The Pragmatics of persuasive in Sesotho bride price discussion

This study is based on the investigation of the pragmatics of persuasive in Sesotho bride price discussions. The study was informed by Austin’s (1962), and Searle’s (1969) speech act theory, and politeness theory. Different linguistic expressions that denote persuasion and various classes of persuasive are used to analyse some insinuations of persuasive expressions function. This is a qualitative study which utilised different methods to collect data. Ten (10) bride price discussion meetings, as well as ten (10), structured interviews from the study areas of Leribe (ButhaButhe and Hlotse) and Berea (Teyateyaneng) districts in Lesotho were conducted. The study revealed that the speakers used various linguistic expressions to reach an agreement. The expressions used were comprehensible to the people sharing the same cultural background context.

Beyond the Words in Print: Identity Construction in Messages of Condolence

Death is part of human existence. When a person hears the news of someone’s death, it is very common for that person to express their feelings about it. This feeling is in the form of condolences which express the speaker’s sorrow, and condolences fall into the category of speech act. Semantically, condolences have a social meaning which refers to language use. Identities are created in relationships with others, and condolences are major platforms for the construction of identities, in that, existing relationships are, clearly, manifested in the messages that sympathizers expressed. Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed twenty condolence messages which were purposely sampled from condolence messages posted in the portals of International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), when one of its members passed away. The analysis of the data revealed two main identity types enacted for the deceased: role identity and Social Identity. The major Role identity enacted, metaphorically, was Father while the least role was Achiever. Second, identity as an International Figure was dominant with the Social roles, but Good Personality was used less frequently. The present study adds to studies in identity construction, in general, and studies in condolence messages, in specific.

Admirative Category with an Assessment of Possibility and Motivation in Russian and Persian Interrogative Sentences

In Russian and Persian, the category of indirect evidentiality points out to some unreliable source of information. The category of admirativity expresses unexpected and new information gained by the speaker. Such interrogative sentences convey combine admirativity with diff erent modal meanings. Foreign students of Russian often fi nd it hard to distinguish these meanings in Russian interrogative sentences. The authors compared Russian and Persian interrogative sentences and the linguistics tools that refl ect the admirative category with an assessment of modal meanings of possibility and motivation. This is the fi rst research of the category of admirativity in the Persian language and the fi rst publication on the comparison of Russian and Persian interrogative sentences, as well as on the relationship between admirativity and modal meanings in Russian and Persian interrogative sentences. The research objective was to perform a comparative analysis of admirativity in Russian and Persian interrogative sentences and to study the situations in which this meaning conveys the surprise of the speaker from the availability or lack of possibility to perform a certain action. In both languages, admirativity can accompany the feeling of motivation in the subject of the speech act. The findings can be useful in teaching Russian as a foreign language.

TUTURAN DIREKTIF BAHASA PENGASUHAN ANAK PRA-SEKOLAH DI INDONESIA: SEBUAH STUDI KASUS/DIRECTIVE PRE-SCHOOL PARENTING LANGUAGE IN INDONESIA: A CASE STUDY

Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji tuturan direktif bahasa pengasuhan anak pra-sekolah di Indonesia. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain penelitian studi kasus. Data penelitian berupa tuturan direktif guru terhadap siswa dan tuturan siswa terhadap guru yang mengandung kesantunan.Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode observasi. Analisis data dilakukan secara tematik dan menggunakan paramater kesantunan linguistik tuturan direktif Kunjana (2005). Hasil penelitian ini melaporkan bahwa penanda kesantunan tuturan direktif bahasa pengasuhan guru terhadap anak-anak pra-sekolah itu berupa penggunaan penanda partikel, seperti ki, ta, ji, iyye, yadalam bahasa Bugis dan penggunaan penanda kesantunan berbentuk kata, seperti kata kekerabatan dan kata julukan. Demikian pula, tuturan direktif guru kepada anak-anak pra-sekolah direalisasikan dalam bentuk kalimat sederhana baik yang berbentuk kalimat pendek maupun panjang. Penelitian ini mengimplikasikan dua hal, yaitu implikasi konseptual dan implikasi praktis. Secara konseptual, penelitian mengembangkan konsep ‘menjaga muka’ Brown dan Levinson (1987), sementara secara praktis, penelitian ini diharapkan dapat digunakan oleh para guru sekolah untuk senantiasa menerapkan bahasa santun kepada anak didiknya. Penggunaan bahasa santun itu tentu dapat memengaruhi kejiwaan anak dan di masa mendatang mereka dapat meniru perkataan santun yang disampaikan ke mereka. Kata kunci:anak-anak prasekolah, bahasa pengasuhan, Indonesia, kesantunan linguistik, tindak tutur direktifAbstractThis researchaims to elucidate directive pre-school parenting language in Indonesia. This research adopted a case study research design. The utterances of teacher to student containing politeness and vise versa used as the main data. To collect data, observational partisipant was utilized. Data analysis was carried out thematically and using the linguistic politeness parameter of Kunjana's directive speech (2005). This study reported that politeness markers of directive speech acts incorporate the using of politeness markers particle, such as ki, ta, ji, iyye, ya, sini in Buginesse language and politenesswords, like kinships and nicknames. Likewise, the teacher's directive speech to pre-school children is realized in the form of simple sentences, both in the form of short and long sentences. This research implied conceptual and practical implications. Conceptually, this research extends the concept 'face threatening act' of Brown and Levinson (1987), while practically, this evidence is expected to be used by school teachers to always apply polite language to their students. The use of polite language can certainly affect children's psyche and in the future they can imitate polite words conveyed to them.Keywords:directive speech act, linguistics politeness, parenting language, pre-school children, Indonesia

The cognitive discourse analysis of evidentiality category in Russian exclamatory sentences

The aims of the article are to examine the meanings of indirect evidentiality: inference, goal, desire and to search the manifestation of direct evidentiality in Russian exclamatory sentences. We attempt to prove that this category of evidentiality can be found in exclamatory sentences to express the speaker’s emotional attitude to the described situation, and, also, by using the cognitive discourse analysis, we are going to search the ways of realization of the speaker’s and his interlocutor’s intentions in any statement. In our study we analyzed the exclamatory sentences containing certain lexical or grammatical language tools used to express the meanings of direct and indirect evidentiality. The relevance of this work is determined by the necessity of studying the reliable and unreliable sources of information expressed in Russian exclamatory sentences. By means of cognitive discourse analysis, we revealed that the availability of some of introductory words, particles, exclamatory pronouns and etc. according to the context, can contextually point to the personal experience of the speaker or to the unreliable and incomplete information he gets. In these situations the subject of the speech act in relation to what he sees or hears, renders feelings of wonder, happiness and sadness.

Persuasive Strategies of Saudi EFL Learners

The aim of this study is to investigate the speech act of persuasion used by Saudis learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Moreover, we seek to explore the differences between genders in the use of these strategies. The participants are 50 males and 50 females at level 7 of their bachelor’s degree in English. Data are collected using the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) method, which contains six scenarios similar to real-life situations. Data are analysed quantitatively using the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project nine-point rating scale, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, and Chi-square. The results of the DCT reveal that Saudi EFL learners use more direct strategies in English, namely hedge performatives and performatives. In addition, males are shown to be more inclined to use direct persuasive strategies compared to females. This research will benefit language learners, teachers, and researchers, as it highlights linguistic aspects of the speech act of persuasion that should be considered when learning and teaching a foreign language. The implications of this study inspire future research into different aspects of speech acts.

Pragmatic Competence of Iranian EFL Learners in the Light of Refusal Speech Act

In order to communicate accurately and fluently, learners need to know how to produce different speech acts inside and outside the classroom context. Refusal speech act is complicated, and performing refusals successfully needs a higher level of pragmatic competence (Eslami, 2010). This study is done in order to analyze refusal speech act and its responses among Iranian EFL learners. The participants of this study are 120 advanced Iranian EFL learners. These learners are provided with scenarios so that they are exposed to situations where they should both refuse and respond to refusals. The first phase of this paper includes the analysis of refusal strategies. The second phase of the paper deals with refusal responses. It was revealed that female participants are more inclined to use indirect strategies as related to refusals and male participants are more inclined to use direct strategies. For refusal responses, male learners used reinforcing micro functions while female learners used accepting micro functions more frequently. The results of this study contribute to pragmatic instruction in a way to help learners interpret and realize this speech act successfully. I will also investigate possible cross-cultural miscommunication, which its occurrence is also acknowledged in previous research studies (Shishavan & Sharifian, 2016).