imperative structures; non-verbal means of communication are represented by graphics, font and colour highlighting, various illustrations and photographs. The suggested linguistic and pragmatic model uncovers the following restaurant online discourse regularities: location of zones with verbal or non-verbal dominating means is defined by visual assessment factors of information representation on the website.

On Judge’s Trial Discourse in Chinese Courtroom from Goal-Driven Perspective

Abstract Any action has a certain goal, and the judge’s trial discourse is a system of goal with structure and level. Judges usually adopt some discourse strategies to achieve the goal of trial. Based on the court trial corpus collected by us, we find that judges often adopt purposeful discourse strategies to achieve the trial goal and discourse goal, such as question-and-answer strategy, power control strategy, presupposition strategy, repetition strategy and interruption strategy. Strategies actually refer to the means by which to achieve the goal of discourse. Because words are used to express and achieve the goal, the choice of means or strategies depends on the choice of the goal. From this perspective, we can see the relationship between strategy and goal. In a sense, strategy is rhetoric. The purpose of this paper is to study the discourse strategies adopted by judges in Chinese courts from the perspective of the goal principle.