1>Speech act theory Flashcards
intended effects of pragmatics can be> (4)
- persuasion
- reciprocation
- acts of emotion
- commiting to a future event
pragmatics=
study of lang as a tool for action
^idea lang is used to achieve some ‘goal
2 types of speech act>
1>those to do with a statement or description (constatives)
2> those that ‘make something happen’ (performatives)> can be EXPLICT
explicit performatives=
include a Verb (performative verb) which explicitly commits the speaker to perform the act (e.g. promise, warn, bet)
effect of use of a performative verb in performatives vs not using one>
it is less reliable to make a promise IMPLICITLY, compared to using an EXPLICIT performative (‘i promise i’ll… vs ‘i’ll..)
How to tell if something is a peformative verb?
if you can add “hereby” before it (meaning ‘by virtue of this utterance)= performative
How to tell if is a performative UTTERANCE> (2)
- always in 1st person
- always in present tense
3 levels of speech act?>
> locutionary act (what actually said)
illouctionary force (intention)
perlocutionary effect (effect)
searle’s classification of speech acts (5)
- representatives
- directives
- comissives
- expressives
- declarations
what are representative speech acts>
where the speaker commits to something being the case
(e.g. “amina has bought a sewing machine”)
what are directive speech acts?>
attempts of the speaker to get the hearer to do something (i.e. “You must stay at home”)
>can include qns & requests to provide info
what are commissive speech acts?>
Speech act that commits the speaker to do something in the future
(e.g. “got it”> when asked to do something)
what are expressive speech acts?>
speech acts that indicate an emotional reaction or psychological state
(e.g. “fuck”/ “i feel so antiscoial all of a sudden”)
what are declarations as speech acts?>
these change the way the world is
(e.g. declaration of independence; saying “i want a divorce”)
Direction of fit: 2 types>
- words to fit the world
- world to fit the words
