言语行为.docx

1、言语行为090422 / Week 9Materials for discussion: Yule / Ch6: Speech Acts and EventsPeople perform actions via utterances. For example, the bosss utterance below is more than just a statement: Youre fired.The utterance can be used to perform the act of ending an employment. However, the actions performed

2、 by utterances do not have to be as dramatic / unpleasant as the above. The action can be quite pleasant:a. Youre so delicious. (delightful; charming / a compliment) b. Youre welcome. (an acknowledgement of thanks) c. Youre crazy! (an expression of surprise)Actions performed via utterances are gener

3、ally called speech acts and are given more specific labels: apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, request, etc.The labels / terms for different kinds of speech acts apply to the speakers communicative intention in producing an utterance. Speaker: expecting the recognition of such comm

4、unicative intention by the hearer Speaker and hearer: helped by the circumstances surrounding the utteranceCircumstances (including other utterances): the speech event. In many ways, the speech event determines the interpretation of an utterance as performing a particular speech act. This tea is rea

5、lly cold!Comment:Uttered on a wintry day by a speaker reaching for a cup of tea, it is likely to be interpreted as a complaint. Uttered on a really hot summers day with the speaker being given a glass of iced tea, it is likely to be interpreted as praise. The same utterance can be interpreted as dif

6、ferent kinds of speech act. There is no one utterance to one action correspondence. There is more to the interpretation of a speech act than can be found in the utterance alone.Speech actsThe action performed by producing an utterance consists of three related acts: The locutionary act is the basic

7、act. It is a meaningful linguistic expression.Ive just made some coffee. (meaningful)Cf. Aha mokofa (meaningless)Comment:Meaningless expressions are not regarded as locutionary actsPeople dont just produce well-formed utterances. They form an utterance with a purpose or some kind of function in mind

8、. This is called the illocutionary act. The illocutionary act is performed via the communicative force of an utterance (generally known as the illocutionary force of the utterance).Ive just made some coffee.This utterance can be a statement, an offer, an explanation, or for some other communicative

9、purpose. People usually create an utterance with a function and intends it to have an effect. This is the perlocutionary act (generally known as the perlocutionary effect).Ive just made some coffee.Depending on the circumstances, a speaker will utter the above on the assumption that the hearer will

10、recognize the effect he intended, e.g. to account for a wonderful smell, or to get the hearer to drink some coffee. Of these three dimensions, the most discussed is illocutionary force. In fact, the term speech act is generally interpreted quite narrowly to mean only the illocutionary force of an ut

11、terance (what it counts as). The same locutionary act can count as a prediction, a promise, or a warning. These different analyses of the utterance represent different illocutionary forces.a. Ill see you later. (= A) b. I predict that A. (a prediction) c. I promise you that A. (a promise) d. I warn

12、you that A. (a warning)One problem with the above examples is that the same utterance can potentially have quite different illocutionary forces. How can speakers assume that the intended illocutionary force will be recognized by the hearer? That question has been addressed by considering two things:

13、 Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices and felicity conditions.Glossary: Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID) Indication in the speakers utterance of the communicative force of that utteranceIFIDsThe most obvious device for indicating the illocutionary force is an expression of the type sho

14、wn below, where there is a slot for a verb that explicitly names the illocutionary act being performed. Such a verb can be called a performative verb (Vp). I (Vp) you that Promise and warn would be the performative verbs and, if stated, would be very clear IFIDs. Speakers do not always perform their

15、 speech acts so explicitly, they sometimes describe the speech act being performed. Imagine the following telephone conversation, between a man trying to contact Mary, and Marys friend. Him: Can I talk to Mary? Her: No, shes not here. Him: I am asking youcan I talk to her? Her: And I am telling youS

16、HES NOT HERE!In this scenario, each speaker has described, and drawn attention to, the illocutionary force (ask and tell) of their utterances.Most of the time, there is no performative verb mentioned. Other IFIDs which can be identified are word order, stress, and intonation, as shown in the different versions of the same basic elements (