week 2 - cooperative principle and speech acts

Question 1

what is an implicature

Answer 1

the assumptions suggested by the speaker and inferred by the hearer in an exchange. These assumptions are not encoded in the words that are said but are generated by the interlocutors’ cooperation to achieve rational communication.

Question 2

how did Grice describe the cooperative principle?

Answer 2

make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. One might label this the Cooperative Principle (Grice 2006)

Question 3

what are the four maxims?

Answer 3

Quantity: be informative

Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purpose of the exchange).
Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Quality: be truthful

Do not say what you feel to be false.
Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Relation: be relevant

Make your talk relevant.

Manner: be unambiguous

Question 4

conventional implicature

Answer 4

Associated with specific words and result in additional conveyed meanings when those words are used.
- usually closed class
•	Some classics:
she’s good at football, for a girl
•	but 
	John is poor but happy

Question 5

flouting

Answer 5

blatant non-observance of a maxim

Question 6

violating

Answer 6

unostentatious non-observance (lying)

Question 7

opting out

Answer 7

indicating unwillingness to co-operate

Question 8

infringing

Answer 8

non-observance due to imperfect linguistic performance (no intention to generate an implicature)

Question 9

what is a generalised implicature

Answer 9

No special background knowledge of context/utterance is needed to make inferences.

Does not depend on particular features of the context

Associated with the proposition

Question 10

what is a particularised implicature

Answer 10

Inferences worked out while drawing totally on the specific context of the utterance

Depends on the particular features of the context

Associated with the context

Question 11

what is a scalar implicature?

Answer 11

• Scalar implicatures arise with the use of certain scales of value
• The use of one expression indicates one point on the scale and cancels the other expressions indicating higher points on the scale

• Some of the boys went to the party
> not all of the boys went to the party
• The shows are sometimes funny
> the shows are not always/not often funny

Question 12

what is suspending

Answer 12

• Suspending is relevant to certain situations where there is no expectation on the part of participants that the maxims will be followed

Question 13

what is relevance theory?

Answer 13

• Sperber and Wilson (1995) propose that conversational implicature is understood by hearers by selecting the relevant features of the context and recognising what speakers say as relevant to the conversation (or not).

Question 14

what is processing effort

Answer 14

‘the greater the PE, the lower the relevance’

Question 15

how does Austin identify levels of action beyond the utterance?

Answer 15

• A speech act is a functional unit in communication (Austin, 1962)
Austin identifies three distinct levels of action beyond the utterance:

the act OFsaying something

what one does INsaying it

what one does BY saying it

Question 16

performative speech act

Answer 16

Speech acts that create a new state of affairs

Examples:
I now pronounce you husband and wife.
You’re out!

Question 17

assertive speech act

Answer 17

Speech acts that convey information

Facts, assertions, conclusions, descriptions
The speaker makes the words fit the world (of belief)

Examples:
It was a cold, wet day in Wales.
The earth is flat.

Question 18

expressive speech act

Answer 18

Speech acts that express an emotion
Psychological expression (pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, sorrow)

The speaker makes words fit the world (of feeling)

Examples:
I’m really sorry!
Congratulations!

Question 19

directive speech act

Answer 19

Speech acts that make a request

Commands, orders, requests, suggestions (can be positive or negative)

The speaker attempts to make the world fit the words (via the hearer)

Examples:
Get me a cup of tea with milk.
Could you lend me a biro, please?

Question 20

commisive speech act

Answer 20

Speech acts that make a commitment
Promises, threats, refusals, pledges (can be performed along or by a group)

The speaker undertakes to make the world via the words (via the speaker)

Examples:
I’ll be back.
I’m going to get it right next time.

Question 21

locution

Answer 21

performing an act of saying something: uttering words/morphemes, sentences = utterance

Question 22

illocution

Answer 22

performing an act in saying something: the force or intention behind the words (stating, questioning, commanding, promising etc.); the communicative force of an utterance

Question 23

perlocution

Answer 23

performing an act by saying something: the effect of the utterance on the hearer

Question 24

what are the real world conditions needed for performative acts to be successful?

Answer 24

• The people and circumstances must be appropriate
e.g. children cannot perform wedding ceremonies

• All participants must properly execute this procedure, e.g.
Vicar: do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?
Groom: oh, all right then, if I really must [putting the ring on at the wrong moment]

• The procedure must be completed.

Question 25

what are the felicity conditions for a promise?

Answer 25

the act must be in the future
*I promise you I was home all night last night

the addressee must want the act
*I promise I’ll punch you next time I see you

the act must not be going to happen anyway
*I promise you this lecture will come to an end

there must be sincere intention
*I promise I will give you your money back later

the utterance itself must count as entering the obligation
Do you promise to be here on time?

Question 26

what are the levels of performativity?

Answer 26

Explicit performatives
‘I (hereby) name…’; ‘We decree…’; ‘I swear…’

Less explicit performatives
‘I promise…’; ‘I apologise…’; ‘I warn you…’

Implicit performatives
‘Guilty’: pronouncing a verdict by the jury foreman
‘Out!’: act of dismissal by a cricket umpire
‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’: warning by the owner of a site

Question 27

what is a constative utterance

Answer 27

can be said to be true or false

Question 28

what are indirect and direct speech acts

Answer 28

An indirect speech act masks one type of act (the primary one) as something else (the secondary one)

Example: It’s pretty cold in here.
Secondary speech act: Assertion about the temperature

Primary speech act: Request to close the window