Pragmatics
Pragmatics can be defined as the
study of how speakers use the
sentences of a language to effect
successful communication.
The study of language in use.
The study of meaning in context.
The study of speakers’ meaning,
utterance meaning,
& contextual meaning.
.
Pragmatics is different from
traditional semantics in that
it studies meaning not in
isolation but in context.
Semanticists take meaning to be an
inherent property of language,
pragmaticists regard meaning as
something that is realized in the
course of communication.
Some basic notions in Pragmatics
• Context
• Pragmatics vs. semantics
• Sentence meaning vs. utterance meaning
• Correctness vs. appropriateness
Context
• Context---- a basic concept in the study of
pragmatics. It is generally considered as
constituted knowledge shared by the
speaker and the hearer, such as cultural
background, situation(time, place, manner,
etc.), the relationship between the speaker
and the hearer, etc.….
Pragmatics vs. semantics
• Semantics---- is the study of the literal meaning of
a sentence (without taking context into
consideration).
• Pragmatics---- the study of the intended meaning
of a speaker (taking context into consideration),
e.g. “Today is Sunday”,
• semantically, it means that today is the first day of
the week; pragmatically, you can mean a lot by
saying this, all depending on the context and the
intention of the speaker, say, making a suggestion
or giving an invitation…
Sentence Meaning
It is the abstract
context-independent
entity,
It is literal meaning
of a sentence
Utterance Meaning
It is context-dependent.
It is the product of
sentence meaning and
context. Therefore, it is
richer than the meaning
of the sentence.
It is intended meaning of a
speaker;
For example, “The bag is heavy” can mean
• a bag being heavy (sentence meaning);
• an indirect, polite request, asking the hearer to
help him carry the bag;
• the speaker is declining someone’s request for
help.
• Note: The meaning of an utterance is based on
the sentence meaning; it is the realization of the
abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation
of communication, or simply in a context;
utterance meaning is richer than sentence
meaning; it is identical with the purpose for
which the speaker utters the sentence.
Correctness vs. appropriateness
• *“John play golf”---- grammatically incorrect;
• ?“Golf played John” ---- logically incorrect; but it
might be appropriate pragmatically in certain context.
• Note: Pragmatics can make sense out of nonsense,
given a suitable context. Appropriateness is very
important in linguistic communication, especially in
cross-cultural communication. If you say something
grammatically incorrect, you are at worse
condemned as “speaking badly”, but, if you say
something inappropriately, you will be judged as
“behaving badly”, such as insincere, untruthful, or
deceitful. (Thomas, 1983)
2. Speech Act Theory
John Austin (1911-1960)
How to Do Things with Words
(1962)
speech acts: actions
performed via utterances
Speech act theory originated with the
British philosopher John Austin in the
late 50’s. According to this theory, we
are performing various kinds of acts
when we are speaking.
It aims to answer the question “What
do we do when using language?”
Before the speech act theory was
advanced, it was believed that
the business of a statement is
either to describe or to state. It
must be either true or false.
Austin made the primary
distinction between two
types of utterances:
constative and performative.
Constative (叙述句) vs. Performative (施为句)
statements that
either state or
describe
sentences that do
not state a fact or
describe a state
It is verifiable
and it is either
true or false.
It is used to perform
an action, so it has
no truth value, and
are not verifiable.
Constative (叙述句)
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.
Performative (施为句)
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; they cannot be said
to be true or false.
Performative verbs: name, bet, etc.
• Note: Sometimes they are easy to get
confused, e.g.“It is raining outside”
can be a constative, and also a
performative, for by uttering such a
sentence, we may not only state a fact,
but involve in the act of informing
someone about the rain.
• The distinction between constatives &
performatives cannot be maintained.
• All sentences can be used to do things.
Some Examples of Performatives
• “I do”
• “I name this ship Elizabeth.”
• “I give and bequeath my watch to my
brother.”
• “I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow.”
Minister:
addressing the groom)
(Groom’s Name), do you take
(Bride’s Name) for your lawful
wedded wife, to live together
after God’s ordinance, in the
holy estate of matrimony? Will you love,
honor, comfort, and cherish her from this
day forward, forsaking all others, keeping
only unto her for as long as you both shall
live?
Groom:
I do.
(1)
“I do.”
as uttered in the course of a
marriage ceremony.
(2)“ I name this ship Elizabeth.”
---as uttered when smashing the
bottle against the stern.
(3)“ I give and bequeath my
watch to my brother.”
--- as occurring in a will.
(4) “ I bet you sixpence it will
rain tomorrow.”
--- as uttered when making a bet.
***Austin’s new model of speech acts
According to Austin, while
making an utterance, a speaker
is performing three acts
simultaneously: a locutionary
act, an illocutionary act, and a
perlocutionary act.
A locutionary act is the act of
saying something; it is an act of
conveying literal meaning by means
of syntax, lexicon and phonology.
An illocutionary act is the act
performed in saying something;
its force is identical with the
s p e a k e r ’s i n t e n t i o n .
A perlocutionary act is the act
performed by or resulting from
saying something; it is the
consequence of, or the change
brought about by the utterance.
For example,“It is cold in here.”
For example,“It is cold in here.”
• Its locutionary act is the saying of it with its literal
meaning the weather is clod in here;
• Its illocutionary act can be a request of the hear to shut
the window;
• Its perlocutionary act can be the hearer’s shutting the
window or his refusal to comply with the request.
Note: Of the three acts, what speech act theory is most
concerned with is the illocutionary act. It attempts to
account for the ways by which speakers can mean
more than what they say.
----Analyze one more example:
“You have left the door wide open.”
• The locutionary act performed by the speaker is that he
has uttered all the words “you,” “have,” “door,” “open,”
etc. and expressed what the words literally mean.
• The illocutionary act performed by the speaker is that by
making such an utterance he has expressed his intention
of speaking, i. e., asking someone to close the door.
• The perlocutionary act refers to the effect of the
utterance. If the hearer gets the speaker’s message and
sees that the speaker means to ask someone to close the
door, the speaker has successfully brought about the
change in the real world he ahs intended to; then the
perlocutionary act is successfully performed.
• Analyze the illocutionary acts of the following
conversation between a couple:
----(the telephone rings)
----H: That’ the phone. (1)
----W: I’m in the bathroom. (2)
----H: Okay. (3)
• This seemingly incoherent conversation goes on
successfully because the speakers understand each
other’s illocutionary acts:
• (1) Making a request of his wife to go and answer
the phone.
• (2) A refusal to comply with the request; issuing a
request of her husband to answer the phone instead.
• (3) Accepting the wife’s refusal and accepting her
request, meaning “all right, I’ll answer it.”
Illocutionary Act Theory
John Searle (1932- )
Searle also made his contribution to the
study of illocutionary speech acts. He
specified five types of illocutionary speech
acts:
1)representative (陈述)
2)directive (指令)
3)commissive (承诺)
4)expressive (表达)
5)declaration (宣布)
The illocutionary point
of the representatives is
to commit the speaker
to something’s being
the case, to the truth of
the expressed
p r o p o s i t i o n .
Stating or describing, saying what the
speaker believes to be true, e.g.
I guess that he has come.
I think that the film is moving.
I am certain that he has come.
Directives are attempts by the speaker
to get the hearer to do something.
Open the door!
Don’t you think it’s a
bit stuffy here?
---- Trying to get the hearer to do something,
e.g.
• I order you to leave right now.
• Open the window, please.
• Your money or your life!
…
Commissives are those illocutionary
acts whose point is to commit the
speaker to some future course of
action. When speaking, the speaker
puts himself under obligation.
I promise to love you!
The illocutionary point of expressives
is to express the psychological state
specified in the propositional content
such as apologizing, thanking,
c o n g r a t u l a t i n g , w e l co m i n g e t c .
I’m sorry for the mess I have made.
It’s very kind of you to have
thought of me.
----Bringing about an immediate
change in the existing state or affairs,
e.g.
I declare the meeting open.
I appoint you chairman of the
committee.
I fire you!
Practice
1. When a speaker expresses his intention of speaking,
such as asking someone to open the window, he is
A
performing ______.
A. an illocutionary act B. a perlocutionary act
C. a locutionary act
D. none of the above
D
2. “I now declare the meeting open.” is a (n) ______
A. dieactive B. commissive
C. expressive D. declaration
Practice
B
3. An illocutionary act is identical with ________.
A. sentence meaning
B. the speaker’s intention
C. language understanding
D. the speaker’s competence
D
4. The Indirect Speech Act was developed by _____.
A. John Austin
B. Levinson
C. John Lyons
D. John Searle
Practice
C
5. _______
is a branch of linguistics which is the study
of meaning in the context.
A. Morphology B. Syntax
C. Pragmatics
D. Semantics
6. Tautologies like boys are boys and war is war are
A
extreme examples in which the maxim of ________
is violated.
A. quality B. quantity C. relevance D. manner
Practice
( T ) A sentence is a grammatical unit and an utterance is a
pragmatic notion.
( T ) According to Searle’s classification of speech acts,
request, order, suggest and advice all belong to the same
one general class because they are all intended by the
speaker to get the learner to do something.
The speech act theory explains the nature of linguistic
communication. It says that a speaker, while making an
utterance, is performing three acts simultaneously: a
illocutionary act, and
locutionary act, an______________
perlocutionary act.
a______________
Practice
Consider the following dialogue between a man
and his daughter. Try to explain the
illocutionary force in each of the utterances.
[The daughter walks into the kitchen and takes
some popcorn.]
Father: I thought you were practicing your violin.
Daughter: I need to get the [violin] stand.
Father: Is it under the popcorn?
Practice
The illocutionary force of “I thought you were
practicing your violin” is a criticism of the
daughter for her not practicing the violin.
That of the daughter’s answer is a defense for
herself---I’m going to do that.
And that of father’s retort is a denial of the
daughter’s excuse.
***Principles of Conversation
(Paul Grice)
The co-operative principle
In making conversation, Grice
holds that there is a general
principle which all participants
are expected to observe.
Make your conversational
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.
The maxim of quantity
1. Make your contribution as
informative as required (for the
current purpose of the exchange).
2. Do not make your contribution
more informative than is required.
The maxim of quality
1. Do not say what you believe to be
false.
2. Do not say that for which you lack
adequate evidence.
The maxim of relation
Be relevant.
The maxim of manner
1. Avoid obscurity of expression.
2. Avoid ambiguity.
3. Be brief.
4. Be orderly.
In real communication, however, speakers do
not always observe these maxims strictly.
When we violate these maxims, in some
situations, conversational implicature
will arise.
A: Do you know where Mr. X lives?
B: Somewhere in the southern suburbs of the
city.
(This is said when it is known to both A and B that
B has Mr. X’s address. Thus B is withholding
some of the information required and is
violating the maxim of quantity. The
implicature produced is “I do not wish to tell
you where Mr. X lives.”)
----A:When is Susan’s farewell party?
----B:Sometime next month.
A: Would you like to come to
our party tonight?
Violation of Maxim of quality
B: I’m afraid I’m not
feeling so well today.
This is said when both A and B knows that B
is not having any health problem that prevent
him from going to a party. Thus B is saying
something that he himself knows to be false
and is violating the maxim of quality. The
implicature produced is “ I do not want to go
to your party tonight.”
A: The hostess is an awful bore. Don’t
you think?
B: The roses in the garden are beautiful,
aren’t they?
(This is said when it is known to both A and B that it
is entirely possible for B to make a comment on the
hostess, While B is saying something irrelevant to
what A has just said, and violating the maxim of
relation. The implicature produced is “I don’t wish
to talk about the hostess in such a rude manner.”)
A: Shall we get something for the
kids?
B: yes. But I veto I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M.
(This is said when it is known to both A and B
that B has no difficulty in pronouncing the
word “ice-cream”. Thus B has violated the
maxim of manner. The implicature produced is
“I don’t want the kids know we are talking
about ice-cream”).
Practice
*** In the following conversation, which
maxim(s) does Speaker B seem to violate?
And what implicature can arise out of this
answer?
A: What’s the price of your skirt?
B: Pattern is nice.
Practice
•
This is said when it is known to both A
and B that it is entirely possible for B to
tell A the price of his/her shirt. B’s
response is thus irrelevant to A’s question.
Therefore he/she violates the maxim of
relation. The implicature could be “I don’t
wish to tell you the price of my shirt.”
More practice
Each of the following conversational fragments
is to some degree odd. To what extent can the
oddness be explained by reference to Grice’s
CP and maxims.
More practice
A: Have you seen Peter today?
B: Well, if I didn’t deny seeing him I wouldn’t
be telling a lie.
In this conversation, Speaker B uses a long
and prolix way to express the meaning of
“Yes, I have”, thus violating the Manner
maxim of “Be brief ( avoid prolixity)”.
More practice
A: Are you there?
B: No, I’m here.
The oddness of this conversation results
from the exploitation of Quality maxims
in that the speaker B seems to be telling
the truth while deliberately misinterpreting
Speaker A’s “there”.
More practice
A: Thank you for your help, you’ve been most kind.
B: Yes, I have.
Speaker B’s answer is an instance of exploiting
the Quality maxims. Though logically speaking
it may be true that Speaker B has been helpful to
A, we don’t usually respond to others’ thanks in
this way.
More practice
A: Can you tell me where Mr. Smith’s office is?
B: Yes, not here.
On one hand, it is an instance of exploiting the
Quality maxims in that Mr. Smith’s office is really
“not here”. On the other hand, Speaker B has
violated the Quantity maxim of being as
informative as is required since A needs more
specific information than “not here”.
More practice
A: Would you like some coffee?
B: Mary’s beautiful dancer.
It is an indirect way of declining the offer. In
terms of Grice’s maxims, this is a case of
not being relevant.
More practice
A: Has the postman been?
B: He leant his bicycle against the fence, opened the
gate, strode briskly down the path, stopped to
stroke the cat, reached into his bag, pulled out a
bundle of letters and pushed them through our
letter box.
In this conversation, Speaker B uses a long and
prolix way for the simple answer “Yes, he has”,
and has thus violated the Manner maxim of “ be
brief (avoid prolixity)”.
More practice
“The Club” is a device for blocking an automobile’s steering
wheel, thus protecting the car from being stolen. And one
of its ads reads:
THE CLUB!
ANTI-theft device for cars
POLICE SAY:
‘USE IT’
OR LOST IT
In terms of the Gricean theory, what maxim is exploited here?
Find two Chinese ads of the same type.
More practice
The main maxim exploited here is the
Manner maxim of “Avoid ambiguity”. The
two tokens of “it” refer to two different
things.
Two Chinese ads of similar kind are 买一送
一and 要想皮肤好，早晚用大宝.