Pragmatics Flashcards
felicitous utterance
situationally appropriate, one that is appropriate relative to the context in which it is uttered.
infelicitous utterance
inappropriate to the situation in some way.
Cooperative principle
It is assumed that people intend to be cooperative conversational partners.
Maxims
principles guiding the conversational interactions of both speakers and hearers.
4 categories of maxims
Quality, relevance, quantity and manner
Maxim of “quality”
- Do not what say what you believe to be false
- Do not say for which you lack adequate evidence.
Maxim of relevance (relation)
Be relevant-maintain the organization of conversation by preventing random topic shifts. Expected to make contributions that pertain to the subject of the conversation.
Maxim of quantity
How much information it is appropriate for a speaker to give in a discourse.
Maxim of manner
- Avoid obscurity of expression (dont use words or phrases that are difficult to understand)
- Avoid ambiguity
- Be brief
- Be orderly
Jargon
Words that the listener cannot be reasonably expected to know.
Flouting maxim
says something that in its most literal meaning appears to violate a maxim, but the listener is expected to understand the meaning being conveyed due to the shared understanding of the maxims.
Implicature
When a speaker implies something using language.
Speech Acts
Actions that are performed only through using language: a term that describes the use of speech emphasizing the speaker’s intention or goal in producing an utterance.
Uses for language
convey information, request information, give orders, make requests, make threats, give warnings, make bets, give advice, offer apologies, tell jokes, pay compliments, etc.,
Common Speech Acts
Assertion-Conveys information Question-elicits information Request-elicits action or information Order-demands action promise-commits the speaker to an action threat-commits the speaker to an action that the hearer does not want
Felicity conditions
The circumstances required to render a particular variety of speech act felicitous.
Felicity conditions for requests
Purpose of request is to get a task accomplished. Therefore, the speaker believes:
- action has not yet been done
- that the hearer is able to do the action
- that the hearer may be willing to do things of that sort for the speaker.
And the speaker wants the action to be done.
Felicity conditions for questions
The speaker does not know the answer to the question.
The speaker wants to know the information
The speaker believes the hearer may be able to supply information.
Performative speech act
A speech act that employs a performative verb, in which the particular action named by the verb is accomplished in the performance of the speech act itself.
Performative Verb
A verb that denotes a purely linguistic action; a verb that is used to perform the act that it names.
Two major requirements for performatives
(i) the subject of the sentence must be first person, I or we, since these speech acts concern the interaction between speakers and hearers
(ii) the verb must be in the present tense, since performative speech acts, like all actions, take place in the present.
Direct speech acts
They perform their functions in a direct and literal manner..
a. by making a direct, literal utterance or
b. by using a performative verb that names the speech act.
Indirect Speech acts
Utterance that performs its function in an indirect and nonliteral manner.
example: The garbage hasn’t been taken out yet.Could you take out the garbage?
Presupposition
an underlying assumption that must be satisfied in order for an utterance to make sense or for it to be debatable.
Presupposition triggers
words or phrases whose use in a sentence often indicates the presence of a presupposition.
Deictic word
Place holder words. “Yesterday”, “today.”
Presupposition Accomodation
accepting of a presupposition that we may not know as fact, but we find plausible. such as an excuse involving a cat, or a car…we dont know for certain our coworker has a cat or car, but we accept it as true.
