语言学 胡壮麟 Chapter Eight.pptVIP

Chapter Eight Language in Use 8.1 SPEECH ACT THEORY The phenomenon to be discussed is very widespread and obvious, and it cannot fail to have been already noticed, at least here and there by others. Yet I have not found attention paid to it specifically. (Austin, 1975, p.1) Thus began a series of lectures by the Oxford philosopher, J. L. Austin, which was given at Harvard University in 1955 and later published under the title How to Do Things with Words. Exercise 8.1.1 Decide if you could perform each of the following actions by either speaking or physical gesture: a. Congratulate someone. b. Call someone’s attention to the TV set. c. Forbid someone to enter a room. Comment Yes. By saying Congratulations! Or by giving someone a pat on the back or the thumbs up sign. Yes. By saying Look at the TV or by pointing to it. Yes. By saying I forbid you to enter or by wagging your finger. The proverbs Actions speak louder than words and Easier said than done seem to make a clear distinction between speaking and acting. However, Austin pointed out that, contrary to popular belief, there is often no clear distinction between the two. He was one of the first modern scholars to recognize that ‘words’ are in themselves actions and these speech acts can and should be studied systematically. From the above exercise, we can conclude we can do things by uttering sth. This falls into the research range of SPEECH ACT THEORY. However, Austin’s first shot at the theory is the distinction of two types of sentences: PERFORMATIVES AND CONSTATIVES. Exercise 8.1.2 What difference do you notice between the utterances in each pair? 1(a) I bet you sixpence it will rain tommorrow. (b) It will rain tommorrow. 2(a) I declare the meeting open. (b) I was foolish. 3(a) I warn you, this gun is loaded. (b) This gun is loaded. Comment Austin made a distinction between the above a utterances and b utterances. Each of the above a utterances not only perform a speech act over and ab