The Basic Tenets of Generative Phonology

Among the various schools of phonology, generative phonology is well-known because it has become a standard theory against which most other work in phonology has been measured and evaluated. It is a branch of phonology that came to prominence with Chomsky and Halle's (1968) "Sound Pattern of English" wherein their aim is to eliminate and factor out redundancy from phonological analyses by using phonological rules. Most phonologists agree that they should share the flavor, the spirit, and the mood of generative phonology. As such, the present study aims to limelight this phonological theory through presenting a theoretical framework about this branch of phonology focusing on its emergence, its components, its distinctive tenets, the phonological theories that stemmed from it as well as some post-generative theories and frameworks. Keywords: generative phonology, Sound Pattern of English, distinctive features, post-generative theories

Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis

It is said that pragmatics and discourse analysis are closely interrelated and that there is a considerable overlap between them to the extent that they can be regarded as sister disciplines. The current study aims at investigating the relationship between them highlighting their similarities and detecting their differences. In order to fulfill the objectives of the study, a number of procedures will be followed: (1)  Surveying the relevant literature about the two fields in question, (2) conducting a comparison between them and (3) drawing some conclusions grounded on the findings of the study. Key words: pragmatics, discourse analysis, context, discourse pragmatics, and critical discourse analysi

Models For The Pragmatic Analysis Of Fallacy In Obama's Political Speeches

Fallacy as a derailment of strategic maneuvering can be defined as  the process of issuing a defective argument (when subjected to certain criteria) to support and strengthen a previously issued one for purposes of persuasion. However, fallacy  is a broad topic that has been approached from different perspectives. Several studies have attempted to tackle fallacy  pragmatically. Yet, those attempts have suffered from many gaps and drawbacks which have characterized them as  insufficient accounts in this regard . Hence,  this work  has set itself the task of dealing with this problem through developing    pragmatic models for the analysis of fallacy as far as its pragmatic structure, types and strategies are concerned. These models are built upon several models introduced by several scholars in addition to the  observations made by the researchers themselves.   The validity of the developed models has been tested by means of analyzing sixteen fallacious  situations taken from Barak Obama's war and electoral speeches.  The analyses conducted have proved that the models developed are workable. Besides, they have yielded various results among which it has been concluded that fallacy is a process composed of various stages. Each stage is distinct for its pragmatic components and strategies

A Pragmatic Study of Argument in atimatulzahra's (P.B.U.H.) Speech

Prophet Muhammad and his Progeny (Peace Be Upon Them, henceforth P.B.U.T.) have set the seeds of many human and natural sciences, including linguistic-related reflections. As such, the current study concords with the assumption that these great Islamic figures have had their essential impact on the subsequent fields of study concentrating on language, rhetoric and communication. Argument is hypothesized by this study to be one of the most prominent  aspects of that influential role of Prophet Muhammad and his Progeny. Argument has been widely employed in the religious speeches delivered to Muslims and to other religions followers by Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) and his progeny (P.B.U.H.) in defense of Islam and Islamic fundamentals and in pursuit of establishing the basic rights and humanistic principles sought by Islam. Lady Fatimatulzahra (P.B.U.H.), the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.), wife of Imam Ali and the mother of Imam Hasan and Imam Hussein (P.B.U.H.) is a case in point of this belief. Moreover, the great and knowing personality of Lady Fatimatulzahra represents a rich source for linguistic studies. Lady Fatimatulzahra's (P.B.U.H.) speech is characterized by various pragma-rhetorical aspects which need a careful study and investigation. Thus, this study has set itself the aims of identifying some of the most significant  pragma-rhetorical strategies of argument employed by her. Further, how these strategies have been used to get her argumentative aims fulfilled.  The results and discussions of this study have arrived at the conclusions that  the most frequent pragma-rhetorical strategies utilized by her are:  Rhetorical Questions, Metaphors and Warrants. In addition, she has made use of these strategies to persuade her audience successfully.   

BASIC TENETS OF RHETORICAL PRAGMATICS

This study tackles the basic tenets of  Rhetorical Pragmatics. It starts with a brief idea about Rhetoric; its relationship with Dialectics, Communication, and Pragmatics. The study adopts Leech's(1983) model of communication which involves explaining Interpersonal Rhetoric with its components: the Cooperative , Politeness, Irony and Banter principles. An idea concerning Textual Rhetoric is also presented by this work through highlighting some of its significant aspects and principles. The paper also deals with rhetorical pragmatic strategies, types of arguments, figures of speech and tropes. The paper ends up with a brief idea about Strategic Maneuvering in argumentation

Metonymy as a Pragma-Rhetorical Feature in some Speeches of Imam Ali

The speech of Prophet Mohammad and his progeny (P.B.U.T) is regarded a main source for several sciences such as rhetoric and eloquence. Their speeches are expected to be an adequate corpus of analysis in the light of modern linguistic theories. As such, this paper investigates the pragma-rhetorical functions of metonymy in Imam Ali's (P.B.U.H) speeches. It aims at examining the applicability of one of the modern linguistic theories,namely rhetorical pragmatics, on Imam Ali's (P.B.U.H) speech. It is hypothesized that:(a)Imam Ali's (P.B.U.H) speeches serve as data of analysis for testing the applicability of Rhetorical Pragmatics, (b) he utilizes all types of metonymy to replace certain issues and actions, and (c) metonymy can breach pragmatic principles such as the cooperative principle so as to perform pragmatic functions.For the sake of analyzing the selected data, the study develops a model for finding out types of metonymy, pragmatic strategies and pragmatic functions.According to the analysis, a number of conclusions has been arrived at.All types of metonymy are used indata under scrutiny. The maxim of quality is the most prominent pragmatic strategy of metonymy. Besides, two functions are performed by these types of metonymy including affirmation and dispraise. Finally, the study proves that Imam Ali's (P.B.U.H) speeches are an important area of pragma-rhetorical data analyses

A Critical Pragmatic Analysis of Hate Speech in the Tweets of American Political Leaders against China

يجعل انتشار الإنترنت من وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي مثل فيسبوك وإنستغرام وتويتر أدوات للتعبير عن المصالح السياسية وإيصال المشاعر الإيجابية والسلبية. في الآونة الأخيرة، انتشرت مشاعر معادية للصين في وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي للزعماء السياسيين الأمريكيين خاصة مع تفشي فيروس كورونا 2020. ومن ثم، بدلاً من استخدام خطاب محايد، يصبح خطاب الكراهية هو الوسيلة التي يهاجم بها هؤلاء القادة ويعبرون عن مشاعرهم السلبية تجاه الصين. ويسعى البحث الحالي إلى وضع هذه الظاهرة قي المجهر من منظور نقدي عملي. ويحاول سد فجوة في هذا المجال. وعليه، تحاول الدراسة الحالية تحليل الجوانب العملية لخطاب الكراهية في تغريدات اثنين من القادة السياسيين الأمريكيين، وهما ترامب وبومبيو. تركز الدراسة الحالية بشكل كبير على أشكال خطاب الكراهية ووظائفه وإستراتيجياته. ويقترح آليات التكاثر لتحل محل الاستراتيجيات الأصلية. وبناء على ذلك، قدمت الدراسة نوعين من التحليل، هما: التحليل النوعي والتحليل الكمي يكون إجراء التحليل النوعي بإطار تحليلي كان تطويره لهذا الغرض. ولدعم نتائج التحليل النوعي، قمنا بإجراء تحليل كمي (إحصائي) باستخدام بعض الأساليب الإحصائية. وعلى أساس هذين التحليلين، قدمنا بعض النتائج، أهمها أن هناك تراكمًا لخطاب الكراهية في تغريدات القادة السياسيين الأمريكيين الموجهين نحو الصين، مما يؤدي إلى انتشار الكراهية العنصرية والعنف ضد الشعب الصيني.  The spread of the Internet makes social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter the tools for expressing political interests and for communicating positive and negative feelings. Recently, an anti-China-sentiment has spread in American political leader’s social media especially with the outbreak of Corona virus plea 2020. Thus, instead of using neutral discourse, hate speech becomes the means by which these leaders attack and express their negative feelings towards China. The present research endeavors to put under deep scrutiny this phenomenon from a critical pragmatic perspective for the sake of understanding how  the context of hate speech against China shapes its meaning.  It attempts to fill a gap in this field by examining the use of language that constructs negative feelings against China and justifies hatred and violence. This study tries to analyze the pragmatic aspects of hate speech in the tweets of Trump and Pompeo. It focuses on hate speech forms, functions and strategies. Then reproduction mechanisms are suggested to substitute the original ones. The study compromises two types of analysis: a qualitative analysis and a quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis is achieved by means of an analytical framework developed for this purpose. In order to support the findings of the qualitative analysis, a quantitative (statistical) analysis is conducted by using a frequency table that shows the number of times each value of a variable occurs in a data set. On the basis of these two analyses, some findings are introduced where the most important one is that there is an accretion of hate speech in American political leader’s tweets directed towards China which leads to the spread of racial hatred and violence against Chinese people

Audience Demands as a Strategic Maneuver in Imam Al-Hassan's Speech after his Truce with Muaawiya

Strategic maneuvering is an extended version of pragma-dialectics. It manifests itself in three basic aspects, p. topical potential, audience demands, and presentational devices. These aspects are interrelatedly used with each other. The aspect of audience demands, which is the concern of this study, indicates the use of cultural, conventional and common-sense knowledge of the audience’s preferences, following particular presentational devices as strategies. Thus, in their attempts to reasonably and effectively persuade the audience, speakers resort to this strategy in their endeavor to win the audience support. The use of this strategic manoeuvre in this concern seems to have not received its due scholarly attention from a pragmatic angle, particularly in religious discourse. Hence, this study attempts to bridge this gap in the literature via scrutinizing the speech of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) grandson, Imam Al-Hassan son of Ali Bin Abi Talib (PBUT). This speech is considered as one of the most notable speeches in the Shiite theology. Imam Al-Hassan (PBUH), as the caliphate of Muslims, delivered this speech after the truce which was held between him and Muaawiya, the leader of the Umayyad people. To unravel the pragmatic features of strategic maneuvering in this speech, the current work addresses fulfilling audience demands by using certain presentational devices in this speech. In so doing, the study attempts to find out the persuading manifestations and rhetorical effects that influence the audience and change their attitude. To achieve those aims, the study appeals to Emeren and Houtlosser’s (2002) model for the pragmatic analysis of the speech in question. This analysis yields certain findings among which is Imam Al-Hassan’s (PBUH) exploitation of specific cultural issues related to Muslims as pragmatic strategic maneuvers that fulfill their demands

The Pragmatics of Civility in Prince Harry's Exit Speech

Civility is a widespread phenomenon in societies as it has its own place as one of the social values of humanity. In this regard, civility is conceived of as the act of showing regards for others through civilized verbal behaviour. However, civility is much more than that since it is viewed as the baseline of respect people owe to each other in public life. Generally speaking, civility prevails in religious contexts; nevertheless, it can be investigated in other contexts. Accordingly, the present study purports to set itself this task through concerning itself with the investigation of civility in a context other than the religious one. Precisely, it is intended to scrutinize this linguistic phenomenon in a speech by Prince Harry of Britain (the Duke of Sussex) with the aim of revealing the strategies through which civility is pragmatically realized. The data is purposefully chosen since Prince Harry is described as being civil and courteous. To achieve the aim of the study, the relevant literature on civility is surveyed and a model is developed for the purpose of pragmatically analyzing the data under perusal and coming out with certain findings