1、Chapter Seven Pragmatics: the Analysis of Meaning in Context,1 Defining pragmatics,Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context. G. Yule (1996) defines pragmatics in the following ways: the study of speaker meaning / the study of contextual meaning / the study of how more gets communicated than is
2、said,2. Deixis and reference,Deixis (from Greek) means pointing via language. Examples: a) You may go there tomorrow. b) The President is to meet him here today.,2.1 Person deixisPerson deixis comprises personal pronouns.,first person: speaker inclusion (+S): I, me, we, us, our, etc.,second person:
3、addressee inclusion (+A): you, your, etc.,third person : speaker/addressee exclusion (-S, -A): he, him, she, her, they, etc.,2.1 Person deixis,Notice the relationship between the system and participant-roles.We: interpreted as I, in addition to one or more other persons inclusive we: including heare
4、rLets go.Lets enjoy ourselves.Were together again. exclusive we: excluding hearerLet us go, heres the money.Well leave without you.,Honorific:an expression which indicate higher statuse.g. tu / vous in FrenchDu / Sie in German你/您 in Chinese Her Majesty, Your Highness in English,2.2 Place/Spatial dei
5、xis,Place or spatial deixis concerns the specification of locations relative to the location of the speaker. Place deixis / Spatial deixis - proximal (to the speaker)- distal (from the speaker),Proximal terms: here, this, come, bring, Distal terms: there, that, go, take, .e.g. Can you see that?I lik
6、e this one, not that one.,2.3 Time/Temporal deixis,the encoding of temporal points/spans relative to the time of utterance,Proximal: now (time of utterance),Distal: then (past and future), last, next,e.g.You called last night? I was out then.Ill see you then.,2.4 Discourse deixis,Discourse or text d
7、eixis concerns the use of expressions within some utterances to refer to some portion of the discourse that contains that utterance. Deictic expressions can indicate the relationship between an utterance and the prior/following discourse.,2.4 Discourse deixis,e.g. this, that, in the previous / follo
8、wing paragraph, in the rest of the paper, etc.The story goes like this, Thats all for today. Till next time, goodbye.,2.4 Discourse deixis,Anaphorathe deixis that replaces the initial expression in the previous discourse e.g. MARK TWIN is an American writer. He wrote a lot of novels in his life.TOMS
9、 MOTHER died IN 1967; he was still young then. - The initial expression is called the antecedent.,2.4 Discourse deixis,Cataphora the deixis that replaces an entity in the following discourse e.g. Here is the 9 oclock NEWS This is what he did to me. He pulled me down and hit me on the back.,Saying is
10、 doing. How to do things with words,J. L Austin,3 Speech Acts,actions performed via speaking,Basic assumptions,- We use language to do things.,- The minimal unit of language is a speech act, and so understood, language is interpreted as action.,3.1 Trichotomy of speech acts,Locutionary act the act o
11、f producing a meaningful linguistic expression or: the uttering of the utterance with literal meaning.,3.1 Trichotomy of speech acts,Illocutionary act - the act of communicating intention through utteranceor: the act that is performed as a result of the speaker making an utterance such as betting, p
12、romising, welcoming, warning, etc. - (In these cases saying = doing) - To put it simply, the speaker is expressing his communicative intention in saying an utterance.,Perlocutionary act the act of bringing about an effect or: the bringing about of an effect of the speakers utterance upon the hearer.
13、 The hearer may feel amused, persuade, warned, etc, as a consequence.,3.1 Trichotomy of speech acts,Speech acts: an essay in the philosophy of language,J. R Searle,3.2 Indirect Speech Acts,Direct speech acts,An indirect speech act is a kind of illocutionary act which is performed indirectly by way o
14、f performing another.,A direct speech act is one that performs a function that corresponds to the structure of an utterance.,e.g. What time is it? (question)I was not quite myself that day. (statement),no correspondence between the structure and the function,e.g. Theres no chalk. (statement, but for
15、 request)Can you pass me the book. (question, but for request)Theres a mouse behind you. (statement, but for warning),Indirect speech acts,Indirect Speech Acts take longer to process onthe part of the hearer, (Why?) because s/he has to infer the meaning intended.e.g. Turn on the light, please! Dark
16、in here, isnt it?- Direct speech acts are straightforward, while Indirect speech acts are polite.,Indirect speech acts,4. Cooperation and implicature,People try to cooperate with each other in verbal interactions. 4.1 The Cooperative Principle (CP) Grice (1975) proposed the CP which contains a gener
17、al principle and four maxims.,Meaning The Cooperative Principle- four maxims,Paul Grice,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. Para.: Both the speaker and the hear
18、er try to be cooperative in the ongoing communicative exchange according to certain purposes.,4.1.1 The CP,4.1.2 The four maxims,i) Maxim of Quantity (: Be informative.)- Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange).- Do not make your contribution m
19、ore informative than is required. ii) Maxim of Quality (: Be truthful.)- Do not say what you believe to be false.- Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.,iii) Maxim of Relation - Be relevant.iv) Maxim of Manner (: Be clear and orderly.) - Be perspicuous: - Avoid absurdity of expressio
20、n.- Avoid ambiguity.- Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).- Be orderly.,4.1.2 The four maxims,In short, these maxims have a control over participants in the way that they should speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly, while providing sufficient information.,4.1.2 The four maxims,4.2 Conversation
21、al implicatures,(S did not follow the regulation that a student should ask for permission to leave the classroom. The teacher asks him to leave.)S: 我走了。(0.2) 我告诉你了。,An example,- More information is provided than necessary,4.2 Conversational implicatures,It is assumed that the participants adhere to
22、the CP and the maxims in social interactions.There is more that gets communicated than is said if the maxims are violated by the speaker.Conversational implicatures arise when the speaker overtly or deliberately violates some maxim(s) for certain communicative purposes. Such implicatures are to be i
23、nferred from the contexts.,5. The politeness principle,The CP is found inadequate in explaining why people are so indirect in conveying what they mean.The CP is logic-oriented.Conversational interaction is social behaviour. Psychological factors are also involved.,Principles of Pragmatics Semantics,
24、Geoffrey N. Leech,5.1 Leechs Politeness Principle (PP),Other things being equal, minimize the expression of beliefs which are unfavourableto the hearer and at the same time (but lessimportant) maximize the expression ofbeliefs which are favourable to the hearer.,5.1.1 The six maxims,Tact Maxim Minim
25、ize cost to other. / Maximize benefit to other. Generosity Maxim Minimize benefit to self. / Maximize cost to self. Approbation Maxim Minimize dispraise of other. / Maximize praise of other.Modesty Maxim Minimize praise of self. / Maximize dispraise of self.,5.1.1 The six maxims,Agreement Maxim Mini
26、mize disagreement between self and other. / Maximize agreement between self and other.Sympathy Maxim Minimize antipathy between self and other. / Maximize sympathy between self and other.,5.1.2 The cost-benefit scale,cost to H less polite Peel the potatoes.Hand me the newspaper.Sit down.Enjoy your h
27、oliday.Have another sandwich. benefit to H more polite,5.1.2 The cost-benefit scale,cost to H less politebenefit to H more polite,DIRECT,5.1.3 The optionality scale,BENEFIT TO H May I ask if it is possible that you might have another ice-cream? Would you like to have another ice-cream? Have another
28、ice-cream. Do have another ice-cream. Come on. You must have another ice-cream., If it is beneficial to H, the more direct, the more polite.,5.1.3 The optionality scale,COST TO H Could you possibly finish it tomorrow? Could you finish it tomorrow? Will you finish it tomorrow? Finish it tomorrow. You must finish it tomorrow., If it means cost to H, the more direct, the more impolite.,
