Speech Acts and Relevance Theory, Study notes of Sociolinguistics

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TINS 236

SPEECH ACTS

Prof. Dr. S. Nalan Büyükkantarcıoğlu SLIDE SET #

A) A bit about Philosophy…

 (^) What’s what?  (^) What’s good?  (^) What do we know (or what’s true)? 4 reality v a l u e knowledge ( t r u t h )

Metaphysics - What’s what? – Reality  Axiology - What’s good? – Value  Epistemology - What do we know? - Knowledge (or what’s true / truth?)  Logic: What is (valid) scientific inference like? 5

 (^) Metaphysics is the philosophical investigation of the nature of reality, being, or existence.  (^) Axiology is the philosophical investigation of the nature of value(s) & of the foundations of value judgments.  (^) Epistemology is the philosophical investigation of the nature of knowledge & truth & of the differences between knowledge & opinion & between truth & falsity. 7

Metaphysics (Theory of Being)  (^) Ontology - being ( ontos ) in general  (^) Philosophical Cosmology - the cosmos  (^) Philosophical Theology - God & the gods ( Theos & theoi )  (^) Philosophical Anthropology - human nature and human existence ( anthropos ) 8

Questions in epistemology:

 What is the nature of knowledge?

 What are the sources of knowledge?

 What is the extent (scope & limits) of knowledge?

 What are the differences between knowledge & opinion?

 What is the nature of truth?

 What are the differences between truth & falsity?

 Can the truth be known at all?

If you were a philosopher, what questions would you ask about

language?

10

Philosophy of language :

• (^) inquiring into the nature of meaning, and seeking to explain what it means to "mean" something.
• (^) four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language and reality.  (^) how language and meaning relate to truth and the world  (^) how language relates to the minds of both the speaker and the interpreter  (^) what speakers and listeners do with language in communication. 11

• (^) (2) Second, since 1950 it has been realized that studying language is a new and effective tool for studying the nature of the human mind.
• (^) (3) Third, now, analytic philosophers believe that the other great problems of philosophy should be studied, not only directly, but also via a focus on the language they employ. These philosophers believe that they have new and better approaches to the great problems than did the philosophers of previous centuries. In other words, there has been progress in philosophy, and those persons who are unaware of the philosophy of language are simply not at the frontiers. 13

• (^) Philosophy of language, linguistics and pragmatics are the basic areas interested in a variety of ways language use makes the transfer of meaning possible from the speaker to the listener.
• (^) So, how about the truth value of utterances? Truth vs. falsity
• (^) Is language perfect enough to be able to reflect reality by all means? : A philosophical question
• (^) We use language not only to present information but also to carry out actions.

B) SPEECH ACTS

• (^) In linguistics, a speech act is an utterance defined in terms of a speaker's intention and the effect it has on a listener.
• (^) Essentially, it is the action that the speaker hopes to provoke in his or her audience.
• (^) Speech acts might be requests, warnings, promises, apologies, greetings, or any number of declarations. As you might imagine, speech acts are an important part of communication. 16

Theory of Speech Acts

All utterances have both a

(propositional)

meaning

(they say things) and a

force

(they do things).

A theory should clarify in what ways

by uttering sentences one might be

said to be performing actions.

For example;

• (^) I challenge you to a match.
• (^) I fine you $ 100 for using the mobile during driving.
• (^) I nominate Dr. Johnson as the mayor of the city.
• (^) I promise to study hard.
• (^) I pronounce you husband and wife.
• I warn you to be more careful next time.
• (^) That’s enough. I resign!
• (^) I apologize to you.
• (^) I order you to leave right now!
• (^) I state that the government will take the necessary precautions.

• (^) These are the sentences through which we also perform an act.
• (^) Therefore, such verbs are called «performative verbs» and such sentences as «performatives» as British philopher John Austin distinguished.