No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The aim of this essay is to try and describe the linguistic features, and the social practices, that characterize the so-called climate advice genre, as well as, how the genre seems to influence the recipients attitude, and potential actions, in Sweden. The goal is also to compare how imperative the different texts, and the genre, tend to be, based on modality. In this essay, eight different texts from authorities, non-profit organizations, commercial businesses, and municipalities, are compared with the goal of finding potential genre features. The result shows that a common sequence is hard to find when analyzing the texts, which means that the speech acts, generally, do not follow a distinct pattern. The most prominent genre features in the texts are, however, that the speech acts, claims and prompts are dominant. Claims often have the function of explaining why the prompts are worth accepting. It is also clear that headlines, with the function of a prompt, almost always, are concritiziced in a paragraph below. This is mostly done by using claims or other prompts. Henceforth, the commercial texts use modality metaphors the most, while some of the non-profit organizations, authorities, and municipalities, use prompts the most. This may potentially be due to the actors' different communicative goals, which means that a commercial business, and an authority, perhaps, communicate advice with different intentions. Therefore, a commercial business may try to mitigate their communication, trying not to “force” their customers to accept their advice, which can be perceived as presumptuous. This also means that an authority is “allowed” to use more face-threatening communication because of their communicative goal of informing the general public. In addition, the majority of the texts include a small amount of modal verbs and interpersonal sentence adverbials. They also have a low degree of demand. In fact, this leads us to the conclusion that the climate advice genre tends to oblige by avoiding uncertain communication, such as “perhaps”, but it also tends to use a low degree of demand to make people accept their advice.

No description available.

In this case study, the author explores the nonprofit mission statement as a genre, its place within a genre ecology, and its communication through various genres. Theorizing the mission statement as a controlling and stabilizing force in a genre ecology, the author notes the potential of the mission statement to enact the genre function, "the authority a genre has even in the absence of its author. Noting the limitations of current genre ecology modeling (GEM), the author maps the genres, documents, and activities of a small community foundation using a revised form of GEM that more purposefully includes speech genres to map relationships; in this case study, the speech genres revealed how the mission statement is mediated through genres and activities. Further, observations and interviews revealed ideological conflicts of the organization's key stakeholders that resulted in clashes between key stakeholder values and the language of the nonprofit's mission (and other genres). Additionally, ideological consensus resulted in the addition of new organizational activities and genres, even though these activities are not in line with the language of the mission statement as written. Eventually, these activities become social facts, "ideas that the key stakeholders believe are in line with the mission when they are, in fact, in conflict with it. If these social facts are not re-aligned with the mission statement, new activities and genres are created and mediated by speech genres, potentially moving the organization further away from its purpose and goals. The author ultimately suggests a cycle of genre and activity production that will realign the social facts and the mission statement and encourage organizational leaders to return to the mission statement and change the language to reflect the organization's new reality. / Ph. D.

The master thesis is called Indirect Speech Acts in series Vyprávěj and according to the title, it refers to indirect speech acts in the particular Czech series. The master thesis is based on Speech Act Theory by J. Austin, P. Grice and R. Searle. The most interesting thing on this issue is that words themselves are not so important as the meaning and intention which are hidden behind them. The master thesis would like to prove that indirect speech act is a part of illocution, the aim of a speaker in making an utterance, and stands hierarchical higher than a direct speech act.

L'objectif de la thèse est de formuler une théorie psychologiquement plausible de la manière dont les locuteurs assignent des forces illocutoires aux énoncés. / Doctorat en Langues et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research endeavors to make a more satisfactory connection between the text and sermon by utilizing the speech act theory (SAT). In the light of SAT, the movement from text to sermon is neither simply to be viewed as finding timeless principles, meanings, big ideas from Scripture nor to emphasize a human experience in the modern world to serve as a re-narration of the text. Rather, the homiletical bridge in SAT has to be considered as the performative action of the text itself. The essence of interpretation in preaching is therefore to recognize the illocutionary act in Scripture. In SAT, the illocutionary act creates the meaning as well as the perlocutionary action. This is the center of the effort in order to build a more satisfactory bridge between text and sermon. Obviously, the SAT can directly serve the Reformed Confessions in which the living Triune God is still speaking through the Scripture in the present. The Spirit is the enabler of a disclosure of the autonomous and meaningful action of the Bible. The Spirit has continually enabled the Christian community to understand and to enact the Scripture in the context of the common life of the Christian community. This means that the Bible is not given to be exegeted in academic isolation, but to be performed by the people of God. Perhaps, when the preacher proclaims the re-illocutionary preaching, he/she will encounter an unexpected manner of sermon. However, this creative preaching generates unexpected reality through the Bible in which the Spirit gives the energy to accomplish this alternative reality. This should offer practical guidelines for performing individual faith and generating social capital. That event is proclaimed (performed) as the living Word of God for modern man. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsing beoog om ‘n meer bevredigende konneksie te maak tussen teks en preek deur gebruik te maak van die sogenaamde “Speech Act Theory”, oftewel Spraak Handeling Teorie [SHT]. In die lig van die SHT is die beweging vanaf teks na preek nie net om klem te lê op onveranderde beginsels, opinies, waardevolle betekenisse van die Woord of ondervindinge van menslike ervaring in die moderne wêreld om as ‘n herskrywing van die teks te dien nie, maar eerder moet die homilitiese brug gesien word as die manifestering van die teks self. Die primêre fokus van interpretasie is hiervolgens dus om die performatiwe funksie van die Woord te herken. Volgens die SHT skep die performatiewe funksie die betekenis sowel as die performatiewe aksie. Bogenoemde uitgangspunte vorm die middelpunt van aksies wat geneem word om te verseker dat ‘n aanvaarbare brug gebou word tussen prediking en teks. Dit wil voorkom asof die SHT die Gereformeerde Belydenis kan dien, aangesien die Lewende, Drie-enige God volgens hierdie belydenis nog steeds deur die Woord praat in die teenwoordige tyd. Hiervolgens is die Gees van God ‘n fasiliteerder van die onafhanklike en betekenisvolle openbaring van die Bybel. Die Gees van God het volgens hierdie belydens voortdurend die Christen gemeenskap gelei om die Woord te verstaan en om dit uit te voer in die konteks van die normale Christen gemeenskap. Dit beteken dat die Bybel nie gegee is om bloot in isolasie akademies uitgelê te word nie, maar om uit-gevoer te word deur die gemeenskap van God. Predikers wat die performatiewe boodskap van die Skrif binne die kragveld van hierdie gemeenskap preek, mag op verrassende wyses anders preek. Hierdie kreatiewe styl van prediking genereer ‘n onverwagse realiteit, in ooreenstemming met dit wat die Bybel deur die Gees van God intendeer om uit te voer (“perform”). Hierdeur word individuele geloof, maar ook die verrykking van die gemeenskap gedien.

The present study sheds light on how 16 Mexican-Americans residing in Texas perceive and follow politeness norms (e.g., Brown & Levinson, 1987; Fraser, 1990; Terkourafi, 2005) related to greetings and leave-takings in different cultural and linguistic contexts. Data from online questionnaires identify a significant difference in perceived level of social expectation (i.e. politeness) for employing the speech acts with Spanish- versus non-Spanish speakers. The data support previous research in identifying a sense of solidarity among Mexican-American extended families, but go further in suggesting that this bond extends to other Spanish-speaking acquaintances. Better understanding of these norms should facilitate inter-cultural exchanges between linguistic in- and out-group members. / text