Lecture 2: Pragmatics (cont.

)
 Main issues

1. Presupposition

2. Speech acts

3. Politeness
 1. Presupposition
What the speaker / writer assumes is true or known by a
listener / reader

E.g. When did you stop beating your donkey.

presupposes:

• You stopped beating your donkey

• You did beat your donkey
• You beat something
• You have a donkey
3
 2. Speech acts

• Searle’s 5 types of speech acts

• Direct speech acts

• Indirect speech acts

 Speech act
We can describe a speech act as an action performed by a
speaker with an utterance such as:
requesting, commanding, questioning, ordering, inviting,
threatening, naming, advising or informing…

• I’ll be there at 6. (promising)

• Would you like to have lunch with me?
• I’ll kill you if you touch my laptop again.
• If I were you, I would not tell her the truth
• I name this ship Titanic
 Searle’s 5 types of speech acts
1. Representatives: Speech acts that commit a speaker to
the truth of the expressed proposition. They represent
the speaker’s belief of something that can be evaluated
TRUE or FALSE.
• John is a good cook.
• This car was made in Japan.

2. Directives: Speech acts that are to cause the hearer to

take a particular action: requests, command, advice. A
directive speech act occurs when the speaker expects
the hearer to do something.
• Can you open the door?
• You should work harder.
 Searle’s 5 types of speech acts hành động nói
3. Commisives: Speech acts that commit a speaker to some
future action: threats, promises, oaths. They commit the
speaker to doing something in the future: planning, vowing,
betting.
• I am going to Paris next Monday.
• I’ll take you to the movies on Sunday.
4. Expressives: Speech acts that express speakers’ attitudes
and emotions toward the proposition: congratulations,
excuses, thanks … They express how the speaker feels
about the situation: thanking, apologizing, welcoming, i.e.
the speaker expresses his or her psychological state to the
listener.
• Thank you so much for your help.
• Congratulations on winning the scholarship.
 Searle’s 5 types of speech acts
5. Declaratives / Declarations: Speech acts that
changes the reality in accord with the proposition of
the declaration.
• You’re fired.
• I now pronounce you man and wife.
Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

Direct Indirect
speech acts speech acts
 Sentence types and their functions
Sentence type Function
• Declarative • Statements

- You ate the pizza.

• Interrogative • Questions

- Did you eat the pizza?

• Imperative • Commands

- Eat the pizza!

• Exclamatory • Exclamations

How good the pizza is!

What a good pizza!
 DIRECT SPEECH ACTS INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

direct relationship between indirect relationship

a structure and a function between a structure and a
function

E.g
It's cold outside. It's cold outside.
→ declarative → declarative
→ a statement → a command

→ I hereby tell you about → I hereby request that

the weather you close the door
 DIRECT SPEECH ACTS INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

The speaker wants the - Do you have to stand in

hearer not to stand in front front of the TV?
of the TV. He says : → Interrogative
→ Command
- Move out of the way!

→ Imperative - You're standing in front of

→ Command the TV
→ Declarative
→ Command

→ Different
structures can be used to accomplish the
same basic functions
 DIRECT SPEECH ACTS INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

Imperative are used to -'can you', 'could you’

make requests. ,'will you', 'would you ‘are
used to make requests.
- Pass the salt
- Could you pass the salt?
- Open this - Would you open this?

- less
polite than indirect - more polite than direct
speech acts speech acts
 3. Face and politeness
Face
• Definition
• Positive face
• Negative face

Politeness
• Face threatening act
• Face saving act

Face and Politeness

 Face
• Face is the public self-image of a person .
• It refers to the social and emotional sense of self that
every one has and expects everyone else to recognize.
(Yule, 2010 :135)

• A teacher’s face:

• A student’s face:

• A doctor’s face:
 Positive face
• Positive face is the need to be accepted, liked,
connected and treated as members of the same
group.

- Let’s go.

- You and I have the same problem.

 Negative face
• The need to be independent, have freedom
of action, not to be imposed on.

- I’m sorry to ...

- I know you are busy, but…

Situation: Young neighbor is playing loud music late at night.
The older couple cannot sleep.
One of them proposes a face threatening act, the other a FSA
I’m going to tell him to
stop that awful noise right
now!

Face threatening act

Perhaps you could just ask

him if he is going to stop
soon because it’s getting a
bit late and people need to
get to sleep.

Face saving act.

 Face threatening acts
• An act that inherently damages the face of the addressee
or the speaker by acting in opposition to his face
wants/needs.
• You say something that represents a threat to another
person’s self-image. You are behaving as if you have
more social power than the other.

• A direct speech act to get someone to do something.

- Give me that paper !

 Negative face threatening acts
• An act that threatens the need to be independent,
have freedom of action or not to be imposed on:
orders, requests, suggestions, advice, reminding,
threats, warnings, dares, offers, promises,
compliments…

• Give me that book!

• The speaker expresses an anticipation of some

future action of the hearer and thereby restricts his
personal freedom.
 Positive face threatening acts
• An act that threatens the need to be accepted, liked
or treated as members of the same group:
disapproval, criticism, complaints, accusations,
contradictions, disagreements.

• I think your report was non concise enough.

• The hearer’s positive face is threatened because

he is blamed for having done something badly (his
self-image is negatively evaluated).
 Face saving act
• The speaker says something that lessens the
possible threat to another’s face.

• An indirect speech act, in the form associated with

a question.

- Could you pass me that paper ? (request)

 Positive face saving act
• A positive face saving act lessens the threat to the need
to be accepted / liked / treated as members of the same
group. A face saving act that emphasizes a person’s positive
face will show solidarity and a common goal.
• Positive politeness strategies express solidarity
(stressing closeness between speaker and hearer OR
recognising other’s needs when they appear to have a
problem.
• You look sad. Is there anything I can do?
• Come here, honey!
• Ok. Let’s stop the chatter and get on with our essays.
• Now, have we taken our medicine? (Doctor to patient)
• How about letting me using your pen, mate?
 Negative face saving act
• A negative face saving act lessens the threat to the
need to be independent / have freedom of action / not to
be imposed on. A face saving act that emphasizes a
person’s negative face will show concern about imposition .
• Negative politeness strategies express deference
(stressing the hearer’s right to freedom).

• Could you lend me your pen?

• I’m sorry to bother you, but can you lend me your pen?
• Can you give me just one sheet of paper?
• Passengers will refrain from smoking on the train.
• You couldn’t lend me your car, could you?
 Face and politeness
• Politeness can be defined as showing awareness and
consideration of another person’s face.
• People act in such a way as to show respect for the
face wants or needs of their conversational partners.
• You respect my public self-image and I’ll respect yours.
• The need to be polite can often account for why we
choose to imply rather than assert an idea or why we
choose to use indirect request like :
- Well, I really must get on with my work
rather than a direct request like
- Go home
 Conclusion
• Different languages and cultures have different
levels of politeness.
• Ideas about the appropriate language to mark
politeness differ substantially from one culture to
the next.
• Some cultures have directness as a value of
showing solidarity but others indirectness.
• Politeness does not just vary between situations,
it is also culture-dependent.
• What sounds polite to you might be
embarrassing or upsetting to someone from
another background.
Politeness does not just vary between
situations, it is also culture-dependent.

What sounds polite to you might be

embarrassing or upsetting to someone
from another background.