1>Speech act theory Flashcards
(36 cards)
intended effects of pragmatics can be> (4)
- persuasion
- reciprocation
- acts of emotion
- commiting to a future event
pragmatics=
study of lang as a tool for action
^idea lang is used to achieve some ‘goal
2 types of speech act>
1>those to do with a statement or description (constatives)
2> those that ‘make something happen’ (performatives)> can be EXPLICT
explicit performatives=
include a Verb (performative verb) which explicitly commits the speaker to perform the act (e.g. promise, warn, bet)
effect of use of a performative verb in performatives vs not using one>
it is less reliable to make a promise IMPLICITLY, compared to using an EXPLICIT performative (‘i promise i’ll… vs ‘i’ll..)
How to tell if something is a peformative verb?
if you can add “hereby” before it (meaning ‘by virtue of this utterance)= performative
How to tell if is a performative UTTERANCE> (2)
- always in 1st person
- always in present tense
3 levels of speech act?>
> locutionary act (what actually said)
illouctionary force (intention)
perlocutionary effect (effect)
searle’s classification of speech acts (5)
- representatives
- directives
- comissives
- expressives
- declarations
what are representative speech acts>
where the speaker commits to something being the case
(e.g. “amina has bought a sewing machine”)
what are directive speech acts?>
attempts of the speaker to get the hearer to do something (i.e. “You must stay at home”)
>can include qns & requests to provide info
what are commissive speech acts?>
Speech act that commits the speaker to do something in the future
(e.g. “got it”> when asked to do something)
what are expressive speech acts?>
speech acts that indicate an emotional reaction or psychological state
(e.g. “fuck”/ “i feel so antiscoial all of a sudden”)
what are declarations as speech acts?>
these change the way the world is
(e.g. declaration of independence; saying “i want a divorce”)
Direction of fit: 2 types>
- words to fit the world
- world to fit the words
direction of fit & representatives>
> represntatives have WORD-to WORLD–>(commits the speaker to the truth of some thing)
direction of fit & commisives>
> commisives have WORLD to WORD –>(commits the speaker to making the WORLD be as the WORDS indicate)
direction of fit & declarations>
> declarations have BOTH (words uttered describe the world (WORD>WORLD) but also make SoA they describe as true (WORLD>WORD)
direction of fit & directives>
> directives have WORLD to WORD –>(commits the speaker to making the WORLD be as the WORDS indicate)
felicity condition=
necessary conditions for successfully performing a speech act
four felicity conditions>
i> propostional content conditions
ii> preparatory conditions
iii> the sincerity conditions
iV> the essential conditons
what are the propositional content conditions? (as a felicity condition)>
- requirement that the SEMANTIC content of the utterance is appropriate to the act
(cant make a promise saying: “i am happy today”)
what are the preparatory conditions? (as a felicity condition)>
what must be satisfied in advance
(i.e. for a promise= that the recipient wants the thing promised)
what are the sincerity conditions? (as a felicity condition)>
-Requirement that the speaker be sincere in their intentions
(i.e. for a promise to be felicitous, the speaker must in fact intend to do what they are promising to)
