Pragmatics

Question 1

Utterances

Answer 1

an event of using a sentence in speech: context, mimics, prosody, implicatures, etc

Question 2

Sentences

Answer 2

abstract units

Question 3

Types of Contexts

Answer 3

Situational, Linguistic, Social

Question 4

Situation Context

Answer 4

“You look very rested, indeed!”
Meaning before spring break vs after spring break

Question 5

Linguistic Context

Answer 5

Can you do THIS for me?
I don’t want to go THERE!

Question 6

Social Context

Answer 6

“Dear Mr. James! Can you tell what that means?”
spoken to a child vs spoken to an adult

Question 7

Felicity

Answer 7

Appropriateness relative to the context
Property of utterances

Question 8

Cooperative Principle

Answer 8

Utterances are meant to convey useful information to contribute to the purposes of the conversation

Question 9

Grice’s Maxims

Answer 9

Quantity, Quality, Manner, Relevance

Question 10

Quantity

Answer 10

• make your contribution as informative as is required
• do NOT make you contribution more informative than is required

Question 11

Quality

Answer 11

• do NOT say that which you believe to be false
• do NOT say that for which you lack evidence

Question 12

Manner

Answer 12

• dont be obscure
• dont be ambiguous
• be brief
• be orderly

Question 13

Relevance

Answer 13

be relevant

Question 14

Flouting Maxims

Answer 14

superficial violations of the maxims give rise to implicatures

Question 15

Implicature

Answer 15

information that is not explicitly contained in an utterance but that is conveyed by exploiting the cooperative principle

Question 16

Implication

Answer 16

when a message is sent without being said explicitly (the speaker)
what the speaker implies

Question 17

Inference

Answer 17

a conclusion that the listener draws from an utterance based on a set of circumstances
what the listener infers

Question 18

Presupposition

Answer 18

an underlying assumption that must be satisfied for the utterance to make sense
- must be either common knowledge or previously asserted in the discourse

Question 19

Presupposition Triggers

Answer 19

word or phrases that indicate the presence of a presupposition

Question 20

Presupposition accomodation

Answer 20

relies on the perceived likelihood/plausibility or on previous info

Question 21

Speech Acts

Answer 21

any use of language
- differ by their purpose/function

Question 22

Types of Speech Acts

Answer 22

Assertion, question, request, order, promise, threat

Question 23

Assertion

Answer 23

conveys information

Question 24

Question

Answer 24

elicits information

Question 25

Request

Answer 25

eliciting action or information (politely)

Question 26

Order

Answer 26

demands action

Question 27

Promise

Answer 27

commits the speaker to an action

Question 28

Threat

Answer 28

commits the speaker to an action that the hearer does not want

Question 29

Performative Speech Acts

Answer 29

- special types of speech acts - do not talk about physical action but rather linguistic actions - uses performative verbs that denote purely linguistic actions - have consequences in the world "I hereby pronounce you husband and wife"

Question 30

How to check is a speech act is performative

Answer 30

try to insert the word hereby before the potentially performative verb

Question 31

Direct Speech Act

Answer 31

"I am not sure what to do here, Professor" request (politely elicits action of information)

Question 32

Indirect Speech Act

Answer 32

"I would like to know what will be on the exam" Question (elicits information) Indirect because it looks more an assertion

Question 33

Where do indirect speech acts come from?

Answer 33

to be polite

Question 34

Basic Ideas of Politeness Theory

Answer 34

Politeness, Positive Face, Negative Face, Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness

Question 35

Politeness

Answer 35

acting so as to take into account the feelings of others

Question 36

Positive face

Answer 36

desire to have public self/image appreciated

Question 37

Negative Face

Answer 37

desire to be free from imposing on others

Question 38

Positive Politeness

Answer 38

any effort to meet positive face needs; sympathy

Question 39

Negative Politeness

Answer 39

Any effort to meet negative face needs; showing deference as not to offend

Question 40

Examples of Positive Politeness

Answer 40

Expressions of Benevolence Expressions of Solidarity - terms of endearment - slang - tag questions (you know? isn't it?) - hedges (like, sort of) -posing statements as questions (uptalk)

Question 41

Examples of Negative Politeness

Answer 41

Questioning rather than commanding expressing pessimism Hedging request (maybe you could...) Minimizing imposition (i just need to talk for one second) Hesitating Refer to the possibility of an action