Explore the vast range of titles available.

Consumer-to-consumer brand message sharing is pivotal for effective social media marketing. Even as companies join social media conversations and generate millions of brand messages, it remains unclear what, how, and when brand messages stand out and prompt sharing by consumers. With a conceptual extension of speech act theory, this study offers a granular assessment of brands’ message intentions (i.e., assertive, expressive, or directive) and the effects on consumer sharing. A text mining study of more than two years of Facebook posts and Twitter tweets by well-known consumer brands empirically demonstrates the impacts of distinct message intentions on consumers’ message sharing. Specifically, the use of rhetorical styles (alliteration and repetitions) and cross-message compositions enhance consumer message sharing. As a further extension, an image-based study demonstrates that the presence of visuals, or so-called image acts, increases the ability to account for message sharing. The findings explicate brand message sharing by consumers and thus offer guidance to content managers for developing more effective conversational strategies in social media marketing.

Hate speech (henceforth HS) has recently spread and become an important issue. This type of speech in children's writings has a particular formulation and specific objectives that the authors intend to convey. Thus, the study aims at examining qualitatively and quantitatively the classism HS and its pragmatic functions via identifying the speech acts used to express classism HS, the implicature instigated as well as impoliteness. Since pragmatics is the study of language in context, which is greatly related to the situations and speaker's intention, this study depends on pragmatic theories (speech acts, impoliteness and conversational implicature) to analyze the data which are taken from Katherine Mansfield's short story (The Doll's House). The data has been analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. It is qualitative, as it is dedicated to describe HS phenomenon that is found in the selected short story, depending on an eclectic model. Regarding the quantitative analysis, the researchers have used SPSS 23 program to determine the frequencies and percentages of the strategies that are intended to be measured. The study has concluded that HS has multiple dimensions that are difficult to interpret outside the context of speech. It can be conveyed by many strategies, both explicit and covert. Further, the simplest form of HS involves an insult in addition to other functions, such as disapproval and humiliation.

Deciphering consumers’ sentiment expressions from big data (e.g., online reviews) has become a managerial priority to monitor product and service evaluations. However, sentiment analysis, the process of automatically distilling sentiment from text, provides little insight regarding the language granularities beyond the use of positive and negative words. Drawing on speech act theory, this study provides a fine-grained analysis of the implicit and explicit language used by consumers to express sentiment in text. An empirical text-mining study using more than 45,000 consumer reviews demonstrates the differential impacts of activation levels (e.g., tentative language), implicit sentiment expressions (e.g., commissive language), and discourse patterns (e.g., incoherence) on overall consumer sentiment (i.e., star ratings). In two follow-up studies, we demonstrate that these speech act features also influence the readers’ behavior and are generalizable to other social media contexts, such as Twitter and Facebook. We contribute to research on consumer sentiment analysis by offering a more nuanced understanding of consumer sentiments and their implications.

This paper analyses the communicative and epistemic value of retweeting (and more generally of reposting content on social media). Against a naïve view, it argues that retweets are not acts of endorsement, motivating this diagnosis with linguistic data. Retweeting is instead modelled as a peculiar form of quotation, in which the reported content is indicated rather than reproduced. A relevance-theoretic account of the communicative import of retweeting is then developed, to spell out the complex mechanisms by which retweets achieve their communicative goals. The last section outlines the epistemic threats posed by the increasing prevalence of retweeting on social media, linking them to the low reputational, cognitive, and practical costs linked to this emerging form of communication.

Not every speech act can be a lie. A good definition of lying should be able to draw the right distinctions between speech acts (like promises, assertions, and oaths) that can be lies and speech acts (like commands, suggestions, or assumptions) that under no circumstances are lies. This paper shows that no extant account of lying is able to draw the required distinctions. It argues that a definition of lying based on the notion of ‘assertoric commitment’ can succeed where other accounts have failed. Assertoric commitment is analysed in terms of two normative components: ‘accountability’ and ‘discursive responsibility’. The resulting definition of lying draws all the desired distinctions, providing an intensionally adequate analysis of the concept of lying.

This study examines the speech acts of dog-related proverbs in Jordanian Arabic through the lens of the Speech Act Theory. To this end, the researchers compiled an initial list of situations that include dog-related proverbs based on their exposure to them and their familiarity with the contexts of the proverbs in Jordanian society. They then identified the illocutionary force and illocutionary act performed by each dog proverb in each situation. The identified illocutionary forces were subjected to a validation process by two Arabic professors who suggested amendments to certain situations and functions. The revised version was further tested for acceptability through the linguistic intuition of 50 native Jordanian speakers. The analysis revealed that Jordanian dog-related proverbs fall under four speech acts: expressives, commissives, directives, and representatives. It also revealed that they perform ten illocutionary forces, namely criticizing, scolding, scorning, insulting, ridiculing, expressing disappointment, threatening, advising, warning, and asserting. The study concluded that dog-related proverbs in Jordanian Arabic are predominantly used for negative rather than positive functions.

This article explores the performative utterance ‘in the name of Jesus’ within the framework of speech act theory, proposing the theological model E = hF(p). In this model, F represents the authoritative act, p the theological proposition and h signifies the intervention and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, with E indicating the resulting transformation or healing. Rather than treating the name of Jesus as a symbolic expression, the study presents it as a linguistic event that forms reality through the Spirit’s presence. Drawing from biblical texts and pneumatological theology, the article demonstrates how divine power operates in and through performative language. It also examines the ontological and charismatic implications of such speech acts, highlighting how speech, empowered by the Spirit, creates real spiritual effects. Finally, it considers the ethical and communal responsibilities of healing discourse within charismatic and ecclesial contexts. Contribution: This study introduces E = hF(p) as a theological model for understanding how the name of Jesus, through the Spirit, produces ontological transformation. It offers a new framework connecting speech act theory with charismatic healing practice.

The interpretation of legal texts is a complex and critical task, requiring an in-depth understanding of both language and law. This paper delves into the application of key semantic theories—referential theory, descriptive theory, use theory, speech act theory, verification theory, and truth-conditional theory—to enhance the precision and clarity of legal interpretation. Each of these theories offers distinct insights into how meaning is constructed, communicated, and understood within legal contexts. By examining the nuances of these approaches, the paper explores how they intersect with prominent legal interpretative theories, such as textualism, originalism, purposivism, and pragmatism, to guide legal interpreters in making more informed decisions. Textualism benefits from the direct, meaning-focused referential theory, while originalism is enriched by the historical depth of descriptive theory. Use theory and speech act theory shed light on the practical and performative aspects of legal language, providing new tools for purposivism and pragmatism. Verification and truth-conditional theories further contribute by ensuring logical coherence and truth alignment in legal interpretation. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates how semantic theories can deepen our understanding of legal texts and enhance the interpretive process, leading to fairer and more consistent legal outcomes. This interdisciplinary approach opens new pathways for bridging the gap between law and language, ensuring that legal interpretation remains rigorous, adaptable, and aligned with both the intent of the law and societal needs.Keywords: Semantic Theories, Legal Interpretation, Referential Theory, Descriptive Theory, Use Theory, Speech Act Theory, Verification Theory, Truth-Conditional Theory.

Digital assistants engage with us with increasingly human-like conversations, including the expression of human emotions with such utterances as “I am sorry…”, “I hope you enjoy…”, “I am grateful…”, or “I regret that…”. By 2021, digital assistants will outnumber humans. No one seems to stop to ask if creating more digital companions that appear increasingly human is really beneficial to the future of our species. In this essay, we pose the question: “How human should computer-based human-likeness appear?” We rely on the philosophy of humanness and the theory of speech acts to consider the long-term consequences of living with digital creatures that express human-like feelings. We argue that feelings are the very substance of our humanness and therefore are best reserved for human interaction.

The compositional brilliance of the book Judith has, in research on it, been overshadowed by debates on its fictional nature, historical inconsistencies, canonical debate, gender and moral/ethical issues. While Judith scholars have made significant contributions on historical, ethical and gender matters, this article contends that the composition of Judith is a topic still wide open for exploration. The article suggests that the compositional nature of Judith is an intentional literary strategy of the implied author and has a performative functionwith respect to the reader. In composing the story, the implied author uses literary devices to invite the reader’s participation in the story. The article uses a speech act interpretive angle to explore the identified literary devices in Judith and to demonstrate their performative function to the implied reader. Instead of propagating the story’s fictional nature, ethical issues and historical inconsistencies, this study acknowledges the story’s compositional brilliance, particularly its performative nature with respect to the reader. The article thus asserts that Judith was intentionally composed with innate performative purpose towards the reader.