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Date: Saturday, March 23
Location: Edmunds Ballroom

Grammatical Surprise: Affective and the Embodied Pragmatics of Linguistic Drama

9:10 – 10:00 a.m.
Zhuo Jing-Schmidt
University of Oregon

In everyday communication, speakers use dramatic language to represent striking events, express strong emotions, construe reality, and influence listeners. Since the concept of “dramatized discourse" was introduced, research on drama and dramaticity in Chinese language has made great strides. Scholars have analyzed the lexical grammatical representations of linguistic dramaticity and discovered and expounded Chinese specific theatrical structures and dramatic devices from the perspective of Chinese dramaturgic tradition. These fresh insights have further expanded the theoretical horizon of research on linguistic subjectivity and raised new questions about dramatized language as a theoretical construct. This talk explores the cognitive-affective mechanisms of linguistic dramaticity. I propose the concept of “grammatical surprise” in the sense of surprise triggered by creative and often deliberate violation of grammatical conventions for dramatic effect and I argue for the embodiment of linguistic drama. In doing so I hope to provide a fuller picture of linguistic drama as an embodied pragmatic phenomenon.

Properties Exhibiting Chinese Finiteness

10:10 – 11:00 a.m.
Chaofen Sun
Stanford University

Chinese does not have tense coding, and there should be a cluster of properties to exhibit finiteness enabling a clause to stand alone as an unembedded assertion (Grano 2017). Based on the constraints on unembedded assertions (Lv 1980, Zhu 1982, Tsai 2008) and following Givón's communicative modalities (1995, 2001), I proposed an ontology of properties exhibiting Chinese finiteness: (ir)realis, durationality and telicity. Irrealis mostly refers to weakly asserted hypothetical/habitual/future events negatable by bu, and realis refers to strongly asserted true events negatable by mei(you). Furthermore, verbal markers -le "perfective", -zhe "imperfective", -guo "experiential" and zai- "progressive" are different realis markers with specific constraints on a clause's ability to stand alone as an unembedded assertion.

Teaching Pragmatics and Beyond via Computer-Mediated Communication

11:10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Naoko Taguchi
Northern Arizona University

Learning pragmatics in a second language (L2) involves learning how to use linguistic and non-linguistic means to communicate social and interpersonal meanings in that language. Recently, various types of computer-mediated communication (CMC)—synchronous, asynchronous, written or spoken—have attracted much interest as promising approaches for pragmatics learning. CMC tools such as chat, blogs, video conferencing, text messaging, and email provide L2 learners opportunities to interact with target language speakers in diverse settings and roles. Through an authentic, contextualized interaction, learners can observe others’ pragmatic behaviors and experience the impact of their own pragmatic behaviors on others. Building on these benefits of CMC, this presentation surveys types of CMC and their applications to pragmatics instruction. I will present sample instructional studies using an instant messenger application for teaching Chinese pragmatics and a social VR system for teaching Spanish pragmatics. I will conclude with future research directions of CMC for teaching pragmatics.

The Tip-of-the-Speaker’s Tongue: Are First Syllables Friends or Foes to Word Finding?

1:00 – 1:50 p.m.
Lise Abrams
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Abstract: Although speaking is a fundamental ability that appears effortless, complex cognitive processes underlie the production of even a single word. This talk focuses on the failure of phonological encoding processes that result in a tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state, a temporary inability to retrieve a known word. Specifically, I will discuss the role of a word’s first syllable in resolving TOT states, as well as my research on the syntactic and semantic factors that mitigate this facilitation. The first syllable’s influence on TOT resolution has also been studied in various languages, including Mandarin, and similarities and differences between languages will be addressed.

What we Know (and Still Don’t Know) about L2 Mandarin Speech Learning

2:00 – 2:50 p.m.
Seth Wiener
Carnegie Mellon University

We are living in the golden age of second language acquisition experimental research. The last 20 years of experimental research has led to advances in both theory and foreign language pedagogy. Nowhere is this more apparent than the speech learning domain. This talk will cover what we know (and still don’t know) about adult L2 acquisition of spoken Mandarin sounds and words.