Chapter 12 - Talk and Action Flashcards
What are the 3 basic types of sentences?
question, exclamation, declarative,
what is the basic sentence type in L?
declarative - principle use of L is to describe states of affairs
The meaning of utterances can be described in terms of
their truth or falsity
What’s the difference between sentences and utterances?
sentences - what we write in, has a subject
utterance - units of spoken conversation = how we speak (hardly ever speak in complete sentences)
How do we classify utterances?
• 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
Monological speech is
- a one sided dialogue (like a lecture) highly marked in normal conversational settings
DIALOGUE = unmarked variety - give and take
what are the functions of a conversation
o Establish relationships
o Achieve cooperation
o Keep channels open for further relationships
What are the four types of utterances?
1) Constative utterances
2) Ethical propositions
3) Phatic Utterances
4) Performative utterances (added by john austin)
What are constative utterances?
Stating things/ making propositions: “today is monday”
• Connected with events in a possible world
• Can be said to be true or false
What are ethical propositions?
- 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
What are phatic utterances?
• 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
What did Malinowski propose ?
The concept of a phatic communion
-A type of speech in which ties of union are created by a mere exchange of words.
Who was John Austin
• 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
who was John Searle
• 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
What were Austin’s arguments?
• Regular conversation is made up of commands, exclamations, questions etc.
• Sentences look like declaratives but don’t make statements
- Therefor he proposed performative utterances
What are Performative utterances
- 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
What are typical performatives? example.
• 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
What is important regarding Performatives?
- They are not “true or false” the important thing is whether they work or not.
What does Felicitous vs. infelicitous mean?
Felicitous: A performative that works
Infelicitous: A performative that does NOT work
What are the Felicity conditions suggested by Austin?
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
What are less explicit performatives that we use every day?
- ‘I promise’, ‘I apologize’, ‘I warn you’
- Share many characteristics of explicit performatives
- But lack any associated conventional procedure
What are Austin’s five types of performatives?
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”
The value of a speech act is independent from
the actual words & of their grammatical arrangement
What are the 3 aspects of a speech act
1) utterance = locution
2) Intention = Illocutionary force > Illocutionary act
3) The effect on listener = Perlocutionary act (perlocution) (raising hand)
• To be successful, an illocutionary act must:
1) Be correctly uttered with its conventional meaning
2) Satisfy a truth condition
3) The hearer should recognize the truth of 1) and 2)
What is uptake (Searle)?
How the hearer perceives a particular utterance to have the force it has
What are the 5 rules to promise making proposed by Searle?
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
What are the two types of rules discussed in class
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
Can we have a conversation without having a prior
agreement about the principles of exchange?
no
Conversations are possible because we recognize :
- common goals
- specific ways of achieving these goals
In a conversation, there are constraints that limit:
◦ speakers : what they can say
◦ listeners : what they can infer
Who is Grice?
- Studied speech acts and proposed “The cooperative principle” and the 4 Gricean Maximes
List the 4 Gricean Maximes?
- Quantity
- Quality
- Relation
- Manner
What is the Maxime of Quantity?
- Make your contribution as informative as required (Not too much or too little information)
What is the Maxime of Quality?
- 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.
What is the Maxime of Relation?
- Must be a relation between the answer and the question
What is the Maxime of Manner?
- Avoid obscurity of expression
- Avoid ambiguity
- Be brief
- Be orderly (rushed into arms and opened the door - out of order)
What is the theory of implicature?
- 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
What is the cooperative principle?
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.
Is cooperation a rule that cannot be broken?
NO
- Cooperation is variable and is not a rule
- Following a maxim is a choice
How can a speaker choose to be uncooperative with respect to maximes?
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)
Can Faces vary according to
circumstances
YES
What is Face-work
o Presenting faces to each other
o Trying to protecting our own face
o While protecting the other’s face
How might one choose to be uncooperative with respect to faces?
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
What are 3 ways to generate conversational implicatures?
- Observe
- Violate (speaker violates a maxim on purpose hoping that the hearer will not notice - lying)
- Flout
What are implicatures
interpretations of utterances as having a different meaning than what they actually are
What is opting out? example?
Opting out “that’s confidential” - refusing to answer
What are clashing maximes?
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…”
What is Flouting
◦ 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.
What are searles 6 ways of making requests?
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’
