Pragmatic Perspective Research Articles

Deconstructing The Universalism of Human Rights

The potential inapplicability of universal human rights may be attributed to three factors: linguistic deconstruction (the unsustainability of meaning), moral considerations, and practical application. Human rights are universal principles that establish precise standards for human behaviour and are consistently safeguarded by domestic and international laws. Irrespective of age, colour, geography, language, religion, or social status, they are universally recognized as inherent, essential rights that every individual has. These principles are considered inherent in all individuals worldwide. This research examines the vocabulary used in the human rights treaty and analyses selected articles from linguistic, moral, and pragmatic perspectives. The primary goal is to demonstrate a postmodern viewpoint and elucidate it via language.

Towards a Satisfactory Future—Multiprofessional Rehabilitation for Young Persons with ADHD or ASD

There is a lack of knowledge about what kind of support should be offered in adulthood for persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to promote inclusive participation in meaningful life domains. The core components of multiprofessional rehabilitation intervention for young adults are explored from the perspective of multiprofessional teams. This qualitative study adopts a pragmatic perspective on the core components of rehabilitation. Twenty-six professionals participated in vignette-based focus group interviews (n = 5), and thematic reflexive analysis was used to abductively analyze the data. A total of ten core components were identified. Nine of them were aggregated into three categories: (1) rehabilitation readiness (two core components), (2) adaptive progress in personal goals (four core components), and (3) rehabilitation continuum (three core components). The overarching tenth core component is focusing on the personal goals of daily life, work, studies, and social interaction. A collaborative relationship between the client and professional is essential to ensure adaptive progress and to foster clients’ self-determination. The focus should be on strengths and solutions instead of deficits and challenges. To establish rehabilitation continuum, it is essential to collaborate within the clients’ networks and to promote awareness and inclusive opportunities for working and studying for people with ADHD and ASD.

Implicit Meanings in the Quran: A Pragmatic Perspective

This study investigates the interpretation of indirect speech in the Quran, where meanings often extend beyond what is explicitly stated. Misinterpretations can arise when the listener’s understanding differs from the speaker’s intended meaning, a challenge particularly evident in the Quran due to its complex rhetorical nature. Using Thomas’s (1995) Speaker’s Meaning Framework, the research conducts a document analysis from a pragmatic perspective, focusing on the oral discourse between Prophets and their people. The findings, supported by insights from reputable Quranic scholars, highlight that the speaker’s meaning in indirect speech is best understood by considering both context (including physical, environmental, social, cultural, and linguistic factors) and the speaker’s intention. The study concludes that interpretation methods can be divided into those based on context and intention, and those based solely on intention. These insights are significant for guiding readers of the Quran in accurately interpreting indirect speech.

Effects of Recruitment, Selection and Training on Construction Project Team Performance in Australia

The article provides a review and synthesis of previous research findings backed by a pragmatic perspective pertaining to the effects of recruitment, selection, and training on construction project team performance in Australia. The paper has been structured in a manner that includes a brief introduction to the topic, definition of the problem statement and methodology, definition of recruitment, selection and training, importance of recruitment, selection and training for construction projects, investigation of current state of recruitment, selection and training in global construction projects and its relatability to Australian context, ascertainment of shortfalls and challenges of present approaches and how those impact the construction team’s performance at present, and finally analysis of existing strategies and novel concepts to overcome the shortfalls of existing recruitment, selection, and training practices. The study has been concluded with actionable recommendations to improve the existing recruitment, selection and training processes in a way that enhances the overall performance of construction projects, which has been verified with the assistance of industry professionals. The author anticipates that the content provided in this article shall be beneficial for effective decision making by organizational leadership as well as human resources personnel to establish and retain high performing construction project teams.

Why PNI scientists need to engage in exploratory hypothesis-generating biomarker studies

Multi-omics research is developing rapidly, offering extensive sample analysis options and advanced statistical solutions to identify and understand complex networks of biomarkers. This review encourages groups in the psychoneuroimmunology field with limited experience in omics research to embrace these advances. Cross-sectional studies can leverage existing sample collections to provide unique information that complements longitudinal studies, providing insights into which biological systems may warrant further investigation and building fundamental mechanistic knowledge of biological networks. The understanding of immune-brain interactions should inform ongoing developments in exploratory, hypothesis-generating research. Disregarding psychoneuroimmunological aspects may have led to challenges in some prior biomarker research. Moving forward, a more nuanced perspective on inflammation and psychological comorbidity is needed. The first steps in the conceptualization of an explorative cross-sectional omics study are discussed from a pragmatic perspective, highlighting who we choose to study and what we choose to measure.

Disclaiming in the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Questions (PMQs) Sessions: A Pragmatic perspective

The study conducts disclaiming, which states that one has no responsibility for or knowledge of something that has occurred. Specifically, this research examines disclaiming language in spontaneous verbal interactions, particularly during Boris Johnson's Prime Minister's Questions sessions. The main goal of the study is to analyze the forms of disclaiming that Boris Johnson employed during these sessions and identifying the most common type. It also explores the pragmatic strategies employed in Boris Johnson's Prime Minister's Questions sessions. The research methodology involves presenting a theoretical overview of disclaimers alongside a comprehensive analysis of the chosen data using qualitative and quantitative methods. The research findings indicate that the representation of disclaimers in Boris Johnson's sessions relies fundamentally on three key types that frequently occur during these sessions. Furthermore, the study also highlights the pragmatic strategies that underpin the use of disclaimers, including speech acts, Grice’s conversational maxims, and politeness strategies. These findings emphasize the complex interplay between pragmatic strategies and the use of disclaiming in verbal interactions and highlight the importance of utilizing disclaiming in political discourse.

Socio-political hoaxes in virtual public space: Assertive illocutionary manifestations of dishonesty in a critical pragmatics perspective

Fake news in a socio-political context is a form of language abuse that aims to create chaos and influence public opinion wrongly. The purpose of this study is (1) to describe the purpose of socio-political hoaxes in the public space as a clear manifestation of dishonesty. (2) Describe the purpose of socio-political hoaxes in the public space as a clear manifestation of dishonesty. This study applies a qualitative descriptive approach to explore the complexity of language phenomena in the context of socio-political hoaxes. The research data is a snippet of a speech of socio-political reality on social media. The data collection method is a listening method that involves reading and recording social media content. In the analysis stage, additional language matching methods are applied to connect the language used with the relevant social, cultural, and situational context. The analysis steps carried out include identification, classification, typification, and interpretation. The findings of the embodiment of the form and purpose of this research are presented as follows: (1) Fake content with the aim of provoking and misleading the public; (2) Fake video content with the purpose of misleading and lying; (3) False illustrations with the aim of deceiving the public; (4) False content with the purpose of defaming and deceiving the public; (5) False content with the purpose of inciting and misleading the public; (6) Hoaxes with the purpose of insulting and defaming; (7) False content with the aim of inciting and misleading the public.

An Analysis of Cantonese Verbal Humor in Table for Six from the Perspective of Pragmatics

Table for Six is a Hong Kong comedy movie released in 2022. With a box office of 77 million Hong Kong dollars, it won the historical championship of Hong Kong comedy films and was well-received by the public upon its release. It is a superb example of a “Dayo Wong-style movie” , with a ton of amazing Cantonese verbal humor. The cooperation principle, a crucial pragmatics theory, is used in this study along with qualitative research methodologies to investigate the mechanism of verbal humor production in the Cantonese setting. The article strategically selects four very representative character dialogues in the movie and conducts an in-depth analysis of them using the cooperative principle’s quantity maxim, quality maxim, relation maxim and manner maxim, further broadening the scope of linguistics research in the Cantonese context.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Parenthetical Structures in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

This paper aims to investigate the functions of parenthetical structures in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It seeks to identify how these structures are employed from a pragmatic perspective and examines three specific types. The first type is comment clauses, which have pragmatic value; these expressions are important for readers to understand the intended meaning. The second type is relative clauses, which are used to present additional information, thereby enhancing meaning and interpretation. The final type is apposition, which helps the reader identify a referent. Hence, this paper focuses on the functions of these types, which hold significant contextual value in aiding the reader's interpretation. Therefore, it is asserted that such expressions cannot be analyzed solely through sentence grammar, as they are influenced more by contextual factors than by grammatical structures.

Enhancing Performance in Construction Project Management Teams

The seminar paper provides a pragmatic perspective of the topic of enhancing performance in construction project management teams. The paper provides a detailed collated review of several key areas pertaining to construction project management teams and their performance based on the findings of previous research. The study has focused on a range of aspects namely, leadership, competence and capabilities, effective communication, decision-making, interpersonal relationships and emotional intelligence, project management and governance approaches, trust, psychological safety, and team culture. Each sub-topic (aspect) has been structured in a manner that includes a brief introduction to the aspect, its importance for construction projects, the current state in construction projects, strategies, and approaches to eliminate the issues and contribute to increase in the team’s overall performance and finally, the novel strategies and tools pertaining to the focus area. The author anticipates that the content provided in this seminar paper shall be beneficial for effective decision making by organizational leadership and for the project leadership and the team to pay more consideration towards the strategies and approaches to enhance the elaborated aspects that are often overlooked in construction projects.

Pragmatic Meaning of Cigarette-Related Hoax on Social Media: Cyber-Pragmatic Study

The relationship between hoaxes and the internet is really intricate and impactful. There are varieties of hoaxes spread in the internet. With their accelerated spread, ease of creation, virality, anonymity and pseudomity, hoaxes have easily provoked the public. As we know, hoaxes are described in such detail even the intrinsic function of language is not properly used. The language which is supposed to deliver ideas and communicate has been used improperly by irresponsible people who are tyring to deceive or cause concern and fear. Hence, this research aims at increasing the awarness of hoaxes on social media especially the hoax of cigarette related news by understanding the pragmatic meaning of cigarette hoaxes spread in internet. By implementing the cyber-pragmatics perspective, the writer tried to describe the virtual external context in order to find the meaning of the hoax utterances. Cyberpragmatics is an analysis of Internet-mediated communication from the perspective of cognitive pragmatics (Yus, 2011). The data were taken from social media, such as facebook, twitter, instagram, tiktok and online news by implementing the note taking technique. All data which have been gathered were then analyzed by distribution analysis method with forward expansion technique (Rahardi, 2020). From the analysis of the data, there are 8 meaning of cigarette –related hoaxes found as follow; 1. influencing ; 2. defaming; 3. satirizing; 4. propagandizing; 5. questioning; 6. spreading commotion; 7. validating and 8. harrassing. By this research, public is expected to increase the critical awareness toward hoaxes spread in the internet so that they just don’t accept all the information without any consideration.

Écologie et démocratie (2022) de Joëlle Zask : un compte rendu critique

This essay is a review of Joëlle Zask’s book titled Écologie et démocratie, published in 2022 by Premier Parallèle. Its goal is to first summarize the main arguments of the book, highlight its originality, and finally propose some of its potentials. The relevance of this book lies particularly in the fact that it conceptualizes democracy not merely as a type of “political machinery”, but as a “way of life”, which is intimately connected to an ecological culture. Zask thus demonstrates that a pragmatist perspective of democracy allows it to be concretely linked to political ecology. However, a sociological or ethnographic investigation based on this theory could further nuance and refine its principles.

The pragmatics of black–white conversations: Richard Wright’s representation of the African American experience

Abstract Richard Wright represents the African American experience of white racism in his novel Native Son and autobiography Black Boy. In the two works, Wright delves into the psychic effects of white racism on young African Americans. From a pragmatic perspective, this article analyzes the conversations between whites and young African Americans in the two works, with the aim of exploring how the conversations can impact on how the young African Americans think about reality and about themselves in relation to whites, that is, how whites attempt to form black subjectivity through conversation. The conversational mechanisms of the formation of black subjectivity are investigated by building on research in pragmatics on conversational cooperation and interpersonal pragmatics. The article first examines the structural features of black-white conversations, and explains the conversational norms by using Grice’s theory of conversation as the explanatory framework. The analysis sheds light on the relative nature of Grice’s maxims and the inseparability of the informational and the relational aspects of conversation. The article examines the relationship dynamics of black-white conversations by drawing on studies in interpersonal pragmatics. From the stylistic feature of the use of address terms, the study delves into the interracial pragmatics of black–white conversations.

Human resources management practices and organisational performance in the Nepalese development banks: Insights from structural equation modelling

Purpose: Effective human resource management (HRM) practices are essential factors that provide organizations with a competitive edge and contribute to their overall performance. This study examines the impact of HRM practices, including recruitment and selection (RS), training and development (TD), compensation policies (CPs), and performance appraisal (PA), on the organizational performance (OP) of the Nepalese development banks (DBs). Design/methodology/approach: The study followed a causal-comparative research approach. It employed a structured questionnaire to gather the necessary data from 257 working representatives of the ten selected Nepalese DBs. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to examine the association between the variables and validate the study hypotheses. Findings: The HRM practices exhibit a significant and positive association with OP (β = 0.910; p < 0.05), indicating their influence on achieving organisational success. Such findings offer a pragmatic perspective for achieving HRM excellence and organisational effectiveness in the Nepalese DBs. Research constraints/implications: Analysis of cross-sectional data from development banks cannot be extrapolated to other sectors. This study emphasises the importance of compensation, performance measurement, hiring and selection, development, and training in improving OP, confirming and expanding prior findings. These insights may benefit policymakers, HR managers, and executives in enhancing HR operations by improving employee performance and business productivity.Originality/value: This study's unique contribution is its examination of HRM dynamics and their direct impact on OP, notably in the Nepalese DBs. The DBs may optimise their HR, enhancing OP and a long-lasting competitive advantage.

Teachers’ collective habits as critical for establishing collegial learning

ABSTRACT In the past two decades, scholarly discourse has consistently emphasised the efficacy of collective efforts in professional development and school improvement. Collaborative endeavours among teachers, where they systematically explore their teaching practices and collaboratively address relevant improvement issues, have proven more effective than individual pursuits in educational change. However, research also underscores the inherent challenges of such collective initiatives, particularly in collegial learning. In a longitudinal study, we adopted a pragmatic perspective to delve into the collective habits of teacher teams working towards establishing collegial learning. The identified collective habits, which revolve around collective participation, the improvement process, and scientific activities, play a pivotal role in either facilitating or hindering the establishment of collegial learning to achieve professional development and school improvement. We posit that a critical exploration of collective habits is imperative for teacher teams aiming to nurture novel and impactful practices. Strategies conducive to teachers’ collegial learning encompass fostering pedagogical leadership, cultivating continuity, and embracing scientific rigour in the analysis of classroom data.

Discourse-pragmatic markers, fillers and filled pauses: Pragmatic, cognitive, multi-modal and sociolinguistic perspectives, edited by Kate Beeching, Grant Howie, Minna Kirjavainen, and Anna Piasecki

Discourse-pragmatic markers, fillers and filled pauses: Pragmatic, cognitive, multi-modal and sociolinguistic perspectives, edited by Kate Beeching, Grant Howie, Minna Kirjavainen, and Anna Piasecki

Studying Political Caricatures from a Pragmatic Perspective

Studying Political Caricatures from a Pragmatic Perspective

‘Another world of pain’—athlete and sport physiotherapist perspectives on the unique experience of pain in sport

Our objective was to explore athlete’s and sports physiotherapists’ experiences of sports-related pain in the upper and lower limb. Using a constructivist and pragmatic perspective, we carried out focus groups...

Managing Intercultural Business Relations: Metapragmatic Expressions in Online Negative Review Responses

The proliferation of mass media and online platforms has catalyzed the digital turn of business communication. This paper adopts an intercultural pragmatic perspective to explore the interpersonal functions of metapragmatic expressions (MPEs) in online negative review responses, an area that has received limited attention in earlier research, particularly with regard to the interpersonal dynamics in intercultural business settings. Based on 277 English negative reviews and responses gathered from TripAdvisor in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, this study found that agents use MPEs to manage rapport when responding to online negative reviews. More specifically, the interpersonal functions of MPEs are embodied in different move structures as they are used as common ground builders and salience adjusters. The present study advances our understanding of the MPEs in digital intercultural business communication and sheds light on metapragmatic awareness and intercultural pragmatic competence that are essential for managing business relations.

Analysis of Leadership Styles Practiced in Construction Projects – A Review

The seminar paper provides a review of previous research findings backed by a pragmatic perspective pertaining to the topic of leadership styles practiced in construction projects. The paper provides a detailed collated review of various leadership styles based on prominent leadership theories that are practiced worldwide at present alongside a pragmatic analysis of the feasibility of the said leadership styles for construction projects. The paper has been structured in a manner that includes a brief introduction to the topic, definition of leadership, theories and styles, importance of the analysis of leadership styles followed by the discussion section that provides a comprehensive review of the characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, examples, best fit situations and the feasibility of each selected leadership style. Finally, the paper is concluded with recommendations that could be applied across the board to improve leadership within construction projects. The author anticipates that the content provided in this seminar paper shall be beneficial for effective decision making by organizational leadership to establish high performing construction project teams led by appropriate leaders that not only are focused on the achievement of scope, schedule, cost and quality requirements but also the wellbeing of team members.