TY - JOUR

T1 - Developing and validating a visual questionnaire for the study of impersonalisation strategies

AU - Breed, Adri

AU - Chan, Jo-Ann

AU - Van Olmen, Daniel

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies on 29/06/202, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/16073614.2021.1922088

PY - 2021/6/30

Y1 - 2021/6/30

N2 - This article reports on an interdisciplinary, collaborative project grounded in linguistic theory on impersonalisation and visual communication theory on wordless visual narratives. The aims of this practice-based research project are to develop an alternative to existing methods of studying impersonalisation strategies through interdisciplinary collaboration and to test its usefulness for identifying not only the range of possible linguistic strategies of mpersonalisation, but also the preferred strategies for specific impersonal uses. The group of 18 collaborators consisted of two linguists, one graphic design lecturer and 15 final-year graphic design students. The students were responsible for designing visual prompts for the questionnaire that 1) should not limit the possible linguistic answers, 2) must be able to accommodate any impersonalisation strategy, 3) should not contain any limiting linguistic clues, and 4) had to comply with the criteria on the basis of which the 12 impersonal uses are distinguished from one another. The questionnaire was piloted in two phases. After each phase, the students adjusted and refined their visual prompts. A validation phase indicated that the finalised questionnaire fulfils its functions, since at least 16 different impersonalisation strategies can be distinguished, and preferable strategies for each impersonal use can be identified.

AB - This article reports on an interdisciplinary, collaborative project grounded in linguistic theory on impersonalisation and visual communication theory on wordless visual narratives. The aims of this practice-based research project are to develop an alternative to existing methods of studying impersonalisation strategies through interdisciplinary collaboration and to test its usefulness for identifying not only the range of possible linguistic strategies of mpersonalisation, but also the preferred strategies for specific impersonal uses. The group of 18 collaborators consisted of two linguists, one graphic design lecturer and 15 final-year graphic design students. The students were responsible for designing visual prompts for the questionnaire that 1) should not limit the possible linguistic answers, 2) must be able to accommodate any impersonalisation strategy, 3) should not contain any limiting linguistic clues, and 4) had to comply with the criteria on the basis of which the 12 impersonal uses are distinguished from one another. The questionnaire was piloted in two phases. After each phase, the students adjusted and refined their visual prompts. A validation phase indicated that the finalised questionnaire fulfils its functions, since at least 16 different impersonalisation strategies can be distinguished, and preferable strategies for each impersonal use can be identified.

U2 - 10.2989/16073614.2021.1922088

DO - 10.2989/16073614.2021.1922088

M3 - Journal article

VL - 39

SP - 152

EP - 176

JO - South African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

JF - South African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

SN - 1607-3614

IS - 2

ER -