Browsing by Subject "Pragmatics"
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Item Open Access Detailed investigation of the relation between mothers’ mental state language and children's theory of mind abilities(Bilkent University, 2022-07) Evsen, SetenayThis study investigated the relation between maternal mental state language (MSL) in a storytelling context and preschoolers’ Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities. Seventy-four Turkish-speaking mothers’ mental state discourse was examined with a comprehensive coding of mental content (i.e., perception, physiological, desire, motivation, emotion, and cognition) at both lexical and morphological levels by marking the referents of each mental use (i.e., child-mother vs. story character). In addition, to distinguish the uses of perception terms as attention getters or genuine mental state references, a coding for perception words in terms of function was included. The results revealed that only certain functions of mothers’ perception MSL was related to children’s ToM performance. In particular, mothers’ use of perception MSL to give the literal meaning of the terms predicted children’s ToM performance concurrently when children’s cognitive abilities and age was controlled for. Results were discussed from a socio-cultural perspective to emphasize the importance of coding the pragmatic aspects of maternal MSL for a better understanding of ToM development in relation to language.Item Open Access Moral criticism, hypocrisy, and pragmatics(Springer, 2022-08) Berkovski, Y. SandyA good chunk of the recent discussion of hypocrisy concerned the hypocritical “moral address” where, in the simplest case, a person criticises another for ϕ-ing having engaged in ϕ-ing himself, and where the critic’s reasons are overtly moral. The debate has conceptual and normative sides to it. We ask both what hypocrisy is, and why it is wrong. In this paper I focus on the conceptual explication of hypocrisy by examining the pragmatic features of the situation where accusations of hypocrisy are made. After rejecting several extant views, I defend the idea that moral criticisms are best understood as moves in an agonistic or hostile conversation, and that charges of hypocrisy are attempts to prevent the hypocrite from gaining an upper hand in a situation of conflict. I finish by linking this idea to frame-theoretic analysis and evolutionary psychology. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.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 Pragmatics in human-computer conversations(Elsevier, 2002) Saygin, A. P.; Cicekli, I.This paper provides a pragmatic analysis of some human-computer conversations carried out during the past six years within the context of the Loebner Prize Contest, an annual competition in which computers participate in Turing Tests. The Turing Test posits that to be granted intelligence, a computer should imitate human conversational behavior so well as to be indistinguishable from a real human being. We carried out an empirical study exploring the relationship between computers' violations of Grice's cooperative principle and conversational maxims, and their success in imitating human language use. Based on conversation analysis and a large survey, we found that different maxims have different effects when violated, but more often than not, when computers violate the maxims, they reveal their identity. The results indicate that Grice's cooperative principle is at work during conversations with computers. On the other hand, studying human-computer communication may require some modifications of existing frameworks in pragmatics because of certain characteristics of these conversational environments. Pragmatics constitutes a serious challenge to computational linguistics. While existing programs have other significant shortcomings, it may be that the biggest hurdle in developing computer programs which can successfully carry out conversations will be modeling the ability to 'cooperate'. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.Item Open Access Slurs and redundancy(Springer, 2022-09) Berkovski, Y. SandyAccording to nearly all theorists writing on the subject, a certain derogatory content is regularly and systematically communicated by slurs. So united, the theorists disagree sharply on the elements of this content, on its provenance, and on its mechanism. I argue that the basic premiss of all these views, that there is any such derogatory content conveyed with the use of slurs, is highly dubious. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.Item Open Access Text and action / lament as performance and pragmatics(2006) Terzioğlu, ÖyküLament, is the expression of grief and sorrow within the frame of certain oral and performative conventions upon which the society agrees in advance. As it is made manifest by its definition, lament is a form of social expression apt to be analyzed in terms of the "performance" notion put forward by Gilbert Lewis. In this text, it will be discussed to what extent the compilations of lament make feasible an accurate representation of this form of social expression within the social context in which it is produced. Furthermore, Dan Ben Amos' critique of folkloric compilations will be regarded taking into consideration the notions of "text", "texture" and "context" as introduced by Alan Dundes and the solutions that a relatively new domain of linguistics, namely pragmatics has to offer in the surmounting of the issues related to the accuracy of representation brought about by lament compilations.Item Open Access The truth about “it is true that…”(John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2016) Akman, V.; Senol, M. B.Deflationism, one of the influential philosophical doctrines of truth, holds that there is no property of truth, and that overt uses of the predicate "true" are redundant. However, the hypothetical examples used by theorists to exemplify deflationism are isolated sentences, offering little to examine what the predicate adds to meaning within context. We oppose the theory not on philosophical but on empirical grounds. We collect 7,610 occurrences of "it is true that" from 10 influential periodicals published in the United States. We classify and annotate these with respect to the positions of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions that they contain. This way we investigate the contextual relationships between the proposition following "it is true that" with its surroundings. Overall, 34 different syntactical patterns are encountered. In some occurrences of "true", the predicate acts in the same manner as a performative verb does. These occurrences, having been observed in linguistically reliable media, constitute pragmatic counter-examples to deflationism.Item Open Access Turing Test and conversation(Bilkent University, 1999) Saygın, Ayşe PınarThe Turing Test is one of the most disputed topics in Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. It was proposed 50 years ago, as a method to determine whether machines can think or not. It embodies important philosophical issues, as well as computational ones. Moreover, because of its characteristics, it requires interdisciplinary attention. The Turing Test posits that, to be granted intelligence, a computer should imitate human conversational behavior so well that it should be indistinguishable from a real human being. From this it follows that conversation is a crucial concept in its study. Surprisingly, focusing on conversation in relation to the Turing Test has not been a prevailing approach in previous research. This thesis first provides a thorough and deep review of the 50 years of the Turing Test. Philosophical arguments, computational concerns, and repercussions in other disciplines are all discussed. Furthermore, this thesis studies the Turing Test as a special kind of conversation. In doing so, the relationship between existing theories of conversation and human-computer communication is explored. In particular, Grice's cooperative principle and conversational maxims are concentrated on. Viewing the Turing Test as conversation and computers as language users has significant effects on the way we look at Artificial Intelligence, and on communication in general.