Transcript Meaning
Pragmatics Interpersonal function Austinian Speech Acts Gricean Conversational Principles English 306A; Harris 1 Speech Acts Conversational maxims I can’t find any whisky! Sam-I-Am’s been here. English 306A; Harris 2 Functions Ideational function: What does “The cat is on the mat” mean as an expression in the system of English? How? Denotation, truth conditions, event schemata, semantic roles, … Interpersonal function: What does “The cat is on the mat” mean to hearer X, when said by speaker Y, in context Z? How? Speech acts, conversational maxims, face principles, deixis, … English 306A; Harris 3 Functions Ideational function: What does “The cat is on the mat” mean as an expression in the system of English? How? Denotation, truth conditions, event schemata, semantic roles, … Interpersonal function: What does “The cat is on the mat” mean to hearer X, when said by speaker Y, in context Z? How? Speech acts, conversational maxims, face principles, deixis, … English 306A; Harris 4 Meaning Semantics Propositions Truth/falsity Context-free Language-in-vitro Pragmatics Utterances Appropriateness Context-dependent Language-in-vivo English 306A; Harris 5 Ideational function What we’ve been studying to this point: Language from the perspective of encoding ideas, and the mechanics of transmitting those ideas, within the system of a language. English 306A; Harris 6 Interpersonal function Language from the perspective of making and maintaining human contact, so we can coöperate, negotiate, decide, get along, build bridges, and generally function as social animals. English 306A; Harris 7 Interpersonal function A supplement to the ideational function—not a substitute—but a crucial supplement. The ideational function is necessary, but not sufficient. English 306A; Harris 8 Interpersonal function Phatic communion social contact Communicative mental contact English 306A; Harris 9 Interpersonal function Phatic The use of language to establish or maintain social relations Sam! English 306A; Harris 10 Phatic Utterances whose chief function is to establish or maintain contact; much like canine gluteusmaximus reciprocal olfactory analysis. Hi, Hello, yo, … How are you, How’s it going, How’s it hanging, … Live long and prosper, Keep on truckin, Keep it real, … Nice weather, Cold enough for you?, Hope the rain don’t hurt the rhubarb, …. English 306A; Harris 11 Interpersonal function Communicative The use of language to encode and transmit intentions I will try them. You will see. English 306A; Harris 12 Interpersonal function Communicative The use of language to encode and transmit intentions Wait! Hold the presses. That sounds like the ideational function! What gives? English 306A; Harris 13 Interpersonal function Communicative The use of language to encode and transmit intentions Not quite. Notice the word is “intentions,” not “ideas”. English 306A; Harris 14 Interpersonal function Communicative The use of language to encode and transmit intentions Take, for instance, the utterance, If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see. Ideationally, it’s just a pair of propositions. Communicatively, it’s a surrender, a capitulation, a collapse of my resolve, and a prediction that I won’t like your damn viridescent chow! English 306A; Harris 15 Communicative Utterances whose chief function is to share mental contents Information Attitudes Worldviews The cat is on the mat. Homer eats crap. Huh? Try them, try them, and you may, I say. My kingdom for a horse. Please put the lid back down. Put the F&^#ing lid down! e = mc2 English 306A; Harris 16 Phatic and Communicative = Sam! If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see. English 306A; Harris 17 Phatic and Communicative Every utterance has both phatic and communicative dimensions. English 306A; Harris 18 Speech Acts & Conversational Maxims J. L. Austin People do things with words beyond asserting truth. We act through speech. H.P. Grice The way people coordinate their speech is very intricate. We follow maxims. English 306A; Harris 19 English 306A; Harris 20 Speech acts Locution the utterance of a sentence with specific denotation Illocution the making of a statement, offer, promise, … Perlocution the bringing about of effects on the audience by means of uttering a sentence (persuading, entertaining, scaring, …) English 306A; Harris 21 Speech acts Locution the utterance of a sentence with specific denotation Illocution the making of a statement, offer, promise, … Perlocution the bringing about of effects on the audience by means of uttering a sentence (persuading, entertaining, scaring, …) English 306A; Harris 22 Speech acts Locution the utterance of a sentence with specific denotation Illocution = the speech act Perlocution the bringing about of effects on the audience by means of uttering a sentence (persuading, entertaining, scaring, …) English 306A; Harris 23 Illocutions/ Speech Acts statement statement statement confirmation despisement English 306A; Harris 24 Acts through speech Offer, decline, accept, promise, bet, warn, threaten, suggest, advise, declare, marry, christen, compliment, insult, joke, … Try them! Try them! Try them and you may I say! Sam! If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see. English 306A; Harris 25 Performative verbs Verbs which describe the action speakers perform with the corresponding sentences. They do not need to be present; diagnostics. English 306A; Harris 26 Performative verbs ask, tell, describe, state, … promise, advise, request, … pronounce, christen, sentence, … English 306A; Harris 27 Performative verbs ask, tell, describe, Informative state, … promise, advise, Obligative request, … pronounce, christen, Constitutive sentence, … English 306A; Harris 28 Performative verbs—informative ask, tell, describe, assert, … I ask you: is the cat on the mat? I’m telling you, the cat is on the mat. I assert: the cat is on the mat. English 306A; Harris 29 Performative verbs—obligative promise, advise, request, … I promise you: the cat is on the mat. I advise you: the cat is on the mat. I request of you: put the cat on the mat. English 306A; Harris 30 Performative verbs—constitutive pronounce, christen, sentence, … I pronounce you husband and wife. I christen this vessel the Good Ship Lollipop. I sentence you to thirty days in the hole. English 306A; Harris 31 Performative Speech acts acts without without performative verbs English 306A; Harris 32 Speech acts without performative verbs I ask you, is the cat on the mat? OR Is the cat on the mat? OR The cat is on the mat? English 306A; Harris 33 Speech acts without performative verbs I’m sorry. vs. I apologize. I’m sorry for The Cat. vs. I apologize for The Cat. English 306A; Harris 34 Categories of speech acts (Dirven and Verspoor, Table 1, chapter 7) Constitutive Ritualized social circumstances (thank someone when something has been exchanged, sentence at termination of trial, pronunciation of marriage,…); utterance primarily constitutes act. Informative Communicate, or request communication of information (assert facts, question truth of facts, solicit the completion of an assertion, …); utterance primarily engages in trafficing information. Obligative Commit self or solicit others to do something (offer assistance, request favour, make a bet, …); utterance primarily concerns future conduct. English 306A; Harris 35 Categories of speech acts (Dirven and Verspoor, Table 1, chapter 7) Declarative thanking, apologizing, … sentencing, pronouncing, … Assertive asserting, describing, … Interrogative asking Directive requesting, ordering, … Commissive promising, offering, … Expressive Constitutive Informative Obligative English 306A; Harris 36 Speech Act? Would you? Could you? In a box? Could you? Would you? With a fox? English 306A; Harris 37 Speech Act? Would you? Could you? In a box? Could you? Would you? With a fox? Obligative (Commissive) Offering English 306A; Harris 38 Speech Act? Would you? Could you? In a box? Could you? Would you? With a fox? Obligative (Commissive) Offering Obligative (Directive) Urging English 306A; Harris 39 Speech Act? Not in a box. Not with a fox. … I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. English 306A; Harris 40 Speech Act? Not in a box. Not with a fox. … I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Obligative (Commissive) Declining English 306A; Harris 41 Speech Act? Not in a box. Not with a fox. … I would not eat green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am. Informative (Assertive) Warranting English 306A; Harris 42 H. P. Grice English 306A; Harris 43 How to talk Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talkexchange in which you are engaged. (Grice 1975: 45) English 306A; Harris 44 How to talk Coöperate. English 306A; Harris 45 How to talk, more specifically Grice’s Maxims Relation Be relevant. Quality Be truthful. Quantity Be sufficient (but not prolix). Manner Be perspicacious. English 306A; Harris 46 How to talk and interpret; conversational implicature Grice’s Maxims Not moral or social injunctions Empirically derived principles Maxims that people naturally follow, and generally expect others to follow To speak To understand (conversational implicature) Observable mostly in violation English 306A; Harris 47 Maxim of relation Is there a gas station around here? (=Tell me where I can get gas. I need it and I’m a stranger.) Be relevant. A1: Yep, there’s a gas station at King and Weber. [closed] A2: Nope, you’ll have to go all the way to Erb Street; everything’s closed around here because of the anthrax scare. English 306A; Harris 48 Maxim of quality Is there a gas station around here? (=Tell me where I can get gas. I need it and I’m a stranger.) Be truthful Say what you believe to be true. Don’t say what you believe to be false. English 306A; Harris 49 Maxim of quality Is there a gas station around here? (=Tell me where I can get gas. I need it and I’m a stranger.) Be truthful Say what you believe to be true. Don’t say what you believe to be false. A1: Nope. [ommitting that there is gas bar at the Canadian Tire.] A2: Well, there’s a gas bar, if you just need some gas. English 306A; Harris 50 Maxim of quality Is there a gas station around here? (=Tell me where I can get gas. I need it and I’m a stranger.) Be truthful Say what you believe to be true. Don’t say what you believe to be false. A1: Nope. [false; there is one] A2: Yep, two lights up on the left there’s a new Petrosaurus Station. English 306A; Harris 51 Maxim of quantity Is there a gas station around here? (=Tell me where I can get gas. I need it and I’m a stranger.) Provide enough information But not too much A1: Yep. A2: Sure, King and Erb. A3: Yep, King and Erb. They have a sale on gumboots at the hardware store across the street from it, too. English 306A; Harris 52 Maxim(s) of manner Is there a gas station around here? (=Tell me where I can get gas. I need it and I’m a stranger.) Be clear Don’t be obscure Don’t be ambiguous Be brief Be orderly English 306A; Harris 53 Maxim(s) of manner Is there a gas station around here? (=Tell me where I can get gas. I need it and I’m a stranger.) Be clear Yes. Somewhere near the theatre. Don’t be obscure Don’t be ambiguous Be brief Be orderly English 306A; Harris 54 Maxim(s) of manner Is there a gas station around here? (=Do you know where I can get some gas? I’m a stranger) Be clear Don’t be obscure Yep. Next to the old Smith place. Don’t be ambiguous Be brief Be orderly English 306A; Harris 55 Maxim(s) of manner Is there a gas station around here? (=Do you know where I can get some gas? I’m a stranger) Be clear Don’t be obscure Don’t be ambiguous Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. Be brief Be orderly English 306A; Harris 56 Maxim(s) of manner Is there a gas station around here? (=Do you know where I can get some gas? I’m a stranger) Be clear Don’t be obscure Don’t be ambiguous Be brief Sure quite a few. I know where every gas station built in the KW area since the Great War was located. First, there was the Ollie Petrie Service Station at the corner of … Be orderly English 306A; Harris 57 Maxim(s) of manner Is there a gas station around here? (=Do you know where I can get some gas? I’m a stranger) Be clear Don’t be obscure Don’t be ambiguous Be brief Be orderly Sure. At Erb, turn right off King. To get to King, take Westmount, and turn left when you get there. Before that, go three lights down University and turn left at Westmount. First, however, … English 306A; Harris 58 How to listen (Conversational implicature) [T]hough some maxim is violated at the level of what is said, the hearer is entitled to assume that that maxim, or at least the overall cooperative principle, is observed at the level of what is implicated. English 306A; Harris 59 Grice’s Maxims The important point: Grice charted the many, many ways we coordinate our speech to each other’s needs and expectations. English 306A; Harris 60 Intention; figuration All language dialogic (conversational). Grice’s maxims form a baseline of expectations. Figures of thought (tropes) function by violating maxims, deviating from baseline. The ‘first reading’ doesn’t make sense, so hearers figure out the speaker’s intention--not what the utterance means, but what the speaker means by that utterance. English 306A; Harris 61 Metonymy Violates quality Satisfies relation, quantity, manner English 306A; Harris 62 Metaphor My love is red, red rose. English 306A; Harris 63 Repetitio My love is red, red rose. Violates manner (brevity) Satisfies relation, quantity, quality English 306A; Harris 64 Polyptoton Violates manner (brevity) Satisfies relation, quantity, quality English 306A; Harris 65 Irony Lovely day! Violates quality Satisfies relation, quantity, manner English 306A; Harris 66 Paronomasia Violates manner (clarity) Satisfies relation, quantity, quality English 306A; Harris 67 Now, for the high-brow stuff Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Words, words, words. Violates quantity and relation (Satisfies quality and mostly manner) English 306A; Harris Hamlet 68 Now, for the high-brow stuff Polonius: What is the matter, my lord? Between whom? Violates relation (satisfies quantity, manner, … quality?) English 306A; Harris Hamlet 69 Now, for the high-brow stuff Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my lord. Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plumtree gum, and that they have plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all of which though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have set it thus down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward. English 306A; Harris Hamlet 70 Now, for the high-brow stuff Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my lord. Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plumtree gum, and that they have plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all of which though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have set it thus down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward. English 306A; Harris Hamlet 71 Now, for the high-brow stuff Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my lord. Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plumtree gum, and that they have plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all of which though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have set it thus down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward. English 306A; Harris Hamlet 72 Now, for the high-brow stuff Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my lord. Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plumtree gum, and that they have plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all of which though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have set it thus down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward. English 306A; Harris Hamlet 73 Now, for the high-brow stuff Polonius: I mean the matter that you read, my lord. Slanders, sir; for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plumtree gum, and that they have plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams; all of which though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have set it thus down, for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward. English 306A; Harris Hamlet 74 Now, for the high-brow stuff English 306A; Harris Hamlet 75 I ask to be, or not to be. That is the question, I ask of me. This sullied life, it makes me shudder. My uncle's boffing dear, sweet mother. Would I, could I take my life? Could I, should I, end this strife? Should I jump out of a plane? Or throw myself before a train? Should I from a cliff just leap? Could I put myself to sleep? … To sleep, to dream, now there's the rub. I could drop a toaster in my tub. English 306A; Harris Hamlet 76 Pragmatics Interpersonal function Phatic and Communicative Speech acts Informative, Constitutive, and Obligative Grice’s Maxims The coöperative principle (and its ramifications) Speaking and understanding (conversational implicature) English 306A; Harris 77