Pragmatics

the study of how to interpret language in context

Radio ProgrammeMAX A couple of questions very easy to answer for a

radio programme we’re doing. The first of the questions is What would you say language is?

WOMAN Language ... well it’s the dialogue that people speakwithin various countries.

MAX Fair enough aaand what would you say it’s made out of?WOMAN (Pause, 8 seconds) It’s made out of (puzzled intonation)MAX Hmmm.WOMAN Well I don’t know you’d tell what it’s made out of ...

It’s a person’s expression I suppose is it?MAX I haven’t got the answers, I’ve only got the questions

(laughing)WOMAN (simultaneously: small laugh)SID That’s not bad though.WOMAN Well it’s an expression, it would be a person’s expression

wouldn’t it?SID That’s a good answer.MAX Thank you very much

Max: radio program hostSid: a previous intervieweeWoman: current interviewee

Pragmatics

• how do we move from these ‘utterances’, occuring one after the other very quickly, to a contextualised interpretation?

• we said last week that there is a lot of knowledge in our heads about how interaction works…

• … but it is not all in our heads!we are not just making it up!

Pragmatics

• we said last week that there is a lot of knowledge in our heads about how interaction works…

• … but it is not just all in our heads!

Ferdinand de Saussure and the sign

The Saussurian sign

Chandler (2002) Semiotics: The Basics, p19

The relation between signifier and signified

Saussure 1914Planes of thought and sound -- “Two sides of a page”

meaning

linguisticsign

object in the world“referent”

C.S. Peirce and the sign

The semiotic triangle

“rabbit”

4 legged mammalwith long ears that eats grass and hops arounda lot …

Semiotic Triangle: words

content word

descriptive meaning

denotation:a category

denotesmeans

determines

context

Building up context

• some words, phrases, grammatical patterns are particularly involved with context

“deixis”

Deixis categories

Japanese: -wa, -ga

‘tense’-s, -t

German: hin- / her-

Japanese: ‘giving’

‘agreement’Ø / -s

this, it, that

now, thenhere, there

Du / SieI, you

discoursetimesplacespoliteness markers

personal pronouns

words

grammar

The contexts of text

what’s going on

how is language

being transmitted

what’s going on

what’s the relationship between the

speakers

text

Three kinds of meaning: three metafunctions

• Textual meaning:– Theme

• Interpersonal meaning:– Subject– Finite– Polarity / Probability

• Ideational/Experiential meaning:– Process– Participants– Circumstances

what’s going on

how is message is organised

relationship between speakers

Japanese: -wa, -ga

‘tense’-s, -t

German: hin- / her-

Japanese: ‘giving’

‘agreement’Ø / -s

this, it, that

now, thenhere, there

Du / SieI, you

discoursetimesplacespoliteness markers

personal pronouns

Deixis categories

what’s the relationship between the

speakers

how is message is organised

what’s going on

But is that enough?

How to interpret?

• Can I have a drink, David? (modulated interrogative)

• Where’s the drinks, David? (wh-interrogative)

• Give me a drink, David (imperative)

• I want a drink (declarative)

• What I’d do for a drink! (exclamative)

Pragmatics.

John Austin (1962)

• “How to do things with words”

– Suggestion: utterances are actions

Performatives (John Austin)

• I pronounce you man and wife.

• I christen this ship the Titanic.

• I arrest you in the name of the law.

• I bet you 10 Euros that it will rain tomorrow.

How to do things with words (1962)

John Austin (1962)

• “How to do things with words”

– Suggestion: utterances are actions

–but how do you know which actions?

Possible requests

• I hereby request you to open the window.• Open the window.• Please could you open the window?• Would you mind possibly opening the

window?• Might it be possible for you to open the

window a bit?• Whew! It’s really hot in here isn’t it?

The problem of interpretation

“utterance”locutionary act

illocutionary act

perlocutionary act

The problem of interpretation

“utterance”locutionary act

illocutionary act

perlocutionary act

The problem of interpretation

“utterance”locutionary act

illocutionary act

perlocutionary act

phonetics

phonology

syntaxsemantics

pragmatics

Austin / Searle: linguistic utterances as SPEECH ACTS

• the locutionary act: the utterance itself and its direct meaning

• the illocutionary act: the particular force that the utterance has as making a statement, of offering, ordering, promising, etc.

• the perlocutionary act: the particular effects of an utterance on an audience depending on the particulars of the speech situation and that audience.

Speech Act Interpretation

• ‘Illocutionary Force Devices’– can we find bits of linguistic form that indicate

what kind of speech act is being performed?

– sometimes!• ‘please’• ‘hereby’• explicit speech act verb: ‘assert’

– but often not…

Speech Act Interpretation• FELICITY CONDITIONS: Searle

– for example: for request (Intro, p172)

• Content– Future Act to be performed by the hearer

• Preparatory conditions– Hearer is able to do the act– Speaker believes that hearer is able to do the act– It is not obvious to both speaker and hearer that hearer will do the act

in the normal course of events of his/her own accord• Sincerity condition

– Speaker wants hearer to do the act• Essential condition

– Utterance counts as an attempt to get hearer to do the act

Pragmatics: the Gricean Maxims

• The maxim of RELEVANCE

• The maxim of QUANTITY

• The maxim of QUALITY

• The maxim of MANNER

‘Violation’ of maxims leads to further inferences…

• Will you do the cooking and washing up this evening?

• I’ll do the cooking…

‘Violation’ of maxims leads to further inferences…

• Will you do the cooking and washing up this evening?

• My great-aunt is having her 78th birthday…

‘Violation’ of maxims leads to further inferences…

• Will you do the cooking and washing up this evening?

• Were it the case that this evening were a normal evening in which there were the usual round of chores and tasks which might require some attention by all of us at some stage, then it could be presumed that it may be the case that ….

‘Violation’ of maxims leads to further inferences…

• Will you do the cooking and washing up this evening?

• Yes. [lying]

Speech Act Theory

• Originally due to John Austin (1960) ‘How to do things with words’

• focused early on ‘performatives’: sentences that ‘make themselves true’: e.g., “I pronounce you man and wife.”

• Most developed by John Searle:– linguistic acts: locutionary acts, illocutionary

acts, perlocutionary acts.• Maxims of cooperation: H.P. Grice

Problem…

• Language interpretation becomes a major feat of logical inference!

• Do we really run through all these conditions, strategies, plans, and maxims: just to say or understand:

“can you pass the salt?”

Shift in Linguistic Theorising

• de Saussure thought that most spoken language was full of errors and inconsistencies, and so not the real object of linguistic investigation

– parole– langue

- performance- competence

Noam Chomsky (1960s)

Approaches to Spoken Language• Logico-philosophic

– speech act theory, pragmatics (Austin, Searle)

• Social/Sociolinguistic: – ethnography, interaction, variation (Hymes, Labov)

• Ethnomethodology– Conversation Analysis (Sacks, Jefferson, ...)

• Structural-functional– exchange structure theory (Birmingham School)

• Social-semiotic– critical discourse analysis, critical linguistics

Hymes: ‘ethnography of speaking’

• S setting/scene temporal and physical circumstances, subjectivedefinition of an occasion

• P participant speaker/sender/addressor/ receiver/audience/addressee

• E ends purposes and goals, outcomes• A act sequence message form and content• K key tone, manner• I instrumentalities channel (verbal, nonverbal)• N norms specific interactional and

intepretational properties normally attached to speaking

• G genre textual categories

How to get a pen from someone else

say something say nothing(but search inbag...)

on record off record

face saving act bald on record

positive politeness negative politeness

“I forgot my pen”

“Give me a pen”

“How about lettingme use your pen”

“Could you lend mea pen”

Strategies for achieving requestspolitenessBrown & Levinson

Strategies for achieving requestspolitenessBrown & Levinson

request

say something action

on record off record

face saving act bald on record

positive politeness negative politeness

alsocultural

differences

Conversation Analysis

• conversational interaction is:

• normative• accountable• meaning-making• very very systematic

“ethnomethodology”Garfinkel

1 B An’s.- an ( ) we were discussing, it tur- it comes down, he s- he says, I-I-you’ve talked about this- si- i- about this many times, I said, it comes down t’this: =

2 B = Our main difference: I feel that a government, i- the main thing, is.- the-the purpose a’the governmen, is, what is best for the country.

3 A Mmhmmm 4 B He says, governments, an’ you know he keeps- he

talks about governments, they sh- the thing that they sh’d do is what’s right or wrong.

5 A For whom. 6 B Well he says- he- 7 A By what standard. 8 B That’s what- that’s exactly what I mean, he s- but

he says...

Conversation Analysis: Adjacency Pairs

• Greetings• Closings• Question-Answer• Invitation-Response• Request-Comply

• normative, accountable• conditional relevance of second part• noticeable absence• preferred/dispreferred trajectories

“ethnomethodology”Garfinkel

Example interaction: noticeable absence

Yes.Mother6Won’t we.Child5(1.5)4Won’t we Mummy.Child3(1.3)2

Have to cut these Mummy.

Child1

Example interaction: side sequences

I guess I’ll come along.6Oh that’s great.5Really?B4I’ll treat you.A3I haven’t got any moneyB2

You wanna join us?A1

Example interaction: preferred and dispreferred

second parts

I w- probably won’t be too early.

A3

Well, I got a lot of things to do before getting cleared up tomorrow.

B2

You coming down early?A1

Turn-taking system: Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974)

• Rule 1.– if the current speaker has identified/selected a person

for next speaker, then that speaker should take a turn at that place

– if not, then any speaker may self-select at that point; that speaker then has the right to the turn

– otherwise, the current speaker may continue

• Rule 2.– rule 1 repeats at the next transition-relevance place

Turn-Construction-Units: TCU | TRP | TCU | TRP …

B But the air’s gotta come in there and the air is sorta infiltrated with little uh pixy dust

A “Pixy dust” !? B You know, from the big boom? A “Pixy dust” !? C “Radioactivity” I think is what he means. A (hh) Oh. Okay. D hmh hmh A I don’t see what a bomb shelter- B from that big bonfire in the sky

hehh A Ey you know, I don’t see...

Exchange Structure: the Birmingham School

• Sinclair, Coulthard, and others looking at the spoken language in classroom interaction...

• proposed linguistic units similar to those in grammar:

– lessons– transactions– exchanges– moves– acts

Early Exchange Structures

• Initiation ^ (Response) ^ (Feedback)

– Teacher: what is the capital city ofAustralia?

– Pupil: Canberra– Teacher: right

• “an exchange is basically concerned with the transmission of information”

Approaches to Spoken Language• Logico-philosophic

– speech act theory, pragmatics (Austin, Searle)

• Social/Sociolinguistic: – ethnography, interaction, variation (Hymes, Labov)

• Ethnomethodology– Conversation Analysis (Sacks, Jefferson, ...)

• Structural-functional– exchange structure theory (Birmingham School)

• Social-semiotic– critical discourse analysis, critical linguistics

Maps: Projections...

...different descriptions for different purposes

Question 1:is the map correct?and how would we know?

Question 2:what is the map showing?what aspect of the world?

FORM FUNCTIONm o d e l s

Reminder: One main area we will address

• What kinds of meanings

do language structures carry?

meaning ~ function

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”

Sherlock Holmes

Linguistic analysis

DATA

Linguistic method

THEO

RIES

Linguistics

• an empirical inquiry• a scientific inquiry

• developing maps + models• developing theories

• based on data

Linguistics as a ‘scientific’ inquiry

DATA

DESCRIPTIONS

THEORIES

HYPOTHESES

collectingand systematising

generalising

predictingtesting+

verifying

• bits of language• clauses• sentences• texts...

Observing

Different uses of theory

THEORY + HYPOTHESES

DESCRIPTION PREDICTION EXPLANATION

Description vs. Prescription

• Description– describing how language is, systematising

our observations in order to serve as a basis for proposing theories.

– Empirical.

• Prescription– saying how language should be, based on

norms and social standards, sense(s) of aesthetics, ‘folk’-feelings about language.

– Not linguistic!

Radio ProgrammeMAX A couple of questions very easy to answer for a

radio programme we’re doing. The first of the questions is What would you say language is?

WOMAN Language ... well it’s the dialogue that people speakwithin various countries.

MAX Fair enough aaand what would you say it’s made out of?WOMAN (Pause, 8 seconds) It’s made out of (puzzled intonation)MAX Hmmm.WOMAN Well I don’t know you’d tell what it’s made out of ...

It’s a person’s expression I suppose is it?MAX I haven’t got the answers, I’ve only got the questions

(laughing)WOMAN (simultaneously: small laugh)SID That’s not bad though.WOMAN Well it’s an expression, it would be a person’s expression

wouldn’t it?SID That’s a good answer.MAX Thank you very much

Max: radio program hostSid: a previous intervieweeWoman: current interviewee