Why formal links are not enough

Why formal links are not enough

1. Language functions
2. The classification of macro-functions
3. Functional development
4. Micro-functions and functional language teaching
5. Functional analysis and coherence
6. Conversational principles: co-operation
7. Flouting the co-operative principle
8. Conversational principles: politeness
9. The social basis of conversational principles
10.Speech acts
11.Declarations and performatives
12.Speech acts theory and coherence
13.Underlying force
14.Pragmatics, discourse analysis and language teaching
 Introduction
1. A: It’s a mystery to me, how the conjuror sawed that woman in half.
B: Well, Jane was the woman he did it to. So presumably she must
know.
2. A: It’s a mystery to me, how the conjuror sawed that woman in half.
B: Well, Jane was the woman he did it to. So presumably she must be
Japanese. (p. 23)

→ Formal links between sentences are not enough to

account for our feeling that a stretch of language is
discourse.
 Language functions
• interpretation when we look behind the
literal, formal meaning of what is said or
written → to understand language function.
Ex: A: “Sorry, love. I saw you were home. There’s
a cat stuck under the gate at number 67.”
B: “Oh, how interesting. Thanks for telling
me.”
(p. 24)
 Language functions
→ stretches of language can be coherent
without being cohesive.
→ cultural differences
→ utterance: a unit of language used by
somebody in context to communicate ><
sentence: grammatically complete units
regarded purely formally, in isolation from
their context and their function.
 The classification of macro-functions
What is the function of language? “To send information”?
The elements of communication (Jacobson, 1960; Hymes, 1962)
• the addresser: the person who originates the message.
• the addressee: the person to whom the message is
addressed.
• the channel: the medium.
• the message form: grammatical and lexical choices.
• the topic: the information carried in the message.
• the code: the language or dialect.
• the setting: the social or physical context.
 The classification of macro-functions
• the emotive function: communicating the inner states and emotions
of the addresser.
• the directive function: seeking to affect the behavior of the
addressee.
• the phatic function: opening the channel or checking that it is
working.
• the poetic function: the particular form chosen is the essence of the
message.
• the referential function: carrying information.
• the metalinguistic function: focusing attention on the code itself.
• the contextual function: creating a particular kind of communication
 Functional development
• the evolution of functions in each human
individual.
Ex: baby’s cries: emotive → directive
• phatic, poetic functions begin very early.
• referential function comes at a later stage.
• metalinguistic function also comes later.
• foreign language teaching begins with the
metalinguistic function.
Micro-functions and functional language teaching

• Each macro-function can be subdivided into

micro-functions (figure 1, p. 27).
• functional language teaching: what order
should one follow?
 Example
P: daddy/ where is the tissue box?
F: uh uh.
P: how many times do I have to walk around
the classroom - walk around the room to find it?
F: last time I remember it was empty. so/
maybe a lot of times.
 Example
(Pumpkin saw her father turn a toy car into a
robot.)
F: come on. you are spilling everything. don’t
tear it apart.
P: so beautiful/ why are you going to make it
into a robot?
F: don’t tear it apart.
 Functional analysis and coherence

What function?
“The window is open.”
Functional analysis and coherence
Task 12 (p. 23)
1. Go back to sleep, will you?
2. Don’t worry.
3. My job’s stacking boxes, mate.
4. By Jove, Holmes! It was the gardener!
Functional analysis and coherence
• Some kind of sequencing to functions:
request-refusal, plea-offer, accusation-denial,
protest-apology.
• distinction between semantic meaning and
pragmatic meaning
 Conversational principles:
co-operation
• 4 maxims: quality, quantity, relevance, manner
• Maxims can be at odds: quality and quantity,
quantity and manner.
 Flouting the co-operative principle

• Floutings are intended to be perceived as such

by the receiver.
• The meanings created by these floutings are
often social, signalling the attitude of the
sender to the receiver of the message, and the
kind of relationship which exists or is
developing between them.
* Task 16 (p. 32)
 Conversational principles: politeness

• Don’t impose.
• Give options.
• Make your receiver feel good.
Ex: requests and pleas in the form of questions
(Would you mind… Could you possibly … May I
ask you to …?)
The politeness principle and the co-operative
principle are often in conflict with each other.
 Example
P: I want some tea. [F-E-111211-29]
can I have some tea? [F-E-111211-30-2]
oh look at these stones.
F: there’s the old/ these are old. this is the old drum of vietnam. you see birds/
but this is wrong.
P: can we/ can we have some <tea>? [F-E-111211-32-3]
F: are we going somewhere?
P: please can I have some tea/ daddy. [F-E-111211-33-4]
khát nước rồi. [M-V-111211-34]
{thirsty already.}
…
P: mẹ mua cho con chai nước đi. [M-V-111211-35-2]
{mommy buy me a bottle of water please.}
M: còn nước ở trỏng đó.
{there is some water left in there.}
The social basis of conversational principles

• dual purpose in human interaction: to act

efficiently together with other people, and to
create and maintain social relationships
• Brown and Levinson’s (1978) concept of ‘face’
• Though their realizations differ, the aims of
communication are universal.
 Speech acts
• Declaratives
• Expressives
• Commissives
• Directives (rogatives)
• Representatives
→essential ability for the creation and reception
of coherent discourse and thus for successful
communication
 Declarations and performatives
• Declarations are utterances in which saying
the words and doing the action are the same
thing: the function is created by the form →
requiring certain external conditions (felicity
conditions)
Ex: I pronounce you man and wife.
 Speech acts theory and coherence

• Speech acts theory provides us with a means

of probing beneath the surface of discourse
and establishing the function of what is being
said.
→ enable us to examine the structure of
discourse both in terms of surface relations of
form and underlying relations of functions and
acts.
 Underlying force
• Speech act theory provides layers of intention
and interpretation.
• Locution, illocution and perlocution.
Ex: A: Are you planning to do it this afternoon?
B: (angrily) Well WHEN this afternoon?
A: (with injured innocence) I’m just asking
whether you’ll be able to do it this afternoon. (p.
41)
Pragmatics, discourse analysis and language
teaching
• Theories of pragmatic interpretation of
language: how people create meaning and
make sense of what is said in specific
circumstances.
• The linking of form to function may help
learners to navigate within a discourse.
• Figure 2 (p. 42) → implications for language
teaching.