1 / 60

Discourse and Pragmatics

Discourse and Pragmatics. Week 9 Strategic Interaction. Whos doing Whats. When we use language we communicate Who we are and who we think the people we are communicating with are What we think we are doing. Interactional Sociolinguistics. Whos doing Whats in Talk

boris-bush
Download Presentation

Discourse and Pragmatics

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Discourse and Pragmatics Week 9 Strategic Interaction

  2. Whos doing Whats • When we use language we communicate • Who we are and who we think the people we are communicating with are • What we think we are doing

  3. Interactional Sociolinguistics • Whos doing Whats in Talk • ‘Strategies’ of doing and being • ‘Small stuff’ matters • Even the smallest features of talk are functional and potentially meaningful • Subtle variations in the way we talk can create big problems in communication and in relationships

  4. Whos and Whats • Whos • Presentation of the Self • Conversational Style • Politeness • Whats • Framing and Contextualization Cues • Whos + Whats • Positioning

  5. Whos • Presentation of the Self

  6. Who are you? • The is no fixed, essential ‘self’ • The idea of a consistent self is an illusion • It is also a ‘necessary fiction’ for social interaction • It is better to talk of ‘selves’ rather than ‘self’ • We perform different ‘selves’ to different people in different situations

  7. What is the ‘self’ • Erving Goffman: sociologist • The presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) • Focus on ordinary social interaction • ‘Dramaturgical’ Approach • Life is like a play

  8. The self • Can be divided into: • performer • character • We are all actors • We are always performing • What is ‘true’ or ‘real’ • Depends on how much we ‘believe’ in the character we are portraying

  9. Sincerity Sincere ------------------------Cynical • We always have something to hide! • Whether we are being ‘honest’ or ‘dishonest’, we must exercise similar ‘care’ in creating the ‘impression’ that we want to create • Audience must believe the performance to be ‘real’ if it is to be effective • Businessperson vs. con-man • Lover vs. gigolo

  10. Interaction involves... • performers • audience • roles • The main risk in interaction is that your performance will be inadequate or ‘questioned’ by your audience

  11. Controlling Information • Information that is ‘given’ • Information that is ‘given off’ • Information ‘leakage’

  12. Performance • Elements of performance: • ‘Routine’ • ‘Front’ • ‘Line’ • ‘Face’

  13. Audience segregation • We use different fronts for different people in different situations • We usually arrange our lives so that the people towards whom we play one part are different from those towards whom we play another part • Difficulties of performing to ‘mixed audiences’ • Regions (frontstage and backstage)

  14. Whos • Conversational Styles • New Yorkers and Californians • The Silent Finn

  15. Example: ‘Valley girl talk’ • Habitual rising intonation • ‘Like’ • "I, like, didn't say anything." • Relationship to gender • Negative evaluations • Systematic variation • Uptalk: Given and new information • Like: discourse marker, marker of social identity

  16. Some Functions of ‘Like’ • Inspecificity • She's like five foot five. • She's five foot five. • Hyperbole • She's like ten feet tall. • She's ten feet tall. • Quotation • She was like, I don't see why that's necessary. • * She was, I don't see why that's necessary.

  17. Example: ‘Language Crimes’ • Roger Shuy • Forensic Linguistics • Agent: You see these plans are very hard to get. • Engineer: uh-huh • A: I need to get them at night • E: uh-huh • A: It’s not done easily • E: uh-huh • A: understand? • E: uh-huh • +++++++ • A: How are you? • E: uh-huh

  18. Politeness • How we communicate our relationship with other people in our language

  19. Two kinds of face • Negative face (desire for autonomy, personal space,freedom from imposition, freedom of action) • Positive face (desire for self-image to be acknowledged and approved of) • Each are addressed with specific formsof face work

  20. Two Kinds of Face Strategies • Involvement • ‘Solidarity’ • Showing ‘closeness’ or solidarity • using first name, expressing interest, claiming common point of view, using informal language

  21. Involvement Strategies • Use first name or nicknames • Use informal language • Use a ‘common language’ • Act interested, sympathetic • Be direct • Agree • Claim common experiences, interests, group membership • Talk about ‘us’

  22. Two Kinds of Face Strategy • Independence • Showing ‘respect’ • using titles, not making assumptions, apologizing, using formal language

  23. Independence Strategies • Use titles • Use formal language • Don’t make assumptions • Apologize • Be indirect • Try to minimize imposition • Hedge • Talk about things not having to do with us

  24. Independence and Involvement • In any interaction we usually use both independence and involvement strategies • The problem is deciding how and when to use these strategies • Based on • who we are talking to • why we are talking to them

  25. Deference Face System • -P, +D • symmetrical (equal) • participants see themselves as at same social level • distant • both would use mostly independence strategies

  26. Solidarity Face System • -P, -D • symmetrical • close • both participants likely to use more involvement strategies

  27. Hierarchical Face System • +P, +/-D • asymmetrical (unequal) • asymmetrical face strategies • higher uses more involvement • lower uses more independence

  28. Deference Speaker<-----------------Independence--------------->Speaker Solidarity Speaker<--Involvement-->Speaker Hierarchical Speaker (involvement) Speaker (independence)

  29. But it’s really not that simple... • There is another factor • W • Weight of imposition • W+/ W-

  30. Conflicting Strategies/Mixed up systems • Two businessmen meeting for the first time • Mr R: (reading Mr. Wong’s business card which says Wong Hon Fai) Hi, Hon Fai. I’m Bill Richardson. My friends call me Bill. • Mr W: How do you do Mr. Richardson. • Mr. Wong thinks: That guy is acting too familiar, who does he think he is? • expects deference system, hears hierarchical system • Mr. R. thinks: This guy doesn’t want to be my friend. He’s not very nice. • expects solidarity system, hears deference system

  31. Frames • The way we signal • and interpret • what’s going on • what we are doing in interaction

  32. Frames • Interpretative Frames • Interactive Frames

  33. Interpretative Frames • Participants general expectations about • objects • people • settings • ways to interact • Restaurants, Classrooms, Karaoke Boxes, MTR, etc.

  34. Interpretive Frames • Schema • ‘World knowledge’ • our knowledge of the physical and biological world, our agreement about what ‘reality’ is • ‘Social knowledge’ • our knowledge of social conventions around different kinds of activities

  35. An embarrassing situation... • Getting a taxi in Taipei

  36. Interactive Frames • ‘a definition of what is going on in interaction (or a any point in the interaction) without which no utterance (or movement or gesture) could be correctly interpreted.’ • Tannen and Wallat

  37. Monkeys • Gregory Bateson • Observations of monkeys at play • ‘a monkey need to know whether a bite from another monkey is intended within the frame of play or the frame of fighting.’

  38. She knows... • Play time • walk time • meal time • quiet time • trouble time

  39. Interactive Frames • Frames of activity within an interaction • We usually don’t just do one thing at once • There are • Overlapping frames • talking on the phone and playing with my dog • Frames within frames • Lecture--activity--Lecture • Serious--joking--Serious

  40. What’s going on here? • Doctor: (feeling child’s stomach) Okay, now let me see what I can find in there. Is there a peanut butter and jelly? Wait a minute... • Child: No. • Doctor: No peanut butter and jelly in there? • Child: No. • Doctor: Now move your legs up a little..Okay? Any peanut butter and jelly in there? • Child: No. • Doctor: No? Is your spleen palpable over there? • Child: No.

  41. How does she know? • Gestures • Movements • Intonation • Loudness • Voice quality

  42. Contextualization Cues • ‘Surface features of message form which are the means by which speakers signal and listeners interpret… • what the activity is • what words mean • and how what they say is related to what has been said before or what will be said after.

  43. ‘Framing’ and ‘Contextualization Cues’ • John Gumperz • Contextualization cues • any sign which serves to construct the contextual ground for situated interpretations, and thereby affects how constituent messages are understood. • Stress, intonation, voice quality (prosody) • Paralinguistic cues • Code choice • ‘Nervous’

  44. Competing Frames • Tutorial Task

  45. ‘Discourse markers’ • Focus: as far as ... is concerned, speaking of which • Clarification: I mean, actually • Contrast: on the other hand, mind you, whereas • Dismissal of previous discourse: anyway, whatever • Change of subject: whatever, by the way, ok • Consequence: so, then, as a result • ‘Anyway’

  46. Tutorial Task • Listen for the tokens: • ‘umm’ or ‘eh’ • ‘you know’ • ‘ok’ • What are the functions of these utterances in the conversation

  47. Positioning • In interaction we negotiate who we are in relation to each other (face) • We also negotiate what we are doing/what’s ‘going on’ (frames) • But interactions do not happen in a vacuum • Every interaction has histories (stories) behind it

  48. Positioning • Tries to connect the individual interaction with the bigger picture • Tries to show how we build up identities in interaction • Position • military language • marketing language • Putting yourself and people you talk to in some position in relation to other speakers and the groups that make up the culture

  49. Positioning • ‘Karen, what do you think about positioning?’ • Questioner/Answerer • Teacher/Student • Powerful/Less Powerful

More Related