scholarly journals Communicated and non-communicated acts in relevance theory

Pragmatics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Nicolle

According to relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson 1986; Blakemore 1991) some cases of communication depend on the hearer recognising that a particular speech act, for example admitting, betting or promising, is being performed. These are ‘communicated’ acts. Other cases of communication do not depend on the hearer recognising that a particular speech act, for example predicting, warning or permitting, is being performed. These are ‘non-communicated’ acts. In the case of non-communicated acts communication is successful so long as the hearer recovers adequate contextual effects without having to recognise the speaker’s intentions. Against this view, I will argue that each of the speech acts considered to be non-communicated in the relevance theory literature fall into one of two categories. The speech acts in one category contribute to the strength of associated assumptions, and those in the other convey socially relevant information. I will argue that according to relevance theory both types of speech act must be recognised and that they are in fact communicated. If relevance theory is to be internally consistent, therefore, the distinction between communicated and non-communicated speech acts must be abandoned.

Literator ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
M. Rossouw

For many years text-immanent approaches to literature have dominated the scene of Afrikaans literary criticism. This article adds a voice to the ‘spontaneous' discourse in which ethical norms (especially socio-political guidelines), too, come into play when a literary text is studied. Since the context in which a text is written and read is of great importance in such an approach, speech act theory is used in order to determine the intentions (illocutions) of the writer in the texts, as well as the reactions (perlocutions) of readers to the text. The purpose of this is mainly to establish whether critique of ideology manifests itself in speech acts directed towards freedom and dignity for all people. On the other hand there may also be signs of unconscious ideological illocutions in the contradictions which occur within or between the different levels of communication (macro, meso and micro). These contradictions are related to socio-political contradictions which are repressed within the South African community. In order to illustrate this kind of approach, three novels of Etienne van Heerden are discussed, viz. Om te awol (1984), Toorberg (1986) and Casspirs en Campari's (1991).


1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Brassac

The question of the use of speech act theory in accounting for conversational sequencing is discussed from the point of view of the explanation of linguistic interaction. On the one hand, this question lies at the heart of the opposition between conversational analysis and discourse analysis. On the other, it dominates the discussion around a text by Searle called "Conversation". After summarizing what is at stake in the debate, I focus on the positions of two authors, Dascal and Van Rees, who favor the idea of a possible (and necessary) combination of illocutionary logic and the analysis of conversational interactions. My own position consists in taking into account the new elements that have recently enriched illocutionary logic (particularly the integration of perlocution through the notion of satisfaction conditions) within the framework of an essentially dialogical position. The proposed approach is in agreement with the theses of these two authors and complements them with elements that satisfy their demands.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (13) ◽  
pp. 332-348
Author(s):  
د. حميد يحيى أحمد الزبيري د. حميد يحيى أحمد الزبيري

the present study aims at exploring and describing the multiple functions of the PM ‘?amaanah’ in the corpus of Yemeni spoken Arabic. A total of 174 audio-recorded data of natural conversations were analyzed as spoken corpus of Yemeni Arabic. The study is based on an eclectic analytical method whose views have been drawn from the theoretical frameworks of the speech act theory, politeness theory, model of functional systemic linguistics (the interpersonal metafunction), and relevance theory. The findings of the study show that the PM ‘?amaanah’ functions as: an expression of oath; a commitment marker to a future action on the part of the speaker and the addressee; a mitigation marker, preceding potentially face-threating speech acts; a signal introducing reprimanding; an attitude marker expressing a speaker’s attitude and emotion; an epistemic marker evaluating the subjectivity of the speaker’s propositional content; an entreaty-marker on directive act; and a displeasure marker on the part of the speaker. The study concluded with a suggestion on conducting a further research exploring the discourse functions of the marker.


Author(s):  
Farhat Indana Lazulfa ◽  
Valantino A. Pamolango

This research describes the study of Gricecooperative principles in conversations of tenants at KampoengInggris Pare, Kediri. This study aims at finding out if the conversations of the tenants meet Grice’s four maxims. From the analysis, it can be concluded that every conversation of tenants at Kampoeng English Pare Kediri meets Grice cooperative principles.The results of this study also show that the conversations in KampoengInggrisPare, Kediri adhere to the maxim of relevance. The speech act shows the attempt to contribute relevant information. In the conversation, the tenants also have to speak their mind to use a clear and coherent narrative. The speech acts of tenantsindicate that the implementation of the principle of cooperation adheres to the maxim of manner. Kata Kunci: cooperative principles, tenant, Kampoeng Inggris Pare


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Reza Pahlevi ◽  
Amrin Saragih ◽  
Anni Holila Pulungan

This study is concerned with the use of speech acts in The Apprentice Asia TV program. The objectives of this study were to describe, to explain the types of speech acts used by the host, advisors and contestants of The Apprentice Asia, and the reasons. The findings of this study showed that all types of speech acts, namely representative, directive, commissive, expressive and decalarative were used by the host and contestants, while the advisors did not use expressive and declarative. The dominant type of speech act used by the host was directive, while the advisors and contestants dominantly used representative speech act. The participants performed them by direct, indirect, literal and non-literal way. There were some reasons of using types of speech acts used by all participants. In order to get information from other participants about the performances of the contestants in running the task, type of speech acts used by the host was directive in the form of questioning. On the other hand, the advisors and contestants were the participants whose informations required by the host. Therefore, in responding what the host asked to them, they performed their speech acts through representative in the forms of informing. Key words : Apprentice Asia; Speech Acts;and TV program.


2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 647-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL WEDGWOOD

Cappelen & Lepore (2005, 2006a, 2007) note that linguistic communication requires ‘shared content’ and claim that Relevance Theory makes content sharing impossible. This criticism rests upon two important errors. The first is a flawed understanding of Relevance Theory, shown in the application of an omniscient third party perspective to parts of Relevance Theory that depend only upon subjective judgements made by the addressee of an utterance. The second is confusion about different definitions of content. Cappelen & Lepore's evidence actually involves the communication of what they term Speech Act content, which need not be perfectly ‘shared’ according to their own position. Looking beyond this flawed criticism, a general comparison of Relevance Theory with Cappelen & Lepore's semantic minimalism reveals significant parallels, pointing to a notable convergence of two distinct approaches – one cognitive-pragmatic, the other philosophical-semantic – on the rejection of currently dominant assumptions in linguistic semantics. The key remaining difference is Cappelen & Lepore's claim that shared content is propositional. This contradicts other claims made for such content and in any case plays no active role in the explanation of communication. Cappelen & Lepore's position thus poses no threat to Relevance Theory; rather, Relevance Theory can benefit from their philosophical analysis of the state of semantic theory.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Nova Yulia

By using the indirect imperative speech acts, someone can give an order to other people without making the other person feel that he/she is being ordered or demeaned. However, sometimes the other person does not understand the meaning or message conveyed by the speaker. It can be based on the intention to keep the feeling of the partner in speaking in order not to feel like being ordered. Japanese language has a lot of forms of indirect speech imperative which are expressed pragmatically. This paper presents various forms of indirect speech imperative in Japanese language and when the utterance is used. Besides, this paper also discuss the variation of the imperative form of indirect speech act. Key words: speech act, imperative, sociolinguistics.


1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-446
Author(s):  
John Myhill

This paper reports the results of a detailed text-based study of the use of Imperative constructions in Biblical Hebrew and English, and shows that the two languages differ significantly in this regard. The use of the English Imperative in the database is conditioned largely by social and interactive factors, e.g. the relationship between the speaker and the listener, their relative social status, the sensitivity of the action of giving the command, the setting of the interaction, who will benefit from the action, etc.; on the other hand, the usage of the Imperative in the Hebrew database is mainly determined by semantic and structural factors, e.g. the point in time when the commanded action is to take place, the linguistic form of the preceding clause, whether the command is the first in a conversation, etc. The clear differences here show that there cannot be any uniform explanation about why Imperatives in general are used, as have been proposed in speech act theory (e.g. Searle 1975); on the other hand, these differences are sufficiently complex that they also cannot be accounted for with simple statements regarding cultural differences (e.g. Blum-Kulka 1991). The results of this study suggest that theories about speech acts should be based not upon philosophical speculations using data from a single language, or upon limited linguistic and cultural data carefully selected to support a particular theory, but upon extensive, detailed, and exhaustive linguistic analysis which will clearly establish the descriptive facts of speech act usage in a variety of languages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-146
Author(s):  
Stefan Ruhstaller

Abstract The first lexicographic work compiled by the Royal Spanish Academy, known as Diccionario de autoridades (1726–1739), includes a wide range of lexical resources used at the time to perform speech acts of threatening. In the dictionary’s microstructure these mostly phraseological items are characterized both semantically and pragmatically. The dictionary also offers relevant data and reflections on aspects such as the function and procedures of intensification, the role of the interlocutors in the speech act, the limitation of some expressions to certain social groups, or the factors that influence the success or failure of the perlocutive act. The analysis of the dictionary articles that contain relevant information in this regard reveals the extent to which the founders of the Academy anticipated a good number of ideas that would not be systematized until the emergence, centuries later, of modern Pragmatics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 164 ◽  
Author(s):  
NFN Jahdiah

This study discusses speech act of bamamai (nagging) in Banjar language. Bamamai is an expressive speech act. Bamamai usually involves the speaker's emotion toward the speech partner when the speech is not in accordance with what the speaker wants. This research aims to describe bamamai speech acts based on Leech’s politeness scale. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The data collected are descriptive, taken from the speakers’ conversations in Banjar language’s oral variety. The theory used in this research is the politeness scale by Leech, namely (1) cost and benefit scale, (2) optionality scale, (3) indirectness scale, (4) authority scale and (5) distance scale. The research shows that there are polite speeches in the bamamai (nagging) speech act because they are in accordance with Leech’s politeness scale, namely the indirectness, authority and optionality scale. On the other hand, there are impolite speeches in bamamai (nagging) speech act because they are not in accordance with the indirectness scale and social distance scale. AbstrakPenelitian ini membahas mengenai tindak tutur bamamai (mengomel) dalam bahasa Banjar. Bamamai termasuk tindak tutur ekspresif. Bamamai biasanya melibatkan emosi penutur kepada mitra tutur ketika tuturan mitra tutur tidak sesuai dengan yang diinginkan oleh penutur. Penelitian ini bertujuan mendeskripsikan tindak tutur bamamai berdasarkan skala kesantunan Leech.  Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode deskripsif kualitatif. Data yang dikumpulkan berbentuk deskriptif percakapan penutur berbahasa Banjar dalam ragam lisan. Teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini skala kesantunan yang dikemukakan oleh Leech, yaitu (1) skala kerugian dan keuntungan, (2) skala pilihan, (3) skala ketidaklangsungan, (4) skala keotoritasan, dan (5) skala jarak. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dalam tindak tutur bamamai terdapat tuturan yang santun karena sesuai dengan skala kesantunan yang dikemukakan oleh Leech, yaitu skala ketidaklangsungan, keotoritasan, dan pilihan. Sebaliknya, dalam tindak tutur bamamai terdapat tuturan yang tidak santun karena tidak sesuai dengan skala ketidaklangsungan dan skala jarak sosial.


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