Propositional attitudes in written and spoken language

2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Reilly ◽  
Elisheva Baruch ◽  
Harriet Jisa ◽  
Ruth A. Berman

This study considers the use of modal expressions (auxiliaries like should , can), semi-modals (e.g. have to, be likely to), and adverbials and complement-taking expressions (maybe, it is possible that ) to convey the attitudes and feelings of speaker/writers about the events they describe and the ideas they express. The topic of “propositional attitudes” thus overlaps with the domains of linguistic analysis known as “mood and modality.” This paper considers selected facets of linguistic modality in developmental and cross-linguistic perspective.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 34-59
Author(s):  
Kazuko Matsumoto

Abstract This paper reports results from a reinvestigation of multilingualism in postcolonial Palau, conducted twenty years after the first study. The first-ever ethnographic language survey conducted in 1997–1998 highlighted the diglossic nature of Palau where English replaced Japanese as the ‘high’ language, while indigenous Palauan remained as the ‘low’ spoken language. It indicated three possible future scenarios: (a) shift from multilingualism to bilingualism after the older Japanese-speaking generation passes away; (b) stability of diglossia with a clear social division between an English-speaking elite and a predominantly Palauan-speaking non-elite; (c) movement towards an English-speaking nation with Palauan being abandoned. The restudy conducted in 2017–2018 provides real-time evidence to assess the direction and progress of change, whilst the ethnographic analysis of recent changes in language policies and the linguistic analysis of teenagers’ narratives reveal the unpopularity of Palauan as a written language and the emergence of their own variety of English.


Author(s):  
Milan I. Surducki

I propose to present here the findings of an analysis of a limited corpus of English loanwords as found in four Canadian weekly newspapers published in the Serbo-Croatian language. Though interference in written language is a secondary phenomenon in a situation of languages in contact, instances of such interference are interesting and important since they may contribute to the adoption and spread of the corresponding instances of interference in spoken language. In addition, kinds of interference, as well as the total amount of interference in an immigrant language contact situation, may be usefully compared with interference phenomena in the corresponding standard language (in which very often, as is the case with E and SC in contact, almost all borrowing is done from a written model language). The linguistic analysis of the interference in written language seems therefore to be worth while.


Author(s):  
Tobias Weber

The South Estonian Kraasna subdialect was spoken until the first half of the 20th century by a now vanished community in Krasnogorodsk, Russia. All linguistic descriptions to date are based on textual sources, mostly manuscripts from Heikki Ojansuu’s 1911/12 and 1914 fieldwork. Ojansuu’s phonograph recordings were thought to be lost by previous researchers and remained unused. The rediscovery of these recordings allows for the first analysis of Kraasna based on spoken language data, closing gaps in the description and enabling further research. This description follows a theory-neutral and framework-free approach, while respecting traditions in Estonian linguistics and linking the results to research in Estonian dialectology. It provides key information on the Kraasna subdialect based on the corpus – phonology, morphology, syntax – despite being restricted to the phonograph recordings. Future research can expand on these points and build on the present description. Kokkuvõte. Tobias Weber: Heikki Ojansuu Kraasna murraku fonogrammide lingvistiline analüüs. Venemaal Pihkva oblastis Krasnogorodski ümbruses elanud Kraasna maarahvas rääkis lõunaeestipärast Kraasna murrakut 20. sajandi esimese pooleni. Kõik keeleteaduslikud käsitlused Kraasna murra- kust on siiani kasutanud kirjalikke allikaid, enamjaolt Heikki Ojansuu 1911.– 12. ning 1914. aastal kogunud käsikirju. Ojansuu tehtud fonogrammid arvati enne käesoleva uurimistöö tegemist olevat kadunud ning sellepärast pole neid varasemad uurijad kasutanud. Taasleitud helisalvestiste abil on selles artiklis kirjeldatud Kraasna murrakut esimest korda suulise kõne andmete alusel, täites lünki eelnevates analüüsides. Siinses kirjelduses järgitakse teoreetiliselt neutraalset deskriptiivset lähenemist, samas austades Eesti keeleteaduse traditsioone ja arvestades Eesti murdeuurimise varasemate tulemustega. Artikkel esitab Kraasna fonoloogia, morfoloogia ja süntaksi kohta põhiteavet, piirdudes aga korpuspõhise uurimusena fonogrammide keeleainesega. See on aluseks järgnevatele uurimisprojektidele, mis saavad käesolevat kirjeldust lähtekohaks kasutades arendada analüüsi edasi, seda laiendades ja süvendades.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique Rodriguez ◽  
Robert Vann

This report discusses the importance of accounting for language contact and discourse circumstance in orthographic transcriptions of multilingual recordings of spoken language for deposit in digital language archives (DLAs). Our account provides a linguistically informed approach to the multilingual representation of spontaneous speech patterns, taking steps toward documenting ancestral and emergent codes. Our findings lead to portable lessons learned including (a) the conclusion that transcriptions can benefit from a bottom-up approach targeting particular linguistic features of sociocultural relevance to the community documented and (b) the implication (for researchers developing transcriptions for other DLAs) that the principled implementation of particular software features in tandem with systematic linguistic analysis can be helpful in finding and classifying such features, especially in multilingual recordings.


1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 725-752
Author(s):  
Evan Fales

Philosophical logic has its problem-children; and among these the Principle of Substitutivity of codesignating expressions — the linguistic spawn of Leibniz's law—has achieved a place of prominence. It has become increasingly apparent that a certain style of linguistic analysis, which seeks to impose formal regimentation ruled by the constraints of classical quantification theory, does not yield results with the kind of uniformity and elegance one should hope for from a satisfyi.ng theory. The root of the difficulty, I believe, bears upon the answers to fundamental questions concerning the nature of cognitive agents and the purposes which their use of language is designed to further. If this is the case, one might expect to find some of the trouble surfacing at precisely those points where the language is used to convey information about the cognitive activities associated with the use of language by such agents. So it is.The central problem of this essay is the interpretation of referential expressions in statements involving propositional attitudes, with the focus on belief contexts. But I shall begin by placing the discussion within a broader theoretical framework.


ACC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 32-52
Author(s):  
Magdalena Malechová

Multilingualism plays an immense role in today's world. This linguistic interweaving occurs, consciously or unconsciously, but the understanding of linguistic interaction is always on the front burner. The contribution shows some possibilities of the encounter of different languages and the consequences of these contacts. One of the processes in which the languages are merging is called code-switching. On concrete examples in written language, coexisting elements of spoken language are shown. The aim of the article is, however, to observe the written language and its tendency to either conceptual verbal or written form of language and to present three types of written texts and how code-switching in this field of communication works. Based on theoretical knowledge about existing forms of changing language codes, in the empirical part of the study, exemplary excerpts are subjected to qualitative linguistic analysis and research results are presented.


2019 ◽  
pp. 49-63
Author(s):  
Magdalena Steciąg

The article contains a suggestion to frame a shift towards the cultural dimension of discourse in its linguistic analysis through the notion of lingua nativa – lingua materna – lingua fracta. In this approach, the gradual dispersion of the idea of language as a natural phenomenon is emphasized in three aspects: the common language referring to the “world of things” and everyday experiences; the first/native language, which “runs in the blood”; and the spoken language in non-mediated interpersonal communication.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertus Van Rooy

Kritiek teen die Cloete-omdigting van die metriese psalms word beoordeel deur die Totiusomdigting en die Cloete-omdigting met behulp van ’n korpuslinguistiese analise te vergelyk. Die analise geskied vanuit ’n kritiese beskouing van die aannames oor taal en vertaling onderliggend aan die resente debatte oor psalmomdigting. Die aanname van ’n deursigtige verhouding tussen die vaste betekenisse en spesifike woorde, sowel as die moontlikheid dat formele ekwivalensie in die vertaling bewerkstellig kan word, word as vertrekpunte van die kritici van die Cloete-omdigting geïdentifieer. Die data analise toon dat die ooreenkomste tussen die twee omdigtings omvangryk is, maar dat die verskille beperk is. In die Totiusomdigting word meer van argaïese woorde gebruik gemaak. Nederlandse sowel as argaïese grammatikale konstruksies soos die genitief, die datief en die inflksie van die werkwoord kom selfs sporadies voor. Daar kom ook heelwat naamwoorde in die Totius omdigting voor wat op ʼn formeler digterlike styl dui. Daarteenoor kom meer werkwoorde in die Cloete-omdigting voor, asook taaleienskappe wat verband hou met ’n spreektaalregister. Werklik beduidende teologiese verskille blyk nie uit die korpusanalise nie. Totius maak byvoorbeeld van drie verskillende Godsname gebruik, terwyl Cloete van ’n groter verskeidenheid adjektiewe gebruik maak wat soortgelyke betekenisse verwoord as wat in die Godsname vervat is.A corpus linguistic comparison of the psalm versifiations of Totius and Cloete. Criticism of the Cloete versifiation of the metrical psalms is evaluated by comparing the Totius and Cloete versifiation with the aid of a corpus linguistic analysis. The analysis is presented against the backdrop of a critical assessment of assumptions about language and translation that underlie the recent debates on psalm versifiation. The assumption of a transparent relation between fied meanings and specifi words, as well as the degree to which formal equivalence can be attained in translation, is identifid as the points of departure of the critics of the Cloete versifiation. The data analysis shows that the two versifiations share many similarities, but the differences are limited. In the Totius versifiation, archaic forms are usedmore often. Dutch as well as archaic grammatical constructions such as the genitive, dative and verbal inflction are still occasionally encountered. There are also many nouns in the Totius versifiation, which points to a more formal poetic style. By contrast, there are more verbs in the Cloete versifiation, as well as language features that are typical of a spoken language register. Really substantial theological differences do not emerge from the corpus analysis. For instance, where Totius uses three names for God, Cloete uses a wider range of adjectives that encode similar meanings to what Totius encodes in proper nouns.


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