Transcript Chapter 8 Pragmatics

Chapter Eight
Pragmatics
1.1 Major concerns
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Q: In what ways do we study language?
Meaning
Context
1.2 Meaning: dictionary
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He meant to write.
intended
A green light means go. indicate
Health means everything.
has
importance
What’s the meaning of life? point
What does it mean to you? convey
What does ‘ghost’ mean?
refer to in
the world
Examples
Dog!
 It’s cold here.
 My bag is heavy.
 “Janet! Donkeys!” (David Copperfield)
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1.3 Sentence meaning
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What does X mean?
Sentence: a grammatical concept, abstract,
self-contained unit in isolation from context
Sentence meaning: abstract, intrinsic
property, decontexualized
1.4 Utterance meaning
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What do you mean by X?
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Utterance: sth a speaker utters in a certain
situation with a certain purpose
Utterance meaning: concrete, contextdependent
Speakers’ meaning
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1.5 Sentence M vs. Utterance M
(A little boy comes in the front door.)
• Mother: Wipe your feet, please.
(A father is trying to get his 3-year-old
daughter to stop lifting up her dress to
display her new underwear to the
assembled.)
 Father: We don’t DO that.
 Daughter: I KNOW, Daddy. You don’t
WEAR dresses.
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Sometimes we may know only Sentence M
instead of Utterance M.
Some utterances are not grammatically
complete sentences, such as “Ouch”.
Q: How do we recognize Utterance M?
Utterance M: Sentence M + Context
1.5 Context
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Linguistic knowledge
Extra-linguistic knowledge
Context
Linguistic
knowledge
Extra-linguistic
knowledge
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Linguistic knowledge
Knowledge of the language they use
Knowledge of what has been said before
Extra-linguistic knowledge
Knowledge about the world in general
Knowledge about the specific situation
Knowledge about each other
1.6 Extra-linguistic knowledge
Background
knowledge
Common
sense
Social
norms
Conversation
rules
Examples
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It was a hot Christmas day so we went down
to the beach in the afternoon and had a
good time swimming and surfing.
A: Do you like rugby?
B: I am a New Zealander.
A: You speak beautiful English.
B: My English is very poor.
Situation
knowledge
Time
place
Topic
formality
Relation
Bt. users
Examples
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吃过了吗? (时间、地点不同产生不同意义
吗？)
1、两个熟人打招呼。
2、说话人手里拿着包子。
3、说话人与听话人约好去超市，催促动身。
4、说话人与听话人密谋害人。
Examples
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A：做啥呢？
B：看手机呢。
A：我早都看过了。
B：手机，我要买手机。
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Mutual knowldedge: shared by the speaker
& hearer
Examples
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A: Are you going to the seminar?
B: It’s on linguistics.
A: Would you like some coffee?
B: Coffee would keep me awake.
A: 这件衣服很漂亮，可惜我今天带的钱不
够了。
B: 那就下次再买吧。
1.7 Context & language use
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C determines the hearer’s interpretation of
what is said to him.
C governs the speaker’s use of language.
Q: Any examples?
Examples
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In-class conversation vs. after-class
Borrowing a pen vs. 200 yuan
Borrowing sth from your classmates vs. from
your teacher
Talking to a two-year-old vs. your parents
Talking to a girlfriend vs. boyfriend
1.8 Definition of Pragmatics
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The study of language in use.
The study of language production &
language comprehension.
The study of meaning in context.
The study of language in relation to its
users.
The study of speakers’ M, utterance M, &
contextual M.
2. Speech Act Theory
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John Austin
How to Do Things with Words (1962)
 speech acts: actions performed via
utterances
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2.1 Constatives vs. performatives
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Constatives: utterances which roughly serves to
state a fact, report that something is the case, or
describe what something is, eg:
I go to the park every Sunday.
I teach English.
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Performatives: utterances which are used to
perform acts, do not describe or report
anything at all; the uttering of the sentence
is the doing of an action.
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I do.
I name this ship Queen Elizabeth.
I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow.
I give and bequeath my watch to my brother.
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2.2 Features of performatives
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The first person singular
Speech act verbs / performative verbs:
The present tense
Indicative mood
Active voice
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I take a cold bath everyday.
I jog ten miles every Sunday.
I like to drive fast cars.
Pedestrians are warned to keep off the grass.
Turn right.
Thank you!
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I promise to be there. / I’ll be there.
I admit I was wrong. / I was foolish.
I warn you, this gun is loaded. / This gun is
loaded.
I thank you. / I’m very grateful.
I apologize. / I’m sorry.
I order you to sit down. / You must sit down.
The distinction between constatives &
performatives cannot be maintained.
 All sentences can be used to do things.
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2.3 Illocutionary Act Theory
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Speech acts can be analyzed on 3 levels:
A locutionary act: the act of saying
something in the full sense of “say”.
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An illocutionary act: an act performed in
saying something.
In saying X, I was doing Y.
In saying “I will come tomorrow”, I was
making a promise.
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Illocutionary force
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A perlocutionary act: the act preformed by
or as a result of saying, the effects on the
hearer.
By saying X and doing Y, I did Z.
By saying “I will come tomorrow” and
making a promise, I reassure my friends.
Shoot her!
2.4 Searle’s classification of
speech acts
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1. representatives: stating or describing,
saying what the speaker believes to be true.
assert, state, swear, guess, deny, inform,
notify, etc
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2. Directives: trying to get the hearer to do
sth.
Request, advise, order, urge, tell, etc
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3. commisives: committting the speaker
himself to some future course of action
Commit, promise, threaten, pledge, etc
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4. expressives: expressing feelings or
attitude towards an existing state
Apologize, thank, congratulate, greet, etc.
I’m really sorry!
Congratulations!
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5. declarations: bringing about immediate
changes by saying sth
Declare, appoint, nominate, name, etc.
I now appoint you chairman.
I fire you!
2.5 Indirect Speech Act
I request that you speak a little louder.
Can you speaker a little louder?
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An indirect speech act is one performed by
means of another.
requests
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Group 1: Sentences concerning H’s ability to perform A:
Can you reach the salt?
Could you be a little more quiet?
You can go now.
Have you got change for a dollar?
request
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Group 2: Sentences concerning S’s wish or want that H
will do A:
I would like you to go now.
I’d rather you didn’t do that.
I would/should appreciate it if you
would/could do it for me
request
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Group 3: Sentences concerning H’s doing A:
Officers will hence forth wear ties at dinner.
Will you quit making that awful racket?
Would you kindly get off my foot?
requests
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Group 4: Sentences concerning H’s desire or willingness
to do A:
Do you want to hand me that hammer over
there on the table?
Would it be convenient for you to come on
Wednesday?
Would you mind not making so much noise?
3. Conversational Implicature
3.1 Cooperative Principle
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HOW do we manage to understand each
other if in most cases we don’t say what we
mean or we don’t mean what we say?
Grice’s theory Logic and Conversation is an
attempt at explaining how a hearer gets
from what is said to what is meant, from the
level of expressed meaning to the level of
implied meaning.
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Make your contribution such as required
at the stage at which it occurs by the
accepted purpose or direction of the talk
exchange in which you are engaged.
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Maxim of Quality:
Do not say what you believe to be false.
Do not say something if you lack adequate
evidence;
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Maxim of Quantity:
Make your contribution as informative as
required (for the current purposes of the
exchange) .
Do not make your contribution more
informative than required.
Maxim of Relation: Be relative.
 Maxim of Manner: Be perspicuous.
Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief.
Be orderly.
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CP is meant to describe what actually
happens in conversation.
CP and its maxims guide us.
Violation of CP and its maxims leads to
conversational implicature.
3.2 Violation of the maxims
(Quantity)
1.
Dear Sir,
Mr. X’s command of English is excellent.
And his attendance at tutorial has been
regular.
Yours, XX
2.
Aunt:
How did Jimmy do his history
exam?
Mother: Oh, not at all well. Teachers
asked him things that happened
before the poor boy was born.
3.
Boys are boys.
War is war.
3.3 Violation of the maxims
(Quality)
1. metaphor
You are the cream in my coffee.
X runs as fast as a deer.
He is made of iron.
3.4 Violation of the maxims
(Relation)
1
A: What do you think of the prof.?
B: Nice weather for the time of year.
2
萍：爸爸，不过四凤同鲁贵在家里都很好,很
忠诚的。
朴：恩，我很累了。 我预备到书房歇一下。
你叫他们送一碗浓一点的普洱茶来。
3.5 Violation of the maxims
(Manner)
1.
A: Let’s get the kids something.
B: Ok, but I veto C-H-O-C-O-L-A-TE.
2.
A: Did you get my assignment?
B: I received two pages clipped together
and covered with rows of black squiggles.
3.6 Characteristics of implicature
Cancellability
a. John has three cows.
b. John has only three cows and no more.
c. John has three cows, if not more.
d. John has at least three cows.
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Non-detachability: implicature is attached to
the semantic content of what is said, not to the
linguistic form; implicatures do not vanish if the
words of an utterance are changed for
synonyms.
A: Shall we go the cinema tonight?
B: There’ll be an exam tomorrow.
I’ll take an exam tomorrow.
Isn’t there an exam tomorrow?
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Non-conventionality: implicature is different
from its conventional meaning of words. It is
context-dependent. It varies with context.
It’s getting hot here.
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Calculability: hearers work out implicature
based on conventional meaning, CP and its
maxims, context, etc.