capturing reader perceptions of writer character (was: self-promotionn in wri

[Jennifer Hrazdil]

Thank you for your direction.

Kind regards
Jennifer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Johnstone" <bj4 at ANDREW.CMU.EDU>
To: <DISCOURS at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: capturing reader perceptions of writer character (was:
self-promotionn in wri


> Three concepts that might be useful here are the ideas of literary
persona,
> rhetorical ethos, and the "linguistic individual".  From different but
> overlapping disciplinary perspectives, these ideas provide ways of
thinking
> about how the writer's character or projected character enters into
> interpretation.  Sources that might be useful are:
>
> Booth, W. (1961). The rhetoric of fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago
> Press.
>
> Cherry, R. D. (1998 [1988]). Ethos versus persona: Self-representation in
> written discourse. Written Composition, 15, 384-410.
>
> Johnstone, B. (1996).  The linguistic individual: Self-expression in
> language and linguistics.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.
>
> Johnstone, B. (2000).  The individual voice in language.  Annual Review of
> Anthropology 29:405-24.
>
> Barbara
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --On Sunday, May 06, 2001 6:23 PM -0400 "Dorothy e. Smith"
> <dsmith at OISE.UTORONTO.CA> wrote:
>
> > I have to wonder whether the notion of the reader's perception of the
> > writer's character isn't purely a methodological construction.  If you
ask
> > people about their perceptions of a writer's character, they will come
up
> > with an answer.  They can perform, if you like, an impromptu analysis of
> > the text to generate a response to the question.  But is it a procedure
> > that readers use without being asked to?  I can't say that as a reader
> > I've ever wondered about a writer's character though I can imagine that
> > there might be some situations in which that method of reading would be
> > appropriate.  I'd suggest that the question about reader's perception of
a
> > writer's character needs to be situated.  Perhaps some of the
difficulties
> > in gauging it come from the fact that it mostly isn't there.
> > At 09:50 AM 5/6/2001 -0400, you wrote:
> >> Dear Jennifer and other Discourse members,
> >> I agree that a reader's perception of a writer's character is indeed
> >> difficult to gauge. I once examined twenty speakers' use of
> >> "I" or "we" in their speech in a radio program. I found that they use
> >> the pronouns differently, so diferently that it might be a kind of
> >> idiolect.
> >> Through a questionaire I found that audience
> >> have different perceptions of the speakers' character or personality.
> >> In this study I tried to see some relationship between the use of
pronoun
> >> and the display of the users' character. I would be happy to  know
other
> >> studies that deal with this topic.
> >>
> >> TIAN, Hailong
> >>
> >>
> >> Jennifer Hrazdil wrote:
> >>
> >> >> Dear Dr. Maalej and Discourse members,
> >> >>
> >> >> I am very interested to read your paper and would appreciate a
> >> > hard-copy.
> >> >> How to gauge a reader's perception of a writer's character is indeed
a
> >> >> difficult task.
> >> >>
> >> >> I have come across quite a few studies measuring reader/listener
> >> > perceptions
> >> >> in the Impression Management literature of social psychology. From
> >> >> what
> >> > I
> >> >> can gather, these studies tend to involve administering empirically
> >> > valid
> >> >> and reliable questionnaires to research participants in an effort to
> >> > gauge
> >> >> their perceptions of the writer's character. The texts on which the
> >> >> perceptions of the writer are based are specially designed for the
> >> >> experiment, and variation between texts tends to be restricted to
> >> > isolated
> >> >> variables. (For example, in studies on reader impressions of
resumes,
> >> >> a
> >> > base
> >> >> resume might be created with one variable, in say Educational
> >> > Background,
> >> >> manipulated from resume to resume while everything else remains the
> >> > same.)
> >> >>
> >> >> I am interested to know whether any Discourse members are familiar
> >> > with, or
> >> >> interested in, research gauging the reader's perceptions of the
> >> >> writer's character in longer texts that have not been
> >> >> 'experimentally-modified' (i.e., on authentic texts from multiple
> >> >> writers - where many, many
> >> > variables
> >> >> differ from text to text)?
> >> >>
> >> >> Thank you,
> >> >> Jennifer
> >> >>
> >> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> >> From: Zouhair Maalej <zmaalej at GNET.TN>
> >> >> To: <DISCOURS at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> >> >> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 01:15
> >> >> Subject: Re: self-promotionn in written discourse
> >> >>
> >> >> > Dear all,
> >> >> > I have published a paper on self-promotional written discourse,
with
> >> >> special
> >> >> > reference to dating ads or lonely heart ads:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Maalej, Zouhair (1999). "Interpersonal Perception in
> >> >> > Self-Promotional Discourse." The Tunisian Review of
> >> >> > Modern Languages 9, 155-174.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I was more interested in perception of males by females and vice
> >> > versa. If
> >> >> > you are interested, I can send you a hard copy by snail-mail.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I hope this will help you.
> >> >> > Kind regards
> >> >> > **********************
> >> >> > Dr Zouhair Maalej,
> >> >> > Department of English, Chair,
> >> >> > Faculty of Letters,
> >> >> > University of Manouba,
> >> >> > Tunis-Manouba, 2010, Tunis, Tunisia.
> >> >> > *********************************************
> >> >> > Office phone: (+216) 1 600 700  Ext. 174
> >> >> > Office Fax: (+216) 1 600 910
> >> >> > Home Telefax: (+216) 1 362 871
> >> >> > E-mail: zmaalej at gnet.tn
> >> >> > URL: http//: simsim.rug.ac.be/ZMaalej
> >> >> > **********************************************
> >> >> > CURIOSITY BRINGS JOY
> >> >> > JOY BRINGS HEALTH
> >> >> > HEALTH BRINGS LUCIDITY
> >> >> > LUCIDITY BRINGS CURIOSITY
> >> >> > ****************************************
>
>
>
> _________________________________
> Barbara Johnstone
> Professor, Department of English
> Carnegie Mellon University
> Pittsburgh PA  15213-3890
>