Investigating Predictors of Preferences for Deliberative Qualities of Political Conversations Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

This thesis presents a conceptual and methodological approach to researching preferences for political conversation. The thesis contends that although real-world political discussion is not deliberative, insofar as it fails to satisfy the rigorous requirements deliberative theorists have laid out, the lack of empirical evidence is not cause to reject deliberation as a viable political theory. To connect the theoretical and empirical, this thesis presents a “quasi-deliberation” framework. Quasi-deliberation, for the purpose of this thesis, is the state of political discourse shaped by the choices made when ideal deliberative qualities conflict in the real world. Quasi-deliberation suggests that the differences between the real world and the theoretical are described by preferences regarding different qualities of political conversation. These qualities, drawn from the deliberation literature (Moy & Gastil, 2006) are “dominance during political conversation,” “clarity” of opinion expression, use of “reason, logic, and evidence,” and “understanding of other conversants\u27 views” (p. 448). The thesis tests the exploratory supposition that these choices are predictable outcomes of antecedent political characteristics of respondents, using a nationwide online survey instrument distributed to the non-random membership of a website. The characteristics measured in this thesis are culturally-informed worldview (Kahan, Slovic, Braman, & Gastil, 2006), attributes of personal discursive networks (Moy & Gastil, 2006), and political information efficacy (Kaid, McKinney, & Tedesco, 2007). These three sets of measures are used as independent variables to describe the unique, discursively relevant characteristics of the respondent. Each is then tested as a predictor of the relative priorities ascribed to each deliberative quality. Saaty’s (1980) Analytic Hierarchy Process is used to create the dependent priority ranking variables. Respondents provide a preference for each quality vis-à-vis each other, producing a preference matrix, from which a single priority vector is derived

Multisensory learning in adaptive interactive systems

The main purpose of my work is to investigate multisensory perceptual learning and sensory integration in the design and development of adaptive user interfaces for educational purposes. To this aim, starting from renewed understanding from neuroscience and cognitive science on multisensory perceptual learning and sensory integration, I developed a theoretical computational model for designing multimodal learning technologies that take into account these results. Main theoretical foundations of my research are multisensory perceptual learning theories and the research on sensory processing and integration, embodied cognition theories, computational models of non-verbal and emotion communication in full-body movement, and human-computer interaction models. Finally, a computational model was applied in two case studies, based on two EU ICT-H2020 Projects, "weDRAW" and "TELMI", on which I worked during the PhD

Automated Adaptation Between Kiranti Languages

McCloy, Daniel, M.A., December 2006 Linguistics Automated Adaptation Between Kiranti Languages Chairperson: Dr. Anthony Mattina Minority language communities that are seeking to develop their language may be hampered by a lack of vernacular materials. Large volumes of such materials may be available in a related language. Automated adaptation holds potential to enable these large volumes of materials to be efficiently translated into the resource-scarce language. I describe a project to assess the feasibility of automatically adapting text between Limbu and Yamphu, two languages in Nepal’s Kiranti grouping. The approaches taken—essentially a transfer-based system partially hybridized with a Kiranti-specific interlingua—are placed in the context of machine translation efforts world-wide. A key principle embodied in this strategy is that adaptation can transcend the structural obstacles by taking advantage of functional commonalities. That is, what matters most for successful adaptation is that the languages “care about the same kinds of things.” I examine various typological phenomena of these languages to assess this degree of functional commonality. I look at the types of features marked on the finite verb, case-marking systems, the encoding of vertical deixis, object-incorporated verbs, and nominalization issues. As this Kiranti adaptation goal involves adaptation into multiple target languages, I also present a disambiguation strategy that ensures that the manual disambiguation performed for one target language is fed back into the system, such that the same disambiguation will not need to be performed again for other target languages

GROWING UP IN IRELAND. Cohort '08 (Infant Cohort). Design, Instrumentation and Procedures for Cohort ’08 of Growing Up in Ireland at 9 Years Old (Wave 5)

Growing Up in Ireland is the national longitudinal cohort study of children that commenced in 2006. The study has followed two groups of Irish children: Cohort ’98 (so-called because most of them were born in 1998; formerly called the ‘Child Cohort’); and Cohort ’08 (most of whom were born a decade later in 2008; formerly called the ‘Infant Cohort’). The primary aim of the study is to provide a strong evidence base to improve the understanding of children’s and young people’s health and development across a range of domains. This information is used to inform government policy in relation to children, yong people and their families

Negotiations between British and Dutch managers: cultural values, approaches to conflict management, and perceived negotiation.

The present research investigates cultural values, approaches to conflict management, and perceived negotiation satisfaction in manager samples from the UK and the Netherlands. Three studies (total N = 412) were conducted, of which Study 1 and 2 pertained to the development of the measure and Study 3 was used to conduct the main analysis. The research focus centres around the following main objectives: a) refinement of conflict management models and instruments; b) profile analyses of Dutch and British conflict management approaches using Schwartz’s (1992, 1994) Value Types to explain observed differences, and c) testing of a model describing interrelations between cultural values, approaches to conflict management, conflict context, and perceived negotiation satisfaction. Previous research on conflict management modeled conflict behaviour on the basis of a concern for self vs. concern for others matrix, which incorporated communication styles. The present research distinguishes between the underlying concerns, conflict management strategies, and communication styles to predict perceived negotiation satisfaction. Furthermore, conflict management dynamics are investigated by comparing the ratings of own vs. other team’s conflict management approach. In-group vs. out-group differentiation was dependent on the social desirability of the conflict management approach in question. Dutch managers associated themselves less and British managers more with a concern for Inconvenience, Avoiding, and Indirect communication, whereas British managers associated themselves more and Dutch managers less with these approaches. Results for cultural values showed that the main difference between Dutch and British managers concerned a higher score for Dutch managers on Self Transcendence and a higher score on Self Enhancement for British managers. Self Enhancement mediated the effect for nationality for Dominating strategy. Furthermore, Self Transcendence predicted a concern for Clarity, a Problem Solving strategy, and a Consultative communication style. Nationality as predictor of Concern for Inconvenience, Avoiding strategy, and Indirect communication style was not mediated by Value Types. Suggestions are made for future research exploring the role of Uncertainty Avoidance at the individual level. Success and Comfort were predicted by own and other team’s Conflict Management Approach, additional to cultural value types and contextual variables. National differences were observed for particular predictors of perceived negotiation satisfaction

Politeness in Diplomatic Talk: A Thai Case Study

This research starts from the assumption that there are goal-oriented politeness strategies in diplomatic talk. The case study analyses Thai-foreign diplomatic events during Thailand’s national crisis, the massive demonstrations across the country in the years of 2009-2011, in which the colours of the protesters’ clothing signified divergent political allegiances (so-called “colorized politics”). The research aims are threefold: firstly, to characterise politeness strategies in the Thai-foreign diplomatic talks conducted in English; secondly, to examine the extent to which culture-specific values inform the conversational performance of Thai speakers; and thirdly, to explore potential causes of misunderstandings arising from cross-cultural mismatches which occur during these social interactions. The research data are real-time conversations in courtesy calls and international meetings between foreign diplomatic representatives and the leaders of the Thai state and government agencies. My study is influenced by Brown and evinson’s theory along with intercultural communication theories for analysing the ethnographically observed talk-in-action events and transcribed conversational discourse. The research frames a conclusive argument that the diplomatic speakers use both conventional politeness and unconventional politeness strategies. The latter includes what I term ‘lexical politeness’, ‘interactive politeness’, and ‘intercultural politeness’. The Thai party’s politeness strategies in pursuit of diplomatic goals carry an implication of Thai cultural values, specifically: fun-orientation, interdependence, and non-confrontation. Potential pragmatic failures in Thai cultural-oriented politeness are intimacy and directness. The research reveals the suppositions and entailments of English utterances by non-native speakers (Thais) and develops linguistic politeness strategies from the evidence of the diplomatic conversations

Requests and refusals in English and Chinese

In this thesis, I study the speech acts of request and refusal in Chinese and English. The aim of this study is to not only compare the results between Chinese and English in the realization patterns in the two speech acts, but also between my investigation results and those of the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP)' (Blum- Kulka et al. 1989). In addition, it is designed to research the extent to which these two speech acts threaten the participants' face in the two languages, and what part social variables such as relative power, social distance and some cultural factors play in the interactions. I performed not only a linguistic and pragmatic analysis of the data but also a sociocultural analysis. The main framework I follow for data analysis is a combination of theoretical models: Brown & Levinson's (1987) model of strategies and Spencer-Oatey's (2005) framework of goals for the role-play. For the analysis of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) data, I used both CCSARP's (Blum-Kulka et al. 1989) framework of directness and Brown & Levinson's (1987) model and their framework of social variables of power and distance, except for the fake refusals. I have proposed the approach of liräng/giänräng/ciräng along with Spencer-Oatey's (2005) explanation for the fake refusal phenomenon. In the analysis of cultural influences, I draw on Kroeber and Kluckholn (1952) and Triandis' (1994) research. In classifying the request data, Lee-Wong's (2000) method of classification is used. In grouping the data of refusals, I have adopted Beebe et al. 's (1990) classification. In collecting data, the role-play method is employed, complemented by DCT investigation. In the role-play, Chinese and English subjects are divided into groups and the task for each group is to discuss when, where and how they can make a trip together during a few days holiday. In the course of the discussion, there occur requests and disagreements (classified as `refusals' in my research), and in the DCTs, subjects are asked to choose from a set of fixed responses, or suggest an alternative of their own. The purpose is to see what differences or similarities there are between Chinese and English in the realization patterns of the two speech acts in various situations. The results show that, in the role-play, both Chinese and English favour the direct strategy in interaction. The frequency of the direct strategy (in requests) is much higher than that of other research such as that conducted by Zhang (1995), where participants prefer conventionally indirect strategies. However, the results of the DCTs demonstrate a less significant difference between my investigation and the CCSARP languages. The greatest difference between Chinese and English data lies in the fake refusals. Data analysis also indicates that factors (power, distance and even culture) do not have a large effect on the role-play results though they do influence the choice of strategies in the DCTs. The speech acts of requests and refusals are found to be multifunctional. In the role-play, for example, they often play a more supportive and constructive than a face-threatening role, as Brown & Levinson have claimed. In the DCT data, fake refusals are employed to show good manners. Conceptually, I have challenged those researchers who claim that Chinese face is different from English face, and who divide Chinese face into two different aspects: Tian and miänzi. Wang (1993: 566) says that "the modern man has only one liän [face]" and mianzi is only one of the synonyms of lin. Therefore, the Chinese have one face, just as the English do. The conceptualization of Chinese face having two aspects does not seem to be valid. This finding coincides with Leech's (2005: 27) that "despite differences, there is no East-West divide in politeness"

Modality markers and politeness strategies in British and American ambassadorial speeches: A corpus-based approach

This study investigates modality markers used as expressions of politeness in British and American ambassadorial speeches via a corpus-based method. Results of the research reflect the semantic and pragmatic perspectives of modality markers on the theories of modality and politeness. Although modality and politeness are the central topics in a wide range of studies, the two domains have been discussed separately and their relationship has not been empirically investigated. Moreover, there has been no study on modality markers in British and American discourse, nor has the use of modality markers in British and American ambassadorial speeches been examined. Therefore, this research examines the relation of modality to politeness via the use of British and American ambassadorial speeches. The research contributes to the practice of the discourse community with the analysis of modality markers as politeness strategies in ambassadorial speeches. The results of a comparative analysis of modality markers as speakers’ politeness strategies collected in ambassadorial speeches reveal that American and British ambassadors are strikingly different in their frequency of modality markers expressing particular politeness categories. American ambassadors use more modality markers expressing positive politeness strategies such as paying attention to hearers, expressing strong commitment, hedging on hearers’ positive face, expressing optimism, complimenting to mitigate the force of comments, making claims and minimising the imposition of face-threatening acts. British ambassadors, however, employ more modality markers expressing negative politeness strategies such as hedging on negative face-threatening acts, expressing hypotheses, expressing humbleness and mitigating the force of obligation. Therefore, this thesis claims that American ambassadors use more modality markers expressing positive politeness in terms of personal emotions and directness, while British ambassadors prefer modality markers expressing negative politeness such as tentativeness, indirectness and mitigation. It is noted that modality is represented in a range of syntactic structures and patterns other than single modal auxiliary verbs. In addition, since modality markers as expressions of politeness are culture-specific, the use of modality markers differs from one culture to another. Moreover, modality markers cannot totally be treated as hedges in intercultural communication since some modality markers which seem to be semantically similar between languages are actually different in their pragmatic functions among different cultures