With unprecedented transformations taking place in the landscape of what to say and how we mean, interactions in the digital age take on various new forms of doing and being. To make sense of “what it is that is going on” requires an understanding of the context wherein the computer-mediated communications take place. Focusing on a burgeoning online video commenting discourse in mainland China called Danmaku (a media feature that projects viewer comments onto the video, like a ‘bullet curtain’), the present study applies the schematic construct of context of situation and its paradigmatic representation developed in Systemic Functional Linguistics to a functionally-driven discussion of Danmaku context. Drawing on a corpus of comments from 18 well-received videos on Bilibili.com (a major Danmaku site in mainland China), the study provides a fine-grained analysis that highlights emergent technological and semiotic variables in the Danmaku Mode, such as anonymity, invisibility, dynamicity, and pseudo-synchronicity. It then discusses how these variables mediate the properties of Field and Tenor and further impinge upon the experiential and interpersonal meanings made in Danmaku communication. The analysis also highlights the carnivalesque nature of Danmaku which makes it an increasingly popular social media platform in mainland China.
{"title":"Understanding context in computer-mediated communication","authors":"J. Liang","doi":"10.1075/FOL.20041.LIA","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/FOL.20041.LIA","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 With unprecedented transformations taking place in the landscape of what to say and how we mean, interactions in\u0000 the digital age take on various new forms of doing and being. To make sense of “what it is that\u0000 is going on” requires an understanding of the context wherein the computer-mediated communications take place. Focusing on a\u0000 burgeoning online video commenting discourse in mainland China called Danmaku (a media feature that projects\u0000 viewer comments onto the video, like a ‘bullet curtain’), the present study applies the schematic construct of\u0000 context of situation and its paradigmatic representation developed in Systemic Functional Linguistics to a functionally-driven\u0000 discussion of Danmaku context. Drawing on a corpus of comments from 18 well-received videos on Bilibili.com (a major Danmaku site in mainland China), the study provides a\u0000 fine-grained analysis that highlights emergent technological and semiotic variables in the Danmaku Mode, such as anonymity,\u0000 invisibility, dynamicity, and pseudo-synchronicity. It then discusses how these variables mediate the properties of Field and\u0000 Tenor and further impinge upon the experiential and interpersonal meanings made in Danmaku communication. The analysis also\u0000 highlights the carnivalesque nature of Danmaku which makes it an increasingly popular social media platform in mainland\u0000 China.","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48014323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article deals with the Reaction Object Construction (ROC), as in She smiled disbelief, where an intransitive verb (smile), by adding an emotional object (disbelief), acquires the extended sense “express X by V−ing” (i.e. “She expressed disbelief by smiling”). Earlier research has suggested a diachronic connection between the ROC and Direct Discourse Constructions (DDCs) of the type She smiled, “I don’t believe you” (Visser 1963–1973). More recently, Bouso (2018) has shown that the ROC is primarily a feature of 19th century narrative fiction. This paper aims to bring together these insights. On the basis of a self-compiled corpus and De Smet’s Corpus of English Novels, it investigates the productivity of the ROC in 19th and 20th century fiction, and the role of DDCs in its development. The results reveal a peak in the productivity of the ROC that coincides with the development of the sentimental novel, and a correlation between the development of the ROC on the one hand and of those DDCs that have been mistakenly hypothesised to be its single source constructions on the other. Extravagance is proposed as a triggering factor for the use of the ROC in the 19th century as an alternative to DDCs.
{"title":"Another turn of the screw on the history of the reaction object construction","authors":"Tamara Bouso, Pablo Ruano San Segundo","doi":"10.1075/FOL.20026.BOU","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/FOL.20026.BOU","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article deals with the Reaction Object Construction (ROC), as in She smiled disbelief, where\u0000 an intransitive verb (smile), by adding an emotional object (disbelief), acquires the extended\u0000 sense “express X by V−ing” (i.e. “She expressed disbelief by smiling”). Earlier research has suggested a diachronic connection\u0000 between the ROC and Direct Discourse Constructions (DDCs) of the type She smiled, “I don’t believe you” (Visser 1963–1973). More recently, Bouso (2018)\u0000 has shown that the ROC is primarily a feature of 19th century narrative fiction. This paper aims to bring together these insights.\u0000 On the basis of a self-compiled corpus and De Smet’s Corpus of English Novels, it investigates the productivity\u0000 of the ROC in 19th and 20th century fiction, and the role of DDCs in its development. The results reveal a peak in the\u0000 productivity of the ROC that coincides with the development of the sentimental novel, and a correlation between the development of\u0000 the ROC on the one hand and of those DDCs that have been mistakenly hypothesised to be its single source constructions on the\u0000 other. Extravagance is proposed as a triggering factor for the use of the ROC in the 19th century as an alternative to DDCs.","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44411464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The grammaticalization literature has not demonstrated convincingly how, if at all, dynamic modals may develop into conditional protasis connectives. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative evidence from Chinese, this paper hypothesizes that such a directionality may arise through univerbation between dynamic modals and protasis connectives (e.g. ruò ‘if’ + néng ‘be able to’ > ruònéng ‘if’). Furthermore, this paper suggests that functional compatibility in terms of performativity may explain why dynamic modals tend to grammaticalize into connectives in pre-established conditional protases, while deontic and epistemic modals do so in main clauses.
{"title":"From dynamic modal to conditional protasis connective","authors":"Y. Kuo","doi":"10.1075/FOL.20030.KUO","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/FOL.20030.KUO","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The grammaticalization literature has not demonstrated convincingly how, if at all, dynamic modals may develop into conditional protasis connectives. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative evidence from Chinese, this paper hypothesizes that such a directionality may arise through univerbation between dynamic modals and protasis connectives (e.g. ruò ‘if’ + néng ‘be able to’ > ruònéng ‘if’). Furthermore, this paper suggests that functional compatibility in terms of performativity may explain why dynamic modals tend to grammaticalize into connectives in pre-established conditional protases, while deontic and epistemic modals do so in main clauses.","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41771654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This is a study of the tools for describing language-in-context in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and specifically, the way in which dynamic time can be added to this description. Of central importance in this exploration are the concepts of stratification and instantiation and their interaction, and the way in which this interaction is ‘achieved’ metafunctionally and dynamically through the construction of relevant contexts spanning various time scales. The article proposes a new theorization of context in SFL, in which context is regarded as an interplay of different interfacing semiotic strata, and a meshing of multiple complementary and interacting processes of mediation which are at work at different scales of semogenesis.
{"title":"Modelling interfaces with context in SFL","authors":"M. Taverniers","doi":"10.1075/FOL.20015.TAV","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/FOL.20015.TAV","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This is a study of the tools for describing language-in-context in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and\u0000 specifically, the way in which dynamic time can be added to this description. Of central importance in this exploration are the\u0000 concepts of stratification and instantiation and their interaction, and the way in which this interaction is ‘achieved’\u0000 metafunctionally and dynamically through the construction of relevant contexts spanning various time scales. The article proposes\u0000 a new theorization of context in SFL, in which context is regarded as an interplay of different interfacing semiotic strata, and a\u0000 meshing of multiple complementary and interacting processes of mediation which are at work at different scales of semogenesis.","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47547106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
‘Role’ is typically defined according to the part and/or function that something or someone contributes to a situation. This two-fold perspective is also inherent in discussions of the role of language: the ‘amount’ of language that is involved in a situation and the ‘function’ of language in a situation, with both perspectives relating to the non-linguistic systems that may be involved in the conduct of the situation relative to language. It is the latter of these perspectives, however, that has typically received most attention in discourse analysis, with the former (the ‘amount’) being left implicit and unproblematised. This paper considers the role of language from various discourse analytical perspectives before critically examining the concept within Systemic Functional Linguistics. Using system networks as the representational and analytical platform, the paper redefines ‘role of language’ in contextual Mode as comprised of two sub-systems: degree of involvement and type of involvement. degree of involvement accounts for the compositional contribution that language makes in a situation; type of involvement accounts for the way in which language may function in a situation. Using an illustrative dataset, the paper also demonstrates the effectiveness of the systemic approach in accounting for overlapping and differing contextual configurations by showing how features within the role of language configure and how these in turn configure with options in the Field system-network of action. These configurations are essentially hypotheses that can be more comprehensively tested through empirical research.
{"title":"Context of situation and the role of language","authors":"Wendy L. Bowcher","doi":"10.1075/FOL.20014.BOW","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/FOL.20014.BOW","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 ‘Role’ is typically defined according to the part and/or function that something or someone contributes to a\u0000 situation. This two-fold perspective is also inherent in discussions of the role of language: the ‘amount’ of language that is\u0000 involved in a situation and the ‘function’ of language in a situation, with both perspectives relating to the non-linguistic\u0000 systems that may be involved in the conduct of the situation relative to language. It is the latter of these perspectives,\u0000 however, that has typically received most attention in discourse analysis, with the former (the ‘amount’) being left implicit and\u0000 unproblematised. This paper considers the role of language from various discourse analytical perspectives before critically\u0000 examining the concept within Systemic Functional Linguistics. Using system networks as the representational and analytical\u0000 platform, the paper redefines ‘role of language’ in contextual Mode as comprised of two sub-systems: degree of\u0000 involvement and type of involvement. degree of involvement accounts for the compositional contribution\u0000 that language makes in a situation; type of involvement accounts for the way in which language may function in a\u0000 situation. Using an illustrative dataset, the paper also demonstrates the effectiveness of the systemic approach in accounting for\u0000 overlapping and differing contextual configurations by showing how features within the role of language configure and how\u0000 these in turn configure with options in the Field system-network of action. These configurations are essentially hypotheses that can be more comprehensively tested through empirical research.","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48660807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Context in Systemic Functional Linguistics","authors":"Tom Bartlett,Wendy L. Bowcher","doi":"10.1075/fol.20017.bar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.20017.bar","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":"55 6","pages":"243-259"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138512901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the use of the discourse marker (DM) yaʕni (lit. ‘it means’) in spoken and written Egyptian-Cairene Arabic. The DM yaʕni originates in conversational interaction and is symbiotic with its socio-cognitive constraints and goals: it serves to facilitate the verbalization of new or hard-to-activate ideas and to optimize the verbalization of already-introduced ideas, so as to enhance participants’ mutual understanding and involvement. When carried over to written discourse, yaʕni undergoes various forms of adaptation. In casual-personal prose yaʕni is frequently used; however, the distribution of the tokens is different and their function recontextualized. Tokens introducing new ideas are few and acquire symbolic meaning, while tokens introducing elaboration of prior discourse are widely used and serve to evoke conversational interaction. In expository discourse, as reflected in Egyptian Wikipedia data, yaʕni is considerably less frequent and limited to elaborations of concepts and facts. The paper shows the highly context-sensitive function of the DM yaʕni and the ways in which its indexical force, as a marker of conversationality, is either heightened or weakened in writing, depending on the genre in which it is put to use.
{"title":"Discourse markers as a lens to variation across speech and writing","authors":"M. Marmorstein","doi":"10.1075/fol.18025.mar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.18025.mar","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper explores the use of the discourse marker (DM) yaʕni (lit. ‘it means’) in spoken and\u0000 written Egyptian-Cairene Arabic. The DM yaʕni originates in conversational interaction and is symbiotic with its\u0000 socio-cognitive constraints and goals: it serves to facilitate the verbalization of new or hard-to-activate ideas and to optimize\u0000 the verbalization of already-introduced ideas, so as to enhance participants’ mutual understanding and involvement. When carried\u0000 over to written discourse, yaʕni undergoes various forms of adaptation. In casual-personal prose\u0000 yaʕni is frequently used; however, the distribution of the tokens is different and their function\u0000 recontextualized. Tokens introducing new ideas are few and acquire symbolic meaning, while tokens introducing elaboration of prior\u0000 discourse are widely used and serve to evoke conversational interaction. In expository discourse, as reflected in Egyptian\u0000 Wikipedia data, yaʕni is considerably less frequent and limited to elaborations of concepts and facts. The paper shows\u0000 the highly context-sensitive function of the DM yaʕni and the ways in which its indexical force, as a marker of\u0000 conversationality, is either heightened or weakened in writing, depending on the genre in which it is put to use.","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49096957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Li (2018): Grounding in Chinese written narrative discourse","authors":"Xiuling Xu","doi":"10.1075/fol.00029.xi","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.00029.xi","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":"27 1","pages":"373-380"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2020-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49449482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Modal particles have been intensively studied in German and a few other European languages, but investigations of modal particles from little-known languages are rare. This paper examines in detail the morphosyntactic and the semantic properties of the Sanzhi Dargwa (Nakh-Daghestanian) modal particle =q’al. It is shown that the particle possesses the morphosyntactic properties that are commonly assumed for modal particles. The particle is then analyzed as presupposition trigger that interacts with focus and marks clauses as declarative sentences. It triggers two presuppositions, namely uncontroversiality and contrast/correction. Furthermore, it can express finiteness. The analysis suggests that accounting for modal particles as grammatical rather than lexical items with head status seems promising for further research.
{"title":"More than just a modal particle","authors":"Diana Forker","doi":"10.1075/fol.17011.for","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.17011.for","url":null,"abstract":"Modal particles have been intensively studied in German and a few other European languages, but investigations of modal particles from little-known languages are rare. This paper examines in detail the morphosyntactic and the semantic properties of the Sanzhi Dargwa (Nakh-Daghestanian) modal particle =q’al. It is shown that the particle possesses the morphosyntactic properties that are commonly assumed for modal particles. The particle is then analyzed as presupposition trigger that interacts with focus and marks clauses as declarative sentences. It triggers two presuppositions, namely uncontroversiality and contrast/correction. Furthermore, it can express finiteness. The analysis suggests that accounting for modal particles as grammatical rather than lexical items with head status seems promising for further research.","PeriodicalId":44232,"journal":{"name":"Functions of Language","volume":"27 1","pages":"340-372"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2020-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45821263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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