Factors in the perception of speaker politeness: the effect of linguistic structure, imposition and prosody

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Vergis ◽  
Marc D. Pell
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Linguistic Form ◽  
Conversational Implicatures ◽  
Linguistic Politeness ◽  
Auditory Tasks ◽  
Linguistic Structures

AbstractAlthough linguistic politeness has been studied and theorized about extensively, the role of prosody in the perception of (im)polite attitudes has been somewhat neglected. In the present study, we used experimental methods to investigate the interaction of linguistic form, imposition, and prosody in the perception of (im)polite requests. A written task established a baseline for the level of politeness associated with certain linguistic structures. Then stimuli were recorded in polite and rude prosodic conditions and in a perceptual experiment they were judged for politeness. Results revealed that, although both linguistic structure and prosody had a significant effect on politeness ratings, the effect of prosody was much more robust. In fact, rude prosody led in some cases to the neutralization of (extra)linguistic distinctions. The important contribution of prosody to (im)politeness inferences was also revealed by a comparison of the written and auditory tasks. These findings have important implications for models of (im)politeness and more generally for theories of affective speech. Implications for the generation of Particularized Conversational Implicatures (PCIs) of (im)politeness are also discussed.

Experimental Pragmatics

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond W. Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Important Research ◽  
Experimental Pragmatics ◽  
Linguistic Pragmatics ◽  
Conversational Implicatures ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Discourse Understanding

This chapter describes some of the important research in experimental pragmatics, most notably studies related to recovering speakers’ intentions, inferring conversational implicatures, and the role of common ground in discourse understanding. My aim is to demonstrate the utility of different experimental methods for studying pragmatics, and how research findings in the field are relevant to traditional concerns within the linguistic pragmatics community. But I will also argue that experimental pragmatic studies show great regularities and significant variation, both within and across individuals, in the ways people speak and understand language. My alternative view claims that dynamical, self-organizing processes form the critical background from which meaningful pragmatic actions emerge. The implications of this position for interdisciplinary pragmatic research will be discussed.

scholarly journals Modeling Syntactic Change under Contact: The Case of Italiot Greek

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Cristina Guardiano ◽  
Melita Stavrou
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Syntactic Change ◽  
The Social ◽  
Linguistic Structures

In this paper, we investigate patterns of persistence and change affecting the syntax of nominal structures in Italiot Greek in comparison to Modern (and Ancient) Greek, and we explore the role of Southern Italo-Romance as a potential source of interference. Our aim is to highlight the dynamics that favor syntactic contact in this domain: we provide an overview of the social context where these dynamics have taken place and of the linguistic structures involved.

scholarly journals Experiencer as quasi-agent: «from meaning to the linguistic form»

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 112-136
Author(s):  
М.А. Fomina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Conceptual Category ◽  
Linguistic Representation ◽  
Linguistic Form ◽  
Grammatical Subject

The paper focuses on the category of semantic subject within the framework of a functional approach to linguistics. The variety of roles subject may have in a sentence accounts for the radially structured category of subject. With the agent subject being the center of the category, other members – Possessor, Experiencer, Neutral, etc. – appear to be scattered within the syntactical category of subject being more central or peripheral. The paper deals with the Experiencer subject. The author stresses the key role of a well-elaborated metalanguage in linguistic analysis and assumes that a thorough analysis of the relevant conceptual category, its structure and content, should precede the stage of developing a metalanguage. The paper 1) differentiates between similar though not interchangeable notions such as semantic subject, grammatical subject, and the bearer of predicative feature, 2) features the peripheral status of the Experiencer within the category of semantic subject, 3) reveals the means of its linguistic representation, 4) makes a structural and semantic analysis of the models with the Experiencer.

Binocular Indirect Fundus Microscope in Vitreoretinal Surgery

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 3389-3395
Author(s):  
Wei Feng ◽  
Yi Zhao ◽  
Xianhong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Computer Technology ◽  
Retinal Thickness ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Vitreoretinal Surgery ◽  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Microscopic Image ◽  
Vitreoretinal Diseases ◽  
Microscopic Image Processing ◽  
Better Than

With the rapid development of computer technology, the application of computer technology in various fields is more and more common, and it also plays an increasingly important role in biomedicine. In recent years, microscopic image processing has always been an important part of biomedicine, and binocular indirect fundus microscope is playing an increasingly important role in vitreoretinal surgery. The purpose of this paper is to study the application effect of binocular indirect fundus microscope in vitreoretinal surgery, and to master the role of binocular indirect fundus microscope, which is important for biomedicine. This paper studies the effect of binocular indirect fundus microscope in vitreoretinal surgery through the study of the role of vitreous and binocular indirect fundus microscope, as well as the investigation of experimental methods. It highlights that the effect of binocular indirect fundus microscope is better than that of direct microscope in retinal surgery.The results show that binocular indirect fundus microscope is more suitable for vitreoretinal surgery. 85% of the patients with vitreoretinal surgery have better effect after surgery. No matter from the comparison of visual acuity improvement or retinal thickness, binocular indirect fundus microscope has better effect in vitreoretinal surgery. It also provides reference for how to prevent vitreoretinal diseases disease has positive significance. We expect to produce effective methods as soon as possible to solve the problems related to vitreous diseases, which can bring the bright future to ophthalmic patients.

A Linguistic Comparative Approach to the Internal Language Structure of Advertising Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (15) ◽  
pp. 190-210
Author(s):  
أ.د. ناصر بن فرحان الحريّص أ.د. ناصر بن فرحان الحريّص
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Text And Image ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Advertising Discourse

within a theoretical and applied framework, the current study discusses the linguistic structure of advertising discourse in its linguistic pattern, explaining its most significant features in all its linguistic levels that reveal its ability to intensify linguistic itensity and its role in controlling the semantics of the iconic pattern, the second important component of advertising discourse. This controlling can be seen in two possible functions. (i) Anchorage – images are prone to multiple meanings and interpretations. Anchorage occurs when text is used to focus on one of these meanings, or at least to direct the viewer through the maze of possible meanings in some way. (ii) Relay – the text adds meaning and both text and image work together to convey intended meaning. Both functions pay attention to the role of linguistic pattern in identifying the semantic dimensions of image in the iconic pattern so that the message of advertising discourse is being successful.

Examining the role of face work in a workplace complaint narrative

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Vasquez
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Novice Teacher ◽  
The Body ◽  
Oral Narratives ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Linguistic Politeness ◽  
Design Production ◽  
Micro Analysis

In recent years, interest in examining the diverse functions and features of oral narratives told in workplace contexts has grown alongside the body of research investigating the role of language in enacting politeness in the workplace. Yet, to date, there has been little integration of these two strands of inquiry. This paper forges a link between linguistic politeness and some social functions of institutional narratives. Specifically, the micro-analysis of one narrative taken from a corpus of teacher/supervisor feedback sessions demonstrates how the narrator, a novice teacher, negotiates the telling of a complaint narrative to her supervisor along with the politeness demands embedded in the local context of telling. I argue that the speaker’s contradictory evaluation of her situation interacts with linguistic politeness (i.e., the need to mitigate a “face-threatening act”) in the situated telling of this narrative. Finally, in the spirit of recent work on narrative, which calls for increased attention to context in narrative activities, this paper highlights the importance of considering the interrelationships among factors such as face work, recipient design, production circumstances, and institutional roles and relationships among speakers, in the analysis of institutional narratives.

The role of referential givenness in Dutch alternating presentational constructions

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 21-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Belligh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representations ◽  
Existential Sentence ◽  
Linguistic Structures

Abstract Presentational constructions are linguistic structures that can convey all-focus utterances with no topic constituent that serve to introduce a referentially new entity or event into the discourse. Like many other languages, Dutch has several presentational constructions, including a Prosodic Inversion Construction (PIC), a Syntactic Inversion with Filler Insertion Construction (SIFIC) and a Non-Prototypical Cleft Construction (NPC). This article investigates these structures as alternating presentational constructions and focuses on referential givenness as a possible factor influencing the alternation. Based on a data elicitation task, referential givenness is shown to play a role in the choice of alternant. The PIC is predominantly used with unused/inactive and accessible Mental Representations of Referents (MRRs), but it can also contain brand-new MRRs. The NPC is exclusively used with brand-new MRRs. The SIFIC is used mostly with brand-new MRRs, but it can also contain accessible MRRs, in particular in positions other than the syntactic subject. The data elicitation task yielded a number of additional Dutch linguistic structures that could also be considered presentational constructions, including a construction with a perception verb used in a weak verb-like fashion and a construction with an existential sentence combined with a coordinated canonical topic-comment clause.

THE ROLE OF ICONICITY IN THE EVOLUTION OF LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIO SANTIAGO ◽  
MÓNICA TAMARIZ ◽  
GABRIELLA VIGLIOCCO ◽  
DAVID VINSON
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Structure

scholarly journals Phase synchronization varies systematically with linguistic structure composition

2019 ◽  
Vol 375 (1791) ◽  
pp. 20190305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Brennan ◽  
Andrea E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Phase Synchronization ◽  
Natural Extension ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Phase Alignment ◽  
The Time Domain ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
The Brain

Computation in neuronal assemblies is putatively reflected in the excitatory and inhibitory cycles of activation distributed throughout the brain. In speech and language processing, coordination of these cycles resulting in phase synchronization has been argued to reflect the integration of information on different timescales (e.g. segmenting acoustics signals to phonemic and syllabic representations; (Giraud and Poeppel 2012 Nat. Neurosci. 15 , 511 ( doi:10.1038/nn.3063 )). A natural extension of this claim is that phase synchronization functions similarly to support the inference of more abstract higher-level linguistic structures (Martin 2016 Front. Psychol. 7 , 120; Martin and Doumas 2017 PLoS Biol . 15 , e2000663 ( doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000663 ); Martin and Doumas. 2019 Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 29 , 77–83 ( doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.04.008 )). Hale et al . (Hale et al . 2018 Finding syntax in human encephalography with beam search. arXiv 1806.04127 ( http://arxiv.org/abs/1806.04127 )) showed that syntactically driven parsing decisions predict electroencephalography (EEG) responses in the time domain; here we ask whether phase synchronization in the form of either inter-trial phrase coherence or cross-frequency coupling (CFC) between high-frequency (i.e. gamma) bursts and lower-frequency carrier signals (i.e. delta, theta), changes as the linguistic structures of compositional meaning ( viz ., bracket completions, as denoted by the onset of words that complete phrases) accrue. We use a naturalistic story-listening EEG dataset from Hale et al . to assess the relationship between linguistic structure and phase alignment. We observe increased phase synchronization as a function of phrase counts in the delta, theta, and gamma bands, especially for function words. A more complex pattern emerged for CFC as phrase count changed, possibly related to the lack of a one-to-one mapping between ‘size’ of linguistic structure and frequency band—an assumption that is tacit in recent frameworks. These results emphasize the important role that phase synchronization, desynchronization, and thus, inhibition, play in the construction of compositional meaning by distributed neural networks in the brain. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards mechanistic models of meaning composition’.

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