Pragmatic Norms Research Articles

Philosophy of science underpinnings of prototype validation: Popper vs. Quine

Abstract. In this paper, we aim to provide prototype validation in both custom and packaged software development with a theoretical framework located within the philosophy of science. Towards that end, we consider Popperian and Quinean accounts of scientific knowledge and argue that the theoretical underpinning of prototype validation is Quine’s holistic philosophy of science, whose cornerstone principle is that all beliefs are revisable. Specifically, our thesis is that the systems developer and software consumer (user or customer) join forces – not as Popperian falsifiers, who make a decision rule to reject the prototype on account of any divergence, major or minor, from the software consumer’s mental model, but – as Quinean revisers, with the objective of fine‐tuning the prototype (or the software consumer’s mental model) so that the prototype and the software consumer’s mental model are congruent with each other. This paper suggests that prototype revisions are belief revisions, and, as such, should be guided – and are guided – by pragmatic norms, such as conservatism, simplicity and generality, and are influenced by social, or sociological, factors as well. Finally, we discuss the relevance, value and pragmatic implications of a Quinean philosophy of science framework for research and practice.

Bilingual discourse markers: Evidence from Croatian–English code-switching

This paper examines the presence of English-origin discourse markers in otherwise Croatian speech. Previous examinations of bilingual discourse marking have focused on habitualisation, pragmatic transference, cognitive processes (in terms of reducing the ‘mental load’ of distinguishing between two systems) or psycholinguistic factors (e.g. ‘non-deactivation’ of pragmatic forms from one language which speakers habitually speak). However, such studies only address transference of pragmatic norms, whether features and/or forms. They have limited explanatory power where speakers employ discourse forms from one language and equivalent forms from the other language. This study examines the frequency and functionality of English-origin forms compared to Croatian ones in a sample based on speech recordings of 100 Croatian–English bilinguals. Findings here show that English forms generally co-occur with Croatian forms in a statistical sense and only displace Croatian ones where English forms are polyfunctional or perform more functions that their Croatian counterparts. This accounts for the higher statistical frequency of forms such as yeah and so, while forms such as no and you know co-occur to the same degree as their Croatian equivalents. Where a Croatian item such as kao (‘like’) can fulfil more functions than its English equivalent it is shown to have a higher incidence than like. Thus, linguistic, in particular micro-discourse, features are shown to influence selection of discourse markers.

Efficiency in ELF Communication: From Pragmatic Motives to Lexico-grammatical Innovation

The considerable demographic shift in the use of English worldwide, with the effect that L2 speakers outnumber L1 speakers, particularly as typified in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication, is now widely acknowledged in Applied Linguistics. To a certain extent the resulting impact this has in relation to key issues such as the ownership of English has also been recognised. Description of the linguistic consequences of this shift however is less established, and lingua franca corpora are still in their relatively early stages of development, though growing in momentum. This paper will contribute to the emerging body of work that does report on empirical studies in the field, drawing on two corpora of naturally occurring lingua franca interactions which have been gathered for PhD projects at King's College London. To date reported ELF research projects have tended to focus separately on one or other linguistic system, on phonology (e.g. Jenkins 2000; 2005), and to a lesser extent on pragmatics (e.g. House 1999), and on lexicogrammatical features (cf Seidlhofer 2004). The focus of this paper is to report on findings in both pragmatics and lexicogrammar, and in so doing to identify the interrelationship between the two systems and highlight ways in which they are mutually constitutive. The paper aims to show how pragmatic motives can lead to changes in the lexis and grammar, and in turn how lexicogrammatical innovations impact on pragmatic norms and strategies.

Some thoughts on pragmatics, sociolinguistic variation, and intercultural communication

Readers of this journal have recently witnessed a discussion between Kanavillil Rajagopalan and Deirdre Wilson and Dan Sperber on the role of the social aspects in pragmatics. I would like to touch on this issue from another point of view, focusing on intercultural (contrastive, crosscultural, and interlanguage) pragmatics. Over the past twenty years this field has made substantial contributions to the extension of linguistic models and the understanding of the relation between language and culture, as well as expanding the basis for second language studies and language curriculum materials. The scope of this journal o¤ers wonderful opportunities for interaction and collaboration between scholars researching and applying pragmatics in di¤erent ways interculturally. I would like to draw attention to some dimensions which, to my knowledge, have so far been on the margins of the field, focusing first on the speech act of introduction, the very beginning of interpersonal interaction, which I will show varies even within speakers of German. This example raises the issue of variation in intercultural pragmatics and to pluricentric languages, ones with ‘‘several interacting centres, each of which provides at least some of (their) own (codified) norms’’ (Clyne 1992: 1). Di¤erent national varieties are linked to specific norms of expression and cultural values. Central to the discussion is the issue of what pragmatic norms should be expected of second language learners. In discussion of English, the most pluricentric and international of all languages, the power of the pragmatics and discourse of the ‘‘native speaker’’ of particular varieties is critiqued within the context of certain cultural parameters.

Theory Construction in Sociology

There is an urgent need for sociological inspiration and intellect to construct original sociological theories. However, even more pressing is the need for scientific “formulae” or norms to be followed. The author pointed out in an earlier study that there are three types of theories in sociology: general theory, historical theory, and normative theory. The present paper claims the necessity of the following aspects that are common to the abovementioned types of sociological theories: truth, justice, beauty, coherence, pragmatic norms, and explication. It examines a “T-shaped strategy of research” suggested by Funabashi, in determining the problems of “middle range theories” (MRT). The following three fallacies appear to be involved in the Mertonian concept of MRT: the fallacies of misplaced “consolidation” of theory and research, misplaced abstraction, and misplaced object system of a study. It is concluded that these aspects should be accompanied by an additional two features: the spirit of unification of the previous theoretical frameworks and the spirit of the interpenetration of the three types of theories.

Pragmatic Believing and its Explanation

Most explanations of beliefs are epistemically or pragmatically rationalizing. The distinction between these two types involves the explainer's differing expectations of how the believer will behave in the face of counterevidence. This feature suggests that rationalizing explanations portray beliefs as either (i) a consequence of the believer's following a norm, or (ii) part of a sub-intentional goal-oriented system. Which properly characterizes pragmatic believing? If there were pragmatic norms for believing, I argue, they would not be consciously followable. Yet an unfollowable norm is not a norm at all, and so I conclude that there are no such norms and that pragmatic believing is a sub-intentional, and not a norm-driven, process.

Chinese pragmatic norms and ‘China English’

In this paper we shall first consider a selection of discourse and rhetorical norms of Modern Standard Chinese and then contrast them with a comparable selection of discourse and rhetorical norms of an ‘inner circle’ variety of English. As the transfer of discourse and rhetorical norms from a first to a second language commonly occurs, we predict that a Chinese variety of English is characterised by a number of discourse and rhetorical norms derived from Chinese. We argue that the presence of these L1 discourse and rhetorical norms should not be seen as ‘deviations’ from Anglo norms, but that, as Chinese speakers are more likely to use the language with other English speakers in the East Asian region rather than with speakers of inner circle varieties of English, the Chinese variety of English is actually a more culturally appropriate model of English than any superimposed ‘Anglo’ norm. Our discussion also considers the importance in China traditionally attached to ‘models’ and ‘standards’ and speculates on the extent to which educators and officials in China are likely to accept a Chinese variety of English as a model for the classroom.

8. DISCOURSE ISSUES IN CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATICS

This chapter focuses on recent research in cross-cultural pragmatics (CCP) as distinct from interlanguage pragmatics (IP). The essential difference between the two lies in the perspective from which each views cross-cultural communication. CCP takes the point of view that individuals from different societies or communities interact according to their own pragmatic norms, often resulting in a clash of expectations and, ultimately, misperceptions about the other group. The misperceptions are typically two-way; that is, each group misperceives the other. In an age in which cross-cultural interaction is the norm not only across societies but also within them, different rules of speaking have the potential to cause stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination against entire groups of people. Research in the area of CCP can greatly aid in ameliorating these consequences. Recent studies that view CCP from this two-way perspective are the focus of this chapter. The overview of this body of research demonstrates the potential contribution of the field of applied linguistics to mutual understanding through the study of discourse issues in cross-cultural pragmatics.

Individual differences in second language acquisition: attitudes, learner subjectivity, and L2 pragmatic norms

Anecdotal reports from classroom language teachers suggest that students’ professed positive attitudes towards learning English and their language-related behaviors often do not match. Many claim “interest” in the language and, when pushed to explain, the learners tend to state that “it is necessary” to study English for their future careers or for study abroad. Very few seem to be motivated to acculturate to the target language culture or norms of communication. These reports motivated my decision to look into the attitudes of EFL learners in the form of a study of individual differences, specifically, one which focuses on the relationship among attitudes, learner self-identity, and willingness to accommodate to L2 pragmatic norms. This paper reports on evidence of the extent Japanese EFL learners seek to adopt L2 communicative norms. The descriptive account explores learners’ self-reports on attitudes towards the target language, subjective reactions to L2 pragmatic norms, and motivations towards accommodating to those norms. While the level of resistance to acquiring proficiency in the use of L2 pragmatic norms is not strong, the learners’ accounts indicate their efforts to establish a L2 self-identity compatible with their own individual goals.

Do learners thank too much in Indonesian?

Abstract This study investigates how frequently Australian learners of Indonesian thank in everyday situations compared with Indonesian native speakers. The data were collected by means of interactive roleplay. Learner subjects were found to thank very consistently in the situations, probably due to pragmatic transfer from their first language combined with influence from formal instruction. Indonesian native subjects also thanked frequently. This finding contradicts popular wisdom, and appears to reflect a rise in verbal thanking in Indonesian due to a weakening of traditional cultural values. This trend has major implications for cross-cultural pragmatics. It suggests that in developing countries where cultural values are changing, speech act behaviour may steadily converge with western pragmatic norms.

Evidence of Accommodation to L2 Pragmatic Norms in Peer Review Tasks of Japanese Learners of English

Evidence of Accommodation to L2 Pragmatic Norms in Peer Review Tasks of Japanese Learners of English

Cheyenne major constituent order By Elena M. Leman (review)

BOOK NOTICES 489 the collection come from English and Japanese, this volume is useful to linguists who can benefit from this focus, but it is also valuable to anyone who is interested in contrasting formal and functional accounts in general. [Noriko Watanabe, University of Wisconsin, Madison.] Sociolinguistics in Japanese contexts. By Takesi Sibata (Contribution to the sociology of language 81.) Ed. by Tetsuya Kunthtro, FuMio Inoue and Daniel Long. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1999. Pp 489. The book is a collection of selected papers by Takesi Sibata, whom many regard as the most influential sociolinguist in Japan. S's work is a substantial contribution to the field of sociolinguistics at large, especially to descriptive dialectology. The majority of his work, however, is not available in English because he published in Tapanese. The editors have brought his work into English with this volume. The original publication dates of the papers range from 1952 to 1987. The book contains 24 papers grouped into five major sections. The introductory chapter by the editors describes the significance of S's work. The book also includes a complete bibliography of S's work up to 1996. The first section, "The study of sociolinguistics ' (6-87), four papers, introduces the concept of gengo seikatsu 'language life' which represents the sensitivity and detailed attention Tapanese sociolinguistics has given to the study of language as it relates to daily life. The concept stems from S's philosophy that language is the object of study, but how people use the language to live their lives is the focus of attention. ? 24 hour survey of the language life of the Tapanese' represents this type of thorough descriptive approach. The second section (91-180) is on honorifics, whose use is inevitably affected by such contextual factors as social role identities of the users and social relations between them. The five papers in the section examine honorifics in general, a polite prefix o-, acquisition of the honorific term haha 'mother', and address terms and kinship. The third section (183-273) is on language change. "The rise and fall of dialects' offers an indepth account of the sociopsychological politics of regional varieties. An historical and theoretical explication of kyootsuu-go 'Common Language' will interest a wide range of readers and will compel them to reexamine the meaning of 'Standard Tapanese'. The section also includes studies on the development of a regional common language in Hokkaido, an area with a relatively short history of major settlement by Tapanese speakers. 'Sociolect and idiolect', the fourth section (277-370), deals with how newly introduced expressions spread in a group and who the initiators, 'language bosses' in S's terms, are. The last section, 'Norms of language' (371-93), has three papers that contain general discussions of the role of language norms including phonological, grammatical, and pragmatic norms. Written for a newspaper column, the last, short article on discriminatory expressions gives S's thoughts on taboo words, that is, policing of language use. Overall, the strength ofthis volume is that, because many ofthe papers are written in plain, nontechnical language, it is readily accessible to readers outside Japanese linguistics or even outside linguistics. In addition, because S's work spans the period in which many social and linguistic changes occurred, some of the papers can be read as historical documentation of language life in Japan. [Noriko Watanabe, University of Wisconsin, Madison.] Cheyenne major constituent order. By Elena M. Leman. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1999. Pp. 95. In this reworking ofher University ofOregon master 's thesis, Elena Leman investigates the factors that might be at work in determining word order in Cheyenne , a 'free word-order' language ofthe Algonquian family. She examines both previously collected texts (traditional narratives) and experimentally elicited data to test various hypotheses. The book is organized into six chapters plus a conclusion and appendices. The first chapter is a very brief introduction to the goals of the study, while Ch. 2 is a five-page crash course on Algonquian morphosyntax , with sections devoted to obviation, verb agreement, and basic grammatical roles. The meat of the study begins with Ch. 3, ? typological perspective '. Here L examines various proposals to explain word order...

Sociolinguistics in Japanese contexts By Takesi Sibata (review)

BOOK NOTICES 489 the collection come from English and Japanese, this volume is useful to linguists who can benefit from this focus, but it is also valuable to anyone who is interested in contrasting formal and functional accounts in general. [Noriko Watanabe, University of Wisconsin, Madison.] Sociolinguistics in Japanese contexts. By Takesi Sibata (Contribution to the sociology of language 81.) Ed. by Tetsuya Kunthtro, FuMio Inoue and Daniel Long. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1999. Pp 489. The book is a collection of selected papers by Takesi Sibata, whom many regard as the most influential sociolinguist in Japan. S's work is a substantial contribution to the field of sociolinguistics at large, especially to descriptive dialectology. The majority of his work, however, is not available in English because he published in Tapanese. The editors have brought his work into English with this volume. The original publication dates of the papers range from 1952 to 1987. The book contains 24 papers grouped into five major sections. The introductory chapter by the editors describes the significance of S's work. The book also includes a complete bibliography of S's work up to 1996. The first section, "The study of sociolinguistics ' (6-87), four papers, introduces the concept of gengo seikatsu 'language life' which represents the sensitivity and detailed attention Tapanese sociolinguistics has given to the study of language as it relates to daily life. The concept stems from S's philosophy that language is the object of study, but how people use the language to live their lives is the focus of attention. ? 24 hour survey of the language life of the Tapanese' represents this type of thorough descriptive approach. The second section (91-180) is on honorifics, whose use is inevitably affected by such contextual factors as social role identities of the users and social relations between them. The five papers in the section examine honorifics in general, a polite prefix o-, acquisition of the honorific term haha 'mother', and address terms and kinship. The third section (183-273) is on language change. "The rise and fall of dialects' offers an indepth account of the sociopsychological politics of regional varieties. An historical and theoretical explication of kyootsuu-go 'Common Language' will interest a wide range of readers and will compel them to reexamine the meaning of 'Standard Tapanese'. The section also includes studies on the development of a regional common language in Hokkaido, an area with a relatively short history of major settlement by Tapanese speakers. 'Sociolect and idiolect', the fourth section (277-370), deals with how newly introduced expressions spread in a group and who the initiators, 'language bosses' in S's terms, are. The last section, 'Norms of language' (371-93), has three papers that contain general discussions of the role of language norms including phonological, grammatical, and pragmatic norms. Written for a newspaper column, the last, short article on discriminatory expressions gives S's thoughts on taboo words, that is, policing of language use. Overall, the strength ofthis volume is that, because many ofthe papers are written in plain, nontechnical language, it is readily accessible to readers outside Japanese linguistics or even outside linguistics. In addition, because S's work spans the period in which many social and linguistic changes occurred, some of the papers can be read as historical documentation of language life in Japan. [Noriko Watanabe, University of Wisconsin, Madison.] Cheyenne major constituent order. By Elena M. Leman. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1999. Pp. 95. In this reworking ofher University ofOregon master 's thesis, Elena Leman investigates the factors that might be at work in determining word order in Cheyenne , a 'free word-order' language ofthe Algonquian family. She examines both previously collected texts (traditional narratives) and experimentally elicited data to test various hypotheses. The book is organized into six chapters plus a conclusion and appendices. The first chapter is a very brief introduction to the goals of the study, while Ch. 2 is a five-page crash course on Algonquian morphosyntax , with sections devoted to obviation, verb agreement, and basic grammatical roles. The meat of the study begins with Ch. 3, ? typological perspective '. Here L examines various proposals to explain word order...

Currents of Thought on Asian English Studies

The fears of Asian governments that the learning of English will lead to cultural and/or linguistic hegemony have been given theoretical support by a number of Western scholars, most notably Phillipson (1992). This paper will argue that these fears are misplaced, if not unfounded, and that the theoretical justification for them is flawed. The argument follows three stages. First, by contrasting the linguistic situation in Singapore and Malaysia, the determinism of Phillipson's theories will be questioned by showing that the role of English in any given society is unpredictable. Second, by recounting how a Western philosophy was successfully adapted and promulgated through the Chinese language, it will be shown that a system of ideas is not tied to any specific language and that a “local” language can more successfully introduce new ideas than the language in which the ideas were originally framed. Third, it will be argued that an “imported” language can develop to reflect and promote local cultural values and pragmatic norms. Promotion of local varieties of English in schools will therefore serve to ensure the maintenance of local cultural values and pragmatic norms. 3186 E-mail: tkirkpat@cc.curtin.edu.au

Incorporating L1 Pragmatic Norms and Cultural Values in L2: Developing English Language Curriculum for EIL in the Asia-Pacific Region

After briefly reviewing two research paradigms, Contrastive Rhetoric and New Varieties of English, this paper reaffirms the intimate relationship between language and culture and calls for the incorporation of L1 pragmatic norms and cultural values in the teaching of English as an international language (EIL) in the Asia-Pacific region. Since transfer may take place at the discourse/pragmatic level in the EFL learning process, apparent anomalies in rhetorical organization and the linguistic realization of speech acts which deviate from standard Anglo-American practice should be interpreted with care, for the perceived anomalies at the discourse level may sometimes be accounted for by the learner's resistance to adopt such norms. The legitimacy of the use of L1 pragmatic norms and cultural values in EFL should be acknowledged, and that native-speaker EFL instructors would benefit from raised awareness to such L1 norms and values, especially when they clash with those of English. Given the specific needs of EIL for interethnic communication within EFL communities in the Asia-Pacific region needs which are very different from those of native speakers of English, it is argued that L1 pragmatic norms and cultural values should be reflected in the EFL curricula in this region.

Expanding Language Norms for School-Age Children and Adolescents

Despite decades of research, we currently have only limited norms of pragmatic development and use. These generally consist of skills that are aspects of pragmatic functioning, but in themselves do not capture the pragmatic difficulties exhibited by children in classroom, home, and social environments. A discussion of some of the problems associated with deriving pragmatic norms is presented, along with some of the current insights we have concerning the pragmatic abilities of older children and adolescents. These diverse findings are organized into a single coherent model for analyzing and comparing pragmatic performance across tasks. Implications for further research also are presented.

Arabic‐English bilinguals and the directive speech act

ABSTRACT: This paper has three goals: to describe the politeness strategies of Arabic in the performance of the directive speech act and contrast them with those in English; to test the politeness theory of Brown and Levinson (1978) with Arabic‐English bilinguals and Arabic monolinguals; and to explore the cultural determination of pragmatic norms in language. The data come from a carefully designed questionnaire of role‐playing situations. The analysis of results shows a strong support for the politeness theory; however, the theory fails to provide the real politeness value for directives whose aim is to benefit the addressee, e.g., in invitations. The treatment of ‘silence’ as a function of politeness under this theory seems also to be questionable. Therefore, we propose using Leech's (1983) model in part to adjust the theory to overcome these inadequacies. Further, descriptive analysis shows that Arabic has fewer modals than English and therefore different politeness strategies are used to make up for the politeness function of modals in English. The applied part of our paper shows that the culture in which a second or foreign language is learned shapes the pragmatic norms of that language.

Torah, language and philosophy: A Jewish critique

Modern philosophy's fascination with language for the last century, its obsession may illustrate the axiom that we love to talk about what we desire and we desire what we don't have. From the perspective of traditional Judaism, philosophic obsession with language reflects the modern philosopher's dislocation from those speech communities in which, alone, language has meaning. Natural speech communities, meaning those whose origins are either unknown or referred to an indefinite past, are characterized by inherent semiotic norms:1 rules for transforming elements of the natural world into meaningful signs (morphology), for determining relations among those signs (syntax), for determining relations between signs and intended objects (semantics), and for determining relations between signs and the actual behavior which they recommend (what the American philosopher Charles Peirce calls pragmatics).2 For the traditional Jew, these norms are collected in what is called Torah: God's speech to Israel and the literary and behavioral history of Israel's attempts to interpret what that speech means. For this Jew, dislocation from the speech community of Israel would imply dislocation from Torah, and, thereby, from the possibility of meaningful speech and controlled behavior. Jewish philosophy is the attempt to find means of reintegrating dislocated persons into appropriate speech communities: in particular of reintegrating Jews into the speech community of Israel. In the philosophic terms introduced by Peirce, Jewish philosophy's task would be to reintroduce the dislocated to those pragmatic norms through which language discloses its full meaning. This is, to be sure, to work against the tendencies of modern philosophers to reduce pragmatic meaning to semantic meaning, to identify the inherent vagueness of natural languages with error or imprecision, or to declare, in other words, the impotence of their own natural speech communities.3 For the modern philosopher, deference to pragmatic norms is suspect; general epistemological uncertainty is the norm rather than the exception. In the face of this philosophic adversity, Jewish philosophers tend to present their case apologetically, trying to describe Torah in terms set by critical or semanticist philosophy. On the following pages, I offer an alternative description: of what modern philosophy looks like in terms set by Torah. Without apology, the Jewish phi-

A Scientific Morality?

It is neither possible, nor desirable, to have a system of dealing with criminals that does away with norms. But Lady Wootton sometimes talks as if it is possible and desirable to do away with norms. And she claims that in her pragmatic system norms have been done away with. She believes her pragmatic system of dealing with criminals is, unlike our present system, scientific. There are at least two respects (though Lady Wootton does not seem to distinguish these two respects) in which she seems to be claiming that her system is scientific, unlike the present system. Firstly, she seems to think that her system is scientific in the sense of being a workable system; she believes that in her system, leaving aside the moral and other limitations that she mentions, the last word ‘is always with the statistician’. Under the present system, on the other hand, she argues, we are asked to answer questions—such as ‘could he have helped what he did?’—which are inherently insoluble. (We shall see in Section 2 how far Lady Wootton is justified in saying this.)