scholarly journals Proverbs and stylistic devices of Akwasi Ampofo Agyei’s Akan highlife lyrics

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-144
Author(s):  
Kofi Agyekum ◽  
Joshua Amuah ◽  
Adwoa Arhine
Keyword(s):  
Language Ideology ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis

This paper examines the stylistic features and proverbs in ɔba nyansafo wɔbu no bɛ na wɔnka no asɛm, ‘A wise child is spoken to in proverbs’ a popular Ghanaian highlife song by the late Akwasi Ampofo Agyei. This is an area which is still grey in the study of highlife music. The paper basically adopted qualitative methodology through interviews and recordings. The paper combines the theories of language ideology and ethnomusicology, and looks at the indispensable, didactic and communicative functions of stylistic devices and proverbs in Akan highlife. These tropes as forms of indirection help the musicians to comment on very delicate issues. They depict the musician’s communicative competence in the Akan language, cultural beliefs, worldview and social structures. The paper further reflects on the relative absence of proverbs in current Ghanaian highlife. The stylistic devices and proverbs in the song are subjected to ethnomusicological, stylistic and pragmatic analysis.

‘Simple Codes’ and the Source of the Second Language Learner's Initial Heuristic Hypothesis

1978 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Corder
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Restricted Range ◽  
Technical Description ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Verbal Behaviour ◽  
Referential Function

Linguistic theory must be sufficiently rich and comprehensive to be able to account for the structure of the most complex or elaborate manifestation of language. In consequence any structurally less complex verbal behaviour is typically explained as a use of some ‘reduced’ or ‘simplified’ code or register. Many languages, if not all, are said to possess such reduced registers and it is said to be part of a native speaker's competence to be able to use such ‘reduced registers’ where appropriate. It is part of his total communicative competence to know when it is appropriate to use such registers. These reduced or simplified registers are associated with more or less well defined situations of language use or types of discourse. Telegraphese is obviously restricted by the medium of transmission as well as the restricted range of communicative functions it is used for, e.g. orders, reports and announcements of plans. Technical description in botanical and ornithological reference books have a purely referential function, while the so-called language of instructions has clearly restricted rhetorical functions.

scholarly journals Impact of Integrating Task-Based Learning and Functional Approach to Empower Learners’ Communicative Competence

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Tri Nguyen ◽  
Trang Xuan Phuong Dao
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact

Enhancing EFL learners’ communicative competence is a time-taking process to reach certain levels of interacting with different communication participants. However, in the tertiary education in Vietnam, traditional teaching approach with the task-based learning does not thoroughly focus on the language use but on the strategies to perform the tasks. Hence, the functional approach has been applied to boost learners’ awareness of their language delivery thanks to communicative functions and notions. The new mode of teaching concentrates on what communication participants desire to convey and why they make use of those speech acts. This paper aimed to explore the impact of the integration of task-based learning and the functional approach, and learners’ perspective towards the implementation of such approach combination. With the application of the mixed method of qualitative and quantitative approaches, the data were collected via a pre-test and a post-test, survey, and 32 interviews with the participation of 100 students whose major is Business Administration at a university. The findings reveal that adding the functional approach to the existing teaching method could enhance students’ overall speaking competence, especially their fluency and discourse management. Additionally, the application of the functional approach received positive feedback from the learners.  

Perceptions and deeply held beliefs about responsibility for flood risk adaptation in Accra Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 631-644
Author(s):  
Jerry Chati Tasantab ◽  
Thayaparan Gajendran ◽  
Jason von Meding ◽  
Kim Maund
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Flood Hazards ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Climate change is predicted to increase the vulnerability of urban populations to flood hazards. Against this backdrop, flood risk adaptation has become pertinent. However, in Ghana, current flood risk management practice is fostered by a reactive culture. There is limited research on how communities and government agencies are engaging with flood risk adaptation in improving resilience. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the culture of communities and agencies through the cultural theory of risk (CTR), towards understanding the flood risk adaptation in Accra, Ghana. Culture is deciphered using the beliefs held by residents and public agency officials. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methodology, underpinned by the constructivist paradigm, was adopted to understand factors that influence flood risk adaptation in informal settlements. Data was gathered using household and institutional interviews in Glefe, Accra, Ghana. Findings The results show that both disaster risk management institutions and community members are deeply concerned about current and future flood risk. However, their cultural beliefs concerning flood risk and adaptation are contradictory, broadly framed by fatalist, individualist and hierarchist beliefs. The contradictory emergent beliefs contribute to a clash of expectations and create uncertainty about how to respond to flood risk, impacting the implementation of required adaptation measures. Developing a collaborative flood risk management framework and a shared understanding of adaptation approaches may be a better alternative. Originality/value This paper advances understanding of how culture influences flood risk adaptation in developing country context.

The correlation between Cultural awareness and blended learning in ESP courses: a case study of a tourism class

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Dinh Tung
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Global Culture ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Given

The awareness of cultural beliefs and customs seems not to have attracted adequate attention during the phase of teaching and learning in ESP courses. The requirements of effective and appropriate interaction and communication with other cultures (Wiseman, Hammer, & Nishida, 1989) bring this matter to ESP teachers and learners. That studying merely from the course book and completing the given tasks discourages students from exploring the world, which expects a more efficient way to include language acquisition and cultural awareness. This paper explores the correlation of cultural awareness and blended learning in which educator in charge of a tourism class can raise students’ cultural communicative competence together with their understanding of global culture. Some of the key issues of this pedagogical methodology also can be discussed regarding language learning, cultural awareness and self-studying in an ESP course.   Keywords-Cultural awareness, blended learning, ESP, cultural communicative competence, language acquisition, Vietnam

scholarly journals Exploring Female Leadership Advancement in Chinese Corporations:   Selection for Senior Positions through Headhunting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Li Yan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Female Leadership ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Chinese Context

<p>Leadership diversity has evoked tremendous debate for decades. This includes the profitability and creativity of organizations and the realization of social capital. In this regard, governments have initiated numerous programs to increase gender equality in leadership positions. A wealth of academic research has also been conducted to investigate factors influencing the paucity of women in the elite leadership group. One noticeable element at the organizational level is the way in which female leaders are selected. Given the increasing proportion of leadership selection conducted through headhunters, this thesis aims at investigating how headhunting influences female leadership progression in the Chinese context.  Because the research focuses on meanings and interpretations of female headhunting practices, it employed a qualitative methodology. Consequently, 13 in-depth interviews were carried out in China. In order to make the results more representative, the diverse sample was dispersed not only in Mainland China but in Taiwan. The semi-structured interviews enabled the researcher to gain a deep understanding of how females are selected as well as the underlying elements that can exert influence on the selection results.  The findings revealed that the headhunting of female leaders is not a simple or straightforward process. It is influenced by contextual constraints, the recruitment and selections used by headhunters, and no doubt, headhunters’ competency. Also, these issues are influenced by cultural beliefs, economic, and political factors in the Chinese context. Among them, political factors are powerful and interact with cultural and economic factors. They produce gendered results.</p>

scholarly journals Tag Questions in English Spoken Discourse: Corpus-Based Linguistic and Pragmatic Analysis

2022 ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Larisa Kochetova ◽  
Elena Ilyinova ◽  
Tatiana Klepikova
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Fiction ◽  
Interpersonal Relation ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Tag Questions ◽  
The One ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

Based on an integrative methodology that combines quantitative and qualitative methods of linguistic research, the authors consider grammatical forms, syntactic types and pragmatic functions of the tag question in British spoken discourse. The research material included samples of dialogues with tag questions taken from British contemporary fiction and the Spoken BNC2014. Drawing on the theory of linguistic metarepresentation and using corpus analysis tools the authors presented the model under study in structural-syntactic and functional-pragmatic perspectives and obtained reliable data on discourse realization of tag question models, specified their standard and common usage polarity status, distinguished bi- and monopolarity variations. An analysis of the tag question types that are distinguished as the combinations of the predicative and auxiliary parts shows that the most frequent type of tag question is the one formed with an affirmative predicative part and a negative tag. The corpus-based approach allowed obtaining quantitative data on frequencies of tag questions in British spoken discourse, retrieving the repertoire of tag questions with their grammatical representation. It is shown that in the corpus under study the most frequent form of the tag question is the form isn't it?. The least frequent forms of tag questions are the ones formed with the have verb, as well as the modal verbs will, may, can, which supports the thesis that tag questions are losing ground in British spoken discourse. Discourse-pragmatic analysis of utterance contexts with tag questions highlighted its discourse value in the British tradition of conversation, as they perform the following communicative functions: informational; etiquette; interpersonal-relation-corrective (focus-positive or focus-negative).

scholarly journals Exploring Female Leadership Advancement in Chinese Corporations:   Selection for Senior Positions through Headhunting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Li Yan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Female Leadership ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Chinese Context

<p>Leadership diversity has evoked tremendous debate for decades. This includes the profitability and creativity of organizations and the realization of social capital. In this regard, governments have initiated numerous programs to increase gender equality in leadership positions. A wealth of academic research has also been conducted to investigate factors influencing the paucity of women in the elite leadership group. One noticeable element at the organizational level is the way in which female leaders are selected. Given the increasing proportion of leadership selection conducted through headhunters, this thesis aims at investigating how headhunting influences female leadership progression in the Chinese context.  Because the research focuses on meanings and interpretations of female headhunting practices, it employed a qualitative methodology. Consequently, 13 in-depth interviews were carried out in China. In order to make the results more representative, the diverse sample was dispersed not only in Mainland China but in Taiwan. The semi-structured interviews enabled the researcher to gain a deep understanding of how females are selected as well as the underlying elements that can exert influence on the selection results.  The findings revealed that the headhunting of female leaders is not a simple or straightforward process. It is influenced by contextual constraints, the recruitment and selections used by headhunters, and no doubt, headhunters’ competency. Also, these issues are influenced by cultural beliefs, economic, and political factors in the Chinese context. Among them, political factors are powerful and interact with cultural and economic factors. They produce gendered results.</p>

scholarly journals Pragmatics of Communicative Tonality in the Stylistics of English Educative Converse

2019 ◽  
pp. 146-158
Author(s):  
Elena Ilyinova ◽  
Tamara Tsinkerman
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Communication Style ◽  
Pragmatic Markers ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Discourse Type ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Adult Status ◽  
Parent Child

The article is devoted to the study of communicative tonality that is considered a dynamic linguistic-and-pragmatic characteristic of the communication style, which is actualized by the choice of language means and speech techniques, correlated with the strata-tactical and genre-stylistic features of a particular kind of discourse. The corpus of educative parent-child dialogue examples allowed to identify the main goal of this discourse type, that is the child's socialization in the course of communication based on adult status dominance, to determine four styles of educative communication that differ in patterns of functional and syntactic speech models and in language means which are a part of the communicative competence of English-speaking culture. The linguistic-and-pragmatic analysis of adults' speech utterances revealed the specificity of stratagem-tactical intentions in choosing each style of educative communication, made it possible to designate the character of illocution, aimed at explicating the intent to socialize a child through explaining, persuading, reasoning, suggesting, compelling and criticizing behavior. The analysis of pragmatic markers of the communication tonality revealed its hybrid and modulated character, that is shown in a meaningful choice of functional-syntactic models of speech, in direct or indirect forms of empathy types - from democratic, consolidating to moralizing and adversarial. According to the study, the tonality of educative communication varies from strong and soft shades of benevolent, trustful, playful, serious, and indulgent to instructive, mentor, contemptuous, ironically mocking tones, which can be expressed in different combinations of lexical, stylistic and functional-pragmatic means of English.

Xenonarrative texts in literary and narrative communication: functional and pragmatic approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-418
Author(s):  
Ludmila Viktorovna Kulikova ◽  
Elizaveta Iuliponasovna Mikalauskaite
Keyword(s):  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Emotional Involvement ◽  
Cultural Experience ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Language Acculturation ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Mental Experience ◽  
Intercultural Adaptation ◽  
Literary Narrative

The article is devoted to the pragmatic analysis of literary xeno-narrative – a special type of literary and narrative communication that implements specific communicative functions and strategies aimed at discursive processing of cultural and linguistic otherness. The discursive processing of cultural otherness is understood as a process of verbal reflection of foreign cultural experience in literary xeno-narrative based on multilevel language means and understanding of the cultural and conventional norms of another linguistic culture in order to minimize the stress of intercultural adaptation. The paper defines the essential features of xeno-narrative, defined as a literary narrative, thematically immersed in the discourse of intercultural interaction, pragmatically reflecting the method of discursive processing of cultural foreignness and intentionally aimed at verbal transfer of mental experience from the author to the reader in the format of literary and narrative communication. The use of discursive, contextual and intent analysis of narrative allowed us to identify functionally and pragmatically determined linguistic and cultural conventions means of discursive processing in xeno-narrative. The following functions of xenonarrative were determined: minimizing the stress of cultural adaptation and verbal transfer of mental experience. In addition, three author’s strategies in literary xeno-narrative were described. The otherness identification strategy includes several trajectories for evaluating the friend / foe categories: “friend” can be connected both positively and negatively, “foe” is hostile at the initial stage of adaptation, but assimilation mitigates negative evaluation semes. The strategy of language acculturation is analyzed in the focus of the secondary language personality formation. The subjectification strategy is aimed at the most complete perception of the system of author's meanings and images, as well as at the reader’s emotional involvement and empathy. Conclusions in the work are made on the basis of the texts of literary xeno-narratives “Die undankbare Fremde” by I. Brezhna and “Girl in translation” by J. Kwok, as well as the electronic corps of Russian, English and German readers' reviews.

The Speech Acts and The Communicative Functions Performed In Thesis Examinations: A Pragmatic Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Endang Susilawati
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Communicative Function ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Last Stage ◽  
Examination Process ◽  
Contextual Meaning

Being a communicative event, a thesis examination process might generate a number of speech acts that possibly imply various meanings. To interpret meaning, a pragmatic analysis was implemented. The data analyzed comprised the authentic speech acts occurring within four thesis examination situations which were conducted by the EESP of FKIP Untan. The data analysis started by transcribing the speech recordings and by identifying the structures of the speech acts. This was followed by categorizing the communicative functions being performed. The last stage involved interpreting the contextual meaning of the speech acts. Three qualitative conclusions are arrived at in connection with and emerging from interpretations of the textual data: (1) the speech acts produced by the participants used various structures such as statements, questions, commands, instructions, prohibition and description; (2) the speech acts denoted various kinds of communicative or speech functions like expressives, directives, representatives, referentials, comissives, and metalinguistics; and (3) the occurrence of one particular communicative function can dynamically entail specific kinds of communicative functions in the light of the available context.  Some categories of speech functions were not consistent with the purpose of the communicative event of thesis examination.

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