Linguistics

-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

• -group of words used to express some (complete) idea
• -abstract entity

• -whenever a sentence is used/spoken/signed
• -not abstract, event
• -have qualities beyond sentences: time, place, volume, speaker, etc.

• -"placeholder" words
• -meaning determined by context in which they are uttered

-takes its meaning relative to the time, place, and speaker of utterance

-what preceded a particular utterance in a discourse

• -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

-includes information about the relationships between the people who are speaking and what their roles are

-an utterance that is situationally appropriate, relative to the context in which it is uttered

-utterance that is inappropriate in some way

• -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

• -conversational rules to regulate conversation and enforce compliance with the Cooperative Principle
• -ensure felicity
• -four categories: quality, relevance, quantity, manner

• -do not say what you believe to be false
• -do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence

(also called maxim of relation)

-be relevant

-conclusion that a person is reasonably entitled to draw based on a set of circumstances

• -make your contribution as informative as required
• -do not make your contribution more informative than is required

• -avoid obscurity of expression (don't use words or phrases that are difficult to understand)
• -avoid ambiguity
• -be brief
• -be orderly

-terms restricted primarily to specialized areas of knowledge

-ignoring maxims

-not part of a language's grammar

• -relationship based on literal meaning
• -indicates a commitment from the speaker's point of view

• -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.

• -act using language
• -ex: to convey/request information, offer advice/apology, tell jokes, etc.

conveys information

elicits information

elicits action or information

demands action

commits the speaker to an action

commits the speaker to an action that the hearer does not want

-for any speech act, the set of conditions that must hold in order for that speech act to be felicitous

• -take place in the present (present tense)
• -("hereby" test)

-speech act that employs a performative verb

• -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

-perform functions in a direct/literal manner

-what speaker means actually different from what he originally said

-structure of the sentence

-sentence form that literally makes a statement

-sentence form that literally asks a question

-sentence form that literally gives a command

-underlying assumption that must be satisfied in order for an utterance to make sense or be debatable

-participants in the discourse must believe that the presupposed information is true

-presupposition that thing/person exists in order to be able to say something about it

• -words or phrases whose use in a sentence often indicates the presence of a presupposition
• -ex: come back, after

• -can be used to force different information to be presupposed
• -ex: Jessica went to Toledo. LAURA went too.

-behaving as though you have known the presupposed information all along (whether or not it is actually true)