Alignment, persuasiveness and the putative reader in opinion writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-273
Author(s):  
Peter R. R. White
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
English Language ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
The Other ◽  
Virtual Model ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Yasukuni Shrine ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes ◽  
China Daily ◽  
Opinion Writing

Abstract This paper explores a new line of analysis for comparing opinion writing by reference to differences in the relationships being indicated between author and addressee. It draws on recent work within the appraisal framework literature to offer proposals for linguistics-based analyses of what has variously been termed the ‘intended’, ‘imagined’, ‘ideal’, ‘virtual’, ‘model’, ‘implied’ and ‘putative’ reader (the ‘reader written into the text’). A discussion is provided of those means by which beliefs, attitudes and expectations are projected onto this ‘reader in the text’, formulations which signal anticipations that the reader either shares the attitude or belief currently being advanced by the author, potentially finds it novel or otherwise problematic, or may reject it outright. The discussion is conducted with respect to written, persuasive texts, and specifically with respect to news journalism’s commentary pieces. It is proposed that such texts can usefully be characterised and compared by reference to tendencies in such ‘construals’ or ‘positionings’ of the putative reader – tendencies in terms of whether the signalled anticipation is of the reader being aligned or, conversely, potentially unaligned or dis-aligned with the author. The terms ‘flag waving’ and ‘advocacy’ are proposed as characterisations which can be applied to texts, with ‘flag waving’ applicable to texts which construe the reader as largely sharing the author’s beliefs and attitudes, while ‘advocacy’ is applicable to texts where the reader is construed as actually or potentially not sharing the author’s beliefs and attitudes and thereby needing to be won over. This line of analysis is demonstrated through a comparison of two journalistic opinion pieces written in response to visits by Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, one published in the English-language version of the mainland China newspaper, China Daily and one in the English-language version of the Japanese Asahi Shimbun. It is shown that one piece can usefully be characterised as oriented towards ‘flag waving’ and the other towards ‘advocacy’.

Some Problems with Talcott Parsons'

1994 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Average Length ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Talcott Parsons ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Continuous Stream ◽  
Almost All

It is a truth sometimes acknowledged in private but not publicly discussed that the only English translation of the most famous work of twentieth century historical sociology is seriously defective. The purpose of this paper is to establish the nature of the defects and to suggest some of their causes and consequences. As I shall seek to show, these involve rather more than matters of technical linguistic competence in German. Although Parsons' translation of Weber is indeed littered with a continuous stream of individual mistranslations, misprints and omissions of up to clause-length which can destroy the meaning of entire paragraphs, a mere catalogue of these would serve little purpose. Nor can one do more than mention his persistent disintegration of Weber's extraordinarily dense and over-burdened sentence structures, which have an average length of something like 8–10 lines: the desire to render Weber into readable English is evident, but so, too, is the damage which necessarily occurs to the meaning and argumentative sequence of the original. In justice to Parsons we must accept that his pioneering achievement was based primarily on an intellectual construction of Weber's meaning; linguistic and stylistic considerations were quite secondary. This order of priorities is one that, rightly, has been observed in almost all subsequent translations of Weber, and one that the present writer also adheres to. On the other hand, precisely the same cause underlies the bulk of Parsons' mistranslations of Weber, since he always believed that the latter required ‘a certain amount of construction’ to bring out his meaning fully [Camic, 22 cf. SOSA 501]. In what follows, then, I shall seek to isolate a series of systematic intellectual distortions occurring in the English-language version of the Protestant Ethic, although this series is selective rather than comprehensive.

Legal Integration and Language Diversity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J.W. Baaij
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Member States ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Legal Integration ◽  
The Eu

How is the European Union (EU) to create laws that are uniform in a multitude of languages? Specifically, how is it to attain both legal integration and language diversity simultaneously without the latter compromising the former? The answer lies in the domain of translation. A uniform interpretation and application of EU law begins with the ways in which translators and jurist–linguists of the EU legislative bodies translate the original legislative draft texts into the various language versions. In the EU, law and language are inherently connected. This book critically assess contemporary translation practices in the EU legislative procedure, or “EU Translation,” and proposes an alternative, “source-oriented” approach that promises to better serve the policy objectives of the EU. On the one hand, the EU pursues legal integration, that is, the incremental harmonization and unification of its Member States’ laws, for the purpose of reducing national regulatory differences among Member States. On the other hand, in its commitment to the diversity of European languages, its legislative institutions enact legislative instruments in 24 languages. Contrary to the orthodox view in academic literature and to the current policies of the EU, this book suggests that the English language version should serve as the original and only authentic legislative text and that translation into the other language versions should avoid prioritizing clarity and fluency over syntactic correspondence and employ neologisms for distinctly EU legal concepts.

Working With Interpreters to Support Students Who Are English Language Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 15-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette W. Langdon ◽  
Terry Irvine Saenz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Second Best ◽  
Support Students

The number of English Language Learners (ELL) is increasing in all regions of the United States. Although the majority (71%) speak Spanish as their first language, the other 29% may speak one of as many as 100 or more different languages. In spite of an increasing number of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who can provide bilingual services, the likelihood of a match between a given student's primary language and an SLP's is rather minimal. The second best option is to work with a trained language interpreter in the student's language. However, very frequently, this interpreter may be bilingual but not trained to do the job.

Self-Referent Thoughts in Exercise: The Self-Perception in Exercise Questionnaire

1997 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Sorensen
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Physical Activity Level ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
English Language ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Social Comfort ◽  
And Gender

Adherence to lifestyle changes - beginning to exercise, for example - is assumed to be mediated by self-referent thoughts. This paper describes a pilot study and three studies conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for adults to determine their self-perceptions related to health-oriented exercise. The pilot study identified items pertinent to the domains considered important in this context, and began the process of selecting items. Study 2 examined the factor structure, reduced the number of items, determined the internal consistency of the factors, and explored the discriminative validity of the questionnaire as to physical activity level and gender. Four factors with a total of 24 items were accepted, measuring mastery of exercise, body perception, social comfort/discomfort in the exercise setting, and perception of fitness. All subscales had acceptable internal consistencies. Preliminary validity was demonstrated by confirming hypothesized differences in scores as to gender, age, and physical activity level. The third study examined and demonstrated convergent validity with similar existing subscales. The fourth study examined an English-language version of the questionnaire, confirming the existence of the factors and providing preliminary psychometric evidence of the viability of the questionnaire.

Extending Epistemic Virtue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Battaly
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Virtue Epistemology ◽  
Extended Cognition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Epistemic Virtue ◽  
Virtue Responsibilism

What would happen if extended cognition (EC) and virtue-responsibilism (VR) were to meet? Are they compatible, or incompatible? Do they have projects in common? Would they, as it were, end their meeting early, or stick around but run out of things to say? Or, would they hit it off? This chapter suggests that VR and EC are not obviously incompatible, and that each might fruitfully contribute to the other. Although there has been an explosion of recent work at the intersection of virtue epistemology and EC, this work has focused almost exclusively on the reliabilist side of virtue epistemology. Little has been said about the intersection of VR and EC. This chapter takes initial steps toward filling that gap.

scholarly journals The feasibility of implementing an English language version of GLA:D Back

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lemieux ◽  
G. Kawchuk ◽  
A. Kongsted ◽  
J. Hartvigsen ◽  
V. Abdollah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Back Pain ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
English Language ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Rural Settings ◽  
Care Package ◽  
Evidenced Based ◽  
Evidence Based Care

Abstract Background Evidenced-based clinical guidelines for the treatment of low back pain (LBP) consistently suggest educating patients about their back pain, its natural course, and providing advice to keep active and continue working. Despite this evidence, clinicians routinely do not follow these recommendations resulting in ineffective and fragmented care. GLA:D® Back, a standardized care package, was originally developed in Denmark to assist clinicians in implementing evidence-based care. This study will evaluate the feasibility of implementing the English version of the Danish GLA:D® Back program in Alberta, Canada. Methods Thirty-five clinicians from nineteen clinics in Alberta, Canada, participated. Feasibility of program implementation, our primary objective, was evaluated within 3 months. Feasibility success was defined as 50% clinician/clinic adoption in addition to 66–88 enrolled participants registered in the database. Our secondary objectives included collecting data pertaining to clinician confidence, attitudes and behaviour of treating patients, perceived barriers and facilitators of program in addition to collecting patient-data regarding pain, function, general health and self-efficacy. Results The majority of the clinics (15/19, 79%) offered GLA:D® Back to their patients within the study period. Of the participating clinicians, GLA:D® Back was delivered by (25/35, 71%) of clinicians. In total, 78 patients were enrolled in the program and (69/78, 88%) participants attended the final assessment. Secondarily, clinicians demonstrated a biomedical and behavioural orientation along with high confidence when treating LBP patients while patient outcomes trended toward improvement. Conclusion The English translation of the Danish GLA:D Back program was feasible for Albertan clinicians to implement into practice in both urban and rural settings.

Part 2. The deeper structure of the Atlantic - Geological hypotheses and the earth's crust under the oceans

1954 ◽  
Vol 222 (1150) ◽  
pp. 341-348 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flow ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ocean Floor ◽  
Peridotite Xenoliths ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Southern Rhodesia ◽  
Mohorovičić Discontinuity

Recent work has determined the depth of the Mohorovičić discontinuity at sea and has made it likely that peridotite xenoliths in basaltic volcanic rocks are samples of material from below the discontinuity. It is now possible to produce a hypothetical section showing the transition from a continent to an ocean. This section is consistent with both the seismic and gravity results. The possible reactions of the crust to changes in the total volume of sea water are dis­cussed. It seems possible that the oceans were shallower and the crust thinner in the Archean than they are now. If this were so, some features of the oldest rocks of Canada and Southern Rhodesia could be explained. Three processes are described that might lead to the formation of oceanic ridges; one of these involves tension, one compression and the other quiet tectonic conditions. It is likely that not all ridges are formed in the same way. It is possible that serpentization of olivine by water rising from the interior of the earth plays an important part in producing changes of level in the ocean floor and anomalies in heat flow. Finally, a method of reducing gravity observations at sea is discussed.

Do Migrants Think Differently? Evidence from Eastern European and Post-Soviet States

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 831-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruxanda Berlinschi ◽  
Ani Harutyunyan
Keyword(s):  
Risk Aversion ◽  
International Migration ◽  
The Other ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Economic Liberalism ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Politically Active ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes

This research investigates migrant self-selection on values, beliefs, and attitudes using data from Eastern European and former Soviet countries. We find that individuals who intend to emigrate are more politically active, more critical of governance and institutions, more tolerant toward other cultures, less tolerant of cheating, more optimistic, and less risk averse. With the exception of risk aversion, all selection patterns are heterogeneous across regions of origin. On the other hand, no self-selection pattern is detected on education, willingness to pay for public goods, and economic liberalism. These findings provide new insights into the determinants of international migration and reveal some of its less known consequences, such as a possible reduction of domestic pressure for political improvements in post-Soviet states due to politically active citizens’ higher propensity to emigrate.

Singaporeans' reactions to Estuary English

English Today ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia Boh Peng ◽  
Adam Brown
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
The Other ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Teaching Model ◽  
Received Pronunciation

A consideration of whether EE could conceivably be an alternative to RP as a teaching model.Since David Rosewarne first coined the term in 1984, much has been written about Estuary English (EE). The definition usually given of Estuary English is that if we can imagine a continuum with Received Pronunciation (RP) at one end and Cockney (an urban accent of London) at the other, then Estuary English is in the middle. This definition is restated by Wells (1998-9) as ‘Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England. This highlights two chief points: that it is standard (unlike Cockney) and that it is localized in the southeast (unlike RP)’. The book English Language for Beginners (Lowe & Graham 1998) contains on p. 156 a diagram giving the actress Joanna Lumley as an example of RP, the boxer Frank Bruno for Cockney, and the comedian and writer Ben Elton for EE. This is ironic, in that Ben Elton himself denies that he is a speaker of EE (John Wells, personal communication).

The “other(ing)” costs of ESL

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ena Lee
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Student Identities ◽  
Global Language

While the commodification of English as a global language may give rise to varying degrees of political and economic benefits for language learners, a simultaneous “cost” of this return may be a continued perpetuation of various forms of hegemony. In this vein, this one-year case study investigated a Canadian post-secondary English as a Second Language (ESL) program that analyzed the interconnections between language and culture through a critical dialogic approach. Classroom observations, however, revealed that disjunctions existed between the pedagogy as it was conceptualized and the practices of the instructors teaching there and suggested that the “critical” discourses mediated within the language classrooms essentialized culture and, subsequently, the identities of the students. This paper presents the voices of students from Mainland China as they attempted to negotiate their local and global identities within the larger sociopolitical contexts of the English language, generally, and English language education, in particular. I argue that classroom discourses can (re)create subordinate student identities, thereby limiting their access not only to language-learning opportunities, but to other more powerful identities. This paper thus highlights how ESL pedagogies and practices might address and contest hegemonic discourses and concomitantly reimagine student identities in more emancipatory ways.

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