1、A1PragmaticsFlowerA2I.IntroductionA3What is pragmatics?Pramatics can be defined as the study of language in use and linguistic communication.Why do we need pragmatics since we have grammatical analysis?A4 After we have done grammatical analysis of a sentence,there is still some aspect of meaning unc
2、overed by our analysis.Example:The grammatical analysis of He went to town yesterday does not tell us who he is,which town or when yesterday.In other words,there are still things undetermined.A5 Depending on the context,he can be anybody,any male.Town can refer to any place big enough to be called t
3、own.And yesterday can refer to any day in the past.As a result,the sentence must have performed many functions.A6 From this brief discussion,we can see that the context of a situation in which a sentence is used contribute a lot to its meaning which cannot be accounted for in pure grammatical analys
4、is.A7II.Context&MeaningA8 The notion of context is particularly significant in pragmatics because it contributes a lot to the meaning of an utterance.In a sense pragmatics studies how contextual features determine or influence the interpretation of utterances.A9 For example,there will be several pos
5、sible interpretations to the utterance John is like a fish in isolation.But if it is said when John is swimming,it probably means John swims well.If it is said at a party,it will be taken to mean that John can drink a lot of wine,etc.A10 Lets look back into our Chinese,the context is also very impor
6、tant.Behold these dialogues:A11“小明，帮我擦下窗户好么小明，帮我擦下窗户好么?“我擦我擦!我不擦我不擦!”问：小明擦不擦窗户问：小明擦不擦窗户?A12“小明，今晚上小明，今晚上全全队去听讲座队去听讲座!你去你去不去不去?”“我去我去!我不去我不去!”问：小明去不去问：小明去不去听讲座听讲座?A13“小明，今天上书小明，今天上书法课用不用带笔法课用不用带笔啊啊?”“带毛笔啊带毛笔啊!”问：小明的意思问：小明的意思是带不带笔是带不带笔?A14“小明，你的睫毛好漂小明，你的睫毛好漂亮，真的假的？亮，真的假的？”“假的假的。”“真的么？真的么？”“真的真的”问：小明的睫
7、毛是真问：小明的睫毛是真的假的？的假的？A15 客服小姐：客服小姐：“小明你是要几等座？小明你是要几等座？”“你们一共有几等？你们一共有几等？”“特等，一等，二等，等等，二等要多等一等。特等，一等，二等，等等，二等要多等一等。”“我看下，等一等。我看下，等一等。”“别等了，再等一等也没了。别等了，再等一等也没了。”“那不等了就这个吧。那不等了就这个吧。”问：小明最终买了几等座？问：小明最终买了几等座？A16 领导：领导：“你这是什么意思？你这是什么意思？”小明：小明：“没什么意思。意思没什么意思。意思意思。意思。”领导：领导：“你这就不够意思你这就不够意思了。了。”小明：小明：“小意思，小意思
8、。小意思，小意思。”领导：领导：“你这人真有意思。你这人真有意思。”小明：小明：“其实也没有别的意其实也没有别的意思。思。”领导：领导：“那我就不好意思那我就不好意思了。了。”小明：小明：“是我不好意思。是我不好意思。”问：以上问：以上“意思意思”分别是什分别是什么意思么意思？A17 Moreover,every language in the world has DEICTICS,which identify objects,persons and events in terms of their relations to the speaker in space and time.Much
9、 of the meaning of deictic terms depends on the specific context of situation in which they are used.A18 In English deictics may be grouped into 3 categories.1.person deictics:used to identify participants in the discourse.I and We are to refer to the speaker and you the hearer.The third person pron
10、ouns are used to refer to people other than participants.A19 2.place deictics such as here and this to iindicate the spatial relations between the speaker and the referred object or place.Some verbs also denotes the spatial relations between the speaker,the hearer and the place designated,such as co
11、me/go and bring/take.A20 3.time deictics used to indicate time relations such as now and then,yesterday,last night,next year.The characteristics of these terms are that their thorough interpretation is subject to their special context.It is possible to specify the time for then or now unless we know
12、 the exact time when the utterance is made.A21III.Speech act theoryA22Speech act theory is propose by John Langshaw Austin(1962)and John Searle(1969).A23 Basically they believe that language is not only used to inform or to describe things,it is often used to do things,to perform acts.All sentences,
13、in addition to meaning whatever they mean,perform specific actions or doing things through having specific forces.Austin suggests 3 basic senses in which in saying something one is doing something,and 3 kinds of acts are performed simultaneously:A24 1)Locutionary Act:the utterance of a sentence with
14、 determinate sense and reference;2)Illocutionary Act:the making of a statement,offer,promise,etc.in uttering a sentence,by virtue of the conventional force associated with it;3)Perlocutionary Act:the bringing about of effects on the audience by means of uttering the sentence,such effects being speci
15、al to the circumstances of utterance.A25Example:Suppose the speaker says Its cold in here.Its locutionary act is the saying of it with its literal meaning its cold in here.Its illocutionary act can be a request of the hearer to shut the window and its perlocutionary act can be the hearers shutting t
16、he window or the refusal to comply with the request.A26 The locution of an utterance is actually its literal meaning.The illocution of an utterance is the speakers communicative intention or the function it is intended to perform.The perlocution of an utterance can be as the same as the illocution w
17、hen it is recognized and satisfied,or very different from it when it is not recognized or when it is ignored.For example,when the illocution is an invitation,the perlocution can either be an acceptance or a refusal,depending on social and personal factors.A27a.Illocutionary actsA28 What speech act t
18、heory is most concerned with is the illocutionary acts.It attempts to account for the ways by which speakers can mean more than what they say.It is also designed to show coherence in seemingly incoherent conversations.A29 Ex.A:Thats the phone.(1)B:Im in the bathroom.(2)A:Okay.(3)This seemingly uncon
19、nected conversation is very coherent on a speech-act level,and that in saying things people are in fact doing things.A30b.Types of illocutionary actsA31 Searle suggests 5 basic categories of illocutionary acts as follows:Assertives（陈述）Directives （指令）Commissives（承诺）Expressives （表达）Declarations （宣布）A3
20、2Assertives Sentences that commit the speaker to the truth of sth.Typical cases are I think the film is moving and Im certain that he had got it.The degree of commitment varies from statement to statement.The commitment is small in I guess hed got it but very strong in I solemnly swear that he had g
21、ot it.A33Directives Sentences by which the speaker tries to get the hearer to do sth,I beg you to give me some advice and I order you to leave right now are both attempts to get something done by the hearer.Among the verbs that can denote this group are ask,request,plead,entreat,command,advise,etc.A
22、34Commissives Sentences that commit the speaker to some future action.Promises and offers are characteristic of this group.Interestingly,warning is also a commissive,as If you smoke again Ill beat you to death,because it also commits the speaker to doing sth.A35Expressives Sentences that express the
23、 speakers psychological state about sth.Verbs typically used for this category are thank,congratulate,apologize,welcome,deplore and so on.A36Declarations Sentences that bring about immediate change in the existing state of affairs.As soon as an employer says to an employee You are fired,the employee
24、 loses his/her job.Verbs often used for declarations are name,christen,nominate,point,declare,etc.A37c.Indirect speech actsA38 One group of sentences which speech act theory is concerned with are those sentences that perform one illocutionary act indirectly by performing another,that is,INDIRECT SPE
25、ECH ACTS.A39 Can you pass the salt,please?is both a question about the hearers ability to pass the salt and a request of him to pass the salt.The problem here is how it is possible for the speaker to say one thing and mean something else,and how it is possible for the hearer to understand the indire
26、ct speech act.It is suggested that in cases like this much is relied on the shared background information and the general powers of rationality and inference on the power of the hearer.A40 Ex.X:Lets go to the movies tonight.Y:I have to study for an exam.In order to work out that Ys utterance is a re
27、fusal,X has to go through a process of inference like this.I have make a proposal to Y and a relevant response must be one of acceptance or rejection or further discussion.But his reply was none of these,so his illocution must be different from the literal meaning.I know that studying for an exam ta
28、kes a lot of time and going to movies also takes a lot of time.He probably cannot do both in one evening.Probably his primary illocutionary act is to reject my proposal.A41 In practice,no one would consciously go through this process;but this is supposed to be in the way indirect sppech acts work.Re
29、quests are often performed indirectly.Their indirectness has certain characterstics that tend to group sentences of request into the following types:A42Group 1 Sentences concerning the hearers ability to do sth.:ex.Can you run another 5,000 meters?Could you run away from the talons of the chengguan?
30、A43Group 2 Sentences concerning the speakers wish or want that the hearer will do sth.:I would like you to fetch my cellphone from the company.I would appreciate if you could save a seat for me.Id rather you didnt be late any more.Id be very much obliged if you would go to the Qixia Mountain with me
31、.A44Group 3 Sentences concerning the hearers doing sth.:Would you kindly get off my foot?Wont you stop making that noise?A45Group 4 Sentences concerning the hearers desire or willingness to do sth.:Do you want to go to the library with me now?Would it be convenient for you to come over to play Sangu
32、osha,the boardgame on Friday afternoon?Would it be too much trouble for you to take my bag back?A46Group 5 Sentences concerning reasons for doing sth.:You should write to them every now and then.Must you make that noise whenever you are reading?Youd better book the tickets 2 weeks in advance.A47 Som
33、etimes we have sentences that have more than one of these elements,with one inside another:Would it be too much trouble if I suggested that you could possibly make a little less noise?A48d.Difficulties in speech act theoryA49 Often an utterance does not perform only one act,but two or three acts,and
34、 it is not always easy to decide what act or acts an utterance performs.Ex.If a mother says to a child Is that your coat on the floor?A50 Sometimes two unrelated acts are performed by one utterance and it is left to the hearer to choose.Ex:A:They say its the cleverest students who flunk.B:You should
35、 be O.K.then.reassurance&desire to make a jokeA51 There are also cases when one utterance performs two different acts for different hearers.Ex:(Xiaoming is talking to Xiaofang on the telephone and there is a group of people making a lot of noise in the room)Xiaoming:Sorry,theres a lot of noise at th
36、is end.apology to Xiaofang(who accepts the apology)and reprimand the crowd(who apologize and stop making noise)A52 On other occasions,the speaker seems to have a chain of motives in a single utterance and the hearer has to make the decision of how to respond.Ex.Huaband:Its getting late,dear.Wife:(a)Its only 11:27,darling.(b)But Im having such fun.(c)Do you want to go?(d)Arent you enjoying yourself?A53Thank you all for your attention!
