La présente recherche a pour objectif d’examiner les stratégies de politesse utilisées par des apprenants coréens qui apprennent le français comme langue seconde lors des situations de demande et de mettre en évidence le rôle de la L1 et de la culture d’origine des apprenants quant à leurs choix des stratégies de politesse en français. Trois groupes de répondants ont participé à la recherche : 30 locuteurs natifs coréens qui habitent à Séoul, en Corée, 30 étudiants coréens apprenant le français comme langue seconde à Montréal, au Canada, et 30 locuteurs natifs francophones habitant Montréal. Les données recueillies auprès des locuteurs natifs ont servi de bases de données reflétant respectivement les normes de la L1 et celles de la langue cible. Pour la collecte de données, nous avons utilisé quatre outils : le Discourse Completion Test (DCT) écrit, des échelles d’évaluation des variables contextuelles, un Questionnaire à choix multiples (QCM) ainsi qu’une entrevue semi-structurée. Les réponses obtenues au DCT écrit ont été analysées à l’aide du schéma de codage élaboré dans le cadre du Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) (Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989). Les résultats de notre recherche ont démontré que les apprenants coréens ont estimé les variables contextuelles, comme l’intimité et le pouvoir social ressentis vis-à-vis de l’interlocuteur dans les situations de demande de façon similaire aux locuteurs natifs francophones, alors qu’ils ont eu tendance à estimer une plus grande gravité d’imposition de la demande que les deux groupes de locuteurs natifs dans plusieurs situations de demande. Quant aux stratégies de demande, tandis que ce sont les stratégies indirectes qui ont été le plus fréquemment utilisées par les apprenants coréens et les locuteurs natifs francophones, les apprenants coréens ont montré une tendance au transfert pragmatique de la L1, en recourant aux stratégies directes plus fréquemment que les locuteurs natifs francophones. De plus, étant donné que les apprenants coréens ont utilisé beaucoup moins d’atténuateurs que les locuteurs natifs francophones, leurs formules de demande étaient plus directes et moins polies que celles employées par les locuteurs natifs francophones. En ce qui concerne les mouvements de soutien (supportive moves), les apprenants coréens se sont démarqués des deux groupes de locuteurs natifs, en recourant plus fréquemment à certaines catégories de mouvements de soutien que les autres répondants. Les analyses de corrélation entre l’estimation des variables contextuelles et le choix des stratégies de politesse nous ont permis de constater que les apprenants coréens ainsi que les locuteurs natifs francophones ont eu tendance à utiliser davantage d’atténuateurs lorsque le locuteur possède moins de pouvoir social. Les implications des résultats pour l’enseignement et l’apprentissage des aspects de la politesse dans la classe de français langue seconde ont été exposées. / The aim of this study is to investigate request strategies that Korean learners of French use in request situations. The role played by the learners’ first language and their culture of origin in making these choices will also be explored. Three groups of respondents participated in this study: 30 native Korean speakers living in Seoul, Korea, 30 Korean French learners in Montreal, Canada, and 30 French native speakers living in Montreal. Data collected from native speakers of both Korean and French were used to create baseline data reflecting first and second language norms respectively. Four data collecting methods were used: the Discourse Completion Test (DCT); an assessment questionnaire evaluating situational factors such as intimacy, the social power between interlocutors and the degree of imposition of requests; the multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ); and a semi-constructed interview. The responses obtained from the written DCT were analysed using the coding scheme elaborated in the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) (Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989). The results of the study showed that the Korean French learners estimated situational factors like intimacy and the relative social power that they feel with interlocutors in a manner similar to that of the French native speakers. However, in many situations, the Korean learners of French tended to estimate that a request represented a greater imposition than either group of native speakers. Further, while the Korean French learners frequently used indirect strategies as the French native speakers used them, they showed a tendency towards pragmatic transfer from their first language (L1), using direct strategies more frequently than their native French-speaking counterparts. Moreover, as the Korean French learners used downgraders far less frequently, their semantic formulas were more direct and less polite than the ones used by French native speakers. Concerning supportive moves, the Korean French learners showed a different tendency from the two groups of native speakers, in that they used some categories of supportive moves more frequently. The correlation analysis between the results of the assessment questionnaire about situational factors and the politeness strategies used by respondents revealed that the Korean learners and the French native speakers used more downgraders when they have less social power than the hearer. Finally, the implications of these findings as relates to the pedagogical and didactic aspects of politeness in French as a second language classroom are examined.

This dissertation seeks to address the multiple ways face or one’s public self-image is attacked, supported and maintained in Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca, My Children! My Africa! and Valley Song, and through this discussion demonstrate how the notion of face can make a contribution to the study and understanding of Athol Fugard’s work. In the pursuit of their goals/objectives, interactants perform speech acts which may threaten the face of other participants. The choice of strategies available to participants in the performance of these face-threatening acts (FTAs) includes going on record, off record (indirectly) or avoiding the FTA altogether (saying nothing). Each text offers a fresh perspective from which face can be analysed: rebelliousness against conformism (The Road to Mecca); the perspective of the cross-racial, cross-cultural relationships (My Children! My Africa!); and the context of a closely-knit family relationship (Valley Song). / English Studies / M.A. (Theory of Literature)

[pt] Este trabalho tem como principal objetivo descrever estruturas de abertura,fechamento e sustentação de conversação em língua portuguesa utilizadas por hispano-falantes aprendizes de português como segunda língua em situações de cumprimentos, despedidas e manutenção de interação dialogada com seus aspectos sócio- interacionais subjacentes. Para tal, a fundamentação teórica deste trabalho se concentra em conceitos da Sociolingüística Interacional em interface com a Análise da Conversação, além do Funcionalismo de base Pragmática. A análise de dados incide sobre um corpus de gravações em áudio de três situações dialogadas em dois grupos de informantes: brasileiros e aprendizes hispânicos de português como segunda língua. Por meio dessa análise, procura-se confrontar os rituais de cumprimentos, despedidas e sustentação de conversação que hispano- falantes aprendizes de português para estrangeiros utilizam com os que brasileiros empregam nos mesmos contextos situacionais, levando-se em consideração dados culturais e interacionais. Os resultados apontam que a interferência do espanhol no nível lingüístico-estrutural tende a diminuir mais rapidamente que no nível sócio-interacional. Portanto, esta pesquisa propõe subsídios para que aprendizes de português falantes de espanhol como língua materna consigam usar naturalmente essas estruturas na língua alvo sem traduções literais nem interferências da cultura subjetiva do espanhol. / [en] This paper intends to describe the structures of opening, closing and maintenance in Portuguese conversation held by native Spanish speakers learning Portuguese as a second language in situations of greetings, farewells and maintenance of dialogued interaction with their underlying socio-interactional aspects. With that aim in view, the theoretical foundation of this work focuses on the concepts of sociolinguistics in connection with conversation analysis and pragmatic-based functionalism. The analyzed data originated from an audio recording corpus of three dialogued situations including two groups of informants: native Brazilian Portuguese speakers and native Spanish speakers learning Portuguese as a second language. By means of this analysis, this paper seeks to compare the rituals of greetings, farewells and maintenance of conversation that native Spanish speakers do with those performed by Brazilians in the same situational context, taking into account cultural and interactional data. The results show that interferences of the Spanish language at the level of linguistic structures tend to decrease more rapidly than at the socio-interactional level. Therefore, this research proposes instruments to cause native Spanish speakers learning Portuguese to effectively use those structures in the target language naturally without either literal translation or inferences of subjective Spanish culture. / [es] Esta investigación tiene el objetivo de describir estructuras de apertura, clausura y sostenimiento de conversación en lengua portuguesa empleadas por hispano hablantes aprendices de portugués como segunda lengua en situaciones de saludos, despedidas y de mantenimiento de interacción dialogada con sus aspectos sociointeraccionales subyacentes. Para ello, la fundamentación teórica de este trabajo se basa en conceptos de la Sociolingüística Interaccional, además del Análisis del Discurso y del Funcionalismo de base Pragmático. El corpus para el análisis de los datos se compone de grabaciones en audio de tres diálogos situacionales en dos grupos de informantes: brasileños y aprendices hispánicos de portugués como segunda lengua. Por medio de ese análisis, se busca confrontar los rituales de saludos, despedidas y sostenimiento de conversación que los hispano hablantes alumnos de portugués para extranjeros utilizan con los que los brasileños usan en los mismos contextos situacionales, teniendo en cuenta datos culturales e interaccionales. Los resultados señalan que la interferencia del español en el nivel lingüístico- estructural disminuye más rápido que en el nivel sociointeraccional. Por lo tanto, esta investigación propone subsidios para que aprendices estudiantes de portugués para extranjeros hablantes de español como lengua materna logren usar naturalmente esas estructuras en lengua extranjera sin traducciones literales ni interferencias de la cultura subjetiva del español.

As histórias em quadrinhos japonesas, conhecidas como mangás, vêm se popularizando muito fora do Japão nas últimas décadas. Partindo de uma abordagem que, nos estudos da tradução, considera a relevância de também se estudar os contextos e fatores externos ao texto, analisamos em nossa pesquisa a tradução para expressões de tratamento japonesas presentes nos mangás Love Hina, Yu Yu Hakusho e Chobits, publicados no Brasil no início dos anos 2000, quando o mercado de histórias quadrinhos japonesas ainda estava se estabelecendo no país, e que, uma década depois, foram reeditados pela mesma editora, mas com a tradução revisada. Questionamos se a experiência acumulada com a prática regular envolvendo a publicação de mangás, a consolidação de uma cultura do mangá no Brasil e consequente formação de um público leitor mais acostumado com características e especificidades do gênero trazem reflexos que são perceptíveis na tradução, veríficáveis por meio das estratégias de tradução empregadas. / Japanese comics, known as manga, have become very popular outside Japan in the last few decades. Based on an approach that in the translation studies considers the relevance of also studying the contexts and factors external to the text, we analyzed in our research the translation for japanese treatment expressions present in Love Hina, Yu Yu Hakusho and Chobits, manga published in Brazil in the early 2000s, when the japanese comic book market was still settling in the country; a decade later these manga were reprinted by the same publisher, but with a revised translation. We question whether the regular practice involving the publication of manga, the consolidation of a manga culture in Brazil and the consequent formation of a readership more accustomed to characteristics and specificities of the genre brings reflexes that are perceptible in translations, verifiable by means of translation strategies employed.

In this thesis we deal with pragmatic aspects of language, specifically studying the classification of speech acts and conversational implicature. The theoretical part is concerned with the work of J. L. Austin, J. R. Searle and M. Grepl with an emphasis on differences in the classification of illocutionary acts. Then we deal with the maxim of politeness and pleasantries types according to P. Brown and S. C. Lewinson. In the practical part using analysis of advertising headlines and slogans we are trying to demonstrate the functionality of the classification of speech acts by individual authors. We try to also confirm the performative nature of these statements also implicitly expressed performative verbs. We are interested in the presence of the maxims of politeness in these texts and the consequent shift between different types of courtesy. The aim is to highlight the issue of classification of illocutionary acts and try to outline improvements to this shift. The assumption is that, although the classification struggling with inaccuracies, we thereunder able to distinguish different types of repetitive speeches. To complement these findings, we want to prove performative character of advertising texts, even assuming that there will be implicitly expressed performative verb and the presence of...

This theoretical-empirical paper researches how simultaneous interpreters work with face threatening acts (FTAs). For this purpose we researched how FTAs that we identified in speeches given by native Spanish speakers at the European Parliament's plenary sittings are interpreted into Czech and English. This paper has been inspired by the study of Cédric Magnifico and Bart Defrancq from the University of Ghent "Impoliteness in Interpreting: A Question of Gender?" in which they carry out a similar research. In their study the authors research the simultaneous interpretation of French speeches given at the European Parliament's plenary sittings into English and Dutch in order to find out whether interpreters really engage in face work - by face work they mean mitigating (potential) FTAs. In this paper, however, we aimed at answering a more general research question: "How do simultaneous interpreters handle face threatening acts when interpreting at the European Parliament's plenaries?" Researching the interpretation of FTAs into two target languages, moreover, can show whether face work is influenced by the cultural norms used in the community of the target language. Even though some of our findings come close to those of Magnifico and Defrancq's, some are considerably different. Magnifico and...

Diese Arbeit untersuchte den Einfluss von Emotionen auf das Lernen und wie Studierende motiviert werden, mithilfe sozialer Merkmale Mathematik zu lernen. Hierzu wurden ein Experiment zur Höflichkeit und zwei Experimente zu dekorativen Bildern durchgeführt. Im ersten Experiment (N = 277) wurden die Teilnehmer einer von vier Gruppen (Faktoren Instruktion und Feedback) mit Manipulation der Höflichkeit (höflich vs. direkt) zugeordnet. Die Studierenden mussten im Rahmen eines Online-Maschinenbaukurses Themen aus der höheren Mathematik lernen. Es mussten vier Kapitel abgeschlossen und vier Posttests durchgeführt werden, um das erlernte Wissen zu kontrollieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Höflichkeit im Feedback die Studierende motivierte, länger zu üben und zu höheren Lernergebnissen führte. Höflichkeit in den Instruktionen hatte jedoch keinen Einfluss auf das Lernen. Es wurde angenommen, dass Höflichkeit in Instruktionen nicht so einflussreich ist wie Höflichkeit im Feedback und daher hatten die Änderungen in Instruktionen keinen Einfluss auf das Lernen. Anschließend wurden dekorative Bilder verwendet, um den Einfluss weiterer sozialer Prozesse auf das Lernen zu untersuchen. Die Bilder enthielten keine Lerninformationen, waren jedoch kontextbezogen und sollten die Emotionen der Teilnehmer beeinflussen, um ihr Lernen zu verbessern. Insgesamt wurden zwei Experimente mit dekorativen Bildern und identischen Faktoren durchgeführt. Die Experimente untersuchten die Einflüsse von Mastery- und Coping-Modellen mithilfe von positiven und negativen dekorativen Bildern. Dabei wurden die Faktoren Bild im ersten Abschnitt (positiv vs. negativ) und Bild im zweiten Abschnitt (positiv vs. negativ) verwendet. Im ersten Experiment (N = 100) mussten die Studierende über nichtparametrische Tests lernen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das erste positive dekorative Bild die Lernergebnisse im ersten Abschnitt verbesserte, während das zweite positive dekorative Bild die intrinsische und extrinsische kognitive Belastung verringerte. Die Ergebnisse unterstützen teilweise das Mastery-Modell. Dekorative Bilder hatten jedoch keinen Einfluss auf die Lernergebnisse im zweiten Abschnitt einschließlich Behalten, Transfer, lernrelevanter kognitiver Belastung und Emotionen. Höchstwahrscheinlich war die emotionale Induktion durch dekorative Bilder zu schwach. Um den Einfluss dekorativer Bilder auf das Lernen zu erhöhen, wurde ein neues Experiment (N = 92) mit einer wiederholten Präsentation der Bilder (jedes Bild wurde viermal gezeigt) vorbereitet. Darüber hinaus wurden im Gegensatz zum vorherigen Experiment die Bilder mit den Lernmaterialien (logarithmische Aufgaben) kombiniert. Unerwartet hatten dekorative Bilder im Experiment keinen Einfluss. Möglicherweise wurden die Bilder übersehen. Insgesamt hatten die sozialen Hinweiszeichen beim Lernen im Mathematik-Online-Kurs einen gewissen Einfluss auf die Teilnehmer. Emotionen sollten jedoch bei allen Experimenten eine Rolle spielen. Im ersten Experiment waren die Teilnehmer motiviert, durch höfliches Feedback zu lernen, aber die Höflichkeit in den Instruktionen war nicht wichtig. Im zweiten Experiment beeinflusste die Valenz der Bilder das Lernen, da das erste positive Bild die Lernergebnisse teilweise verbesserte und die kognitive Belastung verringerte. Die Positionen der Bilder sollten jedoch berücksichtigt werden. Im dritten Experiment führte die Kombination der Bilder und Lernmaterialien auf denselben Seiten dazu, dass die Teilnehmer die Bilder ignorierten.:Danksagung 4 Zusammenfassung 5 Abstract 7 Introduction and Theories 9 Introduction and Overview 9 Cognitive Load Theory 10 Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning 11 Cognitive-Affective Theory of Learning with Multimedia 12 Cognitive-Affective-Social Theory of Learning with Media 13 Design Effects 14 Introduction and Overview 14 An Overview on Politeness Research 15 Decorative Pictures and Learning with Multimedia 17 Methods 20 Participants and Design 20 Learning Materials 21 Measures 22 Results and Discussion 23 Summary of Results and Conclusion 23 Implications 25 Limitations and Future Directions 25 References 27 Appendix: Publications 34 Boundary Conditions of the Politeness Effect in Online Mathematical Learning 35 The Influence of Affective Decorative Pictures on Learning Statistics Online 45 Does the Position and Emotional Valence of Decorative Pictures (in Multimedia Learn-ing) Influence Learning Performance? 58 Lebenslauf 94 Selbständigkeitserklärung 99 / This work investigated the influence of emotions on learning and how to motivate students to learn mathematics with the help of social features. For this, one experiment concerning politeness and two experiments about decorative pictures were carried out. In the first experiment (N = 277), participants were assigned to one of four groups (instructions and feedback factors) with manipulation of politeness (polite vs. direct). The students had to learn topics from higher mathematics as part of an online mechanical engineering course. There were four chapters to complete and four posttests to control the knowledge learned. The results show that politeness in feedback motivated students to work longer and led to higher learning outcomes. However, politeness in instructions did not influence learning. It was assumed that politeness in instruction is not as powerful as politeness in feedback, and therefore, the changes in instruction did not influence learning. Next, decorative pictures were used to investigate the influence of further social processes on learning. The pictures contained no learning information but were context-related and should have influenced the participants’ emotions to enhance their learning. In sum, two experiments with decorative pictures and identical factors were conducted. The experiments investigated the influences of mastery and coping models with the help of positive and negative decorative pictures. The factors picture in the first section (positive vs. negative) and picture in the second section (positive vs. negative) were used. In the first experiment (N = 100), the students had to learn about nonparametric tests. The results show that the first positive decorative picture improved the learning outcomes in the first section, whereas the second positive decorative picture decreased the intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. The results partially support the mastery model. However, decorative pictures had no influence on the learning outcomes in the second section, including retention, transfer, germane cognitive load, and emotions. Most likely, the emotional induction by decorative pictures was too weak. To increase the influence of decorative pictures on learning, a new experiment (N = 92) with a repeated presentation of the pictures (each picture was shown four times) was prepared. Furthermore, in contrast to the previous experiment, the pictures were combined with the learning materials (logarithmic tasks). Unexpectedly, decorative pictures in the experiment had no influence. Possibly, the pictures were overlooked. In summary, the social features of learning mathematics through an online course had some influence on the participants. Emotions, however, should play a role in all experiments. In the first experiment, the participants were motivated to learn through polite feedback, but politeness was not important during the instructions. In the second experiment, the valence of the pictures influenced the participants’ learning, as the first positive picture partially enhanced the learning outcomes and decreased the cognitive load. However, the positions of the pictures should be considered. In the third experiment, the combination of the pictures and learning materials on the same pages led to the participants ignoring the pictures.:Danksagung 4 Zusammenfassung 5 Abstract 7 Introduction and Theories 9 Introduction and Overview 9 Cognitive Load Theory 10 Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning 11 Cognitive-Affective Theory of Learning with Multimedia 12 Cognitive-Affective-Social Theory of Learning with Media 13 Design Effects 14 Introduction and Overview 14 An Overview on Politeness Research 15 Decorative Pictures and Learning with Multimedia 17 Methods 20 Participants and Design 20 Learning Materials 21 Measures 22 Results and Discussion 23 Summary of Results and Conclusion 23 Implications 25 Limitations and Future Directions 25 References 27 Appendix: Publications 34 Boundary Conditions of the Politeness Effect in Online Mathematical Learning 35 The Influence of Affective Decorative Pictures on Learning Statistics Online 45 Does the Position and Emotional Valence of Decorative Pictures (in Multimedia Learn-ing) Influence Learning Performance? 58 Lebenslauf 94 Selbständigkeitserklärung 99

Politeness is viewed as an admirable trait by most people, yet what it means to be polite is arguably a controversial issue when it comes to using English, as people of different ages, education levels, and proficiency levels use English daily, and may have different views on politeness. These observations raise questions about whether there are certain universal pragmatic rules, or if pragmatic rules are primarily language- and/or culture-specific. The current study situates itself within the fields of cross-cultural pragmatics and English as a lingua franca and is intended to explicitly address how social distance impacts English users’ views of politeness and appropriateness in English today. The study addresses this issue by investigating how speakers of English perceive appropriateness in certain speech acts, specifically requests and compliment responses, and how they justify or explain their reasoning concerning this. The study employs a mixed-method approach to data collection, where data was collected through two steps: first, a questionnaire distributed online and, second, a set of follow-up interviews with questionnaire respondents. In total, 79 respondents contributed to the questionnaire and, out of these, eight participated in follow-up interviews. Through this dual method of data collection, the intention of the study was to provide some insight into societal perceptions on politeness today from two different perspectives. To that end, the analysis of data takes a two-fold approach: by using T-tests, the statistical relevance of the questionnaire findings is analyzed, and through an inductive analysis of the interview findings, a more in-depth view of the issue at hand is offered as a complement to the initial survey results. By providing insight to the societal perceptions of the pragmatics of English through two different perspectives, the findings of the study could inform and inspire further studies concerning pragmatic norms and, by extension, research focused on the teaching of English.

This diploma thesis deals with the power of language and the relation between language and thought, perception and experience. The topic is viewed through the "Respektovat a být respektován" (To Respect and To Be Respected) educational method. The main assumption of this method is that the way the parent communicates with the child affects educational success as well as the behaviour of the child and the values and attitude he or she will have as an adult. This premise is empirically tested by interviews with parents and observations in families, which show how the specific way of communication (which is based on particular grammatical and pragmatic rules) influences the behaviour and experience of both the child and the parent.

Dans une interaction humain-agent, l’engagement de l’utilisateur est un élément essentiel pour atteindre l’objectif de l’interaction. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions comment l’engagement de l’utilisateur pourrait être favorisé par le comportement de l’agent. Nous nous concentrons sur les stratégies de comportement verbal de l’agent qui concernent respectivement la forme, le timing et le contenu de ses énoncés. Nous présentons des études empiriques qui concernent certains aspects du comportement de politesse de l’agent, du comportement d’interruption de l’agent, et les sujets de conversation que l’agent adresse lors de l’interaction. Basé sur les résultats de la dernière étude, nous proposons un Gestionnaire de Sujets axé sur l’engagement (modèle computationnel) qui personnalise les sujets d’une interaction dans des conversations où l’agent donne des informations à un utilisateur humain. Le Modèle de Sélection des Sujets du Gestionnaire de Sujets décide sur quoi l’agent devrait parler et quand. Pour cela, il prend en compte la perception par l’agent de l’utilisateur, qui est dynamiquement mis à jour, ainsi que l’état mental et les préférences de l’agent. Le Modèle de Transition de Sujets du Gestionnaire de Sujet, basé sur une étude empirique, calcule comment l’agent doit présenter les sujets dans l’interaction en cours sans perdre la cohérence de l’interaction. Nous avons implémenté et évalué le Gestionnaire de Sujets dans un agent virtuel conversationnel qui joue le rôle d’un visiteur dans un musée. / In human-agent interaction the engagement of the user is an essential aspect to complete the goal of the interaction. In this thesis we study how the user’s engagement could be favoured by the agent’s behaviour. We thereby focus on the agent’s verbal behaviour considering strategies that regard respectively the form, timing, and content of utterances : We present empirical studies that regard (aspects of) the agent’s politeness behaviour, interruption behaviour, and the topics that the agent addresses in the interaction. Based on the outcomes of the latter study we propose an engagement-driven Topic Manager (computational model) that personalises the topics of an interaction in human-agent information-giving chat. The Topic Selection component of the Topic Manager decides what the agent should talk about and when. For this it takes into account the agent’s dynamically updated perception of the user as well as the agent’s own mental state. The Topic Transition component of the Topic Manager, based upon an empirical study, computes how the agent should introduce the topics in the ongoing interaction without loosing the coherence of the interaction. We implemented and evaluated the Topic Manager in a conversational virtual agent that plays the role of a visitor in amuseum.