语言学How to do things with words.docx

语言学How to do things with words.docx

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语言学Howtodothingswithwords

Howtodothingswithwords

（1）

HowtoDoThingswithWords

（1）

b.Areyouserving?

c.Hello.

d.Sixpintsofstoutandapacketofpeanuts,please!

e.Givemethedryroastedones.

f.Howmuch?

Areyouserious?

Suchsentencesarenotdescriptionsandcannotbesaidtobetrueorfalse.Austin'ssecondobservationwasthateveninsentenceswiththegrammaticalformofdeclaratives,notallareusedtomakestatements.Austinidentifiedasubsetofdeclarativesthatarenotusetomaketrueorfalsestatements,suchasintheexamplesbelow:

a.Ipromisetotakeataxihome.

b.Ibetyoufivepoundsthatheget'sbreathalysed.

c.Ideclarethismeetingopen.

d.Iwarnyouthatlegalactionwillensue.

e.InamethisshipTheFlyingDutchman.

Austinclaimedofthesesentencesthattheywereinthemselvesakindofaction:

thusbyuttering:

Ipromisetotakeataxihome.aspeakermakesapromiseratherthanjustdescribingone.Thiskindofutterancehecalledperformativeutterances:

intheseexamplestheyperformtheactionnamedbythefirstverbinthesentence,andwecaninserttheadverbherebytostressthisfunction,e.g.Iherebyrequestthatyouleavemyproperty.Wecancontrastperformativeandnon-performativeverbsbythesetwofeatures.Aspeakerwouldnotforexampleexpecttheutteringof（a）belowtoconstitutetheactionofcookingacake,or（d）theactionofstartingacar.Thesesentencesdescribeactionsindependentofthelinguisticact.Accordinglytheuseofherebywiththesesentences.

a.Icookthiscake.

b.?

Iherebycookthiscake.

d.Istartthiscar.b.?

Iherebystartthiscar.

Evaluatingperformativeutterances

Austinarguedthatitisnotusefultoaskwhetherperformativeutteranceslikethoseabovearetrueornot,ratherweshouldaskwhethertheyworkornot:

dotheyconstituteasuccessfulwarning,bet,ship-namingetc.?

InAustin'sterminologyaperformativethatworksiscalledfelicitousandonethatdoesnotisinfelicitous.Forthemtowork,suchperformativeshavetosatisfythesocialconventionsforaveryobviousexample,IcannotrenameashipbywalkinguptoitindockandsayingInamethisshiptheFlyingDutchman.Lessexplicitly,therearesocialconventionsgoverningthegivingoforderstoco-workers,greetingstrangers,etc.Austin'snamefortheenablingconditionsforaperformativeisfelicityconditions.Examiningthesesocialconventionsthatsupportperformatives,itisclearthatthereisagradientbetweenperformativesthatarehighlyinstitutionalized,orevenceremonial,requiringsophisticatedandveryovertsupport,liketheexampleofajudgepronouncingsentence,throughtolessformalactslikewarning,thanking,etc.Todescribetheroleoffelicityconditions,Austin（1975:

25-38）wroteaverygeneralschema:

HowtoDoThingswithWords

（2）

·Theremustexistanacceptedconventionalprocedurehavingacertainconventionaleffect,theproceduretoincludetheutteringofcertainwordsbycertainpersonsincertaincircumstances...

·Theparticularpersonsandcircumstancesmustbeappropriatefortheinvocationoftheparticularprocedureinvoked...

·Theproceduremustbeexecutedbyalltheparticipantscorrectly...

·...andcompletely...

Austinwentontoaddsincerityclauses:

firstlythatparticipantsmusthavetherequisitethoughts,feelingsandintentions,asspecifiedbytheprocedure,andsecondly,thatifsubsequentconductiscalledfor,theparticipantsmustsoconductthemselves.Ifthespeechactisunsuccessfulbyfailingthe

（1）or

（2）conditionsabove,thenhedescribeditasamisfire.ThusmycasuallyrenaminganyshipvisitingDublindocksisamisfirebecause

（2）aboveisnotadheredto.Iftheactisinsincerelyperformed,thenhedescribeditasanabuseofaspeechact,asforexamplesayingIbet...withnointentiontopay,orIpromise...whenIalreadyintendtobreakthepromise.Linguists,asopposedtophilosophers,havetendednottobesointerestedinthissecondtypeofinfelicity,sincetheprimaryspeechacthas,inthesecases,beensuccessfullycommunicated.

Explicitandimplicitperformatives

Lookingatexamplesofperformativeutterancesearlier,wecansaythattheyarecharacterizedbyspecialfeatures:

a.Theytendtobeginwithafirstpersonverbinaformwecoulddescribeassimplepresent:

Ibet,Iwarn,etc.

b.Thisverbbelongstoaspecialclassdescribingverbalactivitiesforexample:

promise,warn,sentence,name,bet,pronounce.

c.Generallytheirperformativenaturecanbeemphasizedbyinsertingtheadverbhereby,asdescribedearlier,thusIherebysentenceyouto....

Utteranceswiththesecharacteristicswecancallexplicitperformatives.TheimportanceofspeechacttheoryliesinthewaythatAustinandothersmanagedtoextendtheiranalysisfromtheseexplicitperformativestootherutterances.Thefirststepwastopointoutthatinsomecasesthesamespeechactseemstobeperformedbutwitharelaxationofsomeofthespecialcharacteristicsmentionedabove.Weregularlymeetutteranceslikethosebelow,wherethisisso:

a.Youare（hereby）chargedwithtreason.

b.Passengersarerequestedtoavoidjumpingoutoftheaircraft.

c.Fivepoundssayshedoesn'tmakethesemi-final.HowtoDoThingswithWords（3）

·Comeupandseemesometime.

Wecaneasilyprovidethesentencesabovewithcorrespondingexplicitperformatives,asbelow:

1.I（hereby）chargeyouwithtreason.

2.Werequestthatpassengersavoidjumpingoutoftheaircraft.

3.Ibetyoufivepoundsthathedoesn'tmakethesemi-final.

4.Iinviteyoutocomeupandseemesometime.

Itseemsreasonabletosaythatthesentences（a-d）couldbeutteredtoperformthesamespeechactsasthosein（1-4）.Infactitseemsthatnoneofthespecialcharacteristicsofperformativeutterancesisindispensabletotheirperformance.Howthendowerecognizetheseotherperformatives,whichwecancallimplicitperformatives?

AnswerstothishavevariedsomewhatinthedevelopmentofthetheorybutAustin'soriginalcontentionwasthatitwasanutterance'sabilitytobeexpandedtoanexplicitperformativethatidentifieditasaperformativeutterance.Austindiscussedatlengththevariouslinguisticmeansbywhichmoreimplicitperformativescouldbemarked,includingthemoodoftheverb,auxiliaryverbs,intonation,etc.Weshallnotfollowthedetailofhisdiscussionhere;seeAustin（1975:

53-93）.Ofcoursewesoonendupwithasituationwherethemajorityofperformativesareimplicit,needingexpansiontomakeexplicittheirforce.Onepositiveadvantageofthistranslationstrategyisthatitfocusesattentiononthetaskofclassifyingtheperformativeverbsofalanguage.Fornow,thebasicclaimisclear:

explicitperformativesareseenasmerelyaspecializedsubsetofperformativeswhosenatureasspeechactsismoreunambiguousthanmost.

Statementsasperformatives

Austin'soriginalpositionwasthatperformatives,whicharespeechactssubjecttofelicityconditions,aretobecontrastedwithdeclarativesentences,whicharepotentiallytrueorfalsedescriptionsofsituations.Thelatterweretermedconstatives.However,ashisanalysisdeveloped,hecollapsedthedistinctionandviewedthemakingofstatementsasjustanothertypeofspeechact,whichhecalledsimplystating.Again,weneedn'tfollowhislineofargumentcloselyhere:

seeAustin（1975:

133-47）andthediscussioninSchiffrin（1994:

50-4）.Insimpleterms,Austinarguedthatthereisnotheoreticallysoundwaytodistinguishbetweenperformativesandconstatives.Forexample,thenotionoffelicityappliestostatementstoo:

statementswhichareoddbecauseofpresuppositionfailure,likethesentenceThekingofFranceisbalddiscussedearlier,areinfelicitousbecausethespeakerhasviolatedtheconventionsforreferringtoindividuals（i.e.thatthelistenercanidentifythem）.Thisinfelicitysuspendsourjudgmentofthetruthorfalsityofthesentence:

itisdifficulttosaythatThekingofFranceisbaldisfalseinthesamewayasThepresidentofFranceisawoman,eventhoughtheyarebothnottrueatthetimeofwritingthis.Sowearriveataviewthatallutterancesconstitutespeechactsofonekindoranother.Forsomethetypeofactisexplicitlymarkedbytheircontainingaverblabelingtheact,warn,bet,name,suggest,protestetc.;othersaremoreimplicitlysignaled.Somespeechactsaresouniversalandfundamentalthattheirgrammaticalizationistheprofoundoneofthedistinctionintosentencetypeswementionedearlier.Intheircross-linguisticsurveyofspeechactsSadockandZwicky（1985:

160）observe:

Itisinsomerespectsasurprisingfactthatmostlanguagesaresimilarinpresentingthreebasicsentencetypeswithsimilarfunctionsandoftenstrikinglysimilarforms.Thesearethedeclarative,interrogative,andimperative.Asafirstapproximation,thesethreetypescanbedescribedasfollows:

Thedeclarativeisusedformakingannouncements,statingconclusions,makingclaims,relatingstories,andsoon.Theinterrogativeelicitsaverbalresponsefromtheaddressee.Itisusedprincipallytogaininformation.Theimperativeindicatesthespeaker'sdesiretoinfluencefutureevents.Itisofserviceinmakingrequests,givingorders,makingsuggestions,andthelike.

Thoughtheauthorsgoontodiscussthemanydetaileddifferencesbetweentheusesofthesemainformsinindividuallanguages,itseemsthatsentencetypeisabasicmarkerofprimaryperformativetypes.

Thisconclusionthatallutteranceshaveaspeechactforcehasledtoawidespreadviewthattherearetwobasicpartstomeaning:

theconventionalmeaningofthesentence（oftendescribed