Browsing by Subject "Language and languages--Philosophy."
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Item Open Access A performatory analysis of the overt use of the predicate "true"(Bilkent University, 2013) Şenol, Mahmut BurakThe de ationary theory has been one of the most in uential theories of truth in contemporary philosophy. This theory holds that there is no property of truth at all, and that overt uses of the predicate \true" in our sentences are redundant, having absolutely no e ect on what we express. However, all hypothetical examples used by de ationary theorists in exemplifying the theory, in papers, books, have been taken out of context. Thus, there is no way to examine and analyze what the predicate adds to the sentence within context. We oppose this theory not on philosophical grounds, but on empirical grounds, with an \ordinary language philosophy" approach. We computationally collect 7610 occurrences of overt uses of the predicate \true" in the form \it is true that", from 10 in uential periodicals (newspapers and a magazine) published in the United States. We classify and annotate these examples with respect to coordinating and subordinating conjunctions' positions they contain. We investigate contextual relations of the proposition following the phrase \it is true that" with its surrounding propositions. We encounter 34 di erent syntactical patterns. We propose that in some occurrences of overt uses of the predicate \true", existence of the predicate makes an emphasis, performs an action in the same manner as a performatory verb does. We provide ordinary language appearances of overt uses of the predicate \true", which have been used in linguistically reliable media and constitute pragmatic `counter-examples' to the de ationary theory of truth.Item Open Access A Sociocultural investigation of speech acts (requests and apologies) in Turkish and Englih(Bilkent University, 1991) Mızıkaçı, FatmaThis study investigates a number of differences between Turkish and English in the area of speech acts of requests and apologies and links them with different cultural norms and cultural assumptions, By comparing these two speech acts in two languages, the goal was to find out whether native knowledge and use of these speech act patterns influence Turkish students’ performance in English. The theoretical and methodological framework for this investigation has been developed based on a number of studies conducted in the same area in languages other than Turkish and English. Two sets of questionnaires (Turkish and English) consisting of sixteen situations, eight eliciting requests and eight eliciting apologies were used as the instruments for this study. The data collection method is based on a set of questionnaires, and data analysis is based on a set of coding schemes for the responses elicited from the questionnaires. The data analysis procedure is illustrated by giving examples from the data. The data consist of three sets; (1) Turkish Baseline, (2) English Baseline and (3) L2 Experimental Data. The coding schemes consists of two main categories for requests; (1) units of analysis and (2) directness in requests; and of two categories for apologies; (1) semantic formulas and (2) acknowledgement of responsibility strategies. This kind of contrastive analysis provided accountable results for cross-cultural variability in the realization patterns of the same speech acts. The speech act patterns were also described both from social superiors’ and inferiors’ point of view. Results showed that a number of differences occur between Turkish and English speech act patterns. Different patterns and usages led to students’ negative transfer while similarities led to positive transfer. It was also found that because of the lack of proficiency in English, students sometimes avoid using the patterns and sometimes use them in linguistically incorrect forms in the target language. This result suggests that in EEL situations, the goals of syllabus design should be based on theoretical descriptions and research evidence. It might also be suggested that differences between learners' native culture and target language cultures should be emphasized in foreign language teaching.