Animal communication, speech acts, conversation Flashcards
Animal communication systems
through body language, sound, movement
2 types of dances
European honey bees
- tail wagging dance
- If food source more than 100m away
- orientation of waggle run along centre line is direction of food in regards to sun
- dance in angle based on sun
- 1 second of dance 1km etc - round dance
- if food source is within 10m
- speed and duration can signal richness of food source
Primates, birds and dolphins
Primates - discrete signs
birds
- call - defense, nesting, feeding
- song - mating, establish territory
dolphins
- whistle
- pulsed sounds - socialising
- clicks - echolocation
Defining human language
Hockett’s 4 Design features:
ADDP
- arbitrariness
- displacement
- duality of patterning
- productivity/creativity
Arbitrariness
human language - mostly symbolic signs, arbitrary relationship between signifier + signified.
animal communication = non-arbitrary (connection/predictable)
- chimp bearing teeth, sign teeth, meaning bite
- greater volume = greater intensity of danger, hunger
Displacement
ability to communicate about something distance in time, space
Animal communication - limited displacement eg bees- nectar is 200m away
2 levels
Duality of patterning
human language -meaningless sounds (m, ea) + meaningful (morphemes, d o g=dog)
- allows for a combination of words
Animal communication - signs not put into meaningless recombinable parts
- eg. sides of teeth clenched dont have separate meaning.
Productivity/creativity
Human language - units can be combined and recombined to create infinite number of utterances.
- talk about anything due to productivity of human language
Animal communication - no productivity, eg dogs cant describe things.
overall
Animal communication
- animals dont use language
- no animal communication system displays all the design features
- ## animal communication not equal language
Animals ‘taught language’
- some animals learn to communicate limited meanings through limited signs taught by humans
- some lingustics aspects are learned eg sit, walk, stay
- eg apes - signed, spoken or graphic language
- modifications of lang
Pragmatics (form and content used)
Speech acts
An action carried out through language
- the act performing via speaking
- example - i promise to give you money
Locutionary content
the literal meaning of the words
their combination in the given sentence
Illocutionary force
what the speaker intends to do with the utterance
3 types of speech acts
- declaratives - statements
- interrogatives - questions
- imperatives - commands
RCDDEV
Searle’s speech acts
- representatives
- commissives
- directives
- declarations
- expressives
- verdicatives
Representatives
commissives
R = represent state of affairs in world
- assertion, claim, description
C = commit speaker to future course of action
- promise, threats, vows, refusals
Directives
Declarations
D = direct addressee to carry out action
- command, request, dare, question, entreaty
D = utterances which bring about state of affairs, change the world by uttering it.
- marrying, naming, blessing, arresting, ending
Expressives
Verdicatives
E = express speakers attitude/psychological state
- greeting, thanking, apologising
V = assessment of rightness/wrongness, passing judgement
- judging, condoning, permitting.
Indirect speech acts
conversational implicature
Grice: the additional implied meaning of an utterance
= unstated meaning
- requires inference and understanding of conversational rules
the speaker’s intentions
Illocution is based on 3 things…
- linguistic meaning of what is said - locutionary content
- contextual information
- assumption that speaker is obeying Cooperative Principle
What is…
the cooperative principle
assumption that participants in conversation are uttering what is truthful, informative and engaged.
(unless reason to assume otherwise)
4 Conversational maxims
- maxim of relation
- maxim of quantity (includes horn scales of all, most, some [semantically strong –> weak])
- maxim of quality
- maxim of manner
obeying, flouting, violating
Flouting the maxim
deliberately disobeying maxim in a way for hearer to notice
- cooperative
- noticed by addressee
= rely on hearer’s ability to recognise that a maxim has been flouted.
Eg -flout quality ‘cant wait to do assignments’ - implicature no wantdo
violating the maxims
eg. quantity - under/over informative
uncooperative
