bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparing Corpora
Authors: Kilgarriff Adam
Published: October 2007

Corpus linguistics lacks strategies for describing and comparing corpora. Currently most descriptions of corpora are textual, and questions such as ‘what sort of a corpus is this?’, or ‘how does this corpus compare to that?’ can only be answered impressionistically. This paper considers various ways in which different corpora can be compared more objectively. First we address the issue, ‘which words are particularly characteristic of a corpus?’, reviewing and critiquing the statistical methods which have been applied to the question and proposing the use of the Mann-Whitney ranks test. Results of two corpus comparisons using the ranks test are presented. Then, we consider measures for corpus similarity. After discussing limitations of the idea of corpus similarity, we present a method for evaluating corpus similarity measures. We consider several measures and establish that a\chi\tsup{2}-based one performs best. All methods considered in this paper are based on word and ngram frequencies; the strategy is defended.
The Grammar and Use of Korean Reflexives
Authors: Kang Beom-Mo
Published: October 2007

This paper discusses the relationship between grammar as linguistic knowledge, as envisaged in Generative Grammar, and usage, the result of performance. In concrete, I analyze the use of Korean reflexives ‘caki’, ‘casin’, and ‘cakicasin’ by examining the occurrences of these reflexives in a 5-million-word Korean corpus, taken from a 10-million-word Korean corpus which is called “KOREA-1 Corpus”, compiled at Korea University (H. Kim and B. Kang 1996). This corpus is composed of various genres of Korean texts including 10% of spoken material. From the KWIC concordances of accusative forms of these reflexives, ‘cakilul, casin-ul, cakicasin-ul’, I examined whether a reflexive has a local antecedent or a long-distance antecedent. The result is that ‘caki’ is almost even in having local and long-distance antecedents, but ‘casin’ has more and ‘cakicasin’ has much more local antecedents. I also examined the thematic roles of the local antecedents of reflexives, which shows that ‘casin’ has relatively more Experiencer antecedents than ‘caki’ has, although in both cases Agent antecedents dominate. The outcome of this frequency analysis suggests that a tendency (probably not yet grammaticalized), or degree of “naturalness” is real and can be captured in the usage data provided that we have a sizable amount of material which can be handled in an efficient way as provided by the corpus linguistic method of the present day. At the least, the result of such an investigation can provide a solid base from which further theorizing may proceed.
Understanding Direct Mail Letters as a genre
Authors: Upton Thomas A.
Published: October 2007

What makes non-profit, philanthropic discourse so persuasive has not been well explored to date. Using a specialized corpus of direct-mail letters from philanthropic organizations in five different fields, this study seeks to combine the tools of corpus analysis with the specificity of genre analysis in a way that has not been done before to provide a new perspective on a genre that is not well understood. The underlying goal is to look for a methodology that will provide much of the qualitative detail that is common to genre analysis, while at the same time providing the reliability that is best assured by the quantitative power of computerized corpus analysis. Using Bhatia's approach to genre analysis (1993) and his exploratory efforts in investigating fundraising discourse (1997, 1998) as a foundation, key patterns in the rhetorical structure of direct-mail letters revealed through a large-scale corpus analysis are presented.
Language as a cognitive technology
Authors: Dascal Marcelo
Published: October 2007

Ever since Descartes singled out the ability to use natural language appropriately in any given circumstance as the proof that humans — unlike animals and machines — have minds, an idea that Turing transformed into his well-known test to determine whether machines have intelligence, the close connection between language and cognition has been widely acknowledged, although it was accounted for in quite different ways. Recent advances in natural language processing, as well as attempts to create “embodied conversational agents” which couple language processing with that of its natural bodily correlates (gestures, facial expression and gaze direction), in the hope of developing human-computer interfaces based on natural — rather than formal — language, have again brought to the fore the question of how far we can hope machines to be able to master the cognitive abilities required for language use. In this paper, I approach this issue from a different angle, inquiring whether language can be viewed as a “cognitive technology”, employed by humans as a tool for the performance of certain cognitive tasks. I propose a definition of “cognitive technology” that encompasses both external (or “prosthetic”) and internal cognitive devices. A number of parameters in terms of which a typology of cognitive technologies of both kinds can be sketched is also set forth. It is then argued that inquiring about language’s role in cognition allows us to re-frame the traditional debate about the relationship between language and thought, by examining how specific aspects of language actually influence cognition — as an environment, a resource, or a tool. This perspective helps bring together the contributions of the philosophical “linguistic turn” in epistemology and the incipient “epistemology of cognitive technology” It also permits a more precise and fruitful discussion of the question whether, to what extent, and which of the language-based cognitive technologies we naturally use can be emulated by the kinds of technologies presently or in the foreseeable future available.
“The end of the Dreyfus affair”
Authors: Ali Syed Mustafa
Published: October 2007

In this paper, the possibility of developing a Heideggerian solution to the Schizophrenia Problem associated with cognitive technologies is investigated. This problem arises as a result of the computer bracketing emotion from cognition during human-computer interaction and results in human psychic self-amputation. It is argued that, in order to solve the Schizophrenia Problem, it is necessary to first solve the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness since emotion is at least partially experiential. Heidegger’s thought, particularly as interpreted by Hubert Dreyfus, appears relevant in this regard since it ostensibly provides the basis for solving the ‘hard problem’ via the construction of artificial systems capable of the emergent generation of conscious experience. However, it will be shown that Heidegger’s commitment to a non-experiential conception of nature renders this whole approach problematic, thereby necessitating consideration of alternative, post-Heideggerian approaches to solving the Schizophrenia Problem.
The origins of narrative
Authors: Dautenhahn Kerstin
Published: October 2007

This article presents work in progress towards a better understanding of the origins of narrative. Assuming an evolutionary and developmental continuity of mental experiences, we propose a grounding of human narrative capacities in non-verbal narrative transactions in non-human animals, and in pre-verbal narrative transactions of human children. We discuss narrative intelligence in the context of the evolution of primate (social) intelligence, and with respect to the particular cognitive limits that constrain the development of human social networks and societies. We explain the Narrative Intelligence Hypothesis which suggests that the evolutionary origin of communicating in a narrative format co-evolved with increasingly complex social dynamics among our human ancestors. This article gives examples of social interactions in non-human primates and how these can be interpreted in terms of narrative formats. Due to the central role of narrative in human communication and social interaction, we discuss how research into the origins of narrative can impact the development of humane technology which is designed to meet the biological, cognitive and social needs of human story-tellers.
Facework in Chinese service encounters
Authors: Pan Yuling
Published: October 2007

This study investigates politeness phenomena in Chinese service encounters, contrasting the use of facework in two types of service encounters: state-run vs. privately-owned stores. I argue that politeness is a dynamic process, which involves participants’ perception of a social setting and the assumed interpersonal relationship in a given situation. It is shown that social distance and the type of social relationship play an essential role in Chinese politeness behavior and that the use of facework in service encounters signals a change in discursive practice due to social and economic changes in China.
The Internet in Macau
Authors: Lai Fei Loi , McIntyre Bryce T.
Published: October 2007

Macau is a 400-year-old Portuguese colony in the Pearl River Delta in southeastern China. Portugal returned the colony to China on 20 December 1999. In light of its history, Macau is an interesting case study of how colonial policies affect adoption of new technologies such as the Internet.

Companhia de Telcomunicações de Macau is the only company licensed to provide telecommunications services in Macau. This study examines: (1) the relationship between the Macau government and CTM as an ISP; (2) the relationship between CTM and other Internet companies in Macau; and (3) the relationship between Internet companies and users in Macau.
Online news framing
Authors: Rosales Rey G. , Lowry Dennis T.
Published: October 2007

This study examined how three Manila online newspapers framed the coverage of the 1998 Philippine presidential election. It analyzed election news content (N = 367 stories) in terms of tone of coverage, manner of candidate’s publicity, and the frames used in presenting election news. The results showed positive election news (55%) and favorable (76%) publicity towards the candidates. The dailies used more strategy frames (56%) than issue frames (44%). It was also found that a newspaper can use more in-depth analysis (issue frames) in its coverage and still remain on top of the readership and circulation game. Furthermore, the attribution of the causes and solutions to an issue was not assigned
to a candidate but rather to an institution, lending support to Iyengar’s (1991) episodic-thematic framing anal-
ysis.
An analysis of the metaphorical usage of campaign slogans in the 1996 presidential campaign in Taiwan
Authors: Wei Jennifer M.
Published: October 2007

This paper explores a variety of metaphors notably, war, revenge, and a journey of spirituality awakening —
used by the 1996 presidential and vice-presidential candidates in Taiwan. It uses the 1996 presidential election rhetoric as
a case study to analyze how political ideologies, tactics and strategies are incorporated in metaphors in presidential slogans.
It adopts Lakoff & Johnson (1980)’s proposal of metaphor as symbols that orient our perception and influence
how we structure our actions. Kennedy (1998)’s treaties on political rhetoric are introduced as theoretical
background for further analysis, following a short sketch of the socio-political context of recent democratic developments
in Taiwan. Studies of the election rhetoric, its contributions and limitations are then examined. Data for analysis were
collected from newspapers, official memoranda and pamphlets available to the public over the campaign period, roughly
from late January to late March in 1996. The results show overlaps and contrasts of metaphorical usage among the four
sets of candidates. In conclusion, metaphorical usage not only orients the campaign style of the candidates but also shapes
voters’ perceptions of proposed political ideals.
Pre-handover language attitudes in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Guangzhou
Authors: Gao Yihong , Su Xinchun , Zhou Lei
Published: October 2007

In May 1997, a matched guise test was conducted on 304 college students in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Guangzhou.
The stimulus material was presented in 4 guises: Cantonese, English, Putonghua, and Putonghua with Cantonese accent.
Major findings: (1) What distinguished Hong Kong subjects’ sociolinguistic identity was not Cantonese, English
or Putonghua as found in previous studies, but Putonghua with Cantonese accent. In light of Brewer’s (1991)
optimal distinctiveness theory, this would suggest parallel needs of “being Chinese” and “being
Hongkongers.” (2) Guangzhou was closer to Beijing rather than to Hong Kong in language attitudes. The cutting
boundary appeared between the mainland and Hong Kong, not between Cantonese-speaking and non-Cantonese-speaking
communities.
Language management and language problems
Authors: Jernudd Björn H.
Published: October 2007

This paper is an introduction to language management and to the papers in this and the next volume of the Journal. It refers to contributors’ papers as the text evolves. It discusses first management of problems in discourse, then directed management with the help of a mini-case study and some examples, then surveys sources of language problems and their solutions according to a selection of functions of language. In the first volume, it brings up the communicative, symbolic, social and entertainment functions as sources of language problems. In the second volume, it continues with a discussion of the development function as a source of language problems. The paper then brings together discourse and behavior towards language in their socio-economic context in a unified restatement of the theory.

The division of volumes is necessarily arbitrary, yet, each volume can be read independently of each other. This and all the papers together celebrate J. V. Neustupný’s contribution to language management.
Conversational repair in spoken Hong Kong Cantonese
Authors: Ho Adrian K. , Jernudd Björn H.
Published: October 2007

This paper examines the process and mechanism of conversational repair in spoken Hong Kong Cantonese. Levelt calls for accounts of conversational repair from diverse languages; this paper helps test his supposition that “the organization of repair is quite invariant across languages and cultures” (1989: 497). The paper also raises the hypothesis that personal and contextual factors are crucial variables which determine
which type of repair will be socially acceptable (and therefore prominent) in a particular conversational
setting.
Managing languages in conflict situation
Authors: Haji Omar Asmah
Published: October 2007

English today certainly plays a wider range of roles than before. Due to these roles and to its neutrality in not being
exclusively identified with any particular ethnic community in Malaysia, English is meant to be everyone’s language
in as much as the national language is. In real life the functions of English in Malaysia almost equal those of Malay,
including the social function. This situation results from the image projected by English vis-à-vis Malay and an equal
treatment of the two languages in the implementation of the policy. The policy on the enhancement of the use of English
has helped to de-sensitise the feeling of the people towards English as a former colonial language, and to close the
attitudinal gap between Malay and English. This pragmatism has also changed the world-view of Malaysians that only the
use of the national language would assist in nation-building
Marriage, naming and the state
Authors: Maher John C.
Published: October 2007

A name is not merely a personal identifier but an object over which state and corporate bodies regard themselves
as having the right of control. In the modern state, ideologies of citizenship, ethnocentrism, colonialism, have long entailed
the manipulation of personal names. The married change-name is, among other things, a psychological act, an imprinting
by society on the (bride-bridegroom) initiate’s consciousness. A newly-coined married name encodes new
information about the man or woman. It connotes primarily that a new social relationship has occurred. A new name is
a symbol of allegiance to a new person, a new nexus of relations, a starting-over. Fufu
bessei is the practice
in Japan of the retention of former surnames after marriage. Retention of the surname is a ruptus in traditional
symbolic reference, a social and psychological discontinuity. A review of global practice regarding post-marriage naming
reveals no uniformity but rather variation. At the same time, there appears to be many possible reasons why an individual
decides to change or not to change. Marriage name-change/name-retention thus comprise an ideological speech-act: a
linguistic expression of a form of consciousness which sustains and legitimates a state of affairs or which, conversely,
indicates rejection of particular practices and institutions.
Language Management and Language Problems
Authors: Jernudd Björn H.
Published: October 2007

This paper is an introduction to language management and to the papers in this and the previous volume of the Journal. It refers to contributors’ papers as the text evolves. It discusses first management of problems in discourse, then directed management with the help of a mini-case study and some examples, then surveys sources of language problems and their solutions according to a selection of functions of language. In the first volume, it brings up the communicative, symbolic, social and entertainment functions as sources of language problems. In this second volume, it continues with a discussion of the development function as a source of language problems. The paper then brings together discourse and behavior towards language in their socio-economic context in a unified restatement of the theory.

The division of volumes is necessarily arbitrary, yet, each volume can be read independently of each other. This and all the papers together celebrate J. V. Neustupný’s contribution to language management.
Linguistic diversity in Shanghai
Authors: Xiao-Quan Chu
Published: October 2007

The paper describes the language situation in Shanghai in 1999.
Language learner self-management
Authors: Rubin J.
Published: October 2007

Learner self-management (LSM) refers to the ability to deploy procedures and to access knowledge and beliefs in order to accomplish learning goals in a dynamically changing environment This paper will elaborate the components of learner self-management and provide an interactive model which elaborates how these components interact.
Theoretical Framework for Communicative Adjustment in Language Acquisition
Authors: Miyazaki S.
Published: October 2007

Although much of the work in the study of negotiation of meaning subsequent to Krashen (1982, 1985) support the notion that negotiation of meaning leads to comprehensible input, which in turn results in acquisition, I question the prevailing assumption based on four reasons. Firstly, negotiation studies show a tendency to under-estimate the role of adjustment. Secondly, it is questionable whether the negotiation for comprehensible input plays a crucial role in language acquisition where the input obtained by the learner is merely simplified input, not optimal input. Thirdly, the study of negotiation of meaning focuses upon meaning in the narrow sense of the word. Limiting the study of negotiation to lexical inadequacies does not guarantee an understanding of successful acquisition. I agree with Neustupný that interactive competence is an ingredient for acquisition. This notion embraces three areas of competence: sociocultural, sociolinguistic and linguistic which are inseparable for understanding language acquisition. Lastly, the relationship between negotiation and acquisition needs to be considered in terms of language learning strategies. The above four points indicate that the framework of negotiation for language acquisition needs to be reconstructed through a focus on the adjustment of inadequacies.
Learning speaking skills from our ancient philosophers
Authors: Chang Hui-Ching
Published: October 2007

Definitions and contents of interpersonal communication have undergone significant change in modern Taiwan, as can be observed from the production of an ever-increasing number of translated books that purport to teach people how to communicate. Since skills taught in these foreign texts unavoidably reflect a Western cultural orientation, a counter-balancing force that elevates and highlights Chinese cultural traditions can be readily observed. In response to challenges from the West, books by Chinese natives call for readers’ appreciation of speaking skills employed by ancient Chinese philosophers, politicians, and others. Through such rhetorical efforts that revitalize the image of eloquent ancient Chinese speakers, these popular media redefine “the Chinese cultural traditions,” (1) as embracing articulate and eloquent speaking skills rather than merely emphasizing humbleness; (2) as a guide for the future rather than something to be discarded; and consequently, (3) as a solution to the seeming struggle between modernity and tradition. This paper traces the development of popular books during 1994–1998, analyzing selected popular books written by Chinese to examine how Chinese authors fashion their own unique discourse about communication to challenge and supplement extra-cultural ideas introduced by translated popular books.
Harmonies and tensions in Chinese intergenerational communication
Authors: Zhang Yan Bing , Hummert Mary Lee
Published: October 2007

This study examined interview accounts of intergenerational communication from twenty younger adults (M age = 24.05; Age range: 19 to 33) and thirteen older adults (M age = 67.10; Age range: 62 to 72) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed into Chinese. Meaningful descriptions of intergenerational communication were then translated to English. Using an emergent theme analysis approach, we identified themes that fell into three broad areas: 1) positive intergenerational communication behaviors, 2) negative intergenerational behaviors, and 3) ideal intergenerational communication. The analysis also revealed that some themes of the two age groups were congruent (e.g., the mutual endorsement of filial piety), while others were incongruent with each other (e.g., disagreement on perceptions on equality and superiority). Themes are compared to descriptions of intergenerational communication found in research within Western cultures. Themes are also discussed in relation to cross-cultural intergenerational research, the Communication Predicament of Aging model, and the changing Chinese economic and political system.
The spread of Putonghua and language attitude changes in Shanghai and Guangzhou, China
Authors: Zhou Minglang
Published: October 2007

This study measures languages attitudes of 82 college students in Shanghai and Guangzhou, where language planning has promoted Putonghua (PTH) over local varieties since 1956. Since the 1980s, industrialization, commercialization, and greater demographic mobility have changed what used to be homogeneous local variety speech communities, resulting in greater demand for PTH in cross-variety communication. Do language attitudes change with greater demand for PTH? A direct measurement shows that the Shanghainese and Cantonese are largely similar in language use but differ in language attitudes: instrumental motivation and impressions of stereotyped PTH speakers correlate differently with language use for these groups. An indirect measurement indicates that, because of low social distance, the Shanghainese and Cantonese as whole groups preferred neither PTH nor their respective local varieties, though the Shanghainese females significantly upgraded PTH on both social status and group solidarity, while the Shanghainese males upgraded Shanghainese. These findings do not conform well to the textbook-case dichotomy found in early studies between high and low varieties on the dimensions of social status and solidarity. The nonconforming language attitudes may represent attitude changes amid emerging patterns of language use in these two Pacific cities.
Selecting models and setting standards for teachers of English in Hong Kong
Authors: Coniam David , Falvey Peter
Published: October 2007

The perception of falling standards in education, and in second language teaching in particular, has been a constant refrain for the past 20 years as changing needs and practices affect economic processes and manpower requirements. Within this context, this article deals with the establishment of language standards (‘benchmarks’) for teachers of English in Hong Kong. The article deals with two separate but linked notions: first, the notion of which model of the English language should be used as the standard model for English language teacher benchmark assessment in Hong Kong; second, the level of language ability that will be decided upon in order to establish the proficiency standards expected of teachers of English. The article first describes the background to the setting of language standards for teachers of English in Hong Kong. It then examines the selection of and justification for the model of English selected as the ‘minimum standard’. The following section considers the level of language ability agreed upon as the standard that teachers of English need to attain. The article concludes with an examination of the extent to which the standards that have been agreed upon match the needs of the major stakeholders in the standard-setting process.
Setting language benchmarks
Authors: Bunton David , Tsui Amy B.M.
Published: October 2007

This paper considers Hong Kong’s benchmark language assessments for English teachers. It asks whose standard of English the government, business community, examinations authority, and the teaching profession itself expect teachers to measure up to. As well as examining documentation from these various sources, the paper analyses discussions on
TeleNex
, a computer network set up for English teachers in Hong Kong. Although the question was seldom explicitly mooted in documents and teachers’ messages, the implicit standards were found to be largely exonormative. Most documents implied a native speaker norm, and teachers were found to regard British dictionaries and grammars as the main authorities on correctness and acceptability. Only the benchmark developers were found to be seeking an “educated Hong Kong model”, but even their criteria rule out an “average” Hong Kong model for teachers.
Changing attitudes toward TEWOL in Korea
Authors: Shim Rosa Jinyoung
Published: October 2007

It has now been two decades since we were confronted with the concept of World Englishes (Kachru, B. 1982. Ed. The Other Tongue). Since then, numerous publications have shown that World Englishes is a viable concept, and those of us within the TEWOL profession world-wide have had to tackle the following three tasks: 1) raising the public’s awareness of the need for TEWOL, 2) finding and developing suitable materials for TEWOL, and 3) setting the appropriate norms for TEWOL. Although all three tasks are projects in progress in Korea and definite results may not be available for another two decades, this paper attempts to provide an interim report on the first of these three tasks. It examines the changes in the attitudes of the public and the ELT profession toward TEWOL through a series of surveys and interviews conducted in the last five years. In Korea, the first reactions to TEWOL may best be described as total rejection and ignorance. Slowly, however, there has been considerable enhancement of language awareness in learners and teachers alike. Thus one may now conclude that we have successfully taken the first step of sowing the seeds for TEWOL and are now moving into the second step of firmly planting the roots for TEWOL.
Cantopop
Authors: McIntyre Bryce T. , Cheng Christine Wai Sum , Weiyu Zhang
Published: October 2007

In post-Handover Hong Kong, one sees an influx of cultural products from mainland China, from increased radio and television programming in Mandarin to the adoption of simplified Chinese characters in some publication venues. These are symbols of the resinicization of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Beijingers proudly assert that the Chinese capital is the cultural centre of China, and they look with a combination of curiosity and disdain on the popular culture of Hong Kong. With this steady influx into Hong Kong of culture emanating from the Chinese capital, and with the imperialistic attitude of Beijing elites, one might conclude that Cantonese popular culture is in serious decline. However, this is not the case. Through a descriptive study of Cantonese popular music  or Cantopop, as it is known in the West  this article argues that Cantonese culture is a unique and irrepressible cultural force in Greater China. Further, this article argues  and this is the main point  that Cantopop has served the role of a strategic cultural form to delineate a local Hong Kong identity, vis-à-vis the old British colonial and mainland Chinese identities. The article includes a brief history of Cantopop.
Wong Kar-Wai
Authors: Gleason Timothy R. , Tang Qi , Giovanetti Jean
Published: October 2007

Wong Kar-Wai is the premier auteur of Hong Kong cinema. This article analyzes his 1994 film, Chungking Express, using the auteur as structure approach. This approach emphasizes the influence of the director on a film. It can only be applied to films that were mainly controlled by the director and not the studio or production company. Using this approach requires researchers to find the signature of the director within the film.
This research introduces the work of an internationally-acclaimed film director to communication scholars, and it deciphers a film inherently complex to interpret. The authors analysis reveals Wong utilizes a French New Wave style to represent his view of a Hong Kong undergoing social and political transformations. Wongs style is similar to French directors such as Truffaut and Godard because of his spontaneity and use of movement within the movie image. Even though Wong is influenced by the French New Wave, his films are also influenced by their physical and social environments. This is especially true in Chungking Express, with its crime urban surroundings, and constant references to expiration dates, the latter referring to Hong Kongs hand-over to China.
Diachronic speech act analysis
Authors: Jucker Andreas H. , Taavitsainen Irma
Published: October 2007

In this paper we want to develop a model for the diachronic analysis of speech acts by tracing one particular speech act through the history of English, viz. insults. Speech acts are fuzzy concepts which show both diachronic and synchronic variation. We therefore propose a notion of a multidimensional pragmatic space in which speech acts can be analyzed in relation to neighboring speech acts.

Against this background we discuss both the changing cultural grounding in which insults occur and the changing ways in which they are realized. Our data is drawn from the Old English poem Beowulf and the Finnsburh fragment, from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and from Shakespeare’s plays, and from a variety of non-literary sources such as personal letters, court records and an internet discussion group. The scale ranges from everyday communication to ritualized behavior. When written materials of the past periods are analyzed, the bias towards the conventionalized insults is evident. Most early examples are found in literary texts and seem to reflect generic conventions of the time and the culture that gave rise to these literary forms.
Constructing witches and spells
Authors: Culpeper Jonathan , Semino Elena
Published: October 2007

In this paper, we highlight the centrality of verbs relating to verbal activities in witchcraft narratives in the Early Modern English period, and focus on speech act verbs used to refer to witches’ curses. In the first part, we refer to various classifications of speech act verbs and to Searle’s felicity conditions for speech acts, in order to describe the different meanings of verbs such as to curse, and to show how their central meaning has shifted over time. In the second part, we show how the speech act verbs form a structured set, which — in appropriate circumstances — could be used as an interpretative frame to create witchcraft events out of relatively trivial arguments within village communities. Here, we refer to Levinson’s notion of activity types as a possible explanatory framework.
Data in historical pragmatics
Authors: Culpeper Jonathan , Kytö Merja
Published: October 2007

In this paper we examine four speech-related text types in terms of how linguistically close they are to spoken face-to-face interaction. Our “conversational” diagnostics include lexical repetitions, question marks (as an indicator of question-answer adjacency pairs), interruptions, and several single word interactive features (first- and second-person pronouns, private verbs and demonstrative pronouns). We discuss the nature of these diagnostics and then consider their distribution across our text types and across the period 1600 to 1720. We reveal: (1) a differential distribution across our text types (and suggest a number of explanatory factors), and (2) a shift over our period towards features associated with spoken face-to-face interaction (and make the tentative suggestion that this finding may be due to the development of “popular” literatures). We also make some preliminary remarks about our Shakespeare sample.
Representations of orality in Early Modern English trial records
Authors: Kryk-Kastovsky Barbara
Published: October 2007

The paper aims at answering some questions essential for a historical pragmaticist. It examines to what extent the written records available nowadays reflect the language spoken in the past, i.e. what their degree of orality is. The data are two Early Modern English texts: The trial of Titus Oates and The trial of Lady Alice Lisle. Trial records are relevant for this analysis since they are closer to the original sources than other texts and they are interesting for linguistic reasons, e.g. the formulaic expressions or the discourse strategies used in court. The search for traces of orality is based on two features: turn-taking and closeness to the sociocultural context. The study corroborates my initial hypothesis that the two trial records have preserved many traces of orality. Moreover, they are rich sources of information about the political, social and
cultural life of the period.
¿Quí los podrié contar? Interrogative acts in the Cantar de mio Cid
Authors: Schrott Angela
Published: October 2007

The study of interrogative acts in the Old Spanish Cantar de mio Cid is based on the premise that speech acts not only have to be located in the context of dialogue interaction but also in the frame of the traditions that mark the (literary) text. Because of this context dependency the pragmatic profile of interrogative acts has to be worked out by means of close philological interpretations. After sketching some methodological premises and a definition of the interrogative act, two question types are described in detail: the rhetorical question and a phatic use of the where-question. The analysis illustrates how the interrogative power of questions is shaped by the dialogue context and demonstrates the impact of text traditions like narrative techniques. Thus, the twofold contextualization of the interrogative acts shows the need for an interdisciplinary analysis that integrates sociohistorical considerations as well as literary reflections.
Explicit performatives in Old English
Authors: Kohnen Thomas
Published: October 2007

This article deals with directive performatives in Old English. Using the Old English section of the Helsinki Corpus, it examines their frequency, their distribution across text types and their major functions. In addition, the data are compared with their Latin sources and with the frequency of directive performatives in the Modern English LOB Corpus. The results suggest that directive performatives were much more frequent in Old English, with Modern English showing a clear tendency to avoid face-threatening performatives.
A historical but non-determinist pragmatics of literary communication
Authors: Sell Roger D.
Published: October 2007

Despite any appearances to the contrary, literary writing and reading are forms of communicative activity for which a human parity needs to obtain between the different participants. By the same token, literature can also bring about changes in the human world. Literary pragmatics is therefore continuous with the pragmatics of communication in general, and must be strongly historical in its orientation, even if this can never involve a rigid historical determinism. Although human identity is very much a matter of social formation, human beings do have a certain autonomy of imagination, intellect, temperament and choice. It is this relative autonomy which makes possible communication between different positionalities in the first place, and which also helps to explain the processes of personal and social change. When people really communicate, they meet each other half-way. Initiators of communication textualise a model of the communicative situation itself, for instance, and also make rhetorical concessions, which, as the mental distance between the context of sending and the context of receiving varies, can themselves vary in communicative effect. In responding to a communicative gesture, similarly, receivers are humanly obliged to make a hermeneutic effort, which, especially, but not only in the case of literary communication, may have to negotiate variations in text typology and politeness. The net effect of literature, like that of other uses of language, depends on who is processing it, and when and where and how. In principle, the effect can sometimes be deleterious. As always, human beings’ only moral defence lies in their own personal powers of judgement. Equally, some literary writings, like other actions, embody a kind of ethical beauty, not only as significant historical interventions in their own times and places, but also in terms of a continuing, yet quite distinct inspiration they can offer to human beings whose situationality is different. All genuine communication actually tends to override situational difference in the hope of closer communion. A historical pragmatics can itself facilitate rapprochement, by offering a theoretical basis for mediation between different viewpoints, and not least in the form of a mediating literary criticism. Here, though, there can be no suggestion of hegemony. Sociohistorical differences will never completely disappear. Nor will human behaviour ever become completely explicable. If it did, it would no longer be human in the sense understood by a non-determinist pragmatics.
Text types in a new medium
Authors: Fritz Gerd
Published: October 2007

The first printed newspapers in the modern sense of the word appeared in the seventeenth century. They were weekly publications which contained regular reports by correspondents from all over Europe, mainly on political matters. Although the new medium as such was innovative in its general organization, the individual news items were produced by following text patterns which already had a history of their own. The article reports recent research on the emerging constellation of text types in the first two German newspapers, the Aviso and the Relation of the year 1609. It is focussed on delineating a prototype-based typology of the relevant text types and on tracing back these forms of presentation of news items to earlier genres and media like chronicles, handwritten newsletters, printed pamphlets and biannual news collections. The general interest of this line of research as a contribution to historical pragmatics lies in the attempt to see historical text types in an evolutionary perspective, taking into account the context of text production and, as far as possible, the reactions of the reading public.
Middle English recipes
Authors: Taavitsainen Irma
Published: October 2007

This article focuses on Middle English medical recipes and aims to show that the concepts of “genre”, “text type” and “text tradition” provide useful tools for historical discourse analysis, as they operate in different ways and illustrate various sides of medieval texts. Medical recipes are a well-defined procedural genre included in a variety of contexts: they form the major contents of remedybooks, but they are also found within the learned tradition of medical writing. The reception and use of these texts can be studied through their genre contexts and other extralinguistic features. The assessment of their text-type features shows that a higher degree of standardisation is found in remedybooks; academic texts and surgical treatises show more variation. The observed differences cannot be attributed to genre, and the readership was presumably much the same. The underlying traditions seem to have been important: remedybooks were handbooks for consultation to find cures for diseases. The more standardised the format, the more easily the advice was accessible. In contrast, recipes in the learned tradition were included in longer treatises as integral parts for demonstration of the healing principles.
Expressing criticism and evaluation during three centuries
Authors: Gunnarsson Britt-Louise
Published: October 2007

The article presents a socio-semantic study of evaluative expressions in medical scientific articles from six periods from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Evaluations relating to the presentations of the medical case, the scientist’s own work and the work of other scientists were studied. The results of the analyses point to a gradual change in the directness of the evaluations; where the author earlier evaluated through his own voice, the modern author chooses to evaluate indirectly through facts and others’ voices. The evaluations were also found to gradually be less strong and more embedded in hedgings of various kinds. The changes in evaluative strength and style reveal the varied positions of the scientists and their scientific community as to the medical knowledge, the stage of the medical community and the role of the medical scientists in society.
The bittersweet rhetoric of controversiality in nineteenth- and twentieth-century French and English medical literature
Authors: Salager-Meyer Françoise , Zambrano Nahirana
Published: October 2007

This paper investigates the evolution of the linguistic means used by scientists to convey academic conflict in French and English medical discourse. The 185-year span studied (1810–1995) was divided into nine 20-year periods. The rhetorical strategies expressing academic conflicts were recorded in 180 papers and classified as direct or indirect. The results were analyzed using χ2 tests. Between 1810 and 1929, no cross-linguistic difference was found in the frequency of either direct or indirect academic conflict. Between 1930 and 1995 direct academic conflict was more frequent in medical French than in medical English (p = .013), and indirect academic conflict more common in medical English than in medical French (p = .0001). Qualitatively speaking, nineteenth-century medical French and medical English academic conflicts were personal, polemical and provocative. Regarding twentieth-century academic conflict, medical French conflicts tend to remain personal and categorical whereas medical English academic dispute is characterized by its politeness and/or the shifting of conflict responsibility onto some inanimate entity. Our study indicates that the intellectual climate in a given scientific discursive community influences the rhetoric of conflict.
From matrix clause to pragmatic marker
Authors: Brinton Laurel J.
Published: October 2007

The interpersonal pragmatic markers (now) look (here), look you, lookee, lookahere, and lookit are shown to be the result of originally free matrix clauses which become syntactically fixed, are reanalyzed as sentence adjuncts, and undergo internal coalescence, a process which began in the seventeenth century. Their development is considered an instance of grammaticalization exhibiting most, though not all, of the characteristics of the process. A new grammaticalization cline is proposed to account for the unidirectionality of the development.
Serial metonymy
Authors: Nerlich Brigitte , Clarke David D.
Published: October 2007

Metonymy has been studied for at least two thousand years by rhetoricians, for two hundred years by historical semanticists, and for about ten years by cognitive linguists. However, they all have neglected one peculiar aspect of metonymy: its serial nature. Metonymic chains are either synchronic lexicalised chains, as in the case of paper (material, product, contents) or diachronic chains, as in the case of lavatory (container, room, special room, container). The study of serial metonymy will allow us to challenge some old views on metaphor and metonymy and to probe into the cognitive significance of metonymy. We argue that if one of the cognitive prerequisites of language is the ability to infer the referential intentions of others, serial metonymy can be seen as one of the results of this ability in (linguistic) action.
“Can innocent people be guilty?”
Authors: Archer Dawn
Published: October 2007

In this paper, I present a sociopragmatic method of analysing historical courtroom interaction, drawing data from Boyer and Nissenbaum’s (1977) Salem Witchcraft Papers. Concentrating as much upon the answers that the magistrates’ questions received as the questions themselves, I complement a grammatical analysis of question-types and their conducivity, with an analysis of responses in terms of Grice’s (1975) Cooperative Principle. I argue that (1) the magistrates’ questions appear to take on additional “controlling” and “accusing” functions, and (2) questions that functioned as accusations were particularly difficult to disprove, in part because the magistrates were responsible for “judging” the “legitimacy” of a “reality” their questioning strategy helped to construct. I demonstrate that the Salem magistrates adopted a “guilty but unwilling to confess” paradigm that led them to assume that defendants who maintained their innocence were lying, and then discuss the implications of reality paradigms for Grice’s (1975) theory.
Rites of rivalry
Authors: Bax Marcel
Published: October 2007

The indirect conveyance of functional meaning is a conspicuous and thoroughly studied characteristic of contemporary linguistic practice. Even so, in addition to seeming “something natural” indirect language use appears to be a universally spread phenomenon, and both factors may have caused students in the fields of pragmatics and discourse analysis to generally overlook the significant issue of whether or not indirectness was a characteristic feature of earlier forms of linguistic communication as well and, if such is the case, how in bygone eras non-literal meanings were imparted. The overall lack of historical and diachronic perspectives on indirect language use implies that there are to date no theories explaining its origin and development over time. In this article, I shall argue that currently prevailing modes such as conventional and inferential indirectness are historically speaking rather recent innovations, and that in pre-modern times indirect pragmatic meaning was established in a markedly different fashion. Taking the mediaeval pre-combat dialogue and some of its earlier manifestations as my focal material, I will try to establish that ritual interaction, more particularly the time-honoured altercation rite, marks a primary stage in the development of indirect communication. Considering the conceptual links between ritual behaviour and indirect language use, I will contend that oral ritual is a precursor of the now prevailing linguistic strategies for being indirect.