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BASIC CONCEPTS
Speakers can perform actions while making utterances
Situation: At work, boss has great deal of power You're fired
more than just a statement, actually ends your employment Other examples:
You're so fantastic You're welcome You're crazy! (compliment) (acknowledgement of thanks) (expression of surprise)
Actions performed via utterances are called speech acts (e.g., apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, request)
The speaker normally expects that his or her communicative intention will be recognized by the hearer both speaker and hearer are helped by the circumstances surrounding the utterance. These circumstances (including other utterances) are called the speech event The tea is really cold! Situation A: On a wintry day, the speaker reaches for a cup of tea, believing that it has been freshly made, takes a sip, and produces the utterance complaint Situation B: On a really hot summer's day the speaker is being given a glass of iced tea, takes a sip, and produces the utterance praise No simple utterance-to-action correspondence is possible!!!
Hauptseminar Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
Austin 1962: - theory of Speech Acts - series of lectures (posthumously published as How to do things with words) truth conditions are not central to language understanding - performatives vs. constatives
I christen this ship the Imperial Flagship Mao
- speech act goes wrong if + ship already has another name + I am not authorized to name it + there are no witnesses, slipways, bottles of champagne felicity conditions (conditions performatives must meet to succeed) Searle 1969: - systematization of Austins work, creating speech act theorys impact on linguistics - felicity conditions constitute various speech acts (illocutionary acts) - typology of speech acts
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
- most of the time there is no performative verb mentioned Other IFIDs beside performative verbs: word order, stress, intonation, voice quality (lowered for warnings/threats)
You're going! You're going? Are you going? [I tell you X] [I request confirmation about X] [I ask you if X]
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
- performance will be infelicitous if the speaker is not a judge in a courtroom general conditions: content conditions: preparatory conditions:
language is understood, no play-acting, nonsense e.g. for promises/warnings the content of the utterance must be about a future event (promise: the event will be an act by the speaker) pre-existing conditions about the event, e.g., promise: event will not happen by itself, event will be beneficial warning: it's not clear if the hearer knows that the event will occur, the event will not have a beneficial effect attitude of the speaker, e.g., promise: speaker genuinely intends to carry out the future action warning: speaker genuinely believes the future event will not have a beneficial effect change of state in the speaker, e.g., promise: change of state from non-obligation to obligation to carry out action warning: change of state from non-information of bad future event to information
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
sincerity conditions:
essential conditions:
Hauptseminar
- the subject must be first person - the adverb 'hereby' indicates that utterance counts as an action any definite noun phrase - Vp in the present tense - indirect object in second person singular
Clean up this mess The work was done by Elaine and myself I hereby order you to clean up this mess I hereby tell you that the work was done by Elaine and myself
explicit performatives
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
problem: explicit utterance may change interpretation (versions are not equivalent)
I hereby order you to clean up this mess You're dumber than a rock
('insult' may not be a performative verb) We don't how many performative verbs there are in any language!!
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
the speaker changes the world via words representatives: - speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not
- statements of fact, assertions, conclusions and descriptions are all examples of the speaker representing the world as he/she believes it is The earth is flat Chomsky didn't write about peanuts It was a warm sunny day
the speaker makes words fit the world (of belief) expressives:
- speech acts that state what the speaker feels - they express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, sorrow ... I'm really sorry Congratulations! Oh yes, great, mmmmm!!
Summary
Speech Act Type Declarations Representatives Expressives Directives Commissives
Hauptseminar
Direction of fit words change the world make words fit the world make words fit the world make the world fit words make the world fit words
Introduction to Pragmatics
(Chinese proverb)
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
Hauptseminar
Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html
Questioning a hearer-based condition for making a request results in an indirect request. - there is a definite difference between asking someone to do X and asking someone if the preconditions for doing X are in place. - asking about preconditions technically doesn't count as making a request, but allows the hearer to react as if the request had been made (= less of an imposition on the hearer, smaller risk of refusal) An utterance is part of a larger social situation involving people with some kind of social relationship and particular goals Speech Event = the set of utterances produced in such a situation
Hauptseminar Introduction to Pragmatics
http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/index.html