英语课件Chapter 8.pptVIP

Chapter 8 Language in use --You’re a fool. --What do you mean? Although you know the reference of you, the sense of fool, the structure of the sentence, you do not know the speaker’s intention in uttering this sen., what he intends the sen. to mean. Or you do know the speaker’s intention, but you use it as a denial of what he has asserted. You use your own sen. with a meaning other than the conceptual. This kind of meaning is referred to as speaker’s meaning, utterance meaning, or contextual meaning. It depends more on context rather than semantics on who the speaker of the sen. is, who the hearer is, when and where it is used. Pragmatics studies the use of lg in a context, study of lg in use. Meaning: inherent side of meaning—semantics; indeterminate side, more related to context—pragmatics. Pragmatics = meaning - semantics 8.1 Speech act theory Oxford philosopher John Langshaw Austin (1911-1960) in 1952, How to Do Things with Words Two types of sens.: Performatives: the uttering of sens. is the doing of an action, no T/F E.g. (1)I name this ship the Queen Elizabeth. (2) I bequeath my watch to my brother. (3) I bet you six pence it will rain tomorrow. Constatives: is the description of what the speaker is doing at the time of speaking. (T/F) E.g. I pour some liquid into the tube. Felicity conditions: A. (i) There must be a relevant conventional procedure. (ii) the relevant participants and circumstances must be appropriate. B. The procedure must be executed correctly and completely. C. Very often, the relevant people must have the requisite thoughts, feelings and intentions, and must follow it up with actions as specified. Analysis: In ship-launching ceremony, only the person appointed has the right to name the ship, and this person must say the relevant word corresponding to the procedure; the person who bequeaths a watch must have a watch; the person who bets it will rain the next day must give the other person six pence if it turns out to be a fin