Chapter 10 - Pragmatics (Part 2) PDF

ENGL 312 General Linguistics Dr Abdulqader Alyasin Chapter 10 Pragmatics (Part 2)  Overview By the end of the chapter, you should be able to: ❑ define “pragmatics” ❑ discuss the role of pragmatics in our everyday conversation/communication ❑ understand how speakers/writers convey their me...

ENGL 312 General Linguistics Dr Abdulqader Alyasin Chapter 10 Pragmatics (Part 2)  Overview By the end of the chapter, you should be able to: ❑ define “pragmatics” ❑ discuss the role of pragmatics in our everyday conversation/communication ❑ understand how speakers/writers convey their messages and how they’re received, understood and interpreted by listeners/readers. Reference  In discussing deixis, we assumed that the use of words to refer to people, places and times was a simple matter. However, words themselves don't refer to anything. People refer. Reference: an act by which a speaker/writer uses language to enable a listener/reader to identify something. To perform an act of reference, we can use: o Proper nouns: (Chomsky, Khawlah, Maryam, Sarah, Jennifer) o Nouns in phrases: (the cat, a writer, my friend) o Pronouns: (he, she, it) We sometimes assume that these words identify someone or something uniquely, but it is more accurate to say that, for each word or phrase, there is a "range of reference." The words Jennifer or friend or she can be used to refer to many entities in the world.  We can also use expressions to refer to things we’re not sure what to call them. That blue thing. That icky stuff. We invent references: Mr. Kawasaki a man who always drove his motorcycle fast and loud through the neighborhood and was locally referred to as Mr. Kawasaki. A brand name for a motorcycle is being used to refer to a person. Mr. Google  Inference A successful act of reference depends more on the listener's ability to recognize what the speaker/writer means than on the listener’s "dictionary" knowledge of a word that is used. We can use names associated with things to refer to people. Example: in a restaurant, one waiter can ask another Where’ s the spinach salad sitting? He’s sitting by the door. We can use names associated with people to refer to things. Example: Can I borrow your George Yule? Sure it’ s on the table. We saw Shakespeare in London. The key process here is inference. Jennifer is wearing Calvin Klein. An inference is additional information used by the listener to create a connection between what is said and what must be meant.  Anaphora We usually make a distinction between introducing new referents (a puppy) and referring back to them (the puppy, it) Example: We saw a funny home video about a boy washing a puppy in a small bath. The puppy started struggling and shaking and the boy got really wet. When he let go, it jumped out of the bath and ran away. In this type of referential relationship: The 1st mention is called antecedent. (a puppy/ a boy, a small bath) The 2nd (subsequent) referring expression is an example of anaphora (referring back). (the puppy/ it/ the boy/ he/ the bath) Anaphora: a subsequent reference to an already introduced entity. Cataphora: Reverses the antecedent-anaphora relationship beginning with a pronoun It, then later revealing more specific information. This device is more common in stories. Example: It suddenly appeared on the path a little ahead of me, staring in my direction and sniffing the air. An enormous grizzly bear was checking me out. Anaphora is, however, the more common pattern.  The connection between an antecedent and an anaphoric expression is created by the use of: o A pronoun (it) o Repetition of the noun with the (the puppy) o Another noun that is related to the antecedent in some way (The little dog ran out of the room). The connection between antecedents and anaphoric expressions is often based on inference. Examples: o We found a house to rent, but the kitchen was very small. antecedent anaphoric expression o I got on a bus and asked the driver if it would go to the downtown area. antecedent anaphoric expression Presupposition Hey, your brother is looking for you. Presupposition: You have a brother. When did you stop smoking? Presupposition 1: the speaker supposes that you used to smoke. Presupposition 2: the speaker supposes that you no longer smoke. We design our linguistic messages based on assumptions about what our listeners already know. What a speaker assumes is true or known by the listener can be described as a presupposition. Constancy under negation test: There is a test for presuppositions that involves comparing a sentence with its negative version and identifying which presuppositions remain true in both. Example: My car is a wreck. My car is not a wreck. (negative) The underlying presupposition (I have a car) remains true. Pragmatic Markers  Speakers have other ways of indicating how their utterances are to be interpreted. Examples: You know, well, I mean, I don’t know, etc. These short forms are pragmatic markers and can be used to mark a speaker’s attitude to the listener or to what is being said. ✓ You know to indicate that knowledge is being treated as shared. ✓ I mean to self-correct or to mark an attempt to clarify something. Politeness  In general, politeness refers to ideas like being tactful, modest and nice to other people. In the study of linguistic politeness, the most relevant concept is ‘face’. Your face, in pragmatics, is your public self-image. This is the emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize. Politeness can be defined as showing awareness of and consideration for another person’s face.  If you say something that represents a threat to another person’s self image, that is called a face- threatening act. Example: Give me that paper. (direct command) Behaving as if you have more social power than the other person. If you don’t actually have that power (a military officer), then you are performing a face- threatening act. If you say something that reduces the possible threat to another’s face, it can be described as a face-saving act. Example: Could you pass me that paper? (Indirect speech act removes the assumption of social power). Negative and Positive Face Negative face: the need to be independent, free from imposition. It doesn’t mean “bad” here. It’s simply the opposite of positive. A face-saving act that emphasizes a negative face will show concern about imposition: Example: I’m sorry to bother you… I know you’re busy but… Positive face: the need to be connected, to belong, to be a member of the group. A face-saving act that emphasizes a person’s positive face will show solidarity and draw attention to a common goal: Example: The same thing happened to me...; Let's do this together...  Ideas about the appropriate language to mark politeness differ substantially from one culture to the next. Example: Are you using this chair? Do they really want the chair or are they just asking questions about it? Speech Acts  Speech acts (e.g., requesting/commanding/questioning/informing) We can define a speech act as the action performed by a speaker with an utterance. Example: I'll be there at six. You are not just uttering a sentence; you are performing the speech act of ‘promising’ Direct and Indirect Speech Acts To understand how utterances can be used to perform direct and indirect actions, we need to see a relationship between the structure of an utterance and the normal function of that utterance. When an interrogative structure such as Did you..?, Are they..?, Can we….? is used with the function of a question, it is described as a direct speech act. When we don’t know something and we ask someone to provide the information, we usually use a direct speech (Can you ride a bicycle?) Compare: Can you pass the salt? - Is it the same syntactic structure? with - Does it have the same function (i.e., asking about Can you ride the bicycle? your ability?)? In Can you pass the salt? We are not really asking a question about someone's ability. We are using an interrogative structure to make a request. (Indirect speech act) Whenever one of the structures in Table 10.2 is used to perform a function other than the one listed beside it on the same line, the result is an indirect speech act. Example: You left the door open (What structure? What function?) a declarative structure is used to make a request (to the person, who just came in from the chilly outside, to close it). That is another indirect speech act.  It is possible to have strange effects if one person fails to recognize another person’s indirect speech act. Example: A visitor to a city, carrying his luggage, looking lost and stops a passer-by. VISITOR: Excuse me. Do you know where the Ambassador Hotel is? PASSER-BY: Oh sure, I know where it is. (and walks away) The passer-by is acting as if the utterance was a direct speech act instead of an indirect speech act used as a request for directions. Indirect speech acts offer good evidence in support of the pragmatic principle that communication depends on not only recognizing the structure and meaning of words in an utterance, but also recognizing what speakers mean by their utterances in a particular context. Practice What are the anaphoric expressions in the following sentence? Dr. Foster gave Andy some medicine after he told her about his headaches and she advised him to take the pills three times a day until the pain went away. he, her, his, she, him, the pills, the pain Dr. Foster gave Andy some medicine after he told her about his headaches and she advised him to take the pills three times a day until the pain went away. Practice What is the technical term for the phrase an old car in its relationship with it in the following utterance? I have an old car, but it runs great the antecedent Practice What is the technical term used to describe the relationship between She and Ginny Swisher in the following example? cataphora She was born prematurely. She lost her parents at an early age. She grew up in poverty. She never completed high school. Yet Ginny Swisher overcame all these disadvantages to become one of the most successful women in America. Questions