Vagueness and Elasticity of 'Sort of' in TV Discussion Discourse in the Asian Pacific
Edited by Vahid Parvaresh and Grace Zhang
Special issue of Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 29:1 (2019) v, 147 pp.
Grace Zhang
List of John Benjamins publications for which Grace Zhang plays a role.
Titles
Subjects Afro-Asiatic languages | Altaic languages | Communication Studies
Request Strategies: A comparative study in Mandarin Chinese and Korean
Yong-Ju Rue and Grace Zhang
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 177] 2008. xv, 320 pp.
Subjects Discourse studies | Linguistics of isolated languages | Pragmatics | Sino-Tibetan languages
Articles
2023 Historical imprints on Chinese ideological given names Pragmatics and Society: Online-First Articles | Article
This diachronic study investigates Chinese ideological given names (personal names which represent the name-givers’ shared ideas and beliefs) by focusing on historical changes over five time periods between 1935 and 2012. Based on an analysis of 21,687 given names, 2,687 (12.4%) of which are… read more
2023 Chapter 16. How uncertainty can be turned into shared understanding: Evidence from online medical consultations in Taiwan A Pragmatic Agenda for Healthcare: Fostering inclusion and active participation through shared understanding, Bigi, Sarah and Maria Grazia Rossi (eds.), pp. 373–394 | Chapter
This chapter investigates how uncertainty is communicated in highly-rated medical answers. Particular attention is paid to the discourse elements that may render the use of vague language to be more positively than negatively received during the delivery of helpful answers to health information… read more
2020 Cultural adaptations: Translating politeness from Japanese to English Babel 66:3, pp. 457–483 | Article
Linguistic and pragmatic aspects of the translation of politeness in contemporary novels were examined under the theoretical framework of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) (Toury 1995) and Newmark’s functional theory (1988). The analysis revealed that linguistic expressions tied to… read more
2020 Attitudes towards elastic language in Australian online healthcare information Internet Pragmatics 3:1, pp. 34–63 | Article
Based on questionnaire data in response to six excerpts of Australian online health information, this study investigates university students’ attitudes towards elastic language (EL). The findings show that averaging all six cases a neutral attitude is found, with no strong preference for EL or… read more
2019 ‘Sort of’ across languages of the Asia and Oceania regions Vagueness and Elasticity of 'Sort of' in TV Discussion Discourse in the Asian Pacific, Parvaresh, Vahid and Grace Zhang (eds.), pp. 2–8 | Introduction
2019 The pragmatic use of ‘sort of’ in TV forums: A Chinese perspective Vagueness and Elasticity of 'Sort of' in TV Discussion Discourse in the Asian Pacific, Parvaresh, Vahid and Grace Zhang (eds.), pp. 62–85 | Article
This study discusses the pragmatic functions of four Chinese equivalents of the English ‘sort of’ based on a Chinese TV forum corpus: youdian (有点), yidian (一点), youyidian (有一点), keyishuo (可以说). It finds that the Chinese ‘sort of’ tends to cluster with verbs or adjectives rather than nouns. ‘Sort… read more
2016 Elastic language in TV discussion discourse: A case study of ba in Chinese International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 3:2, pp. 245–269 | Article
This paper investigates the elasticity of the pragmatic particle ba in Mandarin Chinese, based on TV discussion data. It provides refreshing theoretic explanations of ba: the elasticity manifests through fluidity and stretchability of ba’s meanings and functions, and its strategic use. Ba has the… read more
2016 How elastic a little can be and how much a little can do in Chinese Chinese Language and Discourse 7:1, pp. 1–22 | Article
Yidian (一点, a little) in Chinese is commonly considered an indefinite and under-specific quantifier. This study provides some rethinking of yidian through the lens of elasticity theory, based on real-life data from TV discussions. Elasticity theory offers new insights on the study of yidian,… read more
2013 The impact of touchy topics on vague language use Animation in Asia, Lent, John A. (ed.), pp. 87–118 | Article
Vague language (VL, e.g. kind of), an integral part of language, has been attracting increased attention in linguistic studies. VL is a versatile tool of communication in presenting the world in an imprecise but powerful manner. This study explores an overlooked issue: the relationship between the… read more
2008 Communication across languages and cultures: A perspective of brand name translation from English to Chinese Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 18:2, pp. 225–246 | Article
Communication across languages and cultures is a markedly complex issue, and translation is more than just a careful linguistic transfer: it is a purposeful action designed to achieve the most effective result in a target group. Few studies have discussed the role of communicative intent in… read more