Pub Date : 2023-07-11DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01502007
Lu-Yen Ko
This study analyzes the usage of Sinographs (Chinese characters) across globally dispersed user communities on YouTube, and focuses on their usage patterns in relational communication about ethnic Chinese identities. This is achieved by analyzing YouTube comments on the official music video for the Mandopop (Mandarin pop music) song “Fragile” (玻璃心) as a corpus. Firstly, the history and media environment of ethnic Chinese communities are reviewed to provide context for why “Fragile” sparked heated discussion in the YouTube comment section. Then, the methodological approach of corpus pragmatics, the data, and the methodology including corpus analytical process and tools used are discussed. Finally, the analysis results are presented in two parts: the usage of sentence patterns that communicate relationships and identities, and the usage of metamessages that indicate ethnic Chinese identities.
{"title":"The usage of Sinographs in relational communication about ethnic Chinese identities on YouTube","authors":"Lu-Yen Ko","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01502007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01502007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study analyzes the usage of Sinographs (Chinese characters) across globally dispersed user communities on YouTube, and focuses on their usage patterns in relational communication about ethnic Chinese identities. This is achieved by analyzing YouTube comments on the official music video for the Mandopop (Mandarin pop music) song “Fragile” (玻璃心) as a corpus. Firstly, the history and media environment of ethnic Chinese communities are reviewed to provide context for why “Fragile” sparked heated discussion in the YouTube comment section. Then, the methodological approach of corpus pragmatics, the data, and the methodology including corpus analytical process and tools used are discussed. Finally, the analysis results are presented in two parts: the usage of sentence patterns that communicate relationships and identities, and the usage of metamessages that indicate ethnic Chinese identities.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44350812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-11DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01502005
Ruiyuan Xu, Chiarung Lu
This study explores a new type of grammaticalisation, namely, grammatical constructionalisation, based on an investigation of the use of a newly emerging construction, the [X.jpg] construction, in online forums in Taiwan. JP(E)G stands for ‘Joint Photographic Experts Group’. As an abbreviation for the file extension of images, it was initially attached to image files in computers. However, in Taiwanese Mandarin, new usages for it have developed, whereby it can be attached to any phrase, including those without any source images, thereby simply pretending that the phrase has an attached image. Since the file extension .jpg is a technical term and a bound morpheme, when it extends to attenuating the force of the speech act, it functions as a pragmatic marker or hedge. This process of change from lexical to grammatical is known as grammatical constructionalisation and reveals the results of the interplay between popular Internet memes and user psychology. When using [X.jpg], users tend to downtone the speaker’s attitude, increase solidarity among insiders and pursue vividness and a sense of humour. This usage initially emerged under the technical limitations of a text-only online environment. The findings of this study suggest that the constructionist approach is an efficient, unified theoretical framework for its explanatory adequacy in addressing issues concerning both synchronic lexical semantics and diachronic grammatical change.
{"title":"Like a sticker","authors":"Ruiyuan Xu, Chiarung Lu","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01502005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01502005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study explores a new type of grammaticalisation, namely, grammatical constructionalisation, based on an investigation of the use of a newly emerging construction, the [X.jpg] construction, in online forums in Taiwan. JP(E)G stands for ‘Joint Photographic Experts Group’. As an abbreviation for the file extension of images, it was initially attached to image files in computers. However, in Taiwanese Mandarin, new usages for it have developed, whereby it can be attached to any phrase, including those without any source images, thereby simply pretending that the phrase has an attached image. Since the file extension .jpg is a technical term and a bound morpheme, when it extends to attenuating the force of the speech act, it functions as a pragmatic marker or hedge. This process of change from lexical to grammatical is known as grammatical constructionalisation and reveals the results of the interplay between popular Internet memes and user psychology. When using [X.jpg], users tend to downtone the speaker’s attitude, increase solidarity among insiders and pursue vividness and a sense of humour. This usage initially emerged under the technical limitations of a text-only online environment. The findings of this study suggest that the constructionist approach is an efficient, unified theoretical framework for its explanatory adequacy in addressing issues concerning both synchronic lexical semantics and diachronic grammatical change.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46057409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-11DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01502002
Hui-Wen Liu
This study used shell noun as the starting point to analyze language activities that used the word shì shí shàng ‘in fact’ by Internet users on PTT, to understand the truth event that this empty shell noun signifies; and to identify the characteristics of pragmatic practice in the texts screened by the shell noun. Through the PTT Tool, posts with more than 100 comments on the PTT Gossip board during the level 3 alert were first screened out, after which comments that used the word “in fact” were identified. A total of 867 comments contained the word “in fact”. Next, content analysis was applied to classify these comments according to their literal themes. The author discovered that the functional word “in fact” was a word used to provide multiple evidence and create words with ‘objective’ effects. When used to express dissenting opinions, “in fact” enables netizens to use it for shifting their tone, willingly abandoning the responsibility for the speech.
{"title":"‘In fact’ on PTT Gossip","authors":"Hui-Wen Liu","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01502002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01502002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study used shell noun as the starting point to analyze language activities that used the word shì shí shàng ‘in fact’ by Internet users on PTT, to understand the truth event that this empty shell noun signifies; and to identify the characteristics of pragmatic practice in the texts screened by the shell noun. Through the PTT Tool, posts with more than 100 comments on the PTT Gossip board during the level 3 alert were first screened out, after which comments that used the word “in fact” were identified. A total of 867 comments contained the word “in fact”. Next, content analysis was applied to classify these comments according to their literal themes. The author discovered that the functional word “in fact” was a word used to provide multiple evidence and create words with ‘objective’ effects. When used to express dissenting opinions, “in fact” enables netizens to use it for shifting their tone, willingly abandoning the responsibility for the speech.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42855883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-11DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01502006
C. C. Hsieh
Social media platforms such as YouTube have become increasingly popular for language teaching and learning. Despite adequate research on the use of YouTube for educational purposes, it is necessary to explore the verbal and non-verbal features YouTubers deploy, as in Taiwan, to construct online discourse in a multilingual context. Using the Appraisal Theory framework, this study analyses the evaluative practices in three Taiwan-based English-teaching videos. The results reveal that YouTubers made evaluations fairly frequently and used specific multimodal devices for evaluation in language-teaching videos, such as expressions of judgement, disclaim, and focus, and gestures such as beats and pointing. The evaluation was found to serve genre-specific functions, including explaining pedagogical content, making meta-pragmatic comments about language use, marking the opening and closing of the video, and promoting products or services. The findings have implications for research on appraisal, social media pragmatics, and online language teaching practices.
{"title":"‘It sounds a little cool’","authors":"C. C. Hsieh","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01502006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01502006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Social media platforms such as YouTube have become increasingly popular for language teaching and learning. Despite adequate research on the use of YouTube for educational purposes, it is necessary to explore the verbal and non-verbal features YouTubers deploy, as in Taiwan, to construct online discourse in a multilingual context. Using the Appraisal Theory framework, this study analyses the evaluative practices in three Taiwan-based English-teaching videos. The results reveal that YouTubers made evaluations fairly frequently and used specific multimodal devices for evaluation in language-teaching videos, such as expressions of judgement, disclaim, and focus, and gestures such as beats and pointing. The evaluation was found to serve genre-specific functions, including explaining pedagogical content, making meta-pragmatic comments about language use, marking the opening and closing of the video, and promoting products or services. The findings have implications for research on appraisal, social media pragmatics, and online language teaching practices.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42435841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-19DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01501002
Laura Hüser, Katharina von Kriegstein, C. Müller-Axt
Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is a life-long deficit in reading and spelling with unclear causes. DD negatively impacts many language skills. Relatively little is known about whether skills of pragmatic competence are compromised in individuals with DD. Here, we assess DD symptomatology in a group of native German dyslexic adults. We first test for the presence of DD subtypes along the dimensions of phonological awareness and naming speed, two key deficits in DD. We then assess pragmatic competence in adults with DD compared to control participants without DD. We found that a subclassification of DD according to phonological awareness and naming speed only partially applies and that dyslexic participants show a lower pragmatic competence than control participants.
{"title":"Pragmatic competence in native German adults with and without Developmental Dyslexia","authors":"Laura Hüser, Katharina von Kriegstein, C. Müller-Axt","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01501002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01501002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is a life-long deficit in reading and spelling with unclear causes. DD negatively impacts many language skills. Relatively little is known about whether skills of pragmatic competence are compromised in individuals with DD. Here, we assess DD symptomatology in a group of native German dyslexic adults. We first test for the presence of DD subtypes along the dimensions of phonological awareness and naming speed, two key deficits in DD. We then assess pragmatic competence in adults with DD compared to control participants without DD. We found that a subclassification of DD according to phonological awareness and naming speed only partially applies and that dyslexic participants show a lower pragmatic competence than control participants.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64421107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-19DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01501005
Mostafa Morady Moghaddam, Fatemeh Mozafari
This article explores three famous American newspapers as an attempt to find out how Iranian women are depicted in these three American newspapers. Three national newspapers (The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post) were consulted as authority to gain information about Iranian women. Two hundred and thirteen headlines about Iranian women were identified in these three newspapers published over a period of 10 years. Through qualitative corpus analysis, we noticed that Iranian women are represented with regard to five generic categories (patterns): Ethics and Dress Coding (EDC); Political Activism (PA); Political System (PS); Social Condition and Trends (SCT); and Praising Comments (PC). The patterns identified in these three newspapers regarding Iranian women indicate that material culture (physical aspect of culture) is highlighted by the American press when referring to Iranian women. The article also concludes that these three newspaper agencies manifest a pseudo-logical representation of Iranian women, which fails to acknowledge the dynamic life of Iranian women, and ignores local identities at the expense of globalization.
{"title":"Orientalist representation of Iranian women in three American newspapers","authors":"Mostafa Morady Moghaddam, Fatemeh Mozafari","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01501005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01501005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article explores three famous American newspapers as an attempt to find out how Iranian women are depicted in these three American newspapers. Three national newspapers (The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post) were consulted as authority to gain information about Iranian women. Two hundred and thirteen headlines about Iranian women were identified in these three newspapers published over a period of 10 years. Through qualitative corpus analysis, we noticed that Iranian women are represented with regard to five generic categories (patterns): Ethics and Dress Coding (EDC); Political Activism (PA); Political System (PS); Social Condition and Trends (SCT); and Praising Comments (PC). The patterns identified in these three newspapers regarding Iranian women indicate that material culture (physical aspect of culture) is highlighted by the American press when referring to Iranian women. The article also concludes that these three newspaper agencies manifest a pseudo-logical representation of Iranian women, which fails to acknowledge the dynamic life of Iranian women, and ignores local identities at the expense of globalization.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43207157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-19DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01501006
Agnieszka Pluwak
Crises of reputation are rarely studied from the linguistic point of view, which results in several research gaps. Therefore, in this study three selected crisis cases have been analyzed as asynchronous online polylogues—Internet debates performed by stakeholders in different sources from the moment of publication. In this approach corpus analysis has been combined with the theory of computer-mediated communication, speech acts and a semantic study of emotions. One of the findings was that certain common patterns of subtopics, emotion expressions and communicative actions are noticeable in the user-generated content across different crisis cases. Contrary to some NLP studies, emotions expressed by stakeholders in a crisis situation refer not to the major topic, but to its subtopics, which impacts the construction of text-mining models. Unlike in pre-social media studies, sarcasm and not anger is the major emotion expressed textually in reaction to a crisis of reputation.
{"title":"Crises of reputation as asynchronous online polylogues","authors":"Agnieszka Pluwak","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01501006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01501006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Crises of reputation are rarely studied from the linguistic point of view, which results in several research gaps. Therefore, in this study three selected crisis cases have been analyzed as asynchronous online polylogues—Internet debates performed by stakeholders in different sources from the moment of publication. In this approach corpus analysis has been combined with the theory of computer-mediated communication, speech acts and a semantic study of emotions. One of the findings was that certain common patterns of subtopics, emotion expressions and communicative actions are noticeable in the user-generated content across different crisis cases. Contrary to some NLP studies, emotions expressed by stakeholders in a crisis situation refer not to the major topic, but to its subtopics, which impacts the construction of text-mining models. Unlike in pre-social media studies, sarcasm and not anger is the major emotion expressed textually in reaction to a crisis of reputation.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49660583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-19DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01501004
Asha Tickoo
The objective of this paper is to examine how Chinese learners of EFL frame their complaints on English language learning (ELL) to understand their sense of entitlement to complain. Two basic complaint-frames are identified—complaint proper (Cp), which communicates entitlement in blaming and asking for correction of what is intrinsically correctable, and lament (Lt), which conveys the lack thereof by simply ‘lamenting’ something that cannot be solved. Though Cp and Lt appear, therefore, tied to specific concern-kinds, the inherently addressable and unaddressable, respectively, their actual use depends on the perception of the complaint-concern and the relative power of the complainant. When Cp is selected, subordinate status may require diminished expression of entitlement. This is not achieved by mitigating face-threat. Rather, it is necessary to modify the complaint-framing by selecting more, rather than less, Lt-defining features. Applied to complaints on ELL, in the Chinese context, it is found that this inherently Cp-appropriate, patently addressable problem is only, and always, used with mitigation and/or ‘Lt-ization’ to convey deference and/or disentitlement. In the vast majority, students address limitations in program implementation—in authentic language use, and the opportunity for individual thought, creativity and self-determination—in complaints that suggest disaffection and disenfranchisement.
{"title":"On the power of the complaint and the complaints of the disempowered","authors":"Asha Tickoo","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01501004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01501004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The objective of this paper is to examine how Chinese learners of EFL frame their complaints on English language learning (ELL) to understand their sense of entitlement to complain. Two basic complaint-frames are identified—complaint proper (Cp), which communicates entitlement in blaming and asking for correction of what is intrinsically correctable, and lament (Lt), which conveys the lack thereof by simply ‘lamenting’ something that cannot be solved. Though Cp and Lt appear, therefore, tied to specific concern-kinds, the inherently addressable and unaddressable, respectively, their actual use depends on the perception of the complaint-concern and the relative power of the complainant. When Cp is selected, subordinate status may require diminished expression of entitlement. This is not achieved by mitigating face-threat. Rather, it is necessary to modify the complaint-framing by selecting more, rather than less, Lt-defining features. Applied to complaints on ELL, in the Chinese context, it is found that this inherently Cp-appropriate, patently addressable problem is only, and always, used with mitigation and/or ‘Lt-ization’ to convey deference and/or disentitlement. In the vast majority, students address limitations in program implementation—in authentic language use, and the opportunity for individual thought, creativity and self-determination—in complaints that suggest disaffection and disenfranchisement.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45255474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-19DOI: 10.1163/18773109-01501003
Chih-Chen Tang
This study investigated whether and how the gender of the judges in the TV talent competitions affects the pragmatics of the compliments in their evaluative comments addressed to the contest participants. The explicitness of the compliments, the distribution of positive semantic carriers and intensifiers, the personal focus of the compliments, and the supportive discursive moves in the male and female judges’ complimenting speech events were qualitatively analysed and statistically compared. Results, however, do not support the general belief that women’s complimenting style is more socioemotional than men’s. The function of the compliments that the judges would like to accentuate in the formal institutional setting appears to have a greater impact on their linguistic performances than their gender role. The male and female judges’ complimenting styles seem to be strategic manoeuvres to create their preferred social image in the public media discourse.
{"title":"The sociopragmatics of compliment in the media discourse","authors":"Chih-Chen Tang","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01501003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01501003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study investigated whether and how the gender of the judges in the TV talent competitions affects the pragmatics of the compliments in their evaluative comments addressed to the contest participants. The explicitness of the compliments, the distribution of positive semantic carriers and intensifiers, the personal focus of the compliments, and the supportive discursive moves in the male and female judges’ complimenting speech events were qualitatively analysed and statistically compared. Results, however, do not support the general belief that women’s complimenting style is more socioemotional than men’s. The function of the compliments that the judges would like to accentuate in the formal institutional setting appears to have a greater impact on their linguistic performances than their gender role. The male and female judges’ complimenting styles seem to be strategic manoeuvres to create their preferred social image in the public media discourse.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46225876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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