chapter 6 Pragmatics

? The third sense in which to say something can mean to do something concerns the consequential effects of a locution upon the hearer. By telling somebody something the speaker may change the opinion of the hearer on something, or mislead him, or surprise him, or induce him to do something, etc. It is part of the act that the speaker has performed.

? A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the

consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance; it is the act performed by

saying something.

Examples:

? Can you turn down the radio? ? ? ? ?

Of the three speech acts, linguists are most interested in the illocutionary act because this kind of speech act is identical to the speaker’s intention, and in their study of language communication, linguists are most interested in how a speaker expresses his intention and also how his intention is recognized by the hearer.

? 奥斯汀把言语行为的内容分为三个方面：

1 以言表意（locutionary acts） 2 以言行事（illocutionary acts） 3 以言取效（perlocutionary acts）

记述性的话语主要是用语句来表意，施行式话语主要是以言行事的。以言取效则是话语的又一个方面，用来概括话语对听者的感情、意见等产生一定的影响，它不是说话人直接在完成某种行动，而是言语产生了一定的后效，例如说服了某人或刺伤了某人。我们常常很难再以言取效和以言表意之间、尤其是在以言取效和以言行事之间划出明确的界限，因为即使是最平板的陈述一个事实也经常会对听者的感情、意见等产生影响。以言表意、以言行事和以言取效都是同一个言语行为的抽象，它们在实际生活中是混合在一起的，只不过我们有时专注于语句的记述方面，有时专注于语句的行事方面或后效方面。

6.2.2 Searle’s classification of speech acts John Searle

? John Searle (1932~ ) American philosopher and linguist.

? Classification of Illocutionary Speech Acts, in Language in Society. Searle (1969) identified five illocutionary/perlocutionary points:

? According to Searle, speech acts fall into five general categories, i.e., there are five

general types of things we do with language. Specific acts that fall into each type share

the same illocutionary point, but differ in their strength.

Searle (1969) identified five illocutionary/perlocutionary points:

? Representatives (表述): stating or describing, saying what the speakers believe to be true.

? Stating, believing, swearing, hypothesizing are among the most typical of the

representatives.

The paths in the mountain are a maze. I will see you later.

“你要跟他好好谈一谈。” “祝你生日快乐！”

? “请你帮我把这箱子挪一挪。”

e.g. (I swear) I have never seen the man before. (I state) The earth is a globe. 刚才下过雨。

中华民族最伟大。

? Directives (指令)：trying to get the hearer to do something.

? Inviting, suggesting, requesting, advising, warning, threatening, ordering are all specific instances of this class.

e.g. Open the window.

You’d better go to the clinic. Your money or your life! 不要把这件事告诉他。

? Commissives (承诺): committing the speaker himself to some future course of action. ? Promising, undertaking, vowing are the most typical cases. e.g. I promise to come.

I will bring you the book tomorrow without fail. “我保证一定把教室打扫干净。”

? Expressives (表达)：expressing feelings or attitude towards an existing state.

? The illocutionary point of expressives is to express the psychological state specified in the utterance, such as apologizing, thanking and congratulating.

e.g. I’m sorry for the mess I have made.

It’s really kind of you to have thought of me. “对不起，打扰你了！”

“这是多么值得回忆的晚会呀！”

? Declarations (宣告): bringing about immediate changes by saying something.

? “Declarations” has the characteristics that the successful performance of an act of this

type brings about the correspondence between what is said and reality. e.g. I fire you!

I appoint you chairman of the committee.

“根据陪审员的裁定，约翰贩毒罪名成立。”

Indirect speech acts

? Instead of using the imperative form to make a request, questions such as “Do you mind

closing the door?” and statements such as “The door is open!” can also be used to achieve the same goal. Using language in such a way is generally perceived as indirect. ? More example: Could you move over a bit? The kitchen is in an awful mess.

? A traditional way to explain indirect language use is by the mismatch between the basic language forms and their typical communicative functions. In all the languages we know of there exist three basic sentence forms, i.e.

1 the declarative sentence: to state a fact

2 the imperative sentence: to direct others’ actions

3 the interrogative sentence: the seek information

If one of these forms is not used to perform the function typically associated with it, then the language used is indirect.

? 间接言语行为：

使用的目的在于表示字面下潜在的意义（illocutionary meaning）的言语行为。因为是在字面意义的掩盖下，所以是间接的。如：如果用 Oh, I’m hungry. 这句话间接表示要食物的请求，一般认为是试探性的，委婉的或比较有礼貌的形式。 Levinson: Most usages (of request) are indirect.

Thomas: In English, it is not usual to use the words I invite you to perform the act of inviting.

In general, the way we recognize indirect speech acts, and process them properly, has to do with the way we are “set up” for recognition and action by the context.

? According to Searle, when a speaker is using indirect language, he is performing two

speech acts simultaneously; one is the primary speech act and the other is the secondary speech act.

? The primary speech act: the speaker’s goal of communication. ? The secondary speech act: the means by which he achieves his goal.

? See examples in Page85.

6.3 Principles of conversation

? Grice specified two kinds of implied meaning or implicature: ? Conventional implicature 规约含义

? Non-conventional implicature/particularized conversational implicature 非规约含义

? See examples in Pages85--86

Principle of conversation (Paul Grice)

? Cooperative principle (CP) — According to Grice, in making conversation, there is a

general principle which all participants are expected to observe. It goes as follows:

? Make your conversational contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. 使你所说的话，在其所发生的阶段，符合你所参与的交谈的公认目标或方向。

Four maxims of CP

? The maxim of quantity 量的准则：信息适量。

— Make your contribution as informative as required for the current purpose of the exchange. — Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

? The maxim of quality 质的准则：信息真实。 — Do not say what you believe to be false.

— Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

? The maxim of relation 相关准则：话题相关

— Be relevant ( make your contribution relevant).

? The maxim of manner 方式准则：简明清楚 — Avoid obscurity of expression. — Avoid ambiguity. — Be brief. — Be orderly.

Conversational implicature 会话含义

? In real communication, however, speakers do not always observe these maxims strictly.

These maxims can be violated for various reasons. When any of the maxims is blatantly violated, i.e. both the speaker and the hearer are aware of the violation, our language becomes indirect, then conversational implicature arises.

Violation of Maxim of quality

— A: Would you like to go movie with me tonight?

— B: The final exam is approaching. I’m afraid I have to prepare for it.

— A: would you like to come to our party tonight? — B: I’m afraid I’m not feeling so well tonight.

— A: Who was that lady I saw you with last night? — B: That was no lady, that was my wife.

? 关于质的准则

? 故意违反质的准则，就是故意说假话、说反话。 ? 教师：贝鲁特是哪个国家的首都？

? 学生：是秘鲁的。

? 教师：如果是这样的话，我要说罗马是罗马尼亚的首都了。

? 这种说法常见于熟语，如 “太阳从西边出来了”、“公鸡也会下蛋了”等。

Violation of maxim of quantity

? At a party a young man introduces himself by saying “I’m Robert Sampson from Leeds,

28, unmarried…” ? “War is war.” ? “Girls are girls.”

— A: When is Susan’s farewell party? — B: Sometime next month. ? 关于量的准则 ——信息不足

例如：

妈妈：暑假作业完成了吗？ 儿子：算术做完了。