This thesis seeks to analyze the nature of relations between Armenia and Russia in the 2000s. Contrary to the dominant view that relations between these two countries could be labeled as strategic partnership, this thesis argues that these relations could be characterized as pragmatic cooperation. In fact, both countries having close relations in all fields and refraining from pursuing policies that might harm the other&rsquo / s interests in the 1990s, gave priority to their own national interests in the diplomatic and economic fields in the 2000s, while maintaining close cooperation in the security field. In the 2000s, Russia started to pursue a pragmatic foreign policy by improving its relations with Azerbaijan that has rich oil and natural gas reserves. Likewise, Armenia has also started to pursue a balanced foreign policy by enhancing its cooperation with the Western countries and international organizations in diplomatic and security fields in the same period. Moreover, Armenia also deepened its cooperation with Iran in the energy sector to decrease its energy dependence on Russia. Consequently, both Armenia and Russia have started to pursue pragmatic policies in diplomatic and economic fields to maximize their own national interests while maintaining close cooperation in security field. Therefore, bilateral relations between these two countries started to take more pragmatic character than a strategic partnership.

This study investigates the types, frequencies and functions of hedges and boosters employed in L1 and L2 argumentative paragraphs written by Turkish learners of English with pre-intermediate level of proficiency. It aims to uncover whether or not Turkish learners of English writing in L1 and L2 display any transfer in their employment of hedges and boosters. The extent to which the academic writing teaching materials result in any measurable change in the employment of hedges and boosters is also pursued. To this end, the data that is comprised of 104 (52 Turkish and 52 English) argumentative paragraphs written as a response to a TOEFL essay prompt are collected. The analysis of the data is done manually and each paragraph is coded and formatted in CLAN CHILDES. Later, PASW is used to run the descriptive statistics and calculate the frequency and percentages of hedges and boosters. The results show that the types, frequencies, and meanings of hedges and boosters are culture and language-specific and they are topic and genre dependent. Research v findings also reveal that the participants in this study often express appropriate degree of certainty and pragmatic vagueness while writing in L1 and L2. However, there are some cases in which the evidence of rhetorical transfer are observed with respect to functions of certain hedges. The findings further indicate that there is a parallelism between the teaching materials used in academic writing classes and the types, frequencies and functions of hedges and boosters produced in L2 paragraphs.

Some seven percent of children in the general population are affected by Specific Language Impairment and/or Pragmatic Language Impairment with numerous cases undiagnosed. It is known that difficulty in communication affects psychosocial functioning and is likely to be a source of mental distress but the data on people’s access to and benefit from psychological intervention are limited. There is also limited understanding of psychologists’ capacity to meet these clients’ needs although their problems continue into adulthood. This research questions the population of counselling and clinical psychologists about their knowledge and experience of these disorders using an electronic questionnaire. Qualitative methods were then adopted with three participants with SLI/PLI and four psychologist practitioners familiar with such clients; this involved semi-structured interviews analysed using IPA and TA respectively. The purpose was to interpret and develop the clients' lived experiences into themes which were then used to look for possible connecting themes in the psychologists’ transcripts. This process was termed "interconnection" and was intended to reveal the coincidence and convergence of the two sides of the client/psychologist dyad. Results showed that whereas findings demonstrated the young men possessed a spectrum of coping and defence strategies as constituent parts of resilience, including self-esteem, self-identity and self-efficacy, the psychologists did not see the client as a congruent whole, addressing either their impairment or their mental health problem. Client resiliencies were not used in therapy and psychosocial difficulties were not recognised as a focus of distress although they did endeavour to modify their therapeutic approaches. Finally, consideration is given to whether the research aim is met, the implications for counselling psychology and possible future research. It is proposed that this methodology of interconnection has the potential to provide a novel approach to inform any future research and service development for this and other client groups in the way it takes patients/clients into account and connects them with professional working.

Šiame darbe siekiama nustatyti, kaip skirtingos lyties ir skirtingo amžiaus grupių žmonės vertina atsiprašymo svarbą tarnybinėse, socialinėse ir asmeninėse situacijose. Kalbinių situacijų dalyvių santykiai taip pat skirtingi: oficialūs dalykiški, neoficialūs darbiniai, neutralūs ar draugiški. Analizuojami 8 kalbinių situacijų anketiniai duomenys, kuriuos pateikė 100 respondentų (50 moterų ir 50 vyrų, po 20 asmenų kiekvienoje amžiaus grupėje: iki 20 m., 20–35 m., 36–50 m., 51–65 m. ir per 66 m.). Duomenys rodo, kaip respondentai vertina situaciją. Daugumos respondentų nuomone tarnybinėms situacijoms, kurios vyksta mokslų sferoje, o aukštesnio statuso asmuo atsiprašo žemesnio statuso asmens, yra būdingas atsiprašymas. Analogiškoje situacijoje žemesnio statuso asmuo gali ir neatsiprašyti. Situacijoje, kurioje nenurodytas įstaigos pobūdis, žemesnio statuso adresatas atsiprašymo nesulauks. Esant lygiaverčiams santykiams atsiprašymo gali būti ir nesulaukta. Moterų nuomone, atsiprašyta bus tik dviejose tarnybinėse situacijose, vienoje nebus atsiprašyta, o kitoje gali ir neatsiprašyti. Vyrų nuomone, tarnybinės situacijos reikalauja dar mažesnio kalbos etiketo laikymosi, išskyrus darbinius santykius. Tiek moterys, tiek vyrai, socialinėse situacijose įžvelgia didesnę atsiprašymo tikimybę, išskyrus situaciją, kurioje gresia didesni materialiniai nuostoliai, nors kaltė ir yra tokia pat akivaizdi. Tuomet vietoj atsiprašymo gali būti sulaukta net akiplėšiško puolimo. Asmeninėse... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this work is to establish how people of different gender and age value the importance of apologies in official, social and personal situations. The relationships of participants in linguistic situations are also various: formal official, informal official, neutral or friendly. There is analyzed the data of 8 linguistic situations survey, which is presented of 100 respondents (50 women and 50 men by 20 persons in each age group: to 20 years, 20-35, 36-50, 51-65 and over 66 years old. The data of the survey shows how respondents estimate the situation. The majority of respondents thinks that for official situations, which happens in sphere of science and the person with higher status apologizes the person with lower status the apology is common. Therefore in analogical situation the person with lower status may not apologize. In situation, where the type of the institution is not directed, the apology will not be given by lower status addresser. The apology could not be expected in situations of equal relationships. Women think that apologize is needed only in two official situations, in one of the given situations will not be apologized while in other it could not be apologized. Men think that official situations require keeping less linguistic etiquette, except in informal official situations. Women as well as man in social situations see more likelihood apologizing, except situation, where is faced the bigger material damages, though the guilty is obvious. Then... [to full text]

Despite the perceived importance of IT, a majority of IT projects fail to deliver what was actually ordered (!). One main reason for failure is IT project management’s inability to adapt and react to a dynamic and changing project environment, instead, projects are run as if it is possible to predict all project variables before project start. In reality, IT project workers live in a dynamic, political and commercial environment where it is difficult to predict and control the future. IT projects needs to be continually aligned with their environment to stay relevant and deliver utility. Through a design science and action research approach, a model supporting IT project managers with IT project alignment is created and tested. The model is called DELTA and is designed to be easy to understand and use for IT project managers; it builds on a simplification of commonly available approaches in order to facilitate communication the different domains of expertise in IT projects. DELTA builds on four main constituents: Enterprise images, Stakeholders, Goals and Project. Guidelines for using the model is also presented. Experiences from using the model indicates that the model is perceived as a useful complement to regular project management methods, specifically by merging different conceptual perceptions into a common view. Furthermore, results highlight the conflict between IT project alignment and the traditional project model. Finally, the results show the difference between IT project issues and underlying causes for these issues.

Socialinė reklama – tai nemokama arba iš dalies apmokama, sukrečianti arba humoristinio pobūdžio komunikacijos forma, kuria stengiamasi pakeisti visuomenės požiūrį ar elgesį pozityvesne linkme, tiesiogiai nesiekiant pelno. Atlikta apklausa Socialinės reklamos poveikis visuomenei parodė, kad dauguma apklaustųjų žino, kas yra socialinė reklama. Ši reklamos rūšis padeda spręsti socialines problemas, o paveikiausia ji rodoma per televiziją. Lietuvoje vis dar trūksta kokybiškai sukurtų socialinių reklamų. Dažniausiai socialinės reklamos kuriamos direktyvais, kiek rečiau reprezentatyvais. Komisyvų rasta tik „Sveikatos apsaugos“ grupėje. Esama ir mišraus tipo reklamų. Socialinėse reklamose dažniausiai raginama liepiamosios nuosakos antruoju asmeniu. Taip pat nevengiama retorinių klausimų. Išskirtas gąsdinimo mikroaktas. Šis aktas pasireiškia ne tik žodinėje, bet ir vaizdinėje informacijoje. Šiurpūs vaizdai tampa išskirtiniu socialinės reklamos elementu. Socialinė reklama kuriama pagal tris kompozicijos modelius: klasikinį / uždarąjį; nepilną klasikinį / atvirąjį ir vieno dėmens. Būdingas atvirasis kompozicijos tipas. Vyrauja publicistinis funkcinis stilius, bet esama reklamų, kai susipina keli stiliai, daugiausiai publicistinis ir šnekamasis. Siekiant įtaigumo, naudojami įvairūs kalbos aktualizacijos būdai. Dažnesnė sintaksės aktualizacija. Daugiausiai retorinių sušukimų, elipsės, retorinių klausimų. Aktualizuojant leksiką, naudojamasi epitetais, nevengiama ironijos. Ypatingas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Social advertising – is a form of communication, which is of shocking or comic nature. It tries to change the attitude or behaviour of society towards a more positive direction, not using direct account. It may be free, paid or partially paid. Questioning Social advertising effect of community revealed that most respondents know social advertising and it helps to solve social problems. This advertisement has the biggest influence on TV. In Lithuania social advertising still are not high quality. Social advertising mostly created by directives. Not so many advertisements created by constatives. Commissives used only in Health service group. Generally, social advertising used second person imperatives. Also used rhetoric questions. Commination act was taken a part. This speech act used not only in the text also in visual information. Horrific views become exceptional element of social advertising. Social advertising is created according to three composition models: classical / closed; not fully classical / open and having one element. Open composition type is characteristic. Publicist functional style is prevailing, though the most of advertisements are created using some styles – publicistic and spoken for the most part. In order to avoid conventionality, seeking for suggestibility, more effect, different ways of actualization are used. Syntax actualization is more frequent. There are rhetoric exclamations, ellipsis, rhetoric questions. Actualizing lexis, epithets are used... [to full text]

This thesis is focused on the derivation of a new approach to business. Emphasis is put on organizations contributing to both economic success as well as social progress.  This dual financial and social value creation is referred to as social entrepreneurship. Increased attention and inclusiveness of the concept has led to confusion regarding the means of organizations acting within the recited phenomenon. Organizations are met with skepticism and are questioned in the matters of legitimacy. Differences of opinion centralize on whether companies invest these resources because it is demanded, because it strengthens the brand or simply because it is the responsibility of the corporation. The perception of legitimacy is dependent on the support the organization receives from its different constituencies. To explore social entrepreneurship, a case study was conducted. This case study was executed through a consumer perspective, seeing as legitimacy is upheld by the perception of the organizations immediate audience. The case company used, GodEl, operates using traditional business models with the purpose of maximizing profits. However, 100% of their earned dividend is donated to various charity organizations. This study is set out with the ambition to gain an understanding of a corporation operating within social entrepreneurship. The conclusions imply that the customers of GodEl legitimize their choice through diverse legitimizing dimensions. The findings indicate that pragmatic legitimacy is a stronger legitimizing dimension than moral legitimacy. These conclusions imply that larger emphasis is given to consumer self-interest, rather than the consequences and judgment of the organizations accomplishments. The ways in which customers legitimize their choices, may also be argued as the same factors affecting GodEls legitimacy regarding their operations.

剛出生前幾年，幼兒已逐漸能理解並談論自己和別人的不同。然而，真正習得用來指涉自己和別人的指涉詞不是那麼容易，因為至少得先理解角色轉換概念和說話者當時的說話目的為何。因此，在幼兒學會用大人模式指涉自己和別人前，他們會先有自己一套獨特的語言使用模式。本研究的目的在於探討一位以中文為母語的小孩如何用指涉詞表達自己的語用動機。研究對象是一對中階家庭的母女。語料來自於受試親子在家互動的語言。研究結果顯示幼兒特別容易會用指涉詞表達的語用功能種類不多。在語段層次，幼兒初期較會在和母親協調當下要做的事時，以及在和母親討論故事中虛幻世界時指涉自己；後期則除了在和母親協調當下要做的事時較會指涉自己外，在和母親協調未來要做的事、討論和現在或非現在相關的事時也較會指涉自己。另外，幼兒比較會指涉別人時，則是當她想要轉移母親焦點，或是在和母親討論兩人當下共同注視的目標、故事中虛幻世界、和現在相關的事、或是非現在發生的事時。在語句層次，幼兒則是當她在表達願望、要求母親為她做事、陳述個人想法、陳述她想要執行某動作的目的時較會指涉自己。較會指涉別人時則是當她在吸引母親注意、要求母親為她做事、陳述個人想法、和回答Wh-問句時。整體比較來看，母親特別會用指涉詞表達的語用功能種類比幼兒來得多元化。 / During the first years of life, children come to realize and talk about themselves distinct from others. However, acquisition of self- and other-reference forms is not always so easy because it presupposes at least a grasp of shifting roles, together with concept of the speaker’s communicative intents. Before children match adult-like usages of reference, they temporarily formulate their own linkages between language forms and functions. This paper examined how a Chinese young child formulated her pragmatic moves through self- and other-reference forms. One mother-child dyad from middle socioeconomic class were asked to do what they normally did at home. Results show that only a small set of communicative intents provided the particularly fertile contexts for the child’s self- and other-reference. In the speech interchange tier, the child earlier tended to refer to self in Negotiating the immediate activity(NIA) and Discussing the fantasy world(DFW), but later in Negotiating both the immediate and future activity(NIA, NFA),and Discussing the related-to-present(DRP) and the non-present(DNP). She tended to refer to other in Directing hearer’s attention(DHA), Discussing the joint focus of attention(DJF), the fantasy world(DFW), the related-to-present(DRP), and the non-present(DNP). In the speech act tier, the child tended to refer to self to Express a wish (WS), Request / Propose action for hearer(RS), State a proposition(ST), and State intent to carry out act by speaker(SI). She tended to refer to other to Call the hearer’s attention(CL), Request / Propose action for hearer(RS), State a proposition(ST) and Answer a wh-question by a statement(SA). In contrast, the contexts where the mother referred to self and other were more diversified than those where the child referred to self and other.

An important difference exists between the way humans communicate route knowledge and the turn-by-turn route directions provided by the majority of current navigation services. Navigation services present route directions with the same amount of detail regardless the route segment’s significance in the instructions, user’s distance from the destination, and finally the level of user’s familiarity with particular parts of the environment. (For complete abstract open document)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The goal of this study was to determine and compare the functions of the pragmatic markers (PMs) okay, anyway and shame as they occur in two spoken components of the International Corpus of English (ICE), namely ICE-SA (South African English) and ICE-EA (East African English). Using the commercially available Concordance program WordSmith Tools 4.0, all instances of okay, anyway and shame were identified in each corpus and all non-PM instances were then excluded. The remaining instances of okay, anyway and shame were subsequently hand coded to determine the primary functions that these elements exhibit. The classification of the various functions was done according to Fraser’s (1996, 1999, 2006) framework for identification of PMs. Despite the different size and state of completion of the two corpora, it was found that the functions of the two PMs okay and anyway were similar in South African English and East African English. The findings of the corpus investigation included identifying the functions of okay as both a conversational management marker and a basic marker, as well as its role in turn taking. Anyway was found to function as an interjection, a mitigation marker, a conversational management marker and a discourse marker. Shame was found to be a uniquely South African English PM, and to function both as an interjection and as a solidarity marker. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om vas te stel watter funksies verrig word deur die pragmatiese merkers (PM's) okay, anyway en shame, soos wat hulle gebruik word in twee gesproke komponente van die Internasionale Korpus van Engels (IKE), naamlik IKE-SA (Suid-Afrikaanse Engels) en IKE-OA (Oos-Afrika Engels). Met behulp van die kommersieel-beskikbare Concordance-program Wordsmith Tools 4.0, is alle gevalle van okay, anyway en shame binne die onderskeie korpusse geïdentifiseer, waarna alle nie-PM gevalle uitgesluit is. Die oorblywende gevalle van okay, anyway en shame is daarna met die hand gekodeer ten einde die primêre funksies van hierdie elemente vas te stel. Die funksies is geklassifiseer volgens Fraser (1996, 1999, 2006) se raamwerk vir die identifikasie van PM's. Ten spyte van verskille in die grootte en vlak van voltooidheid van die twee korpora, is vasgestel dat die PM's okay en anyway soortgelyke funksies verrig in beide Suid-Afrikaanse Engels en Oos-Afrika Engels. Uit die korpus-analise het dit verder geblyk dat okay nie net 'n rol speel in beurtneming nie, maar ook funksioneer as 'n gespreksbestuur-merker en basiese merker. Anyway blyk op sy beurt te funksioneeer as 'n tussenwerpsel, versagting-merker, gespreksbestuurmerker en diskoersmerker. Laastens is gevind dat shame as PM uniek is aan Suid- Afrikaanse Engels en dat dit funksioneer as beide 'n tussenwerpsel en solidariteitsmerker.