Search results for "Epistemic"
showing 10 items of 78 documents
Using discourse markers to negotiate epistemic stance: A view from situated language use
2021
Abstract In this paper, I analyse the usage of a discourse marker =mari, belonging to the epistemic paradigm attested in Upper Napo Kichwa (Quechuan, Ecuador). I show that the use of =mari indicates that the information is known well to the speaker, but also to some extent familiar to the addressee. In situated language use, the marker contributes to creating a knowing epistemic stance of the speaker. The analysis presented here is based on a 13-h documentary corpus of interactive Upper Napo Kichwa discourse, recorded on audio and video. For the purpose of the paper, the relevant utterances are analysed in their broad interactional context, including not only the surrounding text, but also …
Speaking out against everyday sexism : Gender and epistemics in accusations of “mansplaining”
2021
In everyday interaction, subtle manifestations of sexism often pass unacknowledged and become internalised and thus perceived as “natural” conduct. The introduction of new vocabularies for referring to previously unnamed sexist conduct would presumably enable individuals to start problematising hitherto unchallengeable sexism. In this paper, we investigate whether and how these vocabularies empower people to speak out against sexism. We focus on the use of the term “mansplaining” which, although coined over 10 years ago, remains controversial and contested. Using Conversation Analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis, this paper excavates the interactional methods individuals use to f…
Using Power as a Negative Cue: How Conspiracy Mentality Affects Epistemic Trust in Sources of Historical Knowledge.
2018
Classical theories of attitude change point to the positive effect of source expertise on perceived source credibility persuasion, but there is an ongoing societal debate on the increase in anti-elitist sentiments and conspiracy theories regarding the allegedly untrustworthy power elite. In one correlational ( N = 275) and three experimental studies ( N = 195, N = 464, N = 225), we tested the novel idea that people who endorse a conspiratorial mind-set (conspiracy mentality) indeed exhibit markedly different reactions to cues of epistemic authoritativeness than those who do not: Whereas the perceived credibility of powerful sources decreased with the recipients' conspiracy mentality, that o…
Awareness and Partitional Informational Structures
1997
We begin with an example to motivate the introduction of the concept of unawareness in models of information. There are a subject and two possible states of the world, σ and τ. At σ a certain fact p happens — it is true — and the subject sees it or hears it or anyhow perceives it, so that he knows it is true (in Geanakoplos [5] the subject is Sherlock Holmes’ assistant and fact p is ‘the dog barks’). At state τ fact p does not occur (it is false), and the subject not only does not see it or hear it etc.; but what is more, he does not even think of the possibility that it might: fact p is not present to the subject’s mind. What is an appropriate formal model for this story?
Beyond Evidentiality. The epistemic function of the suffix -wa in Aymara
2021
In contrast to the specialized literature (Hardman 1986, 2001; Martinez-Vera 2020), this paper questions the direct evidential function of the sentence-type suffix -wa in «Northern Aymara» (Cerrón-Palomino 2000), an understudied Andean language spoken in the area around Lake Titicaca. By taking a narrow perspective on evidentiality, it proposes that -wa is a modal epistemic marker that indicates the speaker’s high commitment to information. Semantic considerations that support this proposal focus on both the interplay of -wa with other grammatical categories and its distribution within the sentence. Additionally, considerations on the scope properties of the suffix, as applied by Hengeveld …
Epistemic modality in professional communication
2018
Epistemic governance in local policy debates : The case of entitlement to early childhood education and care in Finland
2019
In Finland, children below school age have enjoyed the right to attend subsidised full-time early childhood education and care (ECEC). However, the attendance rate in Finland is low in comparison to other Nordic countries. Furthermore, the entitlement was restricted to 20 h per week in 2016 unless the child’s parents work or study full-time or unless it is believed that the child will benefit from full-time ECEC. The debates concerning restrictions in ECEC entitlement in three municipal councils serve as the data for this study. By using the framework of epistemic governance, we identify three differing constructions of the ECEC’s societal functions in the municipal policy debates. The simi…
On Conditions Instantiating Tip Effects of Epistemic and Evidential Meanings in Bulgarian
2012
Статья посвящена условиям, при которых происходит попеременная актуализация то эвиденциального, то эпистемического компонента в семантическом потенциале эвиденциальных показателей болгарского языка. Сосредоточиваясь на сентенциальных наречиях с инферентивными функциями, мы опираемся на следующие предпосылки: (i) для каждой единицы следует отличать её устойчивое семантическое значение от прагматического потенциала, выявлению которого способствуют (или препятствуют) те или иные коммуникативные условия; (ii) эвиденциальные и эпистемические компоненты значения довольно легко вытесняют друг друга из позиции доминанты, причём процесс подавления то одного, то другого компонента обусловлен действие…
Indispensability and Effectiveness of Diagrams in Molecular Biology
2019
Abstract: In this paper I aim to defend a twofold thesis. On one hand, I will support, against Perini (2005), the indispensability of diagrams when structurally complex biomolecules are concerned, since it is not possible to satisfactorily use linguistic-sentential representations at that domain. On the other hand, even when diagrams are dispensable I will defend than they will generally be more effective than other representations in encoding biomolecular knowledge, relying on Kulvicki-Shimojima’s diagrammatic effectiveness thesis. Finally, I will ground many epistemic virtues of biomolecular diagrams (understandability, explanatory power, prediction and hypothesis evaluation) on their cog…
La teoria della subalternità e il caso dei dalit in India
2008
Il subalterno è lo schiavo soddisfatto, il servo che idolatra il padrone, la donna che perpetua il modello del patriarca, il marginale che finisce per odiarsi: colui che ha interiorizzato la visione del mondo del dominante e crede legittimo il suo stato di minorità. Egli, subendo la cosiddetta violenza epistemica, si fa complice di chi rende angusta la sua esistenza: le fonti del suo istinto sono inquinate, alterate le ragioni dei suoi desideri ed egli vuole contro il proprio interesse. I subalterni sono il neo delle rivoluzioni e la falla di ogni progresso: quella porzione di popolazione che ha partecipato ma non ha compreso, le cui condizioni di vita non sono cambiate, subordinati prima a…