ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

Contextual explanation · NAV-G03-018

Stance

This explanation addresses the term in its originating context. It is not an additional canonical Atlas profile.

Explanation

Stance here means a position towards a proposition displayed through language or interaction. An utterance can treat something as surprising, doubtful, welcome or familiar. This analyses what the contribution displays rather than providing direct access to a speaker's inner life. In the context of mirativity, the relevant issue is a presented departure from expectation. Source of information, certainty and evaluation may co-occur but require separate description. A single marker does not automatically encode all of them.

Movement of thought

1. Identify the relevant information. 2. Examine cues to positioning. 3. Reconstruct the pertinent expectation. 4. Separate source, certainty and evaluation. 5. Test the interpretation against subsequent interaction.

Example

“You are here already!” may present someone's early arrival as unexpected. Whether delight or annoyance accompanies it requires more context.

Counter-test

A surprise-marking expression does not prove that its speaker privately experienced surprise.

Scientific use case

Analysis should record form, prosody, context and response separately.

Effect

Stance reveals how information is simultaneously presented from a perspective.

Resonance

News meets expectations, and that meeting helps make its significance audible.

Distinction

Distinguish stance from stable personality, evidentiality and psychological diagnosis of emotion.

Sources