Discourse and Context
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Common Ground for Positioning: a Discourse Analysis on Second Language Socialization
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi (H. U. Journal of Education) 29(2), 160-174 [Nisan 2014] Common Ground for Positioning: A discourse Analysis on Second Language Socialization Konumlandırma Amaçlı Ortak Zemin Oluşturulması: Amerika’da Yaşayan Türk Öğrencilerin Dil Sosyalleşmesi Deniz ORTAÇTEPE1 ABSTRACT: Applying Kecskes and Zhang's (2009) dynamic model of common ground in positioning theory (Davies & Harre, 1990), the present study aims to explore the second language (L2) socialization of Turkish students through the discursive processes as well as the skills they adopted in social interactions with the American speakers during a formal reception at an American university. The findings indicated that the Turkish students endorsed similar discursive processes not only to establish common ground as the American speakers', but also to position themselves in the speech context. This study highlights that engaging in real-life conversations with the target language speakers (Gumperz, 1996) encourages L2 learners/users (Cook, 1999) to embrace the discursive practices that are shared within a particular speech community. It also provides suggestions for future research embracing more longitudinal/ethnographic approahes to examine L2 socialization as well as teaching implications for instructional materials and contexts that reflect authentic social encounters. Keywords: Second language socialization, common ground, positioning, discourse analysis ÖZ: Bu çalışma, Kecskes ve Zhang’in (2009) ortak zemin dinamik modelini, konumlandırma teorisiyle (Davies ve Harre, 1990) bağdaştırarak, Amerika’da okuyan Türk öğrencilerin ikinci dil sosyalleşmeleri üzerine ışık tutmayı hedeflemektedir. Bu amaçtan yola çıkarak, çalışma Amerika’da bir üniversitede düzenlenen 23 Nisan Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı resepsiyona katılan Türk öğrencilerin diğer Amerikalı konuşmacılarla aralarındaki söylemleri analiz etmektedir. -
Logophoricity in Finnish
Open Linguistics 2018; 4: 630–656 Research Article Elsi Kaiser* Effects of perspective-taking on pronominal reference to humans and animals: Logophoricity in Finnish https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2018-0031 Received December 19, 2017; accepted August 28, 2018 Abstract: This paper investigates the logophoric pronoun system of Finnish, with a focus on reference to animals, to further our understanding of the linguistic representation of non-human animals, how perspective-taking is signaled linguistically, and how this relates to features such as [+/-HUMAN]. In contexts where animals are grammatically [-HUMAN] but conceptualized as the perspectival center (whose thoughts, speech or mental state is being reported), can they be referred to with logophoric pronouns? Colloquial Finnish is claimed to have a logophoric pronoun which has the same form as the human-referring pronoun of standard Finnish, hän (she/he). This allows us to test whether a pronoun that may at first blush seem featurally specified to seek [+HUMAN] referents can be used for [-HUMAN] referents when they are logophoric. I used corpus data to compare the claim that hän is logophoric in both standard and colloquial Finnish vs. the claim that the two registers have different logophoric systems. I argue for a unified system where hän is logophoric in both registers, and moreover can be used for logophoric [-HUMAN] referents in both colloquial and standard Finnish. Thus, on its logophoric use, hän does not require its referent to be [+HUMAN]. Keywords: Finnish, logophoric pronouns, logophoricity, anti-logophoricity, animacy, non-human animals, perspective-taking, corpus 1 Introduction A key aspect of being human is our ability to think and reason about our own mental states as well as those of others, and to recognize that others’ perspectives, knowledge or mental states are distinct from our own, an ability known as Theory of Mind (term due to Premack & Woodruff 1978). -
Context Pragmatics Definition of Pragmatics
Pragmatics • to ask a question: Maybe Sandy’s reassuring you that Kim’ll get home okay, even though she’s walking home late at night. Sandy: She’s got more than lipstick and Kleenex in that purse of hers. • What is Pragmatics? You: Kim’s got a knife? • Context and Why It’s Important • Speech Acts – Direct Speech Acts – Indirect Speech Acts • How To Make Sense of Conversations – Cooperative Principle – Conversational Maxims Linguistics 201, Detmar Meurers Handout 3 (April 9, 2004) 1 3 Definition of Pragmatics Context Pragmatics is the study of how language is used and how language is integrated in context. What exactly are the factors which are relevant for an account of how people use language? What is linguistic context? Why must we consider context? We distinguish several types of contextual information: (1) Kim’s got a knife 1. Physical context – this encompasses what is physically present around the speakers/hearers at the time of communication. What objects are visible, where Sentence (1) can be used to accomplish different things in different contexts: the communication is taking place, what is going on around, etc. • to make an assertion: You’re sitting on a beach, thinking about how to open a coconut, when someone (2) a. Iwantthat book. observes “Kim’s got a knife”. (accompanied by pointing) b. Be here at 9:00 tonight. • to give a warning: (place/time reference) Kim’s trying to bully you and Sandy into giving her your lunch money, and Sandy just turns around and starts to walk away. She doesn’t see Kim bring out the butcher knife, and hears you yell behind her, “Kim’s got a knife!” 2 4 2. -
The Application of Discourse Analysis to Instant Messaging Communication
Internet Discourse: The application of discourse analysis to instant messaging communication Honors Thesis Eric Ketcham, student Heather Littlefield, Ph.D., advisor Linguistics Program Northeastern University Fall 2010 – Spring 2011 *We wish to thank the Honors Office for the opportunity to conduct this research, as well as for an Early Research Grant. We also wish to thank the Provost Office for a Spring 2011 Undergraduate Research Grant. In addition, we wish to thank Jaclyn Karvelas for her work formatting and coding data, as well as Allison Madden for her work coding the data. Eric Ketcham wishes to especially thank Heather Littlefield for her help, guidance, and work all year long. I would not have been able to complete this project without her support and patience. **This research was approved by the Northeastern University Institutional Review Board under IRB# 10-10-03. 1 1. ABSTRACT Internet Discourse (ID) is commonly regarded as a hybrid between Spoken and Written Discourse (SD and WD). This model fails to take into account unique features of ID that cannot be explained by influence from either SD or WD. The present study paired participants to have online conversations on an instant messaging program. The conversations were coded for several features. The expression of emotion, the representation of the physical environment, abbreviations, punctuation and synchronicity were examined among other features. Internet Discourse was found to have many features in common with both Spoken and Written Discourse, but was also found to have enough unique features to be considered its own independent form of discourse. As a result, this paper proposes a triangular continuum model of influence between Internet, Spoken, and Written Discourses as the best conception of the three forms of discourse. -
Arxiv:2106.08037V1 [Cs.CL] 15 Jun 2021 Alternative Ways the World Could Be
The Possible, the Plausible, and the Desirable: Event-Based Modality Detection for Language Processing Valentina Pyatkin∗ Shoval Sadde∗ Aynat Rubinstein Bar Ilan University Bar Ilan University Hebrew University of Jerusalem [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Paul Portner Reut Tsarfaty Georgetown University Bar Ilan University [email protected] [email protected] Abstract (1) a. We presented a paper at ACL’19. Modality is the linguistic ability to describe b. We did not present a paper at ACL’20. events with added information such as how de- sirable, plausible, or feasible they are. Modal- The propositional content p =“present a paper at ity is important for many NLP downstream ACL’X” can be easily verified for sentences (1a)- tasks such as the detection of hedging, uncer- (1b) by looking up the proceedings of the confer- tainty, speculation, and more. Previous studies ence to (dis)prove the existence of the relevant pub- that address modality detection in NLP often p restrict modal expressions to a closed syntac- lication. The same proposition is still referred to tic class, and the modal sense labels are vastly in sentences (2a)–(2d), but now in each one, p is different across different studies, lacking an ac- described from a different perspective: cepted standard. Furthermore, these senses are often analyzed independently of the events that (2) a. We aim to present a paper at ACL’21. they modify. This work builds on the theoreti- b. We want to present a paper at ACL’21. cal foundations of the Georgetown Gradable Modal Expressions (GME) work by Rubin- c. -
Gee's Theory of D/Discourse and Research in Teaching English As A
Gee’s Theory of D/discourse and Research in Teaching English as a Second Language: Implications for the Mainstream Tim MacKay University of Manitoba MacKay, T. Gee’s Theory of D/discourse and ESL 1 In this paper I will undertake an exploration of James Paul Gee’s theory of D/discourses and discuss the relevance of this theory to current research in the fields of second language acquisition (SLA) and teaching English as a second language (TESL/ESL). In doing so, I will elaborate on Gee’s theory of D/discourse and will focus on Gee’s discussion of how D/discourses may be acquired. Following this, I will explore some of the parallels that exist between Gee’s theory and current research in SLA and TESL, and by doing so, will demonstrate how certain conditions are required for D/discourse acquisition to occur in the manner theorized by Gee. My intention is to use Gee’s theory and TESL research to suggest that schools and classrooms with students from minority language backgrounds need to carefully consider the social contexts in which these students are integrated. I also intend to show how Gee’s theory and TESL research provide support for the notion that, for effective language learning and academic achievement to occur for ESL learners, pedagogical interventions need to target students who are first language speaker of English in order to enhance ESL students’ opportunities to learn and integrate into the classroom. Gee’s Theory of D/discourses Linguistic theory has always played a significant role in the formulation of theories for second language acquisition (for summaries see, Beebe, 1988; Ellis, 1985; Fitzgerald Gersten & Hudelson, 2000; Spolsky, 1989). -
Semantics and Context-Dependence: Towards a Strawsonian Account∗
Semantics and Context-Dependence: Towards a Strawsonian Account∗ Richard G Heck, Jr Brown University Some time in the mid-1990s, I began to encounter variations on the following argument, which was popular with certain of my colleagues and with students who had fallen under their influence. (i) Semantics is about truth-conditions. (ii) Only utterances have truth-conditions. (iii) Hence, a semantic theory must assign truth-conditions to utterances. (iv) Only a theory that incorporated a complete theory of human rationality could assign truth-conditions to utterances. (v) So there is no such thing as a semantic theory (in anything like the usual sense). The argument need not be formulated in terms of truth-conditions. The first premise could equally be stated as: Semantics is about the expression of propositions. The rest of the argument then adapts smoothly. So (i) is meant to be obvious and uncontroversial. With regard to the second premise, it is important to appreciate the force of the word “only”: (ii) asserts that (perhaps with a very few exceptions, such as statements of pure mathematics) sentences never have truth-conditions; only utterances do. So what underwrites (ii) is not just the existence of context-dependence but, rather, its ubiquity. As has become clear over the last few decades, it is not just the obvious expressions—like “I”, “here”, “this”, and the like—whose meaning seems to vary with the circumstances of utterance. All of the following sentences seem as if they could express different propositions on different occasions, due to context-dependence connected with the italicized expressions: • No-one passed the test. -
Lexical Semantics Ling571 Deep Processing Techniques for NLP February 23, 2015 What Is a Plant?
Lexical Semantics Ling571 Deep Processing Techniques for NLP February 23, 2015 What is a plant? There are more kinds of plants and animals in the rainforests than anywhere else on Earth. Over half of the millions of known species of plants and animals live in the rainforest. Many are found nowhere else. There are even plants and animals in the rainforest that we have not yet discovered. The Paulus company was founded in 1938. Since those days the product range has been the subject of constant expansions and is brought up continuously to correspond with the state of the art. We’re engineering, manufacturing, and commissioning world-wide ready-to-run plants packed with our comprehensive know-how. Lexical Semantics So far, word meanings discrete Constants, predicates, functions Lexical Semantics So far, word meanings discrete Constants, predicates, functions Focus on word meanings: Relations of meaning among words Similarities & differences of meaning in sim context Lexical Semantics So far, word meanings discrete Constants, predicates, functions Focus on word meanings: Relations of meaning among words Similarities & differences of meaning in sim context Internal meaning structure of words Basic internal units combine for meaning Terminology Lexeme: Form: Orthographic/phonological + meaning Terminology Lexeme: Form: Orthographic/phonological + meaning Represented by lemma Lemma: citation form; infinitive in inflection Sing: sing, sings, sang, sung,… Terminology Lexeme: Form: Orthographic/phonological + meaning Represented by lemma Lemma: citation form; infinitive in inflection Sing: sing, sings, sang, sung,… Lexicon: finite list of lexemes Sources of Confusion Homonymy: Words have same form but different meanings Generally same POS, but unrelated meaning Sources of Confusion Homonymy: Words have same form but different meanings Generally same POS, but unrelated meaning E.g. -
Person, Context and Perspective
To appear in Rivista di Linguistica – Italian Journal of Linguistics in 2005. Person, Context and Perspective Ken Safir, Rutgers University ABSTRACT: It is argued that the indexicality of first person pronouns is arises from a restriction on the pronouns themselves, as opposed to any operator that binds them. The nature of this restriction is an asyntactic constant function that picks out individuals to the context of utterance (following Kaplan, 1989)). Constant function pronouns do not require an antecedent, neither an operator nor an argument, although this does not prevent them from participating in bound readings if an appropriate antecedent is introduced. The notion that agents of contexts and agents of propositional attitudes are versions of the same operator-variable relation is thus rejected, along with certain less fine-grained versions of the nature of de se interpretation. Consequently, indexical pronouns such as first person ones contrast with logophoric pronouns, which are necessarily operator-bound by perspectival operators introduced by propositional attitude verbs. Scope-sensitive properties of operator-binding and the perspectival interpretations that are imposed on logophoricity distinguish the latter from constant function phenomena, which are sensitive neither to scope, as it is usually treated, nor perspectival shifts. Constant function phenomena are also detectable as restrictions on third person forms, and two such examples are lightly explored: the English generic pronoun one and the proximate/obviative distinction in languages like Fox. 1.0 Introduction In this essay I defend the thesis that the indexicality of first person pronouns is a restriction on the pronouns themselves, as opposed to any operator that binds them. -
Cultural Studies, Critical Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis: Histories, Remembering and Futures
Cultural Studies, Critical Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis: Histories, Remembering and Futures. Terry Threadgold (Cardiff) Abstract In this paper I have explored some of the histories which inevitably connect, but also differentiate, critical discourse analysis and cultural studies. I have argued that both are strongly influenced by the versions of critical theory which have been characterised as 'postmodernism' and 'poststructuralism' and that both could benefit not only from some serious engagement with the several disciplines from which their interdisciplinarity is derived but also from some further in depth exploration of the critical theory which informs them and which they have often 'translated' or 'co-opted' in reductionist ways. I have also argued that the claims sometimes made for critical discourse analysis are inflated and that without serious ethnographies and attention to the theorisation as well as research of contexts those claims cannot really be sustained. On the other hand 'resignification' or the cultural politics of CDA are important agendas and we need to do much more work on establishing exactly how social change can be effected through the kinds of work CDA could do. My conclusion is that we need to reframe and recontextualise the ways in which we define and perform CDA and that that will involve bringing cultural studies and critical discourse analysis together in productive new ways with other disciplinary and theoretical formations and with proper attention to the new and different global and local contexts in which we work. 1 Introduction Of the three key terms in the first half of my title, not one is ubiquitously well defined, or understood in the same ways, in the different national, global, disciplinary or interdisciplinary contexts in which each may actually be discursively or performatively produced and enacted. -
Pragmatics Context Deixis
Llinguistics 3rd Year College of Education for Women / Tikrit University English Department Lecturer: Dr. Israa Burhanuddin Abdurrahman Pragmatics The study of what speakers mean, or 'speaker meaning', is called Pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of invisible meaning or how we recognize what is meant even when it is not actually said. Speakers depend on a lot of shared assumptions and expectations. You use the meanings of the words, in combination, and the context in which they occur, and you try to arrive at what the writer of the sign intended his message to convey Context • We have got two kinds of contexts. 1- one kind is best described as linguistic context, also known as cotext. • The co-text of a word is the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence. • e.g. I get to the bank to cash a cheque. • Bank is homonym. By looking at other words in the sentence we know which type of bank is intended. 2- another type of context is described as physical context . Our • understanding of what we read and hear is tied to the physical context, particularly the time and place. • e.g. The word bank on the wall of a building in a city. Deixis • There are some words in the language that cannot be interpreted at all, unless the physical context is known. “here, there, this, that, now, then, yesterday, come” , pronouns, such as “I, you, him, her, them”, e.g. You will have to bring that back tomorrow, because they are not here now. This sentence is vague. -
Indexicality and Context-Shift François Recanati
Indexicality and context-shift François Recanati To cite this version: François Recanati. Indexicality and context-shift. Workshop on indexicals, speech acts and logophors, Nov 2004, Harvard University. ijn_00000552 HAL Id: ijn_00000552 https://jeannicod.ccsd.cnrs.fr/ijn_00000552 Submitted on 29 Nov 2004 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Indexicality and context-shift François Recanati Institut Jean Nicod/Harvard University Workshop on Indexicality, Speech Acts and Logophors Harvard University, November 20th, 2004 1. Preliminaries 1.1 Indexicality and semantic under-specification Indexicals are expressions whose semantic value systematically depends upon the context of utterance, and whose linguistic meaning somehow encodes this dependency upon the context of utterance. Thus I do not count as indexical in the strict sense those expressions whose semantic value depends upon the context merely because they are semantically under- specified and function as free variables to which a value must be contextually assigned. Whenever an expression