This thesis investigated whether vocal emotion expressions are conveyed as discrete emotions or as continuous dimensions. Study I consisted of a meta-analysis of decoding accuracy of discrete emotions (anger, fear, happiness, love-tenderness, sadness) within and across cultures. Also, the literature on acoustic characteristics of expressions was reviewed. Results suggest that vocal expressions are universally recognized and that there exist emotion-specific patterns of voice-cues for discrete emotions. In Study II, actors vocally portrayed anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness with weak and strong emotion intensity. The portrayals were decoded by listeners and acoustically analyzed with respect to 20 voice-cues (e.g., speech rate, voice intensity, fundamental frequency, spectral energy distribution). Both the intended emotion and intensity of the portrayals were accurately decoded and had an impact on voice-cues. Listeners’ ratings of both emotion and intensity could be predicted from a selection of voice-cues. In Study III, listeners rated the portrayals from Study II on emotion dimensions (activation, valence, potency, emotion intensity). All dimensions were correlated with several voice-cues. Listeners’ ratings could be successfully predicted from the voice-cues for all dimensions except valence. In Study IV, continua of morphed expressions, ranging from one emotion to another in equal steps, were created using speech synthesis. Listeners identified the emotion of each expression and discriminated between pairs of expressions. The continua were perceived as two distinct sections separated by a sudden category boundary. Also, discrimination accuracy was generally higher for pairs of stimuli falling across category boundaries than for pairs belonging to the same category. This suggests that vocal expressions are categorically perceived. Taken together, the results suggest that a discrete-emotions approach provides the best account of vocal expression. Previous difficulties in finding emotion-specific patterns of voice-cues may be explained in terms of limitations of previous studies and the coding of the communicative process.

語言交際是人們運用語言傳遞訊息、交流感情的一種社會行為，日常生活中關於語用交際的現象很多，其中「拒絕」是常見的主題之一。影響拒絕言語行為施行的因素很多，包含了拒絕對象、目標、語境等，譬如晚輩拒絕長輩時會比同輩間的拒絕更為間接；私下場合比公眾場合的拒絕更來得直接。針對「跨文化交際」而言，影響拒絕言語行為的施行當然也包含了文化因素，不同文化的交際雙方可能因為價值觀以及對事物的解讀看法不一，因此在拒絕交際發生時會產生語用錯誤，造成交際上的誤會。 華語學習者累積的詞彙與語法隨著學習程度的提高而逐漸增加，語言技能的運用也因此漸趨成熟，但語用錯誤的發生大多是橫跨各學習程度的，即便是程度再高的學習者，也很容易發生交際上的語用錯誤。現今大部分的華語學習教材是以詞彙、句型與語法點為主要結構，雖然已經有些教材從語言能力觀點出發而規畫其結構、布局與進度，但是全面且有系統地討論專門、單一的言語行為的教材卻很少。 由於現今的華語教材以此主題來導入編寫的並不多，且現有的綜合性教材也缺乏對相關語用交際能力的介紹，忽略了學生實際語用交際的需求。學習者學習語言的目的就是能夠成熟、得體地運用於日常生活中，以達到人與人之間良好的動態交際，並達成傳遞訊息、聯絡感情的主要目的，而這種「得體」程度的表現主要來自於對目的語語用方面的瞭解程度，不僅止於詞彙、語法的學習。基於言語交際的動態性，筆者將拒絕視為一種言語行為，討論此一言語行為在華語中的語用策略及語言形式的表現，並將研究結果應用於教學層面，希望學習者能藉此增進語用交際能力，達到得體、有效率地溝通。 本論文旨在探討現代漢語交際中的拒絕現象與其延伸的相關教學研究，不僅對語用策略及語用形式作分析，也分析了現行教材的相關內容，期盼研究成果可以應用於對外華語教學層面，以便提供華語教師具體有據的教學內容與建議，並幫助外籍學生有效率地學習相關內容，提升學生實際交際運用的成果。 本論文主要以前人探討拒絕言語行為的研究成果作為基礎，透過前人的研究整理並輔以自己的實證分析把拒絕言語行為的基本組織、模式進行整理，並歸納出特定場合下使用頻率最高的拒絕模式與策略以提出教學應用。本研究主要採用調查研究法之問卷形式與內容分析法來探討以下內容：（一）語用分析—探究本文所選定之六類語境分別的拒絕策略與語言形式，依對象不同所表現的拒絕方式有何差異？（二）教材分析—分析現行教材中是否出現相關的教學內容，並歸納之中出現的拒絕語境與策略的頻率（三）教學應用—思考拒絕主題可應用的教學方式並提出相關的教學設計。藉此研究，筆者將對現代漢語的拒絕言語行為做整理歸納與分析，並對其中特殊的「間接拒絕」與「假拒絕」現象作進一步探討。接著，分析現行教材的相關教學內容並配合學生的學習需求，提出「拒絕」主題的教學設計。 研究結果歸納出了11類間接拒絕策略與5類輔助策略，並針對各語境歸納出了主要的拒絕模式。教學應用方面，主要是將研究結果編寫成教學內容，除了以各語境歸納出的拒絕模式導入對話的情景教學方法外，也思考了各拒絕策略可應用的教學方式。期盼研究成果可以應用於對外華語教學層面，除了提出相關主題教學時的應用方法外，也能提升教師的教學效率與學習者的學習成效。 / Verbal communication is a kind of social behavior which denotes activities as transferring messages or exchanging feelings by means of language. Various communicative actions appear in our daily life. Refusals are one of their most common forms. The performance of refusal speech varies greatly regarding to its objectives and contexts. The speech act of “indirect refusal”, for example, often occurs in situations where a younger person has to refuse a request of an elder one. “Direct refusal”, on the contrary, appears more in private occasions. Given the importance of context people with different cultural backgrounds easily fails to understand the more underlying pragmatic features of language. Although students of the Chinese language may gradually increase their lexical knowledge and become well-skilled in language performance, failures in decoding the pragmatic features still occur in many communicative situations. Even for advanced students understanding context poses a great challenge. Most teaching materials, however, focus on teaching vocabulary, phrases, and grammar. Some materials are designed according to various language competences. To lay focus on speech act sets, however, is still less common. The present thesis aims to analyze the speech act of refusal in Mandarin Chinese and wants to apply its results to the practical use of teaching Chinese. For the research in communicative behavior, the author collected data and results from different sources: 1. personal recordings of verbal behavior; 2. questionnaire for verbal behavior in different communicative situations; 3. theoretical discussions. First, based on the dynamic features of verbal communication, the author discusses refusal as speech act and analyzes its pragmatic strategies and linguistic structures. Different forms of refusal as indirect refusal and false refusal will be treated separately. Furthermore, the results of linguistic analysis will be applied to instructions for teaching in the hope that language learners can enhance both their communicative and pragmatic capabilities in a more efficient way. An analysis of common teaching materials is included, too. In detail, the present thesis includes four discussions: (1) Understanding the speech act of refusal: Based on previous theories the speech act of refusal will be discussed under different pragmatic perspectives. (2) Analyzing the speech act of refusal: Analyses of the pragmatic features and the linguistic structure of refusal are conducted for six different contexts. Eleven realization strategies of refusal and five supporting strategies of communicative behavior are discussed in detail. (3) Analyzing teaching materials: Frequency and methods of presenting different pragmatic features of refusal in teaching materials will be analyzed and evaluated. (4) Suggestions for teaching: Methods for teaching various speech acts of refusal are proposed according to the results obtained from the inquiries in its pragmatic and linguistic features. Examples for teaching different strategies and supporting strategies of refusal are included.

Recent surveys of international business professionals indicate that foreign language abilities and cultural sensitivity are important competitive advantages in today's globalized economy. The current study interviewed 71 practicing global professionals currently working in cross border transactions in diverse fields. Biographic, demographic and second language data were collected, including information on experiences and opinions on the use and importance of foreign language and cultural awareness abilities in the professional world. Research questions include: (1) Who are the global professionals applying L2 abilities at work? (2) How do they apply these abilities? (3) What are the profiles of advanced and non-advanced proficiency users? (4) How important are linguistic abilities and how much of a competitive advantage do they represent? (5) What language strategies and communication strategies are used? (6) What are the most common beliefs on the role of foreign languages and culture awareness in business? (7) How well do intercultural communication models explain the culture views and experiences reported by working professionals? Results indicate that learners with self-reported advanced proficiency regularly apply the four language abilities (listening, reading, speaking and writing) at work, albeit in varying degrees, depending on the level of complexity of the task (phone, email, face-to-face meeting, etc.). For the majority of informants, foreign language and culture abilities are considered important for professional effectiveness. For those who reported advanced foreign language abilities, they also exhibited a greater appreciation for increased exposure to foreign language learning, had received more foreign language instruction, and had more experience working and living abroad. Those advanced in foreign language abilities were also more likely to be non-native speakers of English, have earned a university degree while using an L2, had family or community connections to the target language, have emigrated, or have a spouse with a different L1. The study also ranks and identifies the informants' strategies used to deal with language and culture issues. Participants' anecdotes were analyzed in light of current cultural analysis models applied in International Business Communications. Suggestions are presented for curricula changes to improve foreign language proficiency in professional settings. / text

In transmitting the Gospel, Western missionaries passed on their portrayal of Christ as a European. Conversion to Christianity was aimed more at promoting Western cultural, moral and spiritual issues. Western culture has thus been an obstacle or hindrance to effective cross-cultural communication of the Christian message. Batswana believers are challenged to peel the Western cultural layers off Christianity, in order to reclaim Christ. Batswana Christians will have to dress Christianity in the Tswana cultural heritage if it is to be of any lasting significance to them. Christian spirituality is centred on Jesus Christ, in the worldview of all Christians. Jesus joins faith and culture together. If Christianity is truly universal, then every culture should surrender to Jesus Christ and not to any other culture. Jesus’ question “who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8: 29), challenges Batswana Christians to write their own fifth Gospel. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / Thesis (M. Th. (Christian Spirituality))

本論文研究以｢間接抱怨的反應｣的語言行為為研究方向；一方面以跨文化語用學的探討為主，研究母語為中文的台灣人與母語為美語的美國人語言行為之差異，藉以探討該語言行為的文化普遍性、獨特性；另一方面是以外語語用學的探討為主，研究台灣大專生學習美語的外語行為是否接近母語為英語的美國人，以深究研究對象的語用轉移現象。研究的四組受試人分別為36位以英語為母語的美國大學生、36位以中文為母語且以中文為學習主要媒介的台灣的大學生、36位英語學習程度較佳的台灣大學生、36位英語學習程度中等的台灣大學生。蒐集語言資料的工具是語言言談情境問卷(Discourse Completion Task，簡稱DCT)，依照蒐集到的語料進行量化、質化的資料分析。研究結果顯示：四組研究對象皆傾向以憐憫策略來回應間接抱怨。然而以兩項研究變項(性別與社交關係)來進一步討論時，研究結果呈現不同的策略使用：以中文為母語和英語學習程度較佳的台灣大學生這兩個研究對象趨於以沉默或是轉移話題來回應女性陌生人的間接抱怨，但是英語學習程度較中等的台灣大學生，卻是較常使用建議策略來回覆陌生人。再者，探究研究對象們的語用標記時，英語學習者常轉化中文的發語詞於英語表達中，相較於以英語為母語的美國大學生，他們的語用句型也較為簡化。根據研究結果與探討，英語學習者們的英語學習程度高低並不與其語用表現成正比，這論述可以呼應語用知識是有別於語言知識的概念。故在英語為外語教學上，除了英語能力的提升外，學習者應能有機會體驗不同情境下的語用表現，自覺性的討論出該表現背後的不同文化意涵，進而提升其對母語文化以及目標語文化所該具有的知識與內涵。 / This study investigated response strategies to indirect complaints (IC). On the one hand, it explored the cross-cultural differences in speech behaviors between native Mandarin Chinese speakers and native American English speakers. On the other hand, it examined EFL learners’ IC response behaviors in Taiwan. Four participant groups were invited in this study: 36 native speakers of American English living in the United States, 36 native Mandarin Chinese speakers living in Taiwan, 36 EFL learners with high English proficiency level, and 36 EFL learners with intermediate English proficiency level. Their language data were collected through designed Discourse Completion Test (DCT). Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to deal with the collected data. The research results indicated that the commiseration strategy was mostly used by all four participant groups. Yet, taking the two independent variables (gender and social-distance relationships) into consideration, informative results were found across different groups. The two groups of native Chinese speakers and EFL learners with high English proficiency level applied off strategy to their female strangers’ indirect complaints. On the contrary, the group of EFL learners with intermediate English proficiency level used more advice strategy to their strangers’ indirect complaints. Furthermore, negative transfer was found in the EFL learners’ linguistic realization to achieve illocutionary forces, including pragmatic markers and simplified sentential expressions. The research findings implied that there was not any positive relationship between language learners’ linguistic abilities and their pragmatic performance. The implicature is correlated with the concept that pragmatic knowledge is distinct from linguistic knowledge. Thus, in EFL courses, language learners should be provided opportunities to consciously explore different cultural meanings behind speech act behaviors.

[ES] Esta tesis se centra en la variación interlingüística del uso metafórico del lenguaje en sitios web turísticos promocionales en inglés británico, alemán de Alemania y castellano peninsular. A pesar de la importancia económica del turismo y la gran demanda de traducciones en este sector, el número de estudios sobre el uso de las metáforas en la promoción turística todavía es reducido. El volumen de publicaciones sobre la traducción de las metáforas en este campo es aún menor. Por ello, el presente estudio pretende colmar estos vacíos mediante la descripción del uso metafórico del lenguaje en este género para cada lengua, la comparación de los resultados y la exploración de las implicaciones que puede tener la variación observada para la traducibilidad y el proceso de traducción de las metáforas lingüísticas. Con este motivo se compilaron tres corpus comparables de páginas web turísticas promocionales de los países Inglaterra, Alemania y España, así como tres corpus léxicos más pequeños de 20.000 palabras cada uno. En un proceso de dos fases, los corpus léxicos se sometieron primero a un análisis manual exhaustivo que facilitó la identificación de grupos de metáforas con una combinación de dominios fuente y meta problemáticos desde el punto de vista traductológico. Estos grupos se estudiaron en la segunda fase en los corpus grandes mediante la búsqueda de vocabulario de los dominios fuente. El estudio adopta un marco teórico propio de la Lingüística Cognitiva, basándose principalmente en la Teoría de la Metáfora Conceptual. Una de las principales contribuciones de esta tesis doctoral consiste en la adaptación del probado procedimiento para la identificación de metáforas MIP (Pragglejaz, 2007) para su uso en un estudio comparativo de tres idiomas morfológicamente distintos. Además, se elaboró una tipología de esquemas de proyección (mapping schemes) y una descripción de los dominios fuente y meta más adecuados para los estudios y la práctica de la traducción que los ya existentes. Finalmente fue desarrollado una metodología para la determinación de la traducibilidad literal de las metáforas lingüísticas. Los resultados indican que el uso de la metáfora en los sitios web turísticos promocionales en los tres idiomas muestra grandes similitudes respecto a la existencia de diferentes tipos de metáfora y su distribución. Sin embargo, se observan diferencias en sus frecuencias, su realización lingüística preferida y sus principales funciones discursivas. A menudo, la variación interlingüística detectada en el uso de la metáfora se puede relacionar con los estilos claramente distintos de los sitios web promocionales en los tres idiomas. Los datos recopilados en este estudio proporcionan a los traductores datos acerca de qué tipo de metáfora puede o incluso debería ser aumentado o disminuido en un texto para lograr que una traducción suene natural, y como las supresiones debidas a las diferencias morfológicas pueden ser compensadas de la mejor manera, dependiendo de la combinación de idiomas y el sentido de la traducción. / [CA] Aquesta tesi se centra en la variació interlingüística de l'ús metafòric del llenguatge en llocs web turístics promocionals en anglés britànic, alemany d'Alemanya i castellà peninsular. Malgrat la importància econòmica del turisme i la gran demanda de traduccions en aquest sector, el nombre d'estudis sobre l'ús de les metàfores en la promoció turística encara és reduït. El volum de publicacions sobre la traducció de les metàfores en aquest camp és encara menor. Per això, el present estudi pretén satisfer aquests buits mitjançant la descripció de l'ús metafòric del llenguatge en aquest gènere per a cada llengua, la comparació dels resultats i l'exploració de les implicacions que pot tindre la variació observada per a la traduïbilitat i el procés de traducció de les metàfores lingüístiques. Amb aquest motiu es van compilar tres corpus comparables de pàgines web turístiques promocionals dels països d' Anglaterra, Alemanya i Espanya, així com tres corpus lèxics més xicotets de 20.000 paraules cadascun. En un procés de dues fases, els corpus lèxics es van sotmetre primer a una anàlisi manual exhaustiva que va facilitar la identificació de grups de metàfores amb una combinació de dominis font i meta problemàtics des del punt de vista traductològic. Aquests grups es van estudiar en la segona fase en els corpus grans mitjançant la cerca de vocabulari dels dominis font. L'estudi adopta un marc teòric propi de la Lingüística Cognitiva, basant-se principalment en la Teoria de la Metàfora Conceptual. Una de les principals contribucions d'aquesta tesi doctoral consisteix en l'adaptació del provat procediment per a la identificació de metàfores MIP (Pragglejaz, 2007) per al seu ús en un estudi comparatiu de tres idiomes morfològicament diferents. A més a més, es va elaborar una tipologia d'esquemes de projecció (mapping schemes) i una descripció dels dominis font i meta més adequats per als estudis i la pràctica de la traducció que els ja existents. Finalment, va ser desenvolupat una metodologia per a la determinació de la traduïbilitat literal de les metàfores lingüístiques. Els resultats indiquen que l'ús de la metàfora en els llocs web turístics promocionals en els tres idiomes mostra grans similituds respecte a l'existència de diferents tipus de metàfora i la seua distribució. No obstant això, s'observen diferències en les seues freqüències, la seua realització lingüística preferida i les seues principals funcions discursives. Sovint, la variació interlingüística detectada en l'ús de la metàfora es pot relacionar amb els estils clarament diferents dels llocs web promocionals en els tres idiomes. Les dades recopilades en aquest estudi proporcionen als traductors dades sobre quina mena de metàfora pot o fins i tot hauria de ser augmentat o disminuït en un text per a aconseguir que una traducció sone natural, i com les supressions degudes a les diferències morfològiques poden ser compensades de la millor manera, depenent de la combinació d'idiomes i el sentit de la traducció. / [EN] This dissertation focusses on the cross-linguistic variation of metaphorical language use on promotional tourism websites in British English, German of Germany and European Spanish. Despite the economic impact of the tourism industry and the high demand for translations in this branch, only few studies have ventured into metaphor use in tourism promotion so far. Research into metaphor translation in this field is even scarcer. The present study aims to fill these voids by describing metaphorical language use of this register for each language, comparing the results with the other two languages, and by seeking possible implications of the observed variation for the translatability as well as the translation process of metaphor vehicles. For this purpose, three comparable corpora of regional promotional tourism websites from England, Germany and Spain were compiled, as well as three smaller, 20,000-word sample corpora. In a two-step process, the sample corpora first underwent a comprehensive manual metaphor analysis, which helped to identify metaphor groups with a source-target domain combination that is problematic from a translational point of view. These groups were further studied in the large corpora using source-domain vocabulary searches. The study was approached from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective, building mainly on Conceptual Metaphor Theory. One of the main contributions of this dissertation lies in the adaptation of the widely used metaphor identification procedure MIP (Pragglejaz, 2007) for the cross-linguistic comparison of the morphologically different research languages. Furthermore, a typology of mapping schemes and a description of the source and target domains were suggested which suit translation purposes better than existing ones. Finally, a methodology for the determination of the literal translatability of metaphor vehicles was developed. The findings suggest that the metaphor use on promotional tourism websites in the three languages is largely similar with regard to the existence of different metaphor types and their distribution. However, differences can be found in their frequencies, their preferred linguistic realisation and their main discursive functions. The observed cross-linguistic variation in metaphor use can often be related to the markedly distinct styles of the promotional websites in the three languages. The data gathered in this study provide translators with information about which type of metaphor can or even should be reduced or increased in number in order to achieve a natural sounding translation and how morphologically necessary suppressions can best be compensated for, depending on the language pair and translation direction. / Stepins, KV. (2022). A Cross-Linguistic Study of Metaphor Variation in Promotional Discourse of the Tourist Sector in Spanish, English and German: Implications for Translation [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/182290 / TESIS

Haitian immigrant parents often face challenges to visibly engage in their children's education in the United States due to social, cultural, and economic factors. This study addressed parent involvement (PI) among Haitian immigrant parents of adolescents in a Florida community. The purpose of this exploratory, multiple-case study was to better understand connections between immigrant Haitian parents' beliefs and learning experiences and their experiences supporting their adolescents' learning. Three research questions were developed to explore Haitian adults' lived experiences and perceptions of themselves as keepers of knowledge and as learners, their experiences and perceived roles as parents, and the resources they possessed that could increase PI. The conceptual framework included social constructs of family literacy, new literacy studies, and funds of knowledge. Nine Haitian parents of teenage children and 3 educators and liaisons from the community were selected for interviews. Qualitative data analysis included open coding, theme identification, and triangulation of data from an archival PI survey. Findings indicated that adults' experiences with learning at home and learning at school influenced their perceived parenting roles and self-efficacy at home, the type of PI in which they engaged, and future aspirations for their children. Results were used to develop a white paper aimed at community stakeholders to enhance educators' and social service providers' cultural knowledge of Haitian families and to promote two-way communication. The project may encourage the development of culturally responsive PI strategies and adult learning opportunities benefiting local and trans-national Haitian communities throughout the United States.

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