linguistica inglese 2, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Lingua Inglese

Scarica linguistica inglese 2 e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! Linguistic II - Inglese Syntax : Is the way words relate to each other, without taking into account the world outside; it includes grammar and does not consider who said it to whom, where, when or why. Semantics: is the study of what the words mean by themselves, out of context, as they are in dictionary. Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis Pragmatics and discourse analysis have much in common: they both study context, text and functions. Context : Both pragmatics and discourse analysis study the meaning of words in context; analysing the parts of meaning that can be explained by knowledge of the physical and social world. Both approaches focus of the meaning of words in interaction and how interactors communicate more information than the words they use. Text: they both look at discourse, or the use of language, and text. Discourse analysis calls the quality of being “meaningful and unified” coherence; pragmatic calls it relevance. Concerned more with the discourse analysis, focus on cohesion, how words relate to each other within the text, referring backwards or forwards to other words in text. Function: the speaker’s short-term purposes in speaking, and long-term goals in interacting verbally. -Where discourse analysis differ from pragmatics is in its emphasis on the structure of the text. Discourse analysis studies how the social transaction imposes a framework on discourse. -Pragmatics differ from discourse analysis in the important given to the social principles of discourse. Pragmatics Pragmatics is the study of what speakers mean, Communication depends on not only recognising the meaning of words in an utterance, but also recognising what speakers mean by their utterances in a particular context. “THE INVISIBLE MEANING: Pragmatics is the study of how we recognise what is meant even when it is not actually said or written. How can people communicate then? vThanks to a lot of shared assumptions and expectations. Basic pragmatic principle: MORE IS ALWAYS BEING COMMUNICATED THAN IS SAID vThis principle is at the base of our ability to interpret the reality around us Our interpretation of the “meaning” of the sign is based on: the meanings of the words the context in which these words occur some pre-existing knowledge that guides us toward a reasonable interpretation of what the producer of the sign intended it to convey Also called: BACKGROUND KWOLEDGE CONTEXT what we think the producer of the sign intended to communicate INFLUENCE OF CONTEXT PHYSICAL CONTEXT: the location “out there” where we encounter words and phrases; The SITUATION, the TIME or PLACE in which words are used. is also called situational context: The situational context means that the words do not have to be explicit because the surroundings provide the meaning Ex: Down the street, we meet our friend Ann who tells us: “Sorry, I'm in a hurry. | have to go to the bank to withdraw some cash. ” We will have a different interpretation of the word bank, if we read something like: Overgrown steep bank by the river LINGUISTIC CONTEXT or CO-TEXT e Theco-text :of awordisthe set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence. The context of the text itself. ® LINGUISTIC CONTEXT: the set of other words surrounding a specific word used within a phrase or sentence BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE CONTEXT ®* CULTURAL CONTEXT: general knowledge that most people carry with them in their minds, about areas of life ® INTERPERSONAL CONTEXT: specific and possibly private knowledge about the history of the speakers themselves Stretches of language dependent on the interpersonal context are the most impenetrable to outsiders/overhearers (who may know nothing about this context). v The inexplicit reference excludes everyone except people who were present at their last conversation: it is privileged information. -the first mention of the new referent is called the antecedent (a dog, a boy) * Aboy,apuppyandasmall bath are antecedents ® = USE OF INDEFINITE ARTCILE (a) - the second (or subsequent) referring expression is an example of ANAPHORA (“referring back”): the dog, it; the boy, he. ENDOPHORIC REFERENCE (ENDOPHORA): reference to items within the same text. They are two types of endophora: anaphora and cataphora ANAPHORA The puppy, the boy, he, it and the bath are anaphoric expressions ® USEOF DEFINITE ARTCILE (the) ® ANAPHORA (ANAPHORIC EXPRESSIONS): use of pronouns (it, he) and noun phrases with the (the puppy, the boy) to refer back to something already mentioned Ex: We found a house to rent, but the kitchen was very small. e The kitchen inthat house e Wemakeaninference like “if X is a house, then X has a kitchen” The connection between antecedents and anaphoric expressions is often based on inference. Ex: The victim was shot twice, but the gun was never recovered. * Heretheantecedentisa verb (was shot) * Heretheinference is that any “shooting” event must involve a gun CATAPHORA Cataphora reverses the antecedent- anaphora relationship by beginning with a pronoun (It), then later revealing more specific information; Cataphora often begins with a pronoun and a descriptive noun. Cataphora is less common than anaphora in everyday speech; is a more common feature of written / literary texts (beginning of stories, novels, etc.) and refers forward to something that has not been mentioned yet. Ex: She was born prematurely. She lost her parents at an early age. She grew up in poverty. She never completed high school. Yet Ginny Swisher overcame all these disadvantages to become one of the most successful women in America. TO SUM UP: ANAPHORA vs. CATAPHORA ® Anaphoralinks back to a referent that went before in the preceding text. * Cataphoralinks forward to a referent in the text that follows. REFERENCE: OVERVIEW Reference Exophora Endophora 1 Anaphora Cataphora <— > EXOPHORIC REFERENCE ENDOPHORA: links to a referent mentioned in the text. The referent is part of the cotext (linguistic context). We used endophoric expressions to avoid excessive repetition (them, he, etc.) Endophoric expressions are tied and linked together within the text. EXOPHORA: is dependent on the context outside the text (situational, etc.) e Whenthisisthe first mention of the referent, in the sense that there is no previous mention of the reference in the preceding text, we call it exophoric reference GRAMMATICAL COHESION When a referring expression links with another referring expression within the co-text (linguistic context), we say that it is cohesive with the previous mention of the referent in the text. GRAMMATICAL COHESION is what meshes the text together. Endophoric reference (anaphora, cataphora), with personal and demonstrative pronouns and possessives, is only one form of grammatical cohesion. There are two other forms: SUBSTITUTION As with endophoric reference, Substitution holds the text together and avoids repetition. Substitution tends to be endophoric: the noun phrase being substituted is usually in the text. Ex: The Polar Bear is unaware Of cold that cuts me through: For why? He has a coat of hair. 1 wish | had one too. In “wish | had one too”, the “one” replaces “a coat of hair” PRACTICAL TIP no. 1: substation occurs when we use the indefinite pronoun one to replace a word already mentioned within the text. One is used to stand for a person or thing that has just been mentioned or indicated or is already understood from the context. PRACTICAL TIP no. 2: substation occurs when we use the adverb ‘so’ to refer back to something already mentioned / to refer forward to something that comes immediately afterwards. Meaning: such as has already been stated / such as is about to be stated immediately afterwards. ELLIPSIS Ellipsis is used more often in conversation. Conversation tends to be less explicit. Ellipsis may also occur in written text, even in literary ones. Ex: - “He's afraid of you. ” Yossarian said. “He's afraid you're going to die of pneumonia.” “He'd better be afraid.” Chief White Halfoat said. A deep low laugh rumbled through his massive chest. “I will, too, the first chance | get. You just wait and see. ” “I will too” is an example of ellipsis: Chief White Halfoat misses out a piece of text. He means “I will die of pheumonia” but he omits “die of pneumonia” because it is not necessary. Just like substitution ellipsis avoids repetition and depends on the hearer or reader’s being able to retrieved the missing word from the surrounding co-text . In other words, they both depend upon INFERENCE. ® Ellipsis is used more often in conversation. ®e Conversationtendsto be less explicit. * Ellipsismay also occur in written text, even in literary ones. Both substitution and ellipsis can only be used when there is no ambiguity as to what is being substituted or ellipted. If there is more than one possibility, the result can cause confusion. AMBIGUITY Ex: An advertisement: ‘FOR SALE: Very unique home in downtown Craigsville. Large lot. Many trees. One you will enjoy living in.’ One: ellipsis of ‘tree’? One: substitution for ‘a home’. *NO AMBIGUITY An advertisement: ‘FOR SALE: Very unique home in downtown Craigsville. Large lot. Many trees. A home you will enjoy living in.’ LEXICAL COHESION Grammatical cohesion (reference, substitution and ellipsis) holds texts together. Cohesion is also maintained by lexicon. Four forms of lexical cohesion: e USE OF SYNONYMS ® USE OF SUPERORDINATES ® USE OF GENERAL WORDS e REPETION e Asortofstoreddatabase of information * Heuristictoolbox * Database of mental representations of what we know about different aspects of reality ® Representation: the basic concept of what ‘a house” is made of. Associative endophora occurs when the noun phrases (these can be nouns or pronouns) are not linked explicitly to each other, but one noun phrase is linked to entities simply associated with the other noun phrase. A chain of associations ELLIPSIS or ZERO ANAPHORA The use of zero anaphora as a means to maintaining reference creates an expectation that the listener will be able to infer who or what the speakers intends to identify. Ex: - Arecipe Peel an onioan and slice it. Drop the slices into hot oil. Cook for three minutes. Cook _____ for three minutes = The patrons at the Blue Duck café overlooking Perth's Cottesloe Beach were drinking coffee and having breakfast as the early morning swimmers splashed about just off shore. Kim Gamble, owner of the café - a favourite spot of the city's business and political elite - was doing his paperwork on the balcony. REFERENCE: SOCIAL DIMENSION The key to making sense of reference is that pragmatic process whereby speakers select linguistic expressions with the intention of identifying certain entities and with the assumption that listeners will collaborate and interpret those expressions as the speaker intended. EFFECT OF COLLABORATION: Speakers assume certain information is already known by their listeners. Such information is generally not stated and consequently counts as part of what is communicated but not said. PRESUPPOSITION What a speaker (or writer) assumes is true or known by a listener (or reader) can be described as a presupposition. A PRESUPPOSITION is something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance. Reference is founded on presuppositions about the listener’s familiarity or unfamiliarity with people, things, places, events and so forth. the shared background assumptions that are taken for granted when we communicate. They are the starting point for a reader or listener wondering what the author of a message might regard as relevant. People who know each other well can build up quite accurate impressions of what assumptions are shared between them. But it is harder to be aware of which aspects of that shared information the other person is thinking about at any point in a communicative interaction. For communication between strangers it is even harder to know what is presupposed. Ex: When did you stop smoking? There are at least two presuppositions involved: 1. Youused to smoke. 2. You no longer do so Presupposition is a relationship between two propositions (p, q) ExN1: 1. [1a.] Mary's dog is cute. (=p) presupposes (») that [1b.] Mary has a dog. (=q) [1c.]p »q Ex N2: 2. [2a.] Mary's dog isn't cute. (=NOT p) presupposes (») that [2b.] Mary has a dog. (=q) [2c.] NOT p » q When we produce the opposite of the sentence in [1a.] by negating it (= NOT p), as in [2a.], we find that the relationship of presupposition doesn't change. This property is generally described as constancy under negation. The presupposition of a statement will remain constant (i.e. still true) even when that statement is negated. Ex: 3. [3a.] Everybody knows that John is gay. [3b.] Everybody doesn’t know that John is gay. [8c.] John is gay. [3a.] Everybody knows that John is gay. (= p) 3b.] Everybody doesn't know that John is gay. (= NOT p) [3c.] John is gay. (= q) [3d.]p» qa&NOTp»q You disagree, via a negative, as in [3b.] with someone who has already made the statement in [3a.]. v Although both speakers disagree about the validity of p (i.e. the statement in [3a.]), they both assume the truth of q (i.e. [3c.]) in making their statements. v The proposition q, as shown in [3c.] is presupposed by both p and NOT p, remaining constant under negation. Types of presuppositions The possessive construction in English is associated with a presupposition of existence: ‘your car’ » ‘you have a car’ Not only in possessive constructions, but more generally in any definite noun phrase: [4] the King of Sweden, the Queen of England, the cat, the girl next door, the Rolling Stones By using any of the expressions in [4], the speaker is assumed to be committed to the existence of the entities named. The presupposed information following a verb like ‘«now’ can be treated as a fact and is described as a factive presupposition. [3a.] Everybody knows that John is gay. [3b.] Everybody doesn't know that John is gay. The verb ‘know’ occurs in the structure ‘Everybody knows that q’ with q as the presupposition A number of others verbs, such as “realize” and “regret”, as well as phrases involving “be” with “aware”, “odd” and “glad” have factive presuppositions. Ex: a) She didn't realize he was ill. (» He was ill) b) We regret telling him. (» We told him) c) wasn't aware that she was married. (» She was married) d) Itisn’t oddthat he left early. (» He left early) e) I’m glad that it's over. (» It's over) -It is the assumption that, in using one word, the speaker can act as the another meaning (word) will be understood. -It isthe presupposition that use of one word with is asserted meaning is conventionally interpreted with the presupposition that another (non; asserted) meaning is understood. Ex: Mark managed to pass the exam. Each time you say that someone ‘managed’ to do something, the asserted meaning is that the person succeeded in some way. [6a.] Mark managed to pass the exam. [6b.] Mark didn’t manage to pass the exam. In both cases, there is a presupposition (non-asserted) that the person (Mark) ‘tried’ to do that something (pass the exam). a. He stopped smoking. (» He used to smoke) b. They started complaining. (» They weren’t complaining before) c. You're late again. (» You were late before) Every student loves learning English Most students loves learning English -logical consequences following from what is asserted in the utterance. Ex: a) John beats Tom. => b) John beats someone. c) Tom was beaten by someone. a) true => b) & c) true Entailment is not a pragmatic concept (i.e. having to do with speaker meaning), but instead is purely logical concept, symbolised by Il-. ENTAILMENTS vs. PRESUPPOSITIONS: PRESUPPOSITIONS 1. Mary's brother bought three horses. (» A person named Mary exists) (» Mary has a brother) (» Mary has only one brother) (» He has a lot of money) AIl these presuppositions are the speaker's presuppositions and all of them can be wrong. BACKGROUND vs. FOREGROUND ENTAILMENTS In one occasion, one sentence can has a number of background entailments but one foreground entailment. Foreground entailments which is defined by stress, is more important for interpreting intended meaning. The speaker will necessarily produce a very large number of background entailments, but the speaker will indicate how these entailments are to be ordered. How? by stress, by using special structures, So The hearer will understand which entailment is assumed to be more important for interpreting intended meaning. Ex: Rover chased three squirrels.=>Rover chased a certain number of squirrels.e Rover chased three squirrels.=>Someone chased three squirrels.e Rover chased three squirrels.=>Rover chased something. THE FOREGROUND ENTAILMENT BOB ate three sandwiches. Bob ATE three sandwiches. Bob ate THREE sandwiches. Bob ate three SANDWICHES. Cleft sentences are particularly useful in writing where we cannot use intonation for purposes of focus or emphasis, but they are also frequently used in speech. e Cleft structures include the reason why, the thing that, the person/people who, the place where, the day when and what- clauses which are usually linked to the clause that we want to focus on with is or was. 1. ROVER chased three squirrels. It was Rover that chased the squirrels. lt was Rover that chased the squirrels. The focus shifts on Rover 2. a)lt was TOM that did the work. b) It wasn't ME who took your jacket. Cleft sentences are used to help us focus on a particular part of the sentence and to emphasise what we want to say ... Because there are two parts ... they are called cleft (from the verb cleave) which means divided into two. SPEECH ACTS A SPEECH ACT is the action performed by a speaker with an utterance. In English, actions performed via utterances are commonly given more specific labels: vAPOLOGY vCOMPLAINT UCOMPLIMENT vINVITATION vPROMISE vREQUEST The speaker normally expects that his or her communicative intention will be recognised by the hearer Both speaker and hearer are usually helped in this process by the circumstances surrounding the utterance. These circumstances, including other utterances, are called the SPEECH EVENT. In many ways, it's the nature of the speech event that determines the interpretation of an utterance as performing a particular speech act. EX: The tea is really cold! v Ona wintry day, the utterance is likely to be interpreted as a COMPLAINT on the speakers part. ‘v On a summer day, the utterance is likely to be interpreted as a PRAISE. If the same utterance can be interpreted as two different kinds of speech act, then no simple one utterance to one action correspondence will be possible. It also means that there is more to the interpretation of a speech act than can be found in the utterance alone. SPEECH ACT THEORY John L. Austin (1962) On any occasion, the action performed by producing an utterance can be analysed on three different levels: 1. LOCUTIONARY ACT 2. ILLOCUTIONARY ACT (ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE) 3. PERLOCUTIONARY ACT (PERLOCUTIONARY EFFECT) LOCUTIONARY ACT the act of saying something, the act of producing a meaningful linguistic expression. EX:-l’ve just made some coffee. This is the locution, ‘what is said’, the form of the words uttered. ILLOCUTIONARY ACT The illocutionary force is ‘what is done in uttering the words’, the function of the words, the specific purpose that the speakers have in mind. EX: l’ve just made some coffee. We can produce this utterance to make a statement, an offer, an explanation, or for some other communicative purposes. Of these three dimensions, the most discussed is illocutionary force. Indeed, the term ‘speech act’ is generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only the illocutionary force of an utterance. The illocutionary force of an utterance is what it ‘counts as’. EX: l’Il see you later. The same locutionary act [I'll see you later], can count as v a prediction [I predict that l’Il see you later] v a promise [I promise you that l’Il see you later] v or a warning [I warn you that l’Il see you later] One problem with this example is that the same utterance can potentially have quite different illocutionary forces .The most obvious device for indicating the illocutionary force is an expression where there is a slot for a verb that explicitly names the illocutionary act being performed. l’Il see you later. v I promise you that l’Il see you later. v I warn you that 1’ll see you later. v I (performative verb) you that... v 1 (Vp) you that... Vp = performative verb Most of the time, there is no performative verb explicitly mentioned in the speaker’s utterance. Other devices which can be identified are: vWORD ORDER v STRESS v INTONATION (e.g. a lowered voice quality for a warning or a threat) The different versions of the same basic elements ‘You are going’ (Y-G) a. You're going! [I tell you Y-G] Function: ORDER b. You're going? [I request confirmation about Y-G] Function: REQUEST FOR CONFIRMATION c. Are you going? [I ask you if Y-G] Function: QUESTION THE PERFORMATIVE HYPOTHESIS Behind every utterance (U) there is a clause containing a performative verb (Vp), such as ‘to order’, ‘to warn’, ‘to admit’ and ‘to promise’, that makes the illocutionary force explicit. EX: - Mark: 1 think I might go and have another bun. Searle’s solution was to grouping speech acts in the five classes of general functions: 1 DECLARATIONS 2. REPRESENTATIVES 3. EXPRESSIVES 4 COMMISSIVES 5 DIRECTIVES DECLARATIONS Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that change the world via their utterance, such as ‘I bet”, ‘l declare’, ‘l resign’. v The speaker is required to have a special institutional role, in a specific context, in order to perform a declaration appropriately. EX: Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife. - Priest:1baptise this boy John Smith. - Referee: You're out! - Jury Foreman: We find the defendant guilty. - Judge: This court sentences you to ten years of imprisonment. - Boss: You?re fired. REPRESENTATIVES Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not, such as ‘describing’, ‘claiming’, ‘hypothesising’, ‘insisting’ and ‘predicting’. v Statements of fact, assertions, conclusions, and descriptions are all examples of the speaker representing the world as he or she believes it is. In using a representative, the speaker makes words fit the world (of belief). EX: e Chomsky didn't write about peanuts. ® ltwasa warm sunny day. * lcame;lsaw;|conquered. (Julius Caesar) * Je pense, doncje suis (I think; therefore | am) (Descartes) EXPRESSIVES Expressives are those kinds of speech acts in which the words state what the speaker feels, such as ‘apologising’, ‘praising’, ‘congratulating’, ‘deploring’ and ‘regretting’. v They express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or sorrow. v They can be caused by something the speaker does or the hearer does, but they are about the speaker’s experience. EX: * l’mreally sorry! *e Congratulations! * Oh, yes, great, mmmm, ssahh! * Awomanwithouta man is like a fish without a bicycle. (Steinem) * l’vebeen poorand l've been rich - rich is better. (Tucker) * Ifld SPEECH ACT TYPES CERN $ = Speaker known | was gonna SiR) live this long, l’d have DECLARATIONS WORDS CHANGE THE WORLD 5 causes X taken better care of myself. (Blake) REPRESENTATIVES MAKE WORDS FIT THE WORLDS believes X EXPRESSIVES MAKE WORDS FIT THE WORLD 5 feels X COMMISSIVES MAKE THE WORLD FIT WORDS SintendsX DIRECTIVES MAKE THE WORLD FIT WORDS SwantsX COMMISSIVES Commissives are those kinds of speech acts in which the words commit the speaker to some future action, such as ‘promising’, ‘offering’, ‘threatening’, ‘refusing’ and ‘volunteering’. v They express what the speaker intends. v They are promises, threats, refusals, pledges, and they can be performed by the speaker alone, or by the speaker as a member of a group. EX: e Il be back. ® I’mgoingto get it right next time. e Wewill not do that. DIRECTIVES Directives are those kinds of speech acts in which words are aimed at making the hearer do something, such as ‘commanding’, ‘requesting’, ‘inviting’, ‘fforbidding’, ‘suggesting’ and so on. v They express what the speaker wants. v They are commands, orders, requests, suggestions, and they can be positive or negative. EX: * Gimmeacupof coffee. Make it black. * Could youlendmea pen, please? * Don'ttouchthat. * Better remainsilent and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all possible doubt. (Ancient Chinese proverb) * Donotdountoothers as you would they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same (Shaw) FELICITY CONDITIONS There are certain expected or appropriate circumstances, technically known as felicity conditions, for the performance of a speech act to be recognised as intended. refers to the conditions that must be in place and the criteria that must be satisfied for a speech act to achieve its purpose. In order for speech acts to be appropriately and successfully performed, certain felicity conditions have to be met. There have been developed two models: 1. Austin’s model 2. Searle’ s model AUSTIN'S MODEL: the context and roles of participants must be recognised by all parties; v the action must be carried out completely; v the persons must have the right intentions. EX: Examples of directive speech act of ‘requesting’ which can be explained using Austin’s model. Mark: | think I might go and have another bun. Anthony: | was going to get another one. Billy: Could you get me a tuna and sweetcorn one please? - Anthony: Me as well? The context of the bun lunch is recognised by all parties: it is an appropriate place to talk about the buns and about wanting another one. The roles of participants are recognised: the students are equals and so it is not a great imposition for one to ask another to get a bun. The actions are carried out completely: Billy and Anthony both produces complete utterances; Anthony even makes his request twice (‘l was going to get another one.’ and ‘Me as well?”). The persons have the right intentions: Billy and Anthony must trust that Mark is indeed going to get a bun and they presumably intend to eat the buns that they ask for SEARLE'S MODEL: the hearer must hear and understand the language being used; v the speaker must not be pretending, play acting or be nonsensical. For declarations and directives, the rules are that: * speakers must believe that it is possible to carry out the action; ® theyare performing the act in the hearer's best interests; * theyare sincere about wanting to do it (sincerity condition); * thewordscountastheact. EX: Mark: | think | might go and have another bun. The transactional function of language: the focus is on the expression of content and the transmission of information. Ex: a policeman is giving directions to a traveller, and a doctor is telling a nurse how to administer medicine to a patient The interactional function of language: At the extreme pole of the interactional end is what is known as ‘phatic communion’. the focus is on communication, the expression of social relations and personal attitudes, on showing solidarity and social cohesion. SOCIAL DIMENSION OF SPEECH ACTS Indirect speech acts constitute one of many forms of politeness. directives tend to be more often expressed as interrogatives than imperatives, especially with people with whom one is not familiar. In addition to lack of familiarity, other factors that justify the use of indirect directives are: * thereasonablenessof the task, (i.e. Is the hearer able to perform the task?; Will the hearer perform the task?) * the formality of the context and social distance (differences of social status, roles, age, gender, education, class, occupation and ethnicity). Social distance can give speakers power and authority. It is generally those in the lower position (i.e. with the lower social status, the less dominant role, younger, less educated and so on) who tend to use indirectness. EX: She got to her feet. Perched on top of her boxy four-inch heels she just about cleared my armpit. ‘l’ve been hoping to see you, Mr Marlowe. Hoping to interest you in taking a case for me. If you have time, that is.’ She made it sound as though her problem, whatever it was, was just a bit on the dull side, and that if | didn’t have time for it the two of us could forget it and move onto something more interesting. ‘l’ve been hoping to see you, Mr Marlowe. Hoping to interest you in taking a case for me.’ v The young woman expresses her request indirectly, ‘hidden’ under a representative describing herself. There is a definite difference between asking someone to do X and asking someone if the preconditions for doing X are in place. INDIRECT REQUESTS a. Will you open this? WILL You Do X? Future act of the hearer (= hearer WILL do X) CONTENT CONDITION b. Can you pass the salt? CAN You Do X? Hearer is able to perform the act (= hearer CAN do X) PREPARATORY CONDITION Asking about preconditions technically does not count as making a request, but does allow the hearer to react ‘as if’ the request had been made. Because a request is an imposition by the speaker on the hearer, it is better, in most social circumstances, for the speaker to avoid a direct imposition via a direct request. - Him: Oh, Mary, l’m glad you're here. - Her: What's up? - Him:1can't get my computer to work. - Her: Is it broken? - Him: 1don't think so. - Her: What's it doing? - Him: 1 don't know. I'm useless with computers. - Her: Whatkind is it? - Him: It's a Mac. Do you use them? - Her:Yeah. - Him: Do you have a minute? - Her: Sure. - Him: Oh, great REQUESTING AS A SPEECH EVENT: A situation in which one person (Him) is trying to get another person (Her) to do something without risking refusal or causing offense. This type of situation does not consist of a single utterance (a single speech act). It is a social situation involving participants who necessarily have a social relationship of some kind, and who, on a specific occasion, may have particular goals. This interaction may be called a ‘requesting’ speech event without a central speech act of request. ‘ The question ‘Do you have a minute?’ counts as a ‘pre-request’, allowing the hearer to say that she’s busy or that she has to be somewhere else. The response ‘Sure’ not only counts as an acknowledgement of having time available, but also as a willingness to perform the unstated action SPEECH EVENT A SPEECH EVENT is an activity in which participants interact via language in some conventional way to arrive at some outcome. It may include an obvious central speech act, such as ‘l don't really like this’, as in a speech event of ‘complaining’, but it will also include other utterances leading up to and reacting to that central action. v The analysis of speech events is another way of studying how more is communicated than is said. CULTURAL DIMENSION OF SPEECH ACTS : Speech acts and their linguistic realisations are culturally bound. v The ways of expressing speech acts vary from country to country, from culture to culture. EX: How fat you are! In India: this expressive speech counts as ‘praising@’ and ‘congratulating’ a person on their appearance, because weight is an indicator of prosperity and health, in a country where there is malnutrition. LIMITATIONS OF SPEECH ACT THEORY OVERLAPS: When trying to categorise utterances in terms of speech acts, we often find that there is an overlap, that one utterance can fall into more than one class. Ex: “They're all dead,” said Piggy, “an’ this is an island. Nobody don't know we're here. Your dad don't know, nobody don't know—” His lips quivered and the spectacles were dimmed with mist. “We may stay here till we die. ” On the face of it, this is a representative, a description of the present state of affairs, when Piggy realises that they are all alone on the island. Yet it is also a very emotive little outburst: the boy is obviously crying, so it could also be classified as an expressive. FILLERS (HESITATION MARKERS): The speech act model provides no explanation on for the ‘messiness’ of everyday spoken language. Utterances such as ‘So there you go’, ‘You know?, ‘I mean’ and ‘Okay’ are the same as FILLERS that say very little: this lack of semantic content makes it difficult to classify them, as they are neither representatives nor expressives. HOW TO CLASSIFY FILLERS?: This type of utterance generally has an interactional, socially cohesive function of avoiding silence, so that all speakers feel comfortable, and it intensifies the relevance of surrounding utterances. There is not a neat speech act category for it. BACKCHANNELS AND FEEDBACK: the responses that show that the hearer is listening and encourage a speaker to continue talking, such as ‘Was it?’, ‘Oh really?’ and ‘Seriously?’, do not fit neatly into the speech act model either. They also have a social and interactional function, but do not constitute a speech act. INCOMPLETE SENTENCES: The same goes for incomplete sentences, as in ‘But she didn't do the - er - no’: it does not fit neatly into any category. A lot of what we say in everyday speech is left unfinished either because we have no need to complete the sentence or because we are interrupted. MULTIMODAL ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION FEATURES: Since speech act theory predates the technological era of computer-mediated communication and mobile devices, it does not have a category to deal with multimodal electronic communication features such as emojis, ClipArt, memes and photos. POLITENESS With politeness we refer to the choices made in language, the linguistic expressions that give people space and show a friendly attitude to them in social interactions. Emergency situations also occasion the use of direct commands, regardless of who is being addressed, as when danger prompts use of expressions like: v Don't touch that! v Get out of here! There are some social circumstances in which using a direct command as a bald-on-record expression is considered appropriate among social equals. v More in general, bald-on-record expressions are associated with speech events where the speaker assumes that he or she has power over the other (e.g. in military contexts) and can control the other’s behaviour with words. FACE-MANAGEMENT AND POLITENESS In everyday interaction between social equals, such bald-on-record behaviour potentially represents a threat to the others face and is generally avoided. Avoiding a face threatening act is accomplished by ‘face-management’, i.e. by face saving acts which use positive or negative politeness strategies. POSITIVE POLITENESS STRATEGIES Positive politeness strategy leads the requestor to appeal to a common goal, and even friendship, via expressions such as: How about letting me use your pen? Hey, buddy, l’d appreciate it if you'd let me use your pen. These on record expressions do represent a greater risk for the speaker of suffering a refusal and may be preceded by some ‘getting to know you’ talk designed to establish the necessary common ground for this strategy. EX: Hi. How's it going? Okay if | sit here? We must be interested in the same crazy stuff. You take a lot of notes too, huh? Say, do me a big favour and let me use one of your pens. a solidarity strategy will include personal information, use of nicknames, sometimes even abusive terms (particularly among males), and shared dialect or slang expressions. Frequently, a solidarity strategy is marked via inclusive terms such as ‘we’ and ‘let's’. EX: Come on, let's go to the party. Everyone will be there. Well have fun. 1 know you hate parties, Jen, but come anyway. We'l all be there, and it'Il be cool seeing if Ally is with Andrea! Come on - get a life! Another common positive politeness strategy is that of seeking agreement and avoiding disagreement. v One way of avoiding disagreement is to use a pseudo-agreement. EX: - Jean: Don't wash them and put them on the rack. - Raymond: But all // - Jean://Getthe dryer, dry them, do the tops, and then it's all done. - Raymond: Yes - yes but if you do that, your - your - your tea-towel's soaking, and at the end of the night, nothing's getting dried. The speaker can also show that hearer and speaker are ‘cooperators’, by offering and promising, and assuming reciprocity, as in The Love of a King: | will always do what you ask, but 1’Il never stop loving you. And if you need me, 1’Il always be here. NEGATIVE POLITENESS STRATEGIES In most English-speaking contexts, a face-saving act is more commonly performed via a negative politeness strategy. The most typical form used is a question containing a modal verb such as: * Could youlend mea pen? * I’msorryto bother, but can | ask you for a pen or something? Using this strategy also results in forms which contain expressions of apology for the imposition, as in [b]. More elaborate negative politeness work can sometimes be heard in extended talk, often with hesitations (mmh, emmh). The use of a face-saving on record form represents a significant choice. The choice of an expression that is less direct, potentially less clear, longer, and with a more complex structure means that the speaker is making a greater effort, in terms of face-management, simply to get the basic message across efficiently. How to get a pen from someone else say something say nothing (but search in bag) on record off record (‘I forgot my pen’) face saving act bald on record (‘Give me a pen”) positive politeness negative polirenesss (‘How about letting me use your pen?*) (‘Could you lend me a pen?*) BIS a formaltermof address (Ms) Ms Miller, l’m sorry to be a bother, but you couldn’t possibly give me a ride on Wednesday, could you? Yan expression of apology (I'm sorry) X a negative and courteous outlook (couldn’t possibly) a negative linguistic construction (question form) n a tag question (could you?) Informal terms of address (pal, Jen) Hey, pal, what if | rode with ya on Wednesday? Or Jen , YOU a positive outlook and linguistic construction . (What if | rode... ?) wanna pick me up there? a casual attention getter (hey) friendly tone created by informal word choices and contractions (pal, ya, wanna, pick up) DEFERENCE STRATEGY: A deference strategy is involved in what is called ‘formal politeness’ . It is impersonal, as if nothing is shared, and can include expressions that refer to neither the speaker nor the hearer. FORMAL POLITENESS - Customers may not smoke here, sir. - Theaimisnotto - not to gain weight, and the control has been lost when - when it's necessary to binge. The language associated with a deference strategy emphasises the speaker*s and the hearer’s independence, marked via an absence of personal claims. These types of strategies are generally constructed via utterances which are actually central to the speech event (for example, invitation). EX: * There's goingto be a party, if you can make it. It will be fun. * Feelfreetocometo the party if you have got the time ® Sorrytobother you. | couldn't borrow $30, could I, if you don't need it right now? * Pleasedocomefora party at my house tonight. * I’msorrybutl’Il just have to lift you in then, one, two, three up he goes, ooh!* Minimise dispraise of other: the first part is similar to the positive politeness strategy of avoiding disagreement. Maximise praise of other: this second part fits in with the positive politeness strategy of making other people feel good by showing solidarity @ Mark, you're very efficient and make notes of everything - you must have a copy of that website address we were given today. @ Gideon, Iknow you're a genius - would you know how to solve this math problem here? ‘minimise praise of self’ and ‘maximise dispraise of self. * Oh, I'mso stupid - | didn't make a note of that website address! Did you?’ It is polite to say: ‘How stupid of me!’, but it is impolite to say: ‘How clever of me!’ Similarly, it is polite to say: ‘How clever of you!’, but it is impolite to say: ‘How stupid of you!’ THE MODESTY MAXIM and SELF-DEPRECATION: In conferences and debates, members of the audience preface their questions to the speaker with self-deprecating expressions such as: ® A very obvious question from a non-specialist. ® Thereisanidiot question want to ask you... ® Um,ldon'tknow much about this area, but | think that... On the surface, questions with self-deprecating expressions seem to be saving the questioners own face. At the same time, questioners are also saving the face of the conference speaker (i.e. the addressee of their questions) by reducing the threat of their question. EXAGGERATED PRAISE AND EXAGGERATED MODESTY In the 1930*s, a critic described the actor Robert Donat as a ‘half-Greek god who had winged his way from Olympus’. Donat’s response was to sigh, ‘Actually, l’m a half Pole who's winged his way from Withington, Manchester. ’ The agreement maxim is in line with Brown and Levinson’s positive politeness strategies of ‘seeking agreement’ and ‘avoiding disagreement’. ‘minimise disagreement between self and other’ and ‘maximise agreement between self and other’. Example of partial agreement: - A: English is difficult language to learn. - B: True, but the grammar is quite easy. ‘minimise antipathy between self and other’ and ‘maximise sympathy between self and other”. The sympathy maxim includes such polite speech acts as congratulate, commiserate and express condolences, as in ‘l was sorry to hear about your father. ’ * lwassorryto hear about your father. (meaning ‘l was sorry to hear about your father’s death. ’) * I’mgoingto wash my hands. (meaning ‘l’m going to urinate. ’) Speakers often soften the distress and embarrassment with euphemisms. Close to the maxim of sympathy is the maxim of consideration proposed by Cruse: ‘minimise discomfort / displeasure of other’ and ‘maximise comfort / pleasure of other. EX: Seeking to cheer up a patient in hospital, the visitor told her: ‘You’re lucky to be in here. It's pelting outside. Limitations of POLITENESS maxims - leech There is considerable overlap between the categories of Brown and Levinson’s model and the categories of Leech's model. EX: * Couldyoubea palandgive me a lift home? Don't bother if you're not going my way. The speaker mixes positive and negative politeness quite successfully. Another criticism that could be levelled at Leech's model is that a new maxim could be added for every new situation that occurs. There may be endless gaps not covered by the maxims: no model can describe all human interactions. A patience maxim could also be possibly included: ‘minimise the urgency for other’ and ‘maximise the lack of urgency for other. - Could | take a quick look at your paper? No hurry - whenever you're finished with it. POLITENESS AND CONTEXT: FORMS AND FUNCTIONS Politeness lies not in the form and the words themselves, but in their function and intended social meaning. Forms may be polite, but intentions may be not. EX: * Domeafavour - piss off. * So, ifyou'dbeaskindas to shut up, l'd appreciate it. A man talking to his pet: - Cat, lwonder if you could possibly let me have my seat back? This is another example of an inappropriate use of polite forms: the man’s request is simply meant to entertain whoever happens to be listening. Politeness is not the same as deference, which is a polite form expressing distance from and respect for people of a higher status: deference does not usually include an element of choice. Deference is built into languages such as Korean and Japanese and can be seen in the second- person pronouns of many European languages (tu/lei, tu/vous, tu/Usted, du/Sie). It is rare to find it grammatically signalled in English, although it is present in honorifics such as ‘Sir’ and ‘Madam’. Being deferential without being polite - Brian Wilson: Does the honourable member for Crawley wish to intervene? - Nicholas Soames: No. - BrianWilson: The last time | saw a mouth like that it had a hookin it. SITUATIONAL CONTEXT - Politeness politeness is influenced by elements of the context. There are two situational context factors that influence the way that we make a request: 1. the size of imposition, the routiness and reasonableness of task 2. the formality of the context. The rule seems to be ‘the greater the imposition, the more indirect the language is’. e | couldn't borrow $30, could I, if you don't need it right now? (Negative politeness & hedges) * Give meS5cents. (Bald-on-record request for a small sum) The tendency is ‘the greater the formality, the more indirect the language is’. * Hangon-l haven't finished! (a bald-on-record direct directive) * wonder if | might just finish what l’m trying to say. (an indirect directive redressing the FTA with negative politeness) SOCIAL CONTEXT - Politeness The choice of the politeness formulation depends on the social distance and the power relation between speakers. When there is social distance, politeness is encoded and there is more indirectness. Where there is less social distance, there is less negative politeness and indirectness. ® This may sound like a dumb question, but whose handwriting is this? e Nottochangethe subject, but is this related to the budget? * don't think we can go tomorrow. It's David’s birthday. Oh, by the way, when is your birthday? Speakers should be clear, brief and orderly, and should avoid obscurity and ambiguity. HEDGES ® Thismaybe abit confused, but | remember being ina car. * I’mnot sure if this makes sense, but the car had no lights. * Idon’'tknowifthis is clear at all, but | think the other car was reversing. HEDGES AND COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE Hedges are good indications that the speakers are not only aware of the maxims, but that they want to show that they are trying to observe them. Such forms may also communicate the speakers’ concern that their hearers judge them to be cooperative conversational partners. CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE In pragmatics, conversational implicature is an indirect or implicit speech act: what is meant by a speaker's utterance that is not part of what is explicitly said. The term is also known simply as implicature; it is the antonym (opposite) of explicature, which is an explicitty communicated assumption. FLOUTING THE MAXIMS When speakers appear not to follow the maxims but expect hearers to appreciate the meaning implied, they are ‘flouting’ the maxims. In these cases, the speaker assumes that the hearer knows that their words should not be taken at face value and that they can infer the implicit meaning. EX: When Sir Maurice Bowra was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, he was interviewing a young man for a place at the college. He eventually came to the conclusion that the young man would not do. Helpfully, however, he let him down gently by advising the young man, ‘l think you would be happier in a larger - or a smaller - college’. - Sir Maurice was not adhering neither to the maxim of quality (= he was not really saying what he thought) nor to the maxim of manner (= he was being ambiguous and contradictory). Was Sir Maurice lying to the young man in order to deceive him? v Was he telling a white lie? v Was he just finding a nice way of letting the young man down gently? - The answer hinges on whether Sir Maurice thought that the young man knew the painful truth and could infer what he was trying to communicate (‘You won't do’). v It is more likely that the young man did know that Sir Maurice was trying to tell him that he had failed the interview. FLOUTING THE MAXIMS TO SHOW POSITIVE POLITENESS It is not a question of lying, but a question of face saving, of positive politeness by showing solidarity. ( The young man could easily answer ‘OK, thanks for the advice. l’Il look somewhere else’ and save Sir Maurice’s face in turn). Sir Maurice reduced his dispraise to an absolute minimum (maxim of approbation). To a shop assistant, as we hand back a dress: - I’Il go away and think about it and maybe come back later. (meaning: ‘This looks awful on; | don't want it after all.) We are not lying: we know that she knows that we have no intention of returning. FLOUTING QUANTITY - Charlene: I hope you brought the bread and the cheese. - Dexter: Ah, | brought the bread. Dexter must intend Charlene to infer that what is not mentioned was not brought. Dexter has conveyed more than he said via a conversational implicature. During their lunch break: - Sally: How is your sandwich? - Jane: Oh, a sandwich is a sandwich. In logical terms, Jane's reply ‘Oh, a sandwich is a sandwich.’ appears to have no communicative value since it states something obvious and hence would appear to be a tautology. Tautology: needless repetition of an idea in different words (e.g. ‘A triangle has three sides and three angles.’). After evaluating the sandwich, Jane has responded without an explicit evaluation, thereby implying that she has no opinion, good or bad, to express. Jane has communicated that the sandwich is not worth talking about. FLOUTING QUANTITY TO SHOW POLITENESS - Ann: Well, how do | look? - Billy: Your shoes are nice... Billy knows that Ann will understand the implied meaning (= | don't like your whole appearance) because he only comments on part of it. FLOUTING QUALITY Speakers flouting the maxim of quality may do it in several ways: they may quite simply say something that does not represent what they think via hyperbole by using metaphors via irony via banter SGAONE HYPERBOLE: the use of exaggeration as rhetorical device or figure of speech. Obvious and intentional exaggeration such as ‘l could eat a horse’, ‘I'm dying to know' and ‘l would die to find out’. *Hyperbole is often at the basis of humour CONVENTIONAL EUPHEMISMS: the implied sense of the words is so well-established that the expressions can only mean one thing. ® l’mgoing to wash my hands. (meaning I'm going to urinate.’) * She’sgotabuninthe oven. (meaning ‘She’s pregnant.’) * Hekickedthe bucket (meaning ‘He died.’) *Irony and banter form a pair IRONY: is an apparentily friendly way of being offensive (mock politeness); The speaker expresses a positive sentiment and implies a negative one. Ex: -A student comes down to breakfast one morning and says: If only you knew how much | love being woken up at 4 am by a fire alarm! SARCASM: is a form of irony that is not so friendly: it is usually intended to hurt. Ex: -Why don't you leave all your dirty clothes on the lounge floor, love, and then you only need wash them when someone breaks a leg trying to get to the sofa? The type of verbal behaviour known as BANTER is an offensive way of being friendly (mock impoliteness) Ex: -You’re nasty, mean and stingy. How can you only give me one kiss?’ It sounds like a mild aggression, but it is intended to be an expression of friendship or intimacy. *hyperbole and banter can coexist The danger with banter is that it can offend if the hearers do not recover the conversational implicature, or if they suspect that there is an element of truth in the words. FLOUTING RELATION Non-English speaker: “Yes” The implicature has not been generated by interlocutor; s/he has not understood the utterance. OPTING OUT OF A MAXIM: Speaker opting out of a maxim indicate an unwillingness to cooperate, although they do not want to appear uncooperative. tend to use expressions like ‘No comment’ or ‘My lips are sealed’ or ‘I'm afraid | can't give you that information’ in response to a question. They cannot reply in the way expected, sometimes for legal or ethical reasons, and they clearly say so. *Interesting aspect of such expressions: although they are not ‘as informative as is required’ in the context, they are naturally interpreted as communicating more than is said (i.e. the speaker knows the answer) *This typical reaction (i.e. there must be something ‘special’ here) of hearers to any apparent violation of the maxims is actually the key to the notion of conversational implicature. OPTING OUT OF QUANTITY TO SHOW NEGATIVE POLITENESS : l’m terribly sorry to bother you but | couldn't help noticing that you seemed to have a copy of the programme, and | wondered whether you wouldn't mind me just having a look for a moment - I'd give it straight back to you. The speaker opts out of the maxim of quantity (giving more information than is required), making a polite request to strangers. LIMITATIONS OF THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE A major objection to Grice's model is that different cultures, countries and communities have their own ways of observing and expressing maxims for particular situations. CROSS-CULTURAL DIMENSION: In Britain it is not acceptable to say ‘We’ll call you in about two weeks’ and then not call, as this would be considered a violation of the maxim of quality. v In some countries this is quite a normal way of flouting the quality maxim and saying ‘We’re not interested. ’ OVERLAP BETWEEN THE MAXIMS: The second problem with the cooperative principle is that there is often an overlap between the four maxims. lt can be difficult to say which one is operating and it would be more precise to say that there are two or more operating at once. Ex: -Ann: What did you have to eat? -Billy: Oh, something masquerading as chicken chasseur. *Billy is flouting the maxim of quality by saying that his food was pretending to be something, and thus implying that it was not ‘chicken chasseur?. *Yet, he could also be flouting the maxim of manner, because he does not say exactly what the ‘something’ was, or looked like it was. *Billy could also be flouting the maxim of quantity because he does not give enough information to identify what he ate. All the three maxims are operating together. What he is not flouting is the maxim of relation, since his answer is relevant to the question. RELEVANCE - Sperber and Wilson (1995) Sperber and Wilson (1995) say that all the Gricean maxims can be reduced to the maxim of relation, since relevance is a natural feature of all exchanges in which speakers have the aim of achieving successful communication. - The quantity maxim can be expressed as ‘give the right amount of relevant information’ . - The quality maxim can be stated as ‘give sincere relevant information’ . - The manner maxim can be rephrased as ‘give unambiguous relevant information’. Relevance theory states that conversational implicature is understood by hearers’ or readers’ drawing on their knowledge of the context, selecting the relevant features, and recognising what speakers or writers say as relevant. The focus is on inference and cognition. Cognition refers to the mental acts and processes of understanding, perceiving, reasoning, learning, remembering, etc. PURPOSE OF COMMUNICATION: The purpose of communication is not to ‘duplicate thoughts’ but to ‘enlarge mutual cognitive environments. ’ During communication, each participant to the interaction enlarges and enriches the other’s cognitive environment. The cognitive environment is the set of all facts that are manifest to an individual. This comprises everything they can perceive, remember or infer, including facts they are not currently aware of. the degree of relevance is governed by: - contextual effects: Contextual effects include adding new information, strengthening or contradicting an existing assumption, and weakening old information. Contextual effects enable hearers to derive an implication. The more contextual effects, the greater the relevance of a particular fact. - processing effort: The less effort it takes to recover a fact, the greater the relevance. *when a a text is translated, it may need extra contextual effects for the relevance to be perceived by readers whose L1 (native language) is not that of the original. Ex: A sentence from the novel Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (Rowling, 1997): Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean'’s poster of West Ham football team, trying to make the players move. -The reference to ‘West Ham football team’ may require extra processing effort for those unfamiliar with this team. -The Danish translator changed the team from ‘West Ham' to ‘Liverpool’, an English football team better known in Denmark and worldwide. ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION Speakers usually make assumptions about what information is accessible for hearers and communicate in such a way that hearers can make the correct inferences without too much effort. ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION AND EXPLICATURE: A assumes that the relevance of her answer is accessible to B and that B can fill in the missing words. This filling in the missing words is what Sperber and Wilson call explicature. The EXPLICATURE of an utterance consists of the proposition that is explicitly communicated by the speaker as well as the information that the hearer can infer from the context. It is usually the context that helps the hearer fill in any incomplete parts of the utterance or understand the connection between utterances, and thus infer the meaning implied. Explicature is a necessary stage before implicature. Ex: -the explicature of Everyone enjoys classical music may be 'Everyone in John's class enjoys classical music. IMPLICATURE: is a technical term, which refers to what is suggested in an utterance, even though neither expressed nor strictly implied. Example: -John is meeting a woman this evening.+> The woman John is meeting this evening is not his mother, his sister or his wife. RELEVANCE AND MULTIPLE READERS When there are many readers, the trade-off between contextual effects and processing effort can be difficult to estimate. LIMITATIONS OF RELEVANCE THEORY Relevance theory says nothing about interaction and does not include cultural or social dimensions such as age, gender, status, and nationality. It has context at its centre but does not discuss in any detail how these contextual aspects interact with intended meaning. An objection to both Sperber and Wilson's model and Grice’s cooperative principle model is that different cultures, countries, and communities have their own ways of observing and expressing maxims. Relevance theory does not appear to address the issue of communication that is intentionally misleading. We cannot be sure that speakers and writers are indeed intending their communication to have relevance. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Discourse analysis is a research method for studying written or spoken language in relation to its social context. It aims to understand how language is used in real life situations. The main concern is how language-users successfully interpret what other language-users intend to convey. In other words the analysis of language 'beyond the sentence'. EX: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE The pragmatics of discourse tends to focus specifically on aspects of what is unsaid or unwritten (yet communicated). Therefore, much more attention is paid to psychological concepts such as background knowledge, beliefs, and expectations: we inevitably explore what the speaker or writer has in mind. CONVERSATION Conversations tend to occur in strings of related and combined utterances. two approaches to studying the structure of discourse: ®@ exchange structure @ conversation analysis EXCHANGE STRUCTURE (aka IRF MODEL) Initiation (a question )-response-feedback, or IRF, is a pattern of discussion between the teacher and learner. The teacher initiates, the learner responds, the teacher gives feedback. This approach to the exchange of information in the classroom has been criticized as being more about the learner saying what the teacher wants to hear than really communicating. This three-part structure was first put forward by Sinclair and Coulthard in 1975 and is known as the IRF exchange structure. five levels of structure. From bottom to top, these are: Act: They cover the ‘messiness’ of spoken discourse such as fillers (like ‘you know” and ‘l mean’) and backchannels (like ‘Was it? ’ and ‘Oh really?”). act categories: ® ‘Marker’: such as ‘Well’ ,‘OK° and ‘Right’ that mark a boundary between ideas or topics. * ‘Acknowledge’: it refers to backchannels (such as ‘Was it? ’ and ‘Oh really?” and tag- questions). We convey that we are not only hearing them out, but also listening to what they are saying. (It relates to politeness as well.) * ‘Cue’: as in ‘Hands up’ and ‘Don't call out’ which encourage a hearer to contribute. * ‘Evaluate’: as in ‘Good’ and ‘Interesting’ evaluating a hearer’s answer. Move: Acts tend to be carried out in a fixed order of moves, the next rank up. There are three basic moves: 1.the initiation (I) from the teacher; 2. the response (R) from the student; 3. the follow-up (F): the teacher's comment on the pupil’s answer. Each part of the IRF has characteristic acts that occur in it. MOVE: INITIATION [65 FUNCTION and EXAMPLE Inform gives information ‘The purple ones are the taller ones' Direct gives orders You've got to put them on this map' Elicit requests response ‘Any other colours?” Cue encourages hearer to contribute ‘Hands up’, 'Don’t call out' | MOVE: RESPONSE Lal eng ET aa React non-linguistic reply to a directive [nod], [raise hand] Reply to an elicitaion ‘Purple’ MOVE: FOLLOW-UP LX] FUNCTION and EXAMPLE Accept shows heard correct information Yes', ‘Good', ‘Fine' Evaluate evaluates hearer's answer ‘Good’, Interesting’ Exchange: The combination of moves in the IRF structure is known as the exchange. The exchange is the series or chain of moves in the interaction. EX: - T: Only brown? Any other colours? - C: Purple. = T: Why do you think some are purple? - C: Because some are smaller than the others. Transaction: Exchanges then combine to make the transaction, the next rank up. Lesson: The lesson is the highest rank: it is the speech event that consists of combinations of transactions. Lesson I Ì Transaction Transaction | | I | | Exchange Exchange Exchange Exchange l | | I I | I | [ Move Move Move Move Move Move Move Move Ac ggao Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act Act LIMITATIONS OF THE IRF MODEL It does not accommodate easily to the real-life pressures and unruliness of the classroom (e.g. a pupil not responding to the teacher but asking a friend to respond, or a pupil returning the question with another question). The IRF model reflects the traditional teacher-centred classroom: the teacher is permitted long turns and the students can have short turns in response but cannot interrupt. This no longer the case: pupils work in pairs and groups, and the exchanges with the teacher tend to be more interactive. Examples of similar formal and ritualistic transactions are: interviews, trials, doctor-patient interactions, tv quiz shows CONVERSATION IS VIEWED AS A PRODUCT CONVERSATION ANALYSIS (CA) Conversation analysis studies the way that what speakers say dictates the type of answer expected, and how speakers take turns when they interact. Conversation analysis starts by observing real data and describes what patterns emerge. starting with the conversation itself, it lets the data dictate its own structure. CA looks at conversation as a linear ongoing event, that unfolds little by little and implies the negotiation of cooperation between speakers along the way, CONVERSATION IS VIEWED AS A PROCESS CONVERSATION ANALYSIS vs. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: Discourse analysis takes the concepts and terms of linguistics and then examines their role in real data. Conversation analysis takes real data and then examines the language and demonstrates that conversation is systematically structured. *Conversation is usually informal and unplanned. LIMITATIONS OF CA: One problem with Conversation Analysis is that there is a lack of systematicity: there is not an exhaustive list of all adjacency pairs, or a precise description of how These expressions are employed to allow one speaker to have an extended turn. HOW TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK Within an extended turn, speakers still expect their conversational partners to indicate that they are listening. There are many different ways of doing this, including nonverbal communication elements such head nods, smiles, and other facial expressions and gestures. The most common vocal indications are called backchannel signals, or simply backchannels. These types of signals (‘uh-uh’, ‘yeah’, ‘mmm’) provide feedback to the current speaker that the message is being received. *the absence of backchannels is typically interpreted as significant, Ex: During telephone conversations, the absence of backchannels may prompt the speaker to ask the listener ‘Are you still there?’ *During face-to-face interactions, the absence of backchannels may be interpreted as a way of withholding agreement, leading to an inference of possible disagreement. CULTURES AND THE “SOUND” OF SILENCE Each culture seems to have an unwritten agreement about the acceptable length of a pause between two turns. In cultures with a low level of tolerance of silence between turns, if there is a lull extending over ten seconds, speakers tend to utter something like ‘urn’ or ‘So there you go’ in order to feel less uncomfortable. ATTRIBUTABLE SILENCE: If one speaker actually turns over the floor to another and the other does not speak, then the silence is attributed to the second speaker and becomes significant. If the pause is supposed to carry meaning, analysts call it an attributable silence. Ex: - Jane: Dave I'm going to the store. (2 seconds) - Jane: Dave? (2 seconds) - Jane: Dave... is something wrong? - Dave: What? What's wrong? - Jane: Never mind. NON-ATTRIBUTABLE SILENCE: When the silence is not attributable to either speaker, in that each has completed a turn, it is a non-attributable silence. Ex: - Mr. Strait: What*s your major Dave? - Dave: English ... well | haven't really decided yet. (3 seconds) - Mr. Strait: So ... you want to be a teacher? - Dave: No... not really ... well not if | can help it. (2.5 seconds) - Mr. Strait: Wha... // Where do you... //go ahead - Dave://Imeanit'sa... oh sorry //lem... RELATION BETWEEN ACTS ADJACENCY : An adjacency pair is an example of conversational turn-taking. An adjacency pair is composed of two utterances by two speakers, one after the other. The speaking of the first utterance (the first-pair part, or the first turn) provokes a responding utterance (the second-pair part, or the second turn). ADJACENCY PAIRS: \ GREETINGS AND GOODBYES FIRST PART SECOND PART Ann: Hello. Bill: Hi. Ann: How are you? Bill: Fine. Ann: See ya! Bill: Bye. Ì 4 ADJACENCY PAIRS AND INSERTION SEQUENCES: Not all first parts immediately receive their second parts; It often happens that a question-answer sequence will be delayed while another question-answer sequence intervene. The sequence will take the form of Q1-Q2- A2-A1, with the middle pair (Q2-A2) being called an insertion sequence. Ex: - Agent: Do you want the early flight? (= Q1) - Client: What time does it arrive? (= Q2) - Agent: Nine forty-five. (= A2) - Client: Yeah... that's great. (= A1) In some situations, a complex structure can emerge from the effect of insertion sequences. This is often the case in “service encounters”. Ex: - Bud: Can| order pizza to go? (= Q1) - Dan: What kind would you like? (= Q2) - Bud: Do you have any special deals? (= Q3) - Dan: Well, you can get two veggie supremes for the price of one. (= A3) - Bud: Okay, l’d like that deal. (= A2) - Dan: Sure thing. We'll have that ready for you in no time. (= A1) It is only in the middle of this interaction (Q3-A3) that we have an adjacency pair together, while insertion sequences delay the occurrence of second parts for each of the other first parts. DELAY IN RESPONSE: The delay in acceptance, created by the insertion sequence, is one type of indication that not all first parts necessarily receive the kind of second parts the speaker might expect. Delay represents distance between what is expected and what is provided. Delay is always interpreted as meaningful. PREFERENCE STRUCTURE When first pair initiates the conversation by making questions, request, offer or invitation and proposal. It leads first part to expect an expected answer, agreement or acceptance from the second pair part. Somehow, second pair part will not response with a positive response only, but it is also possible for second pair part to response with a negative response. This phenomenon is called preference structure which consist of: the preferred social act: the structurally expected next act; the dispreferred social act: the structurally unexpected next act. FIRST PART SECOND PART Preferred Dispreferred Assessment Agreement Disagreement Invitation Acceptance Refusal Offer Acceptance Refusal Proposal Agreement Disagreement Request Acceptance Refusal Blame Denial Agreement Complaint Apology No apology Greeting Greeting No greeting *Silence in the second part is always an indication of a dispreferred response. Silence as a response is an extreme case, almost risking the impression of nonparticipation in the conversation. When participants have to produce second part responses that are dispreferred, they indicate that they are doing something very marked, they use hesitations Ex: - Cindy: So chiropodists do hands | guess. - Julie: Em... well ... out there ... they they mostly work on people's feet. Julie's dispreferred second part is marked with initial hesitations, as if it is difficult to perform this action (correcting Cindy). There is a delay (‘em’, plus pause) in getting started the actual statement. - Becky: Come over for some coffee later. - Mike: Oh... eh ... I'd love to ... but you see ... | ... lm supposed to get this finished ... you know. The expression of a refusal (a dispreferred second) can be often accomplished without actually saying ‘no’: it's something that isn't said, but still gets communicated. After a preface (‘Oh’) and a hesitation (‘eh’), Mike produces a kind of token acceptance (‘l’d love to’) to show appreciation of the invitation. Then, Mike invokes Becky's understanding (‘you see’) and presents an account (‘l’m supposed to get this finished’) to explain why he cannot accept the invitation. a) Amazingly, Derrick passed the exam. b) Fortunately, he is covered by medical insurance. IMANNER-OF-SPEAKING MARKERS: These are markers with which the speaker can signal a comment on the manner in which the basic message is being conveyed. a) Frankly, you need to stop now. b) Bluntly, how are you going to get him off the hook? One figurative use of language is included among these markers: metaphor. Metaphorically (speaking), he is a camel. This is the only instance of “announcing” figurative usage. EVIDENTIAL MARKERS: The evidential adverbs signal the degree of confidence, positive or negative, weakly or strongly, held by the speaker about the truth of the basic message. a) Certainly, Harry will go. b) Conceivably, Tim is right. c) Indeed, | promise to be on time. HEARSAY MARKERS: Hearsay markers are comments about the type of source of the speaker's information. a) Reportedly, the game was postponed because of rain. b) It is claimed that Susan did not kill the two boys. MITIGATION MARKERS: Markers of mitigation signal the speaker’s desire to reduce the face loss associated with the basic message (cf. Brown & Levinson, 1988; Fraser, 1991). The basic message that follows mitigation markers is typically disadvantageous to the addressee and thus susceptible to mitigation. a) If I may interrupt, when is the next train? b) If it's not too much trouble, could you help me? Despite their appearance, these are not conditional sentences. Rather, they constitute a basic message with a mitigating comment on it. a) That may be true, but you still have to clean up your room before you go out. b) l’m no expert, but it doesn't look like you bought the right gas tank EMPHASIS MARKERS: This group of commentary markers has the function of emphasising the force of the basic message. a) linsist that you stop it this instant. b) Icannot too often point out that dressing well is the key to success. c) Where on earth are my slippers? Some of these markers are performative-like expressions (I insist), but they are not true (illocutionary) performatives since they are not used here to signal the speaker’s basic communicative intention, but rather to signal an emphasis on the basic message. PARALLEL MARKERS: There are parallel messages, also optional, which signal an entire message separate from the basic and any commentary messages. Ex: a. John, you are very noisy. b. InGod’s name, what are you doing now? The addition of ‘in God's name’ signals exasperation on the part of the speaker. VOCATIVE MARKERS: a) Standard Titles: John, Mr. President, Colonel, Mom, Your Honor, Father Brown v b) Occupation Name: waiter, doctor, nurse, driver, judge, professor, teacher v c) General Nouns: brother, boys, guys, ladies and gentlemen, man, young lady v d) Pronominal Forms: you, somebody, everyone, anyone. Ex: - Waiter, please bring me another fork. SPEAKER DISPLEASURE MARKERS: A second group of parallel markers signals the speaker’s displeasure, it is not usually clear whether the addressee or the situation is the target of the anger: a) Get your damned shoes off of the table! b) Where in blue blazes is that young son of mine; it's already 3 am. c) John. Come over here right now! SOLIDARITY MARKERS: A third group of parallel markers signals solidarity: a) Myfriend, we simply have to get our act together and face this problem. b) Asone guyto another, we're in deep trouble. Alternatively, a lack of solidarity: As your superior, | am authorised to tell you that you have been selected. FOCUSING MARKERS: A final group of parallel markers signals focusing or refocusing on the topic at hand. Included in this group are: alright, here, listen, look (here), now, so, well, you see. a) think you should be concerned. Now, take a look over here for a minute. b) Hecan't go. You see, he isn't feeling well. DISCOURSE MARKERS There are discourse messages, again optional, which signal a message specifying how the basic message is related to the foregoing discourse. a) Jacob was very tired. So, he left early. The use of ‘so’ signals that the statement that he left early is a conclusion based on the message conveyed by the preceding sentence b) Martha's party is tomorrow. Incidentally, when is your party? They only have a procedural meaning: they provide the addressee with instructions on how the utterance to which the discourse marker is attached is to be interpreted. - Ann: Mary has gone home. - Billy: She was sick. After all, she was sick. Thus, she was sick. Moreover, she was sick. However, she was sick. Four main categories of discourse markers: TOPIC CHANGE MARKERS: These markers signal that the utterance following constitutes, in the speaker’s opinion, a departure from the current topic: c) Speaking of Marsha, where is she these days? CONTRASTIVE MARKERS: These markers signal that the utterance following is either a denial or a contrast of some proposition associated with the preceding discourse. all the same, anyway, but contrariwise, conversely, despite d) John won't go to Poughkeepsie. Instead, he will stay in New York. ELABORATIVE MARKERS: Elaborative markers signal that the utterance following constitutes a refinement of some sort on the preceding discourse: a) Take your raincoat with you. But above all, take gloves. b) I think you should cool off a little. In other words, sit down and wait a little bit. INFERENTIAL MARKERS: Inferential markers are expressions which signal that the force of the utterance is a conclusion which follows from the preceding discourse: a) Mary went home. After all, she was sick. b) Ann: Marsha is away for the weekend. Billy: So, she won't be available Saturday. Discourse markers vs pragmatic markers *Pragmatic markers carry meaning, Commentary and parallel markers have representational meaning: they denote concepts like the basic message does. Discourse markers have procedural meaning and specify how the sentence of which they are a part is related to the preceding discourse. *Nearly all pragmatic markers usually occur in sentence-initial position (‘though’ is one exception). There are occasions when they will occur medially or finally, but in these cases the marker is set off by a comma intonation to distinguish it from a homophonous form used as part of the basic message. Ex: of an advert lies in the slogan: a short phrase that attempts to highlight the main points of the ad for the reader/ viewer. THE SLOGAN: Slogans rely on associating the product with a particular image or emotion. Often it involves repeating the first letter in a series of words: alliteration. also resort to assonance, which consists in repeating a sound within a series of words. Sometimes slogans employ a word that has more than one meaning: this is called punning. some examples of slogan: * Disney “Happiest Place on Earth.”: The Disney Company has always been associated with happiness and childlike wonder. Walt Disney World Resort’s slogan definitely expresses the company's ethos of bringing joy by calling itself the “Happiest Place on Earth.” ®* KFC “Finger-Lickin’ Good.” * Red Bull “Gives You Wings.” NIKE: JUST DO IT! Nike's slogan also uses the triplet technique as well as one other important rule of advertising, KISS stands for: Keep it Short and Simple. sentences should be ideally no longer than 20 words. v It is to make sure that as many people as possible can understand the advert. The slogan employs a direct directive: practice sport and do it with Nike! LANGUAGE DEVIATION it refers to a selection of a linguistic item outside the range of normally allowed selections. When people use a language, they must obey some rules (i.e. norm). For example, an ‘s’ or ‘es’ must be added to the verb of the third singular present tense. During communication, speakers tend to choose the most suitable language form to express their ideas according to the subjective or objective factors. This raises the issue of using language creatively: each style has its extraordinary or unusual language features and each writer tries to display their extraordinary style in their creation. DEVIATION OF PHONOLOGY: Phonological deviation is represented by the frequent appearance of alliteration, end rhyme, rhyme of the beginning and the end, homograph, etc. ® The passionate pursuit of perfection. (Lexus): This example is an illustration of alliteration of ‘p’ in a car advertisement, from which we can feel the strong determination to make the car perfect. DEVIATION OF GRAPHOLOGY: The simplest way (and also an effective way) to attract readers’ attention is to change the form or size of a word, phrase or even the whole discourse. English is rich in deviation of word spelling (e.g. repetition of morphemes, words and punctuations, capitalisation, deletion, addition, substitution, etc.). DEVIATION OF LEXICON: Using unexpected letters is also an easy way to call attention to the printed form. They can be unexpected in two ways: 1. either they are coinage / nonceword formation; 2. or they appear in a seldom showing situation (in the aspect of collocation or part of speech). COINAGE appears most frequently when making up names of a product. The suffix ‘-ex’ is the suffix of top frequency in advertising copy, By adding ‘ex’ to form the name, the advertiser or manufacturer wants to emphasise the high quality of the product, such as “Rolex”, “Memorex”, “Pentax”, Kleenex, etc. The changing of the normal spelling is also a kind of coinage. Functional conversion is to change a word’s common pattern of speech, such as to use a verb as a noun or vice versa. To use a noun or an adjective as a verb is to combine the static state with a dynamic one for better linguistic appeal. To change a noun into an adjective or vice versa is to emphasise the properties or state of the person or object and to make the language more vivid. Ex: Eat smart. DEVIATION OF COLLOCATION: Deviation of collocation refers to the combination of some words together which normally cannot be collocated. ® Serious business. Serious fun. (IBM) ‘Serious’ can be connected with a person, an accident, etc., but we rarely see it with ‘fun’. The ad is reasonable: IBM is for the IT technology, each trivial part of which should be taken into account seriously. DEVIATION OF GRAMMAR: Advertising tends to chop up sentences into shorter bits by using full stops where ordinary prose would use commas or no punctuation at all. This phenomenon is usually referred to as “disjunctive syntax” .