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