Monday, May 25, 2009

power pragmatics in asian languages

jyh wee sew

quote Power in Language by Ng and Bradoc, 1993: "facts and logic alone are often insufficient for persuasion. Facts and logic--the prescribed basis of persuasion--must be adapted to the situation, and it is language and language style that will bear the burden of this mission."

quotes Robin Lakoff, 1990: "we are always involved in persuasion...If we succeed, we have power."

Hong 1985: "...since the addressee is supposed to anticipate your needs, if you mention them to him, it will embarrass him."

Sew: "Therefore, indirectness is understood as a style of formulating speech acts, which has an inherent pragmatic role."

In a Tamil family, "The wife in the family usually addressed the husband 'father of X: X being the eldest son/daughter' whereas the husband called his wife by her name." Not true now.

"Some explicator markers (V2), for instance, convey contempt" in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kurukh.

Indirectness is tied to face-saving. Can be tied to powerlessness, but not necessarily.

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