Pragmatics and Discourse Flashcards
What is the difference between Implicature and inference?
To implicate something is to express a belief in a particular way. To infer something is to acquire or possess a belief in a particular way.
What are deixis: deictic references and deictic
categories?
Deixis is used by the speaker to refer to the place, situation or time in which they find themselves when talking.
Here’s the breakdown:
Person: These are words like “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” and “they” that change based on who’s talking and who they’re talking to.
Space: Words like “here,” “there,” “this,” and “that” change their meaning depending on where things are in relation to the speaker and listener.
Time: Words like “now,” “then,” “today,” and “tomorrow” change their meaning depending on when things happen in relation to when they’re being talked about.
Conversation: Some words depend on what’s already been said in a conversation, like “this point” or “as mentioned earlier.”
What is the face and politeness theory?
Politeness theory by Erving Goffman works on the assumption that we have two different types of ‘face’: Positive face and Negative face. Positive face is an individual’s desire to be liked and appreciated by others. Think of this as a person’s self-esteem. Negative face is an individual’s desire to protect their personal rights and not feel imposed upon.
When we are polite to people, we are appealing to one of these two types.
Positive politeness: Appealing to a person’s Positive Face can mean making the individual feel good about themselves.
Negative politeness: Appealing to a person’s negative face can mean making the other person feel like they haven’t been imposed upon or taken advantage of.
What are Speech acts?
Speech acts serve their function once they are said or communicated. These are commonly taken to include acts such as apologizing, promising, ordering, answering, requesting, complaining, warning, inviting, refusing, and congratulating.
What are Grice’s Maxims?
Grice’s Maxims for conversation:
The 4 Conversational Maxims are the Maxim of quality, the Maxim of quantity, the Maxim of relevance, and the Maxim of manner. Grice believed that anyone wishing to engage in meaningful communication would follow these maxims and would assume that others would also be following them.
What’s the Maxim of quality?
Abiding by the Maxim of quality means not telling a lie on purpose. When following this maxim during communication, you should:
Only say things you believe to be true.
Not say things that you cannot back up with evidence.
What’s the maxim of quantity?
Make your contribution to the conversation as informative as required.
Don’t withhold information during communication that would be necessary to keep the conversation going.
Not contribute more informative than required.
What’s the maxim of relevance?
Following the Maxim of relevance keeps conversations on track and helps prevent random conversations that lack continuity. This Maxim also helps us to understand utterances in conversations that may not be initially obvious. When abiding by this Maxim, you should:
Only say things that are relevant to the conversation.
Speaker A: ‘Do you think Leo
What’s the maxim of manner?
The maxim of manner is a principle of effective communication that encourages speakers to be clear, concise, and orderly in their expression.
For example, when following this Maxim, we should avoid using big or overly complex words that we know our listeners won’t understand and should try our best to be concise and coherent.
What does violating a Maxim mean?
When Grice’s Maxims are violated, they have been broken surreptitiously (secretly) or covertly (undercover). This means that others involved in the conversation are unaware that a Maxim has been broken.
The most common maxims that get violated are the maxim of quality and the maxim of quantity.
Maxim of Quality is violated when an individual purposely tells a lie.
Maxim of quantity is violated when an individual secretly with holds information that someone else wants to know.
What does flouting a Maxim mean?
Flouting Grice’s Maxims is a lot more common than violating maxims and is usually considered more acceptable. When Grice’s Maxims are being flouted, it should be apparent to all those concerned.
Being ironic, using metaphors, pretending to mishear someone, and using a tone of voice that does not match the content of what you are saying are all examples of flouting Grice’s Maxims.
Let’s take a look at some of the different ways in which the maxims are often flouted.
Maxim of Manner is flouted when speakers use many big words and technical jargon that they know their listeners won’t understand.
Maxim of Relevance is flouted when someone pretends to mishear what has been said to change the conversation.
Maxim of Quantity is flouted when someone does not answer a question in full, usually to be obtuse or even annoying.
Maxim of Quality is flouted when someone is being ironic.
(This is not an extensive list of all the ways maxims can be flouted, just a few handy examples. Can you think of any other ways people flout Grice’s Maxims?)
When individuals flout maxims, they usually expect the listener to understand the intended meaning. Maxims are even purposefully flouted at times by comedians and writers for comedic effect!
Here are a few discourse examples of Grice’s Maxims being flouted.
Speaker A: ‘Do you know if there is any food in the fridge?’
Speaker B: ‘Yes, I do know.’
What are Discourse markers?
Discourse markers, also known as linking words, are words and phrases that are used to manage and organise the structure of discourse. Discourse markers are words and phrases such as ‘well’, ‘because’, ‘however’. The function of discourse markers is to make the connections between sentences and paragraphs clear.
What are Anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric
references?
“anaphoric” (referring upward to previously mentioned words), “cataphoric” (referring downward to subsequent words), or “exophoric” (referring to something outside the text).
What is intertextuality?
Intertextuality is the relationship between texts, i.e., books, movies, plays, songs, games, etc. In other words, it’s anytime one text is referenced in another text. Intertextuality works best when it’s explained explicitly, then later alluded to implicitly.
What is synthetic personalisation?
Synthetic personalisation is the process of addressing mass audiences as though they were individuals through inclusive language usage.
