Ignoring Qualifications as a Pragmatic Fallacy: Enrichments and Their Use for Manipulating Commitments

The fallacy of ignoring qualifications, or secundum quid et simpliciter, is a deceptive strategy that is pervasive in argumentative dialogues, discourses, and discussions. It consists in misrepresenting an utterance so that its meaning is broadened, narrowed, or simply modified to pursue different goals, such as drawing a specific conclusion, attacking the interlocutor, or generating humorous reactions. The “secundum quid” was described by Aristotle as an interpretative manipulative strategy, based on the contrast between the “proper” sense of a statement and its meaning taken absolutely or in a certain respect. However, how can an “unqualified” statement have a proper meaning different from the qualified one, and vice versa? This “linguistic” fallacy brings to light a complex relationship between pragmatics, argumentation, and interpretation. The secundum quid is described in this paper as a manipulative argument, whose deceptive effect lies in its pragmatic dimension. This fallacy is analyzed as a strategy of decontextualization lying at the interface between pragmatics and argumentation and consisting of the unwarranted passage from an utterance to its semantic representation. By ignoring the available evidence and the presumptive interpretation of a statement, the speaker places it in a different context or suppresses textual and contextual evidence to infer a specific meaning different from the presumable one.

The semiotic dimension of contemporary pragmatics

Contemporary Pragmatics has the semiotic features from the respects of disciplinary naming, the means of development, and theoretical source to research object and method. It is not only an independent linguistics and language science, but also an interdisciplinary field and paradigm. This paper is to explore the semiotic features and dimensions of Pragmatics for tracing back the origin and the theoretical resources from semiotic perspective, and to define its research scope and clarify the connotation of its conception. As Semiotics has a triad dimension of semiosis, one of which is the “pragmatic dimension”. Therefore, contemporary pragmatics includes at least three semiotic dimensions: scientific semiotics, linguistic semiotics and social semiotics. The semiotic analysis of Pragmatics could be conducive to clarify and fix the semiotic and philosophical origin, definition, disciplinary connotation and meaning of Pragmatics, which is also theoretically helpful for clarifying the concepts for the study of philosophical pragmatism, pragmaticism, semiotics, semantics and syntax. Key Words: Semiotic, Pragmatics, Pragmaticism

José María Rivas Groot: un acercamiento a la dimensión pragmática de su narrativa breve en «Rocinante» y «Día de inocentes»

José María Rivas Groot: an Approach to the Pragmatic Dimension of his Short Stories in «Rocinante» and «Día de inocentes». Having a multiform intellect, José María Rivas Groot (Bogotá, 1863-Rome, 1923) stood out as a public figure and a man of letters. Acting director of the National Library, senator, minister of state, plenipotentiary minister of Colombia to the Holy See, journalist, editor and writer, vocation this latter forged in the family bosom and in which his conservative and Christian thought, defender of tradition, is manifested. His intellectual production covers a wide variety of literary genres: poetry, novel, short stories, theater and historical essays, among others. Although his short stories have remained, in a way, on the sidelines of anthologies and studies, it is a faithful testimony of his style and thought, in a time of turmoil, affected by strong social and political transformations, framed by the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. Through two of his short stories classified as unpublished, Rocinante and Día de inocentes, this article offers an approach to his short stories from a pragmatic perspective with the purpose of revealing its meaning and intentional value, in which transtextuality, symbolism and irony are resources to which he turns, as a faithful representative of the lettered city, to express his position in the face of circumstances, behaviors and attitudes typical of his space -time, which remain in force until today.

Exploring Morphosyntax-related Semantic and Pragmatic Dimension Losses in Three English Translations of the Meanings of Sūrah AlKahf: A Comparative Pragmalinguistic Analytical Study

The current research paper explores some morphosyntax-related semantic and pragmatic dimension losses in three English translations of the meanings of Sūrah AlKahf of Mohammed A.S Abdel- Hakeem, Mohammed M. Pickthall, and Mohammed Khan and Mohammed Taj Al-Din Al-Hilai . Also, the study aims at probing the reasons that lead to these semantic and pragmatic losses, either partial or complete. The two researchers utilized the qualitative descriptive paradigm, which is proper and apt to this study because the Holy Quran rendition is multiplex and cannot be deeply examined adopting another alternative research paradigm. Markedly, the qualitative descriptive paradigm is apt to analyze the data extracted from the three translations of Mohammed A.S Abdel- Hakeem, Mohammed M. Pickthall, and Mohammed Khan and Mohammed Taj Al-Din Al-Hilai Abdel of Surah AlKahf .The study indicated losses in renditions, tense, verbs, losses of consistency and morphosyntax grouping, and culture-specific terms. The study also revealed that the morphosyntax-related semantic and pragmatic dimension losses might lead to meaning losses, fixed expressions, idioms, or culture-specific terms. This study recommends that the translators of the Holy Quran in general and the translators of Surah AlKahf, notably, employ suitable translation strategies to decrease the morphosyntax-related semantic and pragmatic dimension losses in the translation of the Holy Quran.

Resemantization of Discourse Markers in Contemporary Russo- and Anglophone Poetry

В статье рассматривается прием ресемантизации дискурсивных слов (ДС) на материале поэтического дискурса. Ресемантизация определяется как авторский прием, реализуемый посредством модификации лексического значения и функциональной нагрузки дискурсивных единиц, а также в некоторых случаях — снятия с ДС свойственной им стереотипности и осмысления их в качестве полнозначных единиц. Новизна исследования обусловлена недостаточной изученностью прагматического аспекта поэтического дискурса на фоне разработанности семантики и синтактики поэтического текста. Кроме того, актуальность анализа авторских лингвокреативных модификаций ДС основана на повышенном внимании современных поэтов к прагматике поэтического текста как высказывания в результате активизации канала передачи сообщения, обретающего статус интерфейса в интернет-пространстве. В ходе анализа мы выявили основные разновидности экспериментальных модификаций в современном поэтическом дискурсе: ресемантизация ДС на основе паронимической аттракции, соположение ДС по принципу семантического противопоставления и фрагментация ДС. Анализ ресемантизации ДС позволил выявить направленность современной поэзии на активизацию прагматического «измерения» языка, семантическую аномальность и неоднозначность, автокоммуникативность и перефокусирование значений. Таким образом, рассмотренный в статье прием ресемантизации характеризует поле взаимодействия поэтического дискурса с обыденным, которое выражается в активном включении прагматических единиц и одновременном разрушении клишированности обыденного дискурса, и сопровождается метаязыковой рефлексией. The article discusses the method of resemantization of discourse markers (DM) on the basis of Russian and English poetic discourse. Resemantization is defined as a special authorial technique, implemented by modifying the lexical meaning and functional load of the unit, and also, in some cases, removing their inherent stereotypes from DM and interpreting them as the semantic units. The novelty of the research is due to the insufficient study of the pragmatic aspect of poetic discourse against the background of the developed semantics and syntactics of the poetic text. In addition, the relevance of the analysis of the authorial linguocreative modifications of the DM is based on the increased attention of modern poets to the pragmatics of the poetic text as an utterance as a result of the activation of the message transmission channel, which acquires the status of an interface in the Internet. In the course of the analysis, we identified the main varieties of experimental modifications based on the modern poetic discourse: DM resemantization based on paronymic attraction; DM matching according to the principle of semantic opposition; DM fragmentation. The analysis of the DM resemantization made it possible to reveal the focus of modern poetry on the activation of the pragmatic “dimension” of the language, semantic anomaly and ambiguity, autocommunication and refocusing of meanings. Thus, the method of resemantization considered in the article characterizes the field of interaction of poetic discourse with the ordinary, expressed in the active inclusion of pragmatic units and the simultaneous destruction of the cliché of everyday discourse, accompanied by metalanguage reflection

New Venture Legitimacy

Starting an entrepreneurial endeavor is an uncertain and ambiguous project. This uncertainty and ambiguity make it difficult for entrepreneurs to generate much needed resources and support. In order to address this difficulty, a new venture needs to establish legitimacy, which entails being perceived as desirable, proper, or appropriate within the socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions within which it operates. New venture legitimacy is generated from various sources and hence has three broad dimensions—a cognitive, a moral, and a pragmatic dimension. The cognitive dimension accounts for the extent to which the activities and purpose of a venture are understood by key audiences and how knowledge about that venture spreads. The moral dimension reflects the extent to which a venture is perceived to be doing the right thing. The pragmatic dimension accounts for the extent to which a new venture serves the interests of critical constituents. All three of these dimensions factor into a legitimacy assessment of a new venture. Legitimacy is important for new ventures because it helps them overcome their liabilities of newness, allowing them to mobilize resources and engage in transactions, thereby increasing their chances of survival and success. Although legitimacy matters for almost all new ventures, it is most critical if an entrepreneur engages in activities that are new and novel, such as establishing a new industry or market or creating a new product or technology. In these circumstances, it is most important for entrepreneurs to strategically establish and manage a new venture’s legitimacy. The strategic establishment and management of new venture legitimacy may entail arranging venture elements to conform with the existing environment, selecting key environments in which to operate, manipulating elements of the external environment to align with venture activities, or creating a whole new social context to accommodate a new venture. Enacting each of these new venture legitimation strategies may necessitate employing identity, associative, and organizational mechanisms. Identity mechanisms include cultural tools and identity claims such as images, symbols, and language by entrepreneurs to enhance new venture legitimacy. Associative mechanisms reflect the formation of relationships and connections with other individuals and entities to establish new venture legitimacy. Organizational mechanisms account for manipulating the organization and structure of a new venture and the achievement of success measures by that venture to attain legitimacy. Ultimately all of this is done so that various external parties, with different logics and perspectives, will evaluate a new venture as legitimate and be prepared to provide that venture with resources and support.

The Possibility of Universal Semiotics of Law

The universality of human language above the diversity of vernaculars as theorized by Noam Chomsky creates the temptation to adapt the same idea to law. There are parallels between language and law, e.g., Latin language and Roman law, the universality, formality, and generativity of the two and the embeddedness of law in language. Chomsky’s universal generative grammar is applicable to law in a direct way but the theory is still extendable to semantics and pragmatics of law. The claim is that generating constructions of elemental constituents is an approved technique of law and jurisprudence as much as of linguistics. The pragmatic dimension of semiotics of law shows the significant contribution of law to consolidating social role of speech acts.

THE PRAGMATIC DIMENSION OF METAPHOR TRANSLATION IN THE SPANISH POETRY OF THE 27TH GENERATION

Literary translation is one of the most difficult and complex types of translations, especially when it comes to translating poetry and the graphic images it carries, as these images are an expressive tool, as we find that the metaphor tops the verses of the Spanish 27-generation poets, the generation that emerged after the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the death of the poet Louis De Gongra, because of the conditions in which they lived and the censorship they were subjected to during the period of General Franco's regime, the metaphor was a means of expressing the lived reality, which links the tangible with the abstract, and calls the reader to the realization of thought as a result of implicit sayings difficult to understand. If the original text is difficult to understand, how The transfer to the other language, in which the matter will become more complicated to decode the content of each borrowing and reformulate it in the language transferred to it, and thus the translation of the metaphor is among the most important issues that occupy translation in its theoretical and practical parts. Through this intervention, we touched upon the study of the pragmatic dimension of translating a metaphor in the poetry of the 27th generation, focusing in that on studying the competencies of the translator when transmitting it, and we raised the following problem: What are the linguistic and translation tools that help to investigate the pragmatic dimension in decoding the content of the metaphor in the original text And to achieve the goal of the writer? Our aim of this research is to finally highlight these tools that help the translator in his work and convey this type of images with the same meaning and effect.

El problema de la “realidad” en el marco de la influencia Hispánica en la obra de Alfred Schutz

En este trabajo paso revista a las diferentes acepciones del concepto de realidad en la obra de Alfred Schutz y las tensiones que lo surcan. Así es que describo una dimensión pragmatista de la realidad, y muestro cómo ella entra en contradicción con una idea marcadamente realista y objetivista. En este contexto, la obra de Schutz se presenta como atravesada por una tensión irresuelta en tres frentes problemáticos: realismo –constructivismo; egología– intersubjetividad; relativismo– fundacionalismo. La intrepretación schutziana del Quijote ilustra magníficamente de qué modo operan estas contradicciones. Al respecto, si bien Schutz se siente cercano a la exégesis de Ortega y Gasset, argumentamos que su Quijote es más afín al de Unamuno. Otra diferencia sustancial que lo distancia de Ortega, a pesar del profundo respeto que sentía por él, es el modo en que ambos cuestionan concepciones colectivistas de lo social como la de Durkheim: Schutz considera que lo social es abstracto y, por ende, irreal, mientras que Ortega lo concibe como una realidad sustituta. Además, Schutz piensa que lo social se enfrenta al individuo, mientras que Ortega muestra que se contrapone a la interacción.In my paper I review the different meanings of the concept of reality in the work of Alfred Schutz and the tensions that cross it. I describe a pragmatic dimension of reality and then I show how it clashes with an idea re-markably realistic and objectivist. In this con-text, Schutz's work is presented as crossed by an unresolved tension on three fronts: realism – constructivism; egology - intersubjectivity; relativism - foundationalism. The Schutzian intrepretación of Don Quixote superbly illustrates how these contradictions operate. In this regard, although Schutz felt close to the exegesis of Ortega y Gasset, I argue that his Quixote is more akin to that of Unamuno. Another substantial difference with Ortega, despite the deep respect Schutz had for him, is the way in which both challenge collectivist social concepts like Durkheim’s: Schutz considered that the social is abstract and therefore unreal, while Ortega conceived it as a substitute reality. Also, Schutz thinks that the social is opposed to the individual while Ortega shows that it opposes interaction.

MORRIS’ SEMIOTIC IN RELIGION PERCEPTION AND CONCEPTION IN GANE OF POLINAKI TRADITIONAL WEDDING RITUAL IN KULAWI ETHNIC

The purpose of this research is to examine the concept of religion in Gane, a ritual speech which is still alive and practiced by Kulawi ethnic in Sigi regency, Central Sulawesi. Nowadays, Gane ritual speech is no longer in demand by most of the Kulawi ethnic, especially the educated young generation, because they have been eroded by the influence of modernization and globalization in addition to the influence of the entry of religion held by the majority of the Kulawi ethnic today and modern education. The text of Gane is obtained from a ritual speech named Polinaki which is contained in traditional wedding in Kulawi. The text is analyzed qualitatively using behavioral semiotic approach proposed by Charles Morris. Behavioral semiotic is creating a particular action or behavior to achieve a certain goal and applying syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic dimensions for analyzing a text. The results show that in syntactic dimension, Gane is a text with literary style consisting of unique characteristics in terms of structure, function, and meanings. In semantic dimension, Gane holds contextual, emotive, conative, and poetic meanings observed through its function. In pragmatic dimension, the impacts of Gane influence the perception and conception of religion.