LINGUISTIC
Sociolinguistics Course Prof Necdet Osam
All the world is a stage, and we are players!
As you will see using language involves costs and benefits in what Holmes (1992) refers to as “ linguistic market”. It also involves role-playing, forging identity, power-sharing , alternating converging and diverging strategies, power and solidarity, which, all in all, signify that “language is a behavior” or, better said, “language “language is an act.”
The Agenda
Some definitions Conversational Principles Implicatures Politeness Face Is politeness diglossic? Are implicatures accidental? The issue of identity The issue of ideology
Grice (1975) says ‘we
are able to converse with are one another because we recognize common goals in conversation and specific ways of achieving it.’ In other words, how we say something is as
To T o Grice, conversation is cooperative in that both interlocutors accept each other for what they claim to be. Conversation is also bound to some principles which calls
Conversational Maxims or Coo erative
Gricean Cooperative Principles
Maxim of quantity
Maxim of quality Maxim of relation
Maxim of Quantity
Make Mak e your contribution as informative as is required. A: Excuse me, have you got the time on you? B: 10 of 5. A: Sorry, love. Got the time? B: Yes. The time on my Swiss watch given to me by my mum on my birthday birthday is 10 of 5.
“war is war.” So, what?
Maxim of Quality
Do not say what you believe is false or lacks adequate evidence.
A: Do you know who invented the telephone? B: Wasn’t it Graham Bell? A: Dad, do you know what a Green car means?
Maxim of Relation
Be relevant .
A: Is Tom seeing seeing anyone lately? B: I suspect he is. His phone bills are massive! A: Did I say you look gorgeous? B: By the way, did you manage to freeze your stolen credit card?
Maxim of Manner
Avoid obscurity and ambiguity , and be brief and orderly .
A: ‘Cuse me, is there a phone box round here? B: Yes. Not far. Just round the next corner. ’
Implicature
Grice maintains that speech often occurs in less than ideal circumstances in which speakers compromise or flout the maxims as a result of which an implicature is driven from what has been said. It is also possible an act of conversation involves
Politeness
Leech defines politeness as forms of behavior that establish and maintain comity . That is the ability of participants in a social interaction to engage in interaction in an atmosphere of relative
Leech’s Maxims of
Tact maxim Generosity maxim Approbation maxim Modesty maxim Agreement maxim Sympathy maxim
Tact maxim 1. Minimize cost to other; maximize benefit to other.
Ex: Could I interrupt you for a second? If I could just clarify this then.
Generosity Maxim
Minimize benefit benefit to to self ; maximize cost cost to to self .
Ex: You relax and let me do the dishes. You must come and have
Approbation Maxim
Minimize dispraise of other ; maximize maximize praise praise of other .
Ex: John, I know you're a genius - would you know how to solve this
Modesty Maxim
Minimize praise of Minimize praise self ; maximize dispraise of self .
Ex: Oh, I'm so stupid I didn't make a note of
Agreement Maxim
Minimize disagreement
between self and other;
maximize agreement between
self and other.
A: Do you like this skirt, John? B: Yes, it looks great, but I am sure you can find a better one. Yes, but ma'am, I thought we
Sympathy Maxim
Minimize antipathy
between self and other; maximize sympathy
between self and other other..
Ex: I was sorry to hear about your accident.
Face
Face is something that is emotionally invested , and that can be lost , maintained , or enhanced , and must be constantly attended to in interaction. Normally everyone’s face depends on everyone else’s being maintained , and it is in ’
Face “Face” (as in “lose face”) refer referss to a speaker's sense of linguistic and social identity. Any speech act may impose on this sense, and is therefore face threatening . And speakers have strategies for lessening the threat. Positive politeness means being complimentary and gracious to the addres addressee. see. Negative politeness is found in
In Goffman (1955) terminology ter minology an act of face-changing is called face-work . Whatever face one adopts, it will be ‘the affective state of the speaker’ and ‘the
profile of his/her
Is politeness diglossic? V/V & V/T forms are common among the U class and in addressing the M & L classes as a marker of exercising power . T/T & T/V forms are a marker mark er of of solidarity and intimacy among M & L classes. T/V is also used to
Is politeness ideological?
T/T is common among young Italian U members who want to dissociate themselves from the aristocracy or power. T/T is a useful implement for the politicians who aspire to reflect vox populi–the voice of the public. Consider ‘revolutionary’ Ahmadinejad. T/T used by a young male French student would mean he favors nationalization of the industry, industry, free love trial marria e abolition of ca ital
Solidarity or power? With the decline of aristocracy and growth of democratization it appears that non-reciprocal T/V is now being replaced by mutual V as between officer and soldier. In former T/V situations we can now find mutual T as between father and son, and employer
Questions:
How do power and politeness correlate?
یدو کراین یدجا کرشما ب! ؟گ چ یگه چ ت ت! برر س س د خد ت شما ت!
