Discourse and Pragmatics

The Texture of Talk

The Trouble with Talk

People don’t say what they mean People don’t mean what they say So how can we understand one

another?

How do we manage the ‘mechanics’ of conversation? How do we know when to talk? How do we know what to say?

People don’t say what they mean

Can you tell me what time it is?

Do you have a pen?

Yau mo gau tsou!

I hate you!

People don’t say what they mean

A: I love you. B: I love you too.

Craig Sanderson’s house was suffering a power cut on Cheung Chau island. He decided to phone Park ’n’ Shop supermarket to see if it was open, or whether it had also had a blackout."Is that Park n shop?""Yes.""Do you have any electricity?""No, sir. We don’t sell electricity."

A man called the MTR Corp, Hong Kong’s main underground transit system, to ask the name of the melody that was playing in a loop on the station sound system.

“What is the music that is playing in the stations?”

“It’s a tape.” “Yes, but what do you call it?” “We call it ‘a tape’.”

Writer Simon Winchester phoned the concierge at the Mandarin Oriental hotel to ask him for some Beethoven. The usual concierge was off so Simon spoke to a young staff member.

“Do you know who Beethoven is?” “No. What room is he in?” “No, no, he’s dead.” “Oh. We’d better call security.”

Language barriers

A man phoned an oil company executive late one afternoon."Is Mr Wong there please?""Get out.""?!""Get out.""Do you mean ‘gone home’?""Yes."

Sometimes people do say what they mean

They just don’t say enough

A Does your dog bite?B No.A [Bends down to stroke it and gets

bitten] Ow! You said your dog doesn’t bite.

B That isn’t my dog.

Speech Acts

How we ‘do things’ with words

John Austin and John Searle

‘It’s cold in here.’ Propositional Content Locutionary Force Illocutionary Force Perlocutionary Force

‘We would like to thank customers for not smoking while in this store.’

Illocutionary Force

Sometimes difficult to identify Often depends on context Sometimes spread over several

utterances There may be more than one

illocutionary force

Direct and Indirect Speech Acts Direct speech acts

Use verbs that have the meaning of the act (e.g. ‘I promise I will go’)

Indirect speech acts Use other ways to perform the speech act ‘Can you come tomorrow?’ ‘I didn’t know I made you angry’ ‘I suggest you get out of my office before I

punch you!’

Conditions

Not all speakers can perform all speech acts

There are certain conditions necessary for an utterance to be considered a certain kind of speech act

Felicity conditions

Felicity Conditions

Speech acts judged not by ‘truth value’ but by their ‘happiness’

Language (propositional content) Context (preparatory condition)

‘I now pronounce you man and wife’ Participants/setting

Intention Speaker is sincere, believes the act will have

the desired force

Felicity Conditions

Rules that need to be followed for an utterance to work.

A promise: I say I will perform an action in the future I intend to do it. I believe I can do it. I think I would not normally do it. I think the other person wants me to do it. I intend to place myself under an obligation to

perform the action. We both understand what I’m saying. We are both normal, conscious human beings. Both of us are in normal circumstances. The utterance contains an illocutionary force

indicating device.

Tutorial Task

What are the conditions for: A marriage proposal A bet A request An order

Conversational Implicature

We guess what people mean by referring to certain DEFAULT EXPECTATIONS

When people do not fulfill the default expectations

They create IMPLICATURE (‘special meaning’

Implicature

I love you. Thank you.

Default Expectations

Grice Conversation is ‘rational behavior’ The Cooperative Principle Make your conversational

contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it is occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

Conversational ‘Maxims’

The Maxim of Quantity Be only as informative as required for current

conversational purposes. The Maxim of Quality

Say only what you believe to be true and adequately supported.

The Maxim of Relation Be relevant.

The Maxim of Manner Be clear: be brief and orderly and avoid obscurity and

ambiguity.

Maxims vs. Rules

Sets of expectations which we exploit to make meaning.

The point is not that we follow these maxims or that we ‘should’ follow them.

The point is that when we deviate from them we create a IMPLICATURE.

Maxim of Quantity

Make your contribution as informative as required for the current purposes of the exchange.

Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Maxim of Quality

Try to make your contribution one that is true.

Do not say what you believe to be false.

Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Maxims of Relevance and Manner

Maxim of Relevance Be relevant

Maxim of Manner Avoid obscurity of expression Avoid ambiguity Be brief Be orderly

Examples

Which Maxim/s is/are being flouted? What kind of implicature does it

create Isn’t my new boyfriend handsome? He has a very nice personality.

A Well, how do I look? B Your shoes are nice.

‘I could eat a horse’

A So what do you think of Mark? B His flatmate’s a wonderful cook.

A Does your dog bite?B No.A [Bends down to stroke it and gets

bitten] Ow! You said your dog doesn’t bite.

B That isn’t my dog.

Husband How much did that new dress cost, darling?

Wife I know, let’s go out tonight. Now, where would you like to go?

Cohesion in Conversation Repetition

Lori: Would you consider yourself a dog person or a cat person?Michael: Oh, I’m a dog person, I can tell you straight away.L: Really?M: Absolutely, 100% confirmed, dog person. You bet.L: [laughter] Dog person… Have you ever had a dog?M: Yes, I have. Yes, I had — let me see, this would be about 10 years ago. I had my own doggy; I had a Norwegian Elk Hound.L: Oh, was he cute?M: He was very cute; he was painfully cute. He was great. But I don’t have a dog nowadays, but I have…I walk my neighbors’ dog.L: Oh right, yeah, Bertie.M: That’s right, I was telling you the other day. They’re a lovely old couple, who I’ve known for years, but they’re getting on a bit and they’re not so active, so I take their dog out for a walk quite often.

Coherence in Conversation

The overall structure of conversations

Adjacency Pairs The ‘pairwise organization’ of talk

The structure of conversations Openings

Initiating exchanges that establish social relations Middle

Topic negotiation and development Turn taking mechanics Feedback

Closings Pre-closing exchanges Closings

Meaning of an utterance depends on stage of conversation ‘How are you?’ ‘Hello’

Openings

Ritualistic openings Utterances have different meanings when

they occur at the beginning ‘Hey!’ ‘How are you?’ ‘Have you eaten yet?’

Summons--Answer Greeting--Greeting Often done simultaneously

Openings in Telephone Conversations

A: Hello. (…) B: Hello. A: oh, hello Anne, what’s up. B: Nothing much. I just had something I

wanted to ask you.

Summons/Answer Greeting/Greeting

Closings

FTA Pre-closings Body language Excuses Ritualistic expressions (e.g. ‘good’, ‘ok’)

Signal invitation to or willingness to pass on one’s turn

Invitation for or offering of ‘unmentioned mentionables’

Why it’s so hard to get off the phone (Cameron)

From Cameron

Closing in MSM conversations

What are the rules for closing in MSN conversations?

Adjacency Pairs

A pair of utterances in which the first part predicts the second part

‘Conditional Relevance’ Second half is functionally dependent on

the first. First is also dependent on the second:

Second half provides evidence of how the first half was understood

‘What makes something a request?’ Speech Act Theory vs. CA

‘Preferred Responses’

Dispreferred Responses

May create implicature A: I’m sorry B: … A: I love you. B: Thanks.

Second half of pair is heard as ‘officially absent’

Dispreferred Responses

May require extra ‘conversational work’ such as ‘delay’, ‘preface’, and/or ‘account’. The ‘work’ involved isWhat identifies an utterance as ‘preferred’ or ‘dispreferred’’

Matching

Insertion Sequences

A: May I please speak to Rodney? B: May I ask who’s calling? A: Alan. B: Just a minute. I’ll get him. A: Gimme a beer. B: How old are you? A: 21 B: Okay. Coming up.

CONDITIONAL RELEVANCE

Disrupted Turn Adjacency

MichaelC: Good evening Ying. How are things?

Ying-Lan: Not so good. Ying-Lan: I took a test this morning. MichaelC: What’s wrong?

Computer generated conversation

http://www.jabberwacky.com/

Turn Taking

We ‘take turns’ in conversation Turns are negotiated as we go along (conversation is

‘locally managed’) ‘Turn Constructional Units’ ‘Turn Transition Relevance Place’ Choices

S nominates next speaker▪ If not, then…

Next speaker nominates self▪ If not, then…

Current speaker may (but does not have to) continue ‘Accountable’ and ‘non-accountable’ silence ‘Overlaps’ vs. ‘Interruptions’

‘Supportive Interventions’

Turn Taking

Signaling the end of our turn Adjacency pair structure Nominating another speaker Pausing Falling intonation/pitch Body language (e.g. gaze, body torque)

Turn Taking

Signaling that we want to keep talking Pausing in the middle of a phrase/clause Looking away Talking louder or maintaining

pitch/loudness

Turn Taking

Special situations have special rules for turn taking Classrooms Meetings

Can also be affected by… Topic Cooperativeness Power Distance

‘One rule for one and one for another’

Backchannel (Feedback)

Verbal feedback Non-verbal feedback Role in maintaining channel

(‘focused interaction’) Role in turn taking, topic

management Cultural differences

Repair

Self-repair Other-repair

Talk in institutional settings

What special considerations apply that make talk in institutional settings different from casual conversation? Goal oriented Special constraints on allowable

contributions Context specific inferential frameworks