Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Cognitive Sociolinguistics draws on the rich theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics and focuses on the social factors that underlie the variability of meaning and conceptualization. In the last decade, the field has expanded in various way. The current volume takes stock of current and emerging advances in the field in short academic contributions.The studies collected in this book have a usage-based approach to language variation and change, drawing on the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics and are sensitive to social variation, be it cross-linguistic or language-internal. Three types of contributions are collected in this book. First, it contains theoretical overview papers on the domains that have witnessed expansion in recent years. Second, it presents novel research ideas in proof-of-concept contributions, aimed at blue-sky research and out-of-the-box linguistic analyses. Third, it showcases recent empirical studies within the field.By combining these three types of contributions, the book provides an encompassing overview of novel developments in the field of Cognitive Sociolinguistics.

E-books

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

When expressing a taboo concept, the language user generally has a large number of different terms at their disposal. However, the exact way in which the speaker refers to the stigmatized topic depends on personal conditions. For this thesis, a survey distributed to 527 respondents inquired into which expressions they knew for menstruation. Their answers formed an extensive dataset, which was examined in terms of two research aspects. On the one hand, this study delved deeper into the conceptualization of the given menstrual terms; which linguistic processes are responsible for their construction? For this purpose, the overview of X-phemistic mechanisms by Casas Gómez (1986) was employed. In the case of metaphorical or metonymic expressions, the cognitive frameworks of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Metonymy Theory served as inspiration for a further investigation of the specific source domains that conceptualize the target domain MENSTRUATION. On the other hand, the individual lexical diversity of each respondent was scrutinized; how many expressions did the language user submit? Regression analyses measured the extent to which conceptualization and lexical diversity differed for each respondent depending on their language (Dutch, German or Mandarin Chinese), age group (≥ 25, 26-49, 50 ≤) and menstrual experience (direct or indirect). Results for conceptualization are as follows: Mandarin speakers prefer euphemistic expressions, while German and Dutch respondents mainly use direct terms for menstruation, respectively with matter-of-fact or humorous overtones. The youngest and oldest speakers overlap in their tendency towards dysphemistic and direct terms, but the middle-aged group uses proportionally more evasive expressions. For menstrual experience, the direct (menstruating) group tended to refer to the taboo euphemistically, while the indirect (non-menstruating) group did not shy away from a dysphemistic expression. In terms of lexical diversity, Mandarin speakers appeared significantly less lexically diverse. Middle-aged respondents submitted slightly more expressions than the youngest group. No effect was found for the oldest language users among the menstruating respondents, but for the oldest non-menstruating group, a significant increase in lexical diversity was found. This study contributes to a more comprehensive framework for onomasiological research on taboo terminology and provides additional evidence for the idea that cultural, as well as age- and gender-related, differences are reflected in language.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This diachronic corpus study has investigated the speed of lexical changes in English. More specifically, it has been examined whether certain loanwords are less or more difficult to borrow and whether these differences between loanwords remain constant over time. This paper aimed to provide an answer to the question whether “necessary” loans are more successful than “luxury” loans and whether this distinction plays the same role throughout the history of the English language. Moreover, this paper has studied the differences between loanwords in various semantic fields and whether these differences remain the same over time. This research was carried out by collecting data from the World Loanword Database and from the Oxford English Dictionary. Four semantic fields from the WOLD database were selected for this study: two with a high borrowed score (‘Modern World’ and ‘Agriculture and Vegetation’) and two with a low borrowed score (‘Sense Perception’ and ‘The Body’). We gathered information on all the (near-)synonyms – loanwords as well as non-loanwords – of the concepts included in these semantic fields. Based on the collected data we have calculated the lifespan of words and the success rates of loanwords; in the analysis, four independent variables were included: “necessary” versus “luxury” loans, semantic fields, the effect of the loanword (insertion, coexistence and replacement) and frequency. The analysis has demonstrated that “necessary” loans are more successful than “luxury” loanwords and that this distinction remains similar over time. The results have also shown that loanwords behave differently depending on the semantic field they belong to: loanwords in semantic fields with a high borrowed score are more successful than loanwords in semantic fields with a low borrowed score. This tendency also remains constant in each studied time period. It is interesting, however, that the differences in success rates between the loanwords become smaller as time progresses; this applies to each studied independent variable. This diachronic corpus study has thus provided more evidence for the theory on “core” vocabulary. Moreover, this study is the first study to investigate the use and distribution of the success of loanwords over a long period of time – from the year 1400 onwards until now – from an onomasiological perspective. Future studies might consider investigating the differences between “necessary” and “luxury” loans in other languages, in order to see whether the tendencies found in this study are similar in languages other than the English language. It would also be interesting to apply the variables used in this study on other semantic fields, to identify the influence of other semantic fields on the behaviour of loanwords. Lastly, further research should be conducted to establish the relationship between the specific uses of words (humorous, euphemistic, etc.) and the success of these (loan)words.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Door de hoge integratie van sociale media is interactie tussen consument en merk een verwachte norm geworden (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). Communicatie via sociale media is voordelig voor organisaties, omdat het de zichtbaarheid van het merk vergroot en de verkoopactiviteiten en merkherkenning positief beïnvloedt (Kumar & Mirchandani, 2012). Bedrijven moeten dus streven naar overtuigende communicatiestrategieën die sterke merkrelaties bevorderen, omdat deze relaties consumenten ertoe aanzetten hun ervaringen met anderen te delen. Over het algemeen ervaren consumenten informele begroetingen van bedrijven positiever, terwijl formele begroetingen als competenter worden ervaren (Leung et al., 2022). Jakic et al. (2017) vonden dat klanten een grotere waardering toonden wanneer een merk de houding van de klant overneemt. Evenzo is het, in lijn met Cavalheiro et al. (2022), essentieel voor het merk om de klant te identificeren en een passende stijl te hanteren voor de uitkomsten die het bedrijf bevoordelen. Studies in de literatuur hebben variabelen als merk geloofwaardigheid en vertrouwen onderzocht (Jakic et al., 2017). Bijgevolg wil deze studie onderzoeken hoe consumenten de door een bedrijf gehanteerde taalstijl evalueren, rekening houdend met het door de consument gepercipieerde beeld van het bedrijf. We willen ook de leemte in de literatuur met betrekking tot taalvariatie en de impact ervan op consumenten opvullen. Om een antwoord te bekomen op die onderzoeksvraag stelden we de volgende twee hypotheses op: Hypothese 1: De consument beoordeelt het bedrijf positiever als dat bedrijf zich naar een jongere doelgroep richt en informeel communiceert op Twitter. Hypothese 2: De consument beoordeelt het bedrijf negatiever als dat bedrijf zich naar een algemene doelgroep richt en informeel communiceert op Twitter. Om dit te onderzoeken hanteerden we een corpusanalyse als methodologie, waarbij we 1797 bedrijfstweets hebben verzameld voor Bol.com, Dreamland, Coolblue en Telenet. De gegevens werden onderworpen aan een one-tailed Pearson correlatie test voor verdere analyse. Resultaten toonden een significant verband aan voor Bol.com. Dit impliceert dat wanneer zij een informele taalstijl hanteerden, werd dit positiever beoordeeld door de consument dan wanneer zij een formele taalstijl toepasten. Voor de overige drie bedrijven Dreamland, Coolblue en Telenet kon geen significant verbanden gevonden worden om te concluderen dat de gehanteerde taalstijl een impact heeft op de beoordeling van de consument. Tegen de verwachtingen in formuleerden de minder serieus gepercipieerde bedrijven Bol.com en Dreamland formelere bedrijfstweets. Telenet en Coolblue daarentegen hanteerden informele bedrijfstweets dan Bol.com en Dreamland. Op deze bedrijfstweets reageerden de consumenten gemiddeld gezien vaker positief dan negatief. Ter conclusie kunnen we besluiten dat consumenten Bol.com gunstiger beoordelen wanneer zij een informele taalstijl hanteren op Twitter. Veronderstellend dat een betere beoordeling zal leiden tot een grotere geloofwaardigheid van het merk (Gretry et al., 2017), is het voordelig voor het bedrijf om informeel te communiceren op Twitter wanneer de consument bepaalde verwachtingen heeft over het imago van dat bedrijf.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This paper deals with the spelling variation between anyway and anyways in their current use on Twitter. This study is mainly based on research led on the role that -s versus -Ø may play, but linguists do not seem to reach an agreement on whether these suffixes imply a certain function or not. Some scholars argue that a functional aspect has to be considered regarding the variation with or without suffix whereas others are persuaded that this choice is “at the whim of the speaker”. This paper will only focus on the variation between anyway and anyways and will answer the following questions: are the function and the position involved? Do they correlate? Do the content and the grammaticality play a role? Is there a particular distribution of these variants between UK and US? An analysis of these variants has been possible thanks to the large source of linguistic data that can be easily found on the internet and the data sample has been collected on Twitter. Tweets containing anyway(s) were thus gathered and analysed to determine the reasons of this variation. The data sample has been analysed according to different categories namely: the phonological environment, the content, the grammaticality of the tweets and the position and the function of anyway(s) and the sociolinguistic influence of UK and US on these variants. The results show that position and function correlate and do have an effect on anyway(s). Most discourse makers are situated alone or at the beginning of the sentence whereas adverbs tend to have a medial or final position. However, within the clause, the phonological environment of the variants does not influence its spelling. Since anyways is categorised as a discourse marker in one third of the cases, this lexical item tends to have an initial or alone position. As far as anyway is concerned, its common adverbial function places this word in the middle or at the end of a sentence. The least common function is the interjectional one which occurs mostly alone and with anyways. Users attribute distinct functions to the variants hence different positions because of the correlation that exists between these variables. The content and grammaticality of the tweets also play a role in the spelling of the variants: the general trend is that anyway is more frequently used in tweets dealing with non-private matters than anyways. Then the distribution of the variants regarding the grammaticality of the tweets reveals a certain pattern: anyway is used more often than anyways in grammatical tweets whereas anyways is more frequent in ungrammatical ones. The geographical origin of the tweets has its importance on the spelling variation: UK and US do not always use anyway(s) the same way. In tweets dealing with private matters, both locations favour anyway(s), but it is more nuanced in non-private matters. Users in general tend to use anyway in their tweets when they talk about official subject though this majority does not prevent anyways to occur in such tweets. To conclude, this paper has proven that the differentiation between the two variants is significant because it implies different factors in its variation. The parallel forms anyway and anyways are indeed specializing towards separate functions.