TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards a Diagnostic Toolkit for the Language of Agency
AU - Konopasky, Abigail W.
AU - Sheridan, Kimberly M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Regents of the University of California on behalf of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition.
PY - 2016/4/2
Y1 - 2016/4/2
N2 - ABSTRACT: Agency—broadly, the capacity to produce effects—is a critical aspect of human activity, yet its multifaceted character makes analysis difficult. Drawing from functional linguistics, we propose a linguistic toolkit for analyzing the degree to which and manner in which speakers represent themselves as acting intentionally and autonomously. After a brief review of relevant agency literature, we propose three sets of grammatical tools, demonstrating their efficacy with a brief case study of 4 adult secondary learners’ educational narratives. We find that our toolkit offers insight both across contexts within an individual and across individuals in a single context.
AB - ABSTRACT: Agency—broadly, the capacity to produce effects—is a critical aspect of human activity, yet its multifaceted character makes analysis difficult. Drawing from functional linguistics, we propose a linguistic toolkit for analyzing the degree to which and manner in which speakers represent themselves as acting intentionally and autonomously. After a brief review of relevant agency literature, we propose three sets of grammatical tools, demonstrating their efficacy with a brief case study of 4 adult secondary learners’ educational narratives. We find that our toolkit offers insight both across contexts within an individual and across individuals in a single context.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954287668&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10749039.2015.1128952
DO - 10.1080/10749039.2015.1128952
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84954287668
SN - 1074-9039
VL - 23
SP - 108
EP - 123
JO - Mind, Culture, and Activity
JF - Mind, Culture, and Activity
IS - 2
ER -