Pragmatics

Pragmatics can be defined as the

study of how speakers use the
sentences of a language to effect
successful communication.
The study of language in use.
The study of meaning in context.
The study of speakers’ meaning,
utterance meaning,
& contextual meaning.
.
Pragmatics is different from
traditional semantics in that
it studies meaning not in
isolation but in context.
Semanticists take meaning to be an
inherent property of language, prag
maticists regard meaning as someth
ing that is realized in the course of
communication.
 Some basic notions in Pragmatics

• Context

• Pragmatics vs. semantics

• Sentence meaning vs. utterance meaning

• Correctness vs. appropriateness

 Context
• Context---- a basic concept in the study of p
ragmatics. It is generally considered as cons
tituted knowledge shared by the speaker an
d the hearer, such as cultural background, si
tuation(time, place, manner, etc.), the relatio
nship between the speaker and the hearer, et
c.….
 Pragmatics vs. semantics
• Semantics---- is the study of the literal meaning of
a sentence (without taking context into considerati
on).
• Pragmatics---- the study of the intended meaning o
f a speaker (taking context into consideration), e.g.
“Today is Sunday”,
• semantically, it means that today is the first day of
the week; pragmatically, you can mean a lot by sa
ying this, all depending on the context and the inte
ntion of the speaker, say, making a suggestion or g
iving an invitation…
Sentence Meaning Utterance Meaning

It is the abstract It is context-dependent.

context-independent It is the product of
entity, sentence meaning and
context. Therefore, it is
It is literal meaning
of a sentence richer than the meaning
of the sentence.
It is intended meaning of a
speaker;
 For example, “The bag is heavy” can mean
• a bag being heavy (sentence meaning);
• an indirect, polite request, asking the hearer to help
him carry the bag;
• the speaker is declining someone’s request for help.
• Note: The meaning of an utterance is based on the s
entence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract
meaning of a sentence in a real situation of commu
nication, or simply in a context; utterance meaning
is richer than sentence meaning; it is identical with
the purpose for which the speaker utters the sentenc
e.
 Correctness vs. appropriateness
• *“John play golf”---- grammatically incorrect;
• ?“Golf played John” ---- logically incorrect; but it mi
ght be appropriate pragmatically in certain context.
• Note: Pragmatics can make sense out of nonsense, gi
ven a suitable context. Appropriateness is very impor
tant in linguistic communication, especially in cross-
cultural communication. If you say something gram
matically incorrect, you are at worse condemned as
“speaking badly”, but, if you say something inapprop
riately, you will be judged as “behaving badly”, such
as insincere, untruthful, or deceitful. (Thomas, 1983)
 2. Speech Act Theory
John Austin (1911-1960)
How to Do Things with Words
(1962)

speech acts: actions perform

ed via utterances
Speech act theory originated with the
British philosopher John Austin in the
late 50’s. According to this theory, we
are performing various kinds of acts
when we are speaking.
It aims to answer the question “What
do we do when using language?”
Before the speech act theory was
advanced, it was believed that
the business of a statement is
either to describe or to state. It
must be either true or false.
Austin made the primary dist
inction between two types of
utterances: constative and pe
rformative.
Constative ( 叙述句 ) vs. Performative ( 施为
句)

statements that sentences that do

either state or not state a fact or
describe describe a state

It is verifiable It is used to perform

and it is either an action, so it has
true or false. no truth value, and
are not verifiable.
verifiable
Constative ( 叙述句 )
utterances which roughly serves to
state a fact, report that something i
s the case, or describe what somet
hing is, eg:
I go to the park every Sunday.
I teach English.
Performative ( 施为句 )

utterances which are used to perform act

s, do not describe or report anything at al
l; the uttering of the sentence is the doin
g of an action; they cannot be said to be t
rue or false.
Performative verbs: name, bet, etc.
• Note: Sometimes they are easy to get confused, e.g.
“It is raining outside” can be a constative, and also
a performative, for by uttering such a sentence, we
may not only state a fact, but involve in the act of i
nforming someone about the rain.

• The distinction between constatives & performative

s cannot be maintained.
• All sentences can be used to do things.
 Some Examples of Performatives

• “I do”
• “I name this ship Elizabeth.”
• “I give and bequeath my watch to my broth
er.”
• “I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow.”
Minister: addressing the groom)
(Groom’s Name), do you take
(Bride’s Name) for your lawful
wedded wife, to live together
after God’s ordinance, in the
holy estate of matrimony? Will you love,
honor, comfort, and cherish her from this
day forward, forsaking all others, keeping
only unto her for as long as you both shall
live? Groom:
I do.
(1) “I do.”

as uttered in the course of a

marriage ceremony.
(2)“ I name this ship Elizabeth.”

---as uttered when smashing the

bottle against the stern.
(3)“ I give and bequeath my
watch to my brother.”

--- as occurring in a will.

(4) “ I bet you sixpence it will
rain tomorrow.”

--- as uttered when making a bet.

***Austin’s new model of speech acts
According to Austin, while ma
king an utterance, a speaker is
performing three acts simultan
eously: a locutionary act, an ill
ocutionary act, and a perlocuti
onary act.
A locutionary act is the act of sayin
g something; it is an act of conveyin
g literal meaning by means of synta
x, lexicon and phonology.
An illocutionary act is the act
performed in saying
something; its force is identical
with the speaker’s intention.
A perlocutionary act is the act perf
ormed by or resulting from saying
something; it is the consequence of
, or the change brought about by th
e utterance.
For example,“It is cold in her
e.”
 For example,“It is cold in her
e.”
• Its locutionary act is the saying of it with its literal mea
ning the weather is clod in here;
• Its illocutionary act can be a request of the hear to shut
the window;
• Its perlocutionary act can be the hearer’s shutting the w
indow or his refusal to comply with the request.
Note: Of the three acts, what speech act theory is most co
ncerned with is the illocutionary act. It attempts to acc
ount for the ways by which speakers can mean more th
an what they say.
 ----Analyze one more example:
“You have left the door wide open.”
• The locutionary act performed by the speaker is that he h
as uttered all the words “you,” “have,” “door,” “open,” e
tc. and expressed what the words literally mean.
• The illocutionary act performed by the speaker is that by
making such an utterance he has expressed his intention
of speaking, i. e., asking someone to close the door.
• The perlocutionary act refers to the effect of the utteranc
e. If the hearer gets the speaker’s message and sees that t
he speaker means to ask someone to close the door, the s
peaker has successfully brought about the change in the
real world he ahs intended to; then the perlocutionary act
is successfully performed.
• Analyze the illocutionary acts of the following conv
ersation between a couple:
----(the telephone rings)
----H: That’ the phone. (1)
----W: I’m in the bathroom. (2)
----H: Okay. (3)
• This seemingly incoherent conversation goes on suc
cessfully because the speakers understand each othe
r’s illocutionary acts:
• (1)   Making a request of his wife to go and answer t
he phone.
• (2)   A refusal to comply with the request; issuing a
request of her husband to answer the phone instead.
• (3) Accepting the wife’s refusal and accepting her r
equest, meaning “all right, I’ll answer it.”
 Illocutionary Act Theory

John Searle (1932- )

Searle also made his contribution to the stud
y of illocutionary speech acts. He specified fi
ve types of illocutionary speech acts:
1)representative ( 陈述 )
2)directive ( 指令 )
3)commissive ( 承
诺)

4)expressive ( 表达 )
5)declaration ( 宣布 )
The illocutionary point
of the representatives is
to commit the speaker
to something’s being
the case, to the truth of
the expressed
proposition.
Stating or describing, saying what the
speaker believes to be true, e.g.

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 hearer to do something.

Open the door!

Don’t you think it’s a
bit stuffy here?
---- Trying to get the hearer to do something,
e.g.
• I order you to leave right now.
• Open the window, please.
• Your money or your life!
…
Commissives are those illocutionary
acts whose point is to commit the sp
eaker to some future course of action
. When speaking, the speaker puts hi
mself under obligation.
I promise to love you!
The illocutionary point of expressives
is to express the psychological state s
pecified in the propositional content s
uch as apologizing, thanking, congrat
ulating,welcoming etc.
I’m sorry for the mess I have
made.

It’s very kind of you to have

thought of me.
----Bringing about an immediate
change in the existing state or
affairs, e.g.
I declare the meeting open.
I appoint you chairman of the
committee.
I fire you!
 Practice
1. When a speaker expresses his intention of speaking
, such as asking someone to open the window, he i
s performingA ______.
A. an illocutionary act B. a perlocutionary act
C. a locutionary act D. none of the above
2. “I now declare the meeting open.” is a (n) D
______
A. dieactive B. commissive
C. expressive D. declaration
 Practice
3. An illocutionary act is identical with ________.
B
A. sentence meaning B. the speaker’s intention
C. language understanding
D. the speaker’s competence
4. The Indirect Speech Act was developed byD _____.
A. John Austin B. Levinson
C. John Lyons D. John Searle
 Practice
5.C_______ is a branch of linguistics which is the stud
y of meaning in the context.
A. Morphology B. Syntax
C. Pragmatics D. Semantics
6. Tautologies like boys are boys and war is war are e
xtreme examples in which the maxim ofA________
is violated.
A. quality B. quantity C. relevance D. manner
 Practice
T( ) A sentence is a grammatical unit and an utterance is a pr
agmatic notion.
( T ) According to Searle’s classification of speech acts, reque
st, order, suggest and advice all belong to the same one ge
neral class because they are all intended by the speaker to
get the learner to do something.
The speech act theory explains the nature of linguistic commu
nication. It says that a speaker, while making an utterance,
is performing three acts simultaneously: a locutionary act,
an______________ illocutionary
act, and a______________ act.
perlocutionary
 Practice
Consider the following dialogue between a man
and his daughter. Try to explain the
illocutionary force in each of the utterances.
[The daughter walks into the kitchen and takes
some popcorn.]
Father: I thought you were practicing your violin.
Daughter: I need to get the [violin] stand.
Father: Is it under the popcorn?
 Practice
The illocutionary force of “I thought you
were practicing your violin” is a criticism of
the daughter for her not practicing the violin.
That of the daughter’s answer is a defense for
herself---I’m going to do that.
And that of father’s retort is a denial of the
daughter’s excuse.
***Principles of Conversation
(Paul Grice)

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 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 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.
In real communication, however, speakers do
not always observe these maxims strictly. W
hen we violate these maxims, in some sit
uations, conversational implicature wi
ll arise.
A: Do you know where Mr. X lives?
B: Somewhere in the southern suburbs of the
city.
(This is said when it is known to both A and B that
B has Mr. X’s address. Thus B is withholding s
ome of the information required and is violating
the maxim of quantity. The implicature produce
d is “I do not wish to tell you where Mr. X live
s.”)

----A:When is Susan’s farewell party

?
----B:Sometime next month.
 A: Would you like to come to
our party tonight?

Violation of Maxim of quality

B: I’m afraid I’m not

feeling so well today.
This is said when both A and B knows that B
is not having any health problem that prevent
him from going to a party. Thus B is saying s
omething that he himself knows to be false an
d is violating the maxim of quality. The impli
cature produced is “ I do not want to go to yo
ur party tonight.”
A: The hostess is an awful bore. Don’t
you think?
B: The roses in the garden are beautiful,
aren’t they?
(This is said when it is known to both A and B that i
t is entirely possible for B to make a comment on th
e hostess, While B is saying something irrelevant to
what A has just said, and violating the maxim of rela
tion. The implicature produced is “I don’t wish to tal
k about the hostess in such a rude manner.”)
A: Shall we get something for the
kids?
B: yes. But I veto I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M.
(This is said when it is known to both A and B
that B has no difficulty in pronouncing the wor
d “ice-cream”. Thus B has violated the maxim
of manner. The implicature produced is “I do
n’t want the kids know we are talking about ic
e-cream”).
 Practice
*** In the following conversation, which max
im(s) does Speaker B seem to violate? An
d what implicature can arise out of this an
swer?
A: What’s the price of your skirt?
B: Pattern is nice.
 Practice
• This is said when it is known to both A an
d B that it is entirely possible for B to tell
A the price of his/her shirt. B’s response is
thus irrelevant to A’s question. Therefore
he/she violates the maxim of relation. The
implicature could be “I don’t wish to tell y
ou the price of my shirt.”
 More practice
Each of the following conversational fragments
is to some degree odd. To what extent can the
oddness be explained by reference to Grice’s
CP and maxims.
 More practice
A: Have you seen Peter today?
B: Well, if I didn’t deny seeing him I
wouldn’t be telling a lie.
In this conversation, Speaker B uses a long
and prolix way to express the meaning of
“Yes, I have”, thus violating the Manner
maxim of “Be brief ( avoid prolixity)”.
 More practice
A: Are you there?
B: No, I’m here.
The oddness of this conversation results
from the exploitation of Quality maxims
in that the speaker B seems to be telling
the truth while deliberately
misinterpreting Speaker A’s “there”.
 More practice
A: Thank you for your help, you’ve been most kind.
B: Yes, I have.
Speaker B’s answer is an instance of exploiting
the Quality maxims. Though logically speaking
it may be true that Speaker B has been helpful to
A, we don’t usually respond to others’ thanks in
this way.
 More practice
A: Can you tell me where Mr. Smith’s office is?
B: Yes, not here.
On one hand, it is an instance of exploiting the
Quality maxims in that Mr. Smith’s office is really
“not here”. On the other hand, Speaker B has
violated the Quantity maxim of being as
informative as is required since A needs more
specific information than “not here”.
 More practice
A: Would you like some coffee?
B: Mary’s beautiful dancer.
It is an indirect way of declining the offer. In
terms of Grice’s maxims, this is a case of
not being relevant.
 More practice
A: Has the postman been?
B: He leant his bicycle against the fence, opened the
gate, strode briskly down the path, stopped to
stroke the cat, reached into his bag, pulled out a
bundle of letters and pushed them through our
letter box.
In this conversation, Speaker B uses a long and
prolix way for the simple answer “Yes, he has”,
and has thus violated the Manner maxim of “ be
brief (avoid prolixity)”.
 More practice
“The Club” is a device for blocking an automobile’s steering w
heel, thus protecting the car from being stolen. And one of
its ads reads:
THE CLUB!
ANTI-theft device for cars
POLICE SAY:
‘USE IT’
OR LOST IT
In terms of the Gricean theory, what maxim is exploited here? F
ind two Chinese ads of the same type.
 More practice
The main maxim exploited here is the Mann
er maxim of “Avoid ambiguity”. The two to
kens of “it” refer to two different things.
Two Chinese ads of similar kind are 买一
送一 and 要想皮肤好，早晚用大宝 .