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Speech Acts and Events: Basic Concepts
Speech Acts and Events: Basic Concepts
BASIC CONCEPTS
Speakers can perform actions while making utterances
Situation: At work, boss has great deal of power
You're fired
> more than just a statement, actually ends your employment
Other examples:
You're so fantastic (compliment)
You're welcome (acknowledgement of thanks)
You're crazy! (expression of surprise)
Actions performed via utterances are called speech acts (e.g., apology, complaint,
compliment, invitation, promise, request)
The speaker normally expects that his or her communicative intention will be recognized by the hearer -
both speaker and hearer are helped by the circumstances surrounding the utterance.
These circumstances (including other utterances) are called the speech event
The tea is really cold!
Situation A: On a wintry day, the speaker reaches for a cup of tea, believing that it has been freshly
made, takes a sip, and produces the utterance > complaint
Situation B: On a really hot summer's day the speaker is being given a glass of iced tea, takes a sip,
and produces the utterance > praise
No simple utterance-to-action correspondence is possible!!!
- speecht acts are often interpreted narrowly as just the illocutionary force of an utterance
- the same locutionary act can count as different illocutionary forces
I'll see you later
can be a prediction, promise or warning
How can speakers be sure that the intended illocutionary force will be recognized by the
hearer? > IFIDs and felicity conditions
Other IFIDs beside performative verbs: word order, stress, intonation, voice quality
(lowered for warnings/threats)
You're going! [I tell you X]
You're going? [I request confirmation about X]
Are you going? [I ask you if X]
> We don't how many performative verbs there are in any language!!
There is a typical pattern in English whereby asking a question about the hearer's
assumed ability ('can you', 'could you') or future likelihood with regard to doing
something ('will you', 'would you') normally counts as a request to actually do that
something.
Could you pass the salt?
Would you open this?
Indirect speech acts are generally associated with greater politeness than direct
speech acts.
> Questioning a hearer-based condition for making a request results in an indirect request.
- there is a definite difference between asking someone to do X and asking someone if the
preconditions for doing X are in place.
- asking about preconditions technically doesn't count as making a request, but allows the
hearer to react as if the request had been made (= less of an imposition on the hearer, smaller
risk of refusal)
> An utterance is part of a larger social situation involving people with some kind of social
relationship and particular goals
Speech Event = the set of utterances produced in such a situation