Download class 15 - GEOCITIES.ws

Semantics
3rd class
Chapter 5
Phrase Meanings
• Verb phrases and thematic roles
– Noun phrases may have different semantic relationships
with the verbs they are used together with. The
relationship depends on the verb that is used.
– In the sentence “the boy found a book”,
• the boy is the one who performs an action, or the doer of
the action (of finding). The boy is called the agent:
• the NP ‘a book’ is the one or thing that undergoes an action.
“A book” is called the theme:
• Agent and theme are the semantic relationships between
the verb and the noun phrases, which is called the thematic
roles of the verb.
Phrase Meanings
– Besides agent and theme, there are some other thematic roles.
– He stays in the hotel.
•
Location: the place where an action takes place.
•
Goal: the place to which an action is directed.
•
Source: the place from which an action originates.
•
Instrument: the means by which an action is performed.
•
Causative: a natural force that causes a change.
•
Experiencer: one who perceives something.
•
Possessor: one who has something
– Put the book on the desk
– Walk from the school
– Write with a pen
– The wind damaged the roof.
– Helen heard Robert playing the piano.
– The tail of the dog wagged furiously.
Semantics x Pragmatics
• Semantics: worried about meaning of
words or sentences taken out of
context
• Pragmatics: worried about
appropriateness of language in use
Situation 1
You forgot a meeting with a friend; this is
the second time that the same thing had
happened with the same person. At the end
of the day your friend phones you and says:
“I waited for you more than an hour! What
happened?”
YOU say:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Situation 2
You promised your daughter (age 12) to go
shopping with her, but important matters
at work require your immediate attention
and you cannot keep your promise. You call
home to explain the situation and your
daughter says:
“It’s not fair! You promised!”
YOU say:
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Situation 3
You arrived late at an important business
meeting. Your boss was counting on your
presence because she needed your support
on a very important matter. At the end of
the meeting, in private, your boss tells you:
“Thanks a lot!”
YOU say:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Situational Context
Who is speaking (age, gender, social
distance, power)
Who is listening (age, gender, social
distance, power)
Topics discussed
Where conversation takes place
Culture
Norm of politeness/directness
Speech Acts
• You can use language to do things.
• Make promises, issue warnings, offer
congratulations, apologize
Speech Acts
Austin (1962) calls speech acts illocutionary acts: all
utterances have specific forces towards the
listener. When one is saying something, and
another one is hearing something, three basic acts
are performed simultaneously:
1. locutionaty act (the utterance or a sentence)
2. illocutionary act (intention)
3. perlocutionary act (the influence on the
audience by means of uttering the sentence
(Austin, 1962).
Speech Acts
• Austin (1962) distinguishes five classes of speech acts
according to their illocutionary force. Searle (1976) claims
that Austin’s classification is not a classification of
illocutionary acts but illocutionary verbs. He proposes an
alternative classification of illocutionary acts which consists
of the following categories:
• Representatives, which commit the speaker to the truth of
the expressed proposition, or content (e.g., asserting,
concluding, etc);
• Directives, by means of which the speaker attempts to get
the hearer to do something (e.g., requesting, questioning);
• Commissives, which commit the speaker to a future action
(e.g., promising, threatening, offering);
• Expressives, which express the speaker’s psychological
state (e.g., apologizing, thanking, complaining, welcoming);
• Declarations, which after immediate production can change
the state of affairs (e.g., declaring war, christening, firing
from employment).
Speech Acts
Direct speech acts:
Close the window!
Indirect speech acts:
It’s cold in here.
Do you know how to get to the
farmer’s market?
Speech Acts
• “I’m going on holiday next week”
• Locutionary Act
• Illocutionary Act
• Perlocutionary Act
Grice’s Maxims
(Cooperative Principle)
• Quantity
make your contribution as informative as
required (not more)
• Quality
do not say what you believe to be false or so
not say that which you lack adequate
evidence
• Relevance
be relevant
• Manner
• Do not be obscure or ambiguous; be brief
and orderly
Grice’s maxims
• Whenever a maxim is flouted there
must be an implicature to save the
utterance from simply appearing to
be a faulty contribution to a
conversation.
Violation of Maxims
Realization of speech acts suggests
violation of Grice’s Maxims and
conversationalists do so all the time.
It’s cold in here! (what maxims are
violated?)
Although speech acts share universal
features, the norms of politeness and
linguistic forms used in specific
culture can add peculiarities inherent
only to that specific culture.
Implicature
• A: Have you washed the floor and
done the dishes?
• B: I’ve washed the floor.
Implicature
• A: Have you done your homework?
• B: Joanna had her ear pierced today.
Deixis
• Reference of many words and expressions
relies on the situational context
• E.g.,
Person deixis: my, mine, you, yours, us
Space deixis: this, that
Time deixis: now, this time, tomorrow
Place deixis: here, there, that place
Deixis
• Under what circumstances would it
appropriate to say:
• I’m going to John’s party
• I’m coming to John’s party