언어의 이해

(UNDERSTANDING OF LANGUAGE)

Topics: Pragmatics (II)

Reading: Language Files (Ch. 7)
Pragmatics – conversational maxims
▪ Successful communication relies on cooperativeness
▪ The Cooperative Principle (H. P. Grice):
“Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the
stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of
the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”

▪ Consider this exchange between 2 students:

▪ What is unusual about this?

Pragmatics – conversational maxims
▪ The speakers violate the Cooperative Principle
▪ They violate some of the MAXIMS that are part of the CP
▪ We distinguish four maxims of conversation:
Pragmatics – conversational maxims
▪ Grice’s maxims being violated:

http://www.yout
ube.com/watch?v
=6rYgg0coT0s&
Pragmatics – conversational maxims
▪ Grice’s maxims being violated:

http://www.you
tube.com/watch
?v=oI9tFOcVnV4
Inference (추론)
 “a conclusion that a person is reasonably entitled to
draw based on a set of circumstances.” (p. 287)
Implicature
 Implicature= anything that is inferred from an
utterance but that is not a condition for the truth
of the utterance. (Gazdar, 1979)

Implicaturesare additional or different

meanings from the expressed meaning.

◼conventionalimplicature
◼conversational implicature
 Conventional implicature
 Conventional implicatures always convey the same
implicature, regardless of context.
 They are tied to particular linguistic expressions.
◼ But, even, therefore and yet.

 My friends were poor, but honest.

8
 Conversational implicature (함축)
 With conversational implicatures, what is implied
varies according to the context of utterance.

 A: Can I check my email?

 B: The laptop is in the kitchen.
(implicature: yes)

 A: Can I check my email?

 B: The internet is not working.
(implicature: no)
Implicature based on the maxim of
relevance
 Alana: Is Jamie dating anyone these days?
 Sam: Well, she goes to Cleveland every weekend.

 What is implicature from Sam’s utterance?

Speech Acts
 Speech acts
 By using language, people perform specific
communicative acts
◼ Assertion-conveys information
◼ Questions- elicits information
◼ Request- (more or less politely) elicits action or information
◼ Order- demands action
◼ Promise- commits the speaker to an action
◼ Threat-commits the speaker to an action that the hearer
does not want
Sentences and their relation to speech acts

 Sentence type
 Declarative- He is cooking the chicken.
 Interrogative- Is he cooking the chicken? /Who is
cooking the chicken? What is he cooking?
 Imperative- cook the chicken.
Important Terms

 Pragmatics = the study of language in use

 social, contextual, situated function of language
 speech acts, discourse structure, implicature, etc.

 Interlanguage Pragmatics = both the acquisition and

use of second language pragmatic knowledge
Important Terms

 Pragmatics = the study of language in use

 social, contextual, situated function of language
 speech acts, discourse structure, implicature, etc.
 Interlanguage Pragmatics = both the acquisition and use of
second language pragmatic knowledge
 Sociopragmatics = social rules of language use
 appropriateness, register, convention, taboo
 Pragmalinguistics = linguistic tools necessary for
implementing speech conventions
 relies on target language knowledge
Interlanguage Pragmatics

 It is not enough just to know the equivalent words and

phrases in second language!
 Learners need to determine the situationally-
appropriate utterances, namely:
what can be said,
where it can be said,
when it can be said,
how to say it most effectively.
Discourse completion test
 Single turn DCT (Written or Oral)

You promised you'd buy your neighbor medicine for her sick child
while in town, but you forgot.

Your neighbor: "Did you get the medicine?"

You: _________________________
(Ellis, 2009)
Speech acts in second language research
 Targeted performative speech acts
 Apologies
 Compliments
 Requests
 Suggestions
 Offers
 Methods
 Production questionnaires, i.e. DCT (Discourse Completion
Test)
 Role play
 Recognition task
 Authentic conversation
Request modification
 Internal modification: “syntactic and lexical or phrasal devices used to
downgrade or mitigate (완화시키다) the perceived threat of the speech
act.
 External modification:
 Grounders (I missed class yesterday. Could I borrow your notes?),
 Preparators (I’d like to ask you something…)
 Disarmers (I know you don’t like lending out your notes, but could you make an
exception this time?)
 Cost minimizers (Would you give me a lift, but only if you’re going my way?)
 Promise of reward (Could you give me a lift home? I’ll pitch in on some gas.)
 Sweetners (You’re always so reliable, Could you lend me your notes?).
Strategies that are used when making
a request
Sample DCT

 You are the student representative in school. Yuna Kim (skating

athlete) is participating in the World Championship competition.
You want to ask Mr. Song, vice principle of your school, whether
your class can watch the competition during self-study hour in
class. What do you say to Mr. Song?
(You go into the vice principle’s office. He is sitting at the desk.)
You:
Mr. Song: That’s fine. I will tell teachers about it tomorrow.
Sample response 1
 Excuse me Mr Song. Do you have a time? There is
Youna Kim’s World Championship today. Principal,
we want to watch the competition. So, Can we
watch the competition at self-study session?
Sample response 2
 Excuse me Vice Principal. I’m leader of 2-7. You
know that? tomorrow, Youna Kim participate in
World Championship. You love Youna? Me too.
How about watch Youna’s performance at self study
session? So What do you think of?
Sample response 3
 Hello, Ms. Song. May I ask you something? Today
Youna Kim participate in the World Championship.
I was wondering if you could possibly watch the
contest. I really want to watch this contest in self-
study time.
Speech Act- Giving Advice

Simple forms Complex forms

(mono clause) (Bi-Clausal forms)
If I were you, I would ....
You should(must) ....
I think you should ...
You need to ....
I suggest that ....
How about ....
The most important thing to do is ...
You could ...
The best thing to do is ....
What you need to do is ....
Strategies of Giving Advice
 Providing justification/reason for the advice;
elaborating on the advice; explaining the advice
 Expressing sympathy (I understand how you feel; I
understand the problem.)
 Sharing personal experience
 Encouraging (e.g., Keep your heads up; Good luck)
 Prefacing advice (e.g., This is how it’s going to work.)
NOTE. Not so common.
 Closing with ‘hope’ (Hope this helps, good luck; Hope
everything works out)
 My Friend Just Lost Her Job And Is Really
Upset. How Do I Console Her?
Response #1
 Losing a job is not a nice thing to happen to anyone.
Regardless of the reason for the loss of the job, your
friend is now faced with some real financial issues and job
hunting can be a very slow process.
It is always hard to console a friend. As human beings we
naturally want to 'imitate' the behaviour so that the other
person means more comfortable. But remember that you
being upset won't help them.
Invite them over to your home - away from their stress - so
you can have a chat. Avoid alcohol if you can as it is a
depressant. Instead why not try some iced fruit smoothies.
Let your friend talk out their worries and fears - they will
need to. But then remind of them of how much potential
they have. Perhaps point out to them their old childhood
dreams and the great opportunity they now have.
Remember as one door closes, another one opens!
Response #2
 Well its very sad ,so you should do first that
don't go in front of with sad face and don't say
about her job again and again. Do talk about
something different which she likes or via which
she can chill, take her outside from her home to
your home or anywhere else like restaurant or
any place she usually like and say her that its
not a big deal. She can get the other job very
soon and the next job will be must better then
the previous one, so just chill. That's it.
 My best friend left me. What should I do?
Response #1
 if I were you, I would find someone else as your best friend. I know
how you feel. You feel like there is no one that could ever replace
him but you must face facts that your best friend left you. A best
friend couldn't do that to his/her best friend if he/she really IS your
best friend...For me, just move on cause he's happy with his decision.
Just control yourself and don't bother with your situation cause you'll
just miss that someone you called "best friend" and please, don,t
EVER show that your sad whenever your ex best friend is around. Be
strong....
In my situation, my best friend and I never had a conversation after
our fight. It's been 7 months now and still waiting for my best friend
to say sorry. My best friend is the only one whom I cried sooooooo
much. But, he chose to leave me then so be it. I can't force my best
friend.
Response #2
 I left my 'best friend' of 5 years. She ditched me
CONSTANTLY for other people. To her, I was nothing
but a backup. I put her in front of me everytime, yet I
always came last for her. She treated me like a loyal
dog.
I finally left her a few weeks back. Now she's wiping
my name in the dirt. However, I've never been so happy
in my life, I'm so grateful for my decision.
The thing is, you should think about what position you're
in and WHY your best friend left you. Are you at fault
or is she just a bitch?
Next Wednesday
 Read Hummel about “First Language Acquisition”