Pragmatic Functions Research Articles

An Analysis of the Pragmatic Function of English Intonation Based on Speech Act Theory: Taking the Intonation of the Oracle in The Matrix as an Example

Intonation still finds itself one of the most difficult problems for many EFL learners. However, there are few pieces of literature that have explored the relationship between these two elements: illocutionary acts and intonation patterns. Therefore, this study attempts to do so, taking the intonation used in the character Oracle’s lines in the film The Matrix as an experimental database, and then summarizing and categorizing the intentions based on John Searle’s taxonomy of illocutionary acts. After analyzing 265 lines, four candidates were invited to label their own understanding of the illocutionary act of the character by perceiving the characters’ intonation. The chi-square results which show the similarity of their shared understanding turned out to be diverse, from which we concluded several kinds of causes with qualitative analysis: 1) different educational backgrounds; 2) the effectiveness of teaching intonation in China is not up to standard; 3) insufficient understanding of the movie context. Our research studies intonation from a different scope than the traditional top-down model, to provide a theoretical supplement to the intonation function research to some extent, and at the same time to provide English learners with some theoretical help for intonation learning and promote the improvement of their speaking.

The influence of pragmatic function on children's comprehension of complex because- and if-sentences

IntroductionIn complex adverbial sentences, the connectives because and if can perform different pragmatic functions (e.g. Content, Speech-Act), although this is often overlooked in studies investigating children's acquisition of these connectives. In this study, we investigated whether pragmatic variation is responsible for some of the difficulty young children have in understanding because- and if-sentences and tested the extent to which patterns of acquisition are related to the cognitive complexity or input frequency of the different pragmatic types.MethodsNinety-two children (aged 3–5; F = 39) and 20 adults (F = 12) took part in a forced-choice picture task where they had to identify correct pictures after hearing Content and Speech-Act because- and if-sentences.ResultsResults showed that children were most accurate on the sentence type where cognitive simplicity and input frequency converge (If Content), but this pattern was largely driven by the girls in the study. For response times, children were fastest with the least cognitively complex sentence types. However, for because Speech-Act sentences, there was an inverse relationship between response time and input frequency.DiscussionTaken together, these findings suggest that neither account (cognitive complexity or input frequency) can fully explain the findings. Instead, we suggest that the relative contributions of both factors are best understood in terms of the relevance of these utterances to children and the precise contexts in which children hear these utterances produced.

Cognitive Analysis of Euphemisms in The Big Bang Theory under CBT

This research delves into the pragmatic function of euphemisms in the context of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory, utilizing Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) as the analytical framework. The purpose is to understand how euphemisms, as a form of polite language, are constructed to avoid direct and potentially offensive expressions, thus promoting social harmony. The methodology involves a detailed analysis of euphemistic language within the sitcom, focusing on the integration of mental spaces as proposed by CBT. The study identifies key euphemisms and constructs a conceptual integration network for each, revealing the input spaces, generic space, and the blended space that emerges, offering new meanings. The main results demonstrate that euphemisms are cognitively processed through the blending of spaces, where elements from different domains combine to form a less confrontational meaning. The conclusion underscores the efficacy of CBT in explaining the complexity of euphemistic language, showcasing its role in navigating social norms and cultural sensitivities. This research provides insights into American cultural nuances and the strategic use of language in social interactions, enhancing the understanding of euphemisms as a cross-cultural communication tool.

Categories of Lukabarasi Nominal Compounds and their Pragmatic Functions

Although the categories of nominal compounds in many Bantu languages have been described in the literature, their pragmatic functions are often unexplained. This paper examines this phenomenon in Lukabarasi language of Western Kenya, based on the Generative Morphological Theory (GMT) (Bochner, 1992). The study employed a descriptive research design. Data was collected from native speakers using purposive sampling and snowballing techniques. The collected data was analyzed using a content analysis to identify and describe emerging themes. We identified these types of Lukabarasi nominal compounds; Noun+ Noun, Noun+ Verb, and Verb+ Verb. The study established the process of acquiring compounds in Lukabarasi involves prefix deletion, vowel duplication, and nominalization of verbs. The study also found that pragmatic processes modify the meaning of the compound based on context. Lukabarasi has commonly prefixes of singular and plural nouns. The singular prefixes include omu-, eshi- and eli- while the plural prefixes are eva-, efu- and ofu-. We analyzed the pragmatic functions of compounds, finding they serve metaphoric, attitudinal, identification, and classifying functions. This study contributes to understanding the pragmatic functions of nominal compounds in Lukabarasi.

Pragmatically oriented linguistic units in advertising of religious tours

INTRODUCTION. The relevance of the study is related to the study of the features of the implementation of tourist advertising in such a dynamically developing real segment as religion. The role of tourist advertising is increasing, and it is becoming especially important to study specific pragmatic oriented language units devoted to religious discourse. The purpose of the study is to identify lexical, morphological units and stylistic devices used in tourist religious discourse.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The research material was advertising texts promoting religious tours on the Internet. The collection and writing of factual material was carried out using conceptual analysis, interpretive analysis was used to determine and explain the linguistic features of religious advertising text.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The appeal to advertising texts promoting religious tours allowed to identify pragmatically oriented linguistic units. Religious discourse, oriented towards introducing a person to faith within the framework of a certain confession, contributes to the implementation of religious tours (pilgrimage, educational and pilgrimageeducational). Religious advertising discourse in the field of tourism can be oriented towards the discourses of consumer society, but at the same time give them new, religious and sacred outlines.CONCLUSION. The identified lexical units and stylistic means in tourist advertisements on the topic of religious tours allow us to consider that religious tourist advertisement has a number of characteristics inherent only to it and occupies its own special place among currently existing types of discourse. These advertisements can be considered special speech patterns of text aimed at implementing the pragmatic function of advertising messages.

Functional and pragmatic parameters of speech acts with the explicit mode of ignorance in scientific dialogue

The article is about identifying functional aspects of 1st-person statements with the explicit mode of ignorance (messages like I do not know… / We don’t know… I don’t know / We don’t know ...) in scientific discussions as a genre of scientific discourse. The relevance of the analysis is predetermined by the necessity to study various parameters of discourse (including both epistemic and pragmatic) as closely connected. The main research method is contextual and pragmalinguistic analysis. The sources of the material are transcripts of modern English and Russian scientific discussions in various fields of knowledge. The article identifies the illocutionary properties of ignorant statements, establishes their pragmatic functions, as well as determines their position in the traditional classification of speech acts. Taking into account the illocutionary orientation of references to ignorance makes it possible to identify representative, interrogative, axiological varieties of ignorance messages as well as their subtypes differentiated on the basis of the degree of their expressiveness, their vector of evaluation, the nature of the representative and interrogative role of speech acts with the mode of ignorance: fully expressive and conditionally expressive, positive and negative, preventive and hesitative, etc. The criterion “pragmatic functions” helps us specify additional functions of references to ignorance in scientific dialogue: to indicate a certain degree of the speaker’s epistemic responsibility for their words, to serve as a means of avoiding the answer, a way to prevent criticism, etc. Moreover, the work identifies factors determining the illocutionary nature of ignorance speech acts: the surface structure of the message, the general context of utterance, the position of the ignorance message in the dialogical unity, sincerity and felicity conditions of speech acts formulated as ignorance messages. References to ignorance are concluded to be quite a significant phenomenon in the structure of scientific dialogue, since they perform a number of important functions in it. The analysis scheme can be used to study statements with other explicit modes (knowledge, opinions, etc.) in various types of discourse.

Watch your tune! On the role of intonation for scalar diversity

Recent research has highlighted that lexical scales vary in their likelihood of giving rise to a scalar inference—a finding labeled scalar diversity. The current paper examines the role of intonation for this phenomenon, which has thus far primarily been studied using written materials. A specific focus in this regard was on the so-called rise-fall-rise contour, which has been argued to (i) convey uncertainty, which could have an influence on scalar inference calculation, and (ii) be sensitive to properties of lexical scales, which could interact with factors driving scalar diversity. Experiment 1 combined production with an inference task to assess the likelihood of different intonational contours, as well as how a given contour affects scalar inference rates. Production of the rise-fall-rise varied across lexical scales, as expected, and led to an increase in scalar inference derivation relative to a fall. The latter finding was further confirmed in Experiment 2, which explicitly manipulated intonational contours in the inference task. The results, thus, show the importance of taking intonation into account when studying scalar diversity and scalar inference more generally, and they also have implications for theories of the rise-fall-rise contour. Additionally, the experiments revealed a contour that is prosodically similar to the so-called Contradiction Contour, but appears to serve a different pragmatic function.

Analysis of specialized sports-related anglicisms

The aim of this study is to provide updated evidence of the use of non-adapted, adapted and false sports-related anglicisms in the European Spanish press. Specifically, this piece of research attempts to unveil technical/semi-technical English borrowings and to explore the pragmatic functions of these English lexical units in the current digital Spanish newswire. The method consisted of examining eight different media by using the constantly updating database of anglicisms ‘Observatorio Lázaro’ throughout a period of 9 months. A sample of 130 English lexical items was collected and subjected to an in-depth qualitative and descriptive analysis. Each borrowing was looked up in DAD ‒the most recent dictionary of sports-related English lexical items in Spanish‒ and was illustrated by a real example of its use in context excerpted from present-day Spanish newspapers. Terminology associated to a broad spectrum of specific sports –such as golf, basketball, rugby, cycling, etc.– was delved into. Results show that, while some terms have no connection to the rest of borrowings, many of them can be grouped according to certain parameters. Considering pragmatic functions, the use of some anglicisms proved not to be random but to respond to news reporters’ and journalists’ purposes. The study concludes that the pervasive influence exerted by English on Spanish concerning technical/semi-technical sports anglicisms remains in full force and effect nowadays, as this impact affects the vocabulary of a wide variety of sports games and exercises.

Talking to children in Tsotsil Mayan: Interactional formats in child-directed communication across multigenerational caregivers

Research on the acquisition of Mayan languages has shown child-directed communication (CDC) to be low in frequency. Nevertheless, long-term linguistic-anthropological research with the Tsotsil Mayan in Southern Mexico has documented episodes in family life when children engage in interactional routines or interactional formats (IFs) with their multigenerational caregivers. These interactions are sequentially organized communicative acts (verbal and nonverbal) that call forth specific responses from the child in turn-taking episodes (e.g. muts’o la sate ‘close your eyes’, chibat, uto ‘say, good-bye’). This study analyzes IFs in four communicative events involving four children (11–17 months; M = 15) each from multigenerational families with a household average of 7.75 members. Three research questions are addressed: What types and functions of IFs characterize CDC experienced by Tsotsil children? How do IF types distribute across specific communicative events? How do IF types distribute across multigenerational caregivers? The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. IFs were classified on the basis of their pragmatic function: directive, prompting, teasing, referential, regulatory, and evaluation. The six IF types and their relative frequencies reveal core language socialization practices among the Tsotsil Mayan of the study. Quantitative analysis makes clear a significant association between IFs and event, and IFs and caregivers’ CDC. A central finding is that non-parental input from multigenerational caregivers (i.e. grandmothers and sisters) is a more significant source of CDC than parental input.

A Study on the Discourse Markers of "Wo Gei Ni Shuo" in Modern Chinese

The discourse mark "wo gei ni shuo" is very important in natural dialogue. This study explores the position, pragmatic function and formation of the discourse mark "wo gei ni shuo". Discourse mark "wo gei ni shuo" has three kinds of position in sentences, among which the highest frequency of use found in middle of sentences, and the semantic meaning is mostly directed to the following information unit; The discourse mark "wo gei ni shuo" has four pragmatic functions of emphasizing information, subjective cognition, suggestion evaluation and imperative. The formation of discourse markers is the result of both lexicalization and grammaticalization. Studying the use position, pragmatic function and formation of discourse marker "wo gei ni shuo" is helpful to the development of text teaching and international Chinese teaching.

Pragmatic-Functional Importance of Translation of Titles and Headlines in Popular Science Texts

This article discusses the role and importance of titles and headlines in the structure of the general text, its pragmatic-functional tasks in ensuring the success of the text. The linguistic elements perform pragmatic function. The opinions of famous linguists on the titles and headlines, its structure and pragmatic functions are cited. Functions and syntactic models of titles and headlines are presented. Examples of popular science text titles, headlines and their translations into Uzbek and Russian are presented and analyzed.

Musical enchantment. Affective pragmatics and the making of intersubjective grief in lăutari funeral performance

This paper contributes to the expanding body of ltierature on affective performance by examining, from a semiotic perspective, the role of live musicians (lăutari) in the expression and shaping of grief during funeral ceremonies among members of the Roma in Romania. By conducting de detailed analysis of two funeral performances by Florin Salam, drawn from publicly available sources, this study illustrates how musicians utilize lyrical content with inherent affective potency, and exploit sound iconicity to imbue their vocal communication with emotional resonance. Additionally, the paper explores the use of various forms of pronominal deictic ambiguity by musicians, enabling them to indirectly engage either the entire audience or specific individuals. I show how the pragmatic function of the verbal and non-verbal strategies employed by performers is to transform the affective potentiality of a funeral event into actualized emotions. Furthermore, I emphasize the influence of local social aesthetics on both the actions of musicians and the modes through which participants articulate their emotions. Ultimately, I argue that the emotional impact of an affectively charged performance emerges from a confluence of factors, including vocal technique, discursive practices, musical instrumentation, and social dynamics. This paper contributes to the expanding body of ltierature on affective performance by examining, from a semiotic perspective, the role of live musicians (lăutari) in the expression and shaping of grief during funeral ceremonies among members of the Roma in Romania. By conducting de detailed analysis of two funeral performances by Florin Salam, drawn from publicly available sources, this study illustrates how musicians utilize lyrical content with inherent affective potency, and exploit sound iconicity to imbue their vocal communication with emotional resonance. Additionally, the paper explores the use of various forms of pronominal deictic ambiguity by musicians, enabling them to indirectly engage either the entire audience or specific individuals. I show how the pragmatic function of the verbal and non-verbal strategies employed by performers is to transform the affective potentiality of a funeral event into actualized emotions. Furthermore, I emphasize the influence of local social aesthetics on both the actions of musicians and the modes through which participants articulate their emotions. Ultimately, I argue that the emotional impact of an affectively charged performance emerges from a confluence of factors, including vocal technique, discursive practices, musical instrumentation, and social dynamics

Analysis of the Internet Catchword “City or Non City?”

Internet catchword, which have emerged with the development of society. They are not only a language, but also a social and cultural phenomenon with characteristics of the times. Therefore, from the perspective of linguistics, this paper analyzes the lexical structure, syntactic features and pragmatic functions of “city or non city?”, and explores its popularity reasons and sociocultural influence.

From analogies to negativity: Pragmatic functions and stance expression of subjective counterfactual Ruguo sentence

摘要: "如果"句是指由假设关联词"如果"引导的条件复句。违实"如果"句包括主观违实和客观违实两类。主观违实的判定有赖于语义识别和逻辑推导。根据前后分句(分别用 A、B 表示)的客观真假情况可将主观违实"如果"句分为 4 类，分别是"A 真，B 假""A 真，B 真假不定""A 真假不定，B 真""A 真假不定，B 假"。其语用推导模式可概括为蕴涵推导式和隐涵推导式两类。主观违实"如果"句具有显性类比和隐性否定的立场表达功能。 ABSTRACT: The "Ruguo (如果)" sentence refers to a conditional complex sentence connected by the hypothetical association word "Ruguo (如果)". The counterfactual "Ruguo(如果)" sentence includes subjective and objective counterfactual sentence. The judgment of subjective counterfactuality depends on semantic recognition and logical derivation. According to the objective truth and falsehood of the previous and last clause, we can divide the subjective counterfactual "Ruguo (如果)" sentence into 4 categories: A true B false, A true B true or false, A true or false B true, A true or false B false. The pragmatic deriving mode can be summarized as containing both derivation and implicit derivation. The subjective counterfactual "Ruguo(如果)" sentence has the function of expressing stance, including explicit analogies and implicit negation.

Illocutionary Acts Found in the Summer I Turned Pretty Film

This study aimed to analyze the type of speech acts and the classification This text discusses the importance of language as a system of communication between speakers and listeners, and how language is used to convey feelings or share information through speech acts. illocutionary acts refer to the intended meaning of a statement. It is an example of a form of speech act that has been culturally defined and is distinguished by a distinctive illocutionary force. For instance, making promises, giving advice, and making threats are all instances of illocutionary activities. Speech acts theory looks at the pragmatic function of utterances.The theory is premised on the belief that language is used to perform actions. Films are cultural products produced by certain cultures that help individuals of various languages and cultures to communicate with one another. The text presents a literature review that discusses the different types of illocutionary acts and how they are used in human communication. Finally, the text presents the research methodology, findings, and discussion of a study that analyzes the types of illocutionary acts used in the conversations of season 2 of "The Summer I Turned Pretty." The study uses a qualitative method to analyze the data and identifies representative and directive illocutionary acts in the conversations. Overall, the text provides an overview of the importance of language and speech acts in human communication, and how they are studied in the field of pragmatics.

HRT in DMC? the orthographic representation of high rising terminals in WhatsApp

Contemporary research has shown that a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods is productive in exploring patterns of Digitally Mediated Communication (DMC). In this paper, I demonstrate the analytical potential of this approach by studying the typographic representation of a prosodic feature of spoken language – High Rising Terminals (HRTs, e.g., that beer pong place I went for my birthday?) – in a large corpus of WhatsApp messages (96,471 messages; 594,183 words) sent by 15 young British adults. Combining methods and approaches from variationist and interactional sociolinguistics, I show that the orthographic representation of HRTs patterns in pragmatically similar ways to the feature in speech in that it most frequently functions as a way of verifying the interlocutors’ comprehension of discourse-new information. The precise rate and pragmatic function of this feature, however, appears to be constrained by the textual modality of the platform. Concluding, I join others in arguing for the analytical potential of employing a multidimensional approach to studying variable patterns of DMC.

A Study of Multimodal Communicative Acts in Selected Nollywood Film Advertisement Posters

Movie posters employ multiple modes of communication in their display to communicate with the audience. Identifying the modes and the meanings realised through them as projected in most scholarly works on film posters are not sufficient in interpreting the intentional goals of the image designers or advertisers. It is against this backdrop that this article articulates the pragmatic functions of Nollywood film posters’ advertising language as a form of language in action and intention in the situational context of users. Eight (8) Nollywood film advertisement posters which were purposively selected were analysed using insights from van Leeuwen’s (2005) theory of multimodal communicative acts and Bach and Harnish’s (1979) speech acts theory. The findings from the analysis reveal that communicative acts of informing, stating, expressing, describing and asserting are frequently demonstrated via visual and verbal modes in the advertisement posters. The less employed multimodal communicative acts are questioning and ordering. These multimodal communicative acts utilised demonstrate the persuasive illocutionary and communicative intentions of Nollywood film advertisers which is primarily aimed at enhancing viewing patronage. The article concludes that the adaptability of Nollywood advertisement posters to the context and situation of users is considered pertinent to the appropriate interpretation of meanings realised from the complex modes of communication employed in them.

Реконтекстуалізація в перекладі студентського сленгу

Student slang as a secondary communication system is used by students exclusively in the context of informal conversation, since slang units cannot be used appropriately without knowing specific university terminology. The difficulty of translating such profanity is caused by the need for recontextualization – the translator's reconstruction of the source and target text contexts. The study of student slang words, in particular the techniques of translating them from English into Ukrainian, is relevant due to the dynamic nature of student slang, as well as the expansion of the boundaries of contemporary academic mobility of students. The purpose of the article is to determine the peculiarities of using the recontextualization strategy in the main techniques of translating student slang from English into Ukrainian. The integrated study of recontextualization in student slang translation involved the application of the following methods: the method of continuous sampling (for assembling slang units from student web-blogs), the method of descriptive observation (for defining possible techniques of translating student slang), methods of analysis and synthesis (for singling out lexical and stylistic peculiarities of student slang translation and formulation of conclusions). Results. Within the framework of sociocognitive approach, context is considered to be a special mental construct generated by participants in their episodic memory in the course of communicative interaction. The relevant constituents of the unique, subjective and dynamic context model include the sender and receiver of the message, their relationship, personal (situational) and sociocultural knowledge, evaluations and emotions, place and time of communication. A translator as a mediator of communicative interaction between the sender and the receiver of the message, also constructs a context model. Effective translation activity is possible only if the peculiarities of the context models of both the sender and the receiver of the message are taken into account. That is why the translator's context model is formed by incorporating the context models of both communicative partners into an integrated context model. Recontextualization as a linguistic and cognitive operation is aimed at reconstructing a communicative situation in the conceptual coordinates of communicative partners. Recontextualization in translation is a comprehensive translation strategy that affects all structural and communicative levels of the text and is used to adapt the translated text to the conditions acceptable in the target environment and the pragmatics of bilingual interaction. The strategy of recontextualization in student slang translation includes several stages: reconstructing the integrated context model that will resonate with the usual, everyday conditions of student life; domesticating the source text through analogy and specification; using appropriate translation techniques and transformations to reproduce the meaning of student slang in the target language. A comprehensive analysis of the illustrative material proved that the strategy of recontextualization involves such most frequent techniques of translating student slang as the search for appropriate equivalents in the target language, descriptive translation, explication and calquing. The highlighting stylistic features of translating student slang include metaphor, metonymy and antonomasia. The stylistic load of student slang often causes translation difficulties, since the strategy of recontextualization requires the involvement of a wide range of not only situational background, but also encyclopaedic knowledge. Originality. The article presents the attempt of making a deep insight into the application of the recontextualization strategy in translating student slang from English into Ukrainian. Conclusion. The results of the study prove that student slang is a multifaceted and emotionally coloured linguistic phenomenon that serves not only as a means of communication but also as a kind of sypher encoded in a mosaic of words and phrases. The strategy of recontextualization as a multi-stage linguistic and cognitive operation is focused on the reconstruction of the communicative situation by the translator in order to adapt the target text and adequately translate slang units. It is proved that the main techniques of translating student slang from English into Ukrainian are the search for appropriate equivalents in the target language, descriptive translation, explication and calquing. Metaphor, metonymy and antonomasia are the most effective and frequent stylistic means aimed at fulfilling the pragmatic function of slang units. We consider the study of possible ways of translating student abbreviations and phraseological units from English into Ukrainian to be much promising.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Wish Strategies Used by Iraqi EFL Learners

The present study aimed to examine the challenges encountered by Iraqi EFL university learners when using 'wish expressions' at both the recognitive and productive levels. This study aimed to offer a theoretical overview of the syntactic constructions of explicit and implicit wish expressions, along with their semantic and pragmatic functions. The study identified a lack of awareness among Iraqi EFL University learners regarding strategies for expressing 'wish'. Many learners in Iraqi EFL universities tend to use explicit expressions rather than implicit ones when communicating. In order to fulfil the objectives of the study and validate its hypotheses, the researcher devised a diagnostic test consisting of two sections: productive and precognitive. The researcher asked the study sample to express their 'wish' in various situations. The recognitive part of the study involved situations where respondents were required to identify illocutionary forces associated with the expression of 'wish'. The study's findings clearly showed that the majority of participants in the sample expressed their wishes explicitly rather than implicitly. The study drew several conclusions. Firstly, the results of the study revealed that wishes can convey both positive and negative desires, like the intention to bless or curse someone. Secondly, the study conclusively validated its hypotheses by demonstrating that the subjects performed better at the production level than at the precognitive level.

A Study on the Pragmatic Function of New Year Addresses in External Communication

A Study on the Pragmatic Function of New Year Addresses in External Communication