Pragmatics: How do we speak appropriately and politely?

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1 Pragmatics: How do we speak appropriately and politely? LOGO Dr Wang Lixun Dept. of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies EdUHK, 17 March 2018

2 Pragmatics: study of speaker meaning What do speakers really mean? Overview Literal vs. real meaning Appropriacy of our speech The Cooperative Principle The Politeness Principle

3 At Oscars: Who are you wearing today?

4 Who are you wearing today? Dior Gucci Ralph Lauren Marc Jacobs Valentino Dolce & Gabbana Yves Saint Laurent Givenchy

5 Crosswords Paul: Is Hugh any good at crosswords? Father: He uses a pen.

6 German army Reporter: Did the German army respect the Canadians? Father: They used volunteers against us.

7 I m hungry Food What does it mean if said in the kitchen to a mother by a child who has just come home from school. How do you know? Can I have something to eat please?

8 Food I m hungry What does it mean if spoken by a child at the end of the meal, when s/he has finished a bowl/plate of food? Can I have some more please?.

9 I m hungry Food? Spoken by a wife to her husband who is watching a football match on TV when they had planned to go out for dinner. Come on, let s go. Switch off the telly and pay attention to me!

10 I m in the bath A: The phone s ringing. B: I m in the bath. A: OK. Can you make sense of this conversation? How? Is grammar helpful? Could a computer understand this? What information would need to be programmed in?

11 In a HK restaurant A : Excuse me. Are you the roast beef or the chicken curry? B. I m the chicken curry. A: Here you go.

12 Pragmatics What we are looking at here is Pragmatics which deals with speaker meaning This analyses what people mean by their utterances and concerns the intentions of the language user and how we can understand this meaning This can be contrasted with Semantics, which concerns literal meaning

13 Semantic and Pragmatic Meaning literal fixed/abstract de-contextualised dictionary surface easily subverted implied of a particular utterance in a particular place at a particular time for a particular purpose context-dependent

14 Semantic Meaning Very easily changed/ subverted e.g. just by raised eyebrows, intonation E.g. Thank you Sincere gratitude Polite noise / acknowledgement of service Used in an ironic way F1: Massa congratulates Hamilton after a crash:

15 Context, context, context Pragmatic meaning depends on context or situation Language is always used in context for an intended purpose From the given examples we have studied, please say what elements are important for context

16 Elements of context How Who Why Context Where What When

17 Elements of context: Who Age Gender Race Who Profession Relationship Social class

18 Elements of context: When Day Night Now When Past/Future Before After

19 Elements of context: Where Indoor Outdoor Home Where Workplace City Countryside

20 Elements of context: What Business Leisure Sports What Health Science Arts

21 Elements of context: Why Request Persuade Inform Why Consult Threaten Warn

22 Elements of context: How Calm Excited/Angry Soft voice How Loud voice Facial expressions Body gestures

23 Dating language Watch a video clip Friends (Episode 103) The pragmatic meaning is often very different from the semantic meaning.

24 Register Register is affected by context factors such as: power distance solidarity size of imposition These factors affect what you actually say The register may be formal, neutral, informal/colloquial

25 So, what do you say? Prof Cheung comes into the room/ a friend comes into the room. You are in a restaurant but have forgotten your wallet and have to ask to borrow money from your friend for the meal. You want to use the phone a) at a house in the UK b) in a flat in HK

26 Appropriacy Hymes (1971) discussing communicative competence, says: -There are rules of use without which rules of grammar would be useless - Context is always vital for real-life meaning

27 Negotiation Grice (1975,1978) suggests that in normal conversation people cooperate in naming topics and work together to construct a conversation acceptable to all participants. There are, of course, exceptional cases when this principle does not apply. Can you think of some?

28 The Cooperative Principle Grice (1975, 1978) also suggests normal cooperative conversation is governed by 4 maxims

29 The 4 Maxims Quality Quantity Be true Be brief Relation Be relevant Be clear Manner

30 Breaking of maxims: textbooks Do Grice s maxims apply? Which maxim is broken here? Low truth value or.? What is your name? My name is Mee Ling. Where do you live. I live in Yuen Long. How old are you? I am 12 years old. What do you do in your free time? In my free time I sleep. (Maxim of quantity (be brief) is not followed)

31 Breaking of maxims: textbooks Pete: Do you like autumn, Bob? Bob: No I don t. It s a dull season. The grass is yellow. The leaves fall from the trees. It often rains. It s often cold. I like winter and summer. In summer the days are longer and warmer and the nights are shorter than in autumn. Pete: But I like autumn. I think it s a beautiful season. I like to go to the forest in autumn. It s so beautiful! You can see all colours in the forest in autumn the leaves are green, yellow, red and brown. There are lots of fruit and vegetables in autumn: apples and pears, plums and grapes, carrots and cabbages, cucumbers and tomatoes. I think it s a very tasty season! (Maxim of quantity (be brief) is not followed)

32 Breaking of Maxims on purpose Although in principle we should follow the 4 maxims in order to be cooperative, in reality we often break these maxims on purpose for different reasons. To be less direct To create humor To be polite Euphemism

33 TV comedy: why so funny? Friends (Episode 103) Rachel the waitress serving coffee Maxim being broken here?

34 TV comedy: why so funny? Friends (Episode 107) Stranded in ATM vestibule after a blackout Maxim being broken here?

35 TV comedy: why so funny? Rachel (looking worried and searching everywhere): Has anybody seen my engagement ring? Phoebe: Yeah, it's beautiful. Maxim being broken here?

36 Your turn: a quiz Which maxims are being broken in the following, and why? I think I ll go for a W-A-L-K (spelling the word in front of the dog). He was wearing his birthday suit (a euphemism). Yes, it suits you perfectly (husband s response to a wife s enquiry about a new dress). Child: I m going to watch the Simpsons now. Parent: What was that Maths homework you said you had. (adapted from Cook, 1989, p.32)

37 Politeness Politeness is another major requirement of conversation Lakoff (1973) suggested 3 politeness maxims.

38 Politeness principle Do not impose Politeness Maxims Give options Make receiver feel good

39 Politeness Inviting someone politely Video clip: Friends MnxdYuW6Eqst_ko7JxLJgqC4ODfK&index=2

40 Saving face Face: self-image in the public Positive face (favorable personal image) (At dinner party) Wow, delicious! Negative face (freedom from imposition) So sorry for disturbing you. I wonder if you could spare a few minutes? Face-Threatening Acts (At dinner party) Yuk! The food is disgusting! You! Stand up and tell me what FTA means.

41 Politeness strategies Bald on-record strategy (direct, brief, clear) Who would like to answer? Raise your hand. Positive politeness strategy (say sth positive) (At dinner party) The food is marvelous! Negative politeness strategy (minimize imposition) I don t want to bother you but Off-record indirect strategy (hints/implication) (someone smoking) May I open the window?

42 Your turn: matching Which politeness strategies are use in the following, and why? I was wondering if it s possible for me to borrow your phone to make a call? (In an air-conditioned room) It s really hot in here. Please hand in the completed evaluation form at the end of this lecture. (Staring at a friend s new dress) You look fabulous! Bold on-record Positive politeness Negative politeness Off-record indirect

43 Summary To speak appropriately, we should pay attention to: Context Register Cooperative principle (be true, be brief, be clear and be relevant)

44 Summary To speak politely, we should: not impose give options make receiver feel good respect people s face (both positive and negative)

45 LOGO

46 Bibliography Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation, in Cole, P. and Morgan, J. L. (eds.) Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press, pp Grice, H. P. (1978). Further notes on logic and conversation, in Cole, P (ed.) Syntax and Semantics. Vol. 9: Pragmatics. New York: Academic Press, Hymes, D. H. (1971). On communicative competence, in Brumfit, C. J. and Johnson, K. (1979) (eds.) The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp Lakoff, R. (1973). The logic of politeness, or minding your p s and q s. Chicago Linguistics Society 9, LoCastro, V. (2003). An introduction to pragmatics: social action for language teachers. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Yule, G. (2006). The study of language. (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

HERE AND THERE. Vocabulary Collocations. Grammar Present continuous: all forms

HERE AND THERE. Vocabulary Collocations. Grammar Present continuous: all forms HERE AND THERE Vocabulary Collocations 1 Look at the example and find six more verbs in the wordsearch. Use them to complete the collocations. G L U G N J F N U D R N F E S L Z L H P M E E T Y S T P I