Linguistics

  1. pragmatics
    -the study of the ways people use language in actual conversations

    -the study of how context affects language use: both whether or not a particular utterance is felicitous in a given context and how the context affects that utterance's meaning/interpretation
  2. sentence
    • -group of words used to express some (complete) idea
    • -abstract entity
  3. utterance
    • -whenever a sentence is used/spoken/signed
    • -not abstract, event
    • -have qualities beyond sentences: time, place, volume, speaker, etc.
  4. deictic
    • -"placeholder" words
    • -meaning determined by context in which they are uttered

    -takes its meaning relative to the time, place, and speaker of utterance
  5. linguistic context
    -what preceded a particular utterance in a discourse
  6. situational context
    • -gives information about the situation in which it is uttered
    • -allows us to refer to things in teh world around us even if they have not been mentioned before in discourse
  7. social context
    -includes information about the relationships between the people who are speaking and what their roles are
  8. felicitous
    -an utterance that is situationally appropriate, relative to the context in which it is uttered
  9. infelicitous
    -utterance that is inappropriate in some way
  10. cooperative principle
    • -H.P. Grice
    • -principle according to which we are instructed to make sure that what we say in a conversation furthers the purposes of the conversation
  11. maxims
    • -conversational rules to regulate conversation and enforce compliance with the Cooperative Principle
    • -ensure felicity
    • -four categories: quality, relevance, quantity, manner
  12. maxims of quality
    • -do not say what you believe to be false
    • -do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence
  13. maxim of relevance
    (also called maxim of relation)

    -be relevant
  14. inferences
    -conclusion that a person is reasonably entitled to draw based on a set of circumstances
  15. maxims of quantity
    • -make your contribution as informative as required
    • -do not make your contribution more informative than is required
  16. maxims of manner
    • -avoid obscurity of expression (don't use words or phrases that are difficult to understand)
    • -avoid ambiguity
    • -be brief
    • -be orderly
  17. jargon
    -terms restricted primarily to specialized areas of knowledge
  18. flouting maxims
    -ignoring maxims
  19. social rules
    -not part of a language's grammar
  20. entailment
    • -relationship based on literal meaning
    • -indicates a commitment from the speaker's point of view
  21. implicature
    • -when a speaker implies something using language
    • -conclusions that are drawn about what people mean based on what we know about how conversation works

    • -ex: A: I'd like a cup of coffee.
    • B: There's a place around the corner called Joe's.
  22. speech acts
    • -act using language
    • -ex: to convey/request information, offer advice/apology, tell jokes, etc.
  23. assertion
    conveys information
  24. question
    elicits information
  25. request
    elicits action or information
  26. order
    demands action
  27. promise
    commits the speaker to an action
  28. threat
    commits the speaker to an action that the hearer does not want
  29. felicity conditions
    -for any speech act, the set of conditions that must hold in order for that speech act to be felicitous
  30. performative speech act
    • -take place in the present (present tense)
    • -("hereby" test)

    -speech act that employs a performative verb
  31. performative verbs
    • -denote purely linguistic actions
    • -ex: assert, ask, order, request, etc.

    -verb that denotes a linguistic action; verb that is used to perform the act that it names
  32. direct speech acts
    -perform functions in a direct/literal manner
  33. indirect speech acts
    -what speaker means actually different from what he originally said
  34. form
    -structure of the sentence
  35. declarative
    -sentence form that literally makes a statement
  36. interrogative
    -sentence form that literally asks a question
  37. imperative
    -sentence form that literally gives a command
  38. presupposition
    -underlying assumption that must be satisfied in order for an utterance to make sense or be debatable
  39. satisfied (regarding presuppositions)
    -participants in the discourse must believe that the presupposed information is true
  40. existence presuppositions
    -presupposition that thing/person exists in order to be able to say something about it
  41. presupposition triggers
    • -words or phrases whose use in a sentence often indicates the presence of a presupposition
    • -ex: come back, after
  42. pitch accents
    • -can be used to force different information to be presupposed
    • -ex: Jessica went to Toledo. LAURA went too.
  43. accomodates
    -behaving as though you have known the presupposed information all along (whether or not it is actually true)
Author
AlbiDragon
ID
49677
Card Set
Linguistics
Description
test 2
Updated