Module 6 Flashcards
(121 cards)
1
Q
What is ‘Proposition’?
A
The core meaning of a sentence as expressed by its linguistic content. This core meaning captures the real-world event or the situation that would have to occur in order for that sentence to be judged to be true.
The propositional content is the end result of unpacking the words and syntactic structure of a sentence, so propositions are determined by the structural relationships of elements within the sentence (notice that you get a different proposition for the sentence Samuel kissed Juanita).
2
Q
What is an example of a proposition?
A
In print, it’s common to see propositions written down as logical formulas that follow specific notational conventions, so you might see the proposition that’s expressed by a sentence like Juanita kissed Samuel as: kiss (j, s)
a thought structure that looks something like this: In the world we’re talking about, there was a kissing event in which the person referred to as Juanita kissed the person referred to as Samuel
several different linguistic forms can give rise to the same proposition:
Samuel was kissed by Juanita; It was Juanita who kissed Samuel; It was Samuel who was kissed by Juanita, etc.
3
Q
What is the ‘pronoun problem’?
A
Pronouns are by their very nature imprecise – Much like the words thing or stuff, pronouns contain very little semantic information.
Yet when pronouns are used in text or conversation, we usually have no trouble figuring out the specific identity of the person in question.
How is this done? This is the pronoun problem
4
Q
How do we resolve the meanings of pronouns?
A
(1) the grammatical marking of number and gender, among other factors, on the pronouns themselves, where this is available;
(2) the prominence of antecedents in a mental model;
(3) real-world knowledge that might constrain the matching process; and
(4) coherence relations that allow us to understand the connections between sentences.
5
Q
What is an antecendent?
A
A pronoun’s referent or referential match; that is, the expression (usually a proper name or a descriptive noun or noun phrase) that refers to the same person or entity as the pronoun.
6
Q
What are some ways we match up ambiguous pronouns with their correct antecendents?
A
- In many cases, we can use real-world knowledge
Example: In the boxes, the men heard the water rise in the trench and looked out for cottonmouths. They squatted in muddy water, slept above it, peed in it.
–while both the nouns boxes and cottonmouths match the linguistic features on the pronoun (they’re both plural), practical knowledge about boxes and cottonmouths (venomous snakes) allows us to rule them out as antecedents for the pronoun in the phrase they squatted; only the men remains as a plausible antecedent for they - when real-world plausibility is not enough, we may get some help from information we’ve already entered into the mental model.
Example: Now the drum took on a steady arterial pulse and the sword was returned to the man. He held it high above his head.
–something more is needed to decide between the drum and the sword. Here, the mental model derived from the first sentence is critical: only the sword is in the hands of the man (who is the sole possible antecedent for he in He held it high above his head), and therefore is the most likely candidate - Implicit causality: Expectations about the probable cause/effect structure of events denoted by particular verbs. Different verbs seem to evoke different expectations of implicit causality
Example:
Sally apologized to Miranda because she …
Sally admired Miranda because she …
- binding constraints:
Structurally based constraints on the possible antecedents of personal pronouns such as she or him and on reflexive pronouns such as himself or themselves:
the general observation is that a reflexive needs to have a nearby antecedent, usually the subject in the same clause. A regular pronoun, on the other hand, can’t refer back to the subject of the same clause
Examples:
Harry reported that Mr. Rogers had badly injured himself.
Harry reported that Mr. Rogers had badly injured him.
7
Q
Pronouns seem to signal a referential connection to some entity that is highly salient and very easily located in memory – what makes some discourse referents more salient than others?
A
- syntactic choices that a speaker has made – For example, when a concept is highly salient to speakers, they tend to mention this concept first, often slotting it into the subject position of a sentence.
Example:
Bradley beat Donald at tennis after a grueling match. He …
Donald was beaten by Bradley after a grueling match. He …
- Where the discourse goes depends on the nature of the event, as well as the relations between events that are explicitly coded in the language.
For example:
John spotted Bill. He …
John passed the comic to Bill. He …
8
Q
What are some cross-cultural examples of pronouns?
A
Similarities:
-many languages tend to have certain grammatical clues that help hearers link them to their antecedents
-regardless of how many dimensions a language might encode, certain pronoun forms are often recycled across dimensions, so they become inherently ambiguous
-more linguistic information tends to get preserved in the third-person pronouns than in the first- and second-person pronouns, presumably because the context usually makes it clear who we’re referring to when we use pronouns such as I or you
Differences:
-Usually, number and gender are marked, though not always in the same ways; for example:
Standard Arabic marks dual number (specifically two referents), not just singular and plural (Table A), while German has neuter gender as well as masculine and feminine
Some languages, like Persian (Farsi) and Finnish, fail to mark gender at all.
-in many languages, pronouns are often dropped entirely and are used only for special emphasis or stylistic purposes. Usually (but not always), this is allowed in languages where verbs are conjugated in such a way that they preserve at least some of the linguistic information that would appear on the missing pronoun:
Spanish, for example
9
Q
What is the repeated name penalty?
A
The finding that under some circumstances, it takes longer to read a sentence in which a highly salient referent is referred to by a full noun phrase (NP) rather than by a pronoun.
For example:
-Bruno was the bully of the neighborhood. He chased Tommy all the way home from school one day.
-Bruno was the bully of the neighborhood. Bruno chased Tommy all the way home from school one day.
Readers seem to find the repeated name in the second example somewhat jarring, as shown by longer reading times for this sentence than the corresponding one in the first passage
10
Q
What happens to the repeated name penalty when the antecendent is somewhat less salient?
A
no such penalty arises
Example:
there was no difference between:
-Susan gave Fred a pet hamster. In Fred’s opinion, she shouldn’t have done that.
and:
-Susan gave Fred a pet hamster. In his opinion, she shouldn’t have done that.
(Susan is more accessible as a referent than Fred. Hence, a repeated-name penalty should be found if Susan is later referred to by name rather than tagged by a pronoun; but no such penalty should be found if Fred is referred to by name in a later sentence.)
11
Q
What are focus constructions? What are two types?
A
Syntactic structures that have the effect of putting special emphasis or focus on certain elements within the sentence (a bit like putting a referent up on a pedestal)
it-cleft sentence
wh-cleft sentence
12
Q
Explain it-cleft sentences and wh-cleft sentences. What are they types of?
A
They are types of focus constructions.
it-cleft sentence:
a single clause has been split into two, typically with the form “It is/was X that/who Y.” The element corresponding to X in this frame is focused.
For example, in the sentence It was Sam who left Fred, the focus is on Sam.
wh-cleft sentence:
one clause has been divided into two, with the first clause introduced by a wh- element,
For example, the sentences What Ravi sold was his old car or Where Joan went was to Finland. In this case, the focused element appears in the second clause (his old car, to Finland).
13
Q
What happens when a repeated name is used to refer back to a heavily focused antecedent such as those with focus constructions?
A
readers showed the repeated-name penalty. That is, readers took longer to read the repeated name (the bird or the fruit) in the second sentence of passages like these:
-It was the bird that ate the fruit. The bird seemed very satisfied.
-What the bird ate was the fruit. The fruit was already half-rotten.
rather than these:
-It was the bird that ate the fruit. The fruit was already half-rotten.
-What the bird ate was the fruit. The bird seemed very satisfied.
14
Q
What are the consequences of repeated names in reading?
A
seem to do more than just cause momentary speed bumps in reading—they can actually interfere with the process of forming an accurate long-term memory representation of the text
15
Q
How is pronoun resolution studied/tested?
A
A number of serviceable techniques can be used to shed light on the time course of pronoun resolution, but probably the most direct and temporally sensitive method is to track people’s eye movements to a scene as they hear and interpret the pronoun.
16
Q
Is gender marking in a pronoun more or less useful for pronoun resolution than discourse prominence (a strong antecedent)?
A
hearers were able to use gender marking right away to disambiguate between referents, even when the antecedent was the less prominent of the discourse entities
But discourse prominence had an equally privileged role in the speed of participants’ pronoun resolution. That is, when the pronoun referred to the more prominent entity, hearers quickly converged on the correct antecedent, regardless of whether the pronoun was grammatically ambiguous.
The only time that hearers showed any difficulty or delay in settling on the correct referent was when the pronoun was both grammatically ambiguous and referred to a less prominent discourse entity
pronoun resolution goes most smoothly when multiple sources of information (or perhaps a single very strong one) favor a single antecedent
17
Q
What is a presupposition?
A
An implicit assumption that is signaled by specific linguistic expressions and whose existence or truth is taken for granted as background information.
Example:
the difference between these two sentences:
–Sandra wants to vote for an honest politician.
–Sandra wants to vote for the honest politician.
The first sentence makes sense even if there’s no such thing as an honest politician anywhere, but the second requires not only that one exists but that there’s a specific one that’s already familiar in the discourse.
So, certain bits of language can serve as triggers that force a bridging inference because they communicate exactly what information should already be present in the mental model—such language is said to carry a specific presupposition.
18
Q
What are the presuppositions in the following sentences? How do we know?
Daniel regrets that he wasted five years of his life studying geology.
Jana has finally stopped illegally importing smutty comic books.
It was her boyfriend’s boss who Melinda irritated at the party.
Ganesh escaped from jail again
A
(presupposes that Daniel wasted five years studying geology)
(presupposes that Jana has been illegally importing comic books)
(presupposes that Melinda annoyed some person at the party)
(presupposes that Ganesh has escaped from jail before)
Linguistic expressions that trigger presuppositions come in a variety of forms, from definite referential phrases (the beer, his dog), to certain types of verbs (regret, know, stop), to some adverbs (again, once more), and even to certain kinds of syntactic constructions, like focus constructions
19
Q
What is the benefit of presuppositions?
A
It can greatly enhance the efficiency of communication, by serving as a pointer to already-encoded material
20
Q
What is accommodation?
A
The process of updating a mental model to include information that is presupposed by a speaker, as evident by his use of specific presupposition-triggering expressions
E.g., imagine attending your first day of class and having the instructor tell the students, “You need to have this form signed by your probation officer.” At this, you might cast nervous glances around at your classmates. You can infer, based on the definite description your probation officer, that it’s typical for the students in the class to have a probation officer
21
Q
How can presuppositions lead to false memories? What is an example of this?
A
Through the process of accommodation - the mental models we build as a result of communicating with others are not neatly divided from the memories we have of events that we’ve witnessed or experienced ourselves
Language-based memories have a way of sloshing over to other kinds of memories, and vice versa
for example, there’s a concern that the language used by police while interrogating a witness could taint the witness’s reported memories
Loftus - Those who heard the question, “Did you see the stop sign?” were more likely to answer “Yes” than those who heard, “Did you see a stop sign?”—in neither case was there a stop sign in the scene.
22
Q
Research has confirmed that questions containing presuppositions led subjects to falsely remember objects in a scene at what rate? What makes these false memories more likely?
A
at a rate of 10 to 40 percent
these false memories became more likely as the time gap between first hearing the presuppositional language and the memory test lengthened
23
Q
How are presuppositions used in persuasive messages?
A
may well have the force of making controversial statements feel more settled and less open to debate than they would be if the same notions were overtly introduced as new information to add to the mental model
For example, one married lesbian woman has told me that she makes a point of casually referring to her spouse using the definite description my wife, even to people who are unfamiliar with the fact that she has one. She explains that by doing so, she can communicate that it’s a common, unremarkable fact for two women to be married to each other
24
Q
What are metaphors in language use?
A
a type of nonliteral, figurative form of language
“…metaphors are building blocks for how we code experience, the nuts and bolts of how we describe the world around us. Our symbolic language. We use metaphors to describe the world - and by playing with the descriptions, we can change our world.”
some sentences seem to require their audience to ignore some aspects of the linguistic code to get a sensible interpretation
25
Who tends to have trouble decoding metaphors?
some otherwise competent language users have inordinate trouble with them, including children, and people with autism or schizophrenia
26
Do most people understand metaphorical meanings slower than literal meanings?
people responded to the words related to metaphorical meanings as quickly as they did to words related to literal meanings, indicating that literal meanings don’t necessarily precede metaphorical meanings
27
What are the three models of constructing metaphorical meaning?
1. categorization
2. analogical reasoning
3. ramming together words from different semantic domains
28
What is the categorization model of metaphors?
metaphors like My lawyer is a shark should be understood just like other sentences of the form X is Y
The word shark is used in a more abstract sense, as an abstract category that refers to tenacious things that may act aggressively
The idea is that this abstract meaning of shark is much like the superordinate-level categories of mammal or occupation
29
What is the analogical reasoning model of constructing metaphors?
require people to notice the overlap between two complex sets of informational structures
the similarities between intricate conceptual structures are aligned and highlighted, while other irrelevant properties or relations are disregarded
30
What is the "ramming together two words from different semantic domains" model of constructing metaphors?
metaphorical language is simply an extreme case of ramming together two words from different semantic domains that rarely occur together
leads to the suppression of information that is typically activated by these words in their more usual contexts and the boosting of information that may be only weakly related to either word on its own
the mechanism of comprehension is exactly the same for both literal and metaphorical sentences, but the outcome—in terms of what information is active as a result of the combination—is quite different
31
What skills are needed to understand metaphor?
all three models predict that when people interpret metaphors, some of the information related to the literal interpretation of the sentence needs to be suppressed while other information is heightened
individual differences in cognitive control might affect people’s ability to interpret metaphor:
performance on the Stroop task, which requires participants to ignore irrelevant information about a word’s meaning was indeed related to the speed and quality of metaphor interpretation
Better performance on a digit span task was also linked to stronger metaphor comprehension, suggesting that it’s helpful to keep a lot of information active in working memory
All three accounts also demand a rich network of semantic knowledge
32
What are some of the reasons for metaphorical language?
They are literally false but their nonliteral associations can express the nuances of emotion and meaning
serve to enhance our understanding and flexibility in communication
We use concrete images to bring abstract terms closer, to express the abstract and confusing in more concrete and mutually understood terms
33
What are some reasons why metaphorical language is more emotionally expressive than literal language?
The connotative meanings associated with literal meanings allow speakers to express emotional information not present in the literal
--particularly true of name calling and insulting language (as in the taboo words) - the literal is not intended, but the negative emotional meanings conventionally associated with the literal is intended – Animal names as insults provide a good example of this
the contrast between literal and figurative readings in sarcasm, teasing, irony, put-ons, and rhetorical questions allows for the expression of negative emotional information that is muted by the activation of less emotional literal meaning
--A conversational tactic like sarcasm or teasing allows the speaker to be critical and humorous at the same time
34
What did George Lakoff write about how metaphor reflects and influences cognition?
Imagine a love relationship described as follows: Our relationship has hit a dead-end street
English has many everyday expressions that are based on a conceptualization of love as a journey, and they are used not just for talking about love, but for reasoning about it as well.
The expectations that people have for 'love' are SHAPED by the use of the journey metaphor, and if a different metaphor was chosen, the expectations for love relationships might change (e.g., Think of mapping 'love' onto 'war'. What kind of metaphors would we use?)
35
Explain Lakoff's example of the metaphor "Argument is war." What does this example illustrate?
Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities.
reflected in our everyday language by a wide variety of expressions:
He attacked every weak point in my argument. * His criticisms were right on target. * I demolished his argument.* He shot down all of my arguments.
--we don't just talk about arguments in terms of war. We can actually win or lose arguments – We see the person we are arguing with as an opponent
Imagine a culture where an argument is viewed as a dance, the participants are seen as performers, and the goal is to perform in a balanced and aesthetically pleasing way – people would view arguments differently, experience them differently, carry them out differently, and talk about them differently
metaphor is not just a matter of language, that is, of mere words. We shall argue that, on the contrary, human thought processes are largely metaphorical
36
What is important to note about the metaphor "time is money"?
Because of the way that the concept of work has developed in modern Western culture, where work is typically associated with the time it takes and time is precisely quantified, it has become customary to pay people by the hour, week, or year.
Further examples of the concept:
You're wasting my time.
How do you spend your time these days?
That flat tire cost me an hour.
I've invested a lot of time in her.
He's living on borrowed time.
You don't use your time profitably.
metaphorical since we are using our everyday experiences with money, limited resources, and valuable commodities to conceptualize time
This isn't a necessary way for human beings to conceptualize time; it is tied to our culture. There are cultures where time is none of these things.
37
What is the conduit metaphor?
Reddy observes that our language about language is structured roughly by the following complex metaphor:
IDEAS (Of MEANINGS) ARE OBJECTS. *
LINGUISTIC EXPRESSIONS ARE CONTAINERS. *
COMMUNICATION IS SENDING.
Examples:
It's hard to get that idea across to him. * I gave you that idea. * Your reasons came through to us.
When you have a good idea, try to capture it immediately in words. * Try to pack more thought into fewer words.
The meaning is right there in the words. * Don't force your meanings into the wrong words
Your words seem hollow. * The sentence is without meaning
38
What are structural metaphors?
cases where one concept is metaphorically structured in terms of another
examples:
-time is money
-argument is war
It is important to see that the metaphorical structuring involved here is partial, not total. If it were total, one concept would actually be the other, not merely be understood in terms of it
So when we say that a concept is structured by a metaphors we mean that it is partially structured and that it can be extended in some ways but not others.
39
What are orientational metaphors?
another kind of metaphorical concept, one that does not structure one concept in terms of another but instead organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another
Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial orientation; for example, happy is up.
most of them have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, frontback, on-off, deep-shallow, central-peripheral
40
How do orientational metaphors differ between cultures?
metaphorical orientations are not arbitrary. They have a basis in our physical and cultural experience – vary from culture to culture – For example, in some cultures the future is in front of us, whereas in others it is in back
41
What are some examples of orientational metaphor concepts in English?
HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWN
-You're in high spirits.
-He's really low these days.
CONSCIOUS IS UP; UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWN
-Wake up
-He fell asleep.
HEALTH AND LIFE ARE UP; SICKNESS AND DEATH ARE DOWN
-He's at the peak of health
-He came down with the flu.
HAVING CONTROL OR FORCE IS UP; BEING SUBJECT TO CONTROL OR FORCE IS DOWN
-I have control over her.
-He is low man on the totem pole.
MORE IS UP; LESS IS DOWN
-My income rose last year.
-He is underage.
FORESEEABLE FUTURE EVENTS ARE UP (AND AHEAD):
-What's coming up this week? I'm afraid of what's up ahead of us. What's up?
HIGH STATUS IS UP; LOW STATUS IS DOWN
-He's climbing the ladder.
-He has little upward mobility.
GOOD IS UP; BAD IS DOWN
-Things are looking up.
-Things are at an all-time low.
VIRTUE IS UP; DEPRAVITY IS DOWN
-She has high standards.
-I wouldn't stoop to that.
RATIONAL IS UP; EMOTIONAL IS DOWN
-He couldn't rise above his emotions.
42
Why is ‘mind reading’ an important part of decoding language meaning?
consider just how often people bend language to their will and manage to convey messages that are very remote from the usual meanings of the words or sentences they’re using
E.g., a person might ask the object of his affections, “Do you feel like having dinner sometime?” This is usually understood as an invitation to go out on a date, and not as a question about whether the other person is likely to ever be inclined to eat food in the evening
The question is not “What does this bit of language mean?” but instead, “What is the speaker trying to communicate by using this particular bit of language in this situation?
there are no inherent meanings in language, even when we’re talking about its more “fixed” aspects. The only reason there’s a connection between specific sounds and specific meanings is that this connection has been socially sanctioned:
unlike for many kinds of perception, our interpretation of the stimuli doesn’t derive from the laws of physics and biology. Instead, it’s mediated by social conventions, or agreements to use certain words and structures for certain meanings
43
What is the referential communication task? What is it used for?
An experimental task in which speakers refer to a specific target object in the context of a number of other objects.
Speakers are faced with the task of choosing a linguistic expression that successfully distinguishes the target object from the other objects that are present.
Hearers are required to successfully identify the target object based on the speakers’ choice of linguistic expression.
The purpose of this method is to allow the experimenter to manipulate the visual displays in order to see how this affects the subject’s production or comprehension of referring expressions. This is a measure of perspective-taking/mind-reading.
44
What are some examples of the referential communication task? What is "successful reference"?
the subject usually plays a communication “game” with an experimenter (or, in some cases, a secret experimental confederate who the subject believes is a second participant, but who is really following a specific script)
--involves a set of objects that are visible to the speaker and hearer, and the speaker has to refer to or describe certain target objects in a way that will be understood by the hearer
for an added twist, it can be set up so that the speaker and hearer don’t see exactly the same objects
E.g., the child subject is the hearer, and the adult is the speaker. In the visual arrangement illustrated here, the child can see two glasses, one small and one large. However, the adult can see only one. Only the larger glass is in the “common ground,” which includes information shared by both partners; the smaller glass is in the child’s “privileged ground.” – If the adult says to the child “Pick up the glass,” the child must infer the intended referent based on the visual perspective of the speaker.
successful reference involves more than just producing a description that fits the object in question; the description also has to single out that object from among others that might be present or relevant, so the choice of linguistic expression is very context-dependent
45
How do children perform on the referential communication task? Why?
children can be quite bad at communicating effectively with their partners in certain referential contexts:
preschoolers were abysmal at using descriptions that were informative enough for their hearers: at age 3, 87 percent of their descriptions were inadequate, failing to provide enough information to identify a unique referent
even by age 9, kids were still producing many more ambiguous expressions (at 22 percent) than adults in the same situation (6 percent)
Their difficulty didn’t seem to be in controlling the language needed to refer unambiguously, because when their partner pointed out the ambiguity by asking “Which ball?” they almost always produced a perfectly informative response on the second try. It’s just that they often failed to spontaneously take into account the comprehension needs of the hearer. (mind reading)
However, as early as 3 or 4 years of age, kids show some definite sensitivity to their partner’s perspective, both in the expressions they produce and in their comprehension as hearers – but they’re not as good at it as adults are, and there are hints that when it comes to linguistic interactions like these, kids may be more egocentric than adults as late as adolescence
46
What are hard and soft meanings?
philosopher H. Paul Grice argued that reasoning about a speaker’s intended meaning is something that is so completely woven into daily communication that it’s easy to mistake our inferences about speakers’ meanings for the linguistic meanings themselves
Example: if your definition included the notion that "some" means “not many” or “not all” of something, Grice would argue that you’re confusing the conventional meaning of the word "some" with an inferred conclusion about the most likely meaning that the speaker intended
--By looking closely at how the interpretation of some interacts with the context of a sentence, Grice concluded that the linguistic code provides a fairly vague meaning, roughly “more than none.”
think of the linguistic code as providing the “hard” part of meaning in language, the part that’s stable across contexts and is impossible to undo without seeming completely contradictory:
--For example, it sounds nonsensical to say “Some of my best friends like banjo music—in fact, none of them do.”
The soft meaning comes from inferences about what the speaker probably meant to convey:
--you can more easily undo the “not all” aspect of the interpretation of some: “Some of my best friends like banjo music—in fact, they all do.” The “not all” component seems to be part of the “soft” meaning of some, coming not directly from the linguistic code, but from inferences about what the speaker probably meant to convey.
47
What is conversational implicature?
Grice used the term conversational implicature to refer to the extra “soft” part of meaning that reflects the speaker’s intended meaning over and above what the linguistic code contributes:
An aspect of the speaker’s intended meaning that cannot be derived directly from the linguistic code but must be inferred by the hearer on the basis of expectations about the speaker’s probable communicative goals and behavior.
hinges on everyone sharing the core assumptions that communication is a purposeful and cooperative activity in which (1) the speaker is trying to get the hearer to understand a particular message, rather than simply verbalizing whatever thoughts happen to flit through his brain without caring whether he’s understood, and (2) the hearer is trying to interpret the speaker’s utterances, guided by the belief that they’re cooperative and purposeful
48
What is scalar implicature? What are some examples?
A type of conversational implicature that occurs when a speaker chooses a relatively vague expression rather than a stronger, more specific one.
In many contexts, the speaker’s choice of linguistic expression leads the hearer to infer that the speaker has used the weaker, vaguer expression because the stronger one would be inaccurate under the circumstances.
E.g., You used the vague word some because you couldn’t truthfully use the more precise words many, most, or all.
Examples:
I like some kinds of pies. –Implies: I don’t like all kinds of pies.
It’s possible that the Red Sox will win the World Series. – Implies: It’s not likely that the Red Sox will win the World Series.
Your essay was adequate. – Implies: Your essay was not excellent.
Sex between Fiona and Gary was pleasant. – Implies: Sex between Fiona and Gary wasn’t fantastic.
The latest Dan Brown novel is interesting. – Implies: The latest Dan Brown novel isn’t riveting.
The common structure in all of these examples of implicature is that in choosing the weaker word from each pair, the speaker is probably conveying that the stronger word of the pair is not true.
49
What are Grice's Maxims?
Grice proposed a set of four maxims of cooperative conversation, which amount to key assumptions about how cooperative, rational speakers behave in communicative situations
MAXIM 1: QUALITY
If a speaker makes an assertion, he has some evidence that it’s true. Patently false statements are typically understood to be intended as metaphorical or sarcastic
MAXIM 2: RELATION
Speakers’ utterances are relevant in the context of a specific communicative goal, or in relation to other utterances the speaker has made.
(one tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the discussion)
MAXIM 3: QUANTITY
Speakers aim to use language that provides enough information to satisfy a communicative goal, but avoid providing too much unnecessary information.
MAXIM 4: MANNER
Speakers try to express themselves in ways that reflect some orderly thought, and that avoid ambiguity or obscurity. If a speaker uses a convoluted way to describe a simple situation, he’s probably trying to communicate that the situation was unusual in some way.
50
What are some criticisms of Grice's maxims?
we now think of the maxims as only one side of the conversational interaction
they do not account very well for the use of figurative language
they are quite vague and overlap
For example:
There may be an overlap, as regards the length of what one says, between the maxims of quantity and manner:
this overlap can be explained (partially if not entirely) by thinking of the maxim of quantity (artificial though this approach may be) in terms of units of information
if the listener needs, let us say, five units of information from the speaker, but gets less, or more than the expected number, then the speaker is breaking the maxim of quantity
if the speaker gives the five required units of information, but is either too curt or long-winded in conveying them to the listener, then the maxim of manner is broken
51
What was Grice's argument concerning conversational implicatures and the four maxims?
Grice argued that conversational implicatures arise whenever hearers draw on these four maxims to infer more than what the linguistic code provides.
An important claim was that such inferences aren’t triggered directly by the language—instead, they have to be reasoned out, or “calculated,” by the hearer who assumes that the speaker is being cooperative and rational. The speaker, for his part, anticipates that the hearer is going to be able to work out his intended meaning based on the assumptions built into the four conversational maxims.
52
What areas of the brain do neuroscientists refer to as the "theory of mind regions"?
the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ)
a brain network that becomes active when people think about the thoughts of others:
such tasks—both linguistic and non-linguistic—have consistently shown increased blood flow to several regions of the brain, especially these two
53
What is the 'joint project'?
A more recent addition to conversational theory -- This expands on Grice's work on conversational maxims
describe what speakers and listeners are trying to accomplish in a communication exchange. A joint project is more like a dance (a metaphor that will come up again :-) between participants than a literal exchange of facts
Think of conversation as a ‘team’ task, which requires the coordinated activity of two or more people who are trying to accomplish personal goals. The selection of tone, style, words, prosody...all the features of language are used to create very specific and subtle meaning that is nonetheless well understood
54
What is joint pretense? What are some examples?
A pragmatic speech act in which both parties are working hard at not telling the truth
It is the opposite of literal (anti-literal), but it is not the usual use of the opposite of literal such as rudeness or sarcasm. It is often positively meant
The classic example: The faux invitation followed by the faux reason the person can't attend. Both of the parties lying in order to smooth social interactions:
manage to convey the real meaning quite clearly: i.e. "I'd like to be polite to you but I don't really want you to attend this party" and the response "I also want to be polite to you and I know you don't want me there so I will not attend, even if I thought I might like it".
-people trying to comfort themselves about a scary or sad situation that can't be changed. Both know the reality, and both conspire to say comforting things to each other
-people also participate in ‘fantasy’ conversations, such as a parent and child conspiring in pretend play: “I saw a dinosaur in the garden!’ “Did you! What colour was it?”
55
What is the difference between semantic meaning and pragmatic meaning?
semantic - (conventional linguistic meaning)
The aspect of meaning that can be derived directly from the linguistic code, based on the conventionally agreed-upon meanings of the linguistic expressions involved.
pragmatic - The aspect of meaning that that is not available directly from the linguistic code, but that must be inferred on the basis of the contextual information or information about the speaker’s likely intentions.
May involve scalar implicature
56
What does "pragmatics" refer to?
the definition of pragmatic inquiry is basically just that: "how to do things with language" or as I defined it earlier, the study of language function (beyond simple grammatical content)
Think back to Dunbar's Social Bonding theory, the actual content of the communication was not critical, rather the FUNCTION of the communication was social as much as informational.
Pragmatics' refers to being able to:
-achieve a speech 'act', such as greet someone, ask, demand, joke, promise, tell, etc
-be able to change your language to reflect the needs of your listener or the context, to speak differently to a child than to an adult, to speak differently in your classes than in the cafeteria
-use the rules of conversation, i.e. taking turns, introducing topics of conversation, staying on the topic, rephrasing when misunderstood, etc.
-use the rules for nonverbal signals in conversation i.e. distance between speaker and listener, facial expressions, and eye contact
57
What are the four interacting environmental aspects of context in pragmatics?
i) physical context: where are we, what objects are present, what time of day, mode of communication, etc.
ii) epistemic context: background knowledge shared by speakers and hearers
iii) linguistic context: utterances previous to the utterance under consideration
iv) social context: social relationship and social setting of speakers and hearers
58
What are pragmemes?
pragmemes identify those properties of a situational context that bears on language which might be appropriate to that context
A pragmeme is a speech act — an utterance whose goal is to bring about effects that modify a situation and change the roles of the participants within it or to bring about other types of effect, such as exchanging/assessing information, producing social gratification or, otherwise, rights/obligations and social bonds
a situated speech act in which the rules of language and of society synergize in determining meaning
Examples:
The teacher notices that Michelangelo (his favorite student) whispers the answer to a question to his desk mate. The teacher says ‘‘I saw you’’. This is not just an accusation, but an order to Michelangelo to stop what he is doing. How can this speech act be transformed into the pragmeme ‘‘stop prompting’’?
--the context is the total social setting in which the speech event takes place, the meaning of an utterance being determined by its place in an interactional sequence
A shop assistant, upon seeing a customer, is likely to ask: ‘‘Can I help you?’’ – a highly ritualized and institutionalized type of speech act, one that is transformed into a specific pragmeme by the context of the utterance, where ‘‘Can I help you?’’ means something completely different from ‘‘Can I help you?’’, uttered by a passer-by who has stopped to assist someone who has suffered an accident
--it is an offer of assistance based on the norm of interaction between customers and sales persons
59
What are practs?
'practs', refer to a particular pragmeme in its realizations
For instance, it seems to me that referring is a pragmatic act of a certain kind but a particular occasion of referring, for instance my referring here to Jacob Mey, is a pract—a particular instance/occurrence of the pragmeme of referring
60
What is the pragmatic/semantic interface?
to see literal content as a springboard for adding in the pragmatic cues and context, to achieve the actual meaning of the utterance
61
Who introduced a new field called pragmatic act theory? What does it conceptualize?
Mey (2001)
conceptualizes ‘pragmemes’ and ‘practs’
62
What is face? How does politeness relate?
defined face as "the respect that an individual has for him or herself, and maintaining that "self-esteem" in public or in private situations"
A request is a 'face threatening act' which could embarrass the other person
the basis of their theory was that when one person asks another to do something, they could be making that person feel uncomfortable by 'ordering them' or affecting their 'face’
The use of 'politeness' softens the face threatening act, allowing the person to comply with the request without losing self-respect or 'face' or being embarrassed if they do not want to comply with the request
63
What are the four main politeness strategies for requests?
1 = 'bald on-record',
--Yum, I want a cookie!
no real attempt is made to save the person's 'face' -- can use this with good friends, close family, and sometimes only within those groups under certain conditions
2 = 'positive politeness'
--Hey, is it okay if I have one of these cookies? -- would still imply a friendly relationship, but also recognize a degree of respectful distance
3 = 'negative politeness'
--I was wondering if it would be okay to have a cookie? -- implies more social distance between you and your neighbor, as well as that the nature of the request is an imposition in this type of social relationship
4 = the indirect comment, called 'off-record-indirect'
--Gee, I sure am hungry. -- very commonly used strategy -- you indirectly state a need without stating any kind of solution, and wait for a solution to be offered
The person you are making the indirect request of can completely ignore your request or treat it as casual conversation, as it is an 'off record' request
64
What are positive face and negative face?
positive face, or the want to be approved of by others,
negative face, or the want to be unimpeded by others
65
What is the cultural variability in politeness strategies?
can be accounted for in terms of cultural differences in the values that are assigned for the distance, power, and imposition variables
Brown and Levinson (1987) made a broad distinction between positive politeness cultures (lower P and D values and hence less polite strategies preferred) and negative politeness cultures (higher P and D values and hence more polite strategies preferred). These differences are regarded by Brown and Levinson as part of the ethos, or interactional quality, of a culture.
For example, English-speaking Americans tend to assume greater familiarity with others (low value for distance) than do native Athabaskans – Because distance values affect the weightiness of an act, and because weightiness determines the politeness strategy used to perform an act, Athabaskans tend to prefer the use of more polite strategies than do Americans
66
What ‘rules’ and clues do we use in initiating conversation, taking turns while speaking, and closing the conversation?
Opening conversations:
-address person
-request info
-offer information
-use stereotyped opening (Hello, weather comment)
Taking turns:
i) current speaker selects next speaker (question)
ii) if 1 is not used, another person may speak up (incentive for starting quickly)
iii) if neither 1 or 2, current speaker may continue but doesn't have to
Nonverbal behaviour that facilitates transition:
-turn-yielding signal (drop of pitch, drawl on end of syllable or clause, termination of hand gestures, stereotyped expressions like you know, uh, drop in loudness, completion of a grammatical clause)
-cessation often accompanied by looking directly at person (looking away is 'attempt-suppressing')
-if we are trailing off because we can't find the right word, we will often use 'attempt suppressing signals' such as continued use of hand gestures
67
What are the two important functions that gestures have in conversations?
Cohesive or anaphoric gestures tie together segments of a conversation, operating like pronouns when they refer back something discussed earlier in a conversation. The speaker might make a stabbing gesture when talking about a knife assault (e.g., she stabbed him) and repeat the gesture when continuing with just like that.
Gestures are used with other forms of nonverbal behavior in turntaking, to signal who is speaking and when a listener wants a new turn to speak, for example, through head turning, finger pointing, gesticulation, body posture, and vocalization.
68
What is complexity theory of pragmatics?
specifically explains the pragmatic choices speakers make in conversations
--pragmatic choice in discourse does not reflect the output of any dedicated pragmatic module but arises from a complex coordination or coupling between speakers and their varying communicative tasks
E.g., John (who is wearing an analog watch): ‘‘uh, it’s like five . . . ten after four.’’
John includes procedural cues, such as ‘‘uh’’ and ‘‘like,’’ to both signal that Mary should continue processing what he is saying and that his response reflects a rounded, and not exact, answer about the time
People employed more procedural cues (e.g., ‘‘well,’’ ‘‘about,’’ and ‘‘like,’’ in addition to filled pauses like ‘‘um’’ and ‘‘uh’’) when providing rounded answers than exact ones.
69
What are speech acts?
an utterance that serves a function in communication
We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal
include real-life interactions and require not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that language within a given culture
70
What are some examples of speech acts?
Greeting: "Hi, Eric. How are things going?"
Request: "Could you pass me the mashed potatoes, please?"
Complaint: "I’ve already been waiting three weeks for the computer, and I was told it would be delivered within a week."
Invitation: "We’re having some people over Saturday evening and wanted to know if you’d like to join us."
Compliment: "Hey, I really like your tie!"
Refusal: "Oh, I’d love to see that movie with you but this Friday just isn’t going to work."
Politeness
Apologies
Irony and sarcasm (off-the-record communicative acts have more than one defensible meaning= e.g. irony and sarcasm, leaves the speaker free of responsibility as the hearer must decide how to 'take' the utterance)
Face-saving (many of the above examples include this action)
71
What are felicity conditions?
Speech acts must satisfy the 'felicity conditions' or sometimes called the 'preconditions' to be successful. To do this, the speech act must be situationally appropriate based on the context.
include whether the person speaking has the authority to perform that speech act,
72
Speech acts are either __________ (literal) or ____________ (nonliteral). Which is most common?
direct
indirect
most are indirect
73
What are some direct speech acts?
assertions use declarative sentences (the function is to convey information)
interrogatives use questions (the function is to elicit information)
both orders and requests use imperatives (function is to cause others to behave in a certain way)
They include performative verbs:
verbs that 'perform' the acts they name
--though often speech acts are performed without reference to the performative verbs that underlie them
Examples:
Shut up. (I order you to shut up.)
Where is my car? (I ask you where is my car?)
Eating candy is good for you. (I advise you that eating candy is good for you.)
Sarah is very tall. (I assert that Sarah is very tall.)
Please move your books. (I request that you move your books)
74
What are some examples of indirect speech acts?
The goal of the speech act is cloaked in ‘polite’ forms, such as hints, hedges, suggestions, uncertain terms, etc.
Examples:
I think I might need to study at the library, I’m so easily distracted.
I was wondering if you parked my car nearby?
75
What is the main point of the excerpt in the notes called ‘Well, like, duh’? What is pubilect?
--the point is not just new slang, but the reinforcement of the group identity which is a type of pragmatic usage
Danesi tells us that teenage discourse, which he dubs "pubilect," is not reducible to slang status. "On the contrary, the studies show that the ways in which teens speak constitute a distinct and easily recognizable discourse code that children approaching puberty acquire unconsciously from their teen peers."
"It is an emotive code with tendencies toward exaggeration especially in tone and voice modulation." – . . . pattern of overstressing highly emotional words by prolonging their tonic vowels."
tendency to be highly connotative – Danesi says that "the coining of new words – 'twit,' 'bubble-head,' 'slime-bucket,' and so on -- to describe the people and events in their immediate social context is at the core of the adolescent's verbal modelling of reality."
76
What does the author of the excerpt in the notes called ‘Well, like, duh’ believe is the function of the word "like" in English?
While the liberal usage of "like" is disparaged by many grammarians, Danesi believes that its usage actually improves the rhythms of English by making our language flow in a manner similar to the Romance languages.
According to Danesi, "like" is a functional word because it gives the speaker slightly more time to formulate thoughts
77
What are taboo words?
a ‘‘ban or inhibition resulting from social custom or aversion’’
sanctioned or restricted on both institutional and individual levels under the assumption that some harm will occur if a taboo word is spoken (though what this harm will be is unclear)
Taboos in English are placed primarily on sexual references (blow job, cunt) and on those that are considered profane or blasphemous (goddamn, Jesus Christ)
78
Word offensiveness or appropriateness depends on what? The ultimate offensiveness of words is determined entirely by what?
contextual variables, and our sensitivity to the context has been demonstrated in numerous studies:
E.g., Technical terms were preferred for mixed crowds and with parents. Sexual obscenities were reserved for same sex crowds and ‘‘with my lover’’ contexts.
There is also ample evidence that parents are uncomfortable with sex terms around children
pragmatic variables such as speaker–listener relationship and social–physical setting, as well as the words used and tone of voice:
The chore for the language learner is to determine what words are appropriate for a given social setting
Speech styles, like clothing styles, range from the casual (e.g., slang in the locker room) to the formal (e.g., courtroom discourse, conference presentation).
79
Reasons for using or not using taboo words depend on what? What are their functions?
the conversational goals of the speaker:
can be used to signify a number of emotions (e.g., anger, frustration, joy, surprise)
can be used to achieve a variety of personal and interpersonal outcomes that may be positive, negative, or inconsequential in terms of their impact on others, although some might argue all uses of taboo words are harmful to some degree
80
What is the primary use of taboo words? What are the two types?
for emotional connotation, which occurs in the form of epithets or as insults directed toward others:
Epithets are offensive emotional outbursts of single words or phrases used to express the speaker’s frustration, anger, or surprise (Holy shit! Fuck me!) - seem to be the main reason for swearing
Insulting forms of taboo word use include name calling and put downs (asshole, bitch) and cursing or wishing harm on someone (e.g., fuck off, eat shit and die)
81
What are some positive social outcomes achieved by using taboo words?
in jokes and humor, social commentary, sex talk, storytelling, in-group slang, and self-deprecation or ironic sarcasm in order to promote social harmony or cohesion
82
What are some inconsequential outcomes of taboo words?
researchers have often overlooked the fact that many episodes of taboo word use are casual conversational habits (e.g., This CD is fucking great) in the absence of any clear social motive other than fitting in with others’ informal use of taboo words
83
What is meant by the ubiquity of taboo words?
Curse words are used persistently over a person’s lifetime and are frequently uttered in public
Taboo speech persists through brain dysfunction for aphasics and Alzheimer’s patients who forget the names of their family members but still remember how to swear, or they ‘‘mysteriously’’ begin swearing in cognitive decline when before they did not
84
What determines who uses more taboo words?
depends on one’s group identity and personality factors
E.g., documented in the lexica of many social groups: soldiers, police, high school and college students, drug users, athletes, laborers, juvenile delinquents, psychiatric patients, and prisoners
E.g., Personality also plays a significant role in frequency of taboo word use; hostility, sexual anxiety and religiosity loom preeminent
swearing is negatively correlated with high scores on the Big Five personality factors of agreeableness and conscientiousness – people who swear more are clearly lower in agreeableness and higher in extraversion
85
What are the pragmatic functions of the phrase ‘just kidding’? What did the results of Stephen Skalicky and colleagues indicate?
identified four different functions of the phrase:
inoculation ( “inoculate the speaker
against any negative reaction that they anticipate following humor that might be seen as unfunny, inappropriate, or offensive”),
repair of failed humor,
return to serious,
and set-up-new-joke
--just kidding and its variants can serve as an important element of rapport management amongst interlocutors
--results suggest that just kidding is pragmatically dynamic and not solely a marker of failed humor, as initially expected
86
What is 'the hedge'?
example of 'polite' speech - take away the strong edge to a statement
for example, if you think 'this course is really boring', you might hedge by saying 'I'm kinda finding this course a bit boring'
many types of softening hedges, such as 'maybe if we turned left' (translation = turn left!) or 'I'm not sure but I think it was chapter 6' (translation = read chapter 6) or 'I think it might have been Freud who said that' (translation = Freud said it) or 'gee, Sarah was a bit grumpy this morning' (translation = Sarah is grumpy)
87
What did Haugh say about taking offence in his paper “Impoliteness and taking offence in initial interactions”?
it is suggested that previous work on causing offence can be usefully complemented by an analysis of taking offence
taking offence can be productively examined with respect to a model of (im)politeness as interactional social practice
On this view, taking offence is analysed in part as a social action in and of itself, which means those persons registering or sanctioning offence in an interaction, whether explicitly or implicitly, can themselves be held morally accountable for this taking of offence
It is suggested that ways in which taking offence are accomplished both afforded and constrained by the demonstrable orientation on the part of participants to agreeability in the course of getting acquainted.
88
The 'soft' part of meaning refers to inferences of the speaker's intended meaning, and can't be taken directly from the linguistic code. This is called conversational ______________________
implicature
89
Sedivy (text) introduces this topic by saying that language comprehension involves transforming information about linguistic form into _____________________
mental models
90
When we expect a pronoun in place of a name (as the name has already been used clearly in the previous utterance), then we can find it harder to process the pronoun (as measured by longer reading times). This is called the _____________________ penalty
repeated name
91
In the section on pronouns, Sedivy discusses the ambiguity of pronoun use in English, and explains that as few English pronoun classes mark gender or number, confusion can arise when there is more than one __________________ in the discourse that precedes the pronoun
antecendent
92
In the text section on pronouns, Sedivy points out that pronouns contain ______________ semantic information
very little
93
Implicit assumptions can be embedded in language, and often can be taken for truth without the reader or listener noticing the assumption (which may or may not be true). There are called ___________________ (and are studied as a source of false memories and the misinformation effect)
presuppositions
94
In the introduction to chapter 11, Sedivy points out that the order of sentences in a discourse is important to our understanding because some of the meaning is filled in by ____________________________________________ .
connections that we draw between sentences
95
A Russian silent film maker demonstrated that visual inferences were similar to linguistic inferences by showing that an ambiguous emotion on the face of an actor was interpreted based on the shot that followed it in the film. This is called the _________________ effect
Kuleshov
96
Which of the following is NOT included in the calculation of weightiness?
-the ranking of the imposition of the act itself
-the number of previous impositions
-the degree of social distance between the hearer and speaker
-the relative power of the hearer over the speaker
the number of previous impositions
97
Ironic insults are __________ than ironic compliments in everyday speech.
more common
98
In the experiment by De Neys and Schaekan (2007), subjects were tested for their ability to compute the pragmatic meaning of sentences such as Some tuna are fish while keeping a dot pattern in memory. They found that subjects
were more likely to respond that the sentence was false when the dot pattern was simple than when it was complex.
99
A satirical utterance that is intended to convey a negative attitude is called_____.
sarcasm
100
TIME IS MONEY is a _________, according to Lakoff and Johnson
conceptual metaphor
101
The MOST face-threatening strategy is:
bald-on-record
102
“Do you have the time” is an example of a(n)_______
indirect request
103
Ironic insults convey __________ than more direct insults; ironic compliments convey __________ than more direct compliments.
more politeness; less politeness
104
The LEAST face-threatening strategy is:
off record indirect
105
In Howard Richler's article in the module notes, he quotes a New York Times article by Kirk Johnson, where he states that by using the slang term "_______ ", you can "convey a response, throw in a whole basket full of auxiliary commentary about the question or the statement you're responding to, and insult the speaker all at once."
duh
106
Figurative (metaphorical) language is particularly well suited to______.
express emotional feelings
107
Which pair of sentences would likely cause a repeated-name penalty?
Tommy seems quite intelligent. Tommy studied with the Jesuit priests.
108
What characteristics are considered H. Paul Grice's maxims of conversation?
quality
relation
quantity
manner
109
Words probably acquire their taboo status and arousing autonomic properties through the process of:
Aversive classical conditioning
110
Ironic compliments might be more difficult to understand than ironic insults because ironic compliments involve __________.
double negation
111
Positive social outcomes can NOT be achieved by using taboo words in what situations?
sexual harassment
112
Metaphors are __________ but their __________ can express the nuances of emotion and meaning.
literally false; nonliteral associations
113
A scalar implicature arises when the sentence _______ is understood to mean _______.
Donna enjoys eating some vegetables; that Donna does not enjoy eating all vegetables.
114
In the Dari/Farsi language, the same pronoun is used when referring to either a man or a woman. This is because
pronouns inherently tend to contain very little information because they are used in contexts where their meanings are easily inferred.
115
Carlos has stopped running because of a tear in his meniscus.
If you read the preceding sentence and did not know that Carlos was a runner, you would alter your mental representation of him to include the notion that he used to go running. This process is called
accommodation.
116
A speaker's choice of which politeness strategy to use is a function of the threat implied by the intended act, which is termed its __________.
weightiness
117
Glucksberg and colleagues observed that people had trouble rejecting literally false sentences if they made sense metaphorically—e.g., Some jobs are jails. This shows that:
metaphors may be interpreted automatically, much like literal statements.
118
Carlos has stopped running because of a tear in his meniscus.
In the preceding sentence, a(n) _______ conveys that Carlos has been running in the past.
presupposition
119
Taboo words are sanctioned under the assumption that some harm will occur if a taboo word is spoken. The exact nature of harm to befall the speaker, listener, or society __________ .
has never been entirely clear
120
Consistent with the Brown and Levinson's theory, several studies have indicated that speakers of relatively high power are __________ than are speakers of relatively low power.
less polite
121
Lakoff reported that research by Reddy on the metaphor category called the '__________ metaphor' found that they account for at least 70 percent of the expressions we use for talking about language. All of the following are examples of the conduit metaphor EXCEPT:
conduit
You're wasting my time.
