Individual differences in indirect speech act processing found outside the language network

Face-to-face communication requires skills that go beyond core language abilities. In dialog, we routinely make inferences beyond the literal meaning of utterances and distinguish between different speech acts based on e.g. contextual cues. It is however not known whether such communicative skills potentially overlap with core language skills or other capacities, such as Theory of Mind (ToM). In this fMRI study we investigate these questions by capitalizing on individual variation in pragmatic skills in the general population. Based on behavioral data from 201 participants, we selected participants with higher vs lower pragmatic skills for the fMRI-study (N = 57). In the scanner, participants listened to dialogs including a direct or an indirect target utterance. The paradigm allowed participants at the whole group level to (passively) distinguish indirect from direct speech acts, as evidenced by a robust activity difference between these speech acts in an extended language network including ToM areas. Individual differences in pragmatic skills modulated activation in two additional regions outside the core language regions (one cluster in the left lateral parietal cortex and intraparietal sulcus and one in the precuneus). The behavioral results indicate segregation of pragmatic skill from core language and ToM. In conclusion, contextualized and multimodal communication requires a set of inter-related pragmatic processes that are neurocognitively segregated: (1) from core language and (2) partly from ToM.

Assessing Pragmatic Skills in Speech Act Production and Perception

This chapter offers an overview of the research on the assessment of pragmatic skills among L2 speakers, focusing on speech act production and reception. The main characteristics of the key variables involved in the assessment process are also outlined. These include: language users whose pragmatic skills are assessed; raters assessing language users' discourse; discursive phenomena being assessed; approaches adopted for collecting and assessing discursive data; and the criteria used as the standards for assessment. The overall aim of this chapter is to explore how inclusive the assessment of language use in its scope, methods and social relevance. The major trends challenges involved in pragmatic skills assessment practices are identified, implications are drawn from the findings, and suggestions for future research are offered.

Pragmatic (In)appropriateness of Diminutives in Russian Language

The article discusses the issue of pragmatic meanings of diminutive forms in the Russian language from the point of view of politeness and speech act theories. The impact of diminutives on the illocutionary force and perlocutionary effects of speech acts raises the question of their appropriateness in various communicative situations. Since there is a negative bias towards diminutives among lay native speakers, it was decided to analyse their opinions, beliefs and feelings in order to define 1) the speakers illocutionary intentions; 2) contexts of use and 3) perlocutionary effects. The online articles, forums, posts on social networks and comments of Internet users were collected, with a total amount of 23 sources and 714 user comments. The emic and bottom-up approach referred to speakers intuition reveal 1) negative attitude towards diminutives in hierarchical relationships, 2) perception of diminutives as a positive politeness tool in low distance relationships, 3) perception of diminutives as a manipulative tool in unequal relationships. Thus, the appropriate use of diminutives calls for pragmatic skills to assess a communicative situation in terms of social variables, such as social distance and power, mutual costs and benefits, rights and obligations of interlocutors.

Pragmática da Linguagem e Ensino da Compreensão Leitora: Revisão de Estudos

ResumoA proficiência na compreensão da leitura de textos não requer apenas o adequado desempenho do leitor nas competências fonológica, morfológica, sintática e semântica, mas também demanda competência pragmática – habilidade de, deliberadamente, articular a materialidade linguística da superfície textual ao próprio conhecimento de mundo – revelando que a interação autor-texto-leitor se concretiza no empenho do leitor em enlaçar o contexto de uso e as ideias expressas no texto aos seus objetivos de leitura. Assim, se a pragmática se constitui aspecto relevante para o bom desempenho na compreensão da leitura, questiona-se sobre qual espaço essa vem tendo nos estudos acadêmicos com finalidade de trabalhar tal compreensão. O artigo tem como objetivo apresentar um levantamento de estudos que abordam, na perspectiva da pragmática da linguagem, a compreensão leitora. Para isso, foram pesquisados estudos sobre o tema nas plataformas SciELO, PsycINFO e ERIC. Os resultados mostram que há uma carência de artigos que abordam contribuições da pragmática associada à compreensão leitora. Essa lacuna identificada nos estudos reflete a escassez de intervenções pedagógicas focalizando as habilidades (meta)pragmáticas. Assim, entendendo que algumas dificuldades apresentadas pelos estudantes na compreensão de textos estão relacionadas justamente à falta de um trabalho pedagógico focalizando a pragmática, sugere-se que investir no ensino explícito dessa competência pode contribuir para os avanços no desempenho dos estudantes em leitura. Palavras-chave: Compreensão da Leitura. Compreensão de Textos Escritos. Habilidades Pragmáticas. Desempenho em Leitura. AbstractProficiency in reading comprehension does not only require readers’ appropriate performance in phonological, morphological, syntax, and semantic competencies but also pragmatic competence – the skill of deliberately connect linguistic materiality of the textual surface with knowledge of the world itself – revealing that the author-text-reader interaction materializes in the reader’s commitment to link the context of use and the ideas expressed in the text to his/her reading objectives. Hence, if pragmatics is a relevant aspect for good reading comprehension, it is asked herein how it has been addressed in academic studies intended to promote reading comprehension. This objective of this paper is to present the studies addressing reading comprehension from the pragmatic language perspective. Hence, studies addressing the topic were searched in the SciELO, PsycINFO, and ERIC databases. The results show a lack of papers addressing the pragmatics contributions associated with reading comprehension. This gap identified in the study reflects a lack of teaching interventions focusing on (meta)pragmatic skills, suggesting that some of the students’ difficulties may be related to this lack of interventions. Teaching this competence can improve the students’ reading performance, and competent reading promotes social inclusion and a citizenship. Therefore, schools must train these competencies for individuals to interact with texts, process ideas, make connections with different types of knowledge, and (re)construct meaning(s). Keywords: Reading Comprehension. Written Comprehension Texts. Pragmatic Skills. Reading Performance

Prevalence and functional impact of social (pragmatic) communication disorders

Background:To evaluate the utility of the Children’s Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2) for measuring inclusion and exclusion criteria of Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder (SPCD) and to ascertain prevalence rates and functional impact of SPCD in a community sample.Method:We used parent and teacher responses to the CCC-2 to approximate inclusion (poor social-pragmatic skills) and exclusion (poor structural language skills or autistic symptomatology) criteria for SPCD. We tested the prevalence of SPCD using these criteria in a population-based sample of children (n = 386) aged 5-6 years old. We also investigated the academic and behavioural profiles of children with more broadly-defined limitations in social-pragmatic competence.Results:Regardless of the diagnostic algorithm used, the resulting prevalence rates for SPCD indicated that very few children had isolated social communication difficulties (0-1.3%). However, a larger proportion of children (range: 6.1-10.5%) had social-pragmatic skills outside the expected range alongside structural language difficulties and/or autism spectrum symptoms, and this was associated with a range of adverse academic and behavioural outcomes. Conclusions:A considerable proportion of children in the early years of primary school have social-pragmatic deficits that interfere with social and scholastic activity, however these rarely occur in isolation. Exclusionary criteria articulated by DSM-5 may lead to under-identification of individuals with social-pragmatic deficits that may benefit from tailored support and intervention.

The Impact of the Age at the Cochlear Implantation on the Pragmatic Development of the Prelingual Hearing Impaired Egyptian Arabic Speaking Children

Background Hearing impaired children have delayed development of pragmatic skills as hearing impairment (HI) deprives them from exposure to natural communication interactions. The rehabilitation of children with HI aims to improve their listening skills for better language development and better communication and social interactions. Aim of this work to compare the pragmatic language development of the prelingual hearing impaired children who were cochlearly implanted before the age of 3 years and those who were cochlearly implanted after the age of 3 years. Methods Sixty Egyptian Arabic-speaking children with prelingual severe to profound sensory neural hearing loss, thirty children who were cochlearly implanted before the age of 3.0 years compared to thirty children who were cochlearly implanted after the age of 3.0 years. Language assessment was done by Modified Preschool Language Scale – 4th edition (PLS–4), the Arabic version and pragmatic development was assessed by Standardized Egyptian Arabic Pragmatic Language Test (EAPLT). Results The two study groups showed no significant differences regarding the receptive, expressive, and total language test scores by PLS-4. Group I showed a significant difference (improvement) regarding the pragmatic factors while there were no significant differences between the two study groups regarding the rest of the pragmatics scores by EAPLT. Conclusion The pragmatic language of cochlearly implanted children either who have been implanted before or after 3 years old is affected. This higher susceptibility to pragmatic impairment in prelingual cochlearly implanted children, as well as the importance of pragmatic skills for further social-communicative and academic careers, should be considered in their rehabilitative plan and advocate the importance for early incorporation of pragmatic behaviors into their intervention programs.

Aspectos pragmáticos y estratégicos del desarrollo de la destreza de expresión escrita en Filología Española en la tercera década del siglo XXI

Written expression is one of the most important skills in philological studies. Subjected to a constant formative and summative evaluation, it plays a distinctive role and shows both the achievements and the shortcomings of the student’s linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic skills. In this analysis, we would like to focus on this last component of communicative competence, but also on the strategies of the learners connected with their practice of various forms of writing in the academic and private sphere. The paper summarizes the results of a survey completed by Spanish philology students from the Department of Romance Philology at the University of Wroclaw during the summer term of 2018/2019 academic year. One of the objectives of the survey was to find out to what extent the PNJH Pisanie program correspondsto the needs and expectations of current students in Poland.

Mastery Of Sociolinguistic Concepts Of Pragmatic Skills By Junior High School Students

Skilled in pragmatic language, means skilled in using language forms ( words, phrases and clauses appropriately according to the conditions, situations and social contexts behind it. Such pragmatic skills may be established if the situation, conditions and social context behind the use of the language can be adequately mastered. This study aims to describe the percentage of contributions to the mastery of sociolinguistic concepts with pragmatic skills. In line with the purpose of the study, sociolinguistic mastery data with pragmatic skills of 28 sample people netted with test instruments and analyzed with statistics r¬2.From the results of the analysis conducted, obtained a determination index of 0.78 which means; mastery of sociolinguistic concepts contributes 78% to the achievement of students' pragmatic skills. In accordance with the results of the above analysis, it can be concluded that mastery of sociolinguistic concepts is a variable of criteria that contributes very meaningfully to the improvement of pragmatic skills. Thus, the research hypothesis yaang said that the mastery of the concept of sociolinguistics contributes meaningfully to the development of pragmatic skills of students of SMP Negeri 1 Nias Selatan, the truth is proven