Theorists Flashcards
Pragmatics Theory - Grice’s Maxims
- Maxim of Quality: Truth (Do not say which you believe to be false, or cannot prove to be true.)
- Maxim of Quantity: Information
(Make your contribution as informative as is necessary.) - Maxim of Relevance: Relevance
(Be relevant. Do not return to topics previously discussed.) - Maxim of Manner: Clarity
(Avoid ambiguity. Speak clearly.)
Pragmatics Theory - Speech Act Theory (John Searle)
Locution - what was said
Illocution - what was meant
Perlocution - what happens as a result
Pragmatics Theory - Face Theory (Erving Goffman)
Face is the image that we present of ourselves (speaker’s sense of linguistic + social identity).
When we speak, we aim to ‘save face’.
FTAs - directly challenges someone’s persona or threatens their positive or negative face needs.
FTAs can be made off record, by not actually saying what you mean.
Pragmatics Theory - Politeness Theory (Brown and Levison)
Positive politeness: being complimentary/gracious to the addressee.
Trying to show them they’re liked and admired. Some features include:
- paying attention to speakers
- seeking agreement
- avoiding disagreement
- assert common ground
- make jokes
-assert agreement.
Negative politeness: speaker tries to avoid imposing on the other party. You avoid intruding on others’ lives.
Some features include:
- being indirect
- questioning
- hedging
- pessimism
- deference (submission)
- apologising
- stating that you’re indebted to them.
Discourse Theory - Zimmerman and West
They found:
- women talk more
- men talk competitively; women talk cooperatively
- women gossip; men talk about facts
- men use more taboo
- women don’t tell jokes as well.
Language and Gender - The Deficit Model (Otto Jespersen)
Aims to prove there are differences in the way men and women speak.
Argues that men’s way is the standard + superior.
Women’s is insufficient and inferior.
Language and Gender - Julia Stanley (1977)
220 sexually derogatory words for women, 20 for men.
Language and Gender - The Dominance Model (Robin Lakoff)
Control, strength and superiority. Studies of male vs female speech showed that women took up subsidiary roles. Robin Lakoff’s theories fit into this category.
Robin Lakoff says… a tag question is a polite statement, doesn’t force agreement on the addressee.
These features distinguish women from men:
- hedges
- polite forms
- tag questions
- italics
- empty adjectives
- hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation
- no sense of humour
- direct quotes
- special lexicon e.g dove grey
Language and Gender - The Difference Model (Deborah Tannen)
She shows male vs female language use through the following contrasts:
- status vs support
- independence vs intimacy
- advice vs understanding
- information vs feelings
- order vs proposals
- conflict vs compromise
