单元8语言学.ppt

* A perlocutionary act → the act preformed by or resulting from saying something, the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance. By saying X and doing Y, I did Z. By saying “I will come tomorrow” and making a promise, I reassure my friends. Try to analyze the following utterances: Shoot her! It seems that the computer is out of work. * Among the three acts, the locutioary act is what linguists have been studying all along. The perlocutionary act involves many psychological and social factors, of which we are still more or less in the dark. So the illocutionary act is what Austin really driving at. In this sense, speech act theory is in fact a theory of the illocutionary act. * 3. The theory of conversational implicature People do not usually say things directly but tend to imply them. Oxford philosopher, Herbert Paul Grice (1913-1988) Logic and Conversation in 1975 3.1 Cooperative Principle 3.2 Conversational implicature * Grice’s theory is an attempt at explaining how a hearer gets from what is said to what is meant, from the level of expressed meaning to the level of implied meaning. His idea is that in making conversation, the participants must first of all be willing to cooperate; otherwise, it would not be possible for them to carry on the talk. 3.1 Cooperative Principle * This general principle is called the Cooperative Principle (CP). Make your contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. * To be more specific, there are four maxims under this general principle: Maxim of Quality Do not say what you believe to be false. Do not say something if you lack adequate evidence. Maxim of Quantity Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purposes of the exchange). Do not make your contribution more informative than required. * Maxim of Relation Be relative. Maxim of Manner Be perspicuous. Avoid obscurity of expression. Av