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Nous soutenons dans ce mémoire qu'il existe, en français québécois, deux sous-types de constructions exclamatives. Située dans un cadre théorique qui participe à la fois de la philosophie du langage (la théorie des actes de langage, Austin, 1962; Searle 1969, Searle, 1979; Searle et Vanderveken 1985) et de la linguistique (la théorie des types de phrase, Sadock et Zwicky, 1985; Reis, 1999), notre analyse porte sur un ensemble de constructions exclamatives en apparence synonymes qui impliquent respectivement les morphèmes -tu, donc et assez (1). (1) Elle est-tu/donc/assez belle! Nous démontrons que si ces exclamatives satisfont aux critères d'identification des constructions exclamatives donnés par Zanuttini et Portner (2003) (factivité, évaluativité/implicature scalaire, expressivité/orientation vers le locuteur et incompatibilité avec les paires de question/réponse), les actes de langage exclamatifs servis par les exclamatives en -tu/donc n'ont pas les mêmes conditions de félicité que les actes de langage exclamatifs servis par les exclamatives en assez. En effet, les exclamatives en -tu/donc imposent une contrainte sur leur contexte d'énonciation par rapport à la position épistémique de l'interlocuteur, lequel doit être en mesure de corroborer le jugement exprimé par le locuteur au moyen de l'exclamative. Les exclamatives en assez n'imposent pas de telle contrainte. Nous démontrons que cette distinction pragmatique peut être corrélée avec des distinctions sémantiques et syntaxiques et concluons qu'il existe bien deux sous-types de constructions exclamatives en français québécois. En ce sens, notre recherche ouvre de nouvelles perspectives empiriques et théoriques pour la description et l'analyse de la grammaire des actes de langage exclamatifs. / In this thesis, we argue that there are two subtypes of exclamative clauses in Quebec French. Based on the Speech Act theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969; Searle & Vanderveken, 1985) and the Clause Type theory (Sadock & Zwicky, 1985; Reis, 1999), our analysis is concerned with a set of seemingly synonymous exclamative constructions respectively marked by the exclamative morphemes -tu, donc, and assez (1). (1) Elle est-tu/donc/assez belle! 'Isn't she pretty!/She's so pretty!' We show that despite the fact that exclamative constructions with -tu, donc, and assez all meet the criteria for the exclamative clause type given by Zanuttini and Portner (2003) (factivity, evaluativity/scalar implicature, expressivity/speaker orientedness and inability to appear in question/answer pairs), exclamative speech acts performed by uttering exclamative constructions with -tu/donc have different felicity conditions than exclamative speech acts performed by uttering exclamative constructions with assez. For an exclamative construction with -tu/donc to be uttered felicitously, the hearer must be in a specific epistemic state: she must be able to corroborate the judgment expressed by the speaker. Exclamative constructions with assez are not subject to such a constraint. We show that this pragmatic distinction can be correlated with syntactic and semantic distinctions and conclude that there are, indeed, two subtypes of exclamative clauses in Quebec French. Our research thus opens new empirical and theoretical perspectives for the description and analysis of the grammar of speech acts.

<p>Abstract</p><p>This paper aims to determine the validity of the hypothesis that the effective and eloquent use of language can result in shaping beliefs and altering people’s perception of certain phenomena. In order to explore this hypothesis, a speech given by George W. Bush concerning the Iraq war is examined, followed by a brief study of two corpora, the Time Magazine Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English, where the collocationpatterns of the words Iraq, evil and terror are examined. The paper starts by presenting the main concepts upon which this study is based, i.e. mental frames, the co-operative principle and conversational maxims and finally, various rhetoric devices. An analysis section follows, where George Bush’s speech is examined with the help of the concepts mentioned above and the analysis continues with the corpora-study. One of the conclusions drawn in this study is that, indeed, it is possible that language can be successfully used in order to achieve political means, and that there seems to be a shift in the American public’s perception of concepts such as Iraq and terror, visible in the use of language. However, it cannot be said with certainty whether the Bush Administration has managed to dominate public discourse, through a study as minor as this one.</p>

This thesis examines a set of three utterance particles—ge3, laak3, and lo1—in Hong Kong Cantonese in terms of evidentiality, epistemic modality, and mirativity. Cantonese utterance particles have long been studied; however, close investigation of evidentiality and mirativity on a small set of particles is relatively rare. Previous accounts claim that ge3 and laak3 convey certainty. On the other hand, linguists also claim that the use of the utterance particle lo1 assumes a high level of knowledge from a hearer. This thesis has two main purposes: to untangle the differences between the utterance particles ge3 and laak3 in terms of epistemic modality and evidentiality and to reveal the mirative meanings of the utterance particle lo1. I postulate that the utterance particle ge3 conveys both epistemic modality and evidentiality. For epistemic modality, ge3 concerns a speaker’s knowledge. The evidential meaning—access to prior knowledge—is realized through implicature. This pragmatic reading is highly context dependent. In contrast, the utterance particle laak3 conveys only epistemic modality which concerns a state of affairs and signifies a change of state. Lastly, this study also reveals that the utterance particle lo1 has mirative values of sudden realization and counterexpectation under certain conversational contexts.

The conversational maxims are guidelines to how a conversation should be conducted, but sometimes these maxims can be broken for different reasons. The aim of this thesis is to identify breakings of the conversational maxims in the crime drama Blindspot and to study which maxims are broken, for what purpose the maxims are broken and if there are any changes to the number of maxims broken between different seasons of the series. The results show that the maxim of quantity is most frequently broken in the episode from season one and the maxim of quality is broken most frequently in the episodes from season three and five. Some of the reasons for the breakings are sarcasm used for a comedic effect, not giving enough information to keep the viewers in suspense and as a way to change the subject or focus of a conversation.

Anna Šmilauerová: TV Sitcom Friends: Analysis of character humor strategies based on the violation of Grice's Conversational maxims Abstract The purpose of this diploma thesis is the analysis of the humor strategies employed by the characters of Phoebe and Chandler in the TV Sitcom Friends. The discovered prevailing strategies were then compared with the personalities of the two characters. The data analyzed were the written script of five exemplary episodes from the Season 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, in which the utterances eliciting laughter from the audience were thoroughly analyzed from the point of Grice's Cooperative Principle: only those utterances were considered in which the characters violated one or more of the conversational maxims (quality, quantity, relation and manner). Phoebe was found to violate most often the maxim of relation, thus it is her being non-factual and non-conventional that constitutes her most entertaining quality. As she develops and grows more mature as a character, the frequency counts of this humor strategy evince a descending tendency. Chandler, on the other hand, is mostly being ironic, violating the maxim of quality. His character also gradually changes but his sense of humor remains the same - ironic throughout the show, as follows from the instances of almost fixed frequency....

Many American companies looking to increase sales and achieve growth targets consider expanding the reach of their product lines to other countries. However, expansion on a global scale often requires much trial and error as English-speaking companies try to market their goods to a foreign audience. In order to ease this process, localization experts are often hired to "localize" or change advertisements in order to make them more culturally relevant to consumers. Because the field of localization is relatively new, there is little research done on the degree and extent to which advertisements are localized. The purpose of this study is to explore the cultural differences in advertising between Russia and the United States of America. Two different samples of print magazine advertisements were taken from beauty magazines published in Russia and America to determine how much, if any, localization is occurring in Russian media. In order to compare the different advertising strategies of Russia and the United States, 235 non-localized Russian advertisements and 128 localized advertisements were coded for several different pragmatic features that Simpson (2001) included in his "reason" and "tickle" advertising framework. The results were then analyzed through content analysis and Chi-square statistics to find what pragmatic features are characteristic of localized and non-localized Russian ads. The study found that non-localized Russian advertising places more emphasis on reason-based persuasion strategies—most notably celebrity endorsement and extensive listing of reasons to buy a particular product. Localized Russian advertising, in contrast, uses more tickle-based persuasion tactics such as metaphor and implicature. 80% of localized Russian advertisements had little to no change in their advertising text from the English version of the advertisements, which means that the rate of localization in Russian advertising is currently low. Low rates of localization and differing persuasive techniques among the two samples signify the need for better cultural awareness in international marketing campaigns.

Abstract This paper aims to determine the validity of the hypothesis that the effective and eloquent use of language can result in shaping beliefs and altering people’s perception of certain phenomena. In order to explore this hypothesis, a speech given by George W. Bush concerning the Iraq war is examined, followed by a brief study of two corpora, the Time Magazine Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English, where the collocationpatterns of the words Iraq, evil and terror are examined. The paper starts by presenting the main concepts upon which this study is based, i.e. mental frames, the co-operative principle and conversational maxims and finally, various rhetoric devices. An analysis section follows, where George Bush’s speech is examined with the help of the concepts mentioned above and the analysis continues with the corpora-study. One of the conclusions drawn in this study is that, indeed, it is possible that language can be successfully used in order to achieve political means, and that there seems to be a shift in the American public’s perception of concepts such as Iraq and terror, visible in the use of language. However, it cannot be said with certainty whether the Bush Administration has managed to dominate public discourse, through a study as minor as this one.

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曾幾何時，廣告在流行文化中已跳脫直接而露骨的銷售意圖，不論是電視廣告的表現形式，抑或報章雜誌的平面廣告，都歷經相當之變革。除了多姿多彩的圖像，更操弄了豐富的語言策略，甚且如詩一般的語言，融入文學新意，產生前所未有的廣告文學性。針對這樣的趨勢變遷，本文旨在透過以社會語用及批判性取徑（a sociopragmatic and critical approach）為主的言談分析（discourse analysis），為廣告文化在作者（／說者）和讀者（／聽者）間的溝通所扮演的角色提供一質性研究。嘗試從語言使用（language use）的層面來觀察：如何喚起群體意識？哪些是常用的語言策略？使用這些語言策略／修辭手段能給讀者帶來什麼樣的效應？這些語言使用伴隨著什麼樣的社會意義？分析架構植基於「攸關性理論」（Relevance Theory, Sperber & Wilson, 1986/1995)，從讀者花費處理訊息的精力（processing efforts）審視其所能獲致的效果（contextual effects）。在另一方面，如同Sperber & Wilson（1995: 279）對於往後研究的期許，本研究更在語用分析中加入了社會文化認知和情境的考量，此正亦批判語言學家們的主要關切（Fairclough, 1995）。 分析語料取材自誠品書店所發表的系列廣告文案，係著眼於下列幾個明顯的現象：（一）文中採取豐富嶄新的語言策略，包括了隱喻、姓名／名稱的平行、重複與敘事，這些修辭手段常更能喚起讀者的注意和興趣，產生詩歌性（poetic effects）等認知效果，並表現各樣的語用／溝通功能。（二）大量西方文明裡的名字／名稱巧妙而生動地運用在這些廣告裡，涵蓋人名（藝術家／作家／詩人／名人）、地名、文學藝術名作和知名品牌。（三）對於作者而言，他們可以蘊含更多的情感、態度、情緒和感覺於其中，產生溝通裡的的弱式效果（weaker effects of communication, Wilson & Sperber, 1992），也能規避一些較為嚴肅的社會責任；而就讀者來說，這些語言策略得以預留更寬闊的詮釋空間，更吸引讀者。（四）除了使用這些語言策略來表現文學性，作者並藉由與讀者間的認知環境，利用流行話題與生活經驗，傳達了知識建構、同儕情誼、精英主義、女性意識、人文關懷、都會城市中產階級的生活型態，展現流行文化中的多元文化交融以及外語的強勢霸權地位，反映了傳統的／已改變的／變遷中的文化價值觀，邀請讀者認可這些顯著的意識型態與跨文化價值觀，進而形塑文化多元的認同和社會認知，呼應言談與社會／文化間的雙向關係（dialectical relationship, Fairclough, 1995）。誠品書店一再發表的系列文宣，雖然無法同電視廣告般在日常生活中與讀者（／聽者）的密集式接觸，然卻能在充裕的版面裡，在微觀層次上運用更多的語言策略，也能在宏觀的社會文化認知層次上，透過對流行文化形式與功能的檢視，有助提升其企業形象以臻一文化地標，對於諸如：刻板印象、權力象徵（symbolic power）、社會趨勢與變遷、文化標記（cultural iconicity）與認同、性別角色等討論，提供反思的空間。並對相關議題如「什麼構成了、什麼排除自、以及什麼包含於流行文化之中？」、「是否存在著流行文化記憶？」提供有用的觀察。 / This study aims to propose a pragmatic study along with a critical analysis of the print advertisements of Eslite Bookstore in Taiwan. It explores the audience’s comprehension and interpretation regarding emotions, poetic effects, and storytelling in media communication under relevance–theoretic account (Sperber & Wilson, 1986/1995; Noveck & Sperber, 2006) by looking into contemporary Chinese print ads released by Eslite. Since poetic effects and storytelling in long texts suitably illustrate the reasoning and pragmatic inference towards emotions via larger units of text processing and inferred implicit meanings, the current study centres on the audience’s inferential processes and pragmatic interpretations over longer texts against institutional discourse, advertising. The audience searches for optimal relevance in the interpretation process, during which a wide array of weak implicatures, based on her greater share of responsibility, could be inferred and derived from the non-literal speech together with the context, depending on the different degrees of involvement and shared cognitive environment. The sociocultural aspect of language use, on the other hand, is further explored to see the inseparable relationship between language and social function. The rhetorical strategies of syntactic parallelism and repetition of name, metaphor, and storytelling are artfully crafted through literary styles within the ads to attract the audience’s attention, to initiate cognitive poetic effects and advertising literariness, and to perform diverse pragmatic/communicative functions. They convey too the dominant ideologies, viz. intellectualism, elitism, social critique of taste, friends’ rapport, feminine awakening, humanistic concern, and the current lifestyles of petit bourgeoisie in urban contexts. The chosen data vastly adopt elegant wordings and stylistic patterns from names of person (artist/writer/poet/celebrity), place, literature, fashion and brand names to deliver aesthetic value. Placing little emphasis on target commodity, they invite and encourage an imaginative audience to actively and cognitively consume the texts and stories, and spell out a variety of weak implicatures involving feelings, attitudes, emotions and impressions along the textual lines. They invisibly persuade her to recognise the significant inter–/cultural values. Positioning the audience as social elite, shaping and branding the corporate image as a cultural polysemy and landmark of cultural empowerment, they also initiate an emergent text genre with communicative innovation in cultural industry and academic disciplines. People in all languages often mean more than they say. Grammar on its own is typically insufficient for determining the full meaning of an utterance, the assumption that the discourse is coherent or ‘makes sense’ has a vital role to play in meaning construction as well. Just as syntactic surface structures display complexity of underlying structures, we can appreciate much the implicit meanings constructed, conveyed and enriched by storytelling and the poetic force of lexical items and syntactic–semantic–pragmatic interplay in media discourse, as shown in the study. This functional linguistic study reveals that the selling motive could well be melted and/or hidden through those communication strategies due to their implicitness, indirectness and vagueness, and clarifies the simplistic dichotomy between Eastern vs. Western cultures. The dialogic relations between form and function in advertising language reflect the social cohesion/interaction and cognitive dynamics of communicator and audience, thus maintaining the dialectical relationship between social structures and social practice (Fairclough, 1995).