scholarly journals Imprecision, personae, and pragmatic reasoning

2022 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Andrea Beltrama ◽  
Florian Schwarz

Recent work at the interface of semantics and sociolinguistics showed that listeners reason about the semantic/pragmatic properties of linguistic utterances to draw social inferences about the speaker (Acton and Potts 2014; Beltrama 2018; Jeong 2021). These findings raise the question of whether reverse effects exist as well, i.e., whether (and how) social meanings can also impact the interpretation of semantic/pragmatic meanings. Using (im)precision as a case study, we provide experimental evidence that (i) numerals receive stricter interpretations when utteredbyNerdy(vs. Chill) speakers; and that (ii) this effect is stronger for comprehenders who don’t (strongly) identify with the speaker, suggesting that pragmatic reasoning is crucially shaped by social information about both the speaker and the comprehender. These findings suggest that different layers of meanings inform one another in a bi-directional fashion – i.e., semantic information can invite social inferences, and Misocial information can guide meaning interpretation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 746
Author(s):  
William C. Thomas

Recent work has begun to investigate the interaction between semantics and social meaning. This study contributes to that line of inquiry by investigating how particular social meanings that are popularly believed to arise from the English discourse particle just are related to the conventional semantic meaning of just. In addition to proposing an inferential process by which the social meanings associated with just arise, this paper reports the results of a social perception experiment designed to test whether those social inferences arise when just is used in particular speech acts and whether they depend on the speaker’s gender and level of authority relative to the addressee. The use of just was found to significantly increase the perceived insecurity of men but not of women. This suggests that listeners may more strongly perceive speaker qualities that stereotypes cause them not to expect.


1986 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-366
Author(s):  
Helen Lang

Some recent work on industrial relations in the Australian minirtg industry has focused on a close relationship between the incidence of strikes and the stockpiling of the mineral mined. It is argued that when demand for a mineral falls and the stockpile grows, management can afford the disruption to production caused by strikes. Hence management will take action to provoke strikes by introducing changes in work practices it knows will be opposed by unionists. Not only are the unions more likely to be defeated, but the company concerned is also able to reduce the size of its stockpile of ore. A case-study of the nickel-mining centre of Kambalda in Western Australia suggests that the size of the stockpile isfar less relevant when management and unions have a consensual approach to industrial relations. The stockpile is a strategic variable rather than a cause of industrial disputes. Whether the stockpile is manipulated as part of management's strategy will depend on innumerable, interdependent factors, including the organization of social life in a mining town and whether effective co operative relations develop between managers and unions.


Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Mike Turner

In this article I explore how typological approaches can be used to construct novel classification schemes for Arabic dialects, taking the example of definiteness as a case study. Definiteness in Arabic has traditionally been envisioned as an essentially binary system, wherein definite substantives are marked with a reflex of the article al- and indefinite ones are not. Recent work has complicated this model, framing definiteness instead as a continuum along which speakers can locate referents using a broader range of morphological and syntactic strategies, including not only the article al-, but also reflexes of the demonstrative series and a diverse set of ‘indefinite-specific’ articles found throughout the spoken dialects. I argue that it is possible to describe these strategies with even more precision by modeling them within cross-linguistic frameworks for semantic typology, among them a model known as the ‘Reference Hierarchy,’ which I adopt here. This modeling process allows for classification of dialects not by the presence of shared forms, but rather by parallel typological configurations, even if the forms within them are disparate.


Author(s):  
Ardian Ardian

This article describes about the analysis of  the understanding of institutions of broadcasting radios in west sumatera to fulfill the need of social information. This research is based from the phenomenon in the field showing the decrease of social interest in listening to a radio closed by the modernization of mass communication.  To reveal the reality in the field, this research used constructive paradigm, qualitative methods and case study approach. The research data was collected by interviewing 5 key informen and documentation study. Based on the result of analysis in the field in completing the need of social information, the researcher concluded as followed: (1) Radios in West Sumatera comprehend the 3 functions of communication in fulfilling social information needs: (a) information, (b) social learning, and (c) entertainment. That was seen from the constructions of the broadcasting programs produced; (2) In the effort of fulfilling the need of information, radios conduct surveys, observations and researches of the market that need information; and (3) Radio broadcasting board of West Sumatera comprehends that in information dissemination KPID of West Sumatera is the regulator taking roll in supervising the broadcasting programs and any kinds of violations than by the radios. 


Author(s):  
Charles Fefferman

This chapter illustrates the continuing powerful influence of Eli Stein's ideas. It starts by recalling his ideas on Littlewood–Paley theory, as well as several major developments in pure and applied mathematics, to which those ideas gave rise. Before Eli, Littlewood–Paley theory was one of the deepest parts of the classical study of Fourier series in one variable. Stein, however, found the right viewpoint to develop Littlewood–Paley theory and went on to develop Littlewood–Paley theory on any compact Lie group, and then in any setting in which there is a reasonable heat kernel. Afterward, the chapter discusses the remarkable recent work of Gressman and Strain on the Boltzmann equation, and explains in particular its connection to Stein's work.


Author(s):  
Vivienne Waller ◽  
Robert B. Johnston ◽  
Simon K. Milton

This chapter presents a new high level methodology for the analysis and design of information systems specifically to support routine action at the operational level of organizations. The authors argue that traditional methods fail to adequately address the unique requirements of support for routine operational action. The main innovation of the methodology is the use of an action-centred approach derived from recent work on the nature of purposeful human action, and as such, emphasises both the information requirements for action and the dependence of action upon appropriately structured environments. A brief case study illustrates how using the methodology can sensitize the analyst to opportunities to increase human efficiency and effectiveness through lighter weight information systems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Ricke

This article expands the recent sensorial turn in identity studies. It illustrates how individuals embody and link together multiple identities through the multivocality of a particular sensory experience as well as the various meanings encapsulated within the sensory experiences of a particular event. Through a case study of King and Queen celebrations in Santa Catarina, Brazil, this article investigates the social meanings associated with the aesthetics of one of the oldest German traditions in the country. While on the surface the King and Queen celebration appears to be solely a celebration of German roots, a focus on the multivocality of the sensory experiences reveals a more complicated situation where the hosts are claiming not just a German ethnic identity but a Brazilian national identity by drawing upon the multiple social meanings associated with certain sensory experiences and foregrounding particular aesthetics.


2009 ◽  
Vol 97 (4-5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Guétat ◽  
Valérie Moulin ◽  
Pascal E. Reiller ◽  
T. Vercouter ◽  
Lionel Bion ◽  
...  

AbstractThis paper deals with plutonium and key factors related to impact assessment. It is based on recent work performed by CEA which summarize the main features of plutonium behaviour from sources inside installations to the environment and man, and to report current knowledge on the different parameters used in models for environmental and radiological impact assessment. These key factors are illustrated through a case study based on an accidental atmospheric release of Pu in a nuclear facility.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veera Ehrlén

This case study examines contemporary recreational sports practitioners’ communication practices and social tie formation from the perspective of two lifestyle sports disciplines: climbing and trail running. Online survey results from 301 climbers and trail runners from Finland indicate that computer-mediated communication (CMC) has established its place in recreational lifestyle sports cultures; however, it has not done it at the expense of face-to-face (FtF) communication. Online interaction produces weak social ties with instrumental and informative value, but physical location is essential in establishing ties with emotional and appraisal value. This paper argues that it is the sports subculture and individual practitioners’ needs that define how interaction is realized, and what importance different online and off-line communication practices have. Besides studying communication practices, this case study explores the social meanings practitioners attribute to their social contacts.


Recent work in the field of induced radioactivity has revealed a number of interesting phenomena. Thus it has been shown that certain nuclei which emit positrons may also transform to the same final nucleus by capturing an electron from the extra-nuclear structure. Another effect, closely linked with this, and for which experimental evidence has recently been obtained, is that if two nuclei with the same atomic weight A (isobars) but with atomic numbers Z and Z + 2 respectively, are both stable, the intermediate nucleus of atomic number Z + 1 (atomic weight A ) is unstable with respect to both of them and so decays by “ branching”. The intermediate nucleus in general transforms to the nucleus of atomic number Z by electron capture and to the nucleus of atomic number Z + 2, by emitting a negative electron. More unexpected amongst recent results is the not uncommon occurrence of nuclei with the same atomic number and atomic weight but with different activities. This is known as nuclear isomerism. Before its discovery in induced radioactivity its existence was, however, already known from Hahn’s work on the naturally radioactive substances uranium Z and uranium Y .


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