Sociolinguistic interaction and identity construction: The view from game‐theoretic pragmatics

Understanding the dynamics that characterize interaction between conversational participants is a fundamental goal of most theories of socially conditioned language use and identity construction through language. In this paper, I outline a class of formal tools that, I suggest, can be helpful in making progress towards this goal. More precisely, this paper explores how Bayesian signalling game models can be used to formalize key aspects of current sociolinguistic theories, and, in doing so, contribute to our knowledge of how speakers use their linguistic resources to communicate information and carve out their place in the social world. The Bayesian framework has become increasingly popular for the analysis of pragmatic phenomena of many different types, and, more generally, these models have become a dominant paradigm for the explanation of non‐linguistic cognitive processes. As such, I argue that this approach has the potential to yield a formalized theory of personal and social identity construction and to situate the study of sociolinguistic interaction within a broader theory of rationalistic cognition.     

The reality of net capital gains and annual profit on NZ primary producing businesses: data from a recent survey of all farm types

ABSTRACT

Annual net cash returns and net capital gains provide farmers with their actual and potential monetary rewards, respectively. This article reports on a national farm survey showing both actual and potential returns, on average, are not as high as might be imagined. This is supported by the findings of earlier studies and has implications for rural societies and their associated economies. Data on income, expenses and profit is presented as is data on farm value changes over the life of each farm. The information is adjusted for inflation to provide ‘real’ data. The profit and net capital gain figures are divided into groupings based on a range of criteria such as total farm capital, and labour compliment as a reflection of farm size. Statistically significant differences occur for some groupings such as farm type and farm size.     

英语习语在新闻标题中的临时变体

英语习语的临时变体广泛应用于新闻标题语篇。通过分析大量的新闻标题,研究习语临时变体在新闻标题语篇中的语义功能和美学功能,探讨新闻标题语篇中英语习语的临时变体类型,将之划分为语义返朴变体、词汇替代变体和句法结构变体,并结合认知语言学比喻优先理论、概念整合理论和多义推导理论对3种变体类型分别进行理据分析。     

概念隐喻视角下拟人的构建及其认知力

以往对拟人的研究局限于修辞学范畴,主要考察拟人的修辞功能和效果。认知语言学认为,拟人既是一种语言现象,也是一种思维方式。Lakoff＆Johnson的概念隐喻理论认为,隐喻是一种普遍的思维方式,而拟人也是一种隐喻。拟人隐喻思维很好地解释了拟人作为一种语言现象普遍存在的原因。在认知语言学的概念隐喻理论框架下,探讨拟人的构建及其认知力,有助于加深对拟人的理解和运用。     

Women's Hair Color and Survey Response Rate: A Field Experiment

Previous research found that survey response rates were influenced by physical characteristics of the interviewer. However, the effect of hair color on compliance to a survey request has never been studied. Female confederates wearing blond, brown, black, or red wigs solicited 1,200 male and female pedestrians for a survey. It was found those male passersby, but not the female, agreed more frequently to the confederates wearing blond wigs whereas they agreed less to the same confederates wearing red wigs. Greater youth and healthiness associated with blond hair in women is used to explain these results. The practical interest in face-to-face surveys is addressed.     

How Close Is Close Enough: Public Perceptions of the Risks of Industrial Facilities

Public opinion poll data have consistently shown that the proportion of respondents who are willing to have a nuclear power plant in their own community is smaller than the proportion who agree that more nuclear plants should be built in this country. Respondents' judgments of the minimum safe distance from each of eight hazardous facilities confirmed that this finding results from perceived risk gradients that differ by facility (e.g., nuclear vs. natural gas power plants) and social group (e.g., chemical engineers vs. environmentalists) but are relatively stable over time. Ratings of the facilities on thirteen perceived risk dimensions were used to determine whether any of the dimensions could explain the distance data. Because the rank order of the facilities with respect to acceptable distance was very similar to the rank order on a number of the perceived risk dimensions, it is difficult to determine which of the latter is the critical determinant of acceptable distance if, indeed, there is only one. There were, however, a number of reversals of rank order that indicate that the respondents had a differentiated view of technological risk. Finally, data from this and other studies were interpreted as suggesting that perceived lack of any other form of personal control over risk exposure may be an important factor in stimulating public opposition to the siting of hazardous facilities.     

新时期高师院校学生择业心理调查分析及教育策略

为了探讨市场经济条件下，高等师范院校学生的择业、就业心理状况，通过问卷调查，发现高师学生在择业心态及择业心理等方面存在较多问题。高师院校必须通过思想教育、教学改革、更新教育观念等多种途径来提高师范生的择业能力，以达到实现毕业生有效就业的目标。     

关于吴宓著译情况的系统分析

吴宓先生是一位学识渊博的学者,他的学术研究领域宽阔,涉及范围很广,在诸如新人文主义、西方文化与西方文学的译介、中西文化和文学的比较研究、诗歌创作与鉴赏理论、外国诗学与诗歌翻译等多个方面,都给后人留下了一笔宝贵的遗产。对吴宓的学术性文章概况、文学创作概况、出版的专著概况及未刊文章等方面进行系统客观的分析与述评,无论对于吴宓学术还是对于中国的学术发展,都是一项极有价值和意义的工作。     

Demographic Influences on Risk Perceptions

Over the past 15 years, psychologists have empirically investigated how people perceive technological, consumer, and natural hazards. The psychometric-attitudes to risk being summarized by three factors: "dread," whether the risk is known, and personal exposure to the risk. The results have been used to suggest that certain types of hazards are viewed very differently from other hazards. The purpose of this paper is somewhat different, in that it investigates whether individual demographic characteristics influence psychometric perceptions of risk. This paper makes use of a large, professionally conducted, survey of a wide cross-section of the residents of metropolitan Chicago. One thousand adults were interviewed in a random-digit dial telephone survey, producing a useable dataset of about 800. Data on the three risk factors mentioned above were obtained on 7-point scales for four common hazards: aviation accidents, fires in the home, automobile accidents, and stomach cancer. The survey also collected demographic data on respondents'age, schooling, income, sex, and race. Regressions were then conducted to relate the demographic characteristics to risk perceptions. Some strong general conclusions can be drawn. The results suggest that women, people with lower levels of schooling and income, younger people, and blacks have more dread of hazards. The exception being age-related illnesses which, not unnaturally, are feared by older people. Unlike previous literature, we cannot substantiate the argument that these groups of people are less informed about hazards and thus less accepting of them. The most likely leading explanation of the relationship between demographic factors and dread of a hazard is the perceived personal exposure to the hazard. People with greater perceived exposure to a hazard are more fearful.