Effect-for-cause inferencing in the evaluation of loudness among Toba Batak people
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v10i3.28869Keywords:
inferencing, effect-for-cause, loud speech voice, social distance, Toba Batak, IndonesiaAbstract
The paper presents evidence for an effect-for-cause inferencing process underlying the general style of using loud speech voice among Toba Batak speakers (Indonesia). A subjective reaction test was conducted to find out their perception towards the use of loud voice in three relational settings having different combinations of bipolarity: 1) vertical social distance and horizontal social distance; 2) vertical social distance only; and 3) horizontal social distance only. The results showed that in contexts where horizontal social distance remains, the absence of vertical distance significantly weakens the perception of impoliteness and unacceptability towards the use of loud voice. This indicates that Toba Bataks assume a pseudo social proximity when they are speaking to people with whom they have no horizontal social closeness. This method of inferencing is consistent with an effect-for-cause relational structure, being metonymic in nature.References
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Brown, R. and Gilman, A. (1960) The pronouns of power and solidarity. In T. Sebeok, (ed.) Style in language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chaer, A. (1995) Sosiolinguistik: Suatu Pengantar. Jakarta: PT Rineka Cipta.
Croft, W. (2009) Toward a social cognitive linguistics. In V. Evans and S. Pourcel (eds) New directions in cognitive linguistics 395–420. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.24.25cro.
Croft, W. and Cruse, D. A. (2004) Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803864.
Culpeper, J., Bous?eld, D., and Wichmann, A. (2003) Impoliteness revisited: With special reference to dynamic and prosodic aspects. Journal of Pragmatics 35(10): 1545–1579. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00118-2.
Dunela, A. (1989) Vision and the emergence of meaning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511519802.
Fauconnier, G. (1997) Mappings in thought and language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139174220.
Fiske, S. (1993) Controlling other people: The impact of power on stereotyping. American Psychologist 48(6): 621–628. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.48.6.621.
Fraser, B. (1990) Perspectives on politeness. Journal of Pragmatics 14: 219–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90081-N.
Hammerschmidt, K. and Jürgens, U. (2007) Acoustical correlates of affective prosody. Journal of Voice 21(5): 531–540. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2006.03.002.
Heider, F., Simmel, M. (1944) An experimental study of apparent behavior. American Journal of Psychology 57(2): 243–259. https://doi.org/10.2307/1416950.
Hudson, R. A. (1996) Sociolinguistics (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139166843.
Kövecses, Z. and Radden, G. (1998) Metonymy: Developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics 9(1): 37–77. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.1998.9.1.37.
Kövecses, Z. and Radden, G. (1999) Towards a theory of metonymy. In K. U. Panther and G. Radden (eds) Metonymy in language and thought 17–59. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Ladefoged, P. (1975) A course in phonetics. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Macmillan Dictionary Online. (2013). Make yourself at home. Retrieved from http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/home.
Mills, S. (2002) Rethinking politeness, impoliteness and gender identity. In L. Litoselliti and J. Sunderland (eds) Discourse analysis and gender identity 69–89. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.2.04mil.
Nababan, P. (1981) A grammar of Toba-Batak. Canberra: Paci?c Linguistics.
Panggabean, H. (1993) Analisis Leksiko Statistik Bahasa-bahasa Batak. Unpublished thesis. Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung.
Rossing, T. (2007) Springer Handbook of Acoustics. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30425-0.
Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, F. J. and Hernández, L. P. (2003) Cognitive operations and pragmatic implication. In K. Panther and L. Thornburg (eds) Metonymy and pragmatic inferencing 23–49. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Taylor, S. and Fiske, S. (1978) Salience, attention, and attribution: Top of the head phenomena. In L. Berkowitz (ed.) Advances in experimental social psychology 249–288. New York: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60009-x.
Warren, R. M. (1973) Quanti?cation of loudness. The American Journal of Psychology 86: 807–825. https://doi.org/10.2307/1422087.
Published
2017-01-20
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Tobing, A. P., Panggabean, H., & Sinar, T. S. (2017). Effect-for-cause inferencing in the evaluation of loudness among Toba Batak people. Sociolinguistic Studies, 10(3), 455-474. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v10i3.28869
