1、,Pragmatics,Teaching Aims,Definitions: Pragmatics; Theories: Speech act theory; maxim of Cooperative Principle To understand and apply theories. A critical understanding of theories.,Questions,1 Find out the definitions of the following notions: pragmatics; context; sentence meaning; utterance meani
2、ng 2 Whats the difference between pragmatics and semantics? How is it related to semantics. What are the topics of pragmatics study? 3 Whats the different meaning between sentence meaning and utterance meaning?,Introduction Definitions: Pragmatics is the study of how speakers of a language use sente
3、nces to effect successful communication. It studies the following topics: deixis (指示功能), speech acts, indirect language, conversation, politeness, cross-cultural communication, and presupposition预设 Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning, contextual meaning, how more gets communicated than is sai
4、d, the expression of relative distance.,Person deixis: me, you, etc. Spatial/place deixis: here, there, etc. Temporal/time deixis: now, then, etc. Others termed discourse deixis (that. this),“Tom kissed Kitty again.” presupposes Tom has kissed Kitty before.It asserts something new: that he kissed he
5、r again.,The originSemanticsContext considered Context unconsideredPragmatics Traditional semantics,Semantics or Pragmatics,英语词汇意义的特点与词汇教学 试论篇章词汇衔接的语义基础 英汉“死亡“隐喻对比研究A Contrastive Study of “Death“ Metaphor in Chinese and English 英汉“死亡“委婉语对比研究A Contrastive Study of “Death“ Euphemism in Chinese and Eng
6、lish 英汉人体隐喻对比研究A Contrastive Study of Body Metaphor in Chinese and English 英汉多义词“心“的对比研究A Contrastive Study of “Heart“ in English and “Xin“ in Chinese,Context语境, Speaker A Speaker B,Knowledge of languageWhat has been said beforeKnowledge about the worldKnowledge about the situationKnowledge about ea
7、ch other,语境 语境是交际双方共有的知识，它包括双方具有的语言知识以及有关客观世界的知识，而客观世界的知识又包括有关世界的常识性知识以及交际发生的实际情景知识。,Sentence and utterance句子意义和话语意义,The relation: Meaning of a sentence is abstract and decontextualized while meaning of an utterance is concrete and context-dependent. The meaning of an utterance is based on a sentenc
8、e meaning and the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication. Example: My bag is heavy. (utterance meaning: a statement, indirect or polite request, declining someones request for help),Example: A suggestion Today is Sunday. DemandRequest,Questions,1 Find
9、out the definitions of the following notions: constative; Performatives ; Locutionary Act, Illcotionary Act, Perlocutionary Act 2 Who proposed speech act theory? How does it differ from traditional linguistics? 3 How many types of speech acts are identified? 3 Whats the different meaning between sen
10、tence meaning and utterance meaning?,Speech act theory,Austins model of speech actsSpeech act theory: a philosophical explanation of the nature of linguistic communication. It aims to answer this question: “What do we do when using language?”,Austins three speech acts:Traditional philosophers view:
11、true value, state a fact or describe a state of affairs Austins “constatives” (述事话语)言有所述and “performatives” (行事话语)言有所为(Austins classical examples: assuring marriage, naming, bequeathing and betting)Three speech acts: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary(Example: You have left the door wide
12、open.),Definitions of the three speech acts:言内行为（locutionary act） 、言外行为(illocutionary act)和言后行为(perlocutionary act)。Locutionary act: act of uttering words, phrases, clauses Illocutionary act: the act of expressing the speakers intention Perlocutionary act: the act performed by or resulting fro sayin
13、g something, the consequence of the utterance,Searles classification of speech acts,Representatives: stating or describing, saying what the speaker believes to be true. )阐述类: 阐述类的言外之的是说话人相信自己所说话的真实性。 The speaker is making a statement or giving a description which he himself believes to be true. Stat
14、ing, believing, swearing, hypothesizing are the typical representatives.(I swear) I have never seen the man before.(I state) The earth is a globe.,Directives: Trying to get hearer to do something. Inviting, suggesting, requesting, advising, warning, threatening, ordering are the typical ones. 指令类: 指
15、令类的言外之的是说话人通过说话使听话人去做某件事,如：Open the window!Youd better go to the clinic.Your money or your life! Would you like to go to the picnic with us?,Commissives: Committing the speaker himself to the future course of action. Promising, undertaking, vowing are the most typical cases. 承诺类: 承诺类的言外之的是使说话人对某一未来的
16、行为作出承诺，I promise to come.I will bring you the book tomorrow without fail.,Expressives: Expressing feelings or attitude towards an existing state. Typical ones: apologizing, thanking, congratulating. 表达类: 表达类的言外之的是对命题内容中表明的某种事态表达说话人的某种心理状态，换句话说，说话人对某一事态表达自己的情感和态度Im sorry for the mess I have made.Its
17、really kind of you to have thought of me.,Declarations: bringing about immediate changes by saying something. More examples: 宣告类: 宣告类的言外之的是使客观现实与所表达的命题内容立即相一致，I now declare the meeting open.I appoint you chairman of the committee.I fire you!,All the acts that belong to the same category share the sa
18、me purpose but differ in their strength or force.Close the door.Will you close the door!Can you close the door!Do you mind closing the door?I would be very grateful if you could close the door!The door is open!The door please!,Questions,1 Find out the definitions of the following notions: Cooperativ
19、e Principle Conversational implicatures 2 Who proposed CP? What are the maxims? 3 Cite an example to illustrate each maxim.,Principles of conversation会话原则 and flouting of the conversation maxims,The maxim of quantityMake your contribution as informative as required. No more and no less. The maxim of
20、 qualityDo not say what you believe to be false and do not say what you lack evidence for. The maxim of relationBe relevant The maxim of mannerAvoid obscurity, ambiguity. Be brief and orderly.,量准则：1、使自己所说的话达到（交谈的现时目的）所要求的详尽的程度； 2、不能使自己所说的话比所要求的更详细。 质准则：1、不要说自己认为是不真实的话； 2、不要说自己缺乏足够证据的话。 关联准则：说话要关联。 方
21、式准则：1、避免晦涩的词语； 2、避免歧义 3、说话要简要 4、说话要有条理,Flouting of the conversation maxim and revealing conversation implicatureA: When is Susans farewell party?B: Sometime next month. (flouting the maxim of quantity)A: Would you like to join us for the picnic on Sunday?B: Im afraid I have got a class on Sunday. (f
22、louting the maxim of quality)A: How did the math exam go today, Jonnie?B: We had a basketball match with the other class and we beat them. (flouting the maxim of relation)A: Shall we get something for the kids?B: Yes. But I veto I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M. (flouting the maxim of manner),Task 1. What does pragm
23、atics study? How does it differ from traditional semantics? Generally speaking, pragmatics is the study of meaning in the context. It studies meaning in a dynamic way and as a process. In order to have a successful communication, the speaker and hearer must take the context into their consideration
24、so as to effect the right meaning and intention. The development and establishment pragmatics in 1960s and 1970s resulted mainly from the expansion of the study semantics. However, it is different from the traditional semantics. The major difference between them lies in that pragmatics studies meani
25、ng in a dynamic way, while semantics studies meaning in a static way. Pragmatics takes context into consideration while semantics does not. Pragmatics takes care of the aspect of meaning that is not accounted for by semantics.,2. Why is the notion of context essential in the pragmatic study of lingu
26、istic communication? The notion of context is essential to the pragmatic study of language. It is generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. Various continents of shared knowledge have been identified, e.g. knowledge of the language they use, knowledge
27、 of what has been said before, knowledge about the world in general, knowledge about the specific situation in which linguistic communication is taking place, and knowledge about each other. Context determines the speakers use of language and also the heaters interpretation of what is said to him. W
28、ithout such knowledge, linguistic communication would not be possible, and without considering such knowledge, linguistic communication cannot be satisfactorily accounted for in a pragmatic sense.,3. How are sentence meaning and utterance meaning related, and how do they differ? A sentence is a gram
29、matical concept, and the meaning of a sentence is often studied as the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of predication. But if we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes an utterance, and it should be considered in the
30、situation in which it is actually uttered (or used). If we take it as a grammatical unit and consider it as a self-contained unit in isolation from context, then we are treating it as a sentence. If we take it as something a speaker utters in a certain situation with a certain purpose, then we are t
31、reating it as an utterance. Therefore, while the meaning of a sentence is abstract, and decontextualized, that of an utterance is concrete, and context-dependent. The meaning of an utterance is based on sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation
32、 of communication, or simply in a context. Now, take the sentence “My bag is heavy“ as an example. Semantic analysis of the meaning of the sentence results in the one-place predication BAG (BEING HEAVY). Then a pragmatic analysis of the utterance meaning of the .sentence varies with the context in w
33、hich it is uttered. For example, it could be uttered by a speaker as a straightforward statement, telling the hearer that his bag is heavy. It could also be intended by the speaker as an indirect, polite request, asking the hearer to help him carry the bag. Another possibility is that the speaker is
34、 declining someones request for help. All these are possible interpretations of the same utterance “My bag is heavy”. How it is to be understood depends on the context in which it is uttered and the purpose for which the speaker utters it.While most utterances take the form of grammatically complete
35、 sentences, some utterances do not, and some cannot even be restored to complete sentences.,4. Try to think of contexts in which the following sentences can be used for other purposes than just stating facts:a) The room is messy.b) Oh, it is raining!c) The music of the movie is good.d) You have been
36、 keeping my notes for a whole week now. a) A father entered his sons room and found it is very messy. Then when he said, “The room is messy,” he was blaming his son for not tidying it up.b) A son asked his father to play with him outside. So when the father said, “Oh, its raining”, he meant they cou
37、ldnt play outside.c) Two persons just watched a movie and had a discussion of it. One person said, “The story of the movie is very moving”, so when the other person said, “The music of the movie is good”, he meant he didnt think the story of the movie was good.d) A person wanted his notes back, so w
38、hen he said, “you have been keeping my notes for a whole week now”, he was demanding the return of his notes.,5. According to Austin, what are the three acts a person is possibly performing while making an utterance. Give an example. According to Austins new model, a speaker might be performing thre
39、e acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act. A locutionary act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology. An illocutionary act is the act of expressing the s
40、peakers intention; it is the act performed in saying something. A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance; it is the act performed by saying something. Lets look at an example: You have left
41、 the door wide open.The locutionary act performed by the speaker is his utterance of the words “you”, “have”, “door”, “open”, etc. thus expressing what the words literally mean.The illocutionary act performed by the speaker is that by making such an utterance he has expressed his intention of speaki
42、ng, i.e. asking someone to close the door, or making a complaint, depending on the context.The perlocutionary act refers to the effect of the utterance. If the hearer gets the speakers message and sees that the speaker means to tell him to close the door, the speaker has successfully brought about t
43、he change in the real world he has intended to; then the perlocutionary act is successfully performed.,6. What are the five types of illocutionary speech acts Searle has specified? What is the illocutionary point of each type? (1) representatives: stating or describing, saying what the speaker belie
44、ves to be true (2) directives: trying to get the hearer to do something (3) commissives: committing the speaker himself to some future course of action (4) expressives: expressing feelings or attitude towards an existing (5) declarations: bringing about immediate changes by saying somethingThe illoc
45、utionary point of the representatives is to commit the speaker to somethings being the case, to the truth of what has been said, in other words, when performing an illocutionary act of representative, the speaker is making a statement or giving a description which he himself believes to be true. Sta
46、ting, believing, sweating, hypothesizing are among the most typical of the representatives.Directives ate attempts by the speaker to get the hearer to do some- thing. Inviting, suggesting, requesting, advising, wanting, threatening and ordering are all specific instances of this class.Commissives ar
47、e those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker to some future course of action, i.e. when speaking the speaker puts himself under a certain obligation. Promising, undertaking, vowing are the most typical ones.The illocutionary point of expressives is to express the psychological sta
48、te specified in the utterance. The speaker is expressing his feelings or attitudes towards an existing state of affairs, e.g. apologizing, thanking, congratulating.The last class “declarations” has the characteristic that the successful performance of an act of this type brings about the corresponde
49、nce between what is said and reality.,7. What are the four maxims of the CP? Try to give your own examples to show how flouting these maxims gives rise to conversational implicature? Cooperative Principle, abbreviated as CP. It goes as follows:Make your conversational contribution such as required a
50、t the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.To be more specific, there are four maxims under this general principle:(1) The maxim of quantity Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the exchan
51、ge). Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.(2) The maxim of quality Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.(3) The maxim of relationBe relevant.(4) The maxim of manner Avoid obscurity of expression. Avoid ambiguity. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity). Be orderly.,
