Pragmatic Factors Research Articles

Syntax and semantics of laisser in causative constructions

The French verb laisser (‘to let’) allows for two different syntactic constructions, an Exceptional Case Marking (ECM) construction and a Faire-Infinitive (FI) construction with a postverbal Causee, and for two different interpretations, authorize and not-intervene. According to previous studies (e.g. Kayne 1975), constructions are related to interpretations: the ECM can express intentionality, the FI cannot. In this paper, we explore a different hypothesis: the ECM construction is underspecified and allows for both interpretations, while the FI is restricted to the not-intervening interpretation. We provide empirical evidence from three distinct forced choice tasks in which participants had to match constructions and interpretations. The results reveal that, contrary to both early observations and our initial hypothesis, both constructions may allow for both interpretations, and variation depends less on the syntactic configuration than on semantic and pragmatic factors, namely on the lexical inferences triggered by the embedded verb and the authority relation between Causer and Causee expressed in the contexts.

Количественное измерение жанра: функционирование «краткий» и «короткий» в позиции определений имен жанров

The relevance of the study of the quantitative dimension of genres, in particular genres of small format and short implementations of genres in general, has increased due to the need to “compress” information of various types in modern communications, insufficient knowledge of the patterns of functioning of short and abbreviated texts/discourses, attention to the quantitative aspects of speech in terms of their value. The problematic situation is defined by the author as a contradiction between the ascertainment of the prototypical nature of texts of small volume, rather complete descriptions of a number of small-format genres, on the one hand, and the lack of clarification of the factors that allow or do not allow the genre to function in a short (short, incomplete, abbreviated) mode. The purpose of the study is to identify and describe the circumstances that determine the external differentiation and internal variability of genres based on the quantitative characteristics of “brief” and “short”. It is a corpus research, the data about genres was formed on the corpus basis, the names of which formed the right contexts of the adjectives “brief” and “short” in the main body of the Russian National Corpus. It has been established that as “brief” are defined the realizations of genres that involve a written form, expansion, a rational strategy of text generation, standard content. “Short” versions are attributed to oral genres in which the subject of speech is free to choose the strategy and semantic content of the text. Brief forms can form institutionally fixed variants of genres, independent genres and represent individual realizations of the genre. The attitude of speech subjects to the choice of a short form depends on many pragmatic factors, it is rather approved than condemned.

Новый взгляд на проблему заимствований: языковая фрустрация vs маркетинговые стратегии

The article reveals linguocognitive mechanisms as well as social reasons for active functioning of new borrowings in the modern public discourse and in commercial enterprises naming. The material for the analysis is a sample of the most frequent lexis in the micro synchrony that are not yet part of the host language lexicon, and comprises over one hundred and fifty lexical units, selected from the national corpus of the Russian language, public internet discourse, the author's collection of brand names (and names of businesses), radio and television programs. As a result of a comprehensive analysis, two main isomorphic types of borrowing functioning are identified. They are supposed to be motivated by multi-level linguistic, social, and pragmatic factors. Hence, the evidence of linguomental transformations of meaning is linked to the condition of linguistic frustration. This justifies considering it as a state of linguistic personality (at both the first and second levels, according to Yu.N. Karaulov), wherein the constraints of linguistic norms are lifted, and foreign-language word usage is motivated in specific speech act. A tendency of duplicate (native and foreign) naming in explicitly nominative and implicitly subjective-pragmatic functions has been established. It is suggested that the synergy of these functions conveys the speaker's subjective intentions and can be regarded as a marketing strategy of self-positioning in the act of foreign-language use in the nomination process, or as a commercial move, emphasizing the value of the product / service (i.e., commercialization of the nominative unit). Thus, the discourse becomes either status-oriented or conative. The linguistic phenomena under consideration introduce changes into the national concept sphere, as they contain features of a different language world view.

Stable Comparisons, Punctuation, and Usage

This study offers an analysis of the methods of punctuation marking for stable comparisons in the punctuation practice of the 20th and 21st centuries. The research material comprises a micro-corpus, which includes more than 200 contexts of usage for stable comparisons, semantically similar free comparative constructions, as well as occasional transformations of stable comparisons. Punctuation actions involving stable comparisons are conceptualized as a distinct punctuation experiment, wherein diverse punctuation responses are formulated contingent upon the intrinsic nature of the stable comparisons themselves and the conditions governing their use. It is demonstrated that the punctuation practice of the 20th and 21st centuries reflects a trend towards punctuation differentiation not only between stable comparisons and free comparative constructions but also within stable comparisons themselves. The analysis of punctuation facts leads to the conclusion that the punctuation marking of stable comparisons is determined by derivational, pragmatic, and context-syntactic factors, which are taken into account by writers in their punctuation actions. It is shown that while derivational and context-syntactic factors prompt punctuation marking of stable comparisons, pragmatic factors merely render the use of delimiting commas more preferable. It is emphasized that adequate punctuation codification in the realm of stable comparisons cannot be achieved without reference to the evidence of punctuation practice.

ARGUMENTATIVE POTENTIAL OF PERSUASIVNESS IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE AND TEXT

Over the past decades, linguistics drastically expanded the scope of its research, including all aspects of language activity and language interaction. The attention of linguists has shifted from minimal linguistic units to the maximum - the text (discourse), which has been studying in interaction with pragmatic factors. Political discourse becomes an example of demonstrating the natural development of not only of the language itself, but also of the society, culture and religion of which it is a part, as it represents the interaction of political representatives and the audience, as well as those means of persuasion that are used in the process of their communication. In the linguistic literature, the term "political discourse" includes the forms of communication in which at least one of its components applies to policy areas: the subject, addressee or content of the message, i.e. all forms of political communication institutions and individuals, as well as any communication with reference to political question. In linguistics, there is also a distinction between written and oral discourses. However, the concepts of discourse and text are not identical, but complement each other, their relationships can be interpreted as the relationship of a part to the whole. As a material embodiment of the discourse, the text can be considered from the point of view different language levels: phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactic. Applying this approach to a political text makes it possible to determine the linguistic means and elements of language through which it serves a tool of influence on the (mass) recipient. Thus, the analysis of the language of politics is, in fact, the detection of ways of language manipulation signs to achieve specific political goals.

Study on the Effectiveness of Commitment Speech Act from the Perspective of Force Dynamics Theory

Commitment speech acts play an important role in various fields, but compared to other speech acts, they have not yet received sufficient attention. In political discourse, the implementation frequency of commitment speech acts is quite high, while their usage characteristics, pragmatic strategies, and the influence of social domain factors still need to be explored. The correct implementation of commitment speech acts is helpful to achieve the purpose of communication and promote the success of communication. Therefore, based on Talmy’s force-dynamic theory, this paper collects relevant language materials of commitment speech acts contained in British Prime Minister’s “Brexit” political speech discourse, attempts to consider pragmatic factors on the basis of the force-dynamics model to construct force dynamics models about commitment speech acts for analysis. By analyzing the working mechanism between internal and external parameters in force dynamic schema under different promise strategies, this paper explores the action mode of “illocutionary force” in speech acts of commitment and the implementation path of commissives under the influence of social domain factors and other factors. This paper interprets commitment speech act from the cognitive perspective, expecting to broaden the research paradigm of commitment speech acts and provide ideas for future multi-dimensional study on speech act theory.

The system of pronouns of address in the Azores

Abstract The system of pronouns of address in European Portuguese is made up of several pronouns and strategies, some of which vary depending on sociolinguistic, geographical and pragmatic factors. Despite its complexity, there is lack of empirical research that accounts for the actuality and validity of the paradigm depicted in the grammars. In order to compensate for this lack of information, I aim to set out the system of pronouns of address in the Azores, an area that has up to this point not been subject to investigation. Thanks to specific fieldwork, I will establish the type of politeness that currently predominates in this archipelago and the particularities that are not attested elsewhere in Portugal.

What is the true impact of an apology?

ABSTRACT A national apology may assist in achieving reconciliation, cooperation, or forgiveness after past wrongs. However, the high hopes that are held for this role are more frequently dashed than fulfilled. Japan’s history of apologies is readily comparable to other nations’ attempts to correct past wrongs. The difficulties that many countries experience in their efforts to make meaningful apologies tend to undermine the power of the act itself. Individuals and small groups in civil society can further the progress of reconciliation through an apology and other actions. However, a nation cannot act as an individual or small group. Research shows that the pragmatic factors of commerce and trade, as well as the geopolitical context, can significantly suppress the remembrance of past wrongs, allowing past enemies to work cooperatively without confronting the past. This paper takes a deliberately broad exploratory approach to examine how pragmatic policies affect the impact and success of national apologies. It also cites a case where an alleged lack of apologies can be used in an effort to heighten threat perception. Such matters have become sharply relevant in January 2023, when the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, was reported as saying, ‘The Japanese government has not apologised … they don’t accept it’s wrong and … might repeat the history.’ However, this paper also suggests that while some wrongs, such as genocide, may never be forgiven, former enemies may be able to find common ground in the context of geopolitics and economic and cultural spheres.

Функційно-стилістичні особливості неологізмів в українськомовному сегменті соціальної мережі "Твіттер"

The article outlines and analyzes the functional and stylistic parameters of neologisms in the Ukrainian-language segment of the social network "Twitter". The research data is based on more than two thousand Ukrainian-language Twitter posts in 2020-2024. Given the specifics of network, whose main purposes of which are providing communication and information, the following functions of neologisms in tweets are distinguished: nominative, communicative, attention- grabbing, influence-related, and pragmatic. The nominative function of the named words in tweets realizes the need to give new realities, individuals, phenomena, and events names that do not yet exist either in general usage or in lexicographical works. Neologisms also serve as a means of self-nomination and are part of aphorisms and paraphrases. The structure of tweets that represent the attention-grabbing function includes marker lexemes, with the help of which the author encourages online communicators to pay attention to a certain event, phenomenon, situation, or give their own assessment of it. Neologisms are used in interrogative statements, prompting communicators to hold their attention on posts, reflect on the information presented in them, and sometimes take the position of the tweet author in a reply. The cognitive function of neologisms is to verbalize the ability of the author of a tweet to understand, perceive, and learn information, i.e. to activate the author's speech and nominative activity with his or her pragmatic instructions. The analysis of the factual material suggests that since tweets are representatives of the author's views, and value judgments regarding certain events, concepts, and phenomena, it is advisable to distinguish the pragmatic function of neologisms in tweet expressions. The use of neologisms in tweets is influenced by pragmatic factors that reflect the author's attitude to the message; pragmatic information in tweets is expressed in evaluative neolexemes derived in different ways and represented mainly by noun and adjectival formations. The article focuses on analyzes neologisms with the morpheme ze-, which has recently become a productive class of neologisms.

ЯВЛЕНИЯ ФУНКЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ ГРАММАТИКИ КАК МЕЖКУЛЬТУРНЫЙ КОМПОНЕНТ В ПРЕПОДАВАНИИ ИНОСТРАННОГО ЯЗЫКА

The process of speech generation is intricately linked with cognitive styles, linguistic culture, and pragmatic factors. Intercultural communication practices seek to embrace a new mindset, assimilate into a different linguistic culture, and understand the perspective of its inhabitants. Grammatical constructions convey substantial linguistic, cultural, and cognitive insights about native speakers. This article aims to enhance scientific comprehension of the correlation between language grammar, socio-cultural reality, and the cognitive style of native speakers in the context of teaching English and French to native Russian speakers. It is essential to highlight the cognitive and linguocultural aspects of grammatical phenomena, emphasizing that grammar represents not only a set of intricate sentence construction rules but also embodies the result of the historical development of consciousness within a linguistic culture. Notably, the disparities between linguistic cultures are visibly apparent when examining aspectual and temporal meanings.

Pragmatics in the Minimalist framework

Abstract This article explores the relationship between pragmatics and the other components of grammar. Specifically, it aims to determine whether pragmatics is a distinct module of grammar coming into play at some point in the derivation process to connect the sentence with the context. The conclusion is that, based on the phenomena considered in this work, pragmatics rather than being a separate module, is distributed in the various components. It is shown in fact that the context immediately intervenes at the representative level to yield the correct syntax to be fed to the sensorimotor system on one side, and to the conceptual one on the other. The empirical focus of the article is on a specific type of questions in Italian, namely surprise and surprise-disapproval questions, because they are most sensitive to pragmatic factors. The syntactic, prosodic, and gestural components of these constructions will be examined, highlighting their most important characteristics.

(How) Do Pre-service Teachers Use YouTube Features in the Selection of Instructional Videos for Physics Teaching?

This mixed-methods study examines how pre-service teachers select instructional videos on YouTube for physics teaching. The study focuses on the role of surface features that YouTube provides (e.g., likes, views, thumbnails) and the comments underneath the videos in the decision-making process using videos on quantum physics topics as an example. The study consists of two phases: In phase 1, N = 24 (pre-service) physics teachers were randomly assigned to one of three groups, each covering a different quantum topic (entanglement, quantum tunneling, or quantum computing, respectively). From eight options provided, they selected a suitable video for teaching while their eye movements were tracked using a stationary eye tracker in a laboratory setting, and think-aloud data was collected. In the subsequent phase 2, participants were allowed to freely choose one YouTube video on a second topic of the above-mentioned ones while thinking aloud. The results reveal a significant emphasis on video thumbnails during selection, with over one-third of the fixation time directed towards them. Think-aloud data confirms the importance of thumbnails in decision-making, e.g., as evidenced by a categorization of the study participants’ arguments and thoughts voiced. A detailed analysis identifies that participants did not rely on (content-related) comments despite they have been found to be significantly correlated with the videos’ explaining quality. Instead, decisions were influenced by surface features and pragmatic factors such as channel familiarity. Retrospective reflections through a questionnaire including rating scale items support these observations. Building on the existing empirical evidence, a decision tree is proposed to help teachers identify high-quality videos considering duration, likes, comments, and interactions. The decision tree can serve as a hypothesis for future research and needs to be evaluated in terms of how it can help systematize the process of selecting high-quality YouTube videos for science teaching.

Lithuanian Feminine Surname Debates from a Central European Perspective

Contemporary Lithuania remains the only European country in which official feminine surnames indicate their bearers’ marital status, and this has been the object of fierce public debates over the past decade. Czechia and Slovakia grapple with surprisingly similar issues, even though Czech and Slovak feminine surnames do not reveal marital status. Similar debates in Poland took place a century earlier, a fact which may indicate the possible direction of the changes in the three countries studied. The aim of this article is to present debates concerning feminine surnames in Lithuania from a wider perspective, regarding contemporary Czechia and Slovakia, as well as Poland in the interwar period, and to show from a wider Central and Eastern European perspective that, despite the obvious differences in naming patterns, Lithuanian discussions are not exceptional, and they are part of a larger tendency towards more freedom in the choice of official surname forms for women. It is evident that, although female surnames are inexorably embedded in the language systems of the countries in which they function, their future largely depends on extralinguistic factors such as societal attitudes. While feminine surnames in European states generally seem to be on the decline, the most controversial remain those types that reveal marital status or imply male possession of women, though pragmatic factors might play some role as well, particularly in the case of minorities.

Reported speech and its extensions in Beserman

Abstract This paper presents a descriptive account of reported speech, understood in terms of Spronck & Nikitina (2019), in Beserman (Uralic > Permic). Two phenomena are described in particular. First, it is demonstrated that, although Beserman generally prefers the direct speech strategy, the interpretation of indexicals in certain contexts may be affected by pragmatic factors. Second, Beserman allows for agreement mismatch between the subject and the predicate of the reported clause, known as “monstrous agreement”. This phenomenon has not been attested in Permic languages before. Apart from that, extended uses of two Beserman reported speech markers are described, whereby they convey pragmatic meanings that resemble English kind of or like. This semantic development reverses a well-known grammaticalization path that turns such pragmatic elements into reported speech markers. The study is based on both corpus and elicited data.

Directional verb constructions in Mandarin

Abstract In modern Chinese, a Directional Verb Construction (DVC) may contain either two or three verbs. DVCs with two verbs can be represented in three different ways, and DVCs with three verbs can be represented in four different ways. The different positions of the shared internal noun phrase (NP) argument result in divergent word orders of DVCs. Based on the Corpus of the United Daily News, this study discusses the syntax-pragmatic interface in Chinese DVCs within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) with the intention of ascertaining how NP arguments are linked to syntax in DVCs, while at the same time accounting for what pragmatic factors play a role in determining constructional schemas for argument linking. The results show that different patterns of DVCs have different focus domains, and that the differential activation state of the internal NP argument plays an essential role in determining word order. Considering the correlation between activation state and focus domain, a highly activated internal NP tends to be linked to the position following the word bǎ or immediately following V1. In contrast, a least activated NP tends to be linked to the position immediately following V2 or V3.

75 Can the Children’s Communication Checklist Differentiate Between Children with High Functioning Autism, ADHD, and Academically-Based Learning Disabilities?

Objective:The Children’s Communication Checklist-Second Edition (CCC-2) is a rating scale designed to assess domains of communication skills with emphasis on pragmatics (Bishop, 2006). The CCC comprises 10 subtests addressing various aspects of oral communication skills: Speech, Syntax, Semantics, Coherence, Initiation, Scripted Language, Context, Nonverbal Communication, Social Relations, and Interests. In a study conducted on the original CCC, Geurts et al. (2004) found that when compared to normal controls, pragmatic difficulties occurred in children with either high functioning autism (HFA) or ADHD. Since the initial version of the CCC, no study has examined whether the revised version can differentiate children with HFA, ADHD, and LD, the purpose of the present study. Focus was on derived factors of the structure/content of language and the pragmatics of language.Participants and Methods:Forty-one participants grouped according to diagnosis were drawn from two archival data pools, one adapted from a previous study conducted by Casey and Scott (2016) and the other from a set of anonymized patients from a neuropsychological clinic. Fourteen participants met clinical criteria for autism (Mage = 11.95), 12 participants met criteria for ADHD without co-morbid disorders (Mage = 9.5), and 15 participants met criteria for a learning disability involving reading, writing, math, or some combination (Mage = 10.13). Group-specific descriptive statistics were computed for the participants’ age, full scale intelligence quotient (IQ), and General Communication Composite (GCC). Two factor scores were computed, one composed of the subtests that constitute the structure/content aspects of language (Speech, Syntax, Semantics, and Coherence) and one composed of the pragmatic aspects of language (Initiation, Nonverbal Communication, Social Relations, and Interests), an area of particular weakness in HFA. Independent samples ANOVAs were conducted on both factor scores to determine whether the CCC-2 could differentiate the three groups. Post-hoc comparisons were planned for the subtests comprising the factor(s) that differentiated the groups.Results:Participants in the ADHD (M = 9.45, SD = 2.45) group were significantly younger than those in the HFA group (M = 11.95, SD = 2.24) and LD group (M = 10.13, SD = 2.58), the latter two not differing significantly. The groups did not differ significantly on IQ, nor on the structure/content factor. On the pragmatic factor, the LD group (M = 10.18, SD = 9.91) had significantly higher scores than the ADHD group (M = 7.79, SD = 6.54), which in turn, had significantly higher scores than the HFA group (M = 5.48, SD = 8.26), F(2, 38) = 17.81, p < .01. Within this composite, the same pattern was shown on Nonverbal Communication, F(2, 38) = 9.29, p < .01, and Interests, F(2, 38) = 17.81, p < .01.Conclusions:Compared to children with an academically-based learning disability, children with ADHD and HFA demonstrated pragmatic difficulties on the CCC-2. Although there was overlap between the pragmatic language characteristics of children with ADHD and children with HFA, the CCC-2 demonstrated utility in distinguishing the two disorders on certain aspects of communication skills, suggesting that it is a useful tool in differential diagnosis.

ПРАГМАТИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ЛИНГВОКРЕАТИВНОСТИ В ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНЫХ СМИ

The purpose of the research is to identify the discursive and pragmatic reasons for linguistic creativity in political media discourse. The author of the article defines the types of linguistic creativity in the political discourse of English media, reveals the influence of both pragmatic factors and modern English communication on the emergence of linguocreatems. The scientific novelty of the research is related to the desire to determine the linguistic creativity usage patterns in the political discourse of English media. The results of the research show that the reasons for linguistic creativity in the political media discourse are due to linguistic, communicative, socio-political factors.

The Birth and Death of Affixes and Other Morphological Processes in English Derivation

Linguistic change in morphology is usually discussed mainly in relation to change in inflectional morphology. In this paper, the focus is shifted to derivational morphology, where the issues are not entirely the same. In particular, the origins (or birth) of affixes and the loss (death) of affixes are central to the present discussion, with formal, semantic and pragmatic factors all having a role to play. The question is also raised as to whether it is, in principle, possible to tell that any affix is completely dead.

Is the Levelt and Kelter (1982) Repetition Effect Lexical or Structural Priming?

Levelt and Kelter (1982) report an experiment where they called businesses to ask about their closing time. They asked (in Dutch) What time do you close? or At what time do you close? Participants were more likely to use a preposition in their answer (At 9) when the preceding question used a preposition than when it did not. This finding is often cited as one of the first experimental demonstrations of structural priming. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether Levelt and Kelter’s (1982) finding represents structural priming (participants are primed to use any preposition in their answer) or lexical priming (participants are primed to use the lexical item at in their answer). We replicate the basic design of Levelt and Kelter’s (1982) study, asking questions that use different prepositions (At/Around/About/What time do you close?). Our findings suggest that the repetition effect may be driven by lexical and/or pragmatic factors.

Wissenschaftsfreiheit, Moralische Kritik und die Kosten des Irrtums

AbstractThis article attempts to do justice to two conflicting positions in current public debates. On the one hand, it defends a strong version of scientific freedom, according to which science should be free, not only from external obstacles and pressures but also from criticism that is based on reasons “of the wrong kind.” The only admissible criterion in debates about scientific claims, I argue, is whether there is sufficient evidence for their truth. Furthermore, I accept the anti-moralistic view that (non-)conformity with moral ideals is never itself evidence. On the other hand, the article nevertheless argues that there is a possibility of legitimate moral criticism of moral claims. This argument relies on the popular (if controversial) idea that there is pragmatic encroachment – specifically, the idea that the standard of sufficiency for evidence is in part determined by pragmatic factors like the costs of error. This opens up the door for a certain type of legitimate moral criticism. For the costs that determine a standard of sufficiency for epistemic justification can also plausibly count as morally significant. There is thus a con-contingent connection between epistemic and moral defects of certain scientific claims. The resulting view is applied to concrete debates, most importantly about race, genetics and IQ.