Pragmatics Tutorial 8

PRAGMATICSTUTORIAL 8

CHAN YI HAO HO JIA DA TAN HUI MIN WU JIAJUN

QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY

Jia Da

QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY

Two Forces IllocutionaryPerlocutionary

Two FormsDirect Speech Act Indirect Speech Act

QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY

Performative Verbs Meaning of the verb is PERFORMED by simply UTTERING it in

the sentence.

Examples I apologise for my ugly presentation

slides

I promise to work hard for this module

QUESTION 1: SPEECH ACT THEORY

QUESTION 1A: QUESTION

Direct, Performative Verb

May I enquire about the criteria for admission to NUS?

Intention: Illicit Information (Question) Linguistic Form: Interrogative

QUESTION 1A: QUESTION

Direct, without Performative Verb

Why on earth do you want to enroll in NUS?

Intention: Illicit Information (Question) Linguistic Form: Interrogative

QUESTION 1A: QUESTION

Indirect

I am running out of patience Intention: Illicit Information (Question) Linguistic Form: Declarative

QUESTION 1B: REQUEST

Direct, with Performative Verb

I demand a diamond ring, necklace and bracelet this Valentines Day.

Intention: Request/Order Linguistic Imperative

QUESTION 1B: REQUEST

Direct, no Performative Verb

Please understand my current financial situation

Intention: Request/Order Linguistic Form: Imperative

QUESTION 1B: REQUEST

Indirect

Can’t you afford the ring at least?

Intention: Request/Order Linguistic Form: Interrogative

QUESTION 1C: PROMISE

Direct, with Performative Verb

I swear that I will make you pay for murder

Intention: Promise (Declaration) Linguistic Form: Declarative

QUESTION 1C: PROMISE

Direct, no Performative Verb

I will never kill again if you spare me

Intention: Promise Linguistic Form: Declarative

QUESTION 1C: PROMISE

Indirect

Prepare to meet your inevitable doom

Intention: Promise (Declaration) Linguistic Form: Imperative

QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION

Yi Hao

Cooperative principle:How people interact with one another

QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION

Quality Quantity Relation Manner

False information

Lack adequate evidence

Be as informative as required

Do not be too informative

Be relevant Avoid ambiguity and obscurity

Be brief and orderly

4 Gricean Maxim of Conversation

“He’s so well spoken that you can get lulled into thinking that you believe him. Then, after a while, you start to realize that most of what he’s saying is just unfounded opinion. He never backs up his statements with anything factual.”

Answer: Maxim of Quality

QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION

“Her lectures are really hard to understand. I think that she knows what she’s talking about, but she uses all this complicated vocabulary, and she never defines any of the words. Plus, every sentence is about a million words long, and by the time you figure out what it meant, she’s giving you another sentence that’s even more complicated! Aiyoh”

Answer: Maxim of Manner & Maxim of Quantity (too much)

QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION

“His classes are hard to follow because he goes off on so many tangents. He’ll be talking about Russian politics one minute, and then he’ll veer off to tell us something about democracy in Ancient Greece. Then he’ll get back to the Russian politics only to interrupt himself with a story about what his son did at breakfast this morning! OMG”

Answer: Maxim of Relation & Maxim of Manner

QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION

“I feel as though she never gives us thorough answers to our questions. For example, I asked her yesterday why we shiver when we’re cold. All she said was ‘because you’re warm-blooded,’ and then she went to with her lecture. I already knew that people are warm-blooded, but I don’t know what this has to do with shivering. Damn it!”

Answer: Maxim of Quantity (too little)

QUESTION 2: GRICEAN MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

Hui Min

The following is a true story involving a mother and her 2-year-old daughter.

The mother is busy preparing dinner, and tells the child: Go ask your uncle what he wants to drink. The child runs to the living room where the uncle is relaxing, and doesn’t come back. After a good 15 minutes, the mother checks with the uncle, who says: Yeah, she did come to me and said “Uncle, uncle, what you want to drink?”, then she disappeared towards her bedroom.

Keeping in mind the 2-year-old’s level of communicative competence, explain how the pragmatic notions of illocution and perlocution crucially help us understand this funny episode.

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

Illocutionary Utterance

Speaker-oriented Has an communicative intent to induce

an actionDeclarative, Interrogative, Imperative

Hearer-based Has behavioral consequences on

the hearerDeclarative, Interrogative,

Imperative

Perlocutionary Utterance

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCEIllocutionary Utterance

“Go ask your uncle what he wants to drink…”

IntentFind out what drink Uncle wants and get back to me

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

Perlocutionary behaviour

“Mummy said to ask what Uncle wants to drink”

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

What child understandsFind out what Uncle wants to drink and no need get back to mummy

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

Competency of a 2 year old:• Process literal meaning as

presented• Do not understand true intent of

context

QUESTION 3: PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

No instruction to get back to Mummy

No need to get back to

Mummy=

Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN SINGAPORE

Jiajun

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this press conference.

With great regret, I announce that I have tendered my resignation as a Member of Parliament and as a member of the People's Action Party.

I have resigned to take full responsibility for a grave mistake that I have committed. I had a relationship with a member of the People's Association staff working in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. While the individual did not work with me directly, Punggol East used to be part of the GRC and continues to work with it. My conduct was improper and it was a serious error of judgment.

I have resigned in order to avoid further embarrassment to the PAP and to Parliament.

I have performed my duties as Speaker of Parliament and MP for Punggol East to the best of my ability and my actions did not affect my performance of those duties.

I am deeply sorry for letting down the residents of Punggol East, the PAP and everyone who has believed in me and supported me. I apologise unreservedly to them, and to my family.

I humbly request that you be kind enough to respect my family's privacy during this difficult period. Thank you.

- Michael PalmerSpeaker of Parliament

Effective?

Yes!DuhNo repercussion to PAP after public apology

Sincere

Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN SINGAPORE

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this press conference.

With great regret, I announce that I have tendered my resignation as a Member of Parliament and as a member of the People's Action Party.

I have resigned to take full responsibility for a grave mistake that I have committed. I had a relationship with a member of the People's Association staff working in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. While the individual did not work with me directly, Punggol East used to be part of the GRC and continues to work with it. My conduct was improper and it was a serious error of judgment.

I have resigned in order to avoid further embarrassment to the PAP and to Parliament.

I have performed my duties as Speaker of Parliament and MP for Punggol East to the best of my ability and my actions did not affect my performance of those duties.

I am deeply sorry for letting down the residents of Punggol East, the PAP and everyone who has believed in me and supported me. I apologise unreservedly to them, and to my family.

I humbly request that you be kind enough to respect my family's privacy during this difficult period. Thank you.

- Michael PalmerSpeaker of Parliament

•Sincere Expression of Remorse• “With great regret”• “I am deeply sorry”

•Admission of fault• “My conduct was improper”

•Taking responsibility• “to take full responsibility”• “resigned in order to avoid further embarrassment to the PAP”

•Public Apology• Press conference

Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN SINGAPORE

Similar casesJack Neo, Jesslyn Tan, Anton

Casey

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20121212-389136.html

Q4: PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF APOLOGY IN SINGAPORE

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