Pragmatics

Question 1

Propositions

Answer 1

abstract units of meaning that are either true or false

“It’s raining.”
“There are apples on the tree.”
etc.

Question 2

Performatives

Answer 2

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).

Question 3

Declaratives

Answer 3

making a statement

“The window is open.”

Question 4

Interrogatives

Answer 4

asking a question

“Is the window open?”

Question 5

Imperatives

Answer 5

expressing a command

“Open the window.”

Question 6

social actions that are achieved by utterances that do not have any propositions attached

Answer 6

Hello = I hereby greet you.
Goodbye = I hereby take my leave.

Question 7

Speech Act Theory

Answer 7

when an utterance not only expresses information but has an action attached to it also

Question 8

Locutionary Force

Answer 8

what was said

“The referee said ‘you can’t do that’.”

Question 9

Illocutionary Force

Answer 9

what social action was performed by it

“The referee objected to the player doing that.

Question 10

Perlocutionary Force

Answer 10

what higher-order goal was achieved

The referee stopped the player doing that.

Question 11

Pragmatics

Answer 11

deals with context-dependent meaning

Question 12

Uses of Declaratives

Answer 12

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.”

Question 13

Uses of Interrogatives

Answer 13

Statements: “Didn’t you hear, Mary’s away?”
Requests: “Could you tell me the time?”

Question 14

Indirectness

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

Cooperativity Principle

Answer 15

(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

Question 16

Quality

Answer 16

Make your contribution true

Question 17

Quantity

Answer 17

Make your contribution as informative as required

Question 18

Manner

Answer 18

Avoid obscurity of expression, ambiguity. Be brief and orderly.

Question 19

Relation

Answer 19

Be relevant.

Question 20

Shared understanding

Answer 20

Can exploit shared knowledge about how communication is supposed to work, and thereby communicate more efficiently.

Question 21

Common Ground

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Establishing Common Ground

Answer 22

community co-membership
physical co-presence
linguistic co-presence

Question 23

Community Co-Presence

Answer 23

We are all members of the cultural community that knows who, for example, Donald Trump is and that he is the POTUS

Question 24

Physical Co-Presence

Answer 24

"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.

Question 25

Linguistic Co-Presence

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Pronoun Interpretation

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Deixis

Answer 27

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’?

Question 28

Presupposition

Answer 28

“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.

Question 29

Accomodation

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

Felicity Conditions

Answer 30

conditions under which a performative utterance causes an action