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Article
Mitigation and Pragmatic Empathy
Author(s)
LI Hai-hui
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2019.02.009
Affiliation(s)
Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
ABSTRACT
In the pragmatics literature the relationship between mitigation and pragmatic empathy remains largely an underexplored, or even worse, a controversial issue, giving rise to the formulation of divergent views of empathy in mitigation. While I treat empathy as a working mechanism providing a general explanation of how mitigation works, Caffi (1999; 2007; 2013) adopts a “paradox” view on it. The purpose of this paper is to track down the sources of divergence by comparing and contrasting our conceptualizations of mitigation. It is found that the biggest difference lies in the treatment of intersubjectivity. However, although I argue in favor of my empathic view, I see it as complementary, rather than contradictory, to Caffi’s view. The relationship between mitigation and politeness is revisited with its implications for teaching pragmatics briefly discussed.
KEYWORDS
mitigation, pragmatic empathy, intersubjective convergence
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References
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Fraser, B. (1980). Conversational mitigation. Journal of Pragmatics, 4, 341-350.
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Li, H., & He, Z. (2016). A study of the pragmatic functions of mitigation. Journal of Lanzhou University (Social Sciences), 3, 151-158.
Li, H., & Zhou, Y. (2017). Pragmatic comprehension, epistemic vigilance and scalar implicature. Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Linguistics and Intercultural Business Communication (September 17-19, Guangzhou), The American Scholar Press.
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics (vol. 1-2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Martinovski, B., & Mao, W. (2009 ). Emotion as an argumentation engine: Modeling the role of emotion in negotiation. Group Decision Negotiation, 18, 235-259.
Mazzarella, D. (2015). Politeness, relevance and scalar Inferences. Journal of Pragmatics, 79, 93-106.
Meyer, P. (1997). Hedging strategies in academic discourse: Strengthening the argument by weakening the Claim. In R. Markkanen & H. Schröder (Eds.), Hedging and discourse: Approaches to the analysis of a pragmatic phenomenon in academic texts (pp. 21-41). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Morcus, N. (2014). Refusals in Egyptian Arabic and American English. Journal of Pragmatics, 70, 86-107.
Padilla Cruz, M. (2014). Pragmatic failure, epistemic injustice and epistemic vigilance. Language & Communication, 39, 34-50.
Searle, J., & Vanderveken, D. (1985). Speech acts and illocutionary logic. In D. Vanderveken (Ed.), Logic, thought and action (pp. 109-132). Springer.
Sperber, D. (1994). Understanding Verbal Understanding. In J. Khalfa (Ed.). What is intelligence (pp. 179-198)? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sperber, D., Clément, F., Heintz, C., Mascaro, O., Mercier, H., Origgi, G., & Wilson, D. (2010). Epistemic vigilance. Mind & Language, 25(4), 359-393.
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1995). Relevance: Communication and cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. London/New York: Routledge.
Verschueren, J. (1999). Understanding pragmatics. London/New York: Arnold.
Batson, D. (1991). The altruism question: Toward a social-psychological answer. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bazzanella, C., Caffi, C., & Sbisà, M. (1991). Scalar dimensions of illocutionary force. In Z. Zagar (Ed.), Speech acts. Fiction or reality (pp. 63-76)? Ljubljana: IPRA distribution Center for Jugoslavia.
Björkqvist, K., Österman, K., & Kaukiainen, A. (2000). Social intelligence – empathy = aggression? Aggression and Violent Behavior, 5(2), 191-200.
Bonelli, L. (2015). Disaffiliation and pragmatic strategies of emotive communication in a multiparty online conflict talk. In F. D’Errico, T. Vinciarelli and L. Vincze (Eds.), Conflict and multimodal communication (pp. 159-182). Springer.
Bonnefon, J., Freeney, A., & Villejoubert, G. (2009). When some is actually all: Scalar inferences in face-threatening contexts. Cognition, 112, 249-258.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Caffi, C. (1999). On mitigation. Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 881-909.
Caffi, C. (2007). Mitigation. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Caffi, C. (2013). Mitigation. In M. Sbisà and K. Turner (Eds.), Pragmatics of speech actions (pp. 257-285). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Caffi, C., & Janney, R. (1994). Toward a pragmatics of emotive communication. Journal of Pragmatics, 22, 325-373.
Chen, X. (2004). On pragmatic balance. Foreign Languagee Research, 6, 42-47.
Coupland, N. (2010). Accommodation theory. In J. Jaspers, J. Östman and J. Verschueren (Eds.), Society and language use (pp. 21-27). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Davis, M. (1996). Empathy: A social psychological approach. Oxford: Westview Press.
Delbene, R. (2004). The function of mitigation in the context of a socially stigmatized disease: A case study in a public hospital in Montevideo, Uruguay. Spanish in Context, 1, 241-266.
Delbene, R. (2006). Pragmatic boundaries between mitigation and deception: The case of warning and advice in the context of HIV/AIDS epidemic. Quaderns de Filologia. Estudis Lingüístic, 11, 67-77.
Economidou-Kogetsidis, M. (2011). “Please answer me as soon as possible”: Pragmatic failure in non-native speakers’ e-mail requests to faculty. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 3193-3215.
Félix-Brasdefer, J. (2008). Teaching pragmatics in the classroom: Instruction of mitigation in Spanish as a foreign language. Hispania, 91(2), 479-494.
Fraser, B. (1980). Conversational mitigation. Journal of Pragmatics, 4, 341-350.
Fraser, B. (2010). Pragmatic competence: The case of hedging. In G. Kaltenböck, W. Mihatsch and S. Schneider (Eds.), New approaches to hedging (pp. 15-34). Binggley, UK: Emerald..
Grice, P. (1989). Studies in the way of words. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Gu, Y. (1990). Politeness phenomena in modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 237-257.
Han, G. (2008). Pragmatic markers: Toward bi-directional optimization in communication. Nanjing: Southwest University Press.
Haverkate, H. (1992). Deictic categories as mitigating devices. Pragmatics, 2, 505-522.
He, Z. (1991). Pragmatic empathy in verbal communication. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 4, 11-15.
Holmes, J. (1984). Modifying illocutionary force. Journal of Pragmatics, 8, 345-365.
Ifantidou, E. (2014). Pragmatic competence and relevance. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Jensen, A. (2009). Discourse strategies in professional e-mail negotiation: A case study. English for Specific Purposes, 28, 4-18.
Kecskes, I. (2010). The paradox of communication: Socio-cognitive approach to pragmatics. Pragmatics and Society, 1(1), 50-73.
Kuno, S. (2006). Empathy and direct discourse perspectives. In L. Horn and G. Ward (Eds.), Handbook of pragmatics (pp. 315-343). Oxford: Blackwell.
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. London/New York: Longman.
Li, H. (2012). A pragmatic-empathic view of mitigation. Jinan Journal (Philosophy and Social Sciences), 9, 117-123.
Li, H. (2014). A Pragmatic study of mitigation in television talk shows. Guangzhou: World Publication Corporation.
Li, H. (2018). Pragmatic empathy as the working mechanism of mitigation. Academic Research, 6, 167-171.
Li, H., & He, Z. (2016). A study of the pragmatic functions of mitigation. Journal of Lanzhou University (Social Sciences), 3, 151-158.
Li, H., & Zhou, Y. (2017). Pragmatic comprehension, epistemic vigilance and scalar implicature. Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Linguistics and Intercultural Business Communication (September 17-19, Guangzhou), The American Scholar Press.
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics (vol. 1-2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Martinovski, B., & Mao, W. (2009 ). Emotion as an argumentation engine: Modeling the role of emotion in negotiation. Group Decision Negotiation, 18, 235-259.
Mazzarella, D. (2015). Politeness, relevance and scalar Inferences. Journal of Pragmatics, 79, 93-106.
Meyer, P. (1997). Hedging strategies in academic discourse: Strengthening the argument by weakening the Claim. In R. Markkanen & H. Schröder (Eds.), Hedging and discourse: Approaches to the analysis of a pragmatic phenomenon in academic texts (pp. 21-41). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Morcus, N. (2014). Refusals in Egyptian Arabic and American English. Journal of Pragmatics, 70, 86-107.
Padilla Cruz, M. (2014). Pragmatic failure, epistemic injustice and epistemic vigilance. Language & Communication, 39, 34-50.
Searle, J., & Vanderveken, D. (1985). Speech acts and illocutionary logic. In D. Vanderveken (Ed.), Logic, thought and action (pp. 109-132). Springer.
Sperber, D. (1994). Understanding Verbal Understanding. In J. Khalfa (Ed.). What is intelligence (pp. 179-198)? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sperber, D., Clément, F., Heintz, C., Mascaro, O., Mercier, H., Origgi, G., & Wilson, D. (2010). Epistemic vigilance. Mind & Language, 25(4), 359-393.
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1995). Relevance: Communication and cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. London/New York: Routledge.
Verschueren, J. (1999). Understanding pragmatics. London/New York: Arnold.