aaaaaaasdssdsdsdesCHAPTER 2:

SPEECH ACT THEORY

1. Speech acts

• 1. Speech acts
• Language is not always used to describe some state of affairs, or to state
some facts, which it must do either truly or falsely.

• Language is used to ‘do things’ other than just refer to the truth or falseness of
statements.

• We can ……………………………………………, just like the way we perform

physical acts.

 …………………………………….

 Example:

2. Different kinds of act of an utterance

• ……………………………………: reference to an entity and a predicate.

• The speaker expresses a proposition in saying something.

• Example:

– John, leave the room !

– It’s cold in here.

– There’s food in the fridge.

• There are 3 kinds of act which occur with everything we say.

– …………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………

– …………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………

– ……………………………………………………………………………

– Example:

• John, leave the room !

• It’s cold in here. There’s food in the fridge.

• I’m hungry.

How to identify the illocutionary force of an utterance?

 Not always easy – depends very much on …………………………………….

 Have to put it in a complete text rather than examining the utterance in

isolation.

 One illocutionary force may be spread over more than one utterance.

 One utterance can carry more than one single illocutionary force.

3. Direct and Indirect speech acts

• Sentence structures:

– Declarative (positive and negative)

– Interrogative

– Imperative

– Exclamative

• Language functions:

• There are several cases of meaning:

– When the speaker means what he says and nothing more

– When the speaker means what he says, but also means something more.

– When the speaker means what he says, but also means another illocution with
different propositional content.

– Example:

• Please pass the salt !

• I want you to pass the salt.

• Can you reach the salt?

• Direct speech act: ……………………………………

…………………………………….

• Indirect speech
act: …………………………………… …………………………………… …………
……………………
 (or one illocutionary act is performed by way of performing another)

• Example:

A: Can I help you ?

B: Can I have a small fried rice with chicken?

• Problem:

– …………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………

– …………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………

– Apparatus to interpret indirect speech acts:

• Illocutionary force indicating

devices: ………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………

– It’s going to charge

– It’s going to charge

– It’s going to charge

• 4. Performative verbs
• Performative verb…………………………………………

• Once you say it, you perform the act at the same time.

• Performative sentences or performatives (explicit or implicit):

– do not ……………………………………………………………………,

– are not …………

– but rather…

• To say something is to do something.

• Example:
• Performative verbs are also one
of ………………………………………………………………………….

• Speech acts that contain a performative verb are

often …………………………………… speech acts.

• However, they are not always made explicit in conversations.

• And sometimes the speech act is not always the same as the verb may
suggest.

5. Felicity conditions
• For a speech act to work, there are a number of felicity conditions that must
be met:

- ……………………………………:

+ Appropriate ……………………………………

+ Appropriate ……………………………………

- The procedure mustbe carried out …..

- The person must have the

required ……………………………………, ……………………………………,
and …………………………………….

Searle’s framework of felicity conditions

1) the propositional content condition: focuses only upon

the ……………………………………

2) the preparatory condition: focuses upon ……………………………………

3) the sincerity condition: focuses upon the ……………………………………

4) the essential condition: focuses upon the ……………………………………

Conditions for PROMISING:

• Propositional condition:

• Preparatory conditions:

• Sincerity condition:

• Essential condition:

5. 5 basic types of speech act

 • ……………………………………: committing the speaker to the truth of
a particular proposition.

• ……………………………………: attempting to get somebody to do

something.

• ……………………………………: committing the speaker to a future

course of action.

• ……………………………………: expressing a particular psychological

state.

• ……………………………………: bringing about an immediate change in

a state of affairs.

6. Cross-cultural pragmatics and Cross-cultural pragmatic failure

• Communication problems often arise because of different sets of
underlying norms and assumptions.

• Studies which investigate this kind of cross-cultural use of speech acts

are known as cross-cultural
pragmatics: ……………………………………
and ……………………………………

• ……………………………………: the study of speech acts in relation to

typical linguistic structure.

• ……………………………………: where a speaker transfers the

procedure and linguistic means of realizing a speech act from L1 to L2
(a linguistic problem)

• ……………………………………: the pragmatic performance of speech

acts in specific social and cultural contexts.

• ……………………………………: where a speakerof L2 assesses

relevant situational factors on the basis of the sociopragmatic norms of
their L1.

7. Conclusion
• Speech act theory: language can be used to perform acts.

• Speaker performs different acts in uttering words.

• Speech acts can be performed directly or indirectly.

• How to interpret indirect speech acts ?

 CHAPTER 3:
PRAGMATICS AND CONVERSATION
• Pragmatics: the study of meaning in relation to context, i.e. the
relationship between language and context – a key issue in
pragmatics as well as in discourse analysis.
• It studies how interpretation of language depends on
knowledge of the world; how speakers use and understand
utterances; and how language use is influenced by
relationships between speakers.
1. The cooperative principle
• Paul Grice was interested in the everyday use of logic. Logic
embodies a set of principles that allows lawful deductions.
• How do speaker meanings arise?
 There is a set of principles (rules for interaction) that directs us to
a particular interpretation of what someone says, unless we receive
some indication to the contrary
The cooperative principle (Paul Grice, 1975):
Make your conversational
contribution ……………………………………, at
the …………………….. at which it occurs, by
the ………………………… or direction of the talk exchange.
Example:

2. Conversational maxims
• The maxim of …………………………
– Do not say what you believe to be ………………………….
– Do not say that for which you lack ………………………….
– Hedges:
• The maxim of ………………………… :
– Make your contribution as ………………………… as is required.
– Do not make your contribution ……………………… than is required.
– Hedges:
• The maxim of …………………………
- Hedges:
• The maxim of …………………………

- Avoid …………………………

- Avoid …………………………

- Be …………………………

- Be …………………………

- Hedges:

“ In short, these maxims specify what the participants have to do in order to

converse in a maximally efficient, rational, co-operative way: they should
speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly whilst providing sufficient
information.”
Levinson (1983)

• It is generally assumed that communication is successful

because ………………………… …………………………
 • When they don’t
 ………………………… ………………………… …………………………
…………………………
– provided
that ………………………… ………………………… ………………
………… ………………………… ………………………….
– Otherwise, communication degenerates into lying, obfuscation or
breaks down altogether.
3. Uses of Conversational maxims

Speakers can choose to follow a maxim or not, and such a choice would be
conscious and consequential.

A speaker can choose to…

– observe a maxim in a straightforward manner

and …………………………

– cope with a clash between maxims.

– flout a maxim and ………………………….

– violate a maxim and …………………………

– opt out of a maxim and …………………………

– Flout a maxim and ………………………… generate some pragmatic

meaning:

– A cooperative speaker can intentionally disobey a maxim,

– as long as he and/or the context provides enough indicators for the hearer to
notice or understand it

– ………………………… …………………………

– This is the most important ‘use’ of Grice’s maxims.

– Unlike
‘violating’, ………………………… ………………………… ………………………
… ………………………… …………………………

• - Where’s Meredith?

- In the control room or the lab.

• - Has your boss gone crazy?

 - Let’s go get some coffee.

• - A lot of people are depending on you.

- Thanks, that really takes the pressure off.

• - When are you coming home?

- I will codify that question to my superiors and respond at such a time as an

adequate answer is preparable.

• It’s not clear whether the maxims work (or are interpreted) in similar
ways in other languages and cultures.

• There is often overlap between Gricean maxims, so it’s not always

clear-cut which maxim is being flouted.

• JOHN: Are you done yet?

• MEREDITH: Well, let’s see, I’ve had to deal with seven near-catastrophic
systems failures in the last four hours, Elizabeth dragged me to four different
useless meetings, and someone replaced my regular coffee with decaffeinated , so
I can’t get my caffeine from anywhere and I still have to track down whoever did it
and slowly torture them to death, which is a little higher on my to-do list at the
moment than fixing your stupid computer, so no, no, no, I’m not done yet, actually.

• JOHN: Jeez, a simple “no” would have sufficed.

4. Conversational implicature
• What Grice called ‘implicature’ occurs when a speaker chooses
to ………………………… a maxim.
• The listener, assuming that the speaker still intends being cooperative,
looks for meaning other than that which is said
• Conversational implicature refers to the inference a hearer makes about
a speaker’s intended meaning.
• A crucial feature of conversational
implicatures: ………………………… ………………………… by a hearer.
• To calculate an implicature:
• …………………………
• …………………………
• …………………………
• …………………………
• all of the above are available to both participants

- John: Where’s the roast beef?

 - Mary: The dog looks happy.

5. Types of Conversational implicature

Conversational implicature: derives from the cooperative principle and
maxims.

a. Generalised conversational implicature: is a conversational

implicature that is
inferable ………………………… ………………………… ………………………
… ………………………….

- Did you invite Bella and Cathy?

- I invited Bella.

b. Particularised conversational implicature: is a conversational

implicature which depends
on ………………………… ………………………… ………………………… ……

• A: Shall we eat now?

B: The evening news just started.

c. Scalar implicature:

• Certain information is communicated by choosing a word which

expresses ………………………… ………………………….

• The basic of scalar implicature is that when any form in a scale is

asserted,
the ………………………… ………………………… ………………………
… ………………………… is implicated.

Bill has got some of Chomsky’s papers

2. Conventional implicature:

– is not based on the ………………………… ………………………….

– is not dependent on ………………………….

– is generated
by ………………………… ………………………… …………………

 “a ………………………… rather than …………………………

phenomenon».

-John is poor but happy.

 • Characteristics of conversational implicatures:

- ………………………… ― i.e. H can deduce the implicated meaning from

the utterance, assuming that the conversation follows the CP.

- ………………………… ― i.e. if the message was expressed in another way,

the same implicature would still apply.

- ………………………… ― i.e. S can deny a particular meaning.

1. A: Did you get me any stamps?

B: The post office was closed

Pedagogical implications

• Non-native Sts generally

dperform ………………………… ………………………… in interpreting
conversational implicatures than native ones.

• Non-native Sts could interpret conversational implicatures

after ………………………… ………………………… …………………………
on pragmatic aspects of language in foreign language contexts and how
inferences can be drawn from utterances.

• High linguistic proficiency would allow Sts to derive the same interpretations
as native speakers, though they might display a slower pace at working out
implicatures.

• Designing instructional material:

6 .Politeness and face

3 maxims of politeness (Lakoff):
- ………………………… …………………………
 - ………………………… …………………………
- ………………………… …………………………

A: If you’d care to come and visit a little while this morning, I’ll give you a
cup of coffee.
B: Hehh, that’s awfully sweet of you.
I don’t think I can make it this morning.
Hh uhm I’m running an ad in the paper and – and uh I have to stay near
the phone.
Politeness principle (Leech) with 6 maxims:
- Maxim of tact: cost – benefit to H
- Maxim of generosity: cost – benefit to S
- Maxim of approbation: praise – criticism of H
- Maxim of modesty: praise – criticism of S
- Maxim of agreement: agreement – disagreement between H and S
- Maxim of sympathy: sympathy and antipathy between H and S

• Positive face: a person’s need

to ………………………… ………………………… …………………………,
and to be treated as a member of a group.
• Positive politeness strategies: TO BUILD
UP …………………… ………………………………………………… by
showing intimacy, agreement, sympathy, or by making promises,
offers…
• Negative face: a person’s need
to ………………………… ………… ………………………… ……………
…………… ………………………….
• Negative politeness strategies: TO AVOID BEING A THREAT TO
H’S ………………………… ………………………… by showing
deference, giving choices, minimizing imposition, expressing reluctance
or including an apology, …

• Factors that influence the choice of politeness strategies:

• Face threatening acts
– FTA: conversational turns that risk a …………………………
- I’m going to go and tell them to stop that noise right now
- Perhaps you could just ask them if they’re going to stop soon because
it’s getting late and people need to get to sleep.
• FTA’s strategies
– On-record baldly, without redress
– On-record baldly, with a positive politeness strategy
 – On-record baldly, with a negative politeness strategy
– Off-record
• Factors to be considered
…………………………
• Mitigation devices: to take the edge off FTAs.

• Politeness principle and cooperative principle are

often ………………………… ………………………… ……………………
…….
• The nature of face varies across cultures and politeness strategies
are ………………………… ………………………… ………………………
…
• Native speakers of a language are often ……………………… tolerant of
pragmatic errors in cross-cultural communication than they are of
grammatical errors.
 People need an awareness and expectation of sociopragmatic
differences as much as they need an understanding of how these
differences might be expressed linguistically.
Chapter 4
THE ETHNOGRAPHY
OF COMMUNICATION

• The ethnography of communication examines:

• speech activities within the social and cultural context

• patterns of language use in specific groups, communities, and societies.

• * Aim: to explore the means of speaking available in a particular

community (formal, informal, ritual events, varieties of language used,
speech acts and genres).

1. Speech community

Criteria for identifying a speech community:

2. Shared language use

3. Frequency of interaction
4. Shared rules of speaking and interpretation
5. Shared attitudes and values
6. Shared sociocultural understanding and presupposition
7. Shared social, historical and political factors, religion, race, sexual
orientation, occupation
People may be members of more than one speech community and these
groups may have some degree of overlap.

Language use may …………………………………………………… speech

community membership or ……………………………………………………
outsiders from becoming part of a particular group.

2. Communicative competence

- Knowledge of what is grammatically correct and what is not, when and

where to use language appropriately and with whom

- Knowledge of rules of speaking

- How to use and respond to different speech acts

- Social and cultural setting, relationship with other people, speech

community norms, values and expectations.

 Knowing rules pertaining

to ……………………………………………… …………………………………
…………………………………………

3. Speech event and its components

• Speech events: Activities that are directly governed by rules or norms

for the use of speech.

• Components:
 4. Data collection

• ……………………………………………………: analysts think about and

analyze their own speech communities.

• ……………………………………………………: member of the speech

community + observe the behavior of their own community

• ……………………………………………………: without participation.

• ……………………………………………………: with community

members about their interactions.

•  Possible problems ?

5. Ethnography of writing
To get students to consider ……………………………………………………
and …………………………………………………… on what the students
write.
CHAPTER 5:
CONVERSATION ANALYSIS
1. Overview

Conversation analysis is an approach to the analysis of spoken discourse

that looks at the way in which people manage their everyday conversational
interactions.

Everyday spoken interactions:

a. Casual conversations
b. Telephone calls
c. Service encounters
d. Doctor-patient consultation
e. Interviews
f. Classroom
g. Rituals
h. Monologues

Methods and principles:

-Ordinary talk is given primacy.

 -Data as the source of information.

-Maintain objective nature.

-Tape-recording and transcribing data as closely as possible.

– Avoid starting with assumptions

– Rather than try to impose large structures on what is happening from

the outset, they begin at the most local level, trying to see how
participants handle conversation.
 …………………………………………………………. trying to establish the
smallest units first and to keep analysis from being constrained
by …………………………………………………………. (Cook, 1995:52).

2. Discourse structure of conversation

• Less easy to predict.
• 3 main stages:
– ………………………………………………………….
– ………………………………………………………….
– ………………………………………………………….
3. Openings and closings
Often done in typical ways.

………………………………………………………….

Make use of pairs of utterances.

Closings are preceded

by ………………………………………………………….:

4. Adjacency pairs
• The second utterance is identified as related to the first one as an
expected follow up.
• Basic rule: when a speaker produces a first pair part (FPP), they
should …………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………

• If the expected SPP does not come forth, the first speaker can, for
example, ………………………………………………………………………
……………………

• Pairs of utterances in talk are

often …………………………………………………….

• The mutual dependence of such utterances is underlined by the fact we

can only be sure of the function of the initiating exchange (FPP) when it
is ………………………………………………………………………………
……………………….

• Example:

• Some ritualized FPP may have

an …………………………………………………

• Some FPP expect a ………………………………………………………….

• An SPP can presuppose a wide range

of ………………………………………

• Some FPP can have various possibilities and generate further

expectations.

 …………………………………………………………………………………
…………………… will generate different structures for adjacency
pairs.

 Adjacency pairs across cultures.

 Pedagogic implications ?
5. Preference organization
• There is a certain amount freedom in responding to some FPP.

 Some SPP may be preferred and others may be dispreferred.

• Preferred
SPP: ……………………………………………………………………………
……………

Dispreferred SPP : …………………………………………………………

6. Sequence expansion
• Pre – expansion, insert expansion, post- expansion

• The expansion can be substantial and can occur in any position in any
given sequence, resulting in a very long stretch of talk.

a. Pre-expansion: …………………………………………………………

• Different types according to the action types of the base FPP, they are
projecting.

• Prompt different types of

responses: …………………………………………………………

– A: What are you doing tonight?

B: Nothing.

– A: What are you doing tonight?

B: I’m having dinner with Craig.

– A: What are you doing tonight?

B: Why?

– A: Do you know what I did today?

B: What?

A: I made a fool of myself in front of a whole lot of people.

• Type-specific pre-sequence

• Generic pre-sequence
 b. Insert expansion: comes between the base FPP and the base SPP,
oriented/ addressed to the base FPP, and initiated by the recipient of the
base FPP.

• To ………………………………………… the base SPP in order for the

recipient of the base FPP to address
matters/problems ……………………………………… any SPP can be
produced.

• 2 types of insert expansion :

1. A: Maybe Rebecca, maybe you can move it.

B: Move what?
A: Move that thing on the table so that we can put this down.
B: Okay.
2. A: May I have a bottle of Mitch?
B: Are you 21?
A: No.
B: So no.
c. Post - expansion
• Some exchanges tend not to be able to close just after an SPP,
particularly those with a dispreferred base SPP.
• Post expansion: a sequence that follows the base SPP and expands
the base sequence.
• Some common post-expansion sequence:
7.Turn taking
• Ways to signal the end of a turn:

• Ways to keep a turn:

OVERLAPPING

• In general, conversations for the most

part …………………………………..…: speakers take turns with a little
or no gap and overlap between them and appear to orient towards the
turn-management system.

• Overlapping is …………………………………………………………, and

has been shown to be
mostly …………………………………………………………

• Overlapping occurs when:

• In overlap, ………………………………………………………… are
talking.
• Overlap is often
resolved …………………………………………………………
• How? …………………………………………………………
• When? …………………………………………………………

• Turn taking depends on:

8. Topic management
• Knowledge of:
– appropriate topics and taboo topics in particular settings
– how to change a topic
– how to maintain a topic
– how to repair interaction in case of misunderstanding
• …………………………………………………………
 9.Feedback
• The way that listeners show they
are ………………………………………………………………………………

• Ways to provide feedback:

10. Repair
• The way speakers …………………………………………………………
that have been said in a conversation.
• 2 types of repairs:

11. Discourse markers

• Discourse markers: items in spoken discourse which act
as …………………………………………………………

• Some common discourse

markers: ………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………
 Chapter 6: GENRE ANALYSIS
• Genre: a staged, goal-oriented, purposeful activity in which speakers
engage as members of our culture.
• Genre analysis: the study of the structural and linguistic regularities of
particular genres.
• Genre:
– ……………………………………….
– ……………………………………….
– ……………………………………….
1. Schematic structure

• The identification of the discourse structure of a text.

• Represents typical patterns and tendencies rather than fixed patterns
which must, in every case, occur.

1. Recount: to tell what happened, to record events for the purpose of

informing.
- Orientation
- Events
- Reorientation
- Coda
Language features:

2. Instruction/ Procedure: to tell somebody how to do or make sth through

a sequence of steps or actions.
- Goal
- Materials
- Steps
Language features:

3. Argument: to take a position on some issue, to justify, to persuade.

– Thesis statement/ position
– Arguments
– Restatement of position/ summing up/ recommendation
Language features:
4. Discussion: to present information about more than 1 point of view
– Statement
– Arguments for
– Argument against
– Option/ recommendation
Language features:

5. Narrative: to entertain and engage the reader in an imaginary

experience, to tell a fictional story.
– Orientation
– Complication
– Sequence of events
– Crisis (climax)
– Resolution
– Comment
– Coda
Language features:

6. Anecdote: an account of a particular incident or event esp. of an unusual,

interesting or amusing nature.
– Abstract
– Crisis
– Reaction
– Coda

7. Report: to provide information about natural and non-natural phenomena

– to classify and describe a whole class of things.
– Title
– General statement
– Description
Language features:
8. Explanation: to explain how sth works, to give reasons for some
phenomenon
– Phenomenon
– Explanation
Language features:

9. Description: to describe a particular person, place or thing

– Identification
– Description
Language features:

• These smaller genres can combine to make up larger, more complex

texts (macro-genres).
• Some can suggest that they are one particular genre when they are, in
fact, another.

Theme & Rheme

• Theme: the element that serves as ………………………………… of the

message, introducing information prominence into the clause.
• Theme is often described as what the clause is about.
• Rheme: the remainder of the clause, what the clause has to say about
the theme.

There are topical theme, textual theme, interpersonal theme.

• Topical theme: experiential meaning – Participant, Process, or
Circumstance.
- The man who came to dinner stayed for breakfast.
- On Sunday morning, we usually get up late.
- Pour the dressing onto the salad.

• Textual theme: to connect the message to the previous text –

Continuatives, Conjunctions, Connecting adjuncts.
- But Tom refused to do so.
 - Therefore, this girl is the best candidate.

• Interpersonal theme: interpersonal beginners indicating the kind of

interaction between speakers – Finite in questions, initial vocatives,
Comment Adjuncts.
- Will the team be beaten at the final?
- Fortunately, Madam, we will grant your request.

CHAPTER 7: PATTERNS OF COHESION

&
THEMATIC PROGRESSION
• Cohesion: grammatical / lexical relationships in a text
• Patterns of cohesion:
– Reference
– Lexical cohesion
– Conjunction
– Substitution
– Ellipsis

1. Reference
• The identity of an item can be retrieved from within the text or outside
the text.
• Anaphoric reference:

• Cataphoric reference:

• Exophoric reference:

• Homophoric reference:

2. Lexical cohesion

• The relationships among lexical items in a text.

– Repetition
– Synonymy
– Antonymy
– Hyponymy
– Meronymy
– Collocation
• Hyponomy
– Superordinate
– Co-hyponyms
I love travelling by bus. This means of transportation costs less and is
sometimes faster than riding my old motorbike. The poor Vespa breaks
down all the time.

• Meronymy:
– Superordinate
– Co-meronyms
Her first attempt to make dinner was a total failure. The fish was badly
burnt. The broccoli was so overcooked that you could hardly pick one up.
The dessert looked fine but only until you tasted it.

• Collocation:
– the sharing of the same lexical environment.
e.g.: mountaineering … Mount Everest … summit peaks … climb …
ridge …
3. Conjunctions:
– Additive
– Comparative
– Temporal
– Consequential
– Concessive
–
4. Substitution & Ellipsis
• Substitution: when a substitute form is used to replace a noun
(phrase), verb (phrase) or a clause.
– Nominal substitution:
E.g.
– Verbal substitution:
E.g.
– Clausal substitution:
E.g.

• Ellipsis: an item is omitted – zero substitution.

– Nominal ellipsis:

– Verbal ellipsis:
 – Clausal ellipsis:

5. Cohesion and Coherence

• Cohesion: …………………. properties of a text that help a text hang

together and provide “textual unity”.
• Coherence: ………………. properties that help make sense of the text
in the situation in which it occurs.

6. Thematic progression

• Constant theme / rheme pattern

• Zigzag/ Linear pattern

• Multiple theme, split rheme pattern