Invisible Meaning
The study of what speakers mean is called pragmatics. Speakers must be able to depend on a lot of shared assumptions and expectations when they try to communicate.
Context
The physical context is the location where we encounter words or phrases. The linguistic context is is the surrounding words, also known as co-text, that helps us understand what is meant. Deictic words are used to point to people (us, them, those idiots), places (here, over there), and times (now, last week). The words are also categorized by closeness to speaker.
| Close to speaker | Not close to speaker | |
|---|---|---|
| Person deixis | me, us, ours, this girl | him, them, that woman, those idiots |
| Spatial deixis | here, this bed, behind me | there, those hills, over yonder |
| Temporal deixis | now, today, this morning | then, yesterday, last week, next year |
Reference
Reference is an act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a listener (or reader) to identify something. This can be done by pronouns, noun phrases, or proper nouns. We can use names to refer to things that are not actually that thing, this is called inference. An example is asking Can I have a look at your Chomsky?, the person wants to look at someone’s book by Chomsky.
When we introduce something and later refer back to it, the first mention is called the antecedent and the second mention is called anaphora. If we do the opposite the second mention is called cataphora. The connection between antecedent and later expression is normally based on inference.
We saw a video about a boy washing a puppy in a small bath. The puppy started to freak out. It got so scared it jumped out of the tub.
In the above example a puppy is an antecedent while The puppy and it are anaphoric expressions.
Presupposition
Presupposition is what a speaker (or writer) assumes is true or known by their audience.
Pragmatic Markers
Pragmatics markers are short expressions (eg. you know, well, I mean, I don’t know) that indicates the speaker’s attitude to the listener or utterance. The use of I don’t know as a pragmatic marker is recent and indicates hesitation or uncertainty when the speaker may say something potentially in disagreement with another speaker.
Politeness
Politeness is showing awareness and consideration of another person’s public self-image. Your face is your public self image. Something that represents a threat to another person’s face is called a face-threatening act. If you say something to lessen the possible threat it is called a face-saving act. Negative face is the need to be independent and free from imposition. Positive face is the need to be connected, belong. be a member of the group.
| Phrase | Type of act |
|---|---|
| I’m sorry to bother you…; I know you’re busy, but… | Face-saving act that emphasizes a person’s negative face |
| The same thing happened to me…; Let’s do this together… | Face-saving act that emphasizes a person’s positive face |
Speech Acts
A speech act is an action that involved language such as “requesting”, “commanding”, “threatening”, “questioning”, or “informing”.
| Structure | Functions | |
|---|---|---|
| Did you eat the pizza? | Interrogative | Questions |
| Eat the pizza (please)! | Imperative | Command (request) |
| You ate the pizza. | Declarative | Statement |
If you are don’t know something and ask a question, your sentence in an interrogative question and can be called a direct speech act. When you ask a question but it is a request (such as can you pass the salt?), you are not really asking a question but rather an interrogative request and it is a indirect speech act.
Study Questions
- What kinds of deictic expressions are used here?
a) We went there last summer. - We (person), went there (spatial), last summer (temporal)
b) I’m busy now so you can’t stay here. Come back later. - I & you (person), now & later (temporal), here & come back (spatial)
- How do we describe the pragmatic difference between the pair here and now versus there and then? The first is close to the speaker the other is not close.
- What kind of inference is involved in interpreting each of these utterances?
a) Teacher: You can borrow my Shakespeare - If X is the name of an author, X can be used to identify a copy of a book by that author. (In an education setting)
b) Waiter: The ham sandwich left without paying - If X is the name of a dish, X can be used to refer to a person who ordered the meal. (In a restaurant setting)
c) Nurse: The hernia in room 5 wants to talk to the doctor. - If X is the name of a medical condition, X can be used to refer to a person who suffer the medical condition. (In a medical setting)
d) Dentist: My eleven-thirty canceled so I had an early lunch. - If X is the time of an appointment, X can be used to identify the person who had the appointment. (In a business setting)
- What are the anaphoric expressions in the follow sentence? He, her, his, she, him, the pills, the pain.
Dr. Foster gave Andy some medicine after he told her about his headaches and she advised him to take the pills three time a day until the pain went away.
- What is the technical term for the phrase an old car in its relationship with it in the following utterance? The antecedent.
I have an old car, but it runs great.
- What is the technical term used to describe the relationship between She and Ginny Swisher in the following example? Cataphora.
She was born prematurely. She lost her parents at an early age. She grew up in poverty. She never completed high school. Yet Ginny Swisher overcame all these disadvantages to become one of the most successful women in America.
- What process is involved in the connection between cooking and the special meal in the following sentence? Inference as one needs to understand the special meal is a definite expression because it is the result of the cooking that was said earlier.
The old men and women lit the fire and started cooking early in the morning so that the special meal would be ready for their guests.
- What is one obvious presupposition of a speaker who says:
a) Your clock isn’t working. - You have a clock.
b) Where did he find the money? He found the money.
c) We regret buying that car. - We bought the car.
d) The king of France is bald. France has a king.
- How many pragmatic markers are used in the following interaction? There are four. I mean, well, I don’t know, you know.
MANA: Why does everyone think he’s a genius, I mean, he gets things wrong like the rest of us, doesn’t he?
MAKA: Well, I don’t know, he got that award last year for innovation, you know, the Brill award, at the convention in New York, I think it was.
- In these examples, is the speaker appealing to a positive or negative face?
a) If you’re free, there’s going to be part at Yuri’s place on Saturday - negative face as it focuses on the individual (you’re free)
b) Let’s go to the party at Yuri’s place on Saturday. Everyone’s invited. - positive face as it focuses on belonging (let us go)
- Someone stands between you and the TV set you’re watching, so you decide to say one of the following. Identify which would be direct or indirect speech acts.
| Move! | Direct | Could you please sit down? | Indirect |
| You’re in the way. | Indirect | Please get out of the way. | Direct |
- In terms of speech acts, how would you explain the unusual nature of this interaction between a visitor to a city, with luggage, looking lost, and a man in the street outside the railway station.
VISITOR: Excuse me. Do you know where the Ambassador Hotel is? - indirect speech question requesting directions
Up Next: Discourse AnalysisRESIDENT: Oh sure, I know where it is. (and walks away) - treats questions as direct speech act and answers the question (doesn’t see the request function)