语言学教程Chapter 8. Language in Use

1、Chapter Eight Language in Use,2,3,1. Definition of Pragmatics,The study of language in use. The study of meaning in context. The study of speakers meaning, utterance meaning, the uttering of the sentence is the doing of an action; they cannot be said to be true or false. Performative verbs: name, be

2、t, etc.,14,I do. I name this ship Queen Elizabeth. I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow. I give and bequeath my watch to my brother. I promise to finish it in time. I apologize. I declare the meeting open. I warn you that the bull will charge.,15,Felicity conditions: A. (i) There must be a relev

3、ant conventional procedure. (ii) the relevant participants and circumstances must be appropriate. B. The procedure must be executed correctly and completely. C. Very often, the relevant people must have the requisite thoughts, feelings and intentions, and must follow it up with actions as specified.

4、,16,Problems with felicity conditions No strict procedure for promising. I promise. I give my word for it. I bequeath my watch to my brother. (T or F?),17,Minister: addressing the groom) (Grooms Name), do you take (Brides Name) for your lawful wedded wife, to live together after Gods ordinance, in t

5、he holy estate of matrimony? Will you love, honor, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?,Groom: I do.,18,Features of performatives First person singular Speech act verbs / performative verbs: The present tense

6、Indicative mood Active voice,19,I promise to be there. Ill be there. I admit I was wrong. I was foolish. I warn you, this gun is loaded. This gun is loaded. I thank you. Im very grateful. I apologize. Im sorry. I order you to sit down. You must sit down.,20,Conclusion: The distinction between consta

7、tives Maxim of Quantity: Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purposes of the exchange). Do not make your contribution more informative than required.,28,Maxim of Relation: Be relative. Maxim of Manner: Be perspicuous. Avoid obscurity of expression. Avoid ambiguity. Be

8、brief. Be orderly.,29,CP is meant to describe what actually happens in conversation. People tend to be cooperative and obey CP in communication.,30,However, CP is often violated. Since CP is regulative, CP can be violated. Violation of CP and its maxims leads to conversational implicature.,31,Violat

9、ion of the maxims (Quantity),Make your contribution as informative as is required. A: 昨天上街买了些什么? B: 就买了些东西。 I dont want to tell you what I bought.,32,Dear Sir, Mr. Xs command of English is excellent, and his attendance at tutorials has been regular. Yours Mr. X is not suitable for the job.,33,2. Do

10、not make your contribution more informative than is required. Aunt: How did Jimmy do his history exam? Mother: Oh, not at all well. Teachers asked him things that happened before the poor boy was born. Her son should not be blamed.,34,A: Your kid broke the window. B: Boys are boys. War is war. ,35,V

11、iolation of the maxims (Quality),1. Do not say what you believe to be false. You are the cream in my coffee. X runs as fast as a deer. He is made of iron.,36,2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. A: Beirut is in Peru, isnt it? B: And Rome is in Romania, I suppose. Its ridiculous.,

12、37,Violation of the maxims (Relation),Be relevant. A: Prof. Wang is an old bag. B: Nice weather for the time of year. I dont want to talk about Prof. Wang.,38,萍：爸爸，不过四凤同鲁贵在家里都很好,很忠诚的。 朴：恩，我很累了。 我预备到书房歇一下。你叫他们送一碗浓一点的普洱茶来。 ,39,Violation of the maxims (Manner),1. Avoid obscurity of expression A: Lets g

13、et the kids something. B: Ok, but I veto C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E. Dont give them chocolate.,40,2. Avoid ambiguity A: Name and title, please? B: John Smith, Associate Editor and professor. Cf: 买一赠一。,41,3. Be brief A: Did you get my assignment? B: I received two pages clipped together and covered with rows

14、of black squiggles. not satisfied.,42,Characteristics of implicature,Calculability: hearers work out implicature based on literal meaning, CP and its maxims, context, etc.,43,Cancellability / defeasibility: If the linguistic or situational contexts changes, the implicature will also change. A: Do yo

15、u want some coffee? B: Coffee would keep me awake. I do not like coffee. B: Coffee would keep me awake. I want to stay up.,44,Non-detachability: implicature is attached to the semantic content of what is said, not to the linguistic form; implicatures do not vanish if the words of an utterance are ch

16、anged for synonyms. A: Shall we go the cinema tonight? B: Therell be an exam tomorrow. Ill take an exam tomorrow. Isnt there an exam tomorrow?,45,Non-conventionality: implicature is different from its conventional meaning of words. It is context-dependent. It varies with context. A1：下午踢球去吧！ A2：老王住院了

17、？ B：上午还在换草皮。 A3: 足球场安装了一个新门柱。,46,5. Politeness Principle,Grices CP does not explain why speakers often violate CP . Geoffrey Leech: Professor of Linguistics and Modern English Language at Lancaster University from 1974 to 2002. Principles of Pragmatics (1983): puts forward PP to save CP.,47,A: Well

18、miss Bill and Mary, wont we? B: Well, well all miss Bill. (violation of quantity maxim),48,Self(自身)-refers to the speaker. Other (他人)-refers to the addressee or a third person, present or not. Benefit (惠) and the first maxim of Quantity the Principle of Quantity, or Q-Principle.,86,The M-principle:

19、Levinson mixes the presentation of his own ideas with the criticism of Horns principles. He accuses Horn of failing to draw a distinction between two kinds of minimization: a semantic minimization and an expression minimization.,87,The semantic, or content, minimization is equivalent to semantic gen

20、erality: the more general terms are more minimal in meaning, having more restricted connotation (in contrast to the more extended denotation); and the less general, the more specific, are less minimal, more maximal. For example, ship is more general than ferry, flower than rose, animal than tiger. T

21、he choice of the former instead of the latter is a process toward minimization.,88,The expression, or form, minimization is some measure of surface length and complexity. It is concerned with the phonetic and morphological make-up of a term. The normally stressed terms are more minimal than their ab

22、normally stressed counterparts. The shorter terms are more minimal than longer ones, provided they are synonymous, such as frequent and not infrequent, to stop a car and to cause a car to stop.,89,Only the semantic minimization has to do with the I-principle. The expression minimization, in contrast

23、, is the domain of the principle of manner, as it concerns the form of a linguistic unit, the way to express something rather than what is expressed, or how much is expressed.,90,Recently, Levinson calls his principles “heuristics”. Levinson (2000): Presumptive Meaning. MIT. Heuristic 1. What isnt s

24、aid, isnt. Heuristic 2. What is simply described is stereotypically exemplified. Heuristic 3. Whats said in an abnormal way, isnt normal; or Marked message indicates marked situation.,91,Heuristic 1: Q-Heuristic “more or less transparently related to Grices first Maxim of Quantity” Responsible for t

25、wo types of implicatures: scalar implicatures and clausal implicatures Some of the boys came. (scalar) Not all the boys came. If eating eggs is bad for you, you should give up omelets. (clausal) Eating eggs may be bad for you, or it may not be bad for you.,92,Scalar implicatures are the implicatures

26、 which involve the Q-principle in Horns sense. Words like all and some form a scalar contrast set , in which all is the more informative, or stronger, term, and some the less informative, or weaker, term.,93,Clausal implicatures involve the use of different clauses. Since eating eggs is bad for you,

27、 you should give up omelets. Eating eggs may be bad for you, or it may not be bad for you.,94,Two clausal alternates: If eating eggs is bad for you, you should give up omelets. Since eating eggs is bad for you, you should give up omelets. which may be expressed as The clause using since is the more

28、informative, or stronger, alternate, and the one using if the less informative, or weaker, alternate.,95,Heuristic 2: I-Heurisitc “may be related directly to Grices second Maxim of Quantity, . The underlying idea is, of course, that one need not say what can be taken for granted”. (a) John turned th

29、e key and the engine started. (b) John turned the key, and then the engine started. John turned the key, therefore the engine started. John turned the key in order to start the engine.,96,(a) If you mow the lawn, Ill give you $5. (b) If and only if you mow the lawn, Ill give you $5. (a) John unpacke

30、d the picnic. The beer was warm. (b) The beer was part of the picnic. (a) John said “Hello” to the secretary and then he smiled. (b) John said “Hello” to the female secretary and then John smiled.,97,(a) Harry and Sue bought a piano. (b) They bought it together, not one each.,(a) John came in and he

31、 sat down. (b) John1 came in and he1 sat down.,98,Heuristic 3: M-Heuristic can be related directly to Grices maxim of Manner (Be perspicuous), specifically to his first submaxim avoid obscurity of expression and his fourth avoid prolixity. The underlying idea here is that there is an implicit opposition or parasitic relationship between our second and third heuristics: what is said simply, briefly, in an unmarked way picks up the stereotypical interpretation; if in contrast a marked expression is used, it is suggested th