Personality effects on pragmatic variation
The mapping between Chinese pre-sequences and proposal strategies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24237159 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lu Wang (0000-0002-9250-3988), Wenhua Zhou (0000-0002-4804-7559) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 266 |
| Pages | 114-127 |
| Publication date | 2026-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Pragmatics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0378-2166 • E-ISSN: 1879-1387 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.pragma.2026.10.001 |
| OpenAlex | W7222177612 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 41 |
By incorporating the Big Five Personality Model, the present study examines the predictive role of personality traits in pragmatic variation during the bidirectional mapping between Chinese pre-sequences and proposal strategies. Two scenario-based experiments were designed around two mapping directions: (1) selecting a proposal strategy based on pre-sequence possibility, and (2) inferring pre-sequence possibility from the proposal strategy. Results confirmed the variation in both directions, with Open-Mindedness (Op) and Conscientiousness (Co) identified as the key personality traits linked to pragmatic deviations from default norms. Notably, these personality effects varied across pre-sequence and strategy conditions. Under the medium-possibility condition, both Op and Co showed practically meaningful positive effects. Op also exhibited stable effects in both low-possibility and withdrawing strategy conditions, but only positive tendencies in high-possibility and confirming strategy conditions. No meaningful effects were found in the tentative strategy condition. These findings indicate that the personality effects on pragmatic variation are context-dependent, providing new empirical evidence for understanding individual differences in pragmatic performance.
Chinese language · Personality · pragmatic variation · Pragmatics · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistics and Language Analysis · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
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