Chapter 12 - Talk and Action Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 3 basic types of sentences?

A

question, exclamation, declarative,

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2
Q

what is the basic sentence type in L?

A

declarative - principle use of L is to describe states of affairs

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3
Q

The meaning of utterances can be described in terms of

A

their truth or falsity

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4
Q

What’s the difference between sentences and utterances?

A

sentences - what we write in, has a subject

utterance - units of spoken conversation = how we speak (hardly ever speak in complete sentences)

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5
Q

How do we classify utterances?

A
• Length (for child's speech)
• Structure (grammatical)
- active/passive
- statement-question-request
• Semantic or logical structure
• Function= In terms of what sentences do → A.k.a The functional approach
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6
Q

Monological speech is

A
  • a one sided dialogue (like a lecture) highly marked in normal conversational settings
    DIALOGUE = unmarked variety - give and take
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7
Q

what are the functions of a conversation

A

o Establish relationships
o Achieve cooperation
o Keep channels open for further relationships

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8
Q

What are the four types of utterances?

A

1) Constative utterances
2) Ethical propositions
3) Phatic Utterances
4) Performative utterances (added by john austin)

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9
Q

What are constative utterances?

A

Stating things/ making propositions: “today is monday”
• Connected with events in a possible world
• Can be said to be true or false

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10
Q

What are ethical propositions?

A
  • Ex. “Big boys don’t cry”
  • can’t be said to be true or false, can be either
  • Purpose = to serve as guides to behaviour
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11
Q

What are phatic utterances?

A

• Ex. “How are you?”
- contentless, unemotional
-completely non-threatening
• Open communication channels, acknowledge other speaker
• do not convey meanings, Aimless gossip
• fulfill a social function: atmosphere of sociability

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12
Q

What did Malinowski propose ?

A

The concept of a phatic communion

-A type of speech in which ties of union are created by a mere exchange of words.

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13
Q

Who was John Austin

A

• He proposed the 4th kind of utterances - performatives (the 5 kinds)

  • focused on how speakers realize their intentions in speaking
  • He developed the felicity conditions
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14
Q

who was John Searle

A

• further developed John Austin’s Ideas but focused on how the listener interprets the message

  • developed the 6 ways of making requests
  • Developed the term uptake
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15
Q

What were Austin’s arguments?

A

• Regular conversation is made up of commands, exclamations, questions etc.
• Sentences look like declaratives but don’t make statements
- Therefor he proposed performative utterances

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16
Q

What are Performative utterances

A
  • Subset of declaratives, neither true nor false
    • Ex. I promise to take a taxi home – you are performing an act with your words – making a commitment
    • Performance utterance is actually doing something
    Ie. Saying “I do” could mean getting married which changes relationships/ conditions in the real world
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17
Q

What are typical performatives? example.

A

• Grammatical form:
- First person Subject “I do”
- A verb in the present tense
- May include the word ‘hereby’
o Example “I hereby request that you leave my property”
- once this is said person has a legal obligation to leave

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18
Q

What is important regarding Performatives?

A
  • They are not “true or false” the important thing is whether they work or not.
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19
Q

What does Felicitous vs. infelicitous mean?

A

Felicitous: A performative that works
Infelicitous: A performative that does NOT work

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20
Q

What are the Felicity conditions suggested by Austin?

A

1) Conventional procedure (who must say and do what, in what circumstances)
2) Proper execution of this procedure to completion
3) Necessary thoughts, feelings and intentions are present in all parties

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21
Q

What are less explicit performatives that we use every day?

A
  • ‘I promise’, ‘I apologize’, ‘I warn you’
  • Share many characteristics of explicit performatives
  • But lack any associated conventional procedure
22
Q

What are Austin’s five types of performatives?

A

1)Verdictives : giving a verdict, estimate, gtade or appraisal
“ We find the accused guilty”
2) Excercitives: The exercising of powers, rights, or
“ I pronounce you husband and wife”
3) Commisives : promising or undertaking and committing one to do something
“ I hereby bequeath”
4) Behabtives: apologizing, congratulating blessing
e.g. “I apologize”
5) Expositives: making utterances fit into an argument or exposition
e.g. “I argue”

23
Q

The value of a speech act is independent from

A

the actual words & of their grammatical arrangement

24
Q

What are the 3 aspects of a speech act

A

1) utterance = locution
2) Intention = Illocutionary force > Illocutionary act
3) The effect on listener = Perlocutionary act (perlocution) (raising hand)

25
Q

• To be successful, an illocutionary act must:

A

1) Be correctly uttered with its conventional meaning
2) Satisfy a truth condition
3) The hearer should recognize the truth of 1) and 2)

26
Q

What is uptake (Searle)?

A

How the hearer perceives a particular utterance to have the force it has

27
Q

What are the 5 rules to promise making proposed by Searle?

A

1) The propositional content rule: words predict future action
e.g. “I promise that I will grade the final exam”
2) , 3) The preparatory rules:
- must believe that he can do what’s promised
- both parties must want the act done
- not normally done/expected
4) The sincerity rule: Requires the promiser to intend to perform the act, i.e. placed under some kind of obligation
5) The essential rule:
-the uttering of the words counts as undertaking an obligation to perform the
action

28
Q

What are the two types of rules discussed in class

A

Constitutive rules - conditions for illocutionary acts, doing one thing means or implies something else (rules for sports or games)
regulative rules: Laws and legistations set by government and tell what is right and what is wrong

29
Q

Can we have a conversation without having a prior

agreement about the principles of exchange?

A

no

30
Q

Conversations are possible because we recognize :

A
  • common goals

- specific ways of achieving these goals

31
Q

In a conversation, there are constraints that limit:

A

◦ speakers : what they can say

◦ listeners : what they can infer

32
Q

Who is Grice?

A
  • Studied speech acts and proposed “The cooperative principle” and the 4 Gricean Maximes
33
Q

List the 4 Gricean Maximes?

A
  • Quantity
  • Quality
  • Relation
  • Manner
34
Q

What is the Maxime of Quantity?

A
  • Make your contribution as informative as required (Not too much or too little information)
35
Q

What is the Maxime of Quality?

A
  • What you say has to be true, do not say what you believe
    to be false
  • Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
36
Q

What is the Maxime of Relation?

A
  • Must be a relation between the answer and the question
37
Q

What is the Maxime of Manner?

A
  • Avoid obscurity of expression
  • Avoid ambiguity
  • Be brief
  • Be orderly (rushed into arms and opened the door - out of order)
38
Q

What is the theory of implicature?

A
  • Implication of any utterance means much more than the direct meaning of the words
  • Assuming that the speaker still intends to be
    cooperative, the listeners looks for meaning other
    than that which is said.
  • You can imply things without directly saying them
39
Q

What is the cooperative principle?

A

Grice - “The overriding principle in conversation”
◦ mutual engagement , mutually beneficial, mutual understanding
we WANT to communicate to achieve a common GOAL
◦ This assumption explains why:
- speech errors are unnoticed
- we find meaning in illogical, untrue, unrelated statements
- Explains Metaphors, sarcasm, overstatement, understatements
etc.

40
Q

Is cooperation a rule that cannot be broken?

A

NO

  • Cooperation is variable and is not a rule
  • Following a maxim is a choice
41
Q

How can a speaker choose to be uncooperative with respect to maximes?

A

A speaker can choose to…
◦ ‘violate’ a maxim (giving unrelated answer - politician)
◦ ‘opt out’ of a maxim (say nothing)
◦ deal with a ‘clash’ of maxims (regardless of what we say a maxim will be violated)
◦ ‘flout’ a maxim (Special efffects - metaphors, sarcasm)

42
Q

Can Faces vary according to

circumstances

A

YES

43
Q

What is Face-work

A

o Presenting faces to each other
o Trying to protecting our own face
o While protecting the other’s face

44
Q

How might one choose to be uncooperative with respect to faces?

A

o By refusing to accept someone’s face (do not believe the role someone claims to be)
o By denying a right to a face
o By challenging someone’s face

45
Q

What are 3 ways to generate conversational implicatures?

A
  1. Observe
  2. Violate (speaker violates a maxim on purpose hoping that the hearer will not notice - lying)
  3. Flout
46
Q

What are implicatures

A

interpretations of utterances as having a different meaning than what they actually are

47
Q

What is opting out? example?

A

Opting out “that’s confidential” - refusing to answer

48
Q

What are clashing maximes?

A

When regardless of what you say a maxime will be violated
For example, You don’t know the precise answer so because you don’t want to violate the maxim of Quality you violate maxim of Quantity: say too
little - “Sometime on wednesday…”

49
Q

What is Flouting

A

◦ deliberate
◦ an invitation to find a new meaning
◦ associated with rhetorical effects

A: Tehran’s in Turkey, isn’t it?
B: Uh-huh, and Boston’s in
Armenia.

50
Q

What are searles 6 ways of making requests?

A

1) Hearer’s ability:
◦ E.g. ‘Can you submit the last assignment online please?’
2) Speaker’s wish or desire
◦ E.g. ‘I would like you to submit the assignments on time.’
3) Hearer actually doing something
◦ E.g. ‘All students will henceforth wear suits in our class’;
‘Aren’t you going to wear a suit to 2S03?’
4) Hearer’s willingness :
o E.g. ‘Would you like to write a reference letter for me?’
5) The reasons for doing something:
o E.g. ‘You’re standing on my foot’
6) Combinations:
o E.g. ‘I would appreciate it if you could make less noise’