scholarly journals Pragmatic Failures Experienced by Jacob in Jodi Picoult’s Novel House Rules

Lexicon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riza Suryandari ◽  
Adi Sutrisno

Pragmatic failures are often discussed in the context of cross-cultural studies. However, pragmatic failures have also been evident in other circumstances. People who are diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, for example, also often experience pragmatic failures, even when they converse with others who come from the same geographical area and share the same culture. This paper examines pragmatic failures produced by Jacob, a character diagnosed with Asperger syndrome (AS) in Jodi Picoult’s novel House Rules. The data were excerpts taken from the novel that show Jacob’s failures to understand the other speakers. The data were classified into 12 categories of pragmatic failures: sarcasm, idioms, common phrases, metaphors, hyperbole, words with multiple meanings, the maxim of quality, maxim of quantity, maxim of relation, maxim of manner, joke, and indirect speech acts. The results showed that the most frequent type of pragmatic failures that Jacob produces in the novel is the infringement of the maxim of relation. In other words, Jacob often produces irrelevant utterances.

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-165
Author(s):  
Fathi Migdadi ◽  
Muhammad A. Badarneh ◽  
Laila Khwaylih

Abstract This study examines Jordanian graduate students' complaints posted on a Facebook closed group and directed to the representatives of Student Union at Jordan University of Science and Technology to be transferred to the officials concerned. In line with Boxer (1993b), the study considers the students' complaints to be indirect speech acts, as the addressee(s) are not the source of the offense. Using a sample of 60 institutional complaining posts, the researchers have analysed the complaints in terms of their semantic formulas, politeness functions and correlations with the gender of the complainers. The students’ complaints are classified into six semantic formulas of which the act statement element is indispensable as the complaint is stated in it. The other five formulas, ordered according to their frequency, are opener, remedy, appreciative closing, justification and others. Despite the negative affect typically involved in the complaining act, the semantic formulas identified in this study are found to signal politeness and fit into Brown and Levinson’s (1987) pool of face-saving strategies rather than face-threatening acts. Specifically, when the graduate students direct their Facebook complaints to the students' representatives, they tend to offer camaraderie with them to be encouraged to pursue the problems specified in the complainers’ posts.


Diachronica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueh Hsin Kuo

Abstract This paper proposes that modal constructions can develop into conditional constructions in Mandarin Chinese and vice versa. Therefore, bidirectionality exists between these kinds of constructions diachronically. While bidirectionality is an apparent violation of unidirectionality, both directions of change are shown to be regular cases of procedural constructionalization, enabled by the fact that modal and conditional constructions can perform identical indirect speech acts (i.e., they are performatively equivalent) and instances of one may be morphosyntactically categorized as the other in Chinese (i.e., they are morphosyntactically vague). A crosslinguistically generalizable prediction is then proposed: bidirectionality is possible if instances of two constructions are performatively equivalent and morphosyntactically vague with respect to each other in certain contexts.


Matatu ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-55
Author(s):  
WUMI RAJI

This essay focuses on the transformation of the experience of crossings and transnationalism in Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s In Dependence. Manyika’s novel is a story of crosscultural love. The two main characters, one male, black, and Nigerian; and the other female, white and British, first come across each other as students in Oxford. The relationship which consequently develops between them passes through phases of turbulence, spans a period of three decades and is acted out in three continents. In the end, the author’s point seems to be that humanities in general share dependent relationships with each other. Though of different racial origins, Manyika places her two major characters in the novel on equal pedestals. Both are of middle class backgrounds, excel in their studies, and later distinguish themselves in their chosen careers. My intention in this essay is to elaborate on the perspective of transnationalism and cross-cultural interconnectedness as articulated in the novel.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Sri Puji Astuti

The purpose of this research is to describe speech acts that occur between seller and buyer in traditional market. Data was obtained using the method of observation and recording techniques. After the data were collected, the data were analyzed by using pragmatic theory, especially speech acts. Based on the results of the research were found the types of speech acts used between sellers and buyers in traditional markets, namely literal direct speech acts, non-literal direct speech acts, literal indirect speech acts, and non-literal indirect speech acts. Literal direct speech acts were used by sellers and buyers because the seller's and the buyer's l could be straightforward and clear, when the seller was angry with the buyer and the seller insinuated the other sellers.


1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Martínez-Arias ◽  
Fernando Silva ◽  
Ma Teresa Díaz-Hidalgo ◽  
Generós Ortet ◽  
Micaela Moro

Summary: This paper presents the results obtained in Spain with The Interpersonal Adjective Scales of J.S. Wiggins (1995) concerning the variables' structure. There are two Spanish versions of IAS, developed by two independent research groups who were not aware of each other's work. One of these versions was published as an assessment test in 1996. Results from the other group have remained unpublished to date. The set of results presented here compares three sources of data: the original American manual (from Wiggins and collaborators), the Spanish manual (already published), and the new IAS (our own research). Results can be considered satisfactory since, broadly speaking, the inner structure of the original instrument is well replicated in the Spanish version.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-199
Author(s):  
KATHRYN WALLS

According to the ‘Individual Psychology’ of Alfred Adler (1870–1937), Freud's contemporary and rival, everyone seeks superiority. But only those who can adapt their aspirations to meet the needs of others find fulfilment. Children who are rejected or pampered are so desperate for superiority that they fail to develop social feeling, and endanger themselves and society. This article argues that Mahy's realistic novels invite Adlerian interpretation. It examines the character of Hero, the elective mute who is the narrator-protagonist of The Other Side of Silence (1995) , in terms of her experience of rejection. The novel as a whole, it is suggested, stresses the destructiveness of the neurotically driven quest for superiority. Turning to Mahy's supernatural romances, the article considers novels that might seem to resist the Adlerian template. Focusing, in particular, on the young female protagonists of The Haunting (1982) and The Changeover (1984), it points to the ways in which their magical power is utilised for the sake of others. It concludes with the suggestion that the triumph of Mahy's protagonists lies not so much in their generally celebrated ‘empowerment’, as in their transcendence of the goal of superiority for its own sake.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Tzu-Hui Chen

This narrative aims to explore the meaning and lived experiences of marriage that a unique immigrant population—“foreign brides” in Taiwan—possesses. This convergence narrative illustrates the dynamics and complexity of mail-order marriage and women's perseverance in a cross-cultural context. The relationship between marriage, race, and migration is analyzed. This narrative is comprised of and intertwined by two story lines. One is the story of two “foreign brides” in Taiwan. The other is my story about my cross-cultural relationship. All the dialogues are generated by 25 interviews of “foreign brides” in Taiwan and my personal experience.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidya Dwi Amalia Zati ◽  
Sumarsih Sumarsih ◽  
Lince Sihombing

The objectives of the research were to describe the types of speech acts used in televised political debates of governor candidates of North Sumatera, to derive the dominant type of speech acts used in televised political debates of governor candidates of North Sumatera and to elaborate the way of five governor candidates of North Sumatera use speech acts in televised political debates. This research was conducted by applying descriptive qualitative research. The findings show that there were only four types of speech acts used in televised political debates, Debat Pemilukada Sumatera Utara and Uji Publik Cagub dan Cawagub Sumatera Utara, they were assertives, directives, commissives and expressives. The dominant type of speech acts used in both televised political debates was assertives, with 82 utterances or 51.6% in Debat Pemilukada Sumatera Utara and 36 utterances or 41.37% in Uji Publik Cagub dan Cawagub Sumatera Utara. The way of governor candidates of North Sumatera used speech acts in televised political debates is in direct speech acts, they spoke straight to the point and clearly in order to make the other candidates and audiences understand their utterances.   Keywords: Governor Candidate; Political Debate; Speech Acts


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