A History of Sarcasm: Effects of Balanced Use of Sarcasm in a Relationship

We often think of sarcasm as a way to be mean—and it usually is. For instance, sarcasm has been shown to be victimizing, offensive, and anger-provoking to its targets (Toplak & Katz 2000, Bowes & Katz 2011). However, the reported valence (or emotional value) of sarcasm improves dramatically when two members of a conversation share some common ground (knowledge, perceptions & experiences), becoming more appropriate ( Kreuz, Kassler, Coppenrath, & Allen 1999), understandable (Pexman & Zvaigzne 2004), and memorable (Gibbs 1986). To test the hypothesis that the balanced use of sarcasm can similarly improve its valence, we examined differences in pragmatic uses and impressions of sarcastic dialogues, with either a balanced (two sarcastic speakers) or unbalanced (one sarcastic speaker) use of sarcasm. We conclude that a history of sarcasm in a relationship does not reduce its negative valence

Deception detection in dialogues

In the social media era, it is commonplace to engage in written conversations. People sometimes even form connections across large distances, in writing. However, human communication is in large part non-verbal. This means it is now easier for people to hide their harmful intentions. At the same time, people can now get in touch with more people than ever before. This puts vulnerable groups at higher risk for malevolent interactions, such as bullying, trolling, or predatory behavior. Furthermore, such growing behaviors have most recently led to waves of fake news and a growing industry of deceit creators and deceit detectors. There is now an urgent need for both theory that explains deception and applications that automatically detect deception. In this thesis I address this need with a novel application that learns from examples and detects deception reliably in natural-language dialogues. I formally define the problem of deception detection and identify several domains where it is useful. I introduce and evaluate new psycholinguistic features of deception in written dialogues for two datasets. My results shed light on the connection between language, deception, and perception. They also underline the challenges and difficulty of assessing perceptions from written text. To automatically learn to detect deception I first introduce an expressive logical model and then present a probabilistic model that simplifies the first and is learnable from labeled examples. I introduce a belief-over-belief formalization, based on Kripke semantics and situation calculus. I use an observation model to describe how utterances are produced from the nested beliefs and intentions. This allows me to easily make inferences about these beliefs and intentions given utterances, without needing to explicitly represent perlocutions. The agents’ belief states are filtered with the observed utterances, resulting in an updated Kripke structure. I then translate my formalization to a practical system that can learn from a small dataset and is able to perform well using very little structural background knowledge in the form of a relational dynamic Bayesian network structure

A semiotic evaluation of musical meaning in the works of Igor Stravinsky : decoding syntax and markedness and prototypicality theory.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN026379 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

The Significance of Art Mediation in Bridging the Communication Gaps

The present article reports on a qualitative study of art mediation means to break communicative gaps that arise in the process of contemporary art comprehension. The art comprehension is a process involving inner feelings motion from a genuine sensory impression (on the surface) to the comprehension and development of an artistic message (depth). The communicative gap arises as a result of misunderstanding the code message by the recipient, due to the complexity of contemporary art. The gap in question is worsened by the features of visual perception formed under the influence of new media. The function of art mediator is of an intermediary nature and is designed to facilitate communication between the work of art and the viewer with the help of a dialogue in a group. The circular model of communication provides a description of the nonlinear and polycentric nature of this kind of interaction. The present article corresponds to a synthetic study based on the theories of communication as well as artistic and aesthetic appreciation in a post-literacy situation. As an example of mediation, the experience of discussing the sculptures of Ivan Gorshkov in the article of the 5th Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art (UIBCA) is presented. Keywords: art mediation, contemporary art, communication, communication gaps, a dialogue, comprehension, perceptio

The Effect of Reciprocal-Teaching Strategy on Learning Outcomes and Attitudes of Qassim-University Students in “Islamic Culture”

The main intent of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of the reciprocal-teaching strategy in learning outcomes and attitudes of Qassim-University students in Islamic culture. The study was conducted in Oqlat Al-Soqour Faculty of Sciences and Arts for paucity of research conducted in such a faculty, as well as for being the researcher’s workplace which can offer him needed facilities. Statistical analyses of the data revealed that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in the post administration of the learning-outcomes test as well as in the attitude scale in favour of the experimental. The magnitude effect was big which proved the effectiveness of the reciprocal-teaching strategy. Keywords: Reciprocal-Teaching Strategy, Learning Outcomes, Attitudes, Islamic Culture

Seeing the music – portrayals of authenticity in British period film music

Film music offers a diversity of variation in filmic portrayals. This thesis investigates the role film music plays in portrayals of authenticity in film. The material was chosen from British period films produced within the last 30 years, of which 13 films were analysed. The thesis also set out to test Kassabian’s Identification Tracking theoretical model (2001) that enables semiotic musical analysis by categorising commonalities according to respective codification practices, otherwise known as perceptions. Authenticity was found and discussed in themes of auteurism, production, historicity, realism, subject positions and identification. These authenticity portrayals occurred across different levels of film perception, not only at the point of text release. The thesis found that music in film can effectively be analysed using the semiotic analysis style. It also elucidated that authenticity carries meaning through codification practices of perceivers, and that this is established practice in the chosen focus of British period film. The thesis reiterates the need for more sensorial approaches to analysis of film that is otherwise limited by the sight-biased practice of the popular film discourse

Chapter 13 Black Studies in Prime Time: Racial Expertise and the Framing of Cultural Authority

This volume explores and clarifies the complex intersection of race and media in the contemporary United States. Due to the changing dynamics of how racial politics are played out in the contemporary US (as seen with debates of the "post-racial" society), as well as the changing dynamics of the media itself ("new vs. old" media debates), an interrogation of the role of the media and its various institutions within this area of social inquiry is necessary. Contributors contend that race in the United States is dynamic, connected to social, economic, and political structures which are continually altering themselves. The book seeks to highlight the contested space that the media provides for changing dimensions of race, examining the ways that various representations can both hinder or promote positive racial views, considering media in relation to other institutions, and moving beyond thinking of media as a passive and singular institution