Pragmatics-1.docx

PRAGMATICS/ Class Code: hsm027l. PRAGMATICS George Yule, 1996 Oxford University Press

MEETING 1 INTRODUCTION TO PRAGMATICS SYNTAX: a glance in the wrong place on the internet SEMANTICS: a glance in the wrong place on the internet PRAGMATICS: Don’t glance in the wrong place on the internet

 Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning. A speaker can say something without meaning it. A speaker can mean sth without saying it.  Pragmatics is the study of the contribution of context to meaning. -He kicked the ball into the net. -She dribbled the ball down the court and shot a basket. -She putted the ball from two feet away. -His racket missed the ball by mere inches. -The ball rocketed across the alley and took down all 10 pins.

 Pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than is said. (Interactors communicate more meaning than the words they use). THE SPEAKER CONSTRUCTS A MESSAGE AND INTENDS OR IMPLIES A MEANING. THE HEARER INTERPRETS THE MESSAGE AND INFERS THE MEANING.  Doobie: Did you invite Bella and Cathy? Mary : I invited Bella.

Doobie has to do the calculation.

PRAGMATICS IS GOVERNED BY PRINCIPLES.

The Cooperative Principle (CP) is elaborated in four sub-principles, called maxims:  QUANTITY -Make your contribution as informative as is required. -Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.  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.  RELATION (Be relevant).  MANNER (Be perspicuous). -Avoid obscurity of expression. -Avoid ambiguity. -Be brief. -Be orderly.

Thank you for giving me your book. I’ll spend no time reading it. PRACTICE WHICH MAXIMS HAVE BEEN FLOUTED IN THE FOLLOWING? 1.The teacher punished the students who were

rude for good reasons. 2.Many people are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges. 3.I’ve told you about this at least a million times but you’re still so ignorant.

4.He drank the whole bottle. 5.There’s absolutely nothing on the telly this

evening. 6.The kettle is boiling. MEETING 2 FLOUTING THE MAXIMS (1) 1. A speaker can flout the maxim of quality by using a metaphor. e.g. -My house is a refrigerator in January.

-Don’t be such a wet blanket –we just want to have fun. -She’s got a bun in the oven. 2. A distinction must metaphorical concept expression.

be made between and metaphorical

He was spellbound by her beauty. She fled from his advances. 3.Conventional euphemisms can also be put in this category. e.g. -I’m going to wash my hands. -garbage collector= sanitation engineer -pass water is a euphemism for urinate. -dishwasher= underwater ceramic technician 4.Hyperbole (overstatement) and litotes (understatement) can also be put in this category. e.g.- I’ve told you about this at least a million

times but you’re still so ignorant. -I think I’m not too bad.

-There’s absolutely nothing on the telly this evening. 5. Metonymy can also be put in this category. e.g. I have read Shakespeare.

When we speak, we must address the chair. 6.The last two main ways of flouting the maxim of quality are irony and banter. An friendly way of being offensive. Vs An offensive way of being friendly e.g. -If only you knew how I love being woken

up at 4 am by a firealarm. -You’re nasty, mean and stingy. How can you only give me one kiss? 7. There are 3 types of irony: verbal, situational and dramatic. PRACTICE The following are examples of flouting the maxims. Identify the figures of speech. Which maxims do they flout? 1. He kicked the bucket. 2. They are protected from the cradle to the

grave. 3. He murdered me at badminton. 4. To those who are lucky, life is a fun-fair. 5. You can be sure she’ll always add salt to the conversation. MEETING 3 FLOUTING THE MAXIMS (2)

Most of the time when you flout a maxim, you create an implicature about something else. This strategy allows you to be more brief in communicating by relying on much to be inferred. 1. FLOUTING QUANTITY The speaker who flouts the maxim of quantity seems to give too little or too much information. A: Well, how do I look? B: Your shoes are nice. 2. FLOUTING QUALITY Speakers may flout the maxim by exaggerating as in the hyperbole I’m starving. I could eat a horse. -What an amazing baseball player John is! (Negative comment on John’s abilities through irony). Similarly, a speaker can flout the maxim of quality by using a metaphor, a euphemism, a litotes, a banter, or a metonymy. 3. FLOUTING RELATION If speakers flout the maxim of relation, they expect that the hearers will be able to imagine what the utterance did not say, and make the connection between their utterance and the preceding one(s). A: So what do you think of Mark? B: His flatmate’s a wonderful cook. X: Am I in time for supper? Y: I’ve cleared the table. Using a Gricean analysis, we can say that the second comment seems irrelavent to the first. 4. FLOUTING MANNER A: Where are you off to?

B: I was thinking of going out to get some of that

funny white stuff for somebody. A: OK, but don’t be long –dinner’s nearly ready. B speaks in an ambigious way, saying that funny

white stuff and somebody, because he is avoiding saying ice-cream and Michelle, so that his little daughter does not become excited and ask for icecream before her meal. Postmaster: Here’s your five-cent stamp. Shopper, with arms full of bundles: Do I have to

stick it on myself? Postmaster: Nope. On the envelope. OTHER FORMS OF NON-OBSERVANCE OF MAXIMS  Violating a maxim  Infringing a maxim *Generally infringing (a maxim) stems from an imperfect linguistic performance (in the case of a young child or a foreigner) or from impaired linguistic performance brought about by nervousness, drunkenness, excitement or disability. *Maxim infringement occurs when a speaker fails to observe the maxim, although s/he has no intention of generating an implicature and no intention of deceiving. Carpenter: I’m not sure what kind of wood you

would want to use for the shelves. K: Yes, we want to have wood shelves.  Opting out of a maxim  Suspending a maxim

Husband: Your nagging goes in one ear and out

the other. Wife: That’s because there’s nothing between to

stop it. PRACTICE Which maxims have been flouted in the following? 1. Ann: Where are you going with the dog? Sam: To the V-E-T. 2. Leila: Whoa! Has your boss gone crazy? Mary: Let’s go get some coffee. 3. Teacher: Why didn’t you do your homework? Student: May I go and get some water. I’m so

thirsty. MEETING 4

HEDGES

1. In pragmatics, a hedge is a mitigating word or construction used to lessen the impact of an utterance. Typically, hedges are adjectives or adverbs or clauses. E.g. The party was somewhat

spoiled by the return of the parents. 2. By means of hedges, speakers take precautionary measures to protect themselves from the negative effect of their sayings. (They are cautious notes expressed about how an utterance is to be taken). 3.The importance of the maxim of quality for coorperative interaction in English may be best measured by the number of expressions we use to indicate that what we’re saying may not be totally accurate. E.g.-I’m not sure if this is right, but I heard

they seperated.

-I am not an expert, but you might want to try restarting your computer. 4. Hedges can be used to show that the speaker is concious of the quantity maxim. E.g. -As you probably know, I am terrified of bugs.

-So, to cut a long story short, we grabbed our stuff and ran. 5. Hedges can be used to show that the speaker is concious of the maxim of relation. E.g.

A: I mean, just going back to your point, I mean to me an order form is a contract. If we are going to put sth in then let’s keep it as general as possible. B: Yes. 6.Hedges can be used to show that the speaker is concious of the maxim of manner. E.g. -Thank you Chairman. Just to clarify one point.

There is a meeting of the Police Committee on Monday and there is an item on their budget for the provision of their camera. 7. Hedges are pragmatic markers that attenuate (weaken) the strength of an utterance. PRACTICE 1. Which maxims are the speakers aware of in the following utterances. -I won’t bore you with all the details, but it was an

exciting trip. -I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw a wedding ring on her finger. -I’m not sure if this makes sense, but the car had no lights. -Perhaps you can sit over here, sir! -I’m sorry. He’s kind of lost his interest in buying the car.

Low pragmatic speaking ability should be avoided. MEETING 5 R E V I E W 1. Communication is governed by a ‘cooperative principle’ and ‘maxims of conversation’. (Gricean maxims). 2. In many cultures, it can be socially unacceptable to always say exactly what is in one’s mind unless one knows the hearer very well. Thus we might prefer not to say to a shop assistant, as we hand back a dress, “This looks awful on; I don’t want it afterall”, but rather “I’ll go away and think about it and maybe come back later.” We are not lying: we know that she knows that we have no intention of returning. (Cutting 2002: 36) 3. Sperber and Wilson (1995) say that all maxims can be reduced to the maxim of relation. The maxim of quantity can be expressed as ‘give the right amount of relevant information’, the maxim of quality can be stated as ‘give sincere relevant information’, and the maxim of manner ‘give unambigious relevant information’. 4. Discourse analysis calls the quality of being meaningful and unified COHERENCE; pragmatics calls it RELEVANCE. 5. The danger with banter is that it can offend if the hearers do not recover the conversational implicature, or if they suspect there is an element of truth in the words.

6. Flouting the maxims give rise to implicatures. Most of the time when you flout a maxim, you create an implicature about something else. 7. One particularly interesting kind of pragmatic/ discourse phenomenon is the use of hedging. 8. Speakers are not only aware of the maxims, but that they want to show that they are trying to observe them. PRACTICE 1. True or False. For Grice, metaphors result from the flouting of the first maxim (quality). 2. True or False. Irony is an offensive way of being friendly. 3. True or False. Banter is a friendly way of being offensive. 4. Irony consists of verbal irony and situational irony and dramatic irony. 5. T or F. Pragmatics helps you (to) make sense of people, and what they have in their mind. 6. Hedges are words whose job is to make things fuzzier. MEETING 6 IMPLICATURES (1)

1. Implicature is an additional unstated meaning that has to be assumed in order to maintain the cooperative principle. 2. Implicatures can be calculated by the listeners via inference(s). (by making the necessary inferences) (by drawing logical conclusion).

3. Conversational implicatures happen when speakers mean more than what they say. It is a prime example of more being communicated than is said. (Speakers are able to communicate more information than the words they use). Bill: I hope you brought the bread and the

cheese. Dexter: Ah, I brought the bread. Dexter has conveyed more than he said.  A: Will Sally be at the meeting this afternoon? B: Her car broke down. C: Where’s Bill? D: There’s a yellow VW outside Sue’s house. X: Y: X: Y:

Bill and Martha are leaving tomorrow. I’ll miss Martha. You were not so fond of Bill then? Hardly so. I just meant that Martha’s a real treasure.

 Alice: What are the police doing? interrogative asking a question) Brenda: I’ve just arrived. (Brenda made an apparently non-relevant remark)  Wife : That’s the telephone. Husband: I’m in the bath. Wife : OK

(an

Every utterance creates an expectation of relevance in the hearer.

3. Properties of conversational implicatures. o They are deniable. Speakers may cancel an implicature. o They can be calculated by the listeners via inferences. o They are not part of the conventional meaning of linguistic expression. 4.A Conventional implicature is an implicature which arises from the particular choice of words or syntax, rather than from conversational maxims.  Even Bill could solve the problem.  Even a little child is able to solve the problem.  Dennis isn’t here yet. (The present situation is expected to be different at later time.  Susan suggested black, but I chose white.  Yesterday, Mary was happy and ready to work. (Two statements containing static information)  She put on her clothes and left the house. (Two statements containing dynamic, actionrelated information). 5. Properties of conventional implicatures:  They are non-cancellable.  They are part of the conventional meaning of a word or construction.

PRACTICE CALCULATE THE FOLLOWING IMPLICATURES! Rick: Hey, coming to the wild party tonight? (invitation) Tom: My parents are visiting. Peter: Do you want some coffee? Mary: Coffee would keep me awake. MEETING 7 IMPLICATURES (2)

1. Implicature is defined as ‘the implied meaning generated intentionally by the speaker’. These meanings are often made covertly, hidden using politeness strategies. 2. Implicatures can be part of sentence meaning or dependent on conversational context. 3. Conversational implicature consists of particularized conversational implicature and generalized conversational implicature. 4. Particularized conversational implicature is an additional unstated meaning that depends on special or local knowledge. A: How did you get to this hotel? B: I parked my vehicle on the third floor, over

there. (The meaning is unfolded by knowledge of the world that in Indonesia motorcycles are usually parked on the ground floor and that the higher floors are for cars). A: Has John arrived? B: There is a red car in the garage. Leila: Whoa! Has the boss gone crazy?

Mary: Let’s go get some coffee. (Implicature with thematic switch) 5. Generalized conversational implicature is an additional unstated meaning that does not depend on special or local knowledge. Doobie: Did you invite Bella and Cathy? Mary : I invited Bella. 6. Scalar implicature refers to an additional meaning of the negative of any value higher on a scale than the one uttered, e.g. in saying ‘some children’ , I create an implicature that what I say does not apply to ‘all children’. 7. [all, most, many, some, few, none] [always, often, sometimes, seldom, never] 8. A: What time is it? B: Some of the guests are already leaving. Particluralized conversational implicature: “It must be late.” Generalized conversational implicature: “Not all of the guests are already leaving”. C: How was the party? D: People left late at night. To preserve an assumption of cooperation, we have to infer why the addressee made an apparently non-relevant remark. PRACTICE I. Comment on the following implicatures!

Guest: Is Julie in, Ma’am? Landlady: What time is it now? Is the landlady a cooperative interactant? II. Is John a teacher or a student?

John was on his way to school last Friday. He was really worried about the math lesson. Last week he had been unable to control the class. It was unfair of the math teacher to leave him in charge.

Afterall, it is not a normal part of a janitor’s duty.

MEETING 8 SPEECH ACTS (1) 1. Does the above implicature belong to direct or indirect speech act?

2. Direct and indirect speech acts. Whenever there is a direct relationship between a structure and a function, we have a direct speech act. Whenever there is an indirect relationship, we have an indirect speech act. STRUCTURAL FORMS

COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS

Declarative

Make a statement

Interrogative

Ask a question

Imperative

Give a command, make a request.

Father: Is that your coat on the foor again? Son: Yes (continued reading)

3. A declarative used to make a statement is a direct speech act, but a declarative used to make a request is an indirect speech act.

a. It’s cold outside b. I hereby tell you about the weather. c. I hereby request of you that you close the door. This tea is really cold. (Is it to be taken as complaint or a compliment?

4. Different structures can be used to accomplish the same basic function.

a. b. c. d.

Move out of the way. Do you have to stand in front of the TV? You’re standing in front of the TV. You’d make a better door than a window.

5. One of the most common type of indirect speech act in English has the form of an interrogative, but is not typically used to ask a question.

a. Could you pass the salt? b. Would you open this? c. Have you got any cash on you? Using direct imperative is tactless because you risk being disobeyed. TACT= the ability to say the right thing without making anyone upset.

6. Indirect speech acts are generally associated with greater politeness in English than direct speech acts.

7. Austin (1962) defined speech acts as the actions performed in saying something.  Statement: I lived in Paris for five years.  Order: Pay this bill immediately.  Question: Where are you in the sibling order?  Prohibition: No right turn.  Greeting: Hello  Invitation: You must come and have dinner with us.  Felicitation: Happy new year.  (Grudging) apology: I hereby apologize as required by the magistrate.  Compliment: You look good and healthy. (Complimentary force)  Promise: I’ll buy you a bicycle if you get flying colors.  Threatening: I’ll flatten you if you do that again. -A PROMISE IS A PLEDGE TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU. -A THREAT IS A PLEDGE TO DO SOMETHING TO YOU. -AN OFFER IS SAYING THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO DO STH FOR THE ADDRESSEE. -A REQUEST IS ASKING THE ADDRESSEE TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU.

8. On any occasion, the action performed in saying something will consist of three related acts, namely: locutionary act, illocutionary acts, perlocutionary act. ^Locution: Could you hold the door open for a moment? ^Illocution: an act of requesting the hearer to hold the door open. ^Perlocution: The hearer holds the door open. ^Locution: Do you know what time it is? ^Illocution: an act of giving a warning to latearriving students. ^Perlocution: The students apologize for coming late. 9. A speech act is a sentence or utterance which has both propositional (locutionary) meaning and illocutionary force. 10.

Locutionary

meaning

is

the

basic

literal

meaning of an utterance.

11. Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID) is an expression where there is a slot for a verb that explicitly names the illocutionary force being performed.  I’ll see you later. (=A)

 (I predict that) A.  (I promise that) A.  (I warn you that) A. 12. PERFORMATIVE VERB= A VERB THAT EXPLICITLY NAMES THE SPEECH ACT. 13. Word order and intonation are also IFIDs. 14. Speakers do not always ‘perform’ their speech acts so explicitly, but they sometimes describe the speech acts being performed. Him: Can I talk to Mary? Her: No, she’s not here. Him: I’m asking you—can I talk to her? Her: And I’m telling you – SHE’S NOT HERE. PRACTICE I.Identify the illocutionary forces of the following 1. How about letting me do it for you? (an offer) 2. How about going for a walk? (a request) 3. I’m sorry for stepping on your toe. (an apology) 4. You are always coming late. (a complaint) 5. Shut up or I’ll lay one on you.(a command/ a threat) 6. If you don’t stop fighting, I’ll call the police.(a warning) II. Locution : The hedges have grown wild. Illocution: an act of requesting the hearer to prune the hedges. Perlocution: The hearer pruned the hedges.

III. Are the following direct or indirect speech acts? Identify the structural forms and the communicative functions of the utterances. 1. Have you got a match? 2. Is that your coat on the floor again? 3. Are you going to wear that? 4. When someone says (that) I look like my mother/ father, I take it as a ........... 5. Are the above maximally efficient communication?

MEETING 10 SPEECH ACT CLASSIFICATION

According to Searle (1979) there are five macro classes of speech acts: 1. DECLARATIONS. Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that change the world via their utterance. This is the saying of the right words, by the right person and in the right place.  I hereby pronounce you man and

wife.  I hereby declare this meeting open.  This court sentences you to ten years’ imprisonment. 2. REPRESENTATIVES. Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state

what the speaker believes to be the case, such as ‘describing’, ‘claiming’, hypothesizing’, ‘insisting’ and ‘predicting’.  The earth is round.  Chomsky did not write about peanuts.  This is a German car. 3. COMMISSIVES. Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that commit the speaker to future action, such as ‘promising’, ‘offering’, ‘threatening’, ‘refusing’, ‘vowing’ and ‘volunteering’.  If you don’t stop fighting, I’ll call the police.  I’m going to get it right next time.  I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.  I’ll get you an aspirin. (a commisive offering) 4. DIRECTIVES. (impositives). Directives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to get someone else to do something, such as ‘commanding’, ‘requesting’, ‘inviting’, ‘forbidding’, ‘suggesting’ etc.  Gimme a cup of coffee. Make it black.  Could you lend me a pen, please?  Don’t touch that. 5. EXPRESSIVES. Expressives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels, such as ‘apologizing’, ‘praising’, ‘congratulating’, ‘deploring’, ‘thanking’ and ‘regretting’.  I’m really sorry.

 Congratulations!  You look good and healthy.

6. ‘Thank you for not smoking’. The expressive ‘thanking’ speech act is presumably used because it sounds more polite and friendly than the impersonal directive prohibiting ‘No smoking’. 7. The same utterance can potentially have quite different illocutionary forces. How can speakers assume that the intended illocutionary force will be recognized by the hearer This tea is really cold. You look like your mother. 8. Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID) is an expression where there is a slot for a verb that explicitly names the illocutionary force being performed.  I’ll see you later. (=A)  (I predict that) A.  (I promise that) A.  (I warn you that) A. 9. Word order and intonation are also IFIDs. 10. Speech acts are culturally bound. The ways of expressing speech acts vary from country to country.  How fat you are!

PRACTICE 1.Mention the five macro classes of speech acts.

Can you recognize the illocutionary forces of: 2. It’s cold outside. 3. I’ll take you to the movies tomorrow. 4. I now pronounce you man and wife. 5. I’ll give you a lift. 6.Locution: Traffic is light ahead. Illocution: an act of ............... Perlocution: ……… MEETING 11 THE POLITENESS PRINCIPLE

(Leech)

-The maxims of the politeness principle (PP) tend to go in pairs as follows: I.TACT MAXIM (in impositives and commissives). TACT: the ability to say the right thing without making anyone upset. a.Minimize cost to other b.Maximize benefit to other

II.GENEROSITY MAXIM (in impositives and commissives). a. Minimize benefit to self b. Maximize cost to self

III. APPROBATION MAXIM (in expressives and assertives) a. Minimize dispraise of other b. Maximize praise of other IV. MODESTY MAXIM (in expressives and assertives). a. Minimize praise of self b. Maximize dispraise of self.

V. AGREEMENT MAXIM (in assertives) a.Minimize disagreement between self and other. b.Maximize agreement between self and other. VI. SYMPATHY MAXIM (in assertives). a. Minimize antipathy between self and other. b. Maximize sympathy between self and other. -Not all the maxims and sub-maxims are equally important. (I) is more important than (II). (III) is more important than (IV). Politeness is focused more strongly on other than on self. Sub-maxim(b) seems to be less important than sub-maxim (a). 1.You can lend me your car.

2. I can lend you my car. 3. You must come and have dinner with us. 4. We must come and have dinner with you. The offer (2) and invitation(3) are presumed to be polite for two reasons. 5.I am a better person than you are. 6. You are a better person than I am. 7. Please accept this large gift as a token of our

esteem. 8. Please accept this small gift as a token of our esteem. 9. Have a chocolate! Is an utterance which involves generosity maxim. 10. Give me one of your chocolates! PRACTICE Give comments on these utterances! Which maxim does it involve? Why is it polite or impolite? 1. Could I borrow your electric drill? 2. Could you lend me your electric drill? 3. I’m so stupid. I didn’t take notes of the lecture.

4. You’re so stupid. You didn’t take notes of the lecture. 5. What a marvellous meal you cooked! 6. What a marvellous meal I cooked! Politeness is essentially asymmetrical. What is a polite belief for the speaker will be impolite to the hearer. MEETING 12 NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE POLITENESS Brown and Levinson (1987) 1. Politeness can be defined as the means employed to show awareness of another person’s face. Showing awareness for another person’s face when that other seems socially distant is often described in terms of respect or deference. Showing the equivalent awareness when the other is socially close is often described in terms of friendliness, camaraderie, or solidarity. -Excuse me, Mr Buckingham, but can I talk to you for

a minute? -Hey, Bucky, got a minute? 2. Brown & Levinson (1978) defines politeness as redressive action taken to counter-balance the disruptive effect of Face Threatening Acts (FTAs). 3. Politeness is something the speaker does to mitigate potential Face Threatening Acts of the receiver. 3. FTA: Utterance or action which threatens a person’s public self image. 4. We have to look at various factors which relate to social distance and closeness. Some of these factors are established prior to an interaction and hence are largely external factors. They typically involve the relative status of the participants, (their age and power). 5. However, there are other factors, such as amount of imposition or degree of friendliness, which are negotiated during an interaction. These internal factors may result,

for example, in participants moving from a title-plus-last name to a first-name basis within the talk. 6. NEGATIVE POLITENESS POSITIVE POLITENESS Use of indirect speech acts Use of title plus last name Providing option Use of apologetic language Showing respect Be pessimistic Use of distal personal deixis Use of hedges

Use of direct speech act Use of first name Using direct imperative Being complimentary Showing solidarity Be optimistic Use of proximal personal deixis Use of nickname

I couldn’t borrow $100 from you, could I? 7.Positive politeness is often used as a supplement to negative politeness. Basically, it provides an excellent opportunity for ‘buffering somebody up’ before you try to get them to do something. PRACTICE I. Comment on these utterances. 1. I don’t suppose you could close the window, could you?

2. Could you pass the salt, please? 3. Perhaps, he might have taken it, maybe. 4. Excuse me, sir, would you mind if I ask you to close the window? 5. I’ll just come along, if you don’t mind. II. There are various factors which relate to social distance and closeness. What are the external and internal factors. III. T or F Negative politeness belongs pre-eminently to the DIRECTIVE class, while positive politeness is found pre-eminently in the COMMISSIVE and EXPRESSIVE classes. IV. Does the US belong to negative or positive politeness society? Does the UK belong to negative or positive politeness society? Does Indonesia belong to negative or positive politeness society?

MEETING 13 POLITENESS STRATEGIES (Brown & Levinson, 1987) 1. One way of doing an FTA is to say it directly or bluntly or bald on record. If a speaker makes a suggestion, request, offer, or invitation in an open and direct way, we say that they are doing an FTA bald on record. e.g. Please make me coffee. 2. A second way of doing an FTA is to do it on record with positive face redress. Positive politeness strategies aim to save positive face, by demonstrating closeness and solidarity, appealing to friendship, and making other people feel good. e.g. Oh, you make such great coffee! I’d really appreciate

it if you’d make me a cup. 3. A third way of doing an FTA is to do it on record with negative face redress. Negative politeness strategies pay attention to negative face, by demonstrating distance between interlocutors, and avoiding intruding on each other’s territory. Speakers use them to avoid imposing or presuming, and to give the hearer options. Speakers can avoid imposing by emphasising the importance of the other’s time and concerns, using apology and hesitation, or a question giving them the opportunity to say no. E.g. I’m sorry to bother you but ...Would you mind making

coffee? -Positive redress is considered less polite than negative redress because it presumes that the other person would be pleased by your gesture of solidarity.

4. A fourth way of doing an FTA is to do it off record. Here the speaker uses hints or ambiguity to get the FTA across.If you do an FTA off record, you ask for help indirectly. If a person goes off record, there is more than one possible intention attributable to the speaker. E.g. I’m so tired. A cup of coffee would help. 5. The final option for doing an FTA is not to do it. This strategy can’t be observed in a conversation. If a person does not do an FTA, he/she might shy away from saying anything. PRACTICE 1. Briefly explain how to do an FTA! 2. T or F Negative politeness is often used to make a request seems less infringing/ imposing.

MEETING 14 THE SPEECH ACT OF COMPLIMENTING

1. With regard to the topic of compliment, three major categories have been identified: 1)appearance and possessions, 2) abilities or accomplishments, and 3) personality traits of the interlocutors. COMPLIMENT TOPICS reflect what is culturally considered admirable in society. 2. Billmyer (1990) grouped responses to compliments into three categories for instructional purposes:  Acceptance

When you are complimented, the only response necessary is ‘Thank you’. (Johnson 1979)  Deflection, and  Rejection. A person rejecting a compliment given to him/her is said to violate the maxim of agreement. 3. The repertoire of deflection types consisted of the following behaviors:  Commenting on the history of the referent. A: What a lovely bag you’ve got! B: I got it at the Macy’s.  Shifting credit away from self. C: What a lovely bag you’ve got! D: A friend of mine gave it to me.  Downgrading the compliment. E: What a lovely bag you’ve got! F: It’s not all that expensive  Questioning the compliment or requesting reassurance. G: What a lovely bag you’ve got! H: Do you really think so?  Returning a compliment. I: What a lovely bag you’ve got! J: Your bag looks great, too.

4. Most compliments occurred between status equals. 5. The great majority of compliments which occur in interaction between status unequals are given by the person in the higher position. E.g. You’re such a treasure Carol. What would I do without you? (MANAGER TO HER SECRETARY). 5.The nine syntactic categories:  NP + BE + ADJECTIVE. Your blouse is beautiful.  I (REALLY) + LIKE/LOVE + NP. I really like your blouse.  PRONOUN + IS (REALLY)(A) + ADJ + NP. That’s a nice wall hanging.  YOU + V (A) (REALLY) +ADJECTIVE + NP. You did a good

job.  YOU + V + NP + ADV. You handled that situation

well.  YOU + HAVE (A) + ADJECTIVE + NP. You have such

beautiful hair.  WHAT (A) + ADJECTIVE + NP. What a beautiful blouse

you have.  ADJECTIVE + NP. Nice game!  ISN’T + NP + ADJECTIVE. Isn’t your ring beautiful?

PRACTICE 1. Does accepting compliments result in the violation of modesty maxim? 2. Does rejecting compliments result in the violation of agreement maxim?

3. Have you ever paid a compliment to somebody? If so, how did he/she response? 4. What is the topic of each of the compliment below?  What a marvelous meal you cooked!  You look good and healthy.  You did a good job. MEETING 15 ENTAILMENT vs PRESUPPOSITION 1. Entailment is something that logically follows from what is asserted. Sentences, not speakers, have entailments. It is a central kind of inference in semantics. Entailments are propositions guaranted to be true when a given proposition is true. E.g. This medicine has cured her uncle. Her uncle is well. Moira has arrived in Sydney. Moira is in Sydney. They live in Vancouver. They live in Canada. 2.Some properties of and tests for entailment:  Entailment cannot be cancelled. Attempting to cancel an entailment leads to contradiction.  Entailments are properties of sentences.  The entailments of a sentence are in general NOT PRESERVED under negation. 3. PRESUPPOSITION is something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance. Speakers, not sentences, have presuppositions. E.g.This medicine has cured her uncle. +> Her uncle was ill. Dick has begun to do a share of the chores. +> Dick didn’t previously do a share of the chores. 4. Some properties of and tests for presupposition:  Semantic presuppositions are non-cancellable.  Pragmatic presuppositions are cancellable.  Semantic presuppositions are properties of sentences.  Pragmatic presuppositions are properties of utterances.  Semantic and pragmatic presuppositions are preserved under negation. E.g. A three-year-old boy named Bartolomeauw was

found at the bus station. 5. Types of presupposition  Existential presupposition is not only present in possesssive construction, but also in any definite noun phrase as well as in proper names.

 Lexical presupposition. There are words, like manage, again, that act as presupposition triggers. Each time you say that someone ‘managed’ to do something, the asserted meaning is that the person succeeded in some way. ‘Again’ presupposes that the state or event referred to was instantiated before.  Structural presupposition. The wh-question construction in English is interpreted with the presupposition that the information after the wh-form is already known to be the case (assumed to be true). When did he leave? +> He left. When did you buy the bike? +> You bought the bike.  Counter-factual presupposition. If you had taken my advice, you wouldn’t have run into trouble. If I were rich, …..; If I weren’t ill, ……; If only I could forgive myself for what I’ve done. (Yule, 1996). 6. The pronoun gender distinction of English is presuppositional. A: Where is the head of department’s office? I want to speak to him? B: She is female. PRACTICE 1.What are willy-nilly understood and do not have to be expressed? 2.Which of the following sentences presuppose which? - I’m not an ambassador. -If I were an ambassador, …. - He made a mistake before. -He made a mistake again. 3. Which one of B’s utterances is concerned with existential presupposition as well as an implication of co-reference? A: I’ve lost a diamond ring. B: Well, Julie was wearing a ring this moning. Well, Julie was wearing the ring this morning. 4.What’s the presupposition of We imagined we were in Hawaii? 5. What’s the difference between semantic and pragmatic presupposition? E.g. A three-year-old boy named I Made was found at the bus station.

MEETING 16 PARAPHRASES, ANTONYMY, METAPHOR, ENTAILMENT, PRESUPPOSITION 1. Paraphrases are sentences with the same meaning.  A. Andy is impudent.  B. Andy is cheeky.  A. He responded in the affirmative.  B. He answered yes.

Sentence A, if it is true, entails – guarantees the truth of – sentence B, and vice versa. 2. Paraphrase between two sentences depends on entailment. To establish paraphrase, the entailment has to go both ways.  Bob can fix anything. He’s a real Jack-of-all-trades.  Bob can repair anything. He really knows a little about everything. 3. Entailment can be a one-way or a two-way entailment.  The bridge is huge entails The bridge is big.  The process was lengthy entails The process was long.  He’d been made a scapegoat for his boss’s imcompetence entails He’d been made a fall guy for his boss’s incompetence. 4. There are three types of antonyms: gradable antonyms, complementarity, and relational opposites. There is middle ground between gradable antonyms. e.g. clean/dirty; silent/noisy; light/heavy; new/old; etc  I’ve always found the ending of an old year, and the beginning of a new year, bittersweet. Complementarities divide their domain without any remainder. e.g. male/female; single/married; dead/alive; open/closed; up/down; right/left. In relational opposites, the pairs of words are the reversal of a relationship of words. e.g. buy/sell; lend/borrow; give/receive; debtor/creditor; fiance/fiancee  Is Indonesia a lending or borrowing nation? 5. We need a presuppositional base for interpreting metaphor.  My house is a refridgerator in January.  Love is a magnet.  The salt of the Earth.  You can be sure she’ll always add salt to the conversation.  Life is like licking honey off a thorn. PRACTICE 1. Soldier about to pat someone down: “Put both your hands on the wall, up here.” What does the soldier presuppose? 2. A: “Do you like Brook Shields?” B: (after a puzzled pause): “What are they?” What is illustrated about the use of proper names by A’s failed attempt to refer to the actress Brook Shields? 3. Comment on the semantics of the underlined words below. ‘When you’re working with bling-blings, you’ve gotta wear bling-blings.(large, expensive, sparkling jewellery). 4. Are the following antonym or synonym: quite a few/quite a lot; oversee/overlook; wise man/wise guy?

. When used non-reciprocally by superiors to subordinates, compliment may underline patterns of societal power which place women in a clearly subordinate position to men. When used between equals and friends, a compliment could be considered a quintessential of positive politeness strategy