scholarly journals Mechanisms of meaning making in the co-occurrence of pragmatic markers with silent pauses

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Erik Schleef
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Pragmatic Markers ◽  
Conversational Skills ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Audio Stimuli

Abstract This study explores the social meanings of unfilled pauses, you know, like, and combinations thereof by comparing the evaluation of speech with these features to speech without them. The comparison is based on a set of perception surveys in which participants listened to manipulated audio stimuli and rated them on a series of scales. Unfilled pauses are evaluated differently from all other features: they are rated high on Status and low on Dynamism. Where significant differences emerge, the pragmatic markers you know, like, and combinations of pauses with these are always rated lower than the guises without. They are most sensitive to personal characteristics in the Dynamism dimension, followed by Conversational Skills, Likeability, and Status. The mechanism that adapts the potential social meanings of linguistic features when they are combined hinges on the social salience of the features in question. Various outcomes are possible ranging from additive to non-additive effects. (Like, you know, attitudes, social meanings, prestige, solidarity, dynamism)

Gender and Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-177
Author(s):  
Didem Koban Koç
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Year ◽  
Teaching Program ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings

The present study investigated gender differences in the use of linguistic features as well as the social meanings attached to those differences. Academic essays, written by 44 (22 male, 22 female) first-year undergraduate students enrolled in the English Language Teaching program at a government university were analyzed with respect to the use of linguistic features (adjectives, empty adjectives, intensifiers, linking adverbials) as well as the number of words and sentences used by the students. The results showed that, in comparison to males, females used more adjectives, intensifiers, and words. Males, on the other hand, used more empty adjectives and linking adverbials than females. Based on the results, pedagogical implications are discussed, and recommendations are provided in order to increase teachers' awareness of gender differences and improve students' writing skills.

The signifying voice

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Human Voice ◽  
Linguistic Imperialism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Semiotic Systems ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
The Common

Abstract Drawing on a social semiotic framework, this paper sets out to examine two different semiotic systems whose default mode of expression is the human voice – language and music. Through comparing how each system differentially employs the human voice, we can identify both their commonalities and differences, and go some way to treating both equally within de Saussure’s envisaged broader field of “semiology”, avoiding the common trap of “linguistic imperialism”, i.e. taking language as the model for all semiotic systems. Starting by conceptualising the key relationship between the text, or unified instance of meaning-making, and the social contexts in which it functions, the paper then examines the material affordances utilised by each system, and the kinds of social meanings they express.

Social Meanings across Listener Groups

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Schleef
Keyword(s):  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Attitude Strength ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Audio Stimuli

This study compares the group-specific evaluations of (t) in Greater Manchester, England, with those of (ing) published in a previous study. The comparison is based on a set of perception surveys, in which study participants listened to manipulated audio stimuli and rated them on a series of scales. In contrast to findings for (ing), the social characteristics of listeners are not pertinent to the evaluation of (t): most social meanings associated with (t) are shared across the Greater Manchester population. It is argued that this is due to the pronounced attitude strength of T-glottalling in this particular region.

scholarly journals Cohorts as collections of bodies and communities of persons: insights from the SEARCH010/RV254 research cohort

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 584-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail E Henderson ◽  
Stuart Rennie ◽  
Amy Corneli ◽  
Holly L Peay
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Acute Infection ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Early Phase Clinical Trials ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Longitudinal research cohorts are uniquely suited to answer research questions about morbidity and mortality. Cohorts may be comprised of individuals identified by specific conditions or other shared traits. We argue that research cohorts are more than simply aggregations of individuals and their associated data to meet research objectives. They are social communities comprised of members, investigators and organizations whose own interests, identities and cultures interact and evolve over time. The literature describes a range of scientific and ethical challenges and opportunities associated with cohorts. To advance these deliberations, we report examples from the literature and our own research on the Thai SEARCH010/RV254 cohort, comprising individuals diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during acute infection. We reflect on the impact of cohort experiences and identity, and specifically how people incorporate cohort participation into meaning making associated with their diagnosis, the influence of cohort participation on decision making for early-phase clinical trials recruited from within the cohort, and the impact of the relationships that exist between researchers and participants. These data support the concept of cohorts as communities of persons, where identity is shaped, in part, through cohort experiences. The social meanings associated with cohorts have implications for the ethics of cohort-based research, as social contexts inevitably affect the ways that ethical concerns manifest.

scholarly journals The Social Meaning Potential of the Global English Based on Data from Different Communities

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-208
Author(s):  
Loreta Vaicekauskienė
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Global English ◽  
First Order ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Social Associations

This paper describes the social value of the global English language as identified in the investigations of various communities worldwide and shows how the social meanings of English relate to each other in a broader ideological field universal for today’s locally global world. The notions of indexical field (Eckert 2008) and bivalent indexicality (Cotter, Valentinsson 2018) are applied in the analysis. The aim of the study is to synthesize results obtained by different researchers from different ideological and communicative contexts and to explore the indexical potential of English, including its local varieties and mixed speech styles. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of a corpus of secondary sources, consisting of a total of 74 scholarly publications from the Expanding Circle communities, which were published in English in 1990–2020 (most of them during the second decade of the 21st century).In total, more than 50 social meanings of the global English language have been identified. It is likely that the abundance of social associations with English is due to the strong first-order indexes. Hence, the social meanings were grouped into the following nine indexical categories based on the presumed first-order sociocultural indexicalities: British and American culture; International sphere; Technologies, science and education; Economic and social status; Personal capital; Youth; Popular culture and media; Urban sphere; and Male. Positive social meanings dominate the indexicalities, but for some of them, bivalent indexicality (presence of contradictory positive and negative values) has been recorded. Although there is much overlap between these relative categories, the constellation as a whole is interpreted as a complex of several separate and multivalent indexical fields. It is to be hoped that this study not only illustrates that the notion of indexical field is applicable for analysis of the imagined global community of users of English, but also provides a broader ideological context for further research of the social meaning-making potential of the global English language.

scholarly journals Social meaning in the mirror of political correctness

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-399
Author(s):  
Valeria E. Chernyavskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Correctness ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Socially Disadvantaged ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
The Usa

The article addresses two central notions, namely social meaning and political correctness. The concept of social meaning is well known in “third wave” sociolinguistics, which connects patterns of language variation with the wider social world, in metapragmatics after Michael Silverstein, language ideology research and discourse analysis. The analysis is in line with these research approaches and also reflects back the pragmatic interpretation of social meanings. It is presumed that the social meaning of a word or an utterance is indexical in its nature and conveys information about the social context of language use. Social meaning of an utterance reflects its social embeddedness. In this respect, the perspective of political correctness reflects the discursive process of social indexicality and social meaning making. The article examines modern cases of political correctness (PC) in the USA (2017–2020) to show the effects of discursive pressure on interpretation frames. PC is discussed as a controversial practice and it is aimed at avoiding expressions or actions that can be perceived to marginalize or insult socially disadvantaged and discriminated people. At the same time, it can overpoliticize issues and act as a struggle against implicit meanings and implicatures.

Impact of Project Manager Competencies on Project Success: Case of Social Projects in the City of Agadir, Morocco

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 456-469
Author(s):  
Habiba Abou Hafs ◽  
◽  
Fadila Boutora ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Behavioral Skills ◽  
Professional Characteristics ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

The question of project manager competencies and especially in social projects is a key issue for social organizations seeking to progress and achieve success. If the manager has an important role to play with regard to the social organization, he’s however dependent on his behavioral, professional and personal capacities. The purpose of this paper is to show, on the basis of a quantitative study carried out among 120 managers of social projects in cooperatives located in the city of Agadir (Morocco), that the success of projects is conditioned by the leadership skills. Consequently, factors related to behavioral skills such as Solidarity; Involvement; Patience; Creativity; Empathy; Motivation; Trust; Commitment; Self-esteem; Transparency; Self-control; Discipline and other factors related to professional characteristics and personal characteristics of project managers prove a positive and significant relationship with the criterion of success studied.

Organization of Individual Counselling of Children Brought up in Foster Families (on the example of the «Family» Centre»)

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-50
Author(s):  
Aygul Fazlyeva ◽  
Aliya Akhmetshina
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Individual Counseling ◽  
Emotional Instability ◽  
Foster Families ◽  
Individual Counselling ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Relationship

Children, brought up in foster families, experience various problems (diffi culties in interpersonal relationships with parents, diffi culties in communicating with peers, emotional instability), which lead to confl icts, quarrels, running away from home, destructive phenomena, etc. One of the eff ective forms of working with children brought up in foster families is individual counselling. Individual counselling is used by various specialists (psychologists, educators, psychotherapists), where a special place is taken by a social educator. His or her activity involves the implementation of social-protective, preventive, educational, informational, advisory functions. In the process of organizing individual counseling, the social educator takes into account the social situation of the family and the child, personal characteristics, social conditions, social and cultural characteristics and the nature of the relationship with the social environment. To organize individual counseling, a social educator needs to master various and eff ective techniques, and take into account a number of recommendations. An analysis of the literature and practical socio-pedagogical experience led to an understanding of the insuffi cient degree of elaboration of this issue. The purpose of this article was the solution to this problem.

Rescuing Migrants in the Central Mediterranean: The Emergence of a New Civil Humanitarianism at the Maritime Border

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 436-455
Author(s):  
Marta Esperti
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Humanitarian Space ◽  
First Arrival

The Central Mediterranean is the most deadly body of water in the Mediterranean Sea with at least 15,062 fatalities recorded by International Organization of Migration between 2014 and 2018. This article aims at highlighting the rise of a variety of new civil society actors engaged in the rescue of people undertaking dangerous journeys across the sea in the attempt of reaching the southern European shores. The peculiarity of the humanitarian space at sea and its political relevance are pointed out to illustrate the unfolding of the maritime border management on the Central Mediterranean route and its relation with the activity of the civil society rescue vessels. The theoretical aspiration of the article is to question the role of a proactive civil humanitarianism at sea, discussing the emergence of different political and social meanings around humanitarianism at the EU’s southern maritime border. In recent years, the increasing presence of new citizens-based organizations at sea challenges the nexus between humanitarian and emergency approaches adopted to implement security-oriented policies. This essay draws on the findings of a broader comparative work on a variety of civil society actors engaged in the search and rescue operations on the maritime route between Libya and Europe, focusing in particular on Italy as country of first arrival. The fieldwork covers a period of time going between 2016 and 2018. The research methodology is built on a multisited ethnography, the conduct of semidirective and informal interviews with both state and nonstate actors, and the analysis of various reports unraveling the social and political tensions around rescue at sea on the Central Mediterranean route.

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