Evidentials and Epistemic Modality

Author(s):  
Björn Wiemer

This chapter deals with the relation between the notional domains of information source and epistemic modality. It surveys various approaches to this relation and the cross-linguistic patterns of the way in which linguistic units (of diverse formats) with evidential or epistemic meanings develop extensions whereby they encroach into each other’s domains. Meaning extensions in either direction can adequately be captured, and confusion between both domains can be avoided, only if in the analysis of the meaning of such units (a) an onomasiological and semasiological perspective and (b) a coded-inferred divide are distinguished. Thus, epistemic extensions often arise as Generalized Conversational Implicatures (GCIs). Concomitantly, reliability functions as a mechanism that mediates between, but cannot be identified with, the contributions of evidential and epistemic meanings. Reliability, together with the predictability of specific markers and discourse expectations, is considered responsible for the rise of epistemic GCIs.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Colonna Dahlman

AbstractAccording to Grice’s analysis, conversational implicatures are carried by the saying of what is said (Grice 1989: 39). In this paper, it is argued that, whenever a speaker implicates a content by flouting one or several maxims, her implicature is not only carried by the act of saying what is said and the way of saying it, but also by the act of non-saying what should have been said according to what would have been normal to say in that particular context. Implicatures that arise without maxim violation are only built on the saying of what is said, while those that arise in violative contexts are carried by the saying of what is said in combination with the non-saying of what should have been said. This observation seems to justify two claims: (i) that conversational implicatures have different epistemic requirements depending on whether they arise in violative or non-violative contexts; (ii) that implicatures arising in non-violative contexts are more strongly tied to their generating assertion than those arising with maxim violation.


Author(s):  
Kaitlyn Barton

Rapid advancements in radical life extension technologies contribute to humanity’s ever-changing world. The normalization of radical life extension technologies would signify that the present era in which biology and evolution act as dictators of human life and health would come to an end, thereby ushering in the age of the post-human. The purpose of this paper is to engage in a theological analysis of how and to what degree the ways in which humanity speaks about God could be changed or influenced if radical life extension becomes normative within society. . It is likely that this powerful technology would have a significant impact on many facets of culture, including the way in which humanity engages with religion, in particular Christianity. To accomplish this, the technology that could potentially support radical life extension, namely nanotechnology and cybernetic immortality, will be explained in terms of their relevance and function. Subsequently, the affects of radical life extension for human life will be addressed. Specifically, the implications of the partial or full eradication of human biological and psychological suffering and death through the use of cybernetic immortality and nanotechnology and will be considered. From there, the core theological concepts and narratives will be analyzed in the context of the potential actualization of radical life extension technology. A focus will be placed on the ethic of loving thy neighbour, Christ’s suffering on the cross, the hope of salvation and the Christian hope of entrance into heaven after death. 


Author(s):  
Вероника Викторовна Катермина ◽  
Анна Александровна Гнедаш ◽  
Мария Витальевна Николаева

В статье приводятся результаты комплексного анализа лингвистических паттернов коммуникации топовых российских журналистов в официальных аккаунтах социальных платформ ВКонтакте, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Целью данной статьи является изучение лингвистических паттернов, продуцируемых топовыми журналистами в своих онлайн-аккаунтах, способных задавать векторы восприятия политического контента, создаваемого главными лидерами государств, и приводящих к трансформации дискурсивных полей как в онлайн-, так и в офлайн-пространстве. Среднестатистический россиянин тратит почти половину дня на онлайн-взаимодействие, почти 50 % этого времени приходится на популярные социальные медиа, в том числе интернет-серфинг в среде официальных аккаунтов топовых журналистов. Потребление данных паттернов рядовыми пользователями / читателями, находящимися под «силовым» влиянием дискурсивного поля, становится определяющим фактором в процессе выработки и принятия индивидуальных / коллективных решений, реализация которых формирует то или иное социальное действие как в онлайн-, так и в офлайн-пространстве. Согласно данным мониторинга социальных медиа и СМИ компанией «Медиалогия», нами были выбраны аккаунты Алексея Венедиктова, Владимира Соловьева, Владимира Познера, Маргариты Симоньян и Ксении Собчак в ВКонтакте, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Эмпирической базой (дата-сеты) стали все посты, комментарии и ветки дискуссий, отражающие реакцию данных журналистов и общественности на Послание Президента РФ В. В. Путина Федеральному Собранию РФ от 15 января 2020 г. Дата-сеты были получены машинным методом сплошной выборки и подвергнуты комплексному анализу, включившему сетевой, лингводискурсивный, фолксономический анализ. В результате проведенного исследования были сделаны выводы о том, какими лингводискурсивными особенностями характеризуются посты топовых журналистов в популярных социальных сетях; как характеризуются лингвистические паттерны, продуцируемые топовыми журналистами в онлайн-пространстве; как различается контент, создаваемый журналистами в разных социальных сетях; каковы особенности этих различий в зависимости от специфики самих социальных платформ; как влияет политический контекст на лингвистические паттерны, продуцируемые топовыми журналистами в онлайн-пространстве. The article presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of the linguistic communication patterns of top Russian journalists in the official accounts of the social platforms VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. The purpose of this article is to study the linguistic patterns which are produced by the top journalists in their online accounts and which can set vectors of interpretation of political content created by state leaders and cause the transformation of discourse fields both in online and offline spaces. The average Russian spends almost half a day on online interaction, almost 50% of this time is spent on popular social media, including surfing the top journalists’ official accounts. The linguistic patterns produced by journalists in their online accounts are capable of transforming discursive fields both online and offline. The consumption of these patterns by ordinary users / readers who are under the influence of the discourse field becomes a determining factor in the process of making individual / collective decisions, the implementation of which forms a particular social action both in online and offline spaces. According to “Mediologia” monitoring data of social and mass media, the authors selected the accounts of Aleksey Venediktov, Vladimir Solovyev, Vladimir Pozner, Margarita Simonyan, and Ksenia Sobchak in VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. The data sets of the study are all the posts, comments, and threads of discussions that reflect the reaction of the above-mentioned journalists and the public to the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly on 15 January 2020. The data sets were gained through a continuous sampling method and underwent a comprehensive analysis including network, linguo-discursive, folksonomic analyses. As a result of the study, the authors have drawn the conclusions on what linguistic and discursive features characterize the posts of the top journalists in popular social networks; the way the linguistic patterns produced by the top journalists in online space are characterized; the way the content created by the journalists in various social networks differs; what is the specificity of these differences depending on the specificity of the social platforms themselves; the way a political context affects the linguistic patterns produced by the top journalists in online space.


Author(s):  
Helena Lorencová ◽  
Marcela Gotzmannová

This article deals with how the residents of the town Rosice perceive the surrounding landscape in aesthetic terms, how it affects them and which of the landscape components they find the most valuable and necessary to preserve for the next generations. This article briefly describes the essential characteristics as well as the landscape composition of the area in question. It summarizes the results of a sociological survey which was carried out in April 2015. The majority of respondents considered the town of Rosice to be a good place to liveand agreed that what they liked most were visual percepts of the area and the sites where panoramic views could be enjoyed. Those components which the residents of Rosice wished to preserve in the town of Rosice for the next generations is Chateau Rosice, Nejsvětější Trojice (the Holy Trinity) chapel, the Stone bridge, St. Martin’s church, and the way of the Cross leading to the Holy Trinity chapel. The natural components that the respondents frequently mentioned included Rosická Obora (deer‑park) wooded land, the park and garden adjacent to the Chateau, the way of the Cross lined with linden trees leading to the Holy Trinity chapel, and the river Bobrava. One of the most significant problems and threats to the countryside is, according to many respondents, the usurpation of land in the form of residential and commercial development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-257
Author(s):  
Bogdan-Alexandru Furduescu

Abstract One of the purposes of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (international acronym: NLP) is to motivate different skills from specific methods, techniques, tools, processes, theories and models into a single coherent and very Effective when implemented. Most of the methods, techniques, tools, processes, theories and specific models of NLP were created through the process called “modeling”, which, in principle, involves decipting the way in which the mind and how we think (neuro) operates through analyzing language (linguistic) patterns and non-verbal communication, the results of the analysis being integrated step by step in a strategy (programming) that can be used to transfer the ability of other individuals. The most important aspect of NLP is perhaps the practical-pragmatic, tracksuit programs and NLP concepts focusing on the interactive side and experiential learning, precisely in order for these concepts and principles to be fair and fully perceived and understood.


Kairos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-205
Author(s):  
Teofil Stanciu

For Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, the kenosis of Christ climaxes with his God-forsakenness on the cross. It is this aspect of kenosis that the present article tries to explore and build upon. One key element will be the meaning of the concept of “a-theist” Christ – coined by Bloom – and how this status of the incarnated Son can function as a basis for our identification and solidarity with today’s atheists. By the way of kenosis, the incarnation brings together in one hypostasis the divine and human nature. This reality endowed both our nature and created order with significant dignity. This paper explores the possibilities from this dignity and how it can serve as a bridge for dialogue with humanists and materialists. As Bloom suggests, this can open the discussion towards the secular world and Christians could take some responsibility for the process of secularization. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that Anthony Bloom’s controversial idea of “a-theist” Christ can become a connection point with the other and a mirror in which western Christians might look at some of their anthropological shortcomings that hamper their solidarity and dialogue with those who do not share the faith in God.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. e337
Author(s):  
Gerda Hassler

Defined narrowly, evidentiality pertains to the sources of knowledge or evidence whereby the speaker feels entitled to make a factual claim. But evidentiality may also be conceived more broadly as both providing epistemic justification and reflecting speaker’s attitude towards the validity of the communicated information, and hearer’s potential acceptability of the information, derived from the degree of reliability of the source and mode of access to the information. Evidentiality and epistemic modality are subcategories of the same superordinate category, namely a category of epistemicity. Since the first seminal works on evidentiality (Chafe and Nichols 1986), studies have for the most part centred on languages where the grammatical marking of the information source is obligatory (for example Willett 1988; Aikhenvald 2004). Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the study of the domain of evidentiality in European languages, which rely on strategies along the lexico‐grammatical continuum. Assuming a broad conception of evidentiality and defining it as a functional category, we study linguistic means that fulfil the function of indicating the source of information for the transmitted content of a certain proposition in Romance languages.


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