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Summary Understanding Pragmatics, ISBN: 9781444180305 Pragmatics (LCX056B05)
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Summary Understanding Pragmatics chapters 1-5, Gunter Senft.
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PRAGMATIEKChapter 1: Philosophy
Language in terms of truth versus language in terms of actions.
The Vienna Circle stated that sentences must be verifiable in order to be meaningful. This meant that
a lot of what is said is meaningless. This approach was called logical positivism.
Some students did not agree and made their own theories:
JOHN AUSTIN
Austin said with his theory of speech act that utterances of every kind can be considered as acts.
There are two types of sentences:
1. Declarative sentences / Performatives
Something is done by saying something: an act is performed. These are performative
sentences: they change the reality.
EG: ‘I name this ship the Elizabeth.’
2. Constative sentences
Assertions or statements: they are either true or false.
EG: ‘The chair in my house is red.’
Performatives can go wrong, so to prevent this, a performative has to meet felicity conditions
(things that have to happen first in order to get something done):
A. A conventional procedure with a conventional effect
A2. The context has to be appropriate.
B. The procedure must be done completely and correctly.
C. The persons must have the necessary thoughts and feelings and act like them.
If the actions are not achieved (a fault in A or B), it is called a misfire.
If the actions are achieved but not sincerely (a fault in C), it is called an abuse.
Constatives are also incorrect when the felicity conditions are not met. Such as a statement which
refers to something non-existent.
EG: ‘The present king of France is bald.’
Constatives and performatives have to be:
- Sincere
- Committed
- Presupposed
Austin differentiates between performatives:
- Explicit performatives
Performative utterances containing a performative verb. This develops from a:
- Primary performatives
Performatives without a performative verb.
Then he sees a lot of problems with his theory: every performative has a constative, but a
performative also can be a constative. He makes the turn in his theory: no more total distinction
, between performatives and constatives. Now, he states that there is a general theory of speech act
wherein performatives and constatives are sub-cases.
There are 3 components in every utterance:
1. Locutionary act
de utterance itself: the act of saying something. Saying something is:
- a phonetic act (noises)
- a phatic act (grammar)
- a rhetic act (meaning)
Most of the times we focus on the phatic act (direct speech) or rhetic act (indirect speech).
2. Illocutionary act
Doing something in saying something. It is the intention of the utterance and is with the
sender.
3. Perlocutionary act
The effect that an utterance has upon the feelings, thoughts, or actions.
Illocutionary acts have illocutionary force which causes certain effects. If the effect is achieved, the
act succeeds. There are three classes of effect:
1. First class
Securing the uptake. The uptake is the achievement of the main effect of the act.
2. Second class
Production of a conventional effect. Conventional effect: the changes in the normal course
of life.
3. Third class
invites a response or sequel: the reaction to what is said.
Perlocutionary acts:
- are causal
- can be achieved verbally and non-verbally
- are not conventional
- intended or unintended
JOHN SEARLE
Searle said that speaking is doing illocutionary acts based on rules. These rules are regulative or
constitutive.
A proposition is common content of sentences with different forms. A sentence has two parts:
1. Proposition indicating element
2. Function-indicating device
this device says what the illocutionary force is and what kind of illocutionary act is
happening.
Searle makes 4 rules for true utterances:
1. Propositional content rules
what the speech act is about
2. Preparatory condition rules
the necessary requirements (in the context) for the speech act.
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