Lecture 5 Speech Acts.ppt

Speech Acts What is a speech act? Actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts.(George Yule, Pragmatics,2000)Eg. bring me a cup of coffee.”-an order “ you are fired.”-an act ending your employmentOther usual acts performed by speech: apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, request, etc.Austins speech act theory John Austin Performative vs. Constative Locutionary act Illocutionary act, illocutionary force Perlocutionary act Foot ball actKick the ballshootWin or lose a pointSpeech actSay the wordsShow the intentionSuccess or fail to do sth.IFIDs (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device) Performative verb(Vp) I (Vp) you that Other IFIDs such as word order, stress, intonation. a You re going! I tell you Y-G b You re going? I request confirmation about Y-g c Are you going? I ask you if Y-GFelicity conditionsGeneral conditions: eg, they can understand the L and they are not play-acting or being nonsensial.Content conditions: eg, for both a promise and a warning, the content of the utterance must be about a future event.Preparatory conditions Promise a the event will not happen by itself b the event will have a beneficial effectWarning a it isnt clear that the hearer knows the event will occur b the speaker dose think the event will occur c the event will not have a beneficial effectSincerity condition PromiseThe speaker genuinely intends to carry out the future event Warning The speaker genuinely believes that the future event will not have a beneficial effect Essential condition Promise Counts as the undertaking by the speaker of an obligation to do the act. Warning counts as the change the hearers state from non-informing of a bad future event to informing.Speech acts classification(1) Declarations, speech acts that change the world via their utterance. E.g. Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife. Referee: You are out!In using a declaration, the S changes the world via words.Speech act classification(2)Representatives, speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not, such as statements of fact, assertions, conclusions, and descriptions, etc.E.g. The earth is flat. It was a warm sunny day.In using a representative, the S makes words fit the world (of belief)Speech act classification(3) Expressive, speech acts that state what the speaker feels .They express psychological states and can be statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or sorrow.E.g. Im really sorry! Congratulations!In using an expressive, the S makes words fit the world (of feeling)Speech act classification(4) Directives, speech acts that S use to get someone else to do something. They express what the S wants, like commands, orders, requests, suggestions, etc.E.g. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black. Could you lend me a pen, please? Dont touch that.In using a directive, the S attempts to make the world fit the words (via the hearer).Speech act classification(5) Commissives, speech acts that S use to commit themselves to some future action, they express what the speaker intends. They are promises, threats, refusals, pledges, etc.E.g. Ill be back We will not do that.In using a commissive, the S undertakes to make the world fit the words (via the S)Indirect Speech ActSearle (1975): In such cases a sentence that contains the illocutionary force indicators for one kind of illocutionary ct can be uttered to perform, in addition, another type of illocutionary act.ISAs: literal force with their structure + indirect force contextually conditioned.Eg. Can you pass me the salt?Indirect Speech Acts Two types of convention in ISAs By conventional is usually meant the relation between linguistic form and literal meaning, which is arbitrary, a matter of knowledge of language. Conventions of language: the literal meanings of Ss. Conventions of usage: govern the use of Ss with their literal meanings for certain purposes.Conventional Indirect Directives Group 1: Sentences concerning Hs ability to perform A: Can you reach the salt? Could you be a little more quiet? You can go now. Have you got change for a dollar? Group 2: Sentences concerning Ss wish or want that H will do A: I would like you to go now. Id rather you didnt do that. I would/should appreciate it if you would/could do it for meConventional ISAsGroup 3: Sentences concerning Hs doing A: Officers will hence forth wear ties at dinner. Will you quit making that awful racket? Would you kindly get off my foot?Group 4: Sentences concerning Hs desire or willingness to do A: Do you want to hand me that hammer over there on the table? Would it be convenient for you to come on Wednesday? Would you mind not making so much noise?Conventional ISAsGroup 5: Sentences concerning reasons for doing A: You ought to be more polite to your mother. You had better go now. It might help if you shut up. It would be a good idea if you left town.Group 6: Sentences concerning embedding one of these elements inside another; also, sentences embedding an explicit 。