unit 9 pragmatics.ppt

1、Pragmatics,1. Wife: Whats on television? Husband : Nothing .（ Husband is reading a newspaper） 2. A: Whats on television? B: Nothing . All the TV stations are on strike.,Definitions of Pragmatics,Levinson (1983:6-27) listed about ten definitions about pragmatics:,Definition 1: Pragmatics is the study

2、 of those relations between language and context that are grammaticalized, or encoded in the structure of a language. 语用学是对在一种语言的结构中被语法化或被编码的那些语言和语境之间的关系的研究。,Definition 2: Pragmatics is the study of all those aspects of meaning not captured in a semantic theory. 语用学是对所有那些未能纳入语意理论的意义侧面的研究。,Definition

3、 3: Pragmatics is the study of deixis ( at least in part), implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and aspects of discourse structure. 语用学是对指示（ 至少是其中的一部分）、含义、前提、言语行为以及话语结构各个侧面的研究。,Pragmatics is the study of meaning in use meaning in context speaker meaning contextual meaning Pragmatics studies com

4、munication (utterance production and comprehension) from a functional (i.e. social, cultural, cognitive) perspective.,There are two concepts that are primary: meaning and context. From the viewpoint of development, the emergence of pragmatics is an extension in the research of meanings. However, the

5、 meanings studied in pragmatics are different from those of semantics.,Semantics Vs pragmatics,Semanticism: semantics includes pragmatics Pragmaticism: pragmatics includes semantics Complementarism: semantics studies meaning in the abstract; pragmatics studies meaning in the context/use.,The meaning

6、s involved in pragmatics are not something abstract, or something independent of context, rather they are specific meanings, embodied in actual uses. Sense Reference,Pragmatics can be defined as the study of how speakers use the sentences of a language to effect successful communication.,Pragmatics

7、is different from traditional semantics in that it studies meaning not in isolation but in context.,对所使用的语言的掌握 语言知识 对语言交际上文的了解 百科全书式的知识（常识） 语境 背景知识 特定文化的社会规范 特定文化的会话规则 交际的时间、地点 语言外知识 情景知识 交际的主题 交际的正式程度 相互知识 交际参与者的相互关系 i 见何兆熊主编的新编语用学概要，上海外语教育出版社，2000，P.21,Semanticists take meaning to be an inherent p

8、roperty of language, pragmaticists regard meaning as something that is realized in the course of communication.,语用学是语言学的一个较新的领域，它研究在特定情境中的特定话语，研究如何通过语境来理解和使用语言。 (何自然：1995.P1),1、语用学是理解和使用语言的学问。 1) Go to work happily, and come back safely! 2) A: Do you like rugby? B: I am a New Zealander.,3) A: Do you

9、 like rice B: I am a Cantonese, you know. 4) John: Are you going to the seminar? Mary: Its on pragmatics.,Pragmatic failure in intercultural communication Where are you going? Have you eaten yet? A: Will you have some more? B1 Oh, yes, please. Its delicious. B2 Oh, no, thank you. I dont want much to

10、 eat. B3 Thank you.,Appropriateness I am sorry to hear about your grandma. I was sorry hear that your grandma killed herself. I was sorry to hear your grandma tripped over the cat, cartwheeled down the stairs and brained herself on the electricity meter.,Sentence Meaning Utterance Meaning,It is the

11、abstract context-independent entity called semantic proposition.,It is context-dependent. It is the product of sentence meaning and context. Therefore, it is richer than the meaning of the sentence.,Deictic expressions （指示语）,Deixis: (from Greek) anchoring, pointing (toward the context) phenomenon. T

12、he linguistic means used in this function are known as deictics, indexicals( or indexical / deictic expressions). Examples: pronouns, demonstratives, time and place adverbs, and some grammatical categories such as tense.,Characteristics in use,The egocentricity of deixis Deictic expressions are anch

13、ored to specific points in the communicative event. The unmarked points, called the deictic center, are typically assumed to be as follows(S. Levinson: Pragmatics): I love this game!,-the central person is the speaker -the central time is the time at which the speaker produces the utterance -the cen

14、tral place is the speakers location at utterance time -the discourse center is the point which the speaker is currently at in the production of his utterance -the social center is the speakers social status and rank, to which the status or rank of addressees or referents is relative,Deictic vs. Non-

15、deictic,Deictic: gestural/symbolic You, you, but not you, are dismissed. (gestural) What did you say? (Symbolic) Non-deictic: anaphoric /non-anaphoric Jack is a student. He comes from Britain. You can never tell what sex they are nowadays. There you go again./There we go. I did this and that.,Classi

16、fication of deixis,Person deixis Place deixis Time deixis social deixis discourse deixis,2. Speech Act Theory Saying is acting. (John Austin, How to do Things with Words, 1962) Teacher: Class begins. Boss: You are fired!,Speech act theory originated with the British philosopher John Austin in the la

17、te 1950s. According to this theory, we are performing various kinds of acts when we are speaking.,“Speech acts” refer to actions performed via utterances. Speech acts are “the basic or minimal units of linguistic communication”. “The unit of linguistic communication is not, as has generally been sup

18、posed, the symbol, word or sentence, but rather the production of the symbol or word or sentence in the performance of the speech act” Searle,a. There is a book on the desk. b. I promise Ill be there ten sharp tomorrow. hereby-test: first person singular subject, simple present tense, indicative moo

19、d, active voice, performative verbs (with exceptions, though),Constatives (表述句） and performatives （施为句）,According to Austin, while making an utterance, a speaker is performing three acts simultaneously: a locutionary act, an illocutionary act, and a perlocutionatry act.,Austins classification,- locu

20、tionary act: what is said - illocutionary act: what is intended to do - perlocutionary act: what is to be effected Leech: locutionary act performing an act of saying sth Illocutionary act performing an act in saying sth Perlocutionary act performing an act by saying sth,A locutionary act is the act

21、of saying something; it is an act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology.,An illocutionary act is the act performed in saying something; its force is identical with the speakers intention.,A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something

22、; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.,Practice: Analyze As remark in the following in terms of the three acts. A: The phone is ringing. B: (Stands up and picks up the receiver) Hello.,Searle also made his contribution to the study of illocutionary speech acts. He

23、specified five types of illocutionary speech acts: 1)representative 2)directive 3)commissive 4)expressive 5)declaration,Searles classification of illocutionary acts,Representatives/assertives（阐述类）: describe, inform, deny, state, claim, assert, remind, etc. Directives （指令类）: request, ask, urge, tell,

24、 demand, order, advise, command, beseech, etc. Commissives （承诺类）: commit, promise, threaten, pledge, consent, refuse, offer, guarantee, etc.,Expressives （表达类）: apologize, boast, thank, deplore, welcome, congratulate, greet, etc. Declarations （宣告类）: declare, resign, appoint, nominate, bless, christen

25、, name, etc.,The illocutionary point of the representatives is to commit the speaker to somethings being the case, to the truth of the expressed proposition命题.,I guess that he has come. I think that the film is moving. I am certain that he has come.,Directives are attempts by the speaker to get the

26、hearer to do something.,Open the door! Dont you think its a bit stuffy here?,Commissives are those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker to some future course of action. When speaking, the speaker puts himself under obligation.,I promise to love you forever!,Ill bring you this book

27、.,The illocutionary point of expressives to to express the psychological state specified in the propositional content such as apologizing, thanking, congratulating,welcoming etc.,Im sorry for the mess I have made. Its very kind of you to have thought of me.,The point of this declaration is to bring

28、about the correspondence between the propositional content and reality. I declare the meeting open. I appoint you chairman of the committee.,I fire you!,Presupposition,Presupposition and entailment Presupposition triggers: linguistics device that make inference possible. PP 151-152 No. 8, 9,Principl

29、es of Conversation The co-operative principle,In making conversation, Grice holds that there is a general principle which all participants are expected to observe. Make your conversational contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk

30、exchange in which you are engaged.,The maxim of quantity 1. Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the exchange). 2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.,The maxim of quality 1. Do not say what you believe to be false. 2. Do not say

31、that for which you lack adequate evidence.,The maxim of relation Be relevant.,The maxim of manner 1. Avoid obscurity of expression. 2. Avoid ambiguity. 3. Be brief. 4. Be orderly.,When we violate these maxims, in some situations, conversational implicature will arise.,Example 1: A: Do you know where

32、 Mr. X lives? B: Somewhere in the southern suburbs of the city. (said when it is known to both A and B that B has Mr. Xs address.),Violating the maxim of quantity,Violating the maxim of quantity,Example 2: Dear Sir, Mr. Lees command of English is excellent, and his attendance at tutorials has been r

33、egular. Yours, XX Example 3: At a party, Jack met Rose for the first time Example 4: My job is OK. A: Where have you been? B: Out,The head of police was talking to the four policemen. He shouted at them, “Peas”! You four cannot catch one thief .” “We weren t peas,” the four protested, “ Though he escaped, yet we had managed to get his fingerprint.” “Where is it?” “On our face.”,Violating the maxim of quality,I think he was married and had a lioness