Pragmatic Value Research Articles

The Pragmatic Value and Innovative Use of Puns in Chinese Network Context

With the rapid development of Internet technology and the widespread adoption of social media, the forms of language use in the network context have become increasingly diverse. Puns, as a unique rhetorical device, play a significant role in this environment. This paper delves into the pragmatic value and innovative use of puns in Chinese within the network context, analyzing their roles in enhancing humor, promoting implicitness, enriching diversity, and facilitating cultural exchange and integration. At the same time, this paper also addresses the challenges and issues faced by puns in the network context and proposes corresponding countermeasures. Through this research, we aim to provide new perspectives and directions for thinking in the study of network language, further promoting its development and application.

Broadening equitable access to solar: renters, non-adopters and the impact of consumption values on attitudes and installation intentions

ABSTRACT Addressing inequities in rooftop solar access is crucial to achieving decarbonisation and energy justice goals. This study contributes to the literature by applying an adapted consumption values model to the rooftop solar context and by examining renters’ perceptions of factors that would reduce barriers to solar uptake. An online survey (n = 331) of Australian households reveals that value-for-money perceptions are the only significant difference between adopters and non-adopters of solar. Structural equation modelling shows that, while idealistic values influence attitudes towards rooftop solar, pragmatic values drive installation intentions, which is aligned with prior research. Logistic regression shows that the higher the functional value (defined as the perceived utility of a product based on value for money, performance or quality perceptions) and the higher the conditional value (defined as the perceived utility of a product based on the circumstances faced by the decision maker), the higher the odds of installing solar. The findings are consistent with studies reporting significant cost barriers to solar adoption. Several recommendations for policy makers and practitioners are made to support equitable access to rooftop solar and help address the negative effects of past policies that favoured homeowners over renters.

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.

Devaluation of Work and Its Linkage With Worker Risks in the Recent Transformation of the Work Sphere

ABSTRACTOver the last decades, sociologists of work have paid increasing attention to the critical phenomena in the labor market, among them the devaluation of work and its factors. Based on an analysis of publications in the field, this paper outlines problems of transforming work meanings and values, including their linkage with new worker risks and job security caused by the rapid work changes, precarization, social inequality, growing population gap between the advanced and developing countries, global pandemics, climate crisis and the like. These phenomena reflect social, economic, political, and legal changes and their impact on the sphere of work. Current work challenges have initiated research discussions in the work sphere that have helped spotlight the ongoing transformation of work meanings/values. The article reviews the diversity of theoretical approaches and practical implications of work values transformation from the perspective of factors determining long‐lasting shifts in work values, ranging from recognizing the intrinsic meanings of work to the predominance of pragmatic, instrumental work attitudes. The authors identified three main types of transforming work values based on a systematic mapping of publications. First, the prevalence of material, pragmatic values almost does not leave space for the social value of work. Second, it is the perception of work as a meaningless activity that cannot contribute to work satisfaction. Third, it is a vision of a society without work. When describing these types, the authors outline the transformation of work into an ordinary market product that has lost its intrinsic value and become a source of frustration, alienation, and psychological stress for workers. Diversity of work values reflects the controversial processes related to the global transformation of labor from the growth of innovative potential of some professions to the fear of technological unemployment and new risks for others.

Medicalising agents? Teachers' uncertainty and emerging expertise in the age of inclusion policy and medicalisation in Israel.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a paradigmatic case for childhood medicalisation. Critical studies of medicalisation have pointed to the increasing clinical role of schools, with teachers tending to rely on medical treatment of students with ADHD and are perceived as a primary source of diagnostic information. Based on 27 semi-structured interviews with teachers working in two Israeli elementary and middle schools, this research explored how teachers mediate the medicalisation process and understand their responsibilities in the classroom amidst the emphasis on inclusion in contemporary Israel. We found that teachers offer a wide range of explanations of the disorder and its prevalence, and their attitudes to medication are ambivalent. We argue that teachers develop pedagogical (lay) expertise in the field of ADHD in parallel with and in opposition to medical solutions. Such expertise is based on practical experience and close interaction with students. A top-down ideological imperative of inclusion, combined with uncertainty about ADHD, has generated a bottom-up set of preformative practices of 'containment' of troubled students. Teachers' emerging knowledge and practices raise questions about the relationship between medicalisation, policy, expertise and the pragmatic value of medical categories when applied outside the medical establishment.

Bringing water values into play in the Atacama desert water crisis

The current water crisis in the Atacama Desert is explained by extractivist models based on the overexploitation of this resource. Extensive mega-mining is devastating water reserves and causing inequities in access for local indigenous communities. In the present work, through ethnographic research in the community of Mamiña, we show how the water values of different local actors come into conflict. Through a positioned analysis model, we observe two types of water-related values, some determined by worldviews and others created by socio-environmental relationships throughout history. Along these two axes, we observe the emergence of new pragmatic values that make an adequate collective response to the water crisis challenging to implement. We argue that this paradox can be better understood through an approach focused on the sociocultural analysis of water values, deriving from the context of their emergence, as well as their complementarities and dynamics.

A ver (si): diacronía de un marcador del discurso en español

Abstract In this work, the diachronic perspective is used to explain the coexistence in current Spanish of three constructions: a) syntactic structures like a ver (si) + complement, integrated into the sentence framework, b) non-sentence fragments like a ver and c) independent structures, like a ver si + sentence complement. Out-side the sentence framework, both non-sentence fragments and independent sen-tences fulfil pragmatic values (interactive) or discursive values (favoring the construction of discourse). To carry out this diachronic investigation, we start from the syntactic insubordination hypothesis (cf. Evans 2007; Evans/Watanabe 2016), assuming that independence structures are the result of their insubordination from the governing nucleus of the sentence framework. In the first place, according to the documentation provided by the Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), it is verified when the integrated syntactic structures like a ver (si) + complement, which we call experimentation structures, begin to be documented and when they stabilize in the language. The body of documents is subsequently reviewed to verify the first cases of syntactic insubordination and to verify how these syntactic independence processes end up being conventionalized and start to function as procedural marks with pragmatic and discursive value.

From Foe to Friend: Exploring State-Led Destigmatization

We seek to understand the distinctive process of state-led category destigmatization, extending an emergent stream of research on category destigmatization that has so far focused on the efforts of stigmatized members of categories. When a category conflicts with a prevailing ideology, internal actors may face such substantial barriers to destigmatization that the state—often motivated by the pragmatic benefits of that category’s success—must take a proactive role in the effort. Focusing on an extreme case, we explore the revival of the private business category in China through a longitudinal case study. We develop a grounded process model that highlights the interplay among the state, category members, and the public as a framework for understanding this type of destigmatization process. Our model also addresses dynamics that can emerge within the state when political power is divided between category proponents and opponents with competing ideological stances. Our study highlights the need for the state to balance destigmatization efforts with maintaining legitimacy, prompting iterative strategic adjustments based on local feedback, evolving public opinion, and intrastate competition between political factions. Our findings show that such adjustments may be needed even in authoritarian states, which are typically more coercive. In addition, we find that states can effectively use backstage strategies (e.g., regulatory leniency) and frontstage strategies (e.g., legislative change) in complementary ways to advance destigmatization while safeguarding the state’s legitimacy. Finally, we show that starting a category destigmatization effort by emphasizing the category’s pragmatic values (prior to advocating for moral reevaluation of the category) can mitigate ideological conflict and increase chances of successful destigmatization.

Contextual similarities in psychological flexibility: the Brazil-Portugal transcultural adaptation of Psy-Flex

Psychological Flexibility is an essential concept in Contextual Behavioural Sciences. The development of instruments is vital for its study, and it is an opportunity to reflect on this concept. Among the measures of this construct, Psy-Flex shows promise due to comprehensiveness in assessing the six facets of psychological flexibility and its pragmatic value. In the present study, we sought to translate Psy-Flex to Portuguese and adapt it transculturally for use in Portugal and Brazil. The translation was done independently by Brazilian and Portuguese researchers, and a consensus procedure was done to identify a synthesis. A total of 873 adults from Portugal and Brazil were involved in this study. The participants completed several questionnaires with ACT-related measures (e.g., cognitive fusion, mindful attention) and instruments measuring conceptually related variables (e.g., positive mental health). The results show good psychometric properties of PsyFlex. The one-factor structure of the original instrument was confirmed in both the Portuguese and Brazilian samples. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good fit of the model to the data (CFI = 0.985, RMSEA = 0.055) of both countries. Furthermore, the Psy-Flex showed convergent validity with related measures in a conceptually expected way. As a transcultural instrument, we argue that both the similarities and differences across samples suggest the broad human nature of psychological flexibility while retaining its context sensitivity.

Dynamics of Multimodal Components in English Educational Discourse: the Case of “English Grammar in Use” by Raymond Murphy

This article aims to identify the linguistic features of English-language educational discourse in terms of structural, descriptive, semantic, and cognitive-pragmatic analyses. The relevance of the study stems from the need to identify trends in the representation of language components in modern grammar textbooks within the communicative-pragmatic paradigm of educational discourse. The authors focus on the linguosynergetic potential of the English grammar textbook “English Grammar in Use” by Raymond Murphy, manifested in changes of certain discourse markers in all five editions. Employing a multimodal discourse analysis methodology, this research scrutinizes the verbal and visual disparities—encompassing graphic elements, letter capitalization, italics, font, and color—that hold pragmatic value and fulfill various roles, from engagement to information conveyance. The authors also investigate the interference of advertising and educational discourses and the small-format nature of texts in this self-study textbook, whose hypertext structure and internal navigational system serve as a surrogate for teacher guidance, thereby performing a directive function. A diachronic analysis of communicative scenarios within the textbook’s exercises reveals the dynamic utilization of interjections, underscoring their importance in creating an emotive-expressive backdrop that facilitates the acquisition of grammatical phenomena, reflective of their real-world application. Thus, in an attempt to represent the features of natural communication and to avoid the use of linguistic terms, the author of the textbook presents complex grammatical material in the most accessible form for a wide audience. Consequently, the study highlights the textbook’s increasing emphasis on the personality-bound component, complementing the traditionally dominant status-oriented approach in educational discourse.

Ukrainian–Russian bilingualism in the war-affected migrant and refugee communities in Austria and Germany: a survey-based study on language attitudes

IntroductionThis paper provides an initial exploration of Ukrainian–Russian bilingualism in the context of the war-affected migration from Ukraine to Austria and Germany. While extensive research exists on various aspects of Ukrainian– Russian bilingualism in relation to Ukraine itself, thus far no studies have been conducted on this bilingualism in the diasporic context, i.e., as a language of the first and subsequential generations with a migrant background in Austria and Germany.MethodsTo address this research gap, our paper examines the language attitudes of two respondent groups with a Ukrainian background in the two countries: migrants and refugees who left Ukraine after 2014 and those who left after Russia’s invasion in February 2022. In the framework of a sociolinguistic survey, we describe their current attitudes regarding the use of Ukrainian and Russian, among others, in relation to the actual and intended use of the language(s) in the multilingual context of migration. The survey eliciting information on demographic information, language proficiency, language attitudes and language use was conducted on 406 Ukrainians in two host countries (Austria: n = 103; Germany: n = 306). First, we compared self-rated proficiency in Ukrainian and Russian as well as attitudes and use of these languages. Second, we applied a network modelling analysis to determine the nature of relationships between these variables.Results and discussionThe results indicated that proficiency in Ukrainian and in Russian were the strongest nodes in the model affecting language use and language attitudes toward the respective languages. Our data analysis focused on the pragmatic and symbolic value of Russian and Ukrainian playing a crucial role in the language vitality in multilingual settings. The paper discusses the imbalanced correlation of the symbolic and pragmatic value of Ukrainian and Russian in the diasporic Ukrainian communities. While Ukrainian has gained a higher symbolic status, Russian maintains a better pragmatic one, despite its negative symbolic status. However, we anticipate that the increasing symbolic value of Ukrainian and the diminishing value of Russian will lead to an increase in the use of Ukrainian also in Russian-dominant bilingual groups of Ukrainian migrants and refugees, even as an insider-code in hermetic minority groups.

Multi-Scale Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Carbon Emissions in Yangtze River Economic Belt and Study of Decoupling Effects

An in-depth, longitudinal examination of carbon emissions and decoupling within the Yangtze River Economic Belt, supplemented by a dynamic assessment of its evolutional trajectory, provides a scientifically grounded framework and pragmatic value for the drafting of regional carbon emission mitigation strategies. Using the Yangtze River Economic Belt as a context, this study formulates a carbon emission model spanning provincial, city, and county levels. The model serves to uncover the spatiotemporal characteristics of carbon emissions within the Yangtze River Economic Belt from a multi-scalar vantage point. The Tapio decoupling model is then invoked to examine the extent and nature of decoupling between economic advancement and carbon emissions across these disparate scales. The outcomes divulge the following: (1) At the provincial echelon, the progression of carbon emissions born from energy consumption within the Yangtze River Economic Zone presents an escalating then stabilizing trend line. The carbon emissions growth rate transitions from a swift ascension of 8.44 percent initially, subsequently tapering to a moderate increment of 0.42 percent at the period’s culmination. The trajectory of carbon decoupling at the provincial scale tends to be generally propitious. (2) At the municipal scale, the overall carbon emission level shows a gradual upward trend, and then gradually forms a pattern of centripetal aggregation and peripheral diffusion. The decoupling status during the study period is mainly weak and strong decoupling, with the number of weak decoupling showing a fluctuating change in increasing and then decreasing, while the strong decoupling shows a slow and orderly growth trend, and is mainly distributed in most of the municipalities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. (3) At the county scale, centripetal aggregation and peripheral diffusion were already present at the beginning of the study period, followed by the gradual expansion and formation of several carbon emission centers of different sizes. The temporal evolution of county-level decoupling is more significant, with weak and strong decoupling dominating the county-scale decoupling during the study period, especially in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, but the overall trend shows signs of gradual decoupling.

Pragmatic values of clitic se: norm deviation and speaker counter-expectations

Pragmatic values of clitic se: norm deviation and speaker counter-expectations

Valuation conflicts in Madagascar’s mining reform: A pragmatic inquiry into surplus distribution from strategic transition minerals

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) production as a central part of decarbonisation strategies is driving mineral extraction in countries of the global South, where they exacerbate existing conflicts over the creation and distribution of value. Value, however, is a contested concept. Following the pragmatic sociology of values, we argue that the analysis of value creation and distribution cannot be separated from the intersubjective and normative conflicts over valuation. We examine valuation controversies in Madagascar as a mining dispute by describing the grammar of values on the example of taxation design in Madagascar’s mining reform influenced by LIB production. Empirical evidence from ethnographic fieldwork and expert interviews on negotiations between stakeholders’ different principles of value helped identify conflicting value justifications and finding local compromises. Here, the pervasive nature of neoliberal economisation is monopolised by a specific interpretation of value wired to investors’ expectations and complicated by path-dependent legacies. Our analysis illustrates how asymmetric economic power favours particular economic and operating registers of a ‘green capitalism’ valuation system. Building on the analytical gain of Heinich’s novel pragmatic value approach, we show how the recent mining reform in Madagascar is contested and that compromise around value remains fragile (or impossible) in the current institutional context.

Multilingual views of food service signage

The paper considers the multilingual views of food services signage. The food ser-vice sign boards are selected as the research topic due to their sociocultural relevance: food is viewed as part of national cultural codes and international universals. The paper aims to determine the variants of multilingual names of food service companies (cafes, restaurants) and the attitude to the respective names' variants from the part of various categories of the population. The method-ology uses a mixed-method approach, combining theoretical analysis of the academic sources, empirical categorization of food signages, interviews of various catego-ries of respondents, and statistical processing of the respondents' data and their replies. The research results have made it possible to identify major trends in the language repertoire of food service signages, identify different groups of the re-spondents' population regarding their attitudes towards the linguistics repertoire of food service sign boards, and outline promising communicative practices in the field. The results can be used for linguists' training in the field of sociolinguis-tics for advertising specialists-to-be education regarding the potential and bound-aries of the multilingual landscape concerning its communicative, pragmatic, and ideological values. Moreover, the collected data can be used as a didactic back-ground for translators' training focusing on the translanguaging phenomenon.

From theory to practice: The pragmatic value of applying systems thinking and complexity sciences in healthcare.

From theory to practice: The pragmatic value of applying systems thinking and complexity sciences in healthcare.

Fat and fat-free mass measurement agreement by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry versus bioelectrical impedance analysis: Effects of posture and waist circumference.

Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) operates under the assumption that the conductor has a uniform cylindrical shape. However, this assumption may be violated if measures are taken in the seated position, especially in people with a high waist circumference (WC). The aims of this research were to determine whether posture (supine, standing, and seated) and WC affect agreement between BIA and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measures of fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM). Baseline data were collected from 28 adults (mean=61.4±6.9years, 64.3% female) with obesity (BMI 38.6±5.0kg/m2). Body composition was measured using BIA in the supine, standing, and seated positions and by DXA while supine. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses with two-way mixed effects and absolute agreement were performed to determine agreement. Point estimates were excellent for FM and FFM while supine, excellent for FM and good for FFM while standing, and moderate for FM and good for FFM while seated. BIA measures in the supine position resulted in the narrowest 95% confidence intervals compared with other positions. Better agreement was observed across all positions in participants with a WC below the median (118.3cm). Despite the potential pragmatic value of measuring with BIA in a seated position, the results of this analysis demonstrate the poorest agreement between DXA and BIA methods, especially in individuals with high WC. Findings from this study demonstrate that BIA, particularly when measured in a supine position, can serve as a viable alternative to DXA for measuring body composition in people with obesity.

Legal Framework for the Aged: Progress and Pitfalls in India's Elderly Welfare Policies

Old age is the most vulnerable phase of human life cycle. It is at this phase that the elderly requires maximum care and protection. But the sociocultural changes associated with the globalization and development has weakened the traditional values and family support systems for senior citizens. There is an increase in the prevalence of elder abuse and difficulties in getting appropriate care and support. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (MWP) Act came into existence in the year 2007 is an important legislation in India which provides maintenance support to elderly parents and senior citizens and also safeguarded the elderly from exploitation and abuse. Considering the challenges it poised an immediate need to incorporate the necessary amendments was felt and the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2019 was passed. The new Act was passed so that the act gets more pragmatic value and becomes and important tool for elderly care and protection and reduce vulnerabilities and ensure holistic care with support in various bio-psycho-social domains.

Ризома как механизм манипуляции в немецкоязычном журналистском тексте

The research focuses on the pressing issue of contemporary political discourse – the technologies of manipulation in the media space, specifically the linguistic mechanisms for transmitting pragmatic attitudes and value orientations in journalistic texts. These processes directly correlate with the phenomenon of increasing entropy in the text and, as the study has shown, largely arise from the rhizome - the nonlinear nature of organizing integrity. The research aim is to identify the linguistic mechanisms underlying the rhizomatic structure of media text. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time, using a specific info-cause as an example, the rhizome is examined as a mechanism for implementing manipulative strategies in the modern German-speaking media space; the conditioned technologies of modeling pragmatic attitudes by the rhizome are revealed; the explicit and implicit mechanisms of implementing this process are described. The obtained results have shown that in journalistic texts, the rhizome manifests itself as multi-vectorial and the contradictory transmission of information, greatly enhancing the possibilities of interpretations inherent in the language structure, becoming a significant mechanism for implementing manipulative strategies.

Scheduling of automated ore terminal operations based on fixed inflow rhythm

To facilitate transportation, some mines construct specialized ore terminals for outbound shipments. However, these terminals frequently encounter challenges when synchronizing their schedules with the production plans of the mines. The primary issue arises due to the inherent deviation between vessel demand and mine production schedules. The terminals must efficiently arrange storage positions for diverse cargo types and berthing orders of vessels to reduce the time vessels spend at the terminal and operation time. In this study, we propose a comprehensive two-step model framework that considers various customer priorities to optimize the operational plans for each operation. In the first step, we propose a column-generation approach to generate candidate berth plans. Subsequently, we evaluate the feasibility of berth plans and construct an infeasible CUT to modify the model. We implement the developed framework in real-world case studies to demonstrate its practicality and potential. Computational outcomes underscore the method’s efficacy in resolving coordination challenges between mines and terminals. Furthermore, it exhibits a noteworthy capability to diminish the terminal’s spatial requirements, enhancing its pragmatic value.