This dissertation explores verbal interactions in mock trial competitions at a US law school, in order to explore the ways that law students are taught the proper ways of speaking like advocates in adversarial speech settings. Learning to prevail in adversarial settings entails the use of conversational linguistic features whose primary function is pragmatic rather than referential. The proper use of these pragmatic markers enables lawyers to achieve desired effects in legal interaction and impression management, while maintaining intact the denotational content of their utterances. This dissertation examines in depth the feedback-mediated practices through which law students learn to use three prominent pragmatic markers in mock trials: tag questions, the declarative falling intonation, and using reported speech to cite legal authority. The metapragmatic discourses that constitute these practices socialize law students to use pragmatic markers in light of their ability to sway institutional decision-makers to favor their interpretation of the facts. The dissertation argues that these metapragmatic discourses articulate an institutional technology for the management of competing claims to propositional truth. How they justify the use of these pragmatic markers reveals, furthermore, that these technologies of truth are dialogic. Pragmatic markers allow legal advocates to project social voicing contrasts in adversarial settings, allowing them to associate the utterances of their courtroom rivals with the voice of dubious social characters, reducing the propositional value of their claims to truth. An analysis of metapragmatic discourses thus reveals the dialogic dimensions of the language of the law that relate language, agency, and power in the verbal constructions of institutional knowledge. It clarifies the ways that law students, as legal advocates, learn to incorporate broadly circulating ideologies of linguistic differentiation in their legal discourse.

The purpose of this paper was to discover the politeness schemes in two languages – American English and Lithuanian – and then compare the means of expressing politeness strategies in the two mentioned languages. The method used in the paper is a survey, evaluated by both qualitative and quantitative methods. The research illustrated that the two mentioned cultures do indeed use the speech acts of gratitude and apology. It also showed that American Female and American Male groups tend to choose more polite reactions, while Lithuanian Female and Lithuanian Male groups tend to use less polite reactions more often. Americans (both genders) do not imply the feeling of gratitude or apology, they say it directly. The Lithuanians (both genders) expressed gratitude or apology in everyday situations not as often and not as directly. In other words, the Lithuanian culture tends to use positive politeness; and vice versa, the American culture tends to use negative politeness. Besides that, the research revealed that gender plays a significant role in the answers of the survey respondents. The Female Americans and Female Lithuanians seem to be more polite than their male counterparts. It was also revealed that the respondents of American nationality express gratitude or apology in a more polite way and use more speech acts of gratitude or apology in both private and public spheres than the group of Lithuanian respondents. I believe, that my research is very important and relevant as it... [to full text] / Šio mokslinio darbo tikslas yra atskleisti mandagumo schemas dviejose kalbose – amerikiečių ir lietuvių – o veliau palyginti mandagumo raiškos priemones abiejose paminėtose kalbose. Tyrimo klausimas šiame darbe yra: Kas yra mandagu ir nemandagu amerikiečių ir lietuvių kultūrose ir kas yra laikoma mandagiu ir nemandagiu amerikiečių ir lietuvių kultūrose, kai tai būna pateikta kasdienėse situacijose (išreiškiant dėkingumą ir atsiprašymą)? Šiame moksliniame darbe aš pirmiausia gilinausi į teorinius aspektus, kurie susiję su mandagumo strategijomis pragmatikoje, vėliau tyrinėjau mandagumo raiškos priemones lietuvių ir amerikiečių kalbose, ir galiausiai lyginau mandagumo strategijų panašumus ir skirtumus, pagal tai, kaip jie yra išreikšti abiejose paminėtose kalbose. Tyrimo metodas, naudotas šiame darbe, yra kokybinė ir kiekybinė analizė. Tyrime dalyvavo 154 dalyviai: 75 amerikiečiai (50 moterų ir 25 vyrai) bei 79 lietuviai (48 moterys ir 31 vyras). Visi jie savanoriškai atsakė į klausimus. Tyrimas buvo pravestas internetinio tyrimų puslapio Survey Monkey pagalba (www.surveymonkey.com), kuris yra vienas populiariausių tyrimo atlikimo būdų pasaulyje. Jis suteikia galimybę tyrėjui ne tik gauti informaciją apklausos būdu iš respondentų iš viso pasaulio, bet ir apskaičiuoja rezultatus. Atliktas tyrimas parodė, kad dvi minėtosios kultūros tikrai naudoja dėkingumo bei atsiprašymo kalbos aktus. Jis taip pat atskleidė, kad Amerikiečių Moterų ir Amerikiečių Vyrų grupės yra linkę... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

The present study examined the request strategies of advanced learners of Japanese, by comparing those of native speakers of Japanese. The investigation focused on the following aspects: discourse structure, sentence types, strategy types, and reasoning behind the speakers’ choice of strategy. The participants for this study were five learners and six native speakers of Japanese. Data were collected through role plays and a retrospective verbal report. The distribution of the types of responses was compared. Results showed that the request realization of learners of Japanese and that of native speakers of Japanese were similar at least in the use of the supporting statements in the discourse structure and use of indirect strategies; in contrast, they differed in the use of sentence types to realize indirect requests and types of intended strategies. Findings suggest that the learners’ deviations from native speakers were caused by their inadequate grammatical skills. / Graduate

The present study analysed the use of hedges in English medical research articles written by Japanese and American researchers. The study also examined the relationship between Japanese medical professionals' employment of hedges and their writing process. Sixteen English medical articles: eight written by Japanese and eight by Americans were examined. Four of the Japanese authors discussed their writing process through questionnaires and telephone interviews. / The overall ratio of hedges in articles written by the two groups differed only slightly; however, analyses revealed a number of specific differences in the use of hedges between the groups. For example, Japanese researchers used epistemic adverbs and adjectives less frequently than the American researchers. The results were discussed in relation to the problems of nonnative speakers' grammatical competence, cultural differences in rhetorical features, and the amount of experience in the use of medical English.

The main aim of this thesis is to gain a deep understanding of the meanings of Korean conjunctive verbal suffixes from a pragmatic viewpoint, using real, not constructed data. In order to attain the purpose, this thesis conducts an in-depth analysis of the nature of the meanings, and the use, of six Korean conjunctive verbal suffixes: -ko, -nuntey, -nikka, -se, -ciman, and -to. The term the use refers to the truth-functionality of suffixes, i.e., whether they conjoin or disjoin the two propositions, which are recovered from two segments, truth-functionally. The data are obtained from 360 minutes of audio-taped Korean natural conversations. It adopts as its reasoning tool four major pragmatic theories - Gricean theory, neo-Gricean theory, Relevance Theory, and Default Semantics. However, it does not use the data to compare the four theories. The thesis emphasises how to elucidate the meanings of Korean conjunctive verbal suffixes that modern pragmatic theories cannot neatly explain. In Chapter 1 previous approaches on the six suffixes are analysed. It is pointed out that while these studies correctly equate the meanings of a given suffix with propositional relations that obtain between the two segments (linked by the suffix), they fail to see the importance of the use of the suffix. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the four pragmatic theories. The focus is on strengths and weaknesses of the four theories. In Chapter 3, we introduce propositional relations and the notions of encoding and inferred. What is meant by conjoining and disjoining truth-conditionally is also explained. Chapter 4 specifies the data. In Chapter 5, propositional relations between two propositions which are recovered from two conjoined segments are characterised. Chapter 6 applies the scope test to meanings of the six suffixes and distinguishes encoded and inferred meanings. It discusses encoded meanings of the six suffixes, which conjoin the two propositions truth-functionally, and discusses inferred meanings of only four of the six suffixes, which disjoin the two propositions truthfunctionally. In Chapter 7, we discuss the nature of the meanings of the six suffixes from two theoretical angles, Relevance Theory and Default Semantics, and in particular we argue against a unitary procedure hypothesis. Chapter 8 concludes the thesis and also includes suggestions for future studies.

This study, undertaken within the field of interlanguage pragmatics, investigates the kinds of pragmatic failures observed among tertiary level foreign learners of Japanese and also seeks to find reasons to help explain the occurrence of these failures. The focus of the study is on the data generated from a role play where a student has to borrow a book from their Japanese teacher. The primary role play is performed by nine beginner level learners of Japanese studying at an Australian university, but the role play is also performed by ten Japanese native speakers in order to determine what is normative for native speakers in this situation. Unlike previous studies in this area, this research collects kinesic non-verbal data in addition to linguistic data. The data is analysed using Thomas's (1983) concept of pragmatic failure, and Brown and Levinson's (1978, 1987) politeness theory. The study also considers whether Japanese native speakers evenly evaluate the role play performances of the Japanese learners. Despite difficulties in the application of these linguistic theories to beginner level learners, a number of sociopragmatic failures and one pragmalinguistic failure are observed in the role play performances of the Japanese learners. These are partially explained by a lack of instruction, nervousness in performing the role play and the learners' limited proficiency in the Japanese language. Inconsistencies are also observed in the way that JNS participants evaluate the role play performances of the JFL learners.

This study, undertaken within the field of interlanguage pragmatics, investigates the kinds of pragmatic failures observed among tertiary level foreign learners of Japanese and also seeks to find reasons to help explain the occurrence of these failures. The focus of the study is on the data generated from a role play where a student has to borrow a book from their Japanese teacher. The primary role play is performed by nine beginner level learners of Japanese studying at an Australian university, but the role play is also performed by ten Japanese native speakers in order to determine what is normative for native speakers in this situation. Unlike previous studies in this area, this research collects kinesic non-verbal data in addition to linguistic data. The data is analysed using Thomas's (1983) concept of pragmatic failure, and Brown and Levinson's (1978, 1987) politeness theory. The study also considers whether Japanese native speakers evenly evaluate the role play performances of the Japanese learners. Despite difficulties in the application of these linguistic theories to beginner level learners, a number of sociopragmatic failures and one pragmalinguistic failure are observed in the role play performances of the Japanese learners. These are partially explained by a lack of instruction, nervousness in performing the role play and the learners' limited proficiency in the Japanese language. Inconsistencies are also observed in the way that JNS participants evaluate the role play performances of the JFL learners.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Zugl.: Diss.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Zürich, 1986. / Bibliography: p. [185]-195. Also issued in print.