"I" vs. "we" or 0

[Dienes I]

Dear Hailong
In a market research study, consumers that used "I" (mostly with a
speech-act verb) in their reply to a person-neutral question of type "What
is the state of affairs" showed a characteristic buying pattern (kind and
quantity of goods), which differed from the pattern of the rest of the
sample. (Elderly or lonely) females were found more frequently in this group
than their percentage in the sample. They made more statements of which less
negative, than the average. The replies to a question of type "What will be
the state of affairs" did classify the respondents to a much less extent.
Regards

I. Dienes
Homputer


-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Wilce <jim.wilce at NAU.EDU>
To: DISCOURS at LINGUIST.LDC.UPENN.EDU <DISCOURS at LINGUIST.LDC.UPENN.EDU>
Date: 1999. április 16. 21:49
Subject: "I" vs. "we" or 0


>Dear Hailong:
>
>My recent book, Eloquence in Trouble, has three chapters on interpersonal
>difference in pronoun use (primarily "I" versus dropping the I) by
>Bangladeshis (in Bangla, not English).
>
>Chapter 3, Signs and selfhood
>Chapter 4, Personhood: The "I" in the Complaint
>Chapter 5, Self and Indexicals: Language and Locus of Control
>
>Those chapters frame the discussion in relation to the following:
>
>Hanks, William F. 1990. Referential practice: Language and lived space
>among the Maya. Chicago:: University of Chicago.  See especially pp.
>124-131.
>
>Urban, Greg. 1989. "The "I" of discourse." Pp. 27-52 in Semiotics, self,
>and society, edited by Benjamin  Lee and Greg Urban. Berlin, New York::
>Mouton de Gruyter.
>
>Jim Wilce
>      Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator of Asian Studies
>        Northern Arizona University
>        Box 15200
>        Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5200
>
>fax 520/523-9135
>office ph. 520/523-2729
>email jim.wilce at nau.edu
>http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jmw22/ (includes information on my 1998 book,
>Eloquence in Trouble: The Poetics and Politics of Complaint in Rural
>Bangladesh, ISBN 0-19-510687-3)
>http://www.nau.edu/asian