Volume 11, Issue 4

Color is a key feature, crucial for recognizing and categorizing objects. Even though color appearance tends to be perceived as stable, and universal tendencies have been found, color lexicon is subject to both intercultural and intralinguistic variations. Within a general hypothesis of integrating universalistic assumptions with a relativistic view, color terms and comparative color-based expressions (e.g., white as snow ) were studied. Data were collected through questionnaires and corpora; the languages studied included Italian, Danish, and English. Our data provide a picture of the variegated intertwinement between nature and culture in the investigated languages. From a universalistic perspective, natural objects (e.g., sea, sky), which appear to be more stable across time and space, are more frequently mentioned as typical exemplars than artificial ones. From a relativistic perspective, some typical exemplars, which are not common interlinguistically, are mainly related to the linguistic representation of local history and traditions of the specific nation and culture. Instead of positing a single (either universalistic or relativistic) explanatory model, different interfaces and several contextual parameters are hypothesized to work jointly with universalistic constraints in lexicalizing the chromatic experience.

The important role of person pro-forms in establishing interpersonal relations has long been recognized. During interaction, person pro-forms act as indexicals whose referents are determined by the context in which they are used. This study focuses on the pragmatic functions of first and second-person pro-forms in earnings calls, now the primary channel for oral financial reporting in the corporate world. Earnings calls consist of presentations by company executives followed by question-and-answer sessions with financial analysts who participate via teleconferencing. A contrastive case study based on the earnings call of an Italian company and a US company was undertaken to provide insights into how person pro-forms are used in ICT-mediated financial discourse when English is used as a common language. Text analysis software was used to descriptively analyze person pro-forms. In addition, the two datasets were manually examined to identify pragmatic functions that could shed light on interpersonal relations and participant roles. Overall, person pro-form usage was closely aligned with the distinct objectives of the participants as either “information seekers” or “information providers.” However, some interesting differences suggest that the Italian executives had a more interpersonal approach to the interaction compared to the American executives. This could be influenced by the importance of relationships in the Italian culture, but could also reflect strategic choices to achieve professional goals. The findings can be used to help both corporate professionals and students of management and finance acquire a better understanding of the pragmatics of person pro-forms, and thus become more effective communicators in intercultural contexts.

This paper reports on empirical research, the purpose of which is fourfold. Firstly, we provide data regarding the realization patterns of requests made by Canarian Spanish students, both orally and in writing, in their mother tongue, a variety of Spanish. Secondly, since these undergraduates study English as a Foreign Language, we also examine the requests they make as non-native speakers of English. Two different methods were adopted for data elicitation, namely, open tape-recorded role-plays and Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs). Thirdly, we obtained a corpus of natural data through field notes taken from an array of real interactional situations in which different people spontaneously formulated requests. Finally, we try to determine to what extent the results in each phase differ depending on the method and the language used, thus contributing to the debate on the validity of research methods.

Research into the speech-act request performed by people of different cultures operationalized at levels including nation, community of practice, and L2 speakers has identified and discussed sets of culture-related request-making behaviors. The findings of this research suggest that differences exist among cultures in request-making behaviors concerning the use and choice of request directness and strategies, rhetorical approaches, and internal and external modifications. The present study, with an intercultural orientation, focused on an external request modification element – grounder, an element that can function to build solidarity while justifying the request. The lexicogrammar used by both Chinese and non-Chinese professionals in textualizing the grounders accompanying their intercultural English requests made via email was analyzed using Appraisal Theory. The use of evaluative language in intercultural request grounders was then compared with that in intracultural ones. The findings indicate that while both Chinese and non-Chinese professionals demonstrated positive accommodative evaluative behavior in the construction of the discourse of intercultural request grounders, the non-Chinese professionals showed a stronger willingness to accommodate than the Chinese professionals. Possible reasons for the accommodation behavior demonstrated by the professionals of the two different cultures were offered and discussed.

Preference structure is a fundamental organizational principle of talk, and research has shown that preferred actions tend to be done immediately and without mitigation whereas dispreference is indicated by delays, elaboration, hesitation, and mitigation. However, little research exists on how second language learners do preference and dispreference. In this study, we investigate how 67 learners of Arabic at four proficiency levels managed preference structure in requests and how their management of preference changed over a five-month period. We found a strong increase in the use of preliminary moves with proficiency level, and also greater occurrence of preliminary moves over the five-month period among lower-level learners. Absence of clear dispreference marking with lower-proficiency learners led to repair sequences, and only high-proficiency learners used multiple preliminary moves. Offers by the interlocutor were rare and limited to interactions with high-proficiency learners. We conclude that interactions involving second language learners can be affected by the learners' developing L2 proficiency, which limits their ability to carry out social actions in a conventional way in the target language.