Unit 7 Macrofunciones lingüísticas para expresar las intenciones

comunicativas
1. Introduction
2. A Brief Introduction to the Notion of Macro-function
2.1 Language and Communication
2.2 Macro-functions vs. Functions of Language
2.3 Linguistic Macro-functions and Language Teaching
2.4 A Typology of Macro-linguistic Functions
3. Initiating and Maintaining Social Relationship
4. Giving and Asking for Information about Objects, People and Actions
5. Expressing Emotional and Intellectual Attitudes
5.1 Intellectual Attitudes
5.2 Emotional Attitudes
6. Present – Day Directions Regarding Communicative Intentions
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography

1. Introduction
The main aim of unit 7 is to examine the main linguistic macro-functions to express the most usual
communicative intentions, that is, initiating and maintaining social relationship; second, giving and
asking for information about objects, people and actions; and finally, to express emotional and
intellectual attitudes in the following 7 chapters.
Chapter 2 will offer a brief introduction to the notion of macro-function. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 will
offer an insightful analysis and description of each macro-linguistic function and chapter 6 will be
devoted to present – day directions regarding communicative intentions within a classroom setting.
Chapter 7 will present a conclusion to broadly overview our present study, and chapter 8 will
include the bibliographical references involved in this study.

2. A Brief Introduction to the Notion of Macro-function

In this chapter we shall offer a brief introduction to the notion of macro-function before we present
an individual description of the ones mentioned in the title in the following chapters. We shall start
by reviewing the communication process, where the notions of “language” and “communication”
will be examined in order to provide a link to the definition of the term “macro-function” in
opposition to that of “functions” of language. Next, we shall examine the relationship between the
linguistic macro-functions and language teaching by reviewing its relationship with (a)
communicative competence, (b) the learner and (c) the communicative approach. Finally, we shall
offer a typology of macro-linguistic functions which shall lead us directly to the analysis of each
term.

2.1 Language and Communication

Since ancient times the way of improving communication preoccupied human beings as they had
a need to express some basic structures of the world and of human life, such as feelings, attitudes
and everyday needs. Hence, we may differentiate verbal and non-verbal, oral and written, formal
and informal, intentional and unintentional communication and in addition, we may also find
human and animal communication, and more recently, the human-computer type.
Communication is traditionally understood as the exchange and negotiation of information
between at least two individuals through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, oral and
written, and production and comprehension processes (Halliday 1973).
Following Crystal (1985), one of the main characteristics of language is that it is an essential tool
for communication. Hence, the importance of studying ways and means of communication
techniques through history with a highly elaborated signaling system, both spoken and written,
which has had an immense impact on our everyday life. Other means should also be taken into
account, such as gestures, facial expressions, body language, touch and so on, given that non-
verbal symbols are also components of the communication process.
It is within Jakobson’s model (1960), which deals with the characteristics of communication and in
particular, its elements, that we find a reference to macro-linguistic functions. That model was
introduced to explain how language works in all acts of communication, be they written or oral.
These acts of communication are based on six constituent elements, where each element is
primarily associated with one of the six functions of language he proposed, thus referential,
emotive, conative, phatic, metalingual, and poetic.

Macro-functions vs. Functions of Language

The distinction between macro-functions and functions of language is determined by the type of
discipline we apply, that is, given the communicative interaction aspect of language, it is absolutely
necessary to establish the different purposes for which communication may serve, that is, why we
use language and how.

The Functions of Language

Following Jakobson, the term function, is considered to be a synonym of use. When dealing with
the use of language, it is related to the way people use language (at a pragmatic level). Therefore,
when we refer to the functions of language, we are actually talking about the properties of
language, and the purposes it is used for by individuals (introducing yourself, greetings, farewells,
expressing personal opinion, asking for directions, showing agreement or disagreement, etc),
usually organized by specific topics which shall lead us to more general organizations in terms of
communicative intentions, that is, macro-functions (establishing interaction, asking for and giving
information about people or things, describing people or things, narrating events, etc).
We may find, historically speaking, many different models of communication (Malinowski,
Saussure, Bühler, Shannon, Halliday, etc) but among all the proposals we highlight the
considerable impact of Jakobson’s work in all the literary and linguistic fields which dealt with the
functions of language. Halliday, however, contributed to describe macro-functions.

Macro-functions
Macro-functions are approached by Halliday’s functional grammar model which is concerned with
a sociological model, that is, the ways in which language is used for different purposes and in
different situations. Halliday’s model provides a description of how the structure of English relates
to the variables of the social context in which the language is functioning. In this way, it is uniquely
productive as an educational resource for teaching how the grammatical form of language
(linguistics) is structured to achieve purposes (semantics) in a variety of social contexts
(pragmatics).
For Halliday, there are three macro-functions that, in combination, provide the basic functions on
learning a foreign language.
Thus, the macro-functions are mainly three, the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual.
Ideational meanings represent our experience of phenomena in the world framed by different
processes and circumstances and which are set in time by means of tense and logical meanings.
Interpersonal meanings are shaped by the resources of modality and mood to negotiate the
proposals between interactants in terms of probability, obligation and secondly, to establish and
maintain an ongoing exchange of information by means of grammar through declaratives,
questions and commands. Textual meanings are concerned with the information as text in context
at a lexico-grammatical level.
On combining these interrelated functions, Halliday proposes 7 basic functions on language use
and they are listed as follows: Firstly, the instrumental to express desires and needs. Secondly,
the regulatory where rules, instructions, orders and suggestions are included. Thirdly, the
interactional, where we may include patterns of greeting, leave-taking, thanking, good wishes, and
excusing. Fourth, the personal function which encourages students to talk about themselves and
express their feelings. Fifth, the heuristic function focuses on asking questions. Sixth, the
imaginative function, which is used for supposing, hypothesizing and creating for the love of sound
and image. Seventh, we find the informative function which emphasizes affirmative and negative
statements.
Then, the difference between language functions and macro-functions is established by means of
the topics organized into communicative functions. Language functions are related to the semantic
notions of “introductions, giving personal opinion, asking for directions, apologizing, etc” whereas
macro-functions are described in terms of communicative intentions, that is, more pragmatically
relevant (describing actions, asking for and giving information, socializing, emotional relations,
etc). So, the most usual macro-functions are (1) initiating and maintaining social relationships; (2)
giving and asking for information about objects, people and actions; and (3) to express emotional
and intellectual attitudes.

2.2 Linguistic Macro-Functions and Language Teaching

According to Halliday, language may be defined as an instrument of social interaction with a clear
communicative purpose. The traditional transmission is another language feature since language
is transmitted from one generation to the next by a process of teaching and learning. This feature
is the aim of this section which links the communication process and macro-functions to language
teaching.
In the words of Larssen-Freeman (1991) people learn to communicate by communicating, and
similarly, those learners who engage in the regular use of their second language and receive the
greater quantity of input will most likely demonstrate a greater ability to use their second language.
This ability to communicate will provide an approach to the notion of communicative competence
and its relationship to language teaching.
The notion of macro-functions is closely related to the concept of communicative competence and
therefore, to the concepts of proficiency, competence and performance.
For Hymes, the notion of communicative competence is the underlying knowledge a speaker has
of the rules of grammar including phonology, orthography, syntax, lexicon, and semantics, and the
rules for their use in socially appropriate circumstances. Therefore, we understand competence as
the knowledge of rules of grammar, and performance, the way the rules are used.
The verbal part of communicative competence comprises all the so-called four skills: reading,
listening, speaking and writing.
Today, communicative competence is the central aim of foreign and second language teaching,
providing a number of suggestions as to how teachers can give students optimum frameworks for
acquiring a good communicative competence. It refers to the ability to use appropriately all
aspects of verbal and non-verbal language in a variety of contexts, as would a native speaker.
There are, then, two components to communicative competence.
The first component is linguistic competence, which involves the mastery of several features: first,
the sound system and the written system in order not to sound unusual although the grammar may
be perfect. Second, the syntax, or word order of interactions where the word meaning is correct,
but the word is out-of-date, or simply that a phrase is not appropriate in the context. Third, the
stress, pitch, volume and juncture as a passage from one sound to another in the stream of
speech. Finally, the semantics, or meanings of words or phrases, and the how, when, where, and
why they are used in a language.
The second component includes pragmatics competence which deals with knowing the
appropriateness of communication formats, verbal and non-verbal responses and interactions in
many contexts. A list of skills comprises the use of non-verbal codes, eye contact and facial
expressions, personal space and body movement, establish rapport, taking turns and not to talk
excessively, being comprehensible, supplying all necessary information and requesting
clarification when necessary.
Since pragmatics competence is a crucial skill in life and in the workplace, students need to
develop this competence in an appropriate conversational context.
It is the Communicative Language Teaching where we will highlight a set of principles that put
pragmatics competence at work. The first principle claims for students to learn a language through
using it to communicate. Second, there is an emphasis on authentic and meaningful materials.
Third, fluency is seen as an important dimension of communication. Fourth, communication is
intended to involve integration of different language skills, and fifth, the principle that claims for
learning as a process of trial and error.

2.3 A Typology of Macro-Linguistic Functions

A typology of linguistic macro-functions will be drawn from the fact that language functions are
organized into topics which are, in turn, subordinated to a broader communicative intention
(macro-function), for instance, the language functions of “greetings, address forms and
introductions” are embedded within the macro-linguistic function of socializing or in other words,
initiating and maintaining social relations. When stating the typology of macro-functions, we must
address two relevant points, the current typology stated by the European Union guidelines (The
Council of Europe Framework for Languages) and second, the list stated in our educational policy.
Therefore, macro-functions will be described following the guidelines established by the Council of
Europe and our Spanish Educational System. In the next chapters I shall describe the main
linguistic macro-functions to express the most usual communicative intentions: (1) initiating and
maintaining social relationship; (2) giving and asking for information about objects, people
and actions; and (3) to express emotional and intellectual attitudes.

3. Initiating and Maintaining Social Relationship

In this chapter we will analyze the communicative intention of “initiating and maintaining social
relationship” or in other words “socializing”. This macro-function will be analyzed in terms of form,
function and main uses, where we can establish a further classification of language functions.
Thus, (1) attracting attention, (2) greeting people, (3) replying to a greeting, (4) address forms, (5)
making introductions, (6) making someone welcome, (7) at a meal, (8) congratulating someone,
(9) good wishes and (10) taking leave.
1. Attracting Attention
It is achieved by means of noun phrases, usually placed at the beginning of a sentence or uttered
individually, like “Excuse me”, “Hello”, “Hey”, “Waiter!” These nouns or noun phrases are usually
pronounced with a rising intonation, often within the framework of an exclamative syntactic
structure. Semantically a quick answer is expected.
2. Greeting People
We may distinguish two types: greeting strangers by means of noun phrases like “Good
morning/afternoon/evening” as a way of formal greeting + an address form. Greeting friends by
means of nouns like “Hello + address form”; and sentences like “How are you?” (formal way), or
“How are you doing/getting on?” (informal way).
3. Replying to a Greeting
We may reply to a greeting depending on the personal situation of the speaker. If in normal health
the expected reply can be, for instance, “(I’m) fine/very well (thank you) or the formal way “How
are you?”
If in poor health, we shall reply “Well, so-so (thank you). How are you?”
If recovering from an illness, the we may reply “(Much) better, thank you. How are you?”
4. Address Forms
The address forms make reference to certain idiomatic expressions often used when greeting or
replying to a greeting. For instance, the first name: “Hello John”. Formal title + family name “Of
course Dr. Smith”, Honorific + family name “Good evening. Mrs. Johanson”. Noble names + first
name, “”A pleasure, Sir John”. Thus, the formal address would be realized either by using the
formal title or by using a noble title. On the other hand, the informal address would be realized by
no address form, just by saying “Hello, can I help you?” and sometimes adding terms of
endearment such as “My dear, dear, darling, sweety, etc”.
5. Making Introductions
With respect to making introductions, we shall classify them in terms of formality and informality
and also in terms of introducing yourself or being introduced.
Formal introductions: “address form + may I introduce + honorific” “Professor Jones, may I
introduce Professor Green?” or with “address form + I’d like you to meet + first name + family
name” “Mrs. Wik, I’d like you to meet John Prior”
Informal introductions may be realized following the structure “address form + this is + first name +
family name”, “Tom, this is John Pegg”; or by the construction “first name + meet + first name”
“Cristine, meet Tom, Tom, meet Cristine”
Introducing yourself (1) formal: “(Good morning/afternoon/evening) How do you do? + first name +
family name” “Good evening. My name is Cristine Brando”. (2) Informal “Hello + I’m + first name +
(family name), “Hello, I’m Rose (Smith)”.
When being introduced or when someone is introduced to you we talk (1) formal introductions
“How do you do?”; (2) informal introductions “Hello, nice to meet you”; (3) when enquiring whether
an introduction is needed, “Do you know each other? / I think you know each other”.
6. Making Someone Welcome
It involves the use of nouns, noun phrases or imperative sentences with rising intonation in order
to express a warm welcome. For instance: “Welcome”, “Do come in” or “Make yourself at home”.
7. At a Meal
For instance, before eating the host may say “God bless our food!” or proposing a toast “Cheers! /
Your good health”. In addition, we may invite our guests to start serving themselves, “Please help
yourself”.
8. Congratulating Someone
Usually, nouns, adjectives, noun and adjective phrases are used for this purpose as in
“Congratulations”, “Well done!”, “Brilliant!”.
9. Good Wishes
They are stated depending on the situation. For instance, (1) on someone’s birthday (Happy
birthday), (2) at festival times (Merry Christmas / Happy New Year), (3) wishing someone success
(Good / the best luck / I hope all goes well), (4) When someone is going out or on holiday(Enjoy
yourself / Have a good time) and (5) when parting from someone (Keep in touch! / Take care /
Have a good trip).
10. Taking Leave
We find here a fixed number of idiomatic expressions used in formal, informal and colloquial
contexts. So, we may find (1) formal farewells “Good morning/afternoon + address form. Informal
farewells are carried out by sentences like “It’s been nice meeting you” or by imperatives “See you
again soon” or “See you + temporal adverbial (later, next week). In colloquial style “So long”, “Bye
– bye” “Cheerio”.

4. Giving and Asking for Information about Objects, People and Actions
In this chapter, we shall describe the macro-function of giving and asking for information through
the main functions of language by offering a double perspective: first, asking for information about
objects, people and actions and second, giving information about objects, people and actions.
Asking for Information
It refers to human curiosity to know about general facts, other people’s opinion or current events.
The main language functions are the referential and the emotive where both the speaker and the
addressee are involved in asking and answering about objects, people and actions. Linguistically
we shall deal with two types of questions: yes/no questions and wh-questions.
Yes/No questions work within the structures of “auxiliary + subject + verb” (Do you live here?) or
inversion “verb + subject” (Is Tom here?). The speaker expects “yes” or “no” as a direct answer.
Similarly, Wh-questions are realized within the same framework with wh-pronouns at the front
(Where do you live?). We will deal with other grammatical categories such as nouns, adjectives
within the structure “How + adjective” (How old/far), determiners, quantifiers within the structure
”How + quantifier” (How much/many..?), prepositions within the structure “How + preposition”
(What for?), adverbs within the structure “How + adverb” (How fast..? and fixed expressions (What
if..?/What kind of..?)
Then we will establish the following subclassification: (1) asking for specific information, (2) asking
for confirmation, (3) suggestions, offers and invitations, (4) asking someone’s opinion and (5)
assuring and repairing communication.
Asking for specific information
In this case, we deal with the set of wh-pronouns which introduce Wh – questions in order to get
information about identification of people or things (who, which, what, whose) or to ask for a piece
of information (when, where, how).
We may use the following interrogative pronouns:
“What?” to identify things (What is this parcel?) or a person’s occupation/nationality (what is his
wife?). In combination with “if” to suggest something (What if we have dinner tonight?) or “for” to
express reason (What are you phoning for?); to ask for events (What happened?)
“Which?” to ask for specific identification of things or people out of a number of them, (Which is
your brother?)
“Who?” to ask for a person’s identity (Who is that lady?). The form “Whom?” where the “m”
indicates a preposition (Whom shall we phone?)
“Whose?” indicates possession (Whose coat is this?)
On the other hand, when referring to the notions of time, place, reason, etc. Thus:
“When?” to ask about the “time” something happened, happens, is happening or will happen
(When did you buy this house?)
“Where?” to ask about the “place” something happened, happens, is happening or will happen
(Where is she going?)
“Why?” to ask about “the reason to do something” (Why are you here?)
“How?” to ask about “manner” (How do you make an omelette?). It may also used to make
questions about the way a person feels, looks or the way something sounds, feels or tastes (How
does he look today?). Moreover, the idiomatic use of “How” which may be combined with
adjectives (How old/fat/lucky/long/far/etc), adverbs (How fast/slowly can you drive?) or quantifiers
with non-count nouns (How much money has she got?) and count nouns (How many cows has
she got?)
It is possible that two wh-pronouns appear in the same sentence (Who said what?)
Asking for Confirmation
Asking for confirmation may be classified according to the kind of confirmation we ask for. Thus:
Asking for confirmation or denials is achieved by interrogatives: (Did you see him?)
(Didn’t you see him?)
Or by means of such sentences as “Please, can you tell me whether you saw him?
Demanding confirmation or denial is achieved by: “Did you see him, yes or no?”
Expecting confirmation is achieved by: “You saw him, didn’t you?” or
“You didn’t see him, did you?”
Suggestions, Offers and Invitations
The “asking for” of the three actions deals with the referential (context), emotive (addresser) and
conative (addressee).
In terms of form, we deal with interrogative sentences which include “reporting” verbs: “suggest,
offer, invite, refuse”, phrasal verbs (turn down an invitation), modal auxiliary verbs (Would you like
to..?/Can I help you?) and fixed expressions (Shall we..?).
Suggesting a course of actions involving speaker and addressee is achieved by means of
idiomatic expressions which involve accepting (Yes, certainly, of course, I’d love to) or refusing
(No, thank you; sorry I can’t; unfortunately, I can’t). The suitable contexts where offers, invitations
and refusals are given are the following:
Suggesting by means of idiomatic expressions “Shall we..?” (Shall we dance?)
“What/How about..? (What about skiing together?)
“Why not..?” (Why not fly here?)
“Why don’t we..?” (Why don’t we ask them to dinner?)
Giving instructions and orders by means of sentences like “Will you + bare infinitive” (Will you stop
talking, please?)
Offering to do something for somebody with idiomatic expressions, “Can I do anything for you?”;
“Can/Shall I + bare infinitive?” (Shall I wash up for you); “Would you like me + bare infinitive”
(Would you like me to tell you a story?). We may add “Would you like + noun phrase?” (Would you
like a biscuit?), “Can I offer you + noun phrase?” (Can I offer you a lift?), and “How about + noun
phrase?” (How about a gin and tonic?)
Inviting someone to do something with structures such as “Would you like to + verb phrase?” (How
would you like to come sailing?), or “What/How about + gerund” (What about having lunch at the
beach?).
Tentative invitations with structures such as “You wouldn’t like + to infinitive + would you” (You
wouldn’t like to stay with us, would you?) or “I don’t suppose you’d like + to infinitive, would you?”
Enquiring whether an offer or invitation is accepted with the structure “Can/Will you + verb phrase”
(Will you be coming to our party after all?)
Asking Someone’s Opinion
It is realized by the following syntactic structures: (1) “What do you think (about/of + noun phrase?”
(What do you think about my husband?); (2) “What is your opinion/view?”; (3) “Where do you
stand on + noun phrase?” (Where do you stand on abortion?); and (4) “How do you see it?”
Assuring and Repairing Communication
It is used everyday by speakers in colloquial speech but also in classroom contexts when teaching
foreign languages. When holding a conversation we need signalling, asking for repetition,
confirmation, definition, meaning and so on.
Signalling when we do not understand something (Sorry?/Pardon?)
Asking for repetition of a whole utterance (What did you say, please?) or a particular word or
phrase (Sorry, where does he live?)
Asking for confirmation of text (Did you say X?), of understanding (Do you mean to say + that +
clause?)
Asking for clarification (What does X mean exactly?/Could you explain that again, please?)
Asking someone to spell (How do you spell that word, please?)
Asking someone to speak more slowly (Could you speak a bit more slowly, please?)
Asking if you have understood (Is that clear?/Is it right?)
Idiomatic expressions on the phone:
“Hello?/Are you still there?”
“Who’s calling, please?”
“Can I speak to + personal name, please?” or “Could you put me through to + personal name,
please?”
Giving Information
We find the following subclassification: (1) giving specific information, (2) giving opinions and
advice, (3) describing people, things and actions, (4) identifying and specifying, (5) answering
questions and (6) offers, invitations and refusals
Giving Specific Information
We may give specific information about (1) time in reply to “When?” by means of temporal adverbs
(soon, later), temporal phrases (next Wednesday) or temporal clauses ((When they are ready);
(2) place in reply to “Where?” by means of locative adverbs (here, there), locative phrases (near
here, on the wall) and locative clauses (Where you sleep);
(3) manner in reply to “How?” by means of manner adverbs (quietly, fast) or manner phrases (with
care);
(4) degree in reply to “How + good + it is?” by means of adverbs of degree + adjective/adverb
(very good/very well);
(5) reason in reply to “Why…?” by means of finite sentences with the structure “because +
declarative sentence (Because he is ill) or “because of + noun phrase” (Because of his illness)
Giving opinions and advice
On giving opinions and advice we deal with declarative sentences (assertive and non-assertive)
which include reporting verbs (say, claim, report, inform, admit, declare, etc.) and also modal
auxiliary verbs (should, ought to) and catenative verbs (you’d better, you’d rather). We may also
mention nouns, adjectives, prepositions and their respective phrases and within adverbs we may
highlight the use of connectors in order to express personal opinion or advice (in my view, from my
point of view).
Describing People, Things and Actions
On describing people, things and actions we must identify and specify all kind of details about the
object of description. In order to do so, the most common syntactic structures will be positive and
negative statements (She’s got lovely eyes/ She hasn’t got the same lovely brown eyes as her
sister) although we may also find interrogative structures such as question tags (She has got
lovely eyes, hasn’t she?). Among the most used grammatical categories, we may mention nouns
(the object to be described), adjectives (due to their descriptive nature), possessive structures
(Where possessive adjectives are involved, verbs, quantifiers and partitives to indicate quality and
quantity and numbers.
Identifying and Specifying
Identifying and reporting may be realized by linguistic and non-linguistic means. Thus, we can use
the linguistic structures “demonstrative adjectives + one” (this one/that one) or the sequence “it’s +
object pronouns” (It’s me/him/her/them) in reply to “Which one do you want?” or “Who is that?”.
Other structures are “the + (adj) one + adjunct phrase / relative clause” as in (The small one with
the blue buttons is the one I want) and “pronoun/noun phrase + be + noun phrase” (This is the
bedroom where you will spend the night). Among the non-linguistic means indicating gesture we
can use “pointing, nodding and so on.
Answering Questions
When answering questions, we mainly use the referential (addresser) and conative (addressee).
We may establish different ways of answering a question, for instance, responding to a request in
different ways: (1) willingly (Certainly, of course, with pleasure); (2) with reservations “Yes” (with
falling-rising intonation), “Yes + if clause” (Yes, if I could), “Only + if clause” (Only if he comes) and
“Not + unless clause” (Not unless he pays me soon); (3) with reluctance (Well, all right, If you
insist); (4) demurring, as in “Well (falling-rising intonation), I don’t really know”, I’d like to but +
declarative sentence” (I’d like to, but I don’t know if I should); (5) refusing (No way, sorry, I’m afraid
it's impossible) and (6) expressing defiance (I don’t believe a word).
Confirming or disconfirming “Yes + positive tag” (Yes, I did) and “No + negative tag” (No, I didn’t);
other expressions such as “I (don’t) think so”, “ I believe so/not” and expressions of agreement or
disagreement “Exactly”, “Yes, indeed”, “Certainly not”, “I’m not sure”.
Agreeing to a suggestion with “Yes, let’s”, “Why not?”, “That’s a really good idea”.
Granting and refusing permission “Yes, certainly”, “I suppose so” or “Sorry, I’m afraid not, I’m
sorry”.
Offers, Invitations and Refusals
On the expressions f offers, invitations and their respective refusals, we deal with the referential
(context), emotive (addresser) and conative functions (addressee).
In terms of form, we deal with declarative sentences (assertive and non-assertive) which include
introductory (reporting verbs): “offer, invite, refuse”, phrasal verbs (turn down an invitation), modal
auxiliary verbs (Would you like…?/ Will you marry me?) and fixed expressions (make an
appointment, do a favour. Among other grammatical categories: nouns, adjectives, prepositions
and their respective phrases.
Expressions: “Let’s…”, “Why don’t we…?”, Shall we…?”
“How/What about + -ing form?
Other forms include “offer, invite, suggest, accept and refuse” by means of “reported speech
through questions, declarative sentences, commands and suggestions.
Accepting an offer or invitation: “Yes, certainly”, “Of course”, “I’d love to”.
Refusing: “No, thank you”, “Sorry, I can’t”, Unfortunately, I can’t”.
Offering assistance: “Let me help you”.

5. Expressing Emotional and Intellectual Attitudes

In this chapter, we will describe the macro-function of expressing emotional, and intellectual
attitudes through the main functions of language by offering a double perspective: first, by
expressing intellectual attitudes to matters of fact and second, expressing and enquiring about
emotions.
Intellectual Attitudes
On expressing intellectual attitudes to matters of fact, we find the expressions of (1) agreement
and (2) disagreement with a statement, (3) knowledge, memory and belief, (4) modality and (5)
volition.
Agreement
The expression of agreement when dealing with intellectual expressions is realized by means of
statements in order to show strong agreement (Exactly!/Definitely!/Yes, indeed); agreement with a
positive statement (Yes + positive tag: Yes, we do) or with fixed expressions such as “That’s right”,
“That’s correct” and the more colloquial “OK” and negative statements (No + negative tag: No, he
didn’t) or fixed expressions such as “Indeed not/Certainly not”.
Reluctant agreement (If you say so/I suppose so).
Agreement with reservation (Up to a point, yes).
Weak agreement (Well, I see what you mean).
Disagreement
The expression of disagreement when dealing with intellectual expressions is realized by means
of statements in order to show strong disagreement (I couldn’t agree less, you are wrong, no way);
disagreement with a negative statement (No + negative tag: No, I don’t) or with fixed expressions
such as “That’s not right”, “Certainly not”, “I don’t think so”.
Weak disagreement (I can’t agree/I’m not sure)
Knowledge, Memory and Belief
On expressing knowledge, memory and belief we can refer to people, things or facts by using
“knowledge” verbs: “know, understand, think, ignore, grasp, etc.”
Expressing knowledge of a person, thing or fact (I know/I don’t know/I think/I don’t think/etc.)
Asking about knowledge (Wh – pronoun + do you know + clause?)
Expressing remembering or forgetting people, things, facts and actions (I (don’t) remember/I forget
+ wh-clause/Don’t you remember + noun phrase/verb phrase).
Expressing belief (It seems/appears (to me) + clause/I think/I don’t think/Maybe you are right).
Modality
We may also express modality, that is, different degrees of probability, possibility, certainty and so
on. We may classify modality in terms of use as follows:
Probability (absolutely certain, quite possibly, highly improbable, totally impossible, not very likely
+ to-infinitive, it is certain/probable/likely/possible/impossible + that clause).
Possibility (is it possible + that + clause/How certain is it + that + clause/Can be Mary right?).
Necessity (“necessary” in declarative sentences; “it isn’t necessary” or “you needn’t” in negative
sentences)
Obligation (noun phrase + have to//must + verb phrase = “You must be home before midnight”).
Ability (noun phrase + can + bare infinitive = “I can speak English quite fluently”).
Permission (noun phrase + be + allowed = “Smoking is(n’t) allowed here”)
Volition
Volition is mainly realized by expressing (1) wishes, wants and desires (I’d like + noun phrase, I
want + noun phrase/to-infinitive), (2) negative wishes, wants and desires (I’d like not to + verb
phrase, I wish + negative clause), (3) enquiring about wishes, wants and desires (What would you
like + clause/Do you want to…?) and (4) expressing intentions (We are thinking of + gerund = “We
are thinking of driving to Turkey”).
Emotional Attitudes
On expressing emotional attitudes, students are asked to express their likes, dislikes, interests,
hopes and expectations for the future (future arrangements). We find the expressions of (1)
happiness and sadness, (2) regret and condolence, (3) hope and expectations, (4) fear anxiety
and worry, (5) suffering and relief, (6) likes and dislikes, (7) complaining and (8) apologizing.
Happiness vs. sadness
The expression of happiness is linked to that of surprise and excitement and may be realized by
non-linguistic means (smile, laughing, jumping) but we will focus on linguistic means such as (This
is lovely/wonderful/great!), idiomatic expressions (How nice!) and syntactic structures (I feel so
happy/I’m delighted + to-infinitive). The expression of sadness is realized by declarative sentences
(I feel depress/miserable/sad), idiomatic expressions (Oh dear/I feel down) or questions (How are
you feeling today?/Are you pleased?).
Regret and Condolence
The expression of regret is realized by linguistic means such as fixed expressions (It’s a great
shame/pity + clause) idiomatic expressions (How nice!/What a pity!) and condolences are realized
by means of syntactic structures (I’m so sorry to hear + clause/I know how you feel/I feel the same
way).
Hope and Expectations
We use the introductory verbs “hope, expect, plan, arrange” in declarative sentences (I hope it
stays find), specific syntactic structures: “I hope + to-infinitive (I hope to become a doctor) and “I’m
very + adjective + preposition + -ing form/noun phrase” (I am very excited about visiting you/your
visit) and idiomatic expressions (I hope so, I hope not, I’m looking forward to + -ing form = I’m
looking forward seeing you again).
Fear, Anxiety and Worry
By means of non-linguistic means we may show fear (trembling, screaming), anxiety (biting your
nails, looking both sides nervously) and worry (looking nowhere in the distance). Linguistic means
using introductory verbs (have, fear, be afraid, feel anxious, worry, be worried) in declarative
sentences (I have fear of spiders), specific syntactic structures such as “I am + adjective +
preposition (I am scared of that man), “I am + clause” (I am afraid he’ll come back) and “I am + to-
infinitive (I am afraid to complain about my boss), idiomatic expressions (What’s the matter?/Help!)
and interrogative sentences (What are you afraid of).
Suffering and Relief
Suffering involves pain, anguish and hurting, specially when dealing with people’s health.
Therefore, apart from lexis related to “health, body, illness, etc.”, students can use several
syntactic structures such as exclamations (Oh!/Ow!/Ouch!), declarative sentences (You are
hurting me!/I’m in great pain/I’ve got a(n) + illness), syntactic structures “My + noun phrase (body
part) + hurt(s)” (My leg hurts), idiomatic expressions (That hurts/I’ve got a headache) and
interrogative sentences (Have you got a pain?/Does it hurt?). On the other hand, relief is
expressed by onomatopoeic sounds (Whew!), syntactic structures (well, that’s that) and idiomatic
expressions (Thank goodness/What a relief!).
Likes and Dislikes
We may express liking and affection by introductory verbs “like, love, enjoy, fancy, prefer, adore”
in declarative sentences “I like + noun phrase” (I like your dress); syntactic structures such as “I
like + -ing form” (I like wearing your clothes), “I am + adjective + preposition + -ing form/noun
phrase” (I am rather fond of loving you/my wife) and “I’d rather + bare infinitive + contrastive
element” (I’d rather travel by train than by car); idiomatic expressions (Coffee or tea?/Black or
white?).
On the other hand, in order to express dislike or no interest on the issue of the question, we may
use onomatopoeic sounds (Ugh!) together with a gesture showing dislike. Also, we may use
introductory verbs “dislike, hate, can’t stand, detest” in declarative sentences “I hate + noun
phrase” (I hate fish) and syntactic structures such as “I can’t stand + -ing form” (I can’t stand
running for fun); and idiomatic expressions (Fish? No way!)
Complaining
Complaining is basically realized by the introductory verb “complain” followed by certain
prepositions “complain to somebody about something” (He complained to the company about his
low salary). Moreover, we may use simple structures such as “to make a complaint”, I have a
complaint”, I’m sorry, but…”.
Apologizing
We may apologize for bad temper (I’m sorry I lost control), asking for forgiveness (I’m so sorry for
+ noun phrase/-ing form = I’m so sorry for my behaviour/ my misbehaving; I do apologize for
arriving late) and for disturbing somebody (I beg your pardon/Excuse me, please). We may accect
an apology by granting forgiveness (Not at all/That’s all right/It doesn’t matter/No problem/ Iforgive
you).

6. Present – Day Directions Regarding Communicative Intentions

This section looks at present – day approaches on the main communicative intentions known as
macro-functions within the framework of a classroom setting. Then it is relevant to mention the
objectives that our current educational system searches for (1) to promote an interactive
groupwork in the classroom, (2) to provide students with genuine interactions in order to increase
their learning in the foreign language and (3) for students to acquire a communicative
competence. Language teaching is organized in terms of content “in use” (pragmatics) rather than
“in form” as established in the Common Refence Framework for Languages so students develop
the appropriate communicative competences in the foreign language to communicate successfully
in real situations.
This process is successful when the learner has acquired language – related knowledge but has
also developed skills, which will allow him/her to use the knowledge acquired in actual
circumstances of social interaction (macro-functions). So, through training, instruction, and/or
personal study, the learner should come to be able to perform effectively in the whole range of
language activities: receptive (reading and listening), productive (writing and speaking, and
mediation (translating and interpreting).

7. Conclusion
I have presented a detailed account of the main communicative contexts in which the three macro-
functions may be found at work through the different communication skills, thus, productive (oral
and written communication), receptive (oral and written comprehension within verbal and non-
verbal codes), and interactional. So, I have not only focused on the sociolinguistic competence
which leads us to social conventions and communicative intentions but also on the linguistic
competence (semantic, morphosyntactic and phonological), the discourse competence (language
functions, speech acts, and conversations) and finally, the strategic competence as a sub-
competence of communicative competence within the educational framework.
 Therefore, the core of this study was to show that the most important pursuit of language learning
should be the achievement of plurilingual and pluricultural competences rather than perfection in
all fields of linguistic performance.

8. Bibliography
 Council of Europe (1998) A Common European Framework of Refernce
 Crystal, D. Linguistics (1985)
 Ellis, R. Understanding Second Language Acquisition (1985)
 Halliday, M.A.K. An Introduction to Functional Grammar (1985)
 Hymes, D. On Communicative Competence (1985)
 Moreno, Ana I. & Colwell, Vera Perspectivas Recientes sobre el Discurso (2001)
 Web page: https://www.britishcouncil.org