This dissertation examines the construction of the contemporary Russian geopolitics through the usage of the foundational myth, better known as the Third Rome myth and the center of true Christianity. This is achieved through the analysis of four famous speeches by President Vladimir Putin. These speeches cover the two regions of Ukraine and Georgia, the former being to an internal audience and the latter to a foreign audience. Accompanied with examining the foundational myth, this dissertation also deliberates on how it is being utilized by Putin. In his reconstruction of a new Russia, one that synthesizes the old ideas of greatness alongside the new set of geopolitics. The aims to fulfill are: Firstly, to broaden our understanding of the present and future Russian geopolitics. Secondly, through usage of the myth to develop our understanding of the new environment surrounding hybrid warfare. And especially politics, in form of soft power, that play a significant role where insight can help prevent future conflicts. The method of analysis is of qualitative nature. Speech act by Austin and Searle is employed in order to gain an overview and enable the construction of semiotic squares, that in turn facilitate the actantial models by Greimas.

In recent years, the public has seen a rise in recorded footage of violent encounters between police and Black American citizens, partially due to technology such as cell phones, dash-cameras, and body-cameras. This linguistic study examines how these encounters get escalated to the point of violence by asking 1) what kind of directives were used, 2) how were they responded to, 3) how the directives contributed to escalation, and 4) how might power and authority have played a role. I use two case studies to analyze directives and their responses. Findings reveal that repetition of directives on the part of the officers, as well as the rejections to those directives on the part of the motorists tend to aggravate the conversation. I conclude that a variety of directives may represent a variety of reasons the officer might have for a motorist to comply with their directives and that police authority might be better understood and agreed to by the motorist if a variety of linguistic resources were used.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The aim of this study is to investigate politeness phenomena within the Hindu sector of the South African Indian English speaking community. The study focuses on the understanding of politeness within the target community and whether this understanding has changed over the past generation. It also examines if males and females exhibit and value politeness differently. Finally the study investigates which of the existing Western/non-Western models of politeness are relevant for describing the politeness phenomena in the target community. This study is conducted through the realizations of the speech acts of requests and apologies, focusing on the variables of age, status and social distance. In order to achieve triangulation, qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used. These comprised interviews with cultural/religious leaders, discourse completion tasks, interviews with families and a ranking scale. My findings reveal that the understanding of politeness phenomena within the target community is more in keeping with that in other non-Western cultures than in Western cultures. Females are found to exhibit more polite behaviours than males. Further, in general the understanding of politeness over the past generation has remained more or less constant. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

El objetivo del presente estudio es comparar diferencias y similitudes entre dos culturas distintas, enconcreto la peruana y la sueca, con respecto a los cumplidos y en relación a la cortesía. Partimos de lapremisa generalizada de que los cumplidos pueden diferenciarse interculturalmente y planteamos lahipótesis, basada en esta premisa y en nuestra propia percepción como hablante de sueco y de español,de que hay una diferencia intercultural entre los peruanos y suecos en cuanto a la realización delcumplido. En concreto, pensamos que los dos grupos bajo estudio se diferencian, en primer lugar, encuanto a quién es el destinatario del cumplido, y en segundo lugar en cuanto a la persona, cosa ocomportamiento que son objeto de cumplido. Se ha elaborado una encuesta para cada grupo nacional(10 en cada uno) en su idioma materno con situaciones en donde hay alta probabilidad de queaparezcan cumplidos. Las situaciones descritas en la encuesta las elegimos porque pensamos que sonfáciles de reconocer como parte de la vida diaria para la mayoría de las personas y porque nos puedandar respuestas apropiadas para responder a las preguntas de investigación. Las encuestas se handistribuido en su mayoría de forma personal, aunque en algunos casos han sido distribuidas por mediode internet. Los resultados nos revelan que el grupo de peruanos prefiere no usar tanto el cumplidocomo el grupo de suecos cuando la distancia social es más alta, como entre empleado y jefe, yprefieren en su lugar, como una forma de marcar distancia, realizar felicitaciones. Por otro lado, elgrupo de suecos prefieren hacer cumplidos de modo más impersonal, con una preferencia por referirsea los objetos (bonito carro) en lugar de introducir su persona en el enunciado (me gusta el carro). Deesta forma, en cuanto a la primera hipótesis, observamos que los dos grupos hacen en general uso delcumplido a la mayoría de los destinatarios en todas las situaciones de la encuesta, y por lo tanto no seaprecia una variación significativa. En cambio, con respecto a la segunda hipótesis, sí observamos unavariación cultural en cuanto a la forma de enfocar el cumplido. / The aim of the present study is to compare differences and similarities between two different cultures,namely the Peruvian and the Swedish, in terms of compliments in relation to politeness. The studyparts from the generalized premise that compliments can differ interculturally. The hypothesis, basedon that premise and also in the perception of the author of this study, as a Swedish and Spanishspeaking person, is that there is an intercultural difference among Peruvians and Swedes regarding thedelivery of compliments. Specifically we believe that both groups under study differ in two ways. Atfirst they differ regarding whom is the addressee of the compliment and then they differ regarding theperson, thing or behavior that is object of the compliment. A questionnaire was elaborated for bothgroups (10 in each group) in their respective modern tongue with situations where there is a highprobability that compliments may occur. The situations in the survey were chosen because they werebelieved to be easily recognized in the everyday life of most people. They were also believed toprovide us with the answers that were needed in this study to be able to answer the research questions.The survey was foremost distributed personally and in some cases they were distributed through theinternet. The results reveal that the Peruvian group prefers to do fewer compliments than the Swedishgroup when the social distance is bigger, like between employee and chief. They prefer to enouncemore congratulations than the Swedish group as a distance marker. On the other hand the Swedesprefer to compliment in a more impersonal manner because of their preference to refer to the object(nice car) rather than to introduce their person in the enunciation (I like the car). What regards the firsthypothesis it is observed that both groups compliment the majority of the addressees in every situationof the survey, and therefore there´s no significant variation to be observed. On the other hand, thesecond hypotheses can confirm a cultural variation regarding the way to direct the compliment

This thesis investigates verbal insults recorded in judicial protocols in the Swedish university townUppsaladuring the 1630s. The aim of the study is to analyze insults as linguistic formulations and social acts in Early Modern Swedish society. The methodology of the study is guided by speech act theory and ethnography of communication in order to examine the lexical realizations of insults and verbal action in different speech communities. From a total of 652 protocols in two series of records from the city court and the university council inUppsalain the 1630s, sections of text were excerpted that registered insults. The material under investigation comprises 179 cases that contained 276 insults. The descriptive meta-linguistic expressions for insults are rich as well as varied, and the performed insults are reported with or without invectives and as direct or indirect speech. Clear patterns emerged in the investigation by performing various semantic-, pragmatic-, and discourse-level analyses of the judicial records. Insults among city people were commonly interpreted as truth-conditional representative speech acts and thereby were viewed as false accusations of various kinds. In the academic world, however, the truth value of the insult was of minor importance. The speech act was regarded mainly as an expressive utterance of anger and frustration. Through a comparison of the city and university judicial records, it is shown that the patterns of insults reveal a general semantic process in which primarily concrete, objective meanings come to fulfill increasingly interpersonal and pragmatic speech functions.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-78).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-78).

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The broad topic of this study is the nature and the effects of making and interpreting complaints in intercultural interactions involving international students and South African administrative staff in two Stellenbosch University residences. It appears that during these interactions, the international students are often frustrated by the way their complaints are handled. As a speech act, the effectiveness of a complaint depends on the way it is expressed and understood and also on the social context in which it is performed. In this regard, the study examines the influence of cultural differences on the way complaints are made and responded to in the above-mentioned intercultural interactions. The study aims to analyse intercultural situations involving the making and understanding of complaints that may result in misunderstandings. The complaints data were collected through a discourse completion task, performed by 24 international students belonging to six cultural groups, namely American, Chinese, Dutch, Gabonese, German and Libyan. All the students were residents in one of two student residences of Stellenbosch University. The social acceptability judgments data were elicited from three Afrikaans-speaking South African staff members of these residences, and from an additional six Afrikaans-speaking South African students who served as informants. All the data were analyzed within the pragmatic framework of the CCSARP (Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project), as developed by Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989). The main findings of the analysis indicate that the six cultural groups differed in the way they made their complaints. Moreover, these differences influenced the manner in which some complaints were understood by the staff members. It was also found that the staff members’ responses to the complaints were influenced by their social acceptability judgments of the international students’ utterances. These findings lead to three main conclusions: (i) the way in which complaints are made and understood is influenced by factors that relate to cultural differences; (ii) such cultural differences may lead to misunderstandings; and (iii) conscious efforts to create greater awareness of cultural differences will lead to a better understanding of the way in which people of different cultural groups make and respond to complaints. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie handel breedweg oor die aard en effek van klagtes, soos uitgedruk en geïnterpreteer tydens interkulturele interaksies tussen internasionele studente en Suid-Afrikaanse administratiewe personeel in twee koshuise van die Universiteit Stellenbosch. Dit blyk dat die studente dikwels gefrustreerd voel oor die manier waarop hulle klagtes in sulke interaksies gehanteer word. Die effektiwiteit van ’n klagte, as ’n taalhandeling, word bepaal deur die manier waarop dit uitgedruk en verstaan word, asook deur die sosiale konteks waarbinne dit uitgevoer word. Die studie ondersoek in dié verband die invloed van kulturele verskille op die manier waarop klagtes uitgedruk en op gereageer word in die bogenoemde interaksies. Die doel van die studie is om ’n analise te maak van interkulturele situasies waar misverstande kan ontstaan by die uitdruk en interpretasie van klagtes. Die klagte-data is ingesamel deur die voltooiing van ’n diskoers-taak waarby 24 studente van ses verskillende kultuurgroepe betrek is: Amerikaans, Chinees, Duits, Gabonees, Libies en Nederlands. Al die studente was inwoners van een van twee koshuise van Stellenbosch Universiteit. Die data oor sosiale aanvaarbaarheidsoordele is verkry van drie Afrikaanssprekende Suid-Afrikaanse personeellede, en van ’n verdere ses Afrikaanssprekende Suid-Afrikaanse studente wat opgetree het as informante. Al die data is ontleed binne die pragmatiekraamwerk van die CCSARP (“Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project”), soos ontwikkel deur Blum- Kulka, House en Kasper (1989). Die hoofbevindings van die analise dui daarop dat die ses kultuurgroepe van mekaar verskil wat betref die manier waarop hulle hul klagtes uitgedruk het, en dat hierdie verskille ’n invloed het op die manier waarop sommige klagtes geïnterpreteer is deur die personeellede. ’n Verdere bevinding is dat die personeellede se reaksies op die klagtes beïnvloed is deur hulle beoordeling van die sosiale aanvaarbaarheid van die internasionale studente se uitings. Drie hoofgevolgtrekkings kan op basis van dié bevindings gemaak word: (i) die manier waarop klagtes uitgedruk en geïnterpreteer word, word beïnvloed deur faktore wat verband hou met kulturele verskille; (ii) sulke kulturele verskille kan lei tot misverstande; en (iii) daadwerklike pogings om ’n groter bewussyn van kulturele verskille te skep, sal lei tot ’n beter begrip van die manier waarop klagtes uitgedruk en op gereageer word deur mense van verskillende kultuurgroepe.

[pt] Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal identificar o modelo canônico de comportamento dos falantes nativos cariocas para reagir a elogios em situações ordinárias de interação. Tendo em vista que as respostas a elogios podem ser consideradas atos de fala complexos, com normas de uso dependentes de questões culturais, consideramos que os mesmos carregam um alto potencial de risco de mal-entendidos e de constrangimentos para falantes não nativos que tentem realizá-los a partir das normas de suas próprias culturas. Visando colaborar com os estudos voltados para o ensino de português para estrangeiros, esta pesquisa se propõe a dar os primeiros passos rumo à compreensão da orientação de polidez carioca que embasa a construção do ideal de comportamento de seus falantes nativos. Para tal, buscamos para nossa fundamentação teórica conceitos da Pragmática e da Antropologia cultural. A análise de dados baseia-se num corpus criado a partir da aplicação de um questionário com algumas hipóteses de respostas a elogios de situações cotidianas, em que os informantes escolheram as mais e as menos adequadas para cada situação. Visando uma confirmação do padrão encontrado, numa segunda etapa, buscamos comparar alguns desses dados a formas usadas em situações reais, por meio de gravações de elogios provocados em interações espontâneas. Os resultados apontaram a aceitação como a forma idealizada de reação a elogios para diferentes tópicos e em diferentes contextos situacionais. / [en] This paper seeks to identity the canonic pattern of behavior of Rio de Janeiro s native speakers and their reactions when receiving compliments in ordinary day-to-day situations. Responses to compliment can be considered complex speech acts, with norms which are dependent on cultural factors. Based on that, the author considers that these situations embody a strong potential for misunderstandings and embarrassment for non-native speakers, when they fail to adapt their own cultural background to the natives standards during interactions. This research proposes to collaborate with the Portuguese as a Second Language field of study by advancing in the understanding of Rio de Janeiro s politeness norms, which are the basis for the ideal behavioral pattern of native speakers. The theoretic fundaments rest in Pragmatics and Cultural Anthropology concepts. The data analysis is based on information gathered from a questionnaire, which presented some hypothesis of responses to compliments in ordinary situations and in which the repliers chose the most and the least appropriate reactions for each situation. Seeking to confirm the pattern that was drawn from the responses, on a second phase, the study sought to compare some of the data collected to the speech patterns used in real-life situations, through the use of pre-recorded responses to compliments in spontaneous situations. The results showed that, for different subjects and situational contexts, the ideal behavior to native speakers is the acceptance of the compliments, rather than its rebuttal.