Transcript 30-Pragmatics - Bases Produced

Pragmatics
November 28, 2012
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
• Today: Syntax homework due!
• The final homework for the class will be due next
Wednesday.
• …for which you will need to understand the material
I am going to go over in today’s lecture.
• …and also some Semantics (to be discussed in the
next two lectures)
• Note: extra reading on Pragmatics has been posted to
the course webpage.
• Evaluations of instruction will be held at the end of class
on Monday.
The Last Quick Write
Not The Last Quick Write
Sentences vs. Utterances
• The meaning of a sentence can usually be derived from the
meaning of its words (and how they are combined by syntax).
• However: sometimes, the meaning of a sentence can
change depending on how it’s used in a particular context.
• Sentence: a string of words put together by the grammatical
rules of a language.
• Sentences are abstract idealizations
• Sentences are not physical events
• Utterance: the use of a sentence, in a particular context.
• Utterances are actual, physical events
• Utterances can derive meaning from context which they
can’t derive from their abstract form as sentences.
Sentences in Context
• Sentence 1: Kim’s got a knife.
• Context 1: You’re sitting on the beach in Tahiti, trying to
figure out how to open a coconut.
• Someone says: Kim’s got a knife!
• Context 2: Darrell has just crashed into Kim’s car. Kim gets
out of her car, looking angry, with a butcher knife in her
hand.
• Someone says: Kim’s got a knife!
• In context 1, the sentence provides information.
• In context 2, the sentence is a warning.
Pragmatics, defined
• Pragmatics is the study of how meaning is derived from
context.
• Pragmatics is also the study of how language is used in
context.
• The word “pragmatics” is derived from the Greek:
• /pragma/
“deed”
• and an even earlier form:
• /prassein/
“to do”
Speech Acts
•
It turns out that we can use language to do things.
•
When we use language to do something, we are
performing a speech act.
•
What can we do with the following expressions?
1. Time out!
2. Shotgun!
3. Jinx!
•
The “meaning” of these expressions is what they do.
(i.e., the use we put them to.)
Speech Act Examples
• Speech acts can also be performed with complete
sentences.
• John read the book.
assertion
• Did John read the book?
question
• Please pass the salt.
request
• Kim’s got a knife!
warning
• Get out of here!
order
• I will love you forever.
promise
• I’ll give you a reason to cry.
threat
Performative Verbs
• There are some verbs whose meaning is the speech act
they perform.
• These verbs are known as performative verbs.
• I bet you ten bucks the Flames will win.
• I dare you to leave.
• I promise to buy you some ice cream.
• I nominate Batman for mayor of Gotham City.
• I call shotgun!
• I resign.
• I confer on you the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
• I now pronounce you husband and wife.
Performance Conditions
• A “performative” verb only performs the action it
describes if it’s used:
• in the present tense
• with a first person subject
• Examples:
• I promise to buy you some ice cream tonight.
• #John promises to buy you some ice cream tonight.
• #I will promise to buy you some ice cream tonight.
• We promise to buy you some ice cream tonight.
• (# denotes that the utterance of these words does not
actually perform the speech act.)
The “Hereby Test”
• If a sentence sounds fine with “hereby”, it is being used
performatively.
• Examples:
• I hereby promise to buy you some ice cream.
• I hereby pronounce you man and wife.
• I hereby dub thee George.
• I hereby challenge you to a duel.
• #I hereby walk around the block.
• #I hereby sing.
• Also notice: Smoking is hereby forbidden.
Performance Problems
• You can’t always perform a speech act by just saying
something.
• Context: A man is speaking to his wife.
“I hereby divorce you.”
• Context: An unmarried couple is talking with a bartender.
The bartender says:
“I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
• The conditions which must be fulfilled for a speech act to
be carried out properly are known as felicity conditions.
• Also known as “appropriateness conditions”
Felicity Conditions Quiz Time
•
What are the felicity conditions for the Quick Write
speech acts?
1. “Time out!”
2. “Shotgun!”
3. “Jinx!”
•
When someone attempts to perform a speech act when
the appropriate felicity conditions have not been met,
the speech act is said to be infelicitous.
Examples of Infelicity
Felicity Conditions for
Questions
• Speech Act: Speaker asks Hearer about a proposition “P”.
• Q: Did the Flames beat the Oilers last night?
• P: The Flames beat the Oilers last night.
• Felicity Conditions:
Speaker doesn’t know P.
Speaker wants to know P.
Speaker believes hearer knows P.
Speaker believes hearer can share information
about P.
Sentence Type vs. Sentence Use
• There are three basic sentence types:
declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives
• Each sentence type is typically used for a certain kind of
speech act.
• Declarative sentences are typically used in assertions.
• They convey information about what is true and what
is false.
• Examples:
• LeBron James plays basketball.
• The dog ate the bone.
• Linguistics is fun.
Sentence Type vs. Sentence Use
• Interrogative sentences are typically used in questions.
• They are used to elicit information from the hearer.
• Examples:
• Did the Flames beat the Oilers last night?
• Is it snowing again?
• Imperative sentences are typically used in orders and
requests.
• They are meant to affect the behavior of the hearer.
• Examples:
• Stop it!
• Tell me what happened.
Sentence Structure
•
Note that each sentence type has a distinct syntactic
structure:
1. Declarative sentence: Subject-Verb-(Object)
•
LeBron James plays basketball.
2. Interrogative sentence: order of Subject and Auxiliary
has been inverted.
•
Did the Flames beat the Oilers?
3. Imperative sentence: no explicit subject!
•
Pass the salt!
Direct and Indirect
• A direct speech act occurs when a particular sentence
type is being used to serve its typical function
Sentence
Function
Declarative
Assertion
Interrogative
Question
Imperative
Order/Request
• Also: the speech act is based on the literal meaning of the
sentence.
• Indirect speech acts may be made whenever a
particular sentence type is used to serve an atypical
function.
Direct vs. Indirect Speech Acts
• Direct: Please close the door.
• Imperative sentence type; order/request
• Indirect: Do you think you could close the door?
• Interrogative sentence type; order/request
• Direct: Did Bart get the job?
• Interrogative sentence type; question
• Indirect: I was wondering if Bart got the job.
• Declarative sentence type; question
• We use indirect speech acts in conversation all the time.
• Example: “I would like the roast beef.”
Cheap Attempts at Humor
• At a crowded airline ticket counter, a harried man rushes
to the front of the line and demands:
• Harried Man: “I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be
FIRST CLASS!”
• Ticket Agent: “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you,
but I have to help these other folks first.”
• Harried Man (loudly): “Do you have any idea who I am?”
• Ticket Agent (speaking through PA system): “May I have
your attention please? We have a passenger here at the
gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can
help him find his identity, please come to the gate.”
Identifying Indirect Speech Acts
• If a sentence contains a verb that is being used
performatively, it is a direct speech act.
• I promise to buy you some ice cream.
• If there is no performative verb, identify the sentence type.
• Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative
• Determine whether the sentence type has its typical
function.
• If yes: another direct speech act.
• A helpful criterion: determine how the listener would
normally respond to the sentence.
• Ex: “I would like the roast beef.”
• #”Oh, that’s interesting!”
Identifying Indirect Speech Acts
• Are any felicity conditions violated for the literal meaning of
the sentence?
• Ex: “Can you take the garbage out?”
• Does the asker really not know the answer to this question?
• If not, why would they ask it?
•  to draw the listener’s attention to the answer.
•  This is an indirect request.
Assignment!
• For next Wednesday (the 5th), write down two indirect
speech acts that you hear (or use) during the course of
your everyday conversations over the next week.
• And explain why they’re indirect speech acts.
• (more homework details will be forthcoming on Friday)