English: pragmatics

Topic 2 - Pragmatics

        Utterances will be very important for the pragmatic ambiguity. They appear in context most of the time, and that what give them the meaningfulness. The levels of utterance is:

• Locution: the actual words we have said. "It is hot in here"
• Illocution: the purpose of what you say, what is your intention. "I would like to have some fresh air". The speaker is the responsible for these two levels.
• Perlocution: the effect of what you have said in the hearer. "Somebody gets up and open a window". This level depends of the listener.

        Not all utterances can have o must have the three levels. Sometimes, Illocution is achieved without language, through gestures for example. The transition from the locution and the Illocution is an important field of study for Pragmatics. On the other hand, we can locution that does not need any purpose. For example, the paginas amarillas. Searle is an important researcher for this topic, in relation with the locutionary aspect of the speech acts.

        The intentions that Searle described in his theory are:

• "Declaratives": it says that you, as a speaker, by talking state that something exists. The speaker can state the world affairs. This is why, for example, the judge says "I declare you husband and wife". The words change the world.
• "Representative", in when the speaker describes something and by uttering it, you believe that it exists. The words fit the world
• "Expressives", those speech acts in which you show your emotions. When your emotions fit the world.
• "Directives", that are about giving orders. When you try to change somebody's actions.
• "Commissives": when you commit yourself to something.

        These intentions were called later on by scholars as "Speech Acts". We have typical realizations for these speech acts, grammatical patters that match them. The second important thing about them is that, when you look at the Illocution (intentions), we see that it is a very clear category. But, the per locutions very much depend on the listener perspective. The speech act does not take place if the Perlocution between the speaker and listener is not the same. Expressives and Commissives have to with personal attitudes, and they are the most prone to lying. This is very interesting, since it is very difficult to notice about it in this two speech acts.

        Searle says that are some conditions to classify speech acts correctly. He states them as a cascade mode. The conditions must me be achieved one by one, and when the four are fulfilled, the speech act takes place:

• Propositional Message: how do you identify a promise? Because you are talking about the future. Grammar and lexis then are important, since they have to be in accordance with the speech act you are going to use
• Preparatory Condition: if somebody is doing something repeatedly, if they say they'll stop you don't believe it. The use of the correct grammar, words, etc...
• Sincerity Condition: the speaker must be sincere. This is difficult to be tested.
• Essential Condition: by saying something, I will do my best to undertake it.

        For example, what is the difference between a promise and a threat? The positive and negative effect. For apologies, we have a kind of promise too, implying sincerity, and normally refers to the past.

        In Searle's model, we have another development. Grammar is not a clear defined for speech acts. a direct speech act is when there is a transparent relation between the speech act in use and the verb in use. But, an indirect speech act, is when there is not a one to one relationship. This is most common speech act in society. Shut up vs. take your breath. Moreover, we talk about, in indirect speech acts, can be conventional or unconventional. The typical conventionalisation way in English is by modal verbs. They are used to achieve conventional speech acts.

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