An activity theory approach to the contextualization mechanism of language use

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 538-558
Author(s):  
Zhonggang Sang
Keyword(s):  
Activity Theory ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Factor Conditioning ◽  
Language User ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Meaningful Text

Abstract Contextualization is a widely-discussed topic in the field of linguistics. Although it is generally agreed that contextualization is a dynamic process of interaction among the heterogeneous contextual factors, one still lacks a coherent explanation of how the interactions enable a language user to construct a meaningful text/utterance. From an Activity Theory perspective, language use can be termed as a rule-governed activity. The activity itself is the context of a subject’s decision-making, and contextualization is nothing but the actualization process of a language use activity. During the process, the subject strategizes her/his linguistic choice to build the textual outcome in light of the hierarchical text functions, namely, the conventionalized and situational functions of prospective text (at the higher strata), which respectively embody the social-cultural and situational factors constraining her/his actions, and the conventional function of textual tools (at the basic stratum), a foremost factor conditioning her/his operation. When there are contradictions among these functions, the subject needs to prioritize the one at a higher stratum. This can be exemplified by three typical cases of language use: translation, pseudo-translation and self-translation.

PHILOSOPHICAL PROPAEDEUTICS IN THE SYSTEM OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 11-15
Author(s):  
Gan N.Yu. ◽  
Ponomareva L.I. ◽  
Obukhova K.A.
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Problems ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Training

Today, worldview, spiritual and moral problems that have always been reflected in education and upbringing come to the fore in society. In this situation, there is a demand for philosophical categories. One of the priority goals of education in modern conditions is the formation of a reasonable, reflexive person who is able to analyze their actions and the actions of other people. Modern science is characterized by an understanding of the absolute value and significance of childhood in the development of the individual, which implies the need for its multilateral study. In the conditions of democratization of all spheres of life, the child ceases to be a passive object of education and training, and becomes an active carrier of their own meanings of being and the subject of world creation. One of the realities of childhood is philosophizing, so it is extremely timely to address the identification of its place and role in the world of childhood. Children's philosophizing is extremely poorly studied, although the need for its analysis is becoming more obvious. Children's philosophizing is one of the forms of philosophical reflection, which has its own qualitative specificity, on the one hand, and commonality with all other forms of philosophizing, on the other. The social relevance of the proposed research lies in the fact that children's philosophizing can be considered as an intellectual indicator of a child's socialization, since the process of reflection involves the adoption and development of culture. Modern society, in contrast to the traditional one, is ready to "accept" a philosophizing child, which means that it is necessary to determine the main characteristics and conditions of children's philosophizing.

Die Macht der Bilder und Bilder der Macht: die sprachliche Konstruktion von Nationalismus und Konservatismus in der strategischen politischen Kommunikation von Vox España

2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 538-566
Author(s):  
Sandra Issel-Dombert
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Multimodal Discourse ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
The Media ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractFrom a theoretical and empirical linguistic point of view, this paper emphasizes the importance of the relationship between populism and the media. The aim of this article is to explore the language use of the Spanish right wing populism party Vox on the basis of its multimodal postings on the social network Instagram. For the analysis of their Instagram account, a suitable multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) provides a variety of methods and allows a theoretical integration into constructivism. A hashtag-analysis reveals that Vox’s ideology consists of a nativist and ethnocentric nationalism on the one hand and conservatism on the other. With a topos analysis, the linguistic realisations of these core elements are illustrated with two case studies.

scholarly journals Methodological limitations of sociocultural studies of law

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 ◽  
pp. 01008
Author(s):  
Sergey Borisovich Zinkovsky
Keyword(s):  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Cultural Foundations ◽  
Legal Science ◽  
Actual Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociocultural Approach ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sociocultural Studies ◽  
The One ◽  
Legal Concepts

The purpose of the study is to identify the methodological limitations of sociocultural studies of law. The research methods center around the thesis that the sociocultural approach in legal scholarship is most persuasive when implemented in a relatively limited social context. This kind of research is empirical and shows no attention to the creation of explanatory theoretical constructs. The possibilities for comparative legal analysis are also limited because empirical research is primarily descriptive. The result of the study proved that the methods of considering law through the prism of culture are not always able to provide clear tools for analyzing the social factors that determine the features of institutional and procedural differences in law. In addition, the study concludes that the study of law as a cultural phenomenon requires the use of ideal constructions in the process of cognition. On the one hand, it allows operating with concepts whose content is not formally defined. On the other hand, it entails the impossibility of identifying the general principles of the organization of real legal phenomena, the cause-and-effect relationships between them. Foreign sociocultural studies of law often use the concept of “cultural community”, the scope of which allows asserting that the subject of research goes far beyond the scope of legal science. The study’s novelty lies in an attempt to assess whether the search for cultural foundations of law “blurs” the subject of legal science. The main reason for the “conceptual blurring” of sociocultural studies of law is the lack of a universal, generally recognized approach to defining the concept of culture in Russian and foreign legal science. However, the reductionism of the context of sociocultural studies of law, the use of legal and non-legal concepts and categories cannot always be characterized as unproductive. The revealed methodological limitations of sociocultural studies of law do not prevent the explanation of the actual nature of legal phenomena.

The Reform of Peking Opera in Taiwan

1974 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 140-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irmgard Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Dramatic Form ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Peking Opera ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

Readers of this journal who, like myself, have been interested by Colin Mackerras’ article on “Chinese Opera after the Cultural Revolution (1970–72)” in The China Quarterly, No. 55, may like to have some comments on the fate of traditional Peking opera in Taiwan. There, too, there has been “reform” although not generally in such an obvious or dramatic form as on the mainland. At first sight indeed, one might think that ways in which opera is treated on the mainland and in Taiwan are completely different, with the one concentrating on opera as a weapon in the social and political struggle and the other on the development of opera as an artistic form. Nevertheless, in studying aesthetic and theatrical aspects of the changes taking place in Taiwan, which is my main academic interest in the subject, I have been struck by the fact that these can in no way be disentangled from social and political forces.

scholarly journals The Influence of Pragmatic Norms on the English Proverbs

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr.Hamid Suleiman Khalaf Kadhim
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cooperative Principle ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
Illocutionary Acts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Maxim Of Quality ◽  
The One

In human languages proverbs constitute a very important aspect of language use. Thus, they have been a subject of varying attention from different specialists: linguists and language users in general. Shakespeare is described as the most adroit user of proverbs in literature; therefore, his plays have been the subject of numerous scientific investigations, whereby from a linguistic point of view the focus has primarily been aimed at vocabulary and grammar. On the one hand, attention has been paid regularly to lexical items because Shakespeare is supposed to have been a great innovator of words due to his coinage of new lexemes and his usage of several unknown expressions. Linguistic studies have also been concerned with grammatical constructions which are typical of the English at Shakespeare’s time. Many writers employ proverbs in their works but Shakespeare is different in the way he employs proverbs which are used to serve different functions and to achieve different illocutionary acts. These proverbs are embedded in the flow of conversations and they may flout one or more than one of Grice‘s maxims. The present study aims at analyzing proverbs and explaining how far Grice’s cooperative principles (maxims) are abided by in Shakespeare’s proverbs as specified in the data. Proverbs are sometimes said to mean something else in addition to what is explicitly stated. Words may mean something beyond those intended by the speaker or the writer. These extra meanings might achieve or refer to different illocutionary acts. The study explores whether or not these illocutionary acts share certain structural features. In order to achieve the aims of the research, the following hypotheses have been proposed: Grice’s cooperative principle is frequently flouted in Shakespeare’s proverbs. The maxim of Quality seems to be flouted more than the other maxims. This maxim is mainly flouted by the use of metaphor. Shakespeare’s proverbs are also characterized by the use of the speech

scholarly journals LEITURA E CIVILIDADE: um estudo discursivo de práticas de silenciamentos pela violência “costurada” no corpo infantil

Organon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (48) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carme Regina Schons
Keyword(s):  
Social Setting ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The present work intends to reflect, starting from the theories of text and discourse, on silencing forms produced in the/by the media regarding children´s exploitation. To elucidate what was proposed, we took into account the concept of language as structure and event, developed by Pêcheux (1983), and the reflections of Orlandi (1996) on the concept of silencing - local silencing and constituent silence. Our question was established from our reading of the corpus: what is delivered by the abuse of the word and what is recovered in the restriction of language? In our analysis, we noticed the work of interdiscursive relationships as much as the one of the relationships of historicity involving specific conditions, since it is in the process of enunciation that the subject-victim enters the scene, is introduced in the social setting and, on being spoken about, assumes an institutionally and socially marked place of fragility and of incapacity of defense.

scholarly journals The significance of educational activeness among the elderly in a social and psychological context

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-75
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Marcinkiewicz-Wilk
Keyword(s):  
Information Society ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Aspect ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Critical Literature ◽  
Changing Society

Aim. The aim of this article is to show the significance of educational activeness among the elderly in the context of its adaptation to the ageing process itself (the psychological aspect), as well as to a rapidly changing society defined by technological progress (the social aspect). Method. The article has been formulated with the aid of critical literature on the subject Conclusion. Educational activeness is crucial in late adulthood. On the one hand it is an important element in allowing the elderly to adapt to a new stage of life, and on the other hand to keep up with a rapidly changing society, defined in the literature as the information society.

A lacanian reply to Marx : the necessity of topology in the formation of the social

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lawrence Loiseau
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Link ◽  
True Source ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The University ◽  
Insight Into

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This study addresses Lacan's comments on Marx. While much has been done towards reading Marx with psychoanalysis generally, little had has been done to unpack the meaning and extent of Lacan's own statements on Marx. For example, while Lacanian Marxists like Slavoj Zizek have wielded Lacan to great effect in a critique of post-structuralism, they have neglected the full meaning and complexity of Lacan's own stance. What is argued thereby is that Zizek not only omits the discrete knowledge within Lacan's commentary, but misses what I describe as a Lacan's theory of the social. On the one hand, it is commonly known in Lacanian thought that discourse is responsible for making the subject. On the other hand, what is less known is that Lacan defined discourse as that which makes a social link which, in contrast with Marxist thought, introduces a certain affect and materialism premised on discourse itself, commonly known, but also for providing the underlying strata of topology (namely, paradox) requisite for making any social link between subjects. Although less commonly known, we can nevertheless gain new insight into Marx. On the one hand, Lacan concedes Marx's underlying structuralism. On the other hand, Marx fails to see the true source of discourse's origins, the real itself, and consequently fails to see the true efficacy of discourse. He fails to see how discourse, although negative, stands as entirely positive and material in its distinctive effects. Discourse negotiates subjects and their inimitable objects of desire in this singularity itself. This is where true production lies; it is that which precedes any social or economic theory, which are otherwise premised on reality. Lacan rejects reality.

Postmodernism, Geography, and the Social Semiotics of Space

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
A P Lagopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Humanistic Geography ◽  
The Social ◽  
Postmodern Philosophy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The nucleus of postmodern philosophy and theory is derived primarily from French neostructuralist writings. The ontological foundation of such literature is the idealist rejection of the possibility of knowing reality and, as a consequence, the enclosure of the subject within the signifying universe, which in turn results in the exaltation of the signifying processes as the only social processes. The same emphasis, but through nonverbal means, is demonstrated by postmodern architectural and urban design. In geography, however, postmodernism is interpreted differently. In two recent books (by Soja and by Harvey) the postmodern era in human geography is related to the heightened importance of space for social reality and theory. But the split of geography itself between Marxist geography on the one hand, and behavioural and humanistic geography on the other, shows the pertinence of the signifying dimension for the field of geography. In this paper, it is argued that the roles of space and meaning are equally important for geography, and it is proposed that an analysis of the signifying aspect of space may be achieved through semiotics, currently the most complete and sophisticated theory of meaning and culture. The main problem for geography, which is addressed in the final section of this paper, is the integration of a renewed version of the semiotics of space with an equally renewed Marxist geography, the most powerful explanatory approach to geography we have at our disposal.

The Study of International Politics: A Survey of Trends and Developments

1952 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Evolution And Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Integrated Curricula ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

The question was raised at the end of World War II as to whether or not international relations could stand as a separate field of study. Views were expressed by scholars and teachers in history and political science to the effect that in substance there was nothing peculiar to the subject matter of international relations which did not fall under other separate fields of social studies. At some universities and colleges there were dissenters to this prevailing viewpoint. Their particular philosophy manifested itself in attempts to create and establish integrated curricula under academic committees or departments dedicated to the broad generalized study of die subject matter of the field. It is still too early to pass judgment with any finality on the merits of these two points of view, the one viewing international relations as a mere duplication of the subject matter of many fields; the odier insisting that diere must be an ordering and integrative approach to die field. No serious student would presume to claim that die study of international relations had arrived at die stage of an independent academic discipline. However, there have been three significant developments within no more than a single generation which illuminate certain aspects of this problem. First we have witnessed the evolution and development of a point of focus or core in the field. Secondly, diere have been die first faint and feeble beginnings of attempts to create a mediodology appropriate for the field, or at least to determine those related mediodologies in the social sciences whose methods and techniques could most usefully be appropriated for the study of persistent international issues. Thirdly, inventories have been drawn up by individual scholars, universities and institutes, of topics and concrete projects which would best serve in the development of general principles in the field and the validation of them dirough systematic inquiry.

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