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1、LecturesixPragmaticsAimsforthislecture1.What is pragmatics?2. Motivations for interests in pragmatics.3. Meaning in pragmatics.4. Common topics in pragmatics1.Whatispragmatics?vFor example:1) A little boy comes in the front door.Mother says: Wipe your feet, please.The little boy removes his muddy sh
2、oes andsocks and carefully wipes his clean feet on the doormat.vWhat is the problem here?1.Whatispragmatics?2) Where does the meaning of girl come from?+human+female+young+unmarried(semantic features)But My little girl was very ill last night. I ended up taking her to an animal doctor.lFrom these ex
3、amples, we find that meaningshould not be seen as a stable counterpart to linguistic form. Rather, it is dynamically generated in the process of using language. Meaning can be studied in semantic and pragmatic fields. Semantics and Pragmatics both deal with meaning, but semantics concentrates on mea
4、ning that comes from purely linguistic knowledge.vIn semantics, the meanings of morphemes and words are defined by their semantic properties, or semantic features, (e.g. girl)vThey are also defined by their semantic relations with other words (-nyms).HomonymsSynonymsAntonyms (complementary, gradable
5、, relational opposites)HyponymsMetonymsvPragmatics concentrates on those aspects of meaning that cannot be predicted by linguistic knowledge alone and takes into account knowledge about the physical and social world or context.Definitions of pragmatics(1) In the early 1980s, the most common definiti
6、ons of pragmatics were: meaning in use or meaning in context. (“too general though accurate enough and perfectly adequate as a starting point”: Thomas, p.2) (2) Pragmatics studies the use of language in human communication as determined by the conditions of society (Jacob L. Mey, 1993, p.6)(3) Pragm
7、atics studies the factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects of our choice on others. (Crystal, 1987, p.120)(4) Pragmatics can be usefully defined as the study of how utterances have meanings in situations.(Leech,1983,p.x)(5) Pragmatics is the study of how more
8、gets communicated than is said. (Blakemore,1992, p.39) (6) At the most elementary level, pragmatics can be defined as the study of language use, or, to employ a somewhat more complicated phrasing, the study of linguistic phenomena from the point of view of their usage properties and processes. (Vers
9、churen,1999)(7) Levinson listed the following definitions (1983) (a) Pragmatics is the study of those principles that will account for why a certain set of sentences are anomalous, or not possible utterances.(p.6)(b) Pragmatics is the study of language from a functional perspective.(c) Pragmatics sh
10、ould be concerned solely with principles of language usage, and have nothing to do with the description of linguistic structure. Pragmatics is concerned solely with performance principles of language use.(d) Pragmatics is the study of those relations between language and context that are grammatical
11、ized, or encoded in the structure of a language.(e) Pragmatics is the study of all aspects of meaning not captured in a semantic theory. Pragmatics has as its topic those aspects of the meaning of utterances which cannot be accounted for by straightforward reference to the truth conditions of the se
12、ntences uttered. Put rudely: PRAGMATICS = MEANING-TRUTH CONDITIONS. (Gazdar (1979a:2) (f) Pragmatics is the study of the relations between language and context that are basic to an account of language understanding (workers in artificial intelligence, understanding an utterance involves making infer
13、ences)(g) Pragmatics is the study of the ability of language users to pair sentences with the contexts in which they would be appropriate.(p.24)(h) Pragmatics is the study of deixis ( at least in part), implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and aspects of discourse structure. vPragmatics is the
14、study of invisible meaning, or how we recognize what is meant even when it isnt actually said (or written). vPragmatics studies how language users put language resources to use.vSuppose someone says “Congratulations.” 1) Phoneticians will study the articulation and intonation of the sentence. 2) Syn
15、tacticians will point out that this is an imperative sentence. 3) Semanticists will be interested in the meaning of the sentence which is a congratulation. 4) Pragmaticists will concentrate on such issues as What is the context of the utterance? Who is the speaker? Who are “you”? Under what circumst
16、ances does the speaker congratulate “you”? What is the speakers intention? Sincerity? or irony?vPragmatics explores the following questions: 1) How do people communicate more than the words or phrases of their utterances might mean by themselves, and how do people make these interpretations? 2) Why
17、do people choose to say and/or interpret something in one way rather than another? 3) How do peoples perception of contextual factors (for example, who the interlocutors are, what their relationship is, and what circumstances they are communicating in) influence the process of producing and interpre
18、ting language?2.Motivationsforinterestinpragmatics1) Reaction or antidote to Chomskys treatment of language as an abstract device, or mental ability, dissociable from the uses, users and functions of language.( competence vs performance; la langue, la parole) (2) Some phenomena can only naturally be
19、 described by recourse to contextual concepts.(3) Presupposition, speech acts, and context-dependent implications require pragmatic solutions.(4)Significant functional explanations can be offered for linguistic facts. (by reference to external factors) (Jakobson: 1960: referential function, emotive
20、function, conative function (wishes), metalinguistic function (code), phatic function, and poetic function( how message is encoded)3.MeaninginPragmaticsvSomeConceptsClarified:(1) Abstract MeaningIt is what a word, a phrase or a sentencecould mean or dictionary meaning. Example 1 A father is trying t
21、o get his 3-year-old daughter to stop lifting up her dress to display her new underwear to the assembled guests. Father: We dont DO that. Daughter: I KNOW, Daddy. You dont WEAR dresses.(2) Sentence meaning and Utterance meaningA sentence is an abstract theoretical entity defined within a theory of g
22、rammar, An utterance is sentence fragment, in an actual context. Each utterance is a unique event created ata particular point in time for a particular purpose. -Sentencemeaning:vAbstract and context-independent meaning;vliteral meaning of a sentence;-Utterancemeaning:vconcrete and context-dependent
23、 meaning; vintended meaning of a speaker; vdepending on who the speaker is, who the hearer is, when and where it is used.vthe speakers communicative intention or purpose. 1)A:Areyougoingtotheseminar?B:Itsonlinguistics.2)A:Wouldyoulikesomecoffee?B:Coffeewouldkeepmeawake.3)A:我带的钱不够，今天买不了。B:那就下次再买吧。For
24、example,“TodayisSunday”.Semantically,itmeansthattodayisthefirstdayoftheweek;Pragmatically,youcanmeanalotbysayingthis,alldependingonthecontextandtheintentionofthespeaker,say,makingasuggestionorgivinganinvitationFor example, “The bag is heavy” can meanvabagbeingheavy(sentencemeaning);vanindirect,polit
25、erequest,askingthehearertohelphimcarrythebag;vthespeakerisdecliningsomeonesrequestforhelp.vNote:Themeaningofanutteranceisbasedonthesentencemeaning;itistherealizationoftheabstractmeaningofasentenceinarealsituationofcommunication,orsimplyinacontext;utterancemeaningisricherthansentencemeaning;itisident
26、icalwiththepurposeforwhichthespeakeruttersthesentence.(3)ContextContextisabasicconceptinthestudyofpragmatics.Itisgenerallyconsideredasconstitutedknowledgesharedbythespeakerandthehearer,suchasculturalbackground,situation(time,place,manner,etc.),therelationshipbetweenthespeakerandthehearer,etc.vLingui
27、sticcontext(co-text)Theco-textofawordisthesetofotherwordsusedinthesamephraseorsentence.Thissurroundingco-texthasastrongeffectonwhatwethinkthewordmeans.vPhysicalcontextOurunderstandingofmuchofwhatwereadorhearistiedtothephysicalcontext,particularlythetimeandplace,inwhichweencounterlinguisticexpression
28、s.vSemantics studies words and sentences, while pragmatics studies utterances.vSemantics studies rules, while pragmatics studies context.vSemantics studies logic, while pragmatics studies natural language use.4. Common topics in pragmaticsv1)Deixisv2)Referencev3)Anaphorav4)Presuppositionv5)Speechact
29、sv6)PolitenessDeixisvDefinition:Deixis: the Greek word meaning “pointing to” or “picking out”.Deictic expressions: are those which derive part of their meaning from their context of utterance.vExample:-Illputthishere.Howdoyouinterpretthemeaningofthis”andhereinthisutterance?vDeixisisclearlyaformofref
30、erringthatistiedtothespeakerscontext,withthemostbasicdistinctionbetweendeicticexpressionsbeingnearspeakerversusawayfromspeaker.Types of deictic expressions(1) Person deixis: I, you, he, etc.(a) “我们我们”和“咱们咱们”1. 我们我们认为这个结论是可靠的。2. 我们我们明年元旦再聚会。3. 小明乖。小明不哭，我们我们/咱们咱们是好孩子。4. 小朋友们别吵，我们我们/咱们咱们都是好孩子。5. 听说咱们咱们
31、厂子今年搞得特别红火。(b) “let us” and “lets(c) Tu and Vous/你你/您您 (social deixis)(2) Place deixis (spatial deixis): here, there, this, that, etc. - Im not here now. -我去你那.- 你到我这来吧. (3) Time (temporal) deixis: yesterday, tomorrow, now, etc. - “I hope youre going to do well this year.” (What is the meaning of “t
32、his year” if a father says this to his son at the beginning of September? Or on October 20, his birthday? Or on Jan. 1,2003? Or on Feb. 1, 2003?)What does “here” and “tomorrow” mean in the following?-“The opportunities of life are here today and gone tomorrow.”What does “today” mean in the following
33、?(1) Todays always a bad day (said on a Monday morning)(2) Ill see to it today.(3) I filled up with petrol today.ReferencevReferenceisanactbywhichaspeaker(writer)useslinguisticformstoenablealistener(reader)toidentifysomething.Itisnotthewordsthemselvesthatrefertoanything.Peoplerefer.vReferringexpress
34、ionscanbepropernouns(e.g.,Shakespeare),nounphraseswhicharedefinite(e.g.,thesinger),andpronouns(e.g.,her,she).vThe choice of one type of referring expression rather than another seems to be based on what the speaker assumes the listener already knows.Reference, then, is clearly tied to the speakers g
35、oals and the speakers beliefs (i.e. can the listener be expected to know that particular something?) in the use of language.vForsuccessfulreferencetooccur,wemustalsorecognizetheroleofinference.Becausethereisnodirectrelationshipbetweenentitiesandwords.vInference:additionalinformationusedbythelistener
36、toconnectwhatissaidtowhatmustbemeant.Examples:1)A.Thecheesesandwichismadewithwhitebread.B.Thecheesesandwichleftwithoutpaying.3)a:CanIborrowyourWangshuo?b:yeah,itisoverthere.AnaphoraExample:vCan I borrow your book?vYeah, its on the table.vThesecondreferringexpressionisanexampleofanaphoraandthefirstme
37、ntioniscalledtheantecedent.vBut,inthefollowingexample:-Peelandslicesixpotatoes.Putthemincoldsaltedwater.-a.Peelanonionandsliceit.b.Droptheslicesintohotoil.c.Cook?forthreeminutes.Mostly, we use anaphora in texts to maintain reference. As with other types of reference, the connection between referent
38、and anaphora may not be direct. Example:I was waiting for the bus, but he just drove by without stopping. SummaryvReferringexpressionsdependentontheco-textandphysicalcontext.vReferenceisnotsimplyaarelationshipbetweenthemeaningofawordorphraseandanobjectorpersonintheworld.Itisasocialact,inwhichthespea
39、kerassumesthatthewordorphrasechosentoidentifyanobjectorpersonwillbeinterpretedasthespeakerintended.vThekeytomakingsenseofreferenceisthatpragmaticprocesswherebyspeakersselectlinguisticexpressionswiththeintentionofidentifyingcertainentitiesandwiththeassumptionthatlistenerswillcollaborateandinterpretth
40、oseexpressionsasthespeakerintended.vSuccessfulreferencemeansthatanintentionwasrecognized,viainference,indicatingakindofsharedknowledgeandhencesocialconnection.vTheassumptionofsharedknowledgeiscruciallyinvolvedinthestudyofpresupposition.PresuppositionvPresuppositions can be defined as inferences abou
41、t what is assumed to be true in the utterance rather than directly asserted to be true.vWhat a speaker assumes is true or is known by the hearer can be described as a presupposition. - Your brother is waiting outside for you. The presupposition is that you have a brother. -When did you stop smoking
42、cigars? The speaker presupposes that you used to smoke cigars, and that you no longer do sovWhendidheleave?vHestoppedsmoking.vPresuppositions are inferences about what is assumed in an utterance rather than directly asserted.vPresuppositions are closely linked to the words and grammatical structures
43、 that are actually used in the utterances and our knowledge about the way language users conventionally interpret them.vPresuppositions can be drawn even when there is little or no surrounding context.v1)Wouldyoulikeantherbeer?v2)whydontpigshavewings?v3)Pleasetakemeoutagain.“Constancy under negation
44、”(Levinson, 1983, p. 185). It is often claimed that presupposition can survive negation. Her successor managed to win the election that followed. This presupposes that her successor tried or that winning the election was not easy. Her successor didnt managed to win the election that followed. This s
45、till presuppose that her successor tried or that the winning the election was not easy.SpeechActsvWhat would you do if you want to:congratulate someonecall someones attention to the TV setforbid someone to enter a roomshow your regret to someone?vWords are actions and we do things by saying.vThe use
46、 of the term speech act covers actions such as requesting, commanding, questioning and informing.v(1) Theres a spider in your hair. (Warning)v(2) Someones eaten all the ice-cream.(Accusing)v(3) Ive got a gun.(Threatening)v(4) Youre an idiot. (Insulting)v(5) I need the salt.(Requesting)vSpeechactisat
47、ermderivedfromtheworkofthephilosopherJ.L.Austin(1962)andnowusedtorefertoatheorywhichanalyzestheroleofutterancesinrelationtothebehaviorofthespeakerandthehearerininterpersonalcommunication.Itaimstoanswerthequestion“Whatdowedowhenusinglanguage?”AccordingtoAustinsnewmodel,aspeakermightbeperformingthreea
48、ctssimultaneouslywhenspeaking:1)locutionaryact2)illocutionaryact3)perlocutionaryact.vThe locutionary act-anactofsayingsomething,i.e.anactofmakingameaningfulutterance(literalmeaningofanutterance);vThe illocutionary act-anactperformedinsayingsomething:insayingX,IwasdoingY(theintentionofthespeakerwhile
49、speaking). vThe perlocutionary act-anactperformedasaresultofsayingsomething:bysayingXanddoingY,IdidZ.For example,“It is cold in here.”vItslocutionaryactisthesayingofitwithitsliteralmeaningtheweatherisclodinhere;vItsillocutionaryactcanbearequestoftheheartoshutthewindow;vItsperlocutionaryactcanbethehe
50、arersshuttingthewindoworhisrefusaltocomplywiththerequest. Note: Ofthethreeacts,whatspeechacttheoryismostconcernedwithistheillocutionaryact.Itattemptstoaccountforthewaysbywhichspeakerscanmeanmorethanwhattheysay.vAnalyzetheillocutionaryactsofthefollowingconversationbetweenacouple:-(thetelephonerings)-
51、H:That the phone. (1)-W:Im in the bathroom. (2)-H:Okay. (3)vThisseeminglyincoherentconversationgoesonsuccessfullybecausethespeakersunderstandeachothersillocutionaryacts:(1)Makingarequestofhiswifetogoandanswerthephone.(2)Arefusaltocomplywiththerequest;issuingarequestofherhusbandtoanswerthephoneinstea
52、d.(3)Acceptingthewifesrefusalandacceptingherrequest,meaning“all right, Ill answer it.”vTwotypesofspeechact1)Directspeechact2)IndirectspeechactvThecrucialdistinctionintheuseofthesetwotypesofspeechactsisbasedonthefactthatindirectcommandsorrequestsaresimplyconsideredmoregentleormorepoliteinoursocietyth
53、andirectcommands.Politeness1)Thereareseveralwaystothinkofpoliteness.Thesemightinvolveideaslikebeingtactful,modestandnicetootherpeople.Inthestudyoflinguisticpoliteness,themostrelevantconceptisface.2)Faceisyourpublicself-image.Thisistheemotionalandsocialsenseofselfthateverypersonhasandexpectseveryonee
54、lsetorecognize.3)Politenessisshowingawarenessofanotherpersonsface.Brown and Levinsons (1978/1987) Face Model of Politeness.Elements in Face Model of Politeness1) Face and Face want2) Face-threatening and Face-saving act3) Positive face and Negative face4) Negative politeness and Positive Politeness1
55、)FaceandFacewantvThey define “face” as “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself”.vIn everyday interaction, people expected their self-image or their fact wants will be respected. 2) Face-threatening and Face-saving actvIfyousaysomethingthatrepresentsathreattoanotherpersons
56、self-image,thatiscalledaface-threateningact.vWheneveryousaysomethingthatlessensthepossiblethreattoanothersface,itscalledaface-savingact.vImaginealatenightscene,whereayoungneighbourisplayinghismusicveryloudandanoldercouplearetryingtosleep.Oneofthem,proposesafacethreateningactandtheothersuggestsafaces
57、avingact.Him:Imgoingtotellhimtostopthatawfulnoiserightnow!Her:Perhapsyoucouldjustaskhimifheisgoingtostopsoonbecauseitsgettingabitlateandpeopleneedtogettosleep.3)PositivefaceandNegativefacevBrown and Levinson draw a distinction between positive face and negative face. vPositive face reflects every pe
58、rsons need to be connected, to belong, to be a member of the group, and negative face reflects every persons rights to freedom of action and freedom from imposition.vIn simple words, negative face is the need to be independent and positive face is the need to be connected.4)NegativePolitenessandPosi
59、tivePolitenessAfacesavingactwhichisorientedtothepersonsnegativefacewilltendtoshowdeference,emphasizetheimportanceoftheotherstimeorconcerns,andevenincludeanapologyfortheimpositionorinterruption.Thisisalsocallednegativepoliteness.Forexample:1)Couldyoulendmeapen?2)Isorrytobotheryou,butcanIaskyouforapen?vAfacesavingactwhichisconcernedwiththepersonspositivefacewilltendtoshowsolidarity,emphasizethatbothspeakerswantthesamething,andthattheyhaveacommongoal.Thisiscalledpositivepoliteness.vForexample:1)Comeon.Letsgototheparty.
