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
direction of fit & representatives>
> represntatives have WORD-to WORLD–>(commits the speaker to the truth of some thing)
direction of fit & commisives>
> commisives have WORLD to WORD –>(commits the speaker to making the WORLD be as the WORDS indicate)
direction of fit & declarations>
> declarations have BOTH (words uttered describe the world (WORD>WORLD) but also make SoA they describe as true (WORLD>WORD)
direction of fit & directives>
> directives have WORLD to WORD –>(commits the speaker to making the WORLD be as the WORDS indicate)
felicity condition=
necessary conditions for successfully performing a speech act
four felicity conditions>
i> propostional content conditions
ii> preparatory conditions
iii> the sincerity conditions
iV> the essential conditons
what are the propositional content conditions? (as a felicity condition)>
- requirement that the SEMANTIC content of the utterance is appropriate to the act
(cant make a promise saying: “i am happy today”)
what are the preparatory conditions? (as a felicity condition)>
what must be satisfied in advance
(i.e. for a promise= that the recipient wants the thing promised)
what are the sincerity conditions? (as a felicity condition)>
-Requirement that the speaker be sincere in their intentions
(i.e. for a promise to be felicitous, the speaker must in fact intend to do what they are promising to)
what are the essential conditions? (as a felicity condition)>
the essence of the speech act (i.e. making a promise commits you to fulfil the action you have promised to)
Abuses of felicity conditions>
> failure of the condition means it will go through but unbeknownst to the audience, it lacks sincerity
happens when SINCERITY conditions are not satisified
(i.e. “i promise to pay you back” [no intention to])
misfire of felicity conditions>
failure of condition means the act doesnt go through at all
happens when PREPARATORY or ESSENTIAL conditions are not satisfied
(e.g. “i promise to pay you back” [the addressee is not expecting money])
Direct speech act=
where the sentence type matches the illocutionary force
sentence type & expected illocutionary force>
-declaratives & representative speech act
-imperative & directive speech act
- interrogative & directive speech act
- exclamative & expressive speech act
indirect speech acts=
ones where there is a MISMATCH between what is said & the illocutionary force of the utterance
(“its freezing”[when sat near window]>as DIRECTIVE instead of REPRESENTATIONAL)
Indirect speech acts as implciatures>
- indirect SA make communication more polite
- our social image (FACE) may be negatively affected when we are seen as unreliable
Speech acts in FLA: what are proto-imperatives?>
request for the adult to act as the ‘means to attain object/other goals’
Speech acts in FLA: what are proto-declaratives?>
regards ‘use of object-giving, pointing, showing as a means to obtain attention from the adult’
in FLA which of proto-dec/imp is mastered first>
proto-imperative pointing is mastered earlier
autistic children & proto-imp/dec
children with autism produce & understand proto-imp but fail to produce & understand proto-dec
speech acts in human-reared apes> proto-dec/imp
proto-dec is NON-EXISTENT, while proto-imp communication is relatively common
