Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences / Highly Likely: Anthropological Patterns in Perceptions of Probability

Full text (.pdf)
Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2022 15 (10)
Authors
Kononova, Valentina A.
Contact information
Kononova, Valentina A.: Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia;
Keywords
linguistic anthropology; probability; highly likely; hedging; Scripal case; Sergey Lavrov; Theresa May; fact vs opinion; “highly likely”
Abstract

The paper addresses relations between probability as a measure of the likelihood that an event will occur and pragmatic functions of “highly likely” hedging device in modern political, legal and social media discourses, particularly in the context of infamous Scripal case in Great Britain in March 2018. On the other hand, “highly likely” pattern is viewed as anthropological linguistic phenomenon in virtual interaction between two high-profile politicians – the British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov in a situation of political accusation (the native speaker) and diplomatic defense (the actor alternates between two languages). The paper offers an approach to understanding the relationship between social processes and linguistic forms. Besides, five modern language corpora provided database for study of randomly selected contexts (“highly likely” concordance), that allows to figure out several reasons of “highly likely” phrases to hedge which do not necessarily relate to probability, but may be applied to avoidance, uncertainty, imprecision, mitigating criticism, and modifying

Pages
1524–1532
DOI
10.17516/1997-1370-0331
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/106699

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