This master's thesis deals with the analysis and presentation of the global company Nike, especially the perception of the brand as a symbol of basketball. The master's thesis is divided into two parts. The first part describes the theoretical and methodological starting points, particularly the international marketing environment, concepts and strategic approaches, international marketing mix, plus the event marketing and sponsorship, which are an integral part of Nike marketing. The practical part describes the Nike company both from an international perspective, and marketing activities in the domestic environment. Based on the information and the survey, conducted gives recommendations for marketing activities in the basketball category in the domestic market.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how often a character of a TV-series non-observed the conversational maxims, and if non-observances can be used for characterization in TV-series. The aim of this study was also to examine how much conversations and generally unknown conversational rules can affect people and their entire perception of others. The study focused on the main character of the TV-series Sherlock and investigated how often Sherlock breaks the conversational maxims, in what ways he does so, and how 20 respondents would describe Sherlock based on his conversational input. The most frequent non-observance turned out to be flouts and the most commonly non-observed maxim was the maxim of relation. According to the survey that the respondents answered, there seems to be a correlation between Sherlock’s conversational input and how they would describe him. In general, the respondents applied more negative personality traits to Sherlock when describing him based on excerpts where he did not observe the conversational maxims, whereas they described Sherlock in a more positive manner when he followed the conversational maxims. / Syftet med denna studie var undersöka hur ofta en karaktär från en TV-serie bröt mot konversationsmaximerna, samt huruvida brytandet av konversationsmaximer kan användas som verktyg i karaktärisering i TV-serier. Vidare var även syftet med denna studie att utforska hur stor påverkan som konversationer och, generellt sett, okända konversations-regler har på människor och hela deras perception av andra människor. Studien fokuserade på huvudkaraktären i TV-serien Sherlock och undersökte hur ofta Sherlock bryter mot konversationsmaximerna, på vilket sätt detta görs samt hur 20 informanter skulle beskriva Sherlock baserat på hans konversationer. Den vanligaste formen av icke-observerande visade sig vara flouts och den maxim som främst gick oobserverad förbi var relationsmaximen. Enligt enkäten som informanterna fick svara på tycks det finnas en koppling mellan hur Sherlock deltar i konversationer och vilka personlighetsdrag som kan användas för att beskriva honom. Generellt sett valde informanterna i högre grad negativa personlighetsdrag för att beskriva Sherlock efter att han brutit mot konversations-maximerna, medan de istället beskrev honom mer positivt när han följt konversations-maximerna.

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.

<p>I denna uppsats presenterar och diskuterar författaren tre invändningar som riktats mot dygdetikern Rosalind Hursthouses förslag om vad som är en moraliskt riktig handling. Hursthouse menar att en handling är moraliskt riktig om den är vad en dygdig agent karaktärsenligt skulle göra i omständigheterna. Den form av invändningar som författaren presenterar och diskuterar i uppsatsen försöker visa på att Hursthouses förslag exkluderar handlingar som vanligen anses är rätt.</p><p>Författaren argumenterar för att en dygdetik lik den Neo-Aristoteliska dygdetik Hursthouse försvarar kan formuleras så att den undgår invändningar som presenteras i uppsatsen. Författaren föreslår att vi istället för att förstå Hursthouses förslag som om det gällde de faktiska handlingar som en dygdig agent gör, istället bör uppmärksamma att en dygdig agent följer handlingsmaximer vilka hon prövat under sin moraliska utveckling till att bli dygdig. Författaren föreslår vidare att det är huruvida en handling utgår från en maxim som karaktärsenligt kan ingå i ett dygdigt liv som är avgörande om den är moraliskt riktig eller inte.</p> / <p>In this paper the author presents and discusses three charges that have been raised against Rosalind Hursthouses virtue ethical account on what it takes for an action to be morally right. Hursthouse proposes that an action is right, if and only if, it is what a virtuous agent characteristically would to in the circumstances. All of the charges discussed and presented in the paper try to show that Hursthouses account excludes actions which we would like to say are morally right.</p><p>The author argues that a Neo-Aristotelian form of virtue ethics, like the one Hursthouse defends, can be formulated so that the charges can be avoided. The author proposes that, instead of understanding Hursthouses account as if it is only the very actions that virtuous agents perform that are morally right, we should observe that the virtuous agents are acting from maxims that they have tested during their development towards becoming virtuous agents. The author then proposes that an action is right if it can be traced from a maxim that can be a characteristic part of a virtuous life.</p>

I denna uppsats presenterar och diskuterar författaren tre invändningar som riktats mot dygdetikern Rosalind Hursthouses förslag om vad som är en moraliskt riktig handling. Hursthouse menar att en handling är moraliskt riktig om den är vad en dygdig agent karaktärsenligt skulle göra i omständigheterna. Den form av invändningar som författaren presenterar och diskuterar i uppsatsen försöker visa på att Hursthouses förslag exkluderar handlingar som vanligen anses är rätt. Författaren argumenterar för att en dygdetik lik den Neo-Aristoteliska dygdetik Hursthouse försvarar kan formuleras så att den undgår invändningar som presenteras i uppsatsen. Författaren föreslår att vi istället för att förstå Hursthouses förslag som om det gällde de faktiska handlingar som en dygdig agent gör, istället bör uppmärksamma att en dygdig agent följer handlingsmaximer vilka hon prövat under sin moraliska utveckling till att bli dygdig. Författaren föreslår vidare att det är huruvida en handling utgår från en maxim som karaktärsenligt kan ingå i ett dygdigt liv som är avgörande om den är moraliskt riktig eller inte. / In this paper the author presents and discusses three charges that have been raised against Rosalind Hursthouses virtue ethical account on what it takes for an action to be morally right. Hursthouse proposes that an action is right, if and only if, it is what a virtuous agent characteristically would to in the circumstances. All of the charges discussed and presented in the paper try to show that Hursthouses account excludes actions which we would like to say are morally right. The author argues that a Neo-Aristotelian form of virtue ethics, like the one Hursthouse defends, can be formulated so that the charges can be avoided. The author proposes that, instead of understanding Hursthouses account as if it is only the very actions that virtuous agents perform that are morally right, we should observe that the virtuous agents are acting from maxims that they have tested during their development towards becoming virtuous agents. The author then proposes that an action is right if it can be traced from a maxim that can be a characteristic part of a virtuous life.

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.

After Donald Trump won the presidency, his use of social media has gotten massive attention because of its incredibly inappropriate content. Many people question how appropriate his use of Twitter is, and in the linguistic field prominent voices point out that the former businessman does not have the skills to speak; he only talks (McWhorter, 2017). As America’s President with views of his own about worldly events, it is of special interest to see how people interact with him online. Because of the low 39% approval rating, one can assume that many disagree with him, possibly in a way involving irony. One sub-type of irony is described as “the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning” (Merriam-Webster, 2018), and it is reasonable to assume that some responses to Trump’s tweets use irony to present an alternative view of his actions or opinions. The study sets out to find replies to Trump’s tweets that are ironic and identify if they correspond to earlier developed theories of irony. The replies are examined to determine which of Grice’s maxims of conversation that is flouted the most. The data included 337 replies of which 78 (23%) were shown to follow an ironical pattern, mostly in order to ridicule and condemn Trump. 88 % of all comments disagree with Trump’s tweets. The most applicable theory of irony is the echoic interpretation theory by Wilson and Sperber, and the most flouted maxim is relevance. / Sedan Donald Trump ställde upp i presidentvalet och till slut vann valet, har hans användning av sociala medier fått mycket uppmärksamhet p.g.a dess olämpliga innehåll. Många har ifrågasatt lämpligheten i hans Twitter-användning, och lingvistiskt sett menar framstående röster att den tidigare företagsmannen inte äger förmågan att tala; han kan bara prata; och det gör han på Twitter som USA:s president och ger sin egen syn på världsliga händelser. Därför är det av intresse att titta på hur människor reagerar och tilltalar honom på nätet. Med tanke på hans låga popularitetssiffra på 39%, kan det förmodas att många inte håller med honom, och att ironi används som ett sätt att uttrycka en annan åsikt. Ironi beskrivs som “användningen av ord för att uttrycka någonting annat eller speciellt det motsatta av den bokstavliga meningen” (översatt från Merriam-Webster, 2018), vilket är hypotetiskt förväntat i svar till Trumps tweets. Denna studie syftar till att identifiera ironiska kommentarer på Trumps tweets och se om de överensstämmer med tidigare utvecklade teorier kring ironi. Även analys av vilken av Grices konversationsmaximer som bryts oftast görs i studien. Studiens data inkluderar 337 kommentarer, av vilka 78 (23%) är ironiska, oftast med intention att förlöjliga och fördöma Trump. 88% av alla kommentarer håller inte med om innehållet i Trumps tweets. Den mest applicerbara ironi-teorin var “echoic interpretation” teorin (Wilson &amp; Sperber), medan den mest ignorerade konversationsmaximen var relevans.

As the technology develops and robots are integrating into more and more facets of our lives, the futureof human-robot interaction may take form in all kinds of arrangements and configurations. In this study, we examined the understandability of di erent conversational strategies in robot-robot communication from a human-bystander standpoint. Specifically, we examined the understandability of verbal explanations constructed under Grice's maxims of informativeness. A prediction task was employed to test the understandability of the proposed strategy among other strategies. Furthermore, participants' perception of the robots' interaction was assessed with a range of ratings and rankings. The results suggest that those robots using the proposed strategy and those using the other tested strategies were understood and perceived similarly. / I takt med att teknologin utvecklas integreras robotar mer och mer i olika delar av våra liv. Framtidens människo-robot interaktioner kan ta många olika former och konfigurationer. I den här studien undersökte vi förståelsen för olika konversationsstrategier mellan robotar ur det mänskliga perspektivet. Specifikt undersökte vi förståelsen av muntliga förklaringar konstruerade enligt Grices princip för informativitet. En uppgift för deltagarna i testet var att försöka förutsäga robotarnas agerande. Dessutom utvärderades robotarnas interaktion genom att låta deltagarna rangordna och betygsätta dem. Resultatet tyder på att de robotar som använder Grices princip och de som använder de andra testade strategierna förstås och uppfattas på ett liknande sätt.

A self-educated shepherd, Scottish writer James Hogg (1770-1835) spoke from a position outside the dominant discourse, depicting issues of his age related to gender, class, and ethnicity by giving voice to people from the margins and, thus (either consciously or unconsciously), revealing gender politics and Britain's imperial aims. Hogg’s contemporary critics received his work rather negatively, viewing his subjects such as prostitution, out-of-wedlock-pregnancy, infanticide, and the violence of war as violating the principles of literary politeness. Hogg’s obstinacy in addressing these issues, however, supports the thesis that his aim was far more significant than challenging the expectations of his contemporary readers. This project shows that pragmatics can be applied productively to literature because its eclecticism offers the possibility of developing a detailed discussion about three aspects of literary communication—the author, the reader and the text—without prioritising any of them. Literature is an instance of language in use (the field of pragmatics) where an author creates the texts and a reader recreates the author’s message through the text. Analysis of Hogg’s flouting of Grice’s maxims for communication strategies and of his defying the principles of politeness enables a theoretically supported discussion about Hogg’s possible intentions, as well as about how his intentions were perceived by the literary establishment of his time; while both relevance theory and Bakhtin’s socio-linguistics enriched by a historically contextualised politeness shed new light on the negative reception of Hogg’s texts.

« Histoire et sagesse d’Aḥiqar l’Assyrien » est un texte d’exception puisqu’il plonge ses racines dans les temps lointains de la Mésopotamie antique. Son héros, Aḥiqar, est un Sage, un Ummānu, conseiller des rois d’Assyrie ; il fait l’objet d’une vile machination, ourdie par son neveu que le Sage avait pourtant élevé comme s’il était son propre fils ; après avoir frôlé la mort, Aḥiqar est réhabilité, puis envoyé en Egypte, afin d’affronter les énigmes et défis que le Pharaon a lancés contre son roi, tandis que son neveu est puni de mort. Notre corpus regroupe sept versions de « Histoire et sagesse d’Aḥiqar l’Assyrien », s’échelonnant de 500 avant notre ère jusqu’au XVIIIe siècle, et composées en araméen, syriaque, guèze, arabe et grec. Dans une comparaison menée en traduction française, à travers les versions dont nous disposons et au fil des différents épisodes du récit, nous étudierons tout d’abord la trajectoire dramatique de la vie d’Aḥiqar. Puis nous examinerons les énigmes et défis résolus par ce héros expert en langage face au Pharaon avant d’analyser les deux longues séries de maximes, d’abord éducatives puis punitives, qu’il administre à son neveu. Nous aborderons également les modalités du réemploi, ou comment l’histoire araméenne d’Aḥiqar a pu se trouver refonctionnalisée dans la Bible au « Livre de Tobie », dans la « Vie d’Ésope le Phrygien », célèbre fabuliste grec, et dans l’univers des « Mille et Une Nuits » avec le conte intitulé « Sinkarib et ses deux vizirs ». Enfin nous conclurons sur l’intérêt de cette grande figure de l’Ummānu ou conseiller du roi – héros ni guerrier ni saint mais homme de langage – pour l’histoire de la Rhétorique. / “History and wisdom Aḥiqar the Assyrian” is an exception text since its roots goes in the ancient times of ancient Mesopotamia. His hero, Ahiqar is a Sage, a Ummānu, advise the kings of Assyria, and he is the subject of a vile plot, hatched by his nephew that the Sage had yet raised as if he were her own son ; from the brink of death, Ahiqar is rehabilitated and sent to Egypt to confront the puzzles and the challenges that the Pharaoh launched against his king, while his nephew is punished by death. Our text corpus has seven versions of “History and wisdom Ahiqar the Assyrian,” ranging from 500 BC until the eighteenth century, and composed in Aramaic, in Syriac, in Ge’ez, in Arabic and in Greek. In a comparison conducted in French translation, through the versions we have and all along the different episodes of the story, we first study the dramatic trajectory of life Ahiqar. We then examine the puzzles and challenges addressed by this expert hero of language against Pharaoh before analyzing the two long series of maxims, first educational and punitive, that it administers to his nephew. We also discuss the terms of re-use, or how the history of Aramaic Ahiqar could be re-used, with more or less success, in the Bible, the “Book of Tobit” in the “Life of Aesop the Phrygian” famous Greek fabulist, and the world of “Arabian Nights” with the tale entitled “Sinkarib and two viziers.” Finally, we conclude on the interest of this great figure of Ummānu or advise the king - nor a warrior hero, nor a saint hero, but a language man - for the history of rhetoric.