Week 2: Speech acts / Social meaning

Speech acts: Birner (2012)

The theory of speech acts involves an intention on the part of the

speaker and an inference on the part of the hearer.

I’m a little cold.

Context: to infer a speaker’s intended meaning. Without this type of

inferencing, it would be impossible to tell whether the speaker intends
to convey an observation about the weather, a request for the hearer to
bring a blanket or close a window, a question about the thermostat
setting, or several of these things at once.
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Some sentences simply communicate or present information, but other
sentences actually do something and exhibit the force of language: they
are speech acts / carry out actions.

By pronouncing these sentences, the speaker is performing an action. Of

course, for the action to take place, the sentences have to be said (or
written or signed) in the correct context and by the correct person.

Example: I hereby sentence you to ten years in jail.

Sentencing/judge at the end of a trial: the only person that can sentence
the defendant (authority).
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Performative sentences: they perform the act of pronouncing,
sentencing, betting, warning, quitting, promising, requesting
information, and ordering.

A speech act involves a “social contract” among the people in a society.

This understanding of who can make a particular pronouncement
resulting in the action uttered in that pronouncement can be
established formally.
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 Social meaning
An utterance has social meaning if it tells us about the social identity of
the speaker. It tells us more information about the speaker than about
the referents. In fact, because the speaker has chosen to phrase it in this
special way, it can be considered a speech act declaring the social
identity of the speaker.

Sentences that have social meaning because they tell the listener
something about the speakers regional origin, social class. or
educational level.
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People often consciously and intentionally consider the social
meaning of their speech when they change from one manner of
speaking to another, according to their circumstances, in order to
give an appropriate impression : code switching

Examples:
•African Americans use of the Standard American variety of English /
African American English.

•Americans wishing to sound more elegant or educated may use a

British-sounding dialect.

•Baby talk.
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 Exercises:
Exercise 1: Performative sentences (p.168-169).
Exercise 2: Analyze the following example.

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Exercise 3: Think about a situation you may have encountered in learning English
in which you either made a mistake that caused a misunderstanding of intentions
(or in which the native speaker caused you to misunderstand his/her intentions).
Was it due to a lack of grammar / vocabulary, mispronunciation, or an error in
speech act? Explain the situation and how it was resolved.

Exercise 4: Write a possible sentence according to each of the following

situations:
•The speaker is a teenager.
•The speaker is an older man.
•The speaker is an educated person.