Search results for "utterance"
showing 10 items of 65 documents
On the social practice of indirect reports (further advances in the theory of pragmemes)
2010
Abstract This paper deals with the social practice of indirect reports and treats them as cases of language games. It proposes a number of principles like the following: Paraphrasis/Form Principle The that-clause embedded in the verb ‘say’ is a paraphrasis of what Y said, and meets the following constraints: should Y hear what X said he (Y) had said, he would not take issue with it, as to content, but would approve of it as a fair paraphrasis of his original utterance. Furthermore, he would not object to vocalizing the assertion made out of the words following the complementizer ‘that’ on account of its form/style. Furthermore, it connects such principles with Relevance Theory consideration…
All declarative questions are attributive?
2008
Gunlogson (2007) claims that (i) declaratives used as questions express a propositional commitment just as normal assertions do, but that (ii) this commitment is not attributed to the speaker’s but to the addressee’s commitment-set. Thus, Gunlogson (2007) interprets all declarative questions as “attributive” utterance types involving a commitment-shift from speaker to addressee. By contrast, I will argue that not all declarative questions involve the suggested commitment-shift. I will distinguish two types of declarative questions, (i) echo questions (with declarative sentence type) and (ii) confirmative questions. Whereas echo questions leave the speaker’s commitment-set untouched, confirm…
The reflexivity of human languaging and Nigel Love's two orders of language
2017
Abstract Nigel Love's distinction between first-order language and second-order language exposes the fallacy of the code view of linguistic communication. Persons do not ‘use’ the forms that are said to constitute a pre-existing language system; they adapt and shape their bodily behaviour, including their vocalizing, in accordance with community-level norms and practices that have historical continuity and thus define the cultural-historical traditions of a community. Individuals normatively orient to these continuities and self-reflexively engage in forms of situated appropriation of them as they flexibly adapt them to the requirements of situations in the pursuance of their goals. Love ha…
MLU and IPSyn measuring absolute complexity
2009
This article compares the results of Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) and Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) with the structural complexity of spontaneous utterances produced by 30-month-old Finnish children in a semi-structured playing situation. The comparison was carried out in order to determine the aspects of structural complexity which can be detected with MLU and IPSyn. This research adopts the frameworks of absolute complexity together with a multidimensional view of utterance structure and, furthermore, applies it through Utterance Analysis (UA). The results of the comparison between the metrics and changes in structural complexity discovered by UA reveal that MLU and IPSyn do functi…
Performance of Understanding: Pragmatics and Fast and Frugal Heuristics
2019
What determines the meaning of an utterance is a logical matter and as such must be treated independently of the bio-cognitive constraints that operate in our bodies. This thesis, whose great supporter was Frege, implies a clear notion of rationality that seems not to bear comparison with what we know on the limits of our rationality. Various theories (Kahneman and Tversky 1983; Gigerenzer et al., 1999), thematizing the need to consider our rationality beginning from the bio- cognitive constraints that our body imposes on a mass of information, can be of great utility for facing the problem of what type of rationality operates in phenomena of linguistic understanding (Ferreira and Patson 20…
Wordarrows: El poder representativo del lenguaje en la obra de no ficción de N. Scott Momaday
2012
This article focuses on two non-fiction works by Native American author N. Scott Momaday: his 1969 historical memoir The Way to Rainy Mountain and his essay collection The Man Made of Words. It specifically tackles performative conceptions of language in the Kiowa storytelling tradition, where words are experienced as speech acts that have the power to intervene in surrounding realities. Taking into account 20th century ethno-cultural and linguistic policies in the United States, the article also reflects on the role indigenous languages may play in contemporary Native American Literature, which has most often been written in English.
From Planning to Management of Cultural Heritage Sites: Controversies and Conflicts Between Unesco WHL Management Plans and Local Spatial Planning in…
2014
The paper investigates the relationship between the preservation of cultural heritage and planning in UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites, with special reference to the relation be- tween Management Plans and other (local and regional) planning instruments and policies able to influence the promotion of sustainable and responsible development. This will be explored through a case study related to South-Eastern Sicilian UNESCO sites (in particular Syracuse). The analysis of this case study will point out the challenge of integrating different management and planning regimes - which mainly refer to a performative model - in a (still) very conformative planning sys- tem. The paper will show…
Keeping the Conversational Score: Constraints for an Optimal Contextualist Answer?
2005
Conversational contextualism states that the truth-conditions expressed by knowledge-attributing sentences vary relative to the context of utterance. This context is determined partly by different standards the person involved must meet in order to make the sentence true. I am concerned with the question of how these standards can be raised or lowered, and especially what happens to the standards and the conversational score when parties in a discussion push the conversational scores in different directions. None of the available options for an answer seems satisfying. I argue that this results from a misunderstanding of the characteristics of the situation at hand.
The Dynamics of Perspective in Quantum Physics: An Analysis in the Context of Teacher Education
2021
Debates on the philosophical interpretations of quantum physics have motivated a renewed interest in how secondary and lower undergraduate students interpret quantum phenomena. In an attempt to contribute to this effort, this paper examines the dynamics of perspec tive in quantum physics in the context of teacher education. The goal of the study is to investigate how students (N = 36) from a Master's Degree in Secondary Education Teacher Training in Spain negotiate perspective as they participate in small-group discussions of quantum physics topics. This study focuses on the wave-particle duality, superposition of states, and the calculation of probabilities for two-state systems. The metho…
Developing Phonological Awareness in Blended-learning Language Courses
2013
This study is based on Second Language Acquisition through blended learning and explores the application of new educational technologies in the development of distance education. In particular, the paper focuses on ways to enhance oral, aural, and intercultural skills through learners' engagement, develop authentic social interaction and intercultural awareness in virtual environments and at the same time actively engage the students' powers of perception, communication DQGUHDVRQLQJ��$ �VSHHFKYLVXDOL) DWLRQWHFKQRORJ\ �LVLQWURGXFHG�� VSHFL?FDOO\�WDLO RUHGWR� pronunciation training. It provides relevant and comprehensible visual feedback of all three components of speech: prosody-intonation, …