Abstract Turns intertwine in various ways as speakers make their utterances depend on each other through shared linguistic common ground. This paper offers a first contrastive pragmatic exploration of the understudied phenomenon of dyadic syntax , clauses marked as subordinate that are syntactically independent but pragmatically dependent on preceding speech acts by the addressee or speaker. Based on a contrastive study of Greek and Latin comedy, it is argued that dyadic syntax is expressed through dependency expressions of conditionality, hypothetical comparison, causality, and especially of coordination and consequence; dyadic syntax serves at least three pragmatic roles in both languages, (i) cooperation, (ii) delay, and (iii) discursive elaboration. Dyadic syntax in Greek and Latin comedy resembles its use in other languages and reflects more universal patterns of turn taking structure. Also, dyadic syntax is used outside of conversational texts, for example in monologues to create diaphony and counter embedded voices.
Abstract The paper deals with the linguistic peculiarities of informational messages in the form of public signs. The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the structural and semantic content of the informational messages for cross-cultural and cross-linguistic representation. It draws upon the principles of the pragmatic-discourse analytic approach. A comparable corpus of randomly selected signs and posters referring to the information on COVID-19 -related behaviour expectations from citizens while visiting public places in the form of photos was collected in Lithuanian and Ukrainian contexts in 2021–2022. A qualitative data analysis was conducted with the focus on spotlighting and comparing the syntactic/structural, grammatical, and lexico-semantic means of textual organization of such messages in two languages and cultures. Our research corroborates the findings of recent studies with Estonian, Finnish, French, Ukrainian, and other languages, but also shows that some differences are language dependent.
Abstract This study examines whether Arabic–English bilinguals use please and comparable Arabic request-related markers as a shared resource across different request contexts. It asks whether such use is higher than in Arabic-dominant baseline production, whether it differs across spoken and digital interaction, and whether it is linked to bilingual experience, especially intensity of English use. Sixty adults produced about 1,200 requests in spoken role-play, WhatsApp-style messaging, and email. The results show that bilingual speakers used these markers more often than Arabic-dominant baseline speakers, with the clearest effect in messaging. Higher levels of English use also predicted greater reliance on them. The study argues that please/blīz can function as a portable requestive bridging device in bilingual request behaviour and that digital communication strengthens this tendency. More broadly, the findings contribute to contrastive pragmatics by showing how Arabic-dominant request patterns and English-derived requestive resources are reweighted across spoken and digital bilingual interaction.
Abstract This article discusses usage-based conceptions of the term ‘hate speech’ in Danish and German to understand ‘folk’ perceptions of the expression in the two languages. The study is based on popular usage of the term on social media and metareflective discourse on hate speech in interviews with native speakers. The findings show that the English loan word ‘hate speech’ and its German and Danish loan translations are metapragmatically significant expressions which function as evaluative tokens for moral assessments of communicative behaviour as part of politicised discursive practice online. Notably, the interviewees do not reference these online practices, pointing to a gap between spontaneous linguistic performance and metacommunicative awareness. Comparison across the languages further reveals variation in the ideological-political discourses into which the hate speech token is recruited online as well as differences in the moral orientations underpinning the understanding of hate speech in popular reasoning.
Abstract This exploratory study used a pragmatic performance measure and an eye-tracking measure to examine the impact of personality on L2 learners’ ability to perform pragmatic acts (routine speech acts in this study). Forty Chinese learners of English completed a video-based speaking task assessing their ability to perform a variety of routine pragmatic acts directed to their interlocutor in a video. They also completed the Keirsey’s (1998) survey assessing three personality traits – extraversion, feeling, and perception (based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, 1976). Quality of the participants’ pragmatic acts was assessed holistically using a 5-point scale. Using a screen-based eye tracker, the duration of participants’ eye fixation on their interlocutor was also measured. Results showed that extraversion significantly affected both the quality of pragmatic acts and eye fixation duration. However, the direction of the impact showed a contrast – negative impact on pragmatic act performance and positive impact on eye fixation duration.
Abstract This study presents a contrastive discourse-pragmatic analysis of response signals ( RS s) in English and Iraqi Arabic, focusing on the English yeah, yes, no, nope and the Iraqi Arabic iye, na’m, la , and kala . Building upon the theoretical framework of theticals and the Peripheral Asymmetry Hypothesis, this study investigates how RS s operate across conceptual, textual, interpersonal subjective and intersubjective functions, and how these functions are associated with their positional distribution in spoken interaction. The analysis is based on spoken interactions using a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach. The findings demonstrate that RS s are not merely polarity markers but rather multifunctional discourse elements, involved in turn-taking, stance-taking, alignment, and interactional management. Although both languages have certain similar functional structures, they differ in their formal realisation and pragmatic preferences, reflecting language-specific interactional norms. The study contributes to cross-linguistic research on discourse markers, interactional grammar and pragmatics.
We report a study of expressions of possibility and necessity in the context of sanc-tioning problematic behaviour: modal sanctions. The study is comparative on two dimensions: We compare across two types of context, oriented to codified rules (playing board games) or to social norms (breakfast with the family), and across four European languages: British English, German, Italian and Polish. We find that (1) only around 16% of sanctioning attempts in mundane social interaction draw on modal expressions; (2) modal sanctions invoke a variety of backgrounds, not just deontic ones; (3) sanc-tions enforcing codified rules are lean and orient to information, whereas sanctions enforcing social norms are larger and orient to negotiation; (4) interrogative sanctions are used differently across the four languages. In sum, the study shows the importance of data from comparable activities for contrastive pragmatics, and explores the rela-tion of deontic semantics to broader meanings of unacceptability.
Abstract This study investigates the act of apologizing in Greek and Latin comedy, a speech act that, while relatively rare in classical texts, provides insight into notions of forgiveness in Antiquity. Despite apology and forgiveness not being central to the classical worldview, instances in Greek and Latin comedy demonstrate that some form of remedial action was taken after a wrongdoing. Employing a qualitative and quantitative contrastive socio-pragmatic approach, the study first examines the semantic-conceptual core of forgiveness in the two languages. It then analyzes the pragma-linguistic strategies used to perform apologies, identifying the most frequent patterns. The analysis highlights contextual differences between authors, offering insight into variation in apologetic practices and associated concepts of face. Finally, the study considers socio-pragmatic variables and tentatively discusses the hypothesis that societal differences may underlie the observed divergences in the realization of apologies across Greek and Latin.
Abstract This paper revisits the question of why we compare interpersonal pragmatic phenomena across languages. A review of key cross-linguistic/cultural studies of interpersonal pragmatics indicates that the rationale for comparison reflects ideological influences, including native speakerism, at a given time. In the context of English as a foreign language ( EFL ), the influential work of Eisenstein and Bodman (1986; 1993) significantly advanced our understanding of speech act realisation patterns of thanking. However, their research primarily focused on identifying the differences between non-native and native speaker performances when carrying out the speech act of thanking. I argue that contrastive pragmatic research would be enriched by elucidating how social actors in disparate spatial and temporal contexts balance their obligations with self-respect and consideration for others, despite undergoing divergent socialisation and conditioning within each given community.
This article examines the discourse-pragmatic use of please as a marker of politeness in three African English varieties: Ghanaian English, Nigerian English, and Ugandan English, analysing its frequency, structural patterns, pragmatic functions, and variation across different text types. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, the study analysed data from the Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Ugandan components of the International Corpus of English. The findings show that please occurs most frequently in Nigerian English, followed by Ghanaian English and Ugandan English, and that it is most common in correspondences and public dialogues across all three varieties. Also, please occurs predominantly in clause-initial position and fulfils a range of pragmatic functions, including those that have not been documented in studies of other world Englishes. Overall, these findings reflect the impact of local languages and cultures on the use of please in the three African English varieties.
This study presents a cross-cultural analysis of Arabic and English metaphori-cal compliments in YouTube comments directed at two Saudi diplomats. Taking a cross-linguistic approach, we identified a set of metaphors in both Arabic and English compliments and then categorized them into five source domains: animals, body parts, occupations, tools/abstract objects, and family-related references. The analysis reveals both cultural and gender-related differences. Arabic comments often employ both animal metaphors and familial metaphors, which reflect collectivist and religious values, whereas English comments tend to emphasize occupations and tools - often involving emotional and performance-based imagery - which reflect a more individu-alist orientation. In terms of their function, these online compliments are best viewed as acts of stancetaking and community alignment within the digital sphere and this is the case for both languages.
This study explores a gay couple's display of affective stances as they construct what is futsuu (normal/usual/ordinary) and what is not regarding their sexuality and marriage in varying contexts they describe. The couple relocated from Japan to France, where they married in 2023. Compared to France, Japan is a highly heteronormative society, where same-sex marriage is banned (institutional homophobia) and homophobic behaviour (societal homophobia) is not uncommon. Applying multimodal conversation analysis (CA) and membership categorisation analysis (MCA) to conversational data from the couple, this study demonstrates how societal and institutional homophobia contribute to shaping affective stances by contrasting the speakers' construction of futsuu in Japan and France. They display a range of affective stances that indicate a continuing orientation to heteronormativity, but also some resistance to homophobia. Theoretically, the study contributes to the conceptualization of the notion of norms by showing the context-dependent variability of what is considered normal.
In Japan, coming out as gay is still rare and stigmatized with few public figures challenging the status quo. This article analyses the coming out speech events of Japanese celebrities to examine how they position and normalize themselves and others while coming out. It aims to contribute to our understanding of how individuals draw upon contextual knowledge and negotiate the pressures of cultural and social norms in actual interactions. Normalization Theory and Positioning Theory were used to examine the use of linguistic and pragmatic strategies that affect coming-out. This article shows how the context of coming out and especially the person's relationship with their audience impacts the affect and the combined use of normalizing and positioning strategies. The findings of this article help to build a more complex understanding of coming out in East Asia, emphasizing the importance of context and cultural negotiation of gender and sexual identities.
