A Cognitive Study on Politeness Intention Processing and Its Association with Pragmatic Failure in Cross-Cultural Communication

Although a large number of studies have focused on various aspects of politeness,very little is known about how politeness intention is activated cognitively during verbal communication.The present study aims to explore the cognitive mechanism of politeness intention processing,and how it is related to pragmatic failure during cross-cultural communication.Using 30 Chinese EFL university students who were instructed to finish a probe word judgment task with 96 virtual scenarios,the results indicate that within both mono-and cross-cultural contexts,the response time in the experimental scenarios was significantly slower than that of the filler scenarios.This suggests that politeness intention was activated while understanding the surface meaning of the conversation;however,the EFL learners could not completely avoid the negative transfer of their native politeness conventions when they were comprehending the conversational intention of the target language.Furthermore,no significant differences in response time were found between the groups with high and low English pragmatic competence,illustrating that transferring the pragmatic rules and principles into cross-cultural communication skills was more cognitively demanding.Overall,this study adds to the literature on politeness research and provides some implications for foreign language pragmatic instructions.

Listen and talk to the older patients:a critical emancipatory reflection on the practice of communication issues

Objective: Reflection is a process of deliberating thinking and examining one's practice in the past and thereby encouraging nurses to make improvements in future care delivery. This work outlines a piece of reflection involving the practice of communication between nurses and the elderly, to emancipate the authors from their constraints, help to find values as practitioners, and gain a greater understanding of the nurse-patient relationship.Methods: Using Smyth's four-stage model as a guide, as well as empirical and theoretical knowledge on nurse-patient relationships, this paper presents a deep reflection on the relationship that the authors developed with elderly patients and their families, encountered during the practice as a nurse. By applying the four main stages consisting of describe, inform, confront, and reconstruct, this model enabled the authors to frame, describe the practice issue, and explore the meaning behind it, which helps to facilitate a structured reflection.Results: Critical emancipatory reflection, in association with the Espoused theory and Theory-in-use, as well as reflexivity, critical social theory, and hegemony, was applied to uncover the various power relationships and constraining forces in the authors' practice involved in communicating with the elderly, such as the underlying false consciousness, hegemony, hidden assumptions, influential values, and dominant power structure, which are subtle and persuasive. By applying this process of critical reflection, transformative practice could be achieved.Conclusions: The process of critical reflection facilitated the development of the abilities required to develop and maintain the nursepatient relationship. It helps to enhance the care of old patients and their families, which illuminates the future nursing practice.

Conflict and Tolerance in Communication

Conflicts raging in private life and intolerance permeating all strata of society are among unpleasant hallmarks of our world. The paper deals with the nature of ＂conflict communication＂ and the category of tolerance alongside pragmalinguistic means and procedures of describing them. It is concerned with identifying the nature of communicative tolerance. It describes communication strategies and tactics involved in tolerant interpersonal communication. Rationale for tolerant behavior being a universal basis of communication in the modern multi-polar world is discussed.

＂Why Do They Drink？＂ Alcohol Uses and Opinions Towards Alcohol Marketing Communication Messages of Thai Teens

Problem about adolescent drinking has accelerated. Although the alcohol advertisements are restricted by Thai law, nevertheless the alcohol manufactures could still find their way to convey the message about their products to their consumers, including the adolescents in the school system through several marketing communication tactics. To this study, investigated opinion of Thai teens on alcohol use specific to.. （1） types of alcoholic beverages preferred; （2） reason at first alcohol use; （3） future drinking intention; and （4） perceptions toward alcohol marketing communication. The cross-sectional survey was conducted on 5184 students from grades 4th-12th and vocational school in seven regions of Thailand. The data from questionnaires were analyzed using simple descriptive statistic, frequency distribution, and percentages. Those teens reported to start drinking beer because of wanting to experiment with alcohol （41.3%）, to celebrate in special occasion （29.2%）, and due to friends involved （15.7%）. Majority of teens in this study （〉 80%） disagree or strongly disagree with persuasive message of alcohol advertised through several media channels. Most of the samples have good media literacy, know the intention of the marketing communication of the alcohol manufacturers, and could not be persuaded easily. The results required further evaluation for influence of alcohol marketing communication on students＇ alcohol expectancy and alcohol use for proper policy recommendation and management.

Reporting Corporate Social Responsibility： Using Comparative Messages to Influence Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

This study examined whether exposure to a firm＇s report of corporate social responsibility （CSR） activities affected attitudes toward the firm and increased behavioral intent to purchase products and services from it. Findings showed that increased knowledge of a company＇s CSR deeds fosters positive attitudes and favorable purchase intentions toward the company. Reports that compared the firm＇s CSR activities to the competitor＇s activities favorably affected consumers＇ attitudes and purchase intentions positively. On the other hand, self-promotional reports affected neither attitudes nor purchase intentions significantly.

A Post-colonialism Approach to Intentional Mistranslation-Comparative Study of Two English Versions of Shuo Ren

Mistranslation has always been received with negative reactions among the translation community for a long time.Post-colonial translation theory forms an intersection with translatology and brings translation studies from linguistics to the hidden factors such as politics,cultures and aesthetics that influence the formation of translations.From the perspective of post-colonial translation theory,this article makes comparisons with intentional mistranslation among the two English versions of Shuo Ren,and analyzes the causes that affect the intentional mistranslation of different translators.In conclusion,translators in strong cultures may misuse intentional mistranslation to“dump”their own culture,political views,or religious beliefs,so as to promote cultural aggression against the colonized or former colonial countries.In addition,domestic translators should adopt appropriate intentional mistranslation to ensure more acceptance and spreading of Chinese culture in the world.

The Emergent Constructive Approach to Evolinguistics:Considering Hierarchy and Intention Sharing in Linguistic Communication

Evolinguistics is an attempt to clarify the origins and evolution of language and communication,thereby deepening our understanding of humans from an evolutionary perspective.The origins of language is characterized by the biological evolution of abilities related to language and communication,and the evolution of language by the structuralization and complexification of language knowledge as well as communication systems through cultural evolution.In Evolinguistics,two idiosyncrasies of human linguistic communication are the primary focus,namely,using hierarchically organized symbol sequences in language and sharing intentions in communication.We believe that the integration of these two characteristics made humans co-creative and smart,and in particular gave us knowledge co-creation capacity.The emergent constructive approach plays an important role in this research,which is a methodology to analyze complex systems by constructing and operating the evolutionary and emergent process of complex phenomena.Two studies taking this approach are introduced in this paper.One is a language evolution experiment in a laboratory to consider the process,mechanisms,and neural basis of symbolic communication systems.The other is an evolutionary simulation of recursive combination,which is thought of as the essential ability to form hierarchical structures.A hypothesis integrating intention sharing and recursive combination is discussed as an abductive reasoning mechanism for understanding others intentions.

A PLS-SEM Based Approach: Analyzing Generation Z Purchase Intention Through Facebook’s Big Data

The objective of this paper is to provide a better rendition of Generation Z purchase intentions of retail products through Facebook.The study gyrated around the favorable attitude formation of Generation Z translating into intentions to purchase retail products through Facebook.The role of antecedents of attitude,namely enjoyment,credibility,and peer communication was also explored.The main purpose was to analyze the F-commerce pervasiveness(retail purchases through Facebook)among Generation Z in India and how could it be materialized effectively.A conceptual fac¸ade was proposed after trotting out germane and urbane literature.The study focused exclusively on Generation Z population.The data were statistically analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.The study found the proposed conceptual model had a high prediction power of Generation Z intentions to purchase retail products through Facebook verifying the materialization of F-commerce.Enjoyment,credibility,and peer communication were proved to be good predictors of attitude(R^(2)=0.589)and furthermore attitude was found to be a stellar antecedent to purchase intentions(R^(2)=0.540).

意图性原则──在语篇水平上翻译的一个重要原则

语篇语言学突破了以句子作为语言研究的最高层次的局限，对实际运用中的语言组织特征和使用特征进行动态的研究，引起了译界的重视，它的一些原则和方法被运用到了翻译理论和实践中。１９８１年ｄｅＢｒａｎｄｅ和Ｄｒｅｓｌｅｒ在《语篇语言学导论》中提出了构筑篇章的七...

Communication-Based Attacks Detection in Android Applications

The Android operating system provides a rich Inter-Component Communication(ICC) method that brings enormous convenience. However, the Android ICC also increases security risks. To address this problem, a formal method is proposed to model and detect inter-component communication behavior in Android applications. Firstly,we generate data flow graphs and data facts for each component through component-level data flow analysis.Secondly, our approach treats ICC just like method calls. After analyzing the fields and data dependencies of the intent, we identify the ICC caller and callee, track the data flow between them, and construct the ICC model. Thirdly,the behavior model of Android applications is constructed by a formal mapping method for component data flow graph based on Pi calculus. The runtime sensitive path trigger detection algorithm is then given. Communicationbased attacks are detected by analyzing intent abnormity. Finally, we analyze the modeling and detection efficiency,and compare it with relevant methods. Analysis of 57 real-world applications partly verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Agent-Based Data Mining Framework for the High-Dimensional Environment

An agent-based data mining framework for the high-dimensional environment is built instead of the style of classical structural programming or the object-oriented programming. The framework supports the whole process of data mining of the high-dimensional environment. Belief-desire-joint intention agents are designed to fit the characteristic of the high-dimensional environment. At the same time, the syntax, semantics and reasoning rules of the agents are given. In the data mining system of the high-dimensional environment, agents need exchange messages. The cooperation behavior mechanism is adopted to complete the communication through the three-level pattern among agents that have their own fixed roles.

Analysis of“Versailles Literature”from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

Versailles literature,which can be understood as fake humble in English,is a kind of internet catchphrase which became popular on a Chinese social media,Weibo,last year.This paper aims to explore the communicative intention of uploader as well as the communicative effect from the perspective of speech act theory so as to draw researcher’s attention on internet catchphrase and social media study.The result shows that sometimes people’s locutionary act do not correspondence with their illocutionary act.Also,since perlocutionary act has uncertainty,the communicative effect can be either an expected or an unexpected effect.

某传染病医院医护人员人格特点及其与离职意愿的关系

目的 探讨某传染病医院工作人员的人格特点及其与离职意愿的关系.方法 于2013年5至8月,采用整群抽样方法选取某传染病医院不同科室的366名医护人员,收集医护人员性别、年龄、文化程度、职称等基本信息,对其进行卡特尔16项人格因素问卷和离职意愿量表调查,并进行结果分析.结果 与中国常模相比,传染病医院医护人员聪慧性、稳定性、恃强性、兴奋性、敢为性、幻想性、世故性、独立性和自律性得分明显增高,乐群性、敏感性、怀疑性、忧虑性、紧张性明显降低,差异均有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;366名医护人员中22人（6.01％）离职意愿很低,152人（41.53％）离职意愿较低,61人（16.67％）离职意愿较高,131人（35.79％）离职意愿很高.logistic回归分析结果显示,敏感性、怀疑性、幻想性、世故性、忧虑性、实验性、独立性为高离职意愿的危险因素（P＜0.05）.结论 该传染病医院医护人员心理素质优于中国常模,但存在较高的离职意愿,且具有敏感性、怀疑性、幻想性、忧虑性等人格因素的个体容易出现离职意愿.

Pointing gesture in a bird- merely instrumental or a cognitively complex behavior？

Gestures, particularly pointing, are regarded as important pre-speech acts. Intentional and referential pointing has been shown previously in humans and apes but not in songbirds, although some avian species show cognitive abilities rivaling those of apes, and their brain structures and functions show putative preconditions for referential gestural signaling （i.e. mirror neurons, links of vocal learning nuclei to discrete brain areas active during limb and body movements）. The results reported are based on trials testing predator detection and responses to a taxidermic model of a wedge-tailed eagle by Australian magpies Gymnorhina tibicen. Magpies were subjected to three conditions of finding this model in their territory （open, sheltered and hidden）. In the sheltered and bidden conditions, the discoverer simultaneously engaged in alarm calls and beak pointing, a behavior that has not been described previously. Other group members at once assembled and, after watching the first bird, adopted the same posture by pointing to the location of the intruder. The question is whether beak and body movements orienting towards important stimuli or events are instances of arousal, imitation or intentional communication. The latter presupposes that onlookers interpret the signal and respond by altering their own behavior appropriate to the original stimulus and not merely by imitating the first signaler. Evidence presented here indicates that the act of pointing may well be a complex cognitive behavior, i.e., an intentional and referential signal, showing that pointing is not limited to having hands and arms [Current Zoology 57 （4）： 453-467, 2011].