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PRAGMATICS ‘ COURSE 4

INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

Searle: the distinction between sentence meaning and Speaker’s

meaning, i.e. ‘what a speaker intends it to mean in a specific context
in compliance with a specific intention

e.g. A: Are you home alone?

B: Yes, I am.

may be interpreted as:

i' )Yes, I am and I'm terrified.

ii")Yes, I am and I'm so happy I'm going to throw a party.

Such Us involve:
a direct SA = their conventionally accepted expected function (Q,
assertion, exclamation)
an indirect SA = their contextual function (request, suggestion, order,
threat, wishing luck, request/order))

e.g. we can make a request or give permission INDIRECTLY, i.e. by

making a statement, e.g. ‘I am getting thirsty’ or ‘uttering a Q ‘Can
you clean up your room?’

The literal act is backgrounded/secondary while the nonliteral act is

foregrounded/primary (Searle 1975):
Can you pass the salt? Please pass the salt.
I wish you wouldn’t do thatPlease don’t do that.
Aren’t you going to eat your cereal? Please eat your cereal.

Thomas: “...indirectness occurs when there is a mismatch btw. the

expressed meaning and the implied meaning” (Thomas 1995: 119)
1. pragmatics is concerned with intentional indirectness
2. indirectness is costly and risky
3. Ss should (seek to) obtain some social or communicative advantage
through employing indirectness
4. Indirectness is largely related to politeness phenomena

(1) To Liz, who has been listening to Justin Bieber for a fortnight
Would you like to listen to something else now?
Liz : No, I’m pleased with Justin.
(2) To Susan, an American guest.
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Would you like a drink?

Susan : Well, I’ve been on beer all day.
(3) Editor to writer: “We’re not exactly looking for this kind of
traditional novel right now; we tend to publish science fiction tales
which attract the young readers...”
(4) Staff member to Chief Librarian: “Have you given any thought to
having my list of books ordered?”
display cleverness
(5) To fellow student who had problems graduating: “I hope you will
be luckier this time. Third time is a charm”
Factors that govern indirectness:
1. The relative power of the S over the H
2. The social distance btw. the S and the H
3. The degree of imposition
4. The relative rights and obligations btw the S and the H

(6) Student to Professor: “ Dear Professor Brown, I would be

extremely grateful if you could approve a week’s extension to the
submission of m paper: I have been having serious problems with my
computer”
(7) Director to her secretary: Elaine, please make 14 copies of chapter
3 for the course tomorrow. Thanks.”

Social distance vs. solidarity

(8a) to a peer: Got any change, mate?
vs. (8b) to a stranger : Excuse me, could you change fifty pence for
me? I need tens or fives for the coffee machine.

Size of imposition
(10a) Supervisor to Supervisee : ‘ Rewrite this passage, it’s a bit
unclear towards the end”
(10b) “I’m afraid you may need to rewrite several paragraphs as they
are unclear and abound in grammar mistakes.”

Rights and obligations: Indirectness may be regulated by the S’s right

to make a particular demand and/or by the H’s obligation to
comply.
e.g. (11a) “Next stop!” signalled to driver if there is a scheduled
stopping place
(11b) “Do you think you could possibly let me out just beyond the
traffic lights, please?”

Goffman’s notion of ‘free’ and ‘non-free- goods.

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Lakoff (1974) extended the concept of free/non-free goods to

information. Some topics can be dealt with freely, unrestrictedly
(weather), others are ‘none of your business’ (non-free goods).

Increasing politeness during the exchange

(18)‘Professor Brown, I wonder if you found the time to write that
letter of recommendation for me’ vs ‘Did you write that letter of
recommendation?’
(19) ‘I’m afraid I haven’t made myself understood clearly’ vs ‘You
haven’t understood what I meant’
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SEMINAR 3
INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

1. Give the direct and indirect illocutions of the following utterances.

a. ‘Can you hand me the butter?’
b. ‘The car is dirty.’
c. ‘When do you plan to dust your room?’
d. ‘Maybe we could go to the movies.’
e. ‘The sugar is over there.’
f. ‘Don’t you think we ought to leave?’
g. ‘Why can’t you take out the garbage?’
h. ‘I could clobber you for that.’
i. ‘You took the last cookie!’

2 In your own words, formulate ISAs intended to count as:

- a piece of advice addressed to a shopaholic

- a warning addressed to a shopaholic
- an expression of satisfaction with a shopaholic’s taking their problem seriously
- an expression of dissatisfaction with a person’s habit of reading the Speaker’s emails
- a threat directed at a person who constantly reads other Speaker’s e-mails
- an expression meant to signal need for help with moving the furniture
- an expression meant to signal volunteering to help the interlocutor move
the furniture