Linguistics Notes

TSL3101 INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

Example: (a) ambiguous word = light ( not very heavy or not very dark) (b) phrase = porcelain egg container porcelain egg container (c ) sentence= The police shot the rioters with gun. The police shot the rioters with gun. T y p e s o f am b i g u i t y

Lexical ambiguity

e.g. nouns = bank, chip etc. verbs = call, draw etc. Structural ambiguity

e.g. Tibetan history teacher The chicken is ready to eat. Id e n t i f y a n d e x p l a i n t h e a m b i g u i t y i n t h e f o l l o w i n g s e n t e n c e s .

Examples: (1) William saw a star. Type: lexical ambiguity Meaning A: William saw a celestial object. Meaning B: Willaim saw a celebrity. (2) I saw the man with the telescope. Type: structural ambiguity Meaning A: I saw the man who had the telescope. Meaning B: I used the telescope to see the man. (1)

He seemed nice to her.

(2)

I want the music box on the table. 64


(3)

She attacked the man with a knife.

(4)

Young girls and boys are admitted.

(5)

The English literature teacher was absent yesterday.

(6)

My old coin collection has disappeared.

(7)

Bruce is a large sheep farmer.

(8)

Flying earoplanes can be dangerous.

(9)

The woman cannot bear children.

(10) Visiting relatives can be tiring. One other feature of Phrase Structure Rules is that they will generate all sentences with fairly fixed word order to the constituents. Example: adverbs will always come at the end of their sentences if we follow the rules (i) George helped Mary yesterday. This is fine for generating this sentence, but how would we get the second sentence? (ii) Yesterday George helped Mary. To do this, we need a set of rules which change or move constituents in the structures derived from the phrase structure rules. These are called Transformational Rules.

5.2.5

Transformational Grammar

Originally interpreted as string operations, mapping one string onto another by reordering , inserting (context-sensitive rewrite rule) or deleting (unrestricted 65


rewrite rules) material. The passive transformation given earlier involves the first two operations. Essentially what TRs do is to take a ‗branch‘ of the ‗tree‘ away from one part of the tree diagram, and attach it to a different part. Example: S

NP

S

VP

V

NP

George helped Mary

Adv

NP

Adv

VP

V

y e s t er d a y

Y es t e r d a y G e o r g e h e l p e d

NP

Mary

This is an example of a movement transformation. One of the best arguments for having transformational rules involves what seems to be the movement of a very small element in English sentence structure. Example: two sentences having a great deal in common. (i) Doobie picked up the magazine. (ii) Doobie picked the magazine up. These sentences contain a verb-particle construction (verb= pick ; particle= up) which can be symbolized as: V Vb part. The particle can be separated from the verb and moved to the end of the sentence. A constituent structure analysis would have some difficulty accommodating this type of sentence. A phrase structure analysis would have to create two distinct tree diagrams. Under circumstances like these, the optional transformation called ―Particle Movement‖ which takes that structural description and yields the structural change to NP Verb NP Particle is proposed. Phrase

S 66


Structure Tree

NP

VP V

Vb Doobie

picked

NP part. up

Art the

N magazine

Particle Movement: Doobie picked the magazine up By taking this simple transformational rule, we have provided the means for explicitly relating the two structures in sentences (i) and (ii) as ‗surface‘ variations of a single underlying structure. This type of transformational analysis can solve a number of tricky problems for syntactic descriptions. The transformational part of the grammar operates on the deep, abstract structures as specified by the PSR‘s of the grammar. Transformational rules operate on bits and pieces of the deep structure: these rules may delete constituents, add constituents, or change constituents around. Examples: The boy shot the dog. The boy could shoot the dog. •

•

Transformations that could apply to these sentences (if the correct deep structure is specified) are the following: Question transformation: Did the boy shoot the dog? Could the boy shoot the dog? •

•

Negative transformation: The boy didn‘t shoot the dog. The boy couldn‘t shoot the dog. •

•

Passive transformation: The dog was shot by the boy. The dog could be shot by the boy. •

•

Command (imperative) transformation: 67


•

Shoot the dog!

Subject-Auxiliary Inversion and Wh- Movement .

Two principal kinds of questions exist in English: information questions.

Yes/No questions and

Yes/No Questions . In the pairs of statements and questions below, the questions are called ―yes/no questions‖ because they can be answered with a reply of yes or no.

1.

Sue will earn a fair wage. Will Sue earn a fair wage?

2. John was winning the race when he stumbled. Was John winning the race when he stumbled? If you compare the form of the statement with the form of the question above, you will see that a yes/no question requires inverting the subject NP with the auxiliary verb. Verbs such as will in 1 above and was in 2 – as well as did and does in 3 and 4 – are called auxiliary verbs, as distinguished from main verbs like earn and winning . Auxiliary verbs are precisely those that can be inverted with the subject NP to form questions; they are also the constituent of the verb phrase that carried the negative element in contractions such as can‘t, shouldn‘t, and wasn‘t. An auxiliary constituent is postulated in the underlying structure of sentences. It can be generated by a phrase-structure rule. Instead of the earlier expansion of S as NP VP, the following expansion is assumed: S

NP

AUX

VP

We can represent the structure or this expansion in a tree diagram: S NP

AUX

VP

The operation that transforms the constituent structure of the yes/no question does so by inverting NP and Aux. Thus, subject-auxiliary inversion does this: S

S 68


NP AUX

VP

AUX NP

VP

Write down important notes on the phrase structure rules and the transformational rules. Give a few examples of each.

Serve the net to get more information on these rules.

Construct ten simple/compound/complex sentences and draw tree diagrams to show your understanding of phrase structure rules.

Then take a break and move on to the next topic when you are ready!

TOPIC 6

SEMANTICS: LANGUAGE AND MEANING

6.0 SYNOPSIS 69


Topic 6 introduces you to language and its meaning. It seeks to develop your knowledge in English language, by improving your knowledge in figurative language as well as phrasal verbs. It also aims to help you further improve your skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing and develop your confidence and fluency in using English in a variety of context.

6.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this Session, you will be able to: 1. understand how figurative language is used in communication 2. use figurative and phrasal verbs in spoken and written language 6.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

Semantics

Word Meaning

Denotative

Phrase and Sentence Meaning

Connotative

Lexical and Structural Meaning

Idioms

Figurative Language

Phrasal Verbs

Metaphors

SESSION NINE (6 Hou rs)

6.2.1

What is Semantics?

Semantics is the study of the linguistic meanings of words, phrases and sentences in human language. A word‘s meaning is determined by the people 70


who use that word, not by the dictionary. In other words, the meaning is decided by convention or consensus of the people. Why is semantics important in linguistics / language teaching? (i) To be able to understand each other – hence facilitating communication. (ii) To disambiguate ambiguities

6.2.2 Word meaning

Meaning is a multifaceted notion. function words

Word meaning can be content words or

Denotative Meaning

Referential meaning (Denotation/Denotative meaning) refers to the person, object, abstract notion, event or state of affairs described by a word. It is described in terms of a set of semantic properties which serves to identify the particular concept associated with the word in question. Examples of words as having referential or denotative meaning: (i)

I went to the store this morning.

(ii)

All dogs are animals

What can you comment with regard to the truth of the sentences? (i)

It may not be true. The speaker may be lying.

(ii)

Is inherently true.

Meaning is probably also determined in part by the conditions under which a sentence may be used: questions, orders, wishes etc. C o n n o t a t iv e M e a n i n g

In addition to denotative meaning, a word may convey certain affective or evaluative associations. For example: house vs home: meaning goes beyond referential meaning i.e. affection, feelings, emotional attachment. It reflects what the language user feels about the content. This is connotative meaning. 71


Some connotations are shared by people of the same status, social or economic background. Consider violin & fiddle; and cheap & inexpensive. I‘m thrifty; you‘re tight; he‘s stingy. 6.2.3

Phrase and sentence meaning

What do you know when you know what a sentence means? Anyone who knows a sentence meaning knows the conditions under which it would be true. Sentence meaning depends on the meaning of the individual words but semantic roles must be taken into consideration. Utterance meaning on the other hand, is entirely dependent on circumstances. 6.2.4 Lexical and structural meaning e.g. collocations

Another basic distinction in semantics is the contrast between lexical meaning and sentence meaning. We know that sentence structure makes a contribution to sentence meaning as seen in Kearns‘ examples: (i)

The rat that bit the dog chased the cat.

(ii) The cat that chased the dog bit the rat. These sentences are made out of the same words, but put together in different ways. The differences tell a speaker of English what bit what and what chased what. English speakers do not find other word orders to be equally unambiguous, e.g., Chased the dog the cat. We use the combination of word meanings and sentence structure to compose the meanings of sentences and larger units of discourse. One of the goals of linguistic semantics is to understand how speakers construct the compositional meanings of sentences. 6.2.5 What is Figurative Language?

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language.

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Figurative language is a word or phrase that departs from everyday literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness. Metaphor and simile are the two most commonly used figures of speech, but things like hyperbole, synecdoche, puns, and personification are also figures of speech. Used well, figurative language enhances your fiction and can be an economical way of getting an image or a point across. However, used incorrectly, figurative language can be confusing or downright silly. Also Known As: figure of speech, rhetorical figure, metaphorical language. Examples:

"Its fleece was white as snow" is an example of a figurative language from a children's rhyme. In this case, comparing the lamb's fleece to snow helps create a picture of how white Mary's lamb really was. Though we might associate figurative language more with poetry than with fiction, most of us automatically use figurative language all the time in our writing. Done well, it helps us communicate and makes our prose fresher and more vivid. W h a t I s a M e t ap h o r ?

Some people think of metaphors as nothing more than the sweet stuff of songs and poems--Love is a jewel, or a rose, or a butterfly. But in fact all of us speak and write and think in metaphors every day. They can't be avoided: metaphors are built right into our language. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. The word metaphor itself is a metaphor, coming from a Greek word meaning to "transfer" or "carry across." Metaphors "carry" meaning from one word, image, or idea to another. When Dr. Gregory House (in the TV series House, M.D.) says, "I'm a night owl, Wilson's an early bird. We're different species," he's speaking metaphorically. When Dr. Cuddy replies, "Then move him into his own cage," she's extending House's bird metaphor--which he caps off with the remark, "Who'll clean the droppings from mine?"

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C o n v e n t i o n a l M e t ap h o r s

Some metaphors are so common that we may not even notice that they are metaphors. Take the familiar metaphor of life as a journey, for example. We find it in advertising slogans: "Life is a journey, travel it well."

(United Airlines)

"Life is a journey. Enjoy the Ride." (Nissan) "Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride with a GM reward card." (General Motors)

What is a Simile?

A simile uses the words ―like‖ or ―as‖ to compare one object or idea with another to suggest they are alike.

Example: busy as a bee The metaphor states a fact or draws a verbal picture by the use of comparison. A simile would say you are like something; a metaphor is more positive - it says you are something. Example: You are what you eat.

W h a t i s a n Id i o m ?

According to Webster's Dictionary, an idiom is defined as: peculiar to itself either grammatically (as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (as Monday week for "the Monday a week after next Monday")

6.2.6 Phrasal Verbs

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition, any of which are part of the syntax of the sentence, and so are a complete semantic unit. Sentences may contain direct and indirect objects in addition to the phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs 74


are particularly frequent in the English language. A phrasal verb often has a meaning which is different from the original verb. Phrasal verbs are usually used informally in everyday speech as opposed to the more formal Latinate verbs, such as ―to get together‖ rather than ―to congregate‖, ―to put off‖ rather than ―to postpone‖, or ―to get out‖ rather than ―to exit‖. Literal usage

Many verbs in English can be combined with an adverb or a preposition, and readers or listeners will easily understand a phrasal verb used in a literal sense with a preposition: 

"He walked across the square."

Verb and adverb constructions can also easily be understood when used literally: 



"She opened the shutters and looked outside." "When he heard the crash, he looked up."

An adverb in a literal phrasal verb modifies the verb it is attached to, and a preposition links the verb to the object. Id i o m a t i c u s a g e

It is, however, the figurative or idiomatic application in everyday speech which makes phrasal verbs so important: 



"I hope you will get over your operation quickly." "Work hard, and get your examination over with."

The literal meaning of ―to get over‖, in the sense of ―to climb over something to get to the other side‖, no longer applies to explain the subject's enduring an operation or the stress of an examination which they have to overcome. It is when the combined meaning of verb plus adverb, or verb plus preposition is totally different from each of its component parts, that the semantic content of the phrasal verb cannot be predicted by its constituent parts and so becomes much more difficult for a student learning English to recognise.

Other idiomatic usages of phrasal verbs show a: verb + direct object + preposition/adverb + indirect object construction:

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Idioms which are formed from phrasal verbs, such as let the cat out of the bag . These idioms are printed in heavy type. Idioms have a meaning which is different from the meaning of the single words, and usually have a fixed word order .[3] Courtney then cites among many other examples in the dictionary such phrases as "to add insult to injury", "to add fuel to the flames", "to leave someone in the lurch", "to scare someone out of their wits", etc. Phrasal verb patterns

A phrasal verb contains either a preposition or an adverb (or both), and may also combine with one or more nouns or pronouns. Particle verbs

Phrasal verbs that contain adverbs are sometimes called "particle verbs", and are related to separable verbs in other Germanic languages. There are two main patterns: intransitive and transitive. An intransitive particle verb does not have an object: 

―When I entered the room he looked up.‖

A transitive particle verb has a nominal object in addition to the adverb. If the object is an ordinary noun, it can usually appear on either side of the adverb, although very long noun phrases tend to come after the adverb:   

Switch off the light. Switch the light off . Switch off the lights in the hallway next to the bedroom in which the

president is sleeping. With some transitive particle verbs, however, the noun object must come after the adverb. Such examples are said to involve "inseparable" phrasal verbs: 

The gas gave off fumes. (not *The gas gave fumes off .)

Other transitive particle verbs require the object to precede the adverb, even when the object is a long noun phrase: 



I cannot tell the dogs apart . (not *I cannot tell apart the dogs.) I cannot tell the bulldogs and the pugs who look like them apart .

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However, some authors say that the particle must be adjacent to the verb whenever the noun phrase is lengthy and complicated. With all transitive particle verbs, if the object is a pronoun, it must, with just one type of exception, precede the adverb: 





Switch it off . (not *Switch off it.) The smell put them off . (not * put off them) They let him through. (not *they let through him)

The exception occurs if the direct object is contrastively stressed, as in 

Figure out THESE, not THOSE.

Most phrasal verbs consist of two words, but a few consist of three words, which always stay together. Verb

Meaning

Example

ask someone out

invite on a date

Brian asked Judy out to dinner and a movie.

ask around

ask many people the same question

I asked around but nobody has seen my wallet.

add up to something

equal

Your purchases add up to $205.32.

back something up

reverse

You'll have to back up your car so that I can get out.

back someone support up

My wife backed me up over my decision to quit my job.

blow up

explode

The racing car blew up after it crashed into the fence.

blow something up

add air

We have to blow 50 balloons up for the party.

break down

stop functioning (vehicle, machine)

Our car broke down at the side of the highway in the snowstorm.

get upset

The woman broke down when the police told her that her son had died.

break down

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break something down

divide into smaller parts

Our teacher broke the final project down into three separate parts.

break in

force entry to a building

Somebody broke in last night and stole our stereo.

break into something

enter forcibly

The firemen had to break into the room to rescue the children.

break something in

wear something a few times so that it doesn't look/feel new

I need to break these shoes in before we run next week.

break in

interrupt

The TV station broke in to report the news of the president's death.

break up

end a relationship

My boyfriend and I broke up before I moved to America.

break up

start laughing (informal)

The kids just broke up as soon as the clown started talking.

break out

escape

The prisoners broke out of jail when the guards weren't looking.

break out in something

develop a skin condition

I broke out in a rash after our camping trip.

Draw a table as above and write down as many phrasal verbs as you can, explain the meanings and give examples.

Check your answers with your tutor!

TOPIC 7

PRAGMATICS: MEANING AND CONTENT, AND THE INTENTION TO COMMUNICATE

7.0 SYNOPSIS 78


Topic 7 introduces you to pragmatics. It seeks to develop your ability to describe how language can be used in social contexts by knowing the ways in which context contributes to meaning. You will learn that all conversations follow a basic set of rules which people use to express themselves when speaking. It also aims to help you further improve your skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing and develop your confidence and fluency in using English in a variety of context. 7.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this Session, you will be able to: 1. explain the nature and scope of pragmatics and its place within linguistics 2. identify the key features of speech act theory, conversational maxims, and politeness theory. 3. demonstrate understanding of the kinds of cognitive processes involved in utterance comprehension 4. express different levels of understanding when speaking 5. follow the basic set of rules when speaking 7.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

PRAGMATICS

Pronouns and discourse

Deixis

Maxims of Conversation

Implicatures

Speech Acts

Direct

SESSION TEN (6 Hou rs)

7.2.1 What is Pragmatics?

79

Indirect


A branch of linguistics concerned with the use of language in social contexts and the ways in which people produce and comprehend meanings through language. In other words, it is language use to perform speech acts. Examples: Assert, inform, claim, declare, state… Predict, forecast, … Describe, assess, classify, … Offer, propose, …. Apologize, condole, congratulate, greet, thank, ... In pragmatics, two kinds of contexts are relevant. The first is linguistic context – the discourse that precedes the phrase or sentence to be interpreted; the second is situational context – virtually everything non-linguistic in the environment of the speaker. Speakers know how to combine words and phrases to form sentences, and they also know how to combine sentences into a larger discourse to express complex thoughts and ideas. Discourse analysis is concerned with the broad speech units comprising multiple sentences. It involves questions of style, appropriateness, cohesiveness, rhetorical force, topic/subtopic structure, differences between written and spoken discourse, as well as grammatical properties. Within a discourse, preceding sentences affect the meaning of sentences that follow them in various ways. For example, the reference or meaning of pronouns often depends on prior discourse. As well, prior discourse often disambiguates words like bank , in that situation the discussion may be about rafting on a river or interest rates. Situational context, on the other hand, is the nonlinguistic environment in which a sentence or discourse happens. It is the context that allows speakers to seamlessly, even unknowingly, interpret questions like Can you pass the salt? as requests to carry out a certain action. Situational context includes the speaker, hearer, and any third parties present, along with their beliefs and their beliefs about what the others believe. It includes the physical environemnt, the subject of conversation, the time of the day, and so on, ad infinitum. Almost any imaginable extralinguistic factor may, under appropriate circumstances, influence the way language is interpreted.

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Pronouns provide a good way to illustrate the two kinds of contexts – linguistic and situational – that affect meaning.

7.2.2 Pronouns and Discourse

Pronouns may be used in place of noun phrases from prior discourse or may be used to refer to entities presumably known to the participants of a discourse. When that presumption fails, it may result in miscommunication. In a discourse, prior linguistic context plays a primary role in pronoun interpretation. In the following discourse: It seems that the man loves the woman. Many people think he loves her. the most natural interpretation of h er is ‗the woman‘ referred to in the first sentence, whoever she happens to be. But it is also possible for her to refer to a different person, perhaps one indicated with a gesture. In such a case h er would be spoken with added emphasis: Many people think he loves h e r ! Similar remarks apply to the reference of h e , which is ordinarily co-referential with t h e m a n , but not necessarily so. Again, intonation and emphasis would provide clues. When semantic rules and contextual interpretation determine that a pronoun is co-referential with an NP (Noun Phrase), we say that the pronoun is bound to the noun phrase antecedent. If h er in the previous example refers to ‗the woman‘ it would be a bound pronoun. Reflective pronouns are always bound. When a pronoun refers to some object not explicitly mentioned in the discourse, it is said to be free or unbound. The reference of a free pronoun must ultimately be determined by the situational context. First and second person non-reflexive (A r e , y o u ) pronouns are bound to the speaker and hearer respectively. They therefore depend on the situational context, namely, who is doing the talking and who is being addressed. With third-person pronouns, as in the preceding example, semantic rules permit h er either to be bound to t h e w o m a n , or to be a free pronoun, referring to some person not explicitly mentioned. The ultimate interpretation is context-dependent. 81


Referring to the previous discourse, strictly speaking, it would be ungrammatical if the discourse went this way: It seems that the man loves the woman. Many people think the man loves the woman. However, most people would find that the discourse sounds stilted. Often in discourse, the use of pronouns is a stylistic decision, which is part of pragmatics.

7.2.3 Deixis

In pragmatics (linguistics), deixis is a process whereby words or expressions rely absolutely on context. The Origo is the context from which the reference is made, in other words, the "point of view" that must be to be understood in order to interpret the statement. (If Tom is speaking and he says "I", he refers to himself, but if Tom is hearing Betty and she says "I", then the origo is with Betty and the reference is to Betty.) A word that depends on deictic clues is called a deictic or a deictic word. Pronouns are generally considered to be deictics, but a finer distinction is often made between personal pronouns such as I, you, he, she, it and pronouns that refer to places and times such as now, then, here, there . In most texts, the word "deictic" implies the latter but not necessarily the former. It is common for languages to show at least a two-way referential distinction in their deictic system: one category of deictics refers to things and places near or closer to the speaker, while the other refers to things and places far from the speaker and/or closer to the hearer. English exemplifies this with such pairs as this/that, here/there . In other languages the distinction is a three-way one: near the speaker vs. near the hearer vs. far from both. This is the case in Romances and Japanese. Closer-to-speaker deictic references are often termed proximal , while the others are named distal . Spatial deictics are often reused as anaphoric pronouns that stand for phrases or propositions (that is, items of discourse, not items of the outside reality).

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Consider the following statement: "There may be ice hidden in unexplored places of the Moon. This ice could be useful for future lunar expeditions." In the above example, this ice is not near the speaker in the physical sense, but the deictic doesn't refer to real ice. This refers to the phrase ice hidden in unexplored places, which is "near" the speaker in the discourse flow.

7.2.4 Maxims of Conversation

A conversation is communication by two or more people, or sometimes with one‘s self, on a particular topic. Conversations are the ideal form of communication in some respects, because they allow people with different views on a topic to learn from each other. Paul Grice, a British-educated philosopher of language who spent the final two decades of his career in the U.S., noted that all conversations follow a basic set of rules which people use to express themselves when speaking. Imagine what would happen to language if there were no rules to follow during conversations.

It would be perfectly acceptable to follow ―Hi, how are you doing?‖ with ―birds fly in the sky‖, or to simply lie with every statement you make . But then conversations would be impossible to have. And while everyone follows Grice‘s rules, it doesn‘t necessarily mean that people are aware of what the rules are or how they work. In fact, Grice‘s maxims often work outside of our immediate awareness.

The question now is, what exactly are these rules? One of the most basic assumptions we must make for successful communication to take place is that both people in a conversation are cooperating – this is called the Cooperative Principle. Grice further identified 4 groups of maxims (a ―maxim‖ is kind of like a rule of thumb) which people implicitly obey when communicating. T h e f o u r C o n v e r s a t i o n a l M ax i m s

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A. Maxims of quality

According to the first rule, people are expected to say what they know to be true. When talking with each other we expect the others to tell us the truth. If your friend asks, ―…have you seen my dog?‖ an honest answer is expected. 1. Do not say what your belief to be false. 2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. It is also possible to violate the first maxim by being too informative. For example, some of my students occasionally invite me to eat with them in the campus dining halls. When we arrange a luncheon date, they often ask something like "Where should we meet?" My response ought to be something on the order of "How about if you come to my office?" rather than something much more detailed like "Please come to my office door, and I will be standing 27 centimeters inside of it." The latter is bizarre, presumably by virtue of being overly specific.

B. Maxims of quantity

According to this rule, when talking, we are expected to provide just enough information to get our point across. We usually assume that people are telling us everything we need to know. If they don‘t say something, then we assume they simply don‘t know th at information. 1. Make your contribution as informative as required. 2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. The second maxim has to do with truthfulness. Generally, conversation partners assume that the other is telling the truth, or at least what the speaker believes to be the truth. On some occasions, it is permissible to violate this maxim-for example, to be ironic. Imagine that a friend who's missed a lecture in a class in which you are both enrolled asks, "How was class today?" You can respond, "Utterly fascinating!" even if it really was dry as toast, if you somehow signal that your answer isn't to be taken literally. Rolled eyes, exaggerated intonation, winks, and the like help to communicate that your violation of the maxim of quality is itself meant to communicate something-in this case, ironic humor. If you simply utter an untruthful response without letting your listener know that you aren't being candid, then your conversation will not be successful, and your conversation partner could legitimately complain about your conversation skills.

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Someone who consistently violates the maxims of quantity or quality may well be perceived as uncooperative or obnoxious and, after a while, may find it difficult to attract conversation partners.

C. Maxim of relation

According to this rule, you are expected to stay on the topic. In other words, make sure that what you say is relevant for what is talked about. If asked, ―Isn‘t Larry the biggest jerk you ever met?‖ you certainly won‘t be on topic if you answer by saying ―Uh, it sure is nice for this time of year, eh?‖ 1. Be relevant. Someone who consistently violates the third maxim of relation by responding with irrelevant utterances will have a bigger problem: He or she will simply be regarded as, at best, very bizarre. To illustrate, imagine a conversation between Tom and Joe, two college roommates: TOM (looking around): Hey, Joe, have you seen my sweater? JOE (looking at Tom, and smiling): Lo, a flaming squirrel! If Joe persists in violating the maxim of relation, he will likely find himself at a complete loss for conversation partners, if not roommates and friends.

D. Maxims of manner

The last rule states that your comments should be direct, clear, and to the point. This maxim relates to the form of speech you use. You shouldn‘t use words you know your listeners won‘t understand or say things which you know could be taken multiple ways. You should also not state something in a long, drawnout way if you could say it in a much simpler manner. As an example, we have ―Miss Singer produced a series of sounds corresponding closely to the score of The Star-Spangled Banner‖ vs. ―Miss Singer sang The Star -Spangled Banner.‖

1. Avoid obscurity of expression. 2. Avoid ambiguity.

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3. Be brief. 4. Be orderly. The fourth maxim, the maxim of manner, generally governs the way you choose to construct your conversation contributions. The general idea is that you should speak as clearly as possible, using language appropriate to your listener and the context. Among other things, this maxim forbids you to answer your professors in pig Latin or your younger siblings in "academese." It also prevents you from holding a filibuster (unless you are a congressperson) and requires that you at least try to organize what you say before you begin speaking.

Why should you follow them

These maxims allow you to be more brief in communicating , since you don‘t need to say everything you would need to if you were being perfectly logical – you don‘t say ―John has 4 and only 4 children‖. Also, by exploiting or flouting a maxim, they allow you to say things indirectly to avoid some of the discomfort which comes from saying unpleasant things directly. They can also show you how to ― read between the lines.” Grice did not assume that all people should constantly follow these maxims. Instead, he found it interesting when these were ―flouted‖ or ―violated‖ (either purposefully or unintentionally breaking the maxims) by speakers, which would imply some hidden meaning. Why imply instead of just saying what you mean? Well, implication can get across a great deal of meaning with relatively little actual speech. Thinking of what you want to get across and interpreting what other people have said seems to take much quicker than the relatively slow process of actually verbalizing all the necessary sounds. So saying a little, while implying a lot, is a way to av oid ―phonological bottleneck‖ and communicate more efficiently.

What is interesting to note is the fact that these maxims may be better understood as describing the assumptions listeners normally make about the way speakers will talk, rather than prescriptions for how one ought to talk. And the implications of this fact can be a powerful and creative way to get across a point. Violations of the maxims produce conversations that are noticeably odd. For instance, if someone asks, "Do you have a watch?" and you respond, "Yes, I do," you are violating the first maxim of quantity: You are being less informative than 86


is required. Your conversation partner is not, in all likelihood, taking a census for Timex or Rolex; he or she probably wants to know the time. As a member of the language community that you live in, you are expected to know that the question asked is really a request for the time and to respond appropriately. Gricean maxims are not always obeyed, but the assumption is that people try to obey them most of the time. When the maxims are violated, the speaker apparently wishes to end the conversation, wishes to avoid the conversation, or expects the listener to understand that the violation is occurring and why (Miller & Glucksberg, 1988). Again, though, it is doubtful that the average person is consciously aware of the rules. As with most linguistic rules, maxims are implicitly understood even if they can't be precisely stated.

7.2.5 Implicature

In pragmatics, it means an indirect or implicit speech act: what is meant by a speaker's utterance - that is not part of what is explicitly said . It is the act of suggesting that something is true, although you do not say it directly. You are being careful about what you say: imply , get at , convey , hedge, fudge, evade, skirt , parry , intimate, mince (your) words. In other words, what a speaker intends to communicate is characteristically far richer than what she directly expresses. The probabilistic character of conversational implicature is easier to demonstrate than define. If a stranger at the other end of a phone line has a high-pitched voice, you may infer that the speaker is a woman. The inference may be incorrect. Generally speaking, a conversational implicature is an interpretive procedure that operates to figure out what is going on. . . . Assume a husband and wife are getting ready to go out for the evening: 1. Husband: How much longer will you be? 2. Wife:

Make yourself a drink.

To interpret the utterance in Sentence 2, the husband must go through a series of inferences based on principles that he knows the other speaker is using. . . . The conventional response to the husband's question would be a direct answer where the wife indicated some time frame in which she would be ready. This would be a conventional implicature with a literal answer to a literal question. But the husband assumes that she heard his question, that she believes that 87


he was genuinely asking how long she would be, and that she is capable of indicating when she would be ready. The wife . . . chooses not to extend the topic by ignoring the relevancy maxim. The husband then searches for a plausible interpretation of her utterance and concludes that what she is doing is telling him that she is not going to offer a particular time, or doesn't know, but she will be long enough yet for him to have a drink. She may also be saying, 'Relax, I'll be ready in plenty of time.'" 7.2.6 Speech Acts

We use the term speech act to describe actions such as 'requesting,' 'commanding,' 'questioning,' or 'informing.' We can define a speech act as the action performed by a speaker with an utterance. If you say, I'll be there at six , you are not just speaking, you seem to be performing the speech act of 'promising.' It is an utterance defined in terms of a speaker's intention and the effect it has on a listener . In order to explain what can go wrong with statements we cannot just concentrate on the proposition involved (whatever that is) as has been done traditionally. We must consider the total situation in which the utterance is issued-the total speech-act--if we are to see the parallel between statements and performative utterances, and how each can go wrong. When an interrogative structure such as Did you . . .? Are they . . .? or Can we . . .? is used with the function of a question, it is described as a d i r e c t speech act . For example, when we don't know something and we ask someone to provide the information, we usually produce a direct speech act such as: Can you ride a bicycle?

Compare that utterance with Can you pass the salt? [Here] we are not really asking a question about someone's ability. In fact, we don't normally use this structure as a question at all. . . . This is an example of an i n d i r e c t s p e e c h a c t .

Several categories of speech acts have been proposed, viz. directives (speakers try to get their listeners to do something, e.g. begging, commanding, requesting), commissives (speakers commit themselves to a future course of action, e.g. promising, guaranteeing), expressives (speakers express their 88


feelings, e.g. apologizing, welcoming, sympathizing), declarations (the speaker's utterance brings about a new external situation, e.g. marrying, resigning, etc). Now lets look at "Pragmatics" self-study exercises

Exercise 1

Circle the right answer. Then click the answer box to check your answer. 1. Pragmatics is the study of how meaning and syntax are related in a language. A. True B. False Answer

2. This rule says that you must be relevant in the conversation. A. Maxims of Quality B. Grice's Maxim of Relation C. Grice's Maxim of Quantity Answer

3. Make your contribution as informative as is required. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. A. Maxims of Quality B. Grice's Maxim of Relation C. Grice's Maxim of Quantity Answer

4. Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. A. Maxims of Quality 89


B. Grice's Maxim of Relation C. Grice's Maxim of Quantity Answer

5. Background knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. A. Physical context B. Epistemic context C. Linguistic context D. Social context Answer

6. The social relationship and setting of the speakers and the hearers. A. Physical context B. Epistemic context C. Linguistic context D. Social context Answer

7. The utterances previous to the utterances under consideration. A. Physical context B. Epistemic context C. Linguistic context D. Social context Answer

8. Where the conversation takes place, what objects are present, and what actions are taking place. A. Physical context 90


B. Epistemic context C. Linguistic context D. Social context Answer

9. Please take out the garbage. A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

10. I don‘t know if John married Helen. A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

11. Did John Marry Helen? A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

12. I would like to know if John Married Helen. A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

13. I ask you whether John Married Helen. A. Direct speech act

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B. Indirect speech act Answer

14. Do you know if John married Helen? A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

15. I request you to take out the garbage. A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

16. The garbage isn‘t out yet. A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

17. Could you take out the garbage? A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

18. Would you mind taking out the garbage? A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

19. How many times do I have to tell you to clean the office? A. Direct speech act 92


B. Indirect speech act Answer

20. I would like for you to take out the garbage. A. Direct speech act B. Indirect speech act Answer

Exercise 2

Circle the right answer. Then click the answer button to see the correct answer. 1. [Sentence Type] What is the structure and word order of the following sentence? How many times do I have to tell you to clean your room? A). Declarative: B). Interrogative: C). Imperative: Answer

2. [Sentence Type] What is the structure and word order of the following sentence? Who is that man over there? A). Declarative: B). Interrogative: C). Imperative: Answer

3. [Sentence Type] What is the structure and word order of the following sentence? 93


Could you lift 200 pounds? A). Declarative: B). Interrogative: C). Imperative: Answer

4. What type of speech act is the following sentence? How many times do I have to tell you to clean your room? A). Assertion B). Question C). Directive Answer

5. What type of speech act is the following sentence? Who is that man over there? A). Assertion: B). Question: C). Directive: Answer

6. What type of speech act is the following sentence? Could you lift 200 pounds? A). Assertion: B). Question: C). Directive: Answer

7. Classify this sentence: sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect (only choose three answers). 94


That sure looks like a good candy bar. [Tom says to his friend George during lunch] A. Declarative: B. Interrogative: C. Imperative: D. Assertion E. Question F. Directive G. Indirect h. Direct Answer

8. Classify this sentence: sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect (only choose three answers). The water is too cold in the swimming pool. [Friend says to friend in a public swimming pool] A. Declarative: B. Interrogative: C. Imperative: D. Assertion E. Question F. Directive G. Indirect H. Direct Answer

9. Classify this sentence: sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect (only choose three answers). It is too cold in this house. [Husband says to wife]. 95


A. Declarative: B. Interrogative: C. Imperative: D. Assertion E. Question F. Directive G. Indirect H. Direct Answer

10. Classify this sentence: sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect (only choose three answers). Jane says to her mother: "I wonder why Frank (her brother) didn't come home today. A. Declarative: B. Interrogative: C. Imperative: D. Assertion E. Question F. Directive G. Indirect H. Direct Answer

11. Classify this sentence: sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect (only choose three answers). Can you pass the salt?

96



12. Classify this sentence: sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect (only choose three answers). I noticed that the car hasn't been washed yet. [Father says to son] A. Declarative: B. Interrogative: C. Imperative: D. Assertion E. Question F. Directive G. Indirect H. Direct Answer

13. Classify this sentence: sentence type, speech act, and direct or indirect (only choose three answers). It sure is a beautiful day.

97



14. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature? Woman: Did you bring enough food for the party? Man: I‘d say that you made just the right amount -if a couple of hundred people show up.

A. Maxims of Quality B. Grice's Maxim of Relation C. Grice's Maxim of Quantity Answer

15. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature? Sandy: Does Tom work right now? Tom: Well, he goes to Riverside every weekend. A. Maxims of Quality B. Grice's Maxim of Relation C. Grice's Maxim of Quantity Answer

16. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature? Susan: Are you coming to the movies tonight? Elizabeth: Do I look like I have any free time? 98



17. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature? Corey: Do you think Mary is pretty? Jeff: Let‘s just say that I wouldn‘t vote for her in the local beauty contest.


18. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature? Laura: I don‘t believe any men are coming to visit today, Mother. Amanda: What? Not one? You must be joking! Not one man? It can‘t be true! There must be a flood! There must have been a tornado!


19. Which maxim is violated, thus resulting in an implicature? A: How are you today?

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Linguistics Notes

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