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1.
A monosemic account of modality in speech act theory
Niko Šetar, 2020, master's thesis

Abstract: Connection between modality in the English language and pragmatics is a matter of extensive debate as it often seems there is no concrete way of establishing a sensible correlation between modality that an utterance contains and its pragmatic function, which is due to numerous issues pertaining to different accounts of both modality and speech act theory. Traditional view of modality splits modal verbs into three categories: epistemic, deontic and dynamic (also known as simple root modality). The problem with this view is that there is no way of determining whether a certain modal verb is used in epistemic, deontic, or dynamic sense as most modals can serve any of the three functions, therefore explaining modality within this framework is highly ambiguous even when relying on broader context of the utterance containing a certain modal. Traditional view of speech acts, on the other hand, divides them into locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts. Yet it would seem that all modalities pertain only to illocutionary speech acts, as they are the ones that express speaker's intentions, which are most heavily influenced by modality. The connection between traditionalist accounts is therefore quite impossible. A more contemporary view splits speech acts into assertive, commissive, constative, directive and imperative speech acts, while we may consider locution, illocution and perlocution to be aspects of these speech acts, rather than separate categories. In these case, different modalities may be connected to different speech acts, but the ambiguity that traditional view of modality contains persists into any attempt to draw the connection between modality and speech act. Therefore, an alternative account of modality is required. Two well-known such accounts are polysemic and monosemic views of modality. Polysemic views claim that every lexeme (in our case, a modal verb) may possess several semantic meanings, while monosemic views maintain that every lexeme can be defined in the sense of a single meaning. Reviewing polysemic accounts shows that their reliance on multiple meanings and definitions for every lexeme leads to similar ambiguities as the traditional view of modality, and can therefore not be used in our efforts. Monosemic views, however, differ greatly from one another. While some accounts have been shown to be inadequate, Groefsema’s 1995 account serves the required purpose. The author defines each modal verb in the sense of the proposition expressed by the modal and an additional minimal set of propositions that supports the use of that particular modal. Kissine (2013) similarly defines speech acts, thus a correlation between modal verbs and speech acts may be established. Finally, we attempt to show that each modal verb with a particular minimal set of supporting propositions can only feature in one type of speech act, thus also defining the speech act within which it is contained.
Keywords: Pragmatics, modality, speech acts, epistemic, deontic, dynamic, assertives, commissives, constatives, directives, imperatives, polysemy, monosemy
Published in DKUM: 16.09.2020; Views: 1231; Downloads: 123
.pdf Full text (355,48 KB)

2.
Road traffic safety in conjunction with in-vehicle ITS
Darja Topolšek, Suzana Hribar, Marjan Sternad, 2014, original scientific article

Abstract: Interest in Intelligent Transportation Systems comes from the problems caused by traffic congestion, road accidents and air pollution. Traffic congestion continues to grow worldwide as a result of increased motorization, population growth, changes in population density and urbanization. Interest in ITS can also be attributed to reducing road accidents and increasing traffic safety. The most common causes for road accidents are excessive speed, inattentive driving and ignorance of the right-of-way rules. To eliminate these causes, experience, knowledge of traffic regulations and a new car are not enough % vehicle safety systems have to take part as well. Therefore, the European Union issued a directive on the installation of intelligent systems, whose functions are active support during driving, warning the driver in dangerous situations and alerting passengers of the car in case of irregularities in motor function or actions carried out by the driver that may cause danger, such as swerving while falling asleep. These systems help drivers to avoid accidents, and in the event of a collision, an emergency call is automatically made. Furthermore, they can be used to regulate traffic patterns or to reduce engine performance, which would reduce pollution. With these benefits in mind, the EU has indicated to the automotive industry that installation of these new Intelligent Transportation Systems should be mandatory in their new vehicles.
Keywords: traffic, road traffic, road safety, road accidents, intelligent systems, directives, regulations
Published in DKUM: 17.07.2017; Views: 2332; Downloads: 218
.pdf Full text (169,42 KB)
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