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3rd YEAR PRAGMATICS

INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS

Searle: the distinction between sentence meaning and Speakers

meaning.

sentences and words have only the meanings that they have.Strictly speaking, whenever we talk about the metaphoricalmeaning of a word, expression, or sentence, we are taking aboutwhat a speaker might utter it to mean, in a way that departsfrom what the word, expression, or sentence actually means....To have a brief way of distinguishing what a speaker means byuttering words, sentences, and expressions, on the one hand,and what the words, sentences, and expressions mean, on theother, I shall call the former speaker's utterance meaning, and

the latter, word, or sentence, meaning.e.g. A: Are you home alone?B: Yes, I am.

may be interpreted as:

i' )Yes, I am and I'm terrified.ii")Yes, I am and I'm so happy I'm going to throw a party.i'") Yes, I am. Why don't you come over?

Kent Bach: while engaging in verbal communication, there are threeways in which we can perform a speech act:

(1) directly or indirectly, with the aid of performing another speechact,Why dont you finish your drink and leave?(2) literally or nonliterally, depending on the whether the utterance

makes more sense if used literally or if employed to be understoodfiguratively, andWe all know whos pulling the ropes in this department.Youre making a mountain out of a mole!

(3) explicitly or inexplicitly, depending on whether we clearly andstraighforwardly formulate our communicative intentions.Fire me and well meet in court

Such Us involve:a direct SA = their conventionally expected function (Q, assertion,exclamation)an indirect SA = their extra actual function (request, suggestion, order,threat, wishing luck, request/order))An ISA is defined as an U in which one illocutionary act (a primary

act) is performed by way of the performance of another act (a literal

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act). Hs are able to interpret ISAs by relying upon their knowledge ofSAs, along with general principles of cooperative conversation,mutually shared factual information, and a general ability to drawinferences. (Schiffrin 1994:59)indirect communication: one specific, context-bound utterance carries

out one or several illocutionary acts by way of seemingly performing adifferent illocutionary act.e.g. we can make a request or give permission by making a statement,e.g. I am getting thirsty or Your rooms a mess,we can make a statement or give an order by way of asking aquestion, such as Will the waitress ever bring our drinks? or Can youclean up your room?

The literal act is backgrounded/secondary while the nonliteral act isforegrounded/primary (Searle 1975):Can you pass the salt? ==>Please pass the salt.

I wish you wouldnt do thatPlease dont do that.Arent you going to eat your cereal? ==>Please eat your cereal.

Why can such Us count as requests and an U like Salt is made ofsodium chloride cannot? Searles solution : the respective Us workbecause they address the felicity conditions for requests.e.g. Can you pass the salt? addresses the preparatory condition (H isable to perform A)

I wish you wouldnt do that addresses the sincerity condition (Swant H to do A)

Arent you going to eat your cereal? addresses the

propositional content condition

Gordon & Lakoff (1975) view Hs as using shortcuts in conversation,called conversational postulates Can you... is a formula : when a Sasks whether H can do A, this implies a request for H to do A. Suchconversational postulates are learned like idioms

Thomas: ...indirectness occurs when there is a mismatch btw. theexpressed meaning and the implied meaning (Thomas 1995: 119)1. pragmatics is concerned with intentional indirectness2. indirectness is costly and risky

3. Ss should (seek to) obtain some social or communicative advantagethrough employing indirectness

4. Indirectness is largely related to politeness phenomena

(1) To Liz, who has been listening to Justin Bieber for a fortnightWould you like to listen to something else now?Liz: No, Im pleased with Justin.(2) To Susan, an American guest.

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Would you like a drink?Susan: Well, Ive been on beer all day.(3) Editor to researcher who has submitted a paper: In your paper,

you slightly run the risk of being accused of using generative theoriesin an unprincipled way...

(4) Staff member to Chief Librarian: Have you given any thought tohaving me subscribed to Journal of Pragmatics?display cleverness(5) Supervisor to students having taken their morning off: I hope theSainsbury spree has not turned you all into shopaholics so the point ofsquandering your book allowance on caviar and smoked salmon.(6) To fellow student who had problems upgrading: I hope youclarified whatever issues you were struggling with last week andeverythings going smooth againFactors that govern indirectness:1. The relative power of the S over the H

2. The social distance btw. the S and the H3. The degree of imposition4. The relative rights and obligations btw the S and the H

Spencer-Oatey (1992): 3 types of powerlegitimate power(7) Student to course tutor: Dear Professor Brown, I would beextremely grateful if you could approve a weeks extension to thesubmission of my paper: Im afraid I need more time to thoroughlycomplete my analysis in the light of recent literature(8) Director to her secretary : Elaine, please make 14 copies of chapter

3 for the course tomorrow. Thanks.referent power : (9) One participant to conference to another duringthe break I was really fascinated with your presentation. Could yousend me a copy if this is not too much trouble?expert power : (10) Dear Professor Rosch, Your latest article onPrinciples of Categorisation would be of crucial importance in myresearch. Would there be any way for me to get a copy, taking intoaccount that, sadly enough, our faculty cannot afford to pay asubscription to Cognitive Linguistics?

Social distance vs. solidarity

(11a) to a peer: Got any change, Jay? vs. (11b) to a stranger : Excuseme, could you change fifty pence for me? I need tens or fives for thecoffee machine.

(12a) To cooperative classmate:Help the papers stuck in thephotocopier vs.(12b) To friend with whom a disagreement has beenhad recently: Do you have any idea what youre supposed to dowhen the paper gets stuck in the photocopier?Size of imposition

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(13a) Supervisor to Supervisee : Rewrite this passage, its a bitunclear towards the end(13b) Im afraid you may need to take a more critical stance towardsAustins theory and that implies reweighing the pros and cons.

Goffmans notion of free and non-free- goods.Lakoff (1974) extendedthe concept of free/non-free goods to information. Some topics can bedealt with freely, unrestrictedly (weather), others are none of yourbusiness (non-free goods).Rights and obligations: Indirectness may be regulated by the Ss right

to make a particular demand and/or by the Hs obligation tocomply.

e.g. (14a) Next stop! signalled to driver if there is a scheduledstopping place(14b) Do you think you could possibly let me out just beyond thetraffic lights, please?

WHY INDIRECTNESS?

1. The desire to make ones L more interesting(15)Teacher suspecting student to have skipped classes: With yourdiplomatic flu, a dose of pragmatics is the last thing you need

2. Increasing the force of ones message(16) Editor to researchers who are late in submitting their papers forpublication : Publish or perish instead of Send me your papers forpublication ASAP.

3. Competing goals

(17) Teacher has to tell Student that their work is not up to standard the teachers need/duty to tell the truth may conflict with the desirenot to hurt the students feelings.This is a very ambitious project. Despite the well-documented review

of literature, there are occasional confusions between structuralist andpost-structuralist issues

4. Politeness :Brown & Levinson : the face is the public self image that every

member of society wants to claim for himself (1978).1. positive face , which represents an individuals desire to seem

worthy and deserving of approval2. negative face , an individuals desire to be autonomous, unimpeded

by others.A kind of mutual self-interest requires that participants in aconversation maintain both their own face and that of theirinterlocutor. Many verbal exchanges are potential threats to face:

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1. threats to negative face potentially damage an individualsautonomy (orders, requests, suggestions, advice; self-facethreatening : apologies, confessions)

2. threats to positive face potentially lower an individuals self- andsocial esteem (disapproval, disagreement, accusations,

interruptions)

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