PRAGMATICS

7. Speech Act Classification

1- DECLARATIONS: speech acts that change the world via
an utterance. The speaker has to have a specific role, in
a specific context, in order to perform a declaration
appropiately.
• “I now pronounce you husband and wife” (Priest)
• “You’re out” (referee)
2- REPRESENTATIVES: speech acts that state what
the speaker believes to be the case or not.

Statements of fact, assertions, conclusions,

descriptions, etc.

• “The Earth is flat.”

• “Chomsky didn’t write about peanuts”.

3- EXPRESSIVES: speech acts that state what
the speaker feels.
They express psychological states and can be
statements of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes,
joy, or sorrow.

• “I’m really sorry!”

• “Congratulations!”
 4- DIRECTIVES: speech acts used to get
someone else to do sth.
They express what the speaker wants. They are:
commands, orders, requests, suggestions.
They can be positive or negative.

• “Gimme a cup of coffee. Make it black”.

• “Don’t touch that”.
• “Could you lend me a pen, please?”
5- COMMISSIVES: speech acts used by speakers to
commit themselves to some future action.

They are: promises, threats, refusals, pledges,

etc.
• “ I’ll be back”.

• “We are going to get it right next time.”

• “We won’t do that”.

 DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

• DIRECT: when there’s a direct relationship

between the structure (declarative,
interrogative, imperative) and its
communicative function (statement, question,
commnad/request.)

• INDIRECT: Indirect relation between the

structure and function.
 Example of indirect speech acts:
• “Move out of the way!” – (the only direct
command.)

• “Do you have to stand in front of the T.V?”(A

question functioning as an indirect command)

• “You’re standing in front of the T.V!”.( a

declarative functioning as an indirect request)
 7. POLITENESS and INTERACTION
• A linguistic interaction is necessarily a social
interaction.
• We take part in a wide range of interactions,
mostly with strangers, where the social
distance determined by external factors is
dominant.
• However, there are other factors, like amount
of imposition or degree of friendliness, which
are often negotiated.
 POLITENESS
• “Polite social behaviour” within a culture. We
assume that participants in an interaction are
generally aware of such cultural norms and principles
of politeness.
Face: the public self-image of a person. It refers to that
emotional and social sense of self that everyone has
and expects the other sto recognize.
Politeness in an interaction can be defined as the
means employed to show awareness of another
person’s face.
 Examples of social distance: respect or
deference
“Excuse, Mr. Buckingham, can I talk to you for a
second?”

Social closeness: friendliness,

camaraderie, or solidarity.
“Hey, Bucky, got a minute?”
 Face Wants: A person’s expectations that their
pulic self-image will be respected.
• If a speaker says sth. that represents a threat
to another individual’s expectations, regarding
self-image, it’s described as a face-
threatening act.
• When someone says an utterance that avoids
a potential threat t a person’s face, it’s called
face-saving act.
Example
A: “I’m going to tell him to stop that awful noise right
now!!” (Face-threatening act)

B: “Perhaps you could just ask him if he’s going to stop

because it’s getting late and we need to sleep…”
(Face- saving act)
 Self and Other: Say nothing
Imagine you arrive at a lecture but you’ve
forgotten a pen to take your notes. You think
that teh person next to you may provide the
solution.
In this scenario, you’re going to be SELF, and the
person next to you OTHER.
You: (look in bag, rummage in, search in pockets)
The Other: “Here, use this.”
That was called a “Say nothing approach”

• Without uttering a word, you have the

intention that your problem will be
recognized.
• Many people prefer to have their needs
recognized by others wihout having to express
those needs in langauge.
• When those needs are in fact recognized,
more has been communicated than was said.
Say something: Off and On record
“Uh, I forgot my pen”
“Hmm, I wonder where I put my pen”
These statements are not directly addressed t
the other. The other can act as if they have not
even been heard.
Off record expressions: utterances not
directly addressed t another one.
 On record experssions: are direct address
froms.
“Give me a pen”
“Lend me your pen”
These are known as bald on record- they’re the
most direct approach, like the use of
imperatives.
Would you lend me a pen, please?” Here we use
mitigating devices, like would and please, that
soften the demand.