Open AccessPragmatic Factors Influencing Word Choice: An Examination Based on Corpus and the IR Method
Author(s) -
Yu Wang,
Wenzhen Shi,
Tetsuhisa Oda
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of advanced computational intelligence and intelligent informatics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1343-0130
pISSN - 1883-8014
DOI - 10.20965/jaciii.2011.p0919
Subject(s) - computer science , conversation , set (abstract data type) , word (group theory) , range (aeronautics) , style (visual arts) , fuzzy logic , natural language processing , factor (programming language) , order (exchange) , reflexivity , artificial intelligence , linguistics , social science , sociology , history , programming language , philosophy , materials science , archaeology , finance , economics , composite material
This study argues the pragmatic factors that influence the choice of the four reflexive pronouns jibun , jisin , mizukara , and jiko . Since the differences in these words are subtle and the subjects’ attitudes are complex, we introduce an Improved Rating (IR) method that is developed from Oda’s Fuzzy-set Concurrent Rating (FCR) method. The analysis consists of two parts. First, a corpus-based investigation suggests that the choice of these words may be influenced by a range of factors including anticipants, conversation style, and contents, all of which can be related to “psychological distance.” Second, in order to reconfirm the psychological distance hypothesis, we employ a questionnaire involving the IR method. Consequently, the “psychological distance” is found to be an effective factor influencing the subjects’ attitudes and word choices.