Chapter 6 Pragmatics
Outline

Introduction

Micropragmatics

Macropragmatics
Objectives:



To have a general view of pragmatics
To get well-informed about the theories of
pragmatics
To develop your awareness of the use of
language in linguistic communication
1. The definitions of pragmatics




Some definitions of pragmatics:
---- the study of all those aspects of meaning not
captured in a semantic theory.
---- the study of the relations between language
and context that are basic to an account of
language understanding.
---- the study of linguistic acts and the contexts in
which they are performed.
(To be continued)
1. The definitions of pragmatics
Some definitions of pragmatics:




---- the study of language use and linguistic
communication.
---- study of how utterances have meanings in
situations.
---- the study of how speakers of a language use
sentences to effect successful communication.
---- the study of meaning in the context in which
language is used.
2. The difference between
pragmatics and semantics



Pragmatics and semantics study meaning at
different levels.
Semantics----linguistic meaning (word meaning and
sentence meaning) which is the conceptual
meaning, abstract meaning and contextindependent meaning;
Pragmatics----utterance’s or speaker's meaning,
which is the meaning in language use and which is
context dependent and concrete.
3. The notion of context




Contexts---- linguistic context and non- linguistic
context.
1) Linguistic context ---- what occurs before and/or
after a word, a phrase or even a longer utterance.
Three subtypes:
Lexical context ---- grammatical context ---- verbal
context
3. The notion of context



2) Non-linguistic context ---- he broader situation in
which a linguistic item is used. It may consist of
three kinds of knowledge: background knowledge,
context of situation, and mutual knowledge.
Three subtypes:
Background knowledge ---- context of situation ---mutual knowledge
4. Sentence meaning and
utterance meaning



sentence meaning ---- abstract, and decontextualized
utterance meaning ---- concrete, and contextdependent
Utterance meaning is based on sentence meaning;
it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a
sentence in a real situation of communication, or
simply in a context.
6.2 Micropragmatics




1. Micropragmatics and macropragmatics
1) Micropragmatics ---- the study of the meaning of
a linguistic item in smaller contexts;
Such as reference, deixis, anaphora,
presupposition, etc
2) Macropragmatics ---- the study of language user
interaction or the mechanisms by which the
intended meanings are communicated.
2. Reference and inference


1) Reference ---- the act by which a speaker
or writer uses language to enable a hearer or
reader to identify something.
2) Inference ---- any additional information
used by the hearer to connect what is said to
what must be meant.
3. Deixis


1) What is deixis?
Deixis is a technical term which means
“pointing” via language. Any linguistic form
used to accomplish this “pointing” is called
deictic expression, deictics or sometimes an
indexical.
3. Deixis




2) Classification of deixis:
Five types:
Person deictics----identify participants in the
discourse, mainly consist of personal
pronouns.
Time deixis----the function of lexemes and
grammatical means to encode time relative
to the time at which an utterance is
produced.
(To be continued)
3. Deixis




2) Classification of deixis:
(Continued)
Place dectics---- indicate the spatial relations
between the speaker and the referred object or
place.
Discourse dectics----showing relations of utterances
containing them to other parts of the discourse
Social dectics----indicating social status of the
participants in a discourse, and their relations
determined thereupon.
4. Presuppositions



1) Some definitions of presuppositions
---- any kind of background assumption against
which an expression or utterance makes sense or
is rational;
---- the conditions that must be met in order for the
intended meaning of a sentence to be regarded as
acceptable;
(To be continued)
4. Presuppositions



1) Some definitions of presuppositions
(Continued)
---- the set of conditions that have to be satisfied in
order for the intended speech act to be appropriate
in the circumstances.
---- shared background information of interlocutors.
4. Presuppositions





2) presupposition triggers:
---- Definite descriptions
e.g. My boyfriend is a rich man.----I have a
boyfrind
---- Factive verbs or adjective phrases
e.g. I am glad that you have come----you have
come.
(To be continued)
4. Presuppositions





2) presupposition triggers: (Continued)
---- Implicative verb
e.g. He managed to pass the exam----he
tried to pass the exam.
---- Change-of-state verbs
e.g. He stopped smoking cigarettes last
year.----he had smoked before.
(To be continued)
4. Presuppositions





2) presupposition triggers: (Continued)
---- Iteratives
e.g. He promised to write again----he had
written it before.
---- Verbs of judging
e.g. John criticized Jane for being careless---Jane was/had been careless.
(To be continued)
4. Presuppositions





2) presupposition triggers: (Continued)
---- Temporal clauses and phrases
e.g. After his father dies/After his father’s
death he became penniless----His father died.
---- Cleft sentence
e.g. What I needed was two extra days----I
needed something
(To be continued)
4. Presuppositions





2) presupposition triggers: (Continued)
---- Non-restricted attributive clauses
e.g. John, who visited China last year, is
fond of Chinese tea----John has been to
China twice.
---- counterfactual conditions
e.g. John could have passed the exam if he
didn’t get too nervous----John got too nervous.
(To be continued)
4. Presuppositions





2) presupposition triggers: (Continued)
---- Questions
e.g. What are you thinking about?----You are
thinking about something.
---- Comparisons and contrasts
e.g. Carol is a better linguist than Barbara---Barbara is a linguist.
6.3 Macropragmatics







1. Speech act theory
1) Constaives and performatives
--- Constative is saying sth; performative is doing
sth
---- Perf can be modified by “hereby”, while
Constative can not
---- Constative has truth value; while Performative
can only be said appropriate
e.g I watch TV every evening. (constative)
I advise you to give up smoking. (performative)
1. Speech act theory



2) Explicit Performatives and Implicit
Performatives
Explicit performative: A sentences which
contains a performative verb that obviously
shows the speech act the sentence performs.
Implicit performative: A sentence which
contains no performative verb and the
speech act the sentence performs is
determined by the context.
1. Speech act theory


3) Speech act theory
A speaker, while making an utterance, is, in
most cases, performing three acts
simultaneously. In other words, when we use
language we characteristically intend to do
three things: (1)we say something; (2)we
indicate how we intend the hearer to take
what we have said; and (3) we have definite
effects on the hearer as a result.
1. Speech act theory







Locutionary act---- the act of saying something.
uttering the sentence to express the literal
meaning
Illocutionary act---- the act performed in saying
something.
expressing the speaker’s intention by the literal
meaning
Perlocutionary act---- the act by saying something
the results or effects that are produced by
means of saying something.
e.g. It’s cold in here.
1. Speech act theory





4) Types of illocutionary acts:
Five types classified by Searle:
Representatives ---- stating or describing,
saying what the speaker believes to be true
e.g. It was a warm sunny day.
Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts.
(To be continued)
1. Speech act theory







4) Types of illocutionary acts: (Continued)
Directives ---- trying to get the hearer to do
something
e.g. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black.
Could you lend me a pen, please?
Commissives ---- committing the speaker himself to
some future course of action
e.g. I will bring you the book tomorrow without fail.
We will not do that.
(To be continued)
1. Speech act theory







4) Types of illocutionary acts: (Continued)
Expressives ---- expressing feelings or
attitude towards an existing state
e.g. I’m sorry for the mess I have made.
It’s really kind of you to have thought of me.
Declarations ---- bringing about immediate
changes by saying something
e.g. I now declare the meeting open.
I fire you.
1. Speech act theory



5) Indirect speech act theory
Speech acts are performed indirectly
through the performance of another speech
act.
For example, if a robber says to his victim “I
advise you to give me all in your pocket”, he
is not really advising, but threatening.
1. Speech act theory







Two types of indirect speech acts:
a) conventional indirect speech acts
---- those illocutionary acts which are
customarily and standardly used to make
indirect speech acts. A typical examples are:
Can you pass me the salt?
Would you mind sitting down over there?
Could you please just sign this paper?
I would be appreciate it if you could be a
little quieter, please.
(To be continued)
1. Speech act theory





Two types of indirect speech acts: (Continued)
b) Non-conventional indirect speech acts
---- More complicated and indeterminable
than the conventional ones in that they may
depend much more on the mutual shared
background information and the context of
situation.
A: Will you go to the party with us?
B: I hear Mary is going too.
2. The Cooperative Principle
and its maxims



The Cooperative Principle and its maxims
Make your conversational contribution such
as is required, at the stage at which it occurs,
by the accepted purpose or direction of the
talk exchange in which you are engaged.
The four maxims:
2. The Cooperative Principle
and its maxims



(1) Maxim of Quality ----try to make a
contribution one that is true, i.e.
i) Do not say what you believe to be false.
ii) Do not say that for which you lack
adequate evidence.
2. The Cooperative Principle
and its maxims



(2) Maxim of Quantity----try to make your
contribution one that is informative. It also
has two sub-maxims:
i) Make your contribution to the conversation
as informative as is required (for the current
purposes of the exchange).
ii) Do not make your contribution more
informative than is required.
2. The Cooperative Principle
and its maxims


(3) Maxim of Relevance----“be relavant”.
In other words, the speaker has to make
sure that whatever he or she says is relavant
to the conversation at hand.
2. The Cooperative Principle
and its maxims





(4) Maxim of Manner----be perspicuous. It
includes at least the following four submaxims:
i) Avoid obscurity of expressions.
ii) Avoid ambiguity.
iii) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
iv) Be orderly.
2. The Cooperative Principle
and its maxims

To put the CP in a simple way, these four
categories of cooperative principle and their
attendant maxims describe what
participants usually do, either consciously or
subconsciously, in order to get along with
each other to make efficient use of language
in talk exchanges. To do so, they have to be
informative, truthful, relevant and clear. The
listener will normally assume that the
speaker is following these criteria.
3. Conversational Implicature






1) What is implicature?
--- what a speaker implies, suggests or
means as distinct from what he literally says,
e.g.
a) He’s a Chinese, but doesn’t play table
tennis.
Implicature: Chinese play table tennis
b) 甲：下午踢球吧！
乙：上午在换草皮。(含义：下午没法踢球)
3. Conversational Implicature



2) What is conversational implicature?
---- a message that is not found in the plain sense
of the sentence. The speaker implies it. The hearer
is able to infer this message in the utterance, by
appealing to the rules governing successful
conversational interaction.
According to Grice’s theory of conversational
implicature, conversational implicature arises
through the violation/use of the cooperative
principle and its maxims.
3. Conversational Implicature





3) illustrations of the maxims violations
a) The violation of maxim of Quantity
The maxim requires the speaker to provide
as much information as necessary, not too
much and not too little. If it is violated, then
the speaker must intend to convey sth more
than what he says, e.g
A: Where have you been?
B: Out. (Implicature: It’s none of your
business)
3. Conversational Implicature




b) The violation of the maxim of Quality
The maxim requires the speaker speak
sincerely.
A: What will you do if you fail the exam?
B: I’ll eat my hat. (Implicature: It is
impossible for me to fail the exam)
3. Conversational Implicature




c) the violation of the maxim of Relevance
A: Smith doesn’t seem to have a girlfriend
these days.
B: He has been paying a lot of visit to New
York lately.
(Implicature: He has or may have a
girlfriend in NY)
3. Conversational Implicature




d) the violation of the maxim of Manner
Lady: (standing in the middle of a busy street)
Officer, can you tell me how to get to the
hospital?
Policeman: Just stand where you are and
you’ll find out how to get to the hospital.
(Implicature: Don’t stand here. It’s
dangerous)
3. Conversational Implicature





4) Characteristics of conversational
implicature:
cancellability
---- the implicatures are cancellable if we add
some other premises to the original ones.
non-detachability
---- the implicature is attached to the
semantic content of what is said, not to the
linguistic form used.
(To be continued)
3. Conversational Implicature





4) Characteristics of conversational
implicature: (Continued)
non-conventionality
---- the implicatures are the property of
utterances, not of sentences.
indeterminacy
---- Utterance may have different
conversational implicatures depending on
the different hypotheses made by the
speaker and the hearer
(To be continued)
3. Conversational Implicature





4) Characteristics of conversational
implicature: (Continued)
calculability
---- the implicatures can be worked out
through inference.
context-dependency
---- the implicature has to be inferred from
the particular situation of the utterance
4. The Politeness Principle


1) Politeness
Politeness can be understood as a social
phenomenon. Politeness in an interaction is
defined as a means one employs to show
awareness of another person’s face (the
public self-image of a person) or to achieve
good interpersonal relationships.
4. The Politeness Principle



Two factors that may affect the achievement
of politeness:
social distance ---- whether the speaker and
hearer are quite distant from each other
socially.
social closeness ---- whether the speaker and
the hearer are quite close to each other
socially.
4. The Politeness Principle


2) The principle of politeness
Principle of politeness: to be polite, one
needs to minimize (other things being equal)
the expression of impolite beliefs and
maximize (other things being equal) the
expression of polite beliefs.
4. The Politeness Principle







The Politeness Principle is also defined in
terms of some maxims. And each maxim is
accompanied by a sub-maxim or we may say
the maxims tend to go in pairs as follows:
(I) Tact Maxim
(i) Minimize cost to other
(ii) Maximize benefit to other
(II) Generosity Maxim
(i) Minimize benefit to self
(To be continued)
(ii) Maximize cost to self
4. The Politeness Principle






(III) Approbation Maxim
(i) Minimize dispraise of other
(ii) Maximize praise of other]
(IV) Modesty Maxim
(i) Minimize praise of self
(ii) Maximize dispraise of self
(To be continued)
4. The Politeness Principle






(V) Agreement Maxim
(i) Minimize disagreement between self
and other尽量减少双方的分歧
(ii) Maximize agreement between self and
other] 尽量增加双方的一致
(VI) Sympathy Maxim
(i) Minimize antipathy between self and
other
(ii) Maximize sympathy between self and
other]
4. The Politeness Principle


Of the twinned maxims (I) – (IV), (I) appears to be a
more constraint on conversational behaviour than
(II), and (III) than (IV). This, if true, reflects a general
law that politeness is focused more strongly on
other than on self.
Moreover, within each maxim, sub-maxim (b)
seems to be less important than sub-maxim (a),
and this again illustrates the more general law that
negative politeness (avoidance of discord) is a
more weighty consideration than positive
politeness (seeking concord).
4. The Politeness Principle

One further difference in importance should
be noted, although it is not reflected in the
form of the maxims: politeness towards an
addressee is generally more important than
politeness towards a third party.
4. The Politeness Principle



3) Ignorance of the principle
Note that although politeness is dominant in
social interaction, the politeness principle
and maxims can be ignored in some
situations, such as:
a) in times of emergency, as in “Stop! Stop!”
or when the primary concern is the efficiency
of communication rather than the face, as in
“Take the medicine every four hours, with a
maximum of four times a day.”
(To be continued)
4. The Politeness Principle



b) when the threat to the hearer’s face is
minor or none, as in “If any further
information is needed, don’t hesitate to
contact me.”
c) when the speaker has authority over the
hearer, as in “(Father to son) Shut the door.”
d) when the speaker and the hearer are in
intimate relation, as in “(husband to wife)
Wait here. I’ll fetch some water.”