Pragmatics Flashcards
What is a locutionary act?
We produce a meaningful utterance [i.e. what we say]
What is an illocutionary act?
the real intent behind our utterance i.e. what we intend our utterance to do = [i.e. what we mean by saying what we said].
What are pragmatics?
The way words and sentences are used in everyday
situations; the meaning of language in context.
What 3 things do we use to analyse discourse?
Context (physical, personal, cognitive).
Structure (organisation - turn-taking, topic-shifting, overlapping).
Strategy (speakers’ use of interactive tactics - communication, politeness)
What’s the difference between semantics and pragmatics?
Semantics is direct speech regardless of context, pragmatics is indirect speech in context; what we say vs. what we mean.
What is pragmatic competence?
Saying the right thing at the right time.
What are Cutting’s (2015) 3 types of context?
Situational context
Background knowledge
Co-text
What is situational context?
What speakers know about an immediate situation, i.e. “My wife’s knees were swollen like this!” Demonstrative pronoun “this”; context is derived from physical cues of the immediate situation.
What is background knowledge?
What speakers know about each other and the world, i.e. in the Arran-hill-walking excerpt, both speakers share cultural background knowledge about the hill, that one could spend 8 hours there, and that it’s strenuous enough to swell knees.
What is co-text?
The language immediately surrounding the item in question which tells us its meaning. The relationship between the utterance and the ongoing discourse.
Arran Hill-Walking - The use of pronouns ‘us’ and ‘we’ assume that there’s been enough information shared to be able to infer who the speaker refers to.
According to Austin’s (1962) Speech Act Theory, what 3 things occur when we speak?
We “perform acts” by saying what we do. Three acts happen simultaneously when we speak; what we say, what we mean and what the effect is.
In Austin’s (1962) Speech Act Theory, what or where is the speech act expressed?
The illocutionary act - the real intent behind our utterance; what we intend for it to do.
What is the perlocutionary act/effect?
The illocutionary act has an effect. The perlocutionary act is the effect of what we said, either intended or unintended.
What are the 5 Speech Acts?
Representative (assertive)
Expressive
Commissive
Directive
Declaration
What is a representative (assertive)?
Expresses what they believe to be a true statement.
What is an expressive?
Expresses the psychological state of the speaker towards some state of affairs: “I love cooking.”
What is a commissive?
Commits the speaker to a future course of action: “I’ll finish the project.”
What is a declaration?
Bring about some change in the world; can also refer to changes in institutional states of affairs e.g. declaring war, christening, marrying etc: “I now pronounce you man and wife.”