Pragmatics Flashcards
Propositions
abstract units of meaning that are either true or false
“It’s raining.”
“There are apples on the tree.”
etc.
Performatives
when the utterance brings about the action that it describes
“I do.” (by saying so, you achieve the effect of marriage as opposed of doing what is asked of you at the alter).
Declaratives
making a statement
“The window is open.”
Interrogatives
asking a question
“Is the window open?”
Imperatives
expressing a command
“Open the window.”
social actions that are achieved by utterances that do not have any propositions attached
Hello = I hereby greet you. Goodbye = I hereby take my leave.
Speech Act Theory
when an utterance not only expresses information but has an action attached to it also
Locutionary Force
what was said
“The referee said ‘you can’t do that’.”
Illocutionary Force
what social action was performed by it
“The referee objected to the player doing that.
Perlocutionary Force
what higher-order goal was achieved
The referee stopped the player doing that.
Pragmatics
deals with context-dependent meaning
Uses of Declaratives
Statements
Promises, offers, acceptances…
Questions: “I’d like to know when the next train leaves.”
Requests: “I wonder if you could tell me the time.”
Uses of Interrogatives
Statements: “Didn’t you hear, Mary’s away?”
Requests: “Could you tell me the time?”
Indirectness
- does not cause any communicative differences
- may be difficult for speakers with autism (however not universally), non-native speakers, artificial dialogue systems.
“I don’t have any money for the ticked.” (indirect way of asking someone to pay for them)
- relies on an elaborate reasoning process
- abductive inference
Cooperativity Principle
(Grice 1975) - speakers are implicitly aware that they are being cooperative with one another and act accordingly.
The maxims:
- Quality - make your contribution true
- Quantity - make your contribution as informative are required
- Manner - avoid obscurity of expression
- Relation - be relevant
Quality
Make your contribution true
Quantity
Make your contribution as informative as required
Manner
Avoid obscurity of expression, ambiguity. Be brief and orderly.
Relation
Be relevant.
Shared understanding
Can exploit shared knowledge about how communication is supposed to work, and thereby communicate more efficiently.
Common Ground
Mutual knowledge about who or what we are referring to, that the person we are speaking with understands, and the thing we are talking about is a salient possibility.
Establishing Common Ground
community co-membership
physical co-presence
linguistic co-presence
Community Co-Presence
We are all members of the cultural community that knows who, for example, Donald Trump is and that he is the POTUS
Physical Co-Presence
"Patrick is in his office." (LEL1B course organiser) - the entire LEL class think of that same Patrick because we were all present (co-present) when he spoke in class.
Linguistic Co-Presence
Someone mentioned in the prior discourse is always established. POTUS becomes ‘he’ later in the conversation because of linguistic co-presence; ‘he’ is no longer ambiguous.
Pronoun Interpretation
According to Grice, we ought to use pronouns where applicable to save time. A study by Gordon shows that texts are quicker to read when they replace names with pronouns when appropriate.
Immediately, pronouns pick out the most salient individual in the preceding discourse.
Deixis
When a sentence cannot be understood fully without prior context.
“Donald Trump uses Twitter a lot.” = fine.
“He does this to bypass media.” = deictic - without the first sentence, who is ‘he’ and what is ‘this’?
Presupposition
“I have to go home and feed my cat.”
- unexpected if you didn’t know the speaker had a cat.
- can use this to introduce the existence of something that was not pre-supposed by exploiting the fact that the sentence would not make sense otherwise.
Accomodation
When an expression triggers a presupposition (again, too, know, definite descriptions…). Needn’t be part of the common ground - if we act as though it is, we induce our hearer to accommodate it.
Felicity Conditions
conditions under which a performative utterance causes an action
