PRAGMATICS
TUTORIAL 8
CHAN YI HAO
HO JIA DA
TAN HUI MIN
WU JIAJUN
QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY
Jia Da
QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY
 Two Forces
 Illocutionary
 Perlocutionary
 Two Forms
 Direct Speech Act
 Indirect Speech Act
QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY
 Performative Verbs
 Meaning of the verb is PERFORMED by simply UTTERING it in
the sentence.
 Examples
 I apologise for my ugly presentation slides
 I promise to work hard for this module
QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY
QUESTION 1A: QUESTION
 Direct, Performative Verb
 May I enquire about the criteria for
admission to NUS?

Intention: Illicit Information (Question)

Linguistic Form: Interrogative
QUESTION 1A: QUESTION
 Direct, without Performative Verb
 Why on earth do you want to enroll in
NUS?

Intention: Illicit Information (Question)

Linguistic Form: Interrogative
QUESTION 1A: QUESTION
 Indirect
 I am running out of patience

Intention: Illicit Information (Question)

Linguistic Form: Declarative
QUESTION 1B: REQUEST
 Direct, with Performative Verb
 I demand a diamond ring, necklace and
bracelet this Valentines Day.

Intention: Request/Order

Linguistic Imperative
QUESTION 1B: REQUEST
 Direct, no Performative Verb
 Please understand my current financial
situation

Intention: Request/Order

Linguistic Form: Imperative
QUESTION 1B: REQUEST
 Indirect
 Can’t you afford the ring at least?

Intention: Request/Order

Linguistic Form: Interrogative
QUESTION 1C: PROMISE
 Direct, with Performative Verb
 I swear that I will make you pay for
murder

Intention: Promise (Declaration)

Linguistic Form: Declarative
QUESTION 1C: PROMISE
 Direct, no Performative Verb
 I will never kill again if you spare me

Intention: Promise

Linguistic Form: Declarative
QUESTION 1C: PROMISE
 Indirect
 Prepare to meet your inevitable doom

Intention: Promise (Declaration)

Linguistic Form: Imperative
QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF
CONVERSATION
Yi Hao
QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF
CONVERSATION
Cooperative principle:
How people interact with one another
4 Gricean Maxim of Conversation
Quality
Quantity
Relation
Manner
False
information
Be as
informative as
required
Be relevant
Avoid ambiguity
and obscurity
Lack adequate
evidence
Do not be too
informative
Be brief and
orderly
QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF
CONVERSATION
 “He’s so well spoken that you can get lulled into
thinking that you believe him. Then, after a while,
you start to realize that most of what he’s saying is
just unfounded opinion. He never backs up his
statements with anything factual.”
 Answer: Maxim of Quality
QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF
CONVERSATION
 “Her lectures are really hard to understand. I think
that she knows what she’s talking about, but she
uses all this complicated vocabulary, and she never
defines any of the words. Plus, every sentence is
about a million words long, and by the time you
figure out what it meant, she’s giving you another
sentence that’s even more complicated! Aiyoh”
 Answer: Maxim of Manner & Maxim of Quantity
(too much)
QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF
CONVERSATION
 “His classes are hard to follow because he goes off
on so many tangents. He’ll be talking about Russian
politics one minute, and then he’ll veer off to tell us
something about democracy in Ancient Greece.
Then he’ll get back to the Russian politics only to
interrupt himself with a story about what his son
did at breakfast this morning! OMG”
 Answer: Maxim of Relation & Maxim of Manner
QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF
CONVERSATION
 “I feel as though she never gives us thorough
answers to our questions. For example, I asked her
yesterday why we shiver when we’re cold. All she
said was ‘because you’re warm-blooded,’ and then
she went to with her lecture. I already knew that
people are warm-blooded, but I don’t know what
this has to do with shivering. Damn it!”
 Answer: Maxim of Quantity (too little)
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Hui Min
The following is a true story involving a mother and her 2year-old daughter.
The mother is busy preparing dinner, and tells the child: Go
ask your uncle what he wants to drink. The child runs to the
living room where the uncle is relaxing, and doesn’t come
back. After a good 15 minutes, the mother checks with the
uncle, who says: Yeah, she did come to me and said “Uncle,
uncle, what you want to drink?”, then she disappeared
towards her bedroom.
Keeping in mind the 2-year-old’s level of communicative
competence, explain how the pragmatic notions of
illocution and perlocution crucially help us understand this
funny episode.
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Illocutionary Utterance
 Speaker-oriented
 Has an communicative intent to induce an action
 Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Perlocutionary Utterance
 Hearer-based
 Has behavioral consequences on the hearer
 Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Illocutionary Utterance
“Go ask your uncle
what he wants to
drink…”
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Intent
Find out what drink Uncle wants and get back to me
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Perlocutionary behaviour
“Mummy said to
ask what Uncle
wants to drink”
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
What child understands
Find out what Uncle wants to drink and no need get back to mummy
QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Competency of a 2 year old:
• Process literal meaning as presented
• Do not understand true intent of context
No
instruction
to get back
to Mummy
=
No need to
get back to
Mummy
Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN
SINGAPORE
Jiajun
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this press conference.
With great regret, I announce that I have tendered my resignation as a Member of
Parliament and as a member of the People's Action Party.
I have resigned to take full responsibility for a grave mistake that I have committed. I had
a relationship with a member of the People's Association staff working in Pasir RisPunggol GRC. While the individual did not work with me directly, Punggol East used to
be part of the GRC and continues to work with it. My conduct was improper and it was a
serious error of judgment.
I have resigned in order to avoid further embarrassment to the PAP and to Parliament.
I have performed my duties as Speaker of Parliament and MP for Punggol East to the
best of my ability and my actions did not affect my performance of those duties.
I am deeply sorry for letting down the residents of Punggol East, the PAP and everyone
who has believed in me and supported me. I apologise unreservedly to them, and to my
family.
I humbly request that you be kind enough to respect my family's privacy during this
difficult period. Thank you.
- Michael Palmer
Speaker of Parliament
Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN
SINGAPORE
Effective?
Duh
Yes!
No repercussion to PAP after public apology
Sincere
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this press conference.
With great regret, I announce that I have tendered my resignation as a Member of
Parliament and as a member of the People's Action Party.
I have resigned to take full responsibility for a grave mistake that I have committed. I had
a relationship with a member of the People's Association staff working in Pasir RisPunggol GRC. While the individual did not work with me directly, Punggol East used to
be part of the GRC and continues to work with it. My conduct was improper and it was a
serious error of judgment.
I have resigned in order to avoid further embarrassment to the PAP and to Parliament.
I have performed my duties as Speaker of Parliament and MP for Punggol East to the
best of my ability and my actions did not affect my performance of those duties.
I am deeply sorry for letting down the residents of Punggol East, the PAP and everyone
who has believed in me and supported me. I apologise unreservedly to them, and to my
family.
I humbly request that you be kind enough to respect my family's privacy during this
difficult period. Thank you.
- Michael Palmer
Speaker of Parliament
Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN
SINGAPORE
•Sincere Expression of Remorse
• “With great regret”
• “I am deeply sorry”
•Admission of fault
• “My conduct was improper”
•Taking responsibility
• “to take full responsibility”
• “resigned in order to avoid further embarrassment to the PAP”
•Public Apology
• Press conference
Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN
SINGAPORE
 Similar cases
 Jack Neo, Jesslyn Tan, Anton Casey
The End~
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