Historical Pragmatics in the Teaching of the History of English

Author(s):  
Leslie K. Arnovick

The best pedagogical practices in the teaching of the History of the English Language (HEL) recommend the incorporation of new research paradigms. Historical pragmatics and historical sociolinguistics are both relatively new fields of study, and both clearly locate the English language in its social and cultural context. This chapter will give you examples of historical pragmatic studies (e.g., the evolution of discourse markers and changes in directive speech acts) and historical sociolinguistics (e.g., the use of you/thou in relation to social rank and gender, changes from positive (neutral) politeness to negative politeness) that can fruitfully be incorporated into HEL courses.

Author(s):  
Emiliia Bushueva

The language is a specific type of human activity, «a shape of thought». As a means of communication, it acts as an exponent of the speaker’s spirit and world outlook. The issue of shaping a linguistic world view in students of non-linguistic colleges and, in particular, the problem of the language impact on the way of view of life still requires its solution. The author of the article harks back to the history of foreign linguistic school of thoughts of German linguists Wilhelm von Humboldt (founder of theoretical linguistics) and Johann Leo Weisgerber (who proposed the term «the linguistic world view»), of American ethno-linguists Edward Sepir (author of the comprehensive typological classification of languages of the world) and Benjamin Whorf (author of the theory of linguistic relativity), of an English philosopher John Langsho Ostin, one of the creators of the theory of speech acts. The article mentions some ideas of the Russian world view presented in works of the national linguists, such as A.A. Potebnya, A. Vezhbitskaya, Ye.S. Kubryakova, V.M. Vorobyev. Drawing on many years of experience of teaching the English language in departments of international relations, linguistics and translation studies in St. Petersburg Institute for External Economic Relations, Economics and Law, the author examines the methods of shaping the linguistic world view in students of International Relations and Linguistics. As an example, the author brings forth a scenario of the lecture course in the discipline «Professional Foreign Language (English) in Studying the Topic «National Identity».


Author(s):  
Mariana Lewier ◽  
Merlyn Rutumalessy ◽  
Viona Sapulette

Up to the present time, there are still many children games played with their respective accompanying songs by young children in Maluku. The lyrics of these children songs can be categorized as one form of texts that can be analyzed in terms of language aspects. This paper discusses directive speech acts contained in the children songs-attached games in Maluku. The purpose of this paper is to describe the various acts of directive speech, the social-cultural context that embodies it, and the level of politeness they may carry. The approach used was pragmatic approach, specifically the framework of speech act theory. The data used in this study was children songs in Ambon-Maluku, both oral and written data containing directive statements. Data analysis was done by interpreting, making inferences, and presenting it in the form of descriptive analysis. Descriptive analysis is intended to describe, provide an overview and identify the relationship between the phenomena being studied. The directive act of speech contained in the children game songs in Maluku can be categorized as direct or indirect. The direct way of directive speech acts is used for requesting, ordering, inviting, and forbidding, while the indirect way is preferred than imperative mode by using interrogative sentence, news report, and a particular request statement. Thus, through this analysis, we may come to an understanding of the dynamics of socio-cultural realm that underlies the presence of children game traditions in Maluku.


Author(s):  
N. V. Panina

In the article the author analyzes interjections as signals of emotions in order to determine their functions in creating the perlocutionary effect of comics, which is especially relevant in the era of ever-increasing emotionalization of the global communicative space. The research is based on 'Disney Magic Kingdom Comics' anniversary collection, which presents comics created by various authors and artists, which thereby indicates the objective nature of the research. The block of empirical materials includes both interjections that autonomously form the speech acts of comic book characters, and those which pragmatic potential is revealed in combination with verbal and iconic components. The research is carried out on the basis of linguistic description methods of the qualitative-quantitative and functional-semantic characteristics of interjections. In the course of the study the author is revealed that interjections are able to participate in the formation of speech acts of comic book characters. Interjections in the imperative function represent directive speech acts. However, the most numerous and variable group is made up of interjections expressing the emotional state of the characters, which may be explained by the nature of interjections. Further on the concentration of interjections in speech balloons is recorded and it is revealed that interjections occupy 1/5 of the entire communicative space of each of the analyzed comics. Actualizing the emotional component of comics, interjections are involved in creating the maximum similarity between the formation of a speech act in a speech balloon and in live speech. Graphic tools and illustrations allow the reader to determine the intensity of the emotion transmitted by this or that interjection, and the nature of its expression. According to the results of the study, the author is found that comics, revealing the unity of narration and visual action, serve as a valid platform for actualization of the potential of interjections, which are an integral element of this type of a multimodal text.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-130
Author(s):  
Roni Sya'roni ◽  
Didin Nuruddin Hidayat

This study aimed at analyzing the role of cross-cultural understanding in interpreting English recount texts. The data of this study were obtained by reviewing documents of a book entitled “Histories of Nations: How their identities were forged” (Furtado, 2017). As a qualitative content analysis, all the data were analyzed qualitatively by classifying, coding and interpreting the data gathered that led us to some conclusions and suggestions. The study found that there were some words and phrases in the recount text that requires cross cultural understanding in order to be able to interpret those texts accurately. Therefore, in interpreting the recount text, it is necessary to understand not only the text in literal meaning, but also the cultural context in a comprehensive way. This focuses on cultural context deals with the history of social organization and religion system. Cross cultural understanding eases the readers to interpret the recount text appropriately. The study suggests that cross cultural understanding should be an important topic to be learnt intensively in learning English language at least at university education level as it will enable students to be capable of understanding English discourses comprehensively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-85
Author(s):  
Giyatmi Giyatmi ◽  
Purwani Indri Astuti ◽  
Ratih Wijayava

The research aims at describing the types and functions of speech acts in the tourism slogan in Indonesia. There has already been much research on tourism slogan, but only a few studies focusing on linguistics. To broaden the study of tourism slogans from a linguistics perspective, the research focuses on the speech acts in the tourism slogans. It belongs to descriptive qualitative research by focusing on the phenomena of tourism slogans in society. The data of the research are tourism slogans of some cities in Indonesia found on the internet. The technique of data collection used is content analysis. The technique of data analysis consists of data reduction, data display, and verification. There is no data reduction in this research. Data is displayed in the table and the last step data is analyzed based on the problem statements. The researchers found 31 data of tourism slogans. There are 4 types of speech acts in tourism slogans namely representative speech acts (13 data), directive speech acts (7 data), commissive speech acts (3 data), and expressive speech acts (8 data). The researchers find 3 functions of speech acts in the tourism slogan such as giving information about the history of the city, nickname of the city, hope or idea of the city (19 data), asking (7 data), and promising (5 data). The findings show that there is a tendency to be very simple in the slogans found. Besides, the slogans come with an exclusive appeal by emphasizing the effective component in the message.Keywords: tourism, slogans, speech acts. 


Author(s):  
Zizinska A.P.

The article is aimed to investigate speech acts in the Old English language (7–11 centuries). Our study focuses on one of the types of speech acts – directives. Literary monuments of the Old English language, the oldest of which date back to the 7th century, served as illustrative material.We have studied and identified the main types of directives that were most manifested in the language of the above mantioned period. Based on previous researches, and analyzing the sources of illustrative material, we were able to trace back the peculiarities of the directives usage in the Old English language, and to make a comparative analysis.The diachronic analysis revealed that orders were the most commonly used type of directive speech acts. They proved to be the most diachronically stable and have retained a one-part structure since the Old English period. That is why our research focuses on this period, as it is important to investigate the origin and formation of directives, which in its further development became an important part of the imperatives. The grammaticalization of directives and imperative sentences in general was mainly pragmatic and morphological. It was connected to the development of the imperative mood and language in general.The usage of electronic corpora has helped us to determine the frequency of manifestation of a particular directive marker in literary monuments. The article analyzes four main types of directives: ic bidde, sceu scealt / ge sculon, uton, neodþearf / þearf. Performative directives were among the most widely used and widespread in the written literature of the period under study. In Old English, the typical model of a directive speech act was: a directive verb in the first person singular or plural + object. A subordinate clause with a request was often added with the specified action that the speaker required to perform.Our study allowed us to establish that the choice of directives depended (in most cases) on face threat. Instead, the peculiarities of their manifestation had a different purpose. Thus, performatives were used to emphasize the effect of the speech act and to ensure the performance of a certain action. Other types of directives were used to emphasize the urgency and necessity of the implementation of a particular act, and to clarify to whom it applies. We found that the above mentioned directives were used mainly in religious texts.Key words: imperative, diachrony, historical pragmatics, request, order. Стаття присвячується дослідженню мовленнєвих актів в англійській мові давньоанглійського періоду (7–11 ст.). Наша розвідка зосереджується на одному з видів мовленнєвих актів – директивах. Ілюстративним матеріалом слугували літературні пам’ятки давньоанглійської мови, найдавніші з яких датуються 7 століттям.Нами були досліджені й виділені основні типи директивів, які були найбільш вживаними в зазначений період. Взявши за основу попередні розвідки й проаналізувавши джерела ілюстративного матеріалу, нам вдалося прослідкувати особливості використання директивів у давньоанглійській мові й зробити порівняльний аналіз.Діахронічний аналіз дозволив визначити, що накази є найбільш вживаним типом директивних мовленнєвих актів. Вони виявилися діахронічно стійкими й зберегли односкладову структуру ще із часів давньоанглійського періоду. Саме тому наше дослідження зосереджується на цьому періоді, оскільки важливо дослідити зародження та утворення директивів, які в подальшому своєму розвитку стали невіддільною частиною імперативів. Граматикалізація, що відбулась із директивами й наказовими реченнями загалом, мала переважно прагматичний і морфологічний характер. Вони були пов’язані з розвитком наказового способу й мовою загалом.Застосування електронних корпусів допомогло визначити частоту вживання певного директивного маркера в пам’ятках літератури. У статті аналізуються чотири основні типи директивів: ic bidde, þu scealt / ge sculon, uton, neodþearf / þearf. Перформативні директиви належали до найбільш вживаних і поширених у письмових пам’ятках літератури досліджуваного періоду. У давньоанглійській мові типовою моделлю було директивне дієслово в першій особі однини чи множини + додаток. Часто додавалось підрядне речення з вказаною дією, яку мовець вимагав виконати.Наше дослідження дозволило нам встановити, що вибір директивів залежав (у більшості випадків) від «загрози (не загрози) обличчю». Натомість особливості їх вживання мали іншу мету. Таким чином, перформативи вживались для підкреслення дії мовленнєвого акту й забезпечення виконання певної дії. Інші види директивів використовувались для наголошення на терміновості й необхідності виконання того чи іншого акту й уточнення адресата. Нами було встановлено, що зазначені вище директиви вживались переважно в релігійних текстах.Ключові слова: імператив, діахронія, історична прагматика, прохання, наказ.


Author(s):  
Natalia I. Kikilo ◽  

The paper provides an in-depth analysis of functional features of the analytical first-person singular da-construction in the standard Macedonian language. When it is used in an independent clause, the daconstruction has a wide range of modal meanings, the most common of which are imperative and optative. The interaction of the grammatical categories of person, number and modality in the da-construction leads to changes in its meaning and shows its functional potential to indicate the speaker’s communicative intentions. The chosen semasiological approach to describing the da-construction is combined with the functional analysis and the communicative-pragmatic approach. The research material consists of about 200 examples gathered from contemporary Macedonian literary works and journalistic articles. 1. Da-construction has a full non-defective conjugation paradigm with an imperative meaning, where the first singular verb form has a special status. Directive speech acts, where imperative forms are usually used, are not supposed to combine a speaker and an addressee in one person, which causes semantic modification of the da-construction with a 1Sg verb: initially related to the imperative analytical paradigm, it describes the speaker’s intention to perform an action which he / she considers necessary. In addition, this type of construction marks a point in decision- making that is followed by the change of the speaker’s cognitive status; the only exception is the da-construction including verbs of perception, which points to an indirect causation of the addressee. 2. Independent 1Sg da-constructions with speech verbs and cognitive verbs tend to become idiomatic in meaning, which causes their use as discourse markers. Functioning as metacommentary, they help the speaker to direct the dialogue according to his/her communicative intentions. 3. The interaction of grammatical categories in the optative da-construction transforms curses to vows that have a function to confirm the truth of the speaker’s words and his / her commitment to face consequences in case of lying.


Author(s):  
Mary Hayes ◽  
Allison Burkette

This introductory chapter addresses the challenges and opportunities that come with teaching the History of the English Language (HEL). HEL is a traditional course whose instructors are tasked with balancing a great number of institutional, curricular, and student needs. Additionally, the course’s prodigious subject poses challenges for new as well as veteran instructors, few of whom have comprehensive training in English linguistics, literature, and the language’s historical varieties. The course encompasses a broad chronological, geographic, and disciplinary scope and, in the twenty-first-century classroom, has come to account for English’s transformative relationship with the internet and social media. In Approaches to Teaching the History of the English Language, experienced instructors explain the influences and ingenuity behind their own successful pedagogical practices. This introduction explains the value of that approach. Additionally, it includes a survey of the volume’s scope and organization.


This volume is an interdisciplinary assessment of the relationship between religion and the FBI. We recount the history of the FBI’s engagement with multiple religious communities and with aspects of public or “civic” religion such as morality and respectability. The book presents new research to explain roughly the history of the FBI’s interaction with religion over approximately one century, from the pre-Hoover period to the post-9/11 era. Along the way, the book explores vexed issues that go beyond the particulars of the FBI’s history—the juxtaposition of “religion” and “cult,” the ways in which race can shape the public’s perceptions of religion (and vica versa), the challenges of mediating between a religious orientation and a secular one, and the role and limits of academic scholarship as a way of addressing the differing worldviews of the FBI and some of the religious communities it encounters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-81
Author(s):  
Sayyora Azimova ◽  

This article is devoted to the pragmatic interpretation of the illocutionary action of the speech act “expression of refusals”. The article discusses different ways of reflecting cases of denial. This article was written not only for English language professionals, but also for use in aggressive conflicts and their pragmatic resolution, which naturally occur in the process of communication in all other languages


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