Epigraphy and the Display of Authority

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ma
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Sources Of Authority

This chapter begins by citing modern examples of public notices in order to illustrate the role of inscriptions as both stylised gestures and as channels of authority: they are performative utterances. Various sources of authority are identified, such as human communities, divine sanction, magic or royal decision: the latter category is illustrated in detail by a dossier of 209 bce from Asia Minor that had both symbolic and ‘real’ impact. Also illustrated, by other examples, are the ways in which locations are used, especially by lending or creating authority. In these ways, inscriptions exemplify speech-act theories: they make us accept a particular version of events as social magic or even ‘truth’ and act in terms of it, while the negotiations involved are hidden under an authoritative aspect. Yet the latter may be detectable if the inscription is read against the grain, in the knowledge that words are also traps.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ildar Garipzanov
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Sources Of Authority ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Periods

The concluding chapter highlights how the cultural history of graphic signs of authority in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages encapsulated the profound transformation of political culture in the Mediterranean and Europe from approximately the fourth to ninth centuries. It also reflects on the transcendent sources of authority in these historical periods, and the role of graphic signs in highlighting this connection. Finally, it warns that, despite the apparent dominant role of the sign of the cross and cruciform graphic devices in providing access to transcendent protection and support in ninth-century Western Europe, some people could still employ alternative graphic signs deriving from older occult traditions in their recourse to transcendent powers.

The role of religion in shaping politeness in Moroccan Arabic: The case of the speech act of greeting and its place in intercultural understanding and misunderstanding

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelaziz Bouchara
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Intercultural Understanding ◽  
Natural Interaction ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Moroccan Arabic ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Cultural Pragmatics

AbstractThis paper investigates, from a cross-cultural pragmatics framework, the motivations and reasons which induce Moroccans in particular, and Arabs in general, to invoke Qur’anic verses and religious lexicons in their daily politeness discourse. By focusing on the speech act of greeting, this study attempts to show that greetings are ordinary day-to-day events, which often encapsulate a lot of different cultural values that may cause misunderstandings. Based on data collected from natural interaction between Arabs and Germans, Arabs seem inclined to show politeness when greeting one another by using religious vocabulary and giving religious praises. In addition, the use of religion as a politeness strategy appears to function as a way of protecting the self-image of both the speaker and the hearer. Furthermore, the findings of this study also reveal that by resorting to the use of this politeness strategy, Moroccans seem to reflect their firm belief and the importance they attach to the Qur’an and, more especially, to the question of fate and destiny in Islam. As a result, it is not the linguistic expression itself but rather the pragmatic function of the utterance that seems to determine the use and interpretation of politeness strategies in (Moroccan) Arabic.

scholarly journals The Effect of Instruction on Learners' Pragmatic Awareness: a Focus on Refusals

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Alcón Soler ◽  
Josep Guzmán Pitarch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Instructional Contexts

The benefits of instruction on learners’ production and awareness of speech acts is well documented (see Alcón and Martínez-Flor, 2008, for a review of pragmatics in instructional contexts). However, few studies examine the influence that instruction may have on the cognitive processes involved in speech act production (Félix- Brasdefer, 2008). In order to address this research gap, and taking into account the discussion in research on the concept of attention and related terms such as awareness (see Al-Hejin, 2004, for a review of the role of attention and awareness in second language acquisition research) this paper reports on the benefits of instruction on learners’ attention and awareness during the performance of refusals. Thus, based on a pedagogical proposal for teaching refusals at the discourse level, we focus on the benefits that this pedagogical proposal can have on the information attended to during the planning and execution of refusals. Secondly, we explore whether instruction makes a difference in learners’ awareness of refusals.

scholarly journals Contrastive Pragmatics: Apologies & Thanks in English and Italian

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Cuneyt Demir ◽  
Mehmet Takkac
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
American English ◽  
The Status ◽  
Language Competency ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Remedial Strategies

<p>Awareness of language or language competency has greatly changed from the focus of language itself as form and structure to language use as pragmatics. Accordingly, it is widely accepted that different cultures structure discourse in different ways. Moreover, studies have shown that this holds for discourse genres traditionally considered as highly standardized in their rituals and formulas. Taking inspiration from such studies, this paper employs a corpus-based approach to examine variations of the apology and thanking strategies used in English and Italian. First the apology itself as a form of social action is closely analyzed and then thanking. This study also pays special attention on analyzing and contrasting apology and thanking strategies in American English and in Italian in terms of Marion Owen’s remedial strategies (Owen, 1983), and Olshtain &amp; Cohen’s semantic formulas in the apology speech act set (Olshtain &amp; Cohen, 1983). The purpose of the study is not only to compare apology and thanking speech acts but to also learn their contextual use. The findings suggest that the status and role of the situation affect the speakers’ choice of apology and thanking strategies, and semantic formulas are of great importance.</p>

scholarly journals Invectives as a linguistic manipulation in the song discourse (on the example of compositions from “Eurovision” song contest)

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 98-105
Author(s):  
Dmitry Aleksandrovich Knyazkov
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Italian Language ◽  
Multimodal Discourse ◽  
Eurovision Song Contest ◽  
Verbal Component ◽  
Song Lyrics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Poetic Composition

The subject of this research is the abusive language (invectives) prohibited by the rules of the International Song Contest &ldquo;Eurovision&rdquo;. The goal consists in substantiating the role of obscene language as a linguistic manipulation in song discourse of &ldquo;Eurovision&rdquo; contest. The tabooed words and expressions represent a wide array of lexical units for research by modern linguistic science based on the materials of various voice compositions. Using the lyrics of songs that participated in &ldquo;Eurovision&rdquo; and made top 10 chart, the author determined those that contain invectives. The scientific novelty consists in the first ever analysis of song lyrics that contained the lexical units of abusive language prohibited by the rules of &ldquo;Eurovision&rdquo;. It was determined that the compositions of multimodal discourse contain various invectives in verbal component. The authors of songs for &ldquo;Eurovision&rdquo; apply different linguistic manipulations to influence the live voting and ensure a spot in the finals for their composition. This is directly related to increase in the number of participating countries; therefore, the structure and content of verbal component of a musical-poetic composition of Eurovision plays an important role. Despite the prohibition by rules of the context to use tabooed lexicon in song lyrics, the author was able to identify certain violations in the English-language and Italian-language compositions. The conclusion is made that invectives in the song discourse are effective linguistic manipulations that enhance suggestive semantics of speech act, since all compositions made it to the top 10.

scholarly journals Speech Acts

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Levinson
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Linguistic Pragmatics ◽  
Recursive Structures ◽  
Core Language ◽  
Core Issues ◽  
Essential Insight

The essential insight of speech act theory was that when we use language, we perform actions—in a more modern parlance, core language use in interaction is a form of joint action. Over the last thirty years, speech acts have been relatively neglected in linguistic pragmatics, although important work has been done especially in conversation analysis. Here we review the core issues—the identifying characteristics, the degree of universality, the problem of multiple functions, and the puzzle of speech act recognition. Special attention is drawn to the role of conversation structure, probabilistic linguistic cues, and plan or sequence inference in speech act recognition, and to the centrality of deep recursive structures in sequences of speech acts in conversation.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Marco Pinfari
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Emotional Appeal ◽  
Linguistic Conventions ◽  
Terrorist Acts

This chapter presents basic definitions, operational assumptions, and the key literature that form the basis for the analysis of “terrorists as monsters” in this book. It begins by discussing the concept of terrorism, drawing from speech-act theory but also arguing that linguistic conventions alone cannot explain the emotional appeal that can be associated with the use of monsters as political metaphors. It then elaborates on the role of culture in shaping the metaphorical use of monstrosity, before introducing and discussing in depth the concept of “archetypal metaphor”—which serves as the basis for explaining the different functions that monster metaphors play in framing and presenting performatively terrorist acts. The following sections then discuss the logic of “terrorizing” and the nature of terrorism as performance. The final part of the chapter summarizes the main themes and content of the book.

Asymmetrical Conversations

2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-418
Author(s):  
Claudia Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Social Position ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Mitchell Green

According to Mitchell Green, speech act theory traditionally idealizes away from crucial aspects of conversational contexts, including those in which the speaker’s social position affects the possibility of her performing certain speech acts. In recent times, asymmetries in communicative situations have become a lively object of study for linguists, philosophers of language and moral philosophers: several scholars view hate speech itself in terms of speech acts, namely acts of subordination (acts establishing or reinforcing unfair hierarchies). The aim of this paper is to address one of the main objections to accounts of hate speech in terms of illocutionary speech acts, that is the Authority Problem. While the social role of the speaker is the focus of several approaches (Langton 2018a, 2018b; Maitra 2012; Kukla 2014; Green 2014, 2017a, 2017b), the social role of the audience has too often been neglected. The author will show that not only must the speaker have a certain kind of standing or social position in order to perform speech acts of subordination, but also the audience must typically have a certain kind of standing or social position in order to either license or object to the speaker’s authority, and her acts of subordination.

scholarly journals Nie-egte vrae in 1 Korintiërs 5–6

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas H. Snyman
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
Rhetorical Questions ◽  
Scientific Framework

In tradisionele grammatikas en kommentare word gewoonlik net onderskei tussen egte en retoriese vrae. In hierdie artikel word nie-egte vrae geklassifiseer aan die hand van ’n model wat ontwikkel is uit die taalhandelingsteorie. In plaas van alle nie-egte vrae as retoriese vrae te beskou (soos die meeste kommentators doen), maak die model voorsiening vir ses hoof- en verskeie subkategorieë van nie-egte vrae. Die model word kortliks opgesom, gevolg deur ’n sistematiese ondersoek van al die vrae in 1 Korintiërs 5–6. Die slotsom is dat die voorgestelde model nuttig is vir die onderskeiding van verskillende soorte nie-egte vrae binne ’n wetenskaplike raamwerk en vir die bepaling van hulle kommunikatiewe funksies. Op dié wyse word ’n bydrae gelewer tot die vertaling en eksegese van die betrokke gedeeltes. Die model behoort navorsing oor die rol van nie-egte vrae in al Paulus se briewe te stimuleer.Non-real questions in 1 Corinthians 5–6. In this article, questions previously distinguished in traditional grammars and commentaries as mainly real or rhetorical, are classified in terms of a model developed from speech act theory. Instead of classifying all non-real questions as rhetorical questions (as commentators tend to do), the model makes provision for six main and various sub-categories of non-real questions. The model is briefly summarised, followed by a systematic investigation of all the questions in 1 Corinthians 5–6. The conclusion is that the proposed model is useful for distinguishing various types of non-real questions within a scientific framework and for determining their communicative functions, thereby contributing to the translation and exegesis of the passages involved. The model could stimulate research on the role of non-real questions in all Paul’s letters.

The traditional narrator and the ‘I heard’ formulas in Old English poetry

1987 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 45-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ward Parks
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Literary Discourse ◽  
English Poetry ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Literary Interpretation ◽  
Crucial Element ◽  
Old English Poetry ◽  
Standard Operations

In the process of literary interpretation no critic can afford to overlook the rôle of the poetic narrator. While poetic and narrative statements (as it is commonly argued) designate their meaning largely in accordance with the conventions of language and literary discourse, linguistic criteria alone cannot determine the attitude of the speaker towards what he says; and this attitude constitutes a crucial element in the meaning of the statement as a speech act or utterance. Indeed, as users of language, all of us habitually include considerations of speaker intentions in our standard operations of interpreting as well as producing discourse. Can the speaker be trusted? Does he speak ironically or sincerely? Is he trying to achieve some aim in relation to the hearer other than that which his act of communication ostensibly purports? Entailed in any act of communication, this dimension of interplay between speaker and statement is inevitably involved in literary discourse as well, since obviously we do not always take literary statements at face value. One of the primary tasks confronting the literary critic, then, in Old English poetry or any other body of work, lies in determining the character of the narrator and the parameters of his functioning.

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