Pragmatics • Meeting a Famous Person • Last Words Before Getting Murdered… Speech Act Theory

Home , Felicity (pragmatics), Locutionary act

“Oh! It’s you!”

PBI408 Contexts: Advance Linguistics 1st half year 2012

• Annoying boss at party • 2 friends with the same name Pragmatics • Meeting a famous person • Last words before getting murdered… Speech Act Theory

By Siti Mahripah, M.App.Ling. An infinite number of possibilities…

Oh! It’s you! Hi Stephen

I wanted to post my ppts on the site for the students, but I can't find a way in. Can you do it?

Different meaning – different phonology

Hi Stephen Hi Stephen

I wanted to post my ppts on the site for the I wanted to post my ppts on the site for the students, but I can't find a way in. students, but I can't find a way in. Do you know how to do it? Can you do it? I'm attaching the file - perhaps you could upload it for me? Thanks

Jill

1 Dear Dr Murray, Dear Dr Murray,

My name is ______My name is ______

I would like to know whether LING904 will be I would like to know whether LING904 will be available externally semester 1 2008. available externally semester 1 2008. If so, would you use both web ct and i- If so, would you use both web ct and i- lectures for distance students. …. lectures for distance students…..

I hope to hear from you soon. I hope to hear from you soon

Regards ______Regards ______

In this session we will consider… Major figures in Speech Act Theory • Key figures in speech act theory John Austin • Speech acts and speech events How to Do Things with • Felicity conditions Words. The William James Lectures delivered at • Direct and indirect speech acts Harvard University in 1955. • Classifying speech acts (published in 1962) • Applying speech act analysis to texts • Cross cultural implications of speech act theory

Major figures in Speech Act Theory Major figures in Speech Act Theory

John Austin John Austin How to Do Things with How to Do Things with Words. The William James Words. The William James Lectures delivered at Lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955. Harvard University in 1955. (published in 1962) (published in 1962)

"Whenmay we hope to see your "Whenmay we hope to see your Harvard lectures published sir?“ Harvard lectures published sir?“ "You may hope to see them published any time"

2 Constative and performative utterances Major figures in Speech Act Theory

John Searle Constative utterances can be true or false Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, e.g. “There’s a bull in the published in 1969. – field.” extended Austin’s work. uttering the words does not usually affect the truth of the utterance.

Constative and performative utterances Constative and performative utterances

Performative utterances Performative utterances cannot be true or false cannot be true or false The uttering of the words is The uttering of the words is But can be part of doing the action. part of doing the action. felicitous or e.g. “I now pronounce you e.g. “I now pronounce you infelicitous man and wife.” man and wife.”

“I hereby name this ship the “I hereby name this ship the Titanic” Titanic”

A speech act has three different kinds of FORCE

Felicitous means that they are uttered by someone who has the power to utter them, • locutionary in a context in which they have the power • illocutionary to function effectively. • perlocutionary

3 “There’s a bull in the field.” can perform the “There’s a bull in the field.” • Locutionary act – the speech act that • Illocutionary act – that act can mean…. act of making meaning goes beyond just of making an utterance with (meaning in the stating the fact. a certain force contributing traditional, literal sense a particular type of - the propositional interactional move to a content of an conversation: warning, utterance.) advising, suggesting, promising, requesting

A speech act has three different kinds of FORCE “There’s a bull in • Perlocutionary act : the field.” can the psychological consequences result in the of the utterance To sum up: action… • what is achieved by the utterance – e.g. the utterance results in in • Locutionary – propositional meaning(s) deterring the listener from doing something , • Illocutionary- speakers intended or in influencing them to do it… effect(s) (in this case to leave the field quickly) • Perlocutionary – the psychological effect(s) on the hearer (intended or not)

Discussion: Consider the utterances: Four types of felicity conditions 1. “You’re fired” 2. “I sentence you to ten years hard labour” (Searle) 3. “The weather will be fine tomorrow” • Propositional content rules, which specify 4. “Would you like to come to my party” the kind of meaning expressed by the

Imagine a context where these could be said. propositional part of the utterance (e.g., For 3 and 4, what is the probable speaker intent? promises refer to future acts by speakers) (Illocutionary force) • Preparatory rules, which specify the What are the probable effects on the hearer? (perlocutionary force) prerequisites to the performance of a speech act (e.g., thanking depends on the speaker Who would the speaker have to be, for the speech acts to be to be effective? being aware of a past benefit); the speaker Under what circumstances would they have to be said to be having the right to perform the speech act effective?

4 Also: • Sincerity rules, which specify what must obtain if the speech act is to be sincerely performed (e.g., apologies presume being • Conditions of execution sorry); the ritual or other action may accompany a speech act, and without it the speech act • Essential rules, which specify what the does not “count”. speech act must conventionally ‘count as’ (e.g., warnings count as undertakings that some future event is not in your best interest).

Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising. Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising.

[ I promise that ]

“I’ll be home before midnight.” “I’ll be home before midnight.”

Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising. Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising.

Involved in the act are: Involved in the act are: • A speaker - S • A speaker - S • A hearer – H

5 Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising. Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising.

Involved in the act are: Involved in the act are: • A speaker - S • A speaker - S • A hearer – H • A hearer – H • A literal utterance - T • A literal utterance - T • A proposition ‘that p’

Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising. Felicity conditions for the speech act of promising.

Involved in the act are: Involved in the act are: • A speaker - S • A speaker - S • A hearer – H • A hearer - H • A literal utterance - T • A literal utterance - T • A proposition ‘that p’ • A proposition ‘that p’ • A future act A • A future act A • Some knowledge K

Conditions that apply are: 1. Normal input and output conditions PREPARATORY CONDITIONS Intelligible speaking, absence of deafness, 4. aphasia …. H would prefer S doing A to her not doing 2. S expresses the proposition ‘that p’ in the A, utterance of T S believes H would prefer her doing A to The proposition can be isolated from the rest of T her not doing A. and recognised in it. 3. In expressing ‘that p’ S predicates a future act A The speaker thinks the hearer wants her to of S do it (rather than not do it) The speaker says she will perform a future action.

6 5. It is not obvious to both S and H that S SINCERITY CONDITION will do A in the normal course of 6. S intends to do A events. ( this also implies a belief that it is possible)

(it is not something she would have done anyway.)

ESSENTIAL CONDITION 7. S intends that the utterance of T will 8. (slightly simplified from Searle’s version) place her under the obligation to do S intends to produce in H the A. knowledge K that the utterance of T is to count as placing S under an obligation to do A. Because she has said it, she is obliged i.e. it’s not a promise if the speaker to do it. doesn’t intend the hearer to understand that it’s a promise

In everyday language, we can express these conditions as: 9. The rules of the dialect spoken by S • A speaker says he will perform a future action. and H are such that T is correctly and • He intends to do it. sincerely uttered if and only if • He believes he can do it. conditions 1-8 are met. • He thinks it is not something he would have done anyway in his normal course of action. i.e. S uses a form such that the words • He thinks the addressee wants him to do it (rather chosen are ones that can be uttered in than not do it). that language to make a promise and all • He intends to place himself under an obligation to the above conditions apply. do it by uttering it. • Speaker and hearer understand English; can hear etc.

7 TASK 1 Asking a question about proposition P: Without trying to classify them into types, what would be the felicity conditions – i.e., conditions of situational appropriateness for: 1. Asking a question about proposition P: 2. Making a request (for action A) 3. Commanding H to do an action A 4. Making criticisms of H’s past actions

Asking a question about proposition P: Asking a question about proposition P: • S does not know P • S does not know P • S wants to know P

Asking a question about proposition P: Asking a question about proposition P: • S does not know P • S does not know P • S wants to know P • S wants to know P • S believes that H knows P • S believes that H knows P • S believes that H is willing to provide information about P

8 How is this different to Making a request (for action A) commanding H to do an action A? • S wants A to be done ( same as request) • S wants A to be done • S believes that A has not yet been done • S wants H to do A (same) • S believes H can do A (same) • S believes that A has not yet been done • S believes H is willing to doA (not relevant, so • S believes H can do A leave this out ) • S believes H was not going to do A anyway • S believes H is willing to doA (same) • S believes H was not going to do A • S has the power to ask H to do A (in the case anyway of a command - to compel) • H does not have the power to refuse (unlike a • S has the power to ask H to do A request) • H has the power to refuse

Making criticisms of H’s past actions Defining speech acts • H has performed A in the past • A Speech Act is an act performed using • S knows H has performed A language (e.g., to give orders; to make • S believes A has or will have a bad requests; etc.). • A Speech Act is an utterance which has consequence both a propositional meaning and an • S has the power to voice her beliefs to H illocutionary force (Thus, a Speech Act is an utterance defined in terms of intention • H may accept or reject S’s expressed and/or effect). belief • Speech Acts can be defined by their felicity conditions.

Speech act type Direction S = of fit speaker Classifying speech acts X = situation Declarations Words S causes Words change the Searle described 5 basic classes of change the X state of the world - speech act. world as in performatives Yule (1996) adapted these to show the direction of fit between the speech act and the world. Representatives Make S believes Describe a state of words fit X affairs in the world – the world a claim, an assertion, a report

9 When the felicity conditions for a Expressives Make words S feels X S expresses fit the world feelings or speech act are not met: attitudes, thanks, congratulations • Either some misunderstanding has Directives Make the S wants X Has the function of world fit getting H to do occurred words something - request, order or Commissives Make the S intends Action as result of world fit X S having uttered • the real meaning is something else. words the words - promise INDIRECT SPEECH ACT

Indirect speech acts Identifying indirect speech acts

• A performative cannot be an indirect • Can I get a lift home with you? speech act. • Would you mind giving me a lift home? • An indirect speech act has a literal • I’m not sure how I’m going to get meaning which is different from its home….I’ve missed the bus. intended meaning. • Is that your car? • Felicity conditions are violated for the literal meaning but not for the intended meaning.

However the felicity conditions on requests Could you give me a lift home? are not violated. Literally, S questions H about P • S requests H to do A (action): but the felicity conditions • S believes A has not yet been done. • S believes that H is able to do A. • S does not know the truth about P. • S believes that H is willing to do A-type • S wants to know the truth about P. things for S. • S wants A to be done. are not met.

10 Why use indirect speech acts? TASK 2 • Framing the request as a question thus • Consider the dialogue from the film Four allows the hearer the opportunity to more Weddings and a Funeral gracefully decline. • Perhaps the speaker has the power to • Look at the most basic meaning of each make the hearer do the action but does utterance in terms of the speech acts it not want to make a show of that power by could perform. making a direct request. • Is this how it is used in the dialogue? • Perhaps the speaker is unsure about • For each one, identify what the speaker whether the hearer will be willing to do the really means to convey. action and doesn’t want to risk losing face

Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) MEANING MEANING(S) Apologising Apologising Attracting attention Excuse me Excuse me Apologising Apologising (slight irony??) Sorry to interrupt Sorry to interrupt

Do you have the wedding Do you have the wedding list for Banks? list for Banks?

Shop assistant: Shop assistant: Certainly, sir. Certainly, sir.

Lots of beautiful things ? Lots of beautiful things for around about the for around about the thousand pound mark. thousand pound mark.

Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) MEANING MEANING(S) Apologising Attracting attention Apologising Attracting attention Excuse me Excuse me Apologising (slight irony??) Apologising (slight irony??) Sorry to interrupt Sorry to interrupt

Do you have the wedding Questioning Do you have the wedding Questioning Requesting list for Banks? list for Banks?

Shop assistant: Shop assistant: Certainly, sir. Certainly, sir.

Lots of beautiful things Lots of beautiful things for around about the for around about the thousand pound mark. thousand pound mark.

11 Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) MEANING MEANING(S) Apologising Attracting attention Apologising Attracting attention Excuse me Excuse me Apologising (slight irony??) Apologising (slight irony??) Sorry to interrupt Sorry to interrupt

Do you have the wedding Questioning Requesting Do you have the wedding Questioning Requesting list for Banks? list for Banks?

Shop assistant: Agreeing Shop assistant: Agreeing Complying with Certainly, sir. Certainly, sir. request

Lots of beautiful things Lots of beautiful things for around about the for around about the thousand pound mark. thousand pound mark.

Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) Apologising Attracting attention Excuse me Apologising (slight irony??) Sorry to interrupt • Charles: What about things around the Do you have the wedding Questioning Requesting sort of fifty pound mark? list for Banks? Is there much?

Shop assistant: Agreeing Complying with request Certainly, sir. • Shop assistant: Well, you could get that Lots of beautiful things Providing Suggesting Pygmy warrior over there. for around about the information/ Commenting thousand pound mark. • Charles: This? Excellent!

Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) What about things Questioning Asking for a around the sort of fifty suggestion? pound mark? • Shop assistant: …if you could find someone to chip in the other three Is there much? Questioning Acknowledging that a suggestion thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds. is unlikely? Shop assistant: Suggesting ? Well, you could get that Or our carrier bags are one pound fifty Pygmy warrior over each. there. Charles: Asking for ? confirmation Why don't you just get 33 of them? This? Accepting a Excellent! suggestion

12 Shop assistant: SURFACE UNDERLYING …if you could find MEANING MEANING(S) someone to chip in the Providing Expressing clarification derision other three thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds. • Charles:

Well, I think I’ll probably leave it. Or our carrier bags are Providing Expressing one pound fifty each. information/ derision Commenting Thanks very much. You’ve been very…. Why don't you just get 33 Suggesting Expressing of them? derision

Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S)

• Suddenly Carrie appears in the shop. Well, I think I’ll probably Predicting Expressing intent leave it. • Carrie: What did you get?

Thanks very much. Thanking ? • Charles: Blimey! Well, I never! You’ve been very…. complimenting Nothing yet. (incomplete) • I'm just, you know, deciding.

SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S)

• Carrie: Carrie: What did you Questioning Questioning It's nice to see you. get?

Charles: Blimey! Well, I Expressing ? • Charles: never! surprise It's nice to see you. Answering a Nothing yet. question (providing • Carrie: information) This present thing is great. I'm just, you know, Elaborating. ? I should've gotten married years ago. deciding. (providing information)

13 SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) • (to shop assistant) Anybody get the Pygmy? Carrie: Greeting/ It's nice to see you. Expressing feelings • Shop assistant: Charles: Expressing Indicating that • The young man thought about it... It's nice to see you. feelings feelings are similar??

Carrie: This present thing Expressing ? Probably just making Carrie: regret about a casual conversation, is great – I should’ve got but there is a slight hint past action • No! married years ago that maybe she should have married • Just get me an ashtray. Charles… • Are you free for about a half-hour?

Carrie: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) • Charles: Anybody get the Pygmy? Questioning Yeah. I'm meeting my brother, but I can be a bit Shop assistant: Answering The young man thought late…. about it... Carrie: Expressing Expressing surprise/ surprise/ disbelief • Carrie: No! disbelief • Oh good – Just get me an ashtray. Commanding/ Commanding reassuring? • come with me Are you free for about a Questioning Preparation for half-hour? inviting • I have an important decision to make

Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING Charles: SURFACE UNDERLYING MEANING MEANING(S) MEANING MEANING(S)

Yeah. I'm Accepting Yeah. I'm Accepting meeting my brother, but I invitation meeting my brother, but I invitation can be a bit late…. can be a bit late…. Carrie: Carrie: imperative Oh good – Oh good – Commanding Commanding/ Commanding Commanding/ come with me Inviting come with me Inviting I have an important Elaborating I have an important Elaborating decision to make decision to make

14 TASK 3 TASK 3 In the light of Wierzbicka’s article on Polish and English, consider the following questions. • Are being “direct” and being “polite” the same thing? Speech acts and cross cultural • In English the speech act behind “Would you like a beer?” is most likely to be an offer, but a literal translation into Polish would be interpreted communication differently. Think about a language you know. How are offers and invitations made? • What is meant by “polite pessimism?” Does it exist in any other language you know? ( see Task sheet) • What speech acts in English are made using imperatives? How is this different in other languages you know? • How would an English exclamation like “Isn’t it lovely!” be understood if it were translated literally into Polish? What about other languages? • How can the different choices in directness and indirectness lead to perceptions that people from some cultures are more polite than others? Why is this not true?

Wierzbicka quotes Searle: And disagrees…

Wierzbicka 2002:61

Source: Murray, J. (2009). Week two: Speech Act Theory [Powerpoint slides]. Unpublished manuscript, LING904. Macquaire Unviersity, Sydney, Australia.