Chapter6PragmaticsWord文件下载.docx
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Chapter6PragmaticsWord文件下载.docx
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6.3.2Locution,illocution,andperlocution
6.3.3Felicityconditions
6.3.4Classificationofspeechacts
6.4Theoryofconversationalimplicature
6.4.1Thenotionofimplicature
6.4.2CooperativePrincipleanditsmaxims
6.4.3Floutingthemaxims
6.5PolitenessPrinciple
6.5.1Politeness:
Theprincipleandthemaxims
6.5.2Clashesbetweenthemaxims
6.6Summary
Chapter6Pragmatics:
Asalinguisticterm,“pragmatics”originatedwithMorris(1938).AstheLatinrootpragma-means“act”or“action”,pragmaticscanbebroadlydefinedasthestudyoflanguageuseoractofcommunication.Originally,pragmaticswasregardedasarag-bagorwaste-basket:
wheneveryoucannotexplainaphenomenoninlanguageusingregular,acceptedlinguistictheories,thenyoucanhaverecoursetopragmatics.NowpragmaticshasrisenfromtheCinderellaoflinguisticstoavigorousareaoflinguisticresearch.AsLeech(1983:
1)putsit,wecannotreallyunderstandthenatureoflanguageitselfunlessweunderstandpragmatics:
howlanguageisusedincommunication.Inmodernlinguistics,pragmaticshascometobeappliedtothestudyoflanguagefromthepointofviewoftheusers,especiallythechoicestheymake,theconstraintstheyencounterinusinglanguageinsocialinteraction,andtheeffectstheiruseoflanguagehasonotherparticipantsinanactofcommunication(Crystal,1985:
240).
Asarelativelynewbranchoflinguistics,pragmaticshasbeendefinedinmanywaysbyvariousscholars.Thediversityofdefinitionsreflectsthedifferentdimensionsoflanguageuseandthedifferentfocalconcernsofscholars,andthuscontributestotheunderstandingofpragmaticsfromvariedperspectives.
a.Pragmaticsisthestudyofcontextualmeaning(Yule,1996:
1)ormeaningincontext(Thomas,1995:
1-2).Putdifferently,itaddresseshowcontextdeterminesthewaymeaningisconveyedandinterpreted.Comparethefollowingexchanges:
(1)A:
Yourmotherisadoctor.Whataboutyourfather?
B:
He’salawyer.
(2)A:
I’vegotsometroublewithmycontractwiththebank.Canyourfatherhelpme?
(3)A:
Mycomputerhasgonewrong.Canyouaskyourfathertohelpme?
WhilethesameutteranceHe’salawyerisemployed,itisinterpreteddifferentlyineachcontext:
adirectansweraboutthefather’sprofession,anindirectaffirmativeanswer,andanindirectnegativeanswerrespectively.Now,considerJack’sutterancein(4):
(4)Jack:
Thehamburgerdidn’torderonion,Kate.
Withouttheknowledgeofthepropercontext,say,aMcDonald’s,KatewouldfailtounderstandwhatJackintendstocommunicate(i.e.heintendstoremindKatethatthecustomerwhoorderedthehamburgerdidnotorderonion).Possibly,shewouldassumethisutterancemighthaveoccurredinachildren’sstory.ThereasonJackproducestheutterancethiswayisthathemaynotknowthenameofthecustomerconcerned,andintheverytypeofcontext,itisrelativelyeasyorcustomarytoidentifyacustomerbythefoodheorsheorders.Thus,itisclearthatpragmaticsdevotedtothestudyoftheroleofcontextcanhelpunderstand“therelationsbetweenlanguageandcontextthatarebasictoanaccountoflanguageunderstanding”(Levinson,1983:
21).
Inthedomainofpragmatics,“context”isprofuseinmeaning.Essentially,itcanbeseenasencompassingthefollowinglayers:
situationalorphysical,social,mental,andlinguistic.In(4),thesituationalcontextiswheretheconversationtakesplace.Somelanguageforms,notablydeicticorindexicalexpressionsdependcruciallyonthecontextforinterpretation.Theterm“deixis”isoftenusedforadeicticorindexicalexpression,whosereferentisidentifiableonlyinthecontextconcerned.Thatis,thefunctionofdeixisistorelateanutterancetoareferentialcontextofperson,timeandplace.Forexample:
(5)Thisandthis,areyours.That’smine.
(6)Comeherenow.
In(5),onecannotmakesenseofthis,yours,thatormineunlessweknowwhospeakstowhomandwhatthespeakerkeepspointingat.In(6),Comeheremaymeancometothisdeskorcometothisclassroomorcometothiscityaccordingtothecontext,andnowmaymeanthetimeofspeakingortodayorthetimefollowingthetimeofspeakingaccordingtothecontext.
Thesocialaspectofcontextconcernsthesocialdistance,socialroles,socialrelations,etc.AsMey(1991:
6)putsit,“pragmaticsstudiestheuseoflanguageinhumancommunicationasdeterminedbytheconditionsofsociety.”In(4),thesocialdistancebetweenJackandKateisclosebecausetheyarecolleagues,whichenableshimtouseafamiliarformofaddress(i.e.“Kate”).
Thementalaspectofcontexthastodowithbackgroundknowledge,beliefs,interests,wants,etc.In(4)again,KatecaninterpretwhatJackmeansonthebasisofsomebackgroundknowledge(e.g.hamburgerandonionarefoodsservedintheMcDonald’s;
onemayrefertoacustomerbythefoodordered.)
Finally,thelinguisticcontext,orco-text,istheprecedingutterance(s)and/orthefollowingone(s).In
(1)–(3),heisusedasasubstituteofyourfather.Also,B’sutterancegetsdifferentinterpretationslargelybecauseitisfoundindifferentlinguisticcontexts.
b.Pragmaticsisthestudyofspeakermeaning(Yule,1996:
1).Thatis,itdealswithwhatpeoplemeanbywhattheysay.Asimilarapproachtothedefinitionaljobistoportraypragmaticsasthestudyofhowmoregetscommunicated/interpretedthanissaid(Yule,1996:
1).Thatis,itexamineshowlistenerscanmakeinferencesaboutwhatissaidinordertoarriveataninterpretationofthespeaker’sintendedmeaning.Consider(7)and(8):
(7)George:
Let’sgooutdrinkingtonight.
Pat:
Mygrandmotherishere.
(8)A:
HowdidMaryandBilldointhemathexam?
Marydidfine.
Clearly,whatPatmeansin(7)isnotexactlytheinformationthathisgrandmotheriswithhim.Rather,byprovidingthisinformation,heactuallyintendstomeanthathecannotgooutdrinkingwithGeorge.Inotherwords,whathemeansisdifferentfrom,ifnotunrelatedto,whathesays.In(8),BnotonlyconveysthemessagethatMarydidfineinthemathexam,butalsoimplicitlycommunicatesthatBilldidnotdofine.Thatistosay,whatBcommunicateshereismorethanwhathesays.
Tosumup,asanewdisciplineoflinguisticstudy,pragmaticsischaracterizedbytheconsiderationoftherolebothcontextandlanguageusersplayinverbalcommunication.Also,itischaracteristicofpragmaticstoviewcommunicationasnotonlyinvolvingencoding/decoding,butoftencruciallydependingonprinciple-governedinference.Thislargelyexplainswhythespeakermeaningissometimesonlypartiallyorevenwronglyinterpreted,asevidencedbyfrequentoccurrenceofmisunderstandingindailycommunication.
Pragmaticsasabranchofstudyhasitsorigininsemiotics.Morris(1938)categorizedpragmaticsasoneofthethreecomponentsofsemiotics,theothertwobeingsyntaxandsemantics:
●Syntax:
thestudyoftherelationshipsbetweenlinguisticforms,howtheyarearrangedinsequenceandwhichsequencesarewell-formed.
●Semantics:
thestudyoftherelationshipsbetweenlinguisticformsandentitiesintheworld,howwordsliterallyconnecttothings.
●Pragmatics:
thestudyoftherelationoflinguisticunitstotheirusers
(Davis,1991:
3)
Thus,thethreebranches,interconnectedinfundamentalways,areresponsiblefordifferentaspectsoflanguageanditsusage.Primarily,syntaxaccountsforthegrammaticalityofsentencemaking;
semanticsexplainsthemeaningfulnessofsentencebuilding;
andpragmaticsstudiesthefelicityconditionsorappropriatenessconditionsgoverninglanguageuse.Forinstance,whilesentences(9)and(10)arelinguisticallyill-formed,theutterancein(11)ispragmaticallyproblematicbecausecomeandthereareinherentlycontradictoryinthedirectionofmovementsothattheexecutionoftheactisimpossible.
(9)*Johnsingwell.
(10)*Johnisanorphanwhosefatherisateacher.
(11)?
?
Comethereplease!
(Levinson,1983:
7)
Itisinterestingtonotethatlinguisticallyill-formedsentencesmaybefoundinactualuse.Ifsomeoneuses(9),thoughalmostunlikely(10),wecanunderstandit(thoughwemaythinktheuserisprobablynotagoodspeakerofEnglish).Ontheotherhand,peoplesometimesintentionally“misuse”languageforsomespecialeffect.Thefollowingsentencesaretellingexamples:
(12)Boyswillbeboys.
(13)GolfplaysJohn.
(14)I’mlovingit.(McDonald’sslogan)
Notonlyareusesofungrammaticalsentencesexplicableinpragmaticterms,butsyntacticchoicesarealsoessentiallyamatterofpragmaticconsideration.Consider(15):
(15)a.I’mfamiliarwithJack.
b.Jackisfamiliartome.
Thetwowaysofcommunicatingbasicallythesamemessagearedifferentincommunicativeeffects.Theycorrespondtodifferentperspectivesfromwhichwereportthemessage.Thus,weareledtohighlightthatpragmaticsis“thestudyofthoserelationsbetweenlanguageandcontextthataregrammaticalized,orencodedinthestructureofalanguage”(Levinson,1983:
9).
Asregardstherelationbetweensemanticsandpragmatics,wetendtoassignabstract,literal,linguisticmeaning,truthconditions,etc.totheformer,andthecontextual,non-literal,speaker-intendedmeaningtothelatter.Forsomescholars,prag
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