LINGUISTICSPRAGMATICS: THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE USE AND COMMUNICATION

The message model of linguistic communication

Speaker (transmitter) – receiver (hearer) – vocal-auditory path (sound waves) (relevant channel)

- Communication is successful when the hearer decodes the same message that the speaker encodes

- communication breakdowns if the decoded message is different from the encoded message

Problems with the message model

In order to determine the meaning of expressions, the hearer must be able to mentally process sentences that reflect complex structural properties of human language, such as structural ambiguity and discontinuous dependencies.

Decoding is crucial.

1. Expressions are linguistically ambiguous. Which of the possible meanings was intended by the speaker? – Flying planes can be dangerous.

Disambiguation is not unprincipled and random; it is quite predictable.

Contextual appropriateness

A: We lived in Illinois, but we got Milwaukee’s weather. B. Which was worse.

2. information about particular things being referred to and it is not uniquely determined by the meaning of expressions

the shrewd politician = Winston Churchill, Richard Nixon, Franklin Roosevelt

The Message Model must be supplemented by mechanisms for successfully recognizing the intention to refer to a specific person, place, or thing. This is the problem of the underdetemination of reference (by meaning).

3. the speaker’s communicative intention, which is not uniquely determined by the meaning of the expression uttered, but is part of the message communicated.

I’ll be there tonight. (prediction, promise, threat) This is another problem of the underdetemination of reference (by meaning).

4. the Message model does not account for additional fact that we often speak nonliterally

Irony, sarcasm, metaphor and other figurative uses of language Oh, that’s just great.

5. We sometimes mean to communicate more than what our sentences mean. We sometimes speak indirectly.

My car has a flat tire. The speaker is directly reporting a state of affairs presumed to be unsatisfactory and is indirectly requesting the hearer to do something.

How does the hearer know this? Contextual appropriateness

6. Noncommunicative acts/ institutional acts – which aim is not to communicate but to change the institutional status of a person and their communicative intention is always intended to be recognized.

I pronounce you a husband and wife I name this ship Queen Elizabeth You are fired

Perlocutionary acts – involve the causing of an effect in the hearer

What is successful linguistic communication? How does it work?

Linguistic communication is successful if the hearer receives the speakers message. It works because messages have been conventionalized as the meaning of expressions, and by sharing the meaning of the knowledge of the meaning of an expression, the hearer can recognize a speaker’s message – the speaker’s communicative intention.

An inferential approach to communication

Linguistic communication is successful if the hearer recognizes the speaker’s communicative intention. Linguistic communication works because the speaker and hearer share a system of inferential strategies leading from the utterances of an expression to the hearer’s recognition of the speaker’s communicative intent.

Real goals of pragmatics- To investigate the systems of intended inference and shared beliefs (presumptions)

Presumptions Linguistic presumptions(LP): the hearer is assumed capable of determining the meaning and the referents of the expression in the context of the utterance.

Communicative presumption (CP): the speaker is assumed to be speaking with some identifiable communicative intent.

Presumption of Literalness (PL): The speaker is assumed to be speaking literally Conversational presumptions (ConPs): Relevance, Sincerity, Truthfulness, Quantity, Quality (adequate evidence)

Strategies for direct and indirect communication & strategies for indirect and non-literal communication

Direct and literal communication

Direct strategy In direct and literal communication we say what we mean and mean what we say. 1. Utterance act – the hearer recognizes what expression the speaker has uttered. It enables the hearer to infer from what he hears the speaker utter to what the speaker is directly communicating.

2. Operative meaning – The hearer recognizes which meaning of the expression is going to be operative on this occasion. Disambiguate.

Give me a cheap gas can. 3. Speaker reference – The hearer recognizes what exactly the speaker is referring to.

4. Direct – The hearer recognizes what the speaker is intending to communicate directly.

Just because a speaker produces an utterance does not guarantee that something is being communicated: we can talk in our sleep or to ourselves or recite, etc.

The hearer needs to recognize not just what is being requested but also that they are being requested.

I’ll be there tonight. (a promise, a threat) Communicative presumptions + contextual information + operative meaning = what is it that the speaker is doing; what communicative act he may be performing

Direct strategy – from step 1 infer steps 2, 3 and 4.

Literal strategy 5. Contextual appropriateness – the hearer recognizes that it would be contextually appropriate for the speaker to be speaking literally.

6. Literal – The hearer recognizes what the speaker is intending to communicate literally (and directly)

- with respect to Conversational presumptions

- also that speakers will speak clearly, politely and ethically

Otherwise we will have a case of contextual inappropriateness.

Nonliteral communication Sometimes when we speak we do mean something other than what our words mean.

Overstatement – examples on p. 359 Irony and sarcasm Figures of speech Metonymy Metaphor

Standardized and nonstandardized forms for a particular nonliteral interpretation.

Violation of Conversational Presumptions: there is a conflict between the literal meaning of the expression and the Communication Presumption

Contextual inappropriateness can lead the hearer to take the speaker nonliterally

5’. Contextual inappropriateness – The hearer recognizes that it would be contextually inappropriate for the speaker to be speaking literally.

That was a real winner (after seeing a terrible movie)

6’. Nonliteral – The hearer recognizes what the speaker is communicating nonliterally (and directly)

Indirect communication The doctor is over there.

I want 10 gallons of regular.

I’m sure the cat likes having its tail pulled.

You’re the boss.

I should never have done that.

Did you bring any tennis balls?

It’s getting late.

Nondirect acts can be performed by either literal or nonliteral direct acts. The speaker really means what is said but also means more.

How does the hearer know that the speaker is not speaking directly?

I want 10 gallons of regular. The door is over there

Inferential model:

To account for the possibility of indirect communication we must supplement our direct strategies (literal and non-literal) with indirect strategies.

7. Contextual inappropriateness – what is said is inappropriate for that context

The hearer recognizes that it would be contextually inappropriate for the speaker to be speaking merely directly.

Conversational Presumptions – once the hearer identifies why the speaker cannot be merely speaking directly, he is able to use this information to aid in recognizing her indirect intend.

8. Indirect – the hearer recognizes what the speaker is also communicating indirectly

Could you lend me five dollars? Why don’t you use the other key?

Strategies for indirect communication

I’m sure the cat likes having its tail pulled. – has both direct and indirect component, the direct component being nonliteral

- The direct act would be conversationally inappropriate. So the hearer infers step 7:

7. Contextual inappropriateness: The hearer recognizes that it would be contextually inappropriate for the speaker to be speaking merely directly – in particularly merely claiming that the cat doesn’t like having its tail pulled.

The hearer must recognize the indirect communicative intent:

8. Indirect – the hearer recognizes what the speaker is also communicating indirectly- in particular that she is requesting him to stop pulling the cat’s tail

Conclusion Message Model of linguistic communication – equals the message a speaker intends to communicate with the meaning of some expression in the language

Defects - it cannot account for:

1. the use of ambiguous expressions

2. real world reference

3. communicative intentions

4. nonliteral communication

5. indirect communication

6. noncommunicative use of language

Inferential Model – a model that connects the message with the meaning of the uttered expression by a sequence of inferences

- takes the hearer from the intention uttered to the communicative intent of the speaker

Communicative competence – consists in part of the mastery of certain pragmatic strategies

Discourse and conversation The unit of communication is not always a single complete sentence:

A: Want to see a movie tonight?

B: Uh, well, uh …

A: Do you?

B: No.

At other times we speak in units of two or more connected sentences:

A: Let me tell you about my ski accident. You see, I was …

What is discourse?

Discourse and conversation (or talk-exchange)

Language and context Linguistic context Nonlinguitic context: immediate physical and social surrounding & general knowledge

Our contributions to conversation both reflect and affect the linguistic and nonlinguistic context of utterance.

Structure of conversationOpenings

Something’s wrong with the fax machine; Hey, John … Excuse me,

Greetings: formal & informal; ritualized

Turn-taking

How do you know when to get in? The current speaker chooses the next speaker; length of the turn; giving a cue

Expectations about conversation; disruptive overlap

Closings

Ritualized way of bringing conversation to an end: pre-closing sequence, closing

Speech acts Utterance acts: acts of uttering sounds, syllables, words, phrases and sentences Illocutionary acts - the purpose with which an act is produced: requesting, apologizing, promising, threatening, suggesting, inviting, etc.

Perlocutionary acts – an act that produced an effect on the hearer: inspiring persuading, intimidating, deceiving, impressing, etc.

Propositional acts – propositional content of illocutionary acts: a. Becker beat Sampras. (statement) b. Becker beat Sampras? (question) c. Becker, beat Sampras! (request, demand) Different illocutionary acts can have the same propositional content.

Meaning, saying, implicating Meaning: linguistic meaning and speaker meaning

Saying: the operative meaning of the expression uttered, the time of utterance, the reference made in the utterance

Implicating: speakers can mean to communicate more than they say

A: Where is your husband?

B: He is in the living room or the kitchen.

Implication: The speaker does not know which room he is in.

Pragmatic presupposition Presupposition: that which is assumed or taken for granted

Presupposition1: speaker’s assumptions (beliefs) about the context

a. Sam realizes that Irv is a Martian.

b. Sam does not realize that Irv is a Martian.

c. Irv is a Martian.

a. Sam has stopped kissing his wife.

b. Sam has not stopped kissing his wife.

c. Sam was kissing his wife

Presupposition2: the set of conditions that have to be satisfied for the intended speech act to be appropriate in the circumstances, or to be felicitous.

a. John accused Harry of writing the letter.

b. John did not accuse Harry of writing the letter.

c. There was something blameworthy about writing the letter.

a. John criticized Harry for writing the letter.

b. John did not criticize Harry for writing the letter.

c. Harry wrote the letter.

Presupposition3: shared background information

a. Was it Margaret that Paul married?

b. Wasn’t it Margaret that Paul married?

c. Paul married someone.

a. Betty remembered to take her medicine.

b. Betty did not remember to take her medicine.

c. Betty was supposed to take her medicine.

Exam questions for pragmatics 1. The message model of linguistic communication

2. An inferential approach to communication

3. Discourse and conversation

4. Performatives

5. Speech acts

6. Meaning, saying and implicating

7. Pragmatic presupposition