Speech Acts & Language Change Flashcards
what are four processes in the cline of grammaticalisation?
- bleaching (semantics)
- extension (new grammatical functions)
- decategorization
- erosion (phonology)
What is bleaching?
desementicization, in that the sum of the semantic content of the lexical item is successively bleached to only the grammatical content of the item.
What is extension?
Adding new grammatical functions in new contexts. With loss of semantic content, the pragmatic use of the item changes in that it becomes appropriate in a wider set of contexts. Also generalisation in contexts of use.
What is decategorialization?
Loss of old PoS, gain of new PoS. with the extended use, the original morphological and syntactic categorial properties of the item tend to erode, so that the item is no longer possible to identify as belonging to any major category.
What is erosion?
Reduction, shortening, deletions. Once such a word undergoes all types of language change, its use is increased in frequency, which can lead to phonological erosion. This can lead to other morphosyntactic effects, such as becoming a clitic or affix.
What are the three types of language contact (LC)?
- Balanced/Adstratal
- Displacive - superstratum and substratum languages, unequal power relations.
- Direction of borrowing - balanced/adstratal, in both directions. - superstratal/displacive, in one direction
what is the difference between code-switching and borrowing?
CS is a switch from one language system to another within the same utterance.
Borrowing does not involve a switch. Borrowed words become a part of host language and is (partly) adapted in phonological form (and sometimes also meaning).
What are the different types of borrowing?
- Borrowing of patterns (pattern replication - calques = loan translations)
- Borrowing of matter (morphological form and phonological shape incl. meaning)
What is a Sprachbund?
Linguistic areas where multiple speech communities have intensive and consistent contact. Areal features are thus a bundle of features consistently found in the languages of a particular area. Bilingualism and co-residence and where languages show convergence. Convergence is mostly in syntax and discourse.
What are honorifics?
A linguistic politeness device for marking social distinction. It has grammatical means to mark the relationship between the speaker and others/addressee/bystanders
What are the three types of honorifics?
Referent honorifics
Addressee honorifics
Bystander honorifics
What is referent honorifics
when referent of third person singular pronoun has high social status, in relation to status of speaker.
the politeness or respect distinctions are conveyed by referring to the target of the respect, that is, the choice of the linguistic form is dependent on what is referred to.
What is addressee honorifics and its different strategies?
Speaker chooses vocatives, honorifics on the basis of contextual social relation to addressee. The higher the address is, the more indirect or vague he or she is addresses.
Strategies of indirect address forms:
Pronoun avoidance
Lexical honorifics (place/house/residence)
What is bystander honorifics?
the linguistic form is not dependent on the speaker or addressee, but on who is within earshot of the utterance. Social status of bystanders (within earshot) requires honorifics.
How can we recognise speech acts?
Speech acts are not coded in the utterance form, but inferred by addressees by combining grammatical and lexical cues in the utterance form, with cues from context, situation and general cultural information.
What is the interaction between speech acts and moods?
Declarative, Interrogative and imperative mood do not code speech acts directly, but give abstract and grammatical cues to communicate the intention of the speaker.
What are the three most common purposes of speech acts?
To pass on information (declaratives), to glean information (interrogatives), to command someone/initiate action (imperatives).
What are declaratives and its realisations?
Declaratives are a clue for a speech act that passes on information.
Affirmative declaratives
Negative declaratives
What are interrogatives and its realisations?
Interrogatives are a clue for speech act that gleans information.
Polar questions
Content questions
What are imperatives and its realisations?
A strategy for expressing directive speech acts, to get the address to perform some kind of action
Positive imperatives
Negative imperatives/prohibitives
What is politeness?
Politeness is a way of interaction which shows awareness of and respect for someone else’s face.
What is an indirect speech act?
A face saving strategy, where the content of the utterance does not correspond to the speaker’s intention of the utterance.
