Ling / Asia 122 - 5 Framework and Relevant Concepts

1. Based on Kachru and Smith, Chapter 1 and G. Tucker Childs, in The 5-Minute Linguist Ling / Asia 122 - 5Framework and Relevant Concepts

2. ROAD MAP • Now that we’ve: • defined and identified global languages, • briefly outlined the history of English, • described the factors that led to the prominence of English as a global language, and • seen several varieties of English from around the world , . . .

3. ROAD MAP (cont’d) • And after having taken a side trip to explore our linguistic heritages, . . .

4. In this week’s readings and lectures, we will . . . • Review some facts about languages and dialects, and • Explore some concepts that will help us better analyze what contributes to successful and less successful communication across cultures, • Even when everyone is speaking the same language, i.e., ENGLISH

5. Languages and Dialects: Some things to remember • Everyone who speaks a language speaks a dialect; • A language can be seen as a group of dialects; • Dialects can be geographic – Texan, Boston, SoCal • Dialects can be social – “My Fair Lady” • Dialects can be political – “… an army and a navy” • Dialect differences are usually minor • Pronunciation • Grammar • Vocabulary • “Language” and “dialect” are loaded terms

6. Critical Concepts Forming the Basis for This Course • Types of Information: conceptual, indexical, interactional-management • Speech Acts, Implicature, the Cooperative Principle • Conversation Analysis: Turns, Exchanges, Turn Relevance Places, Adjacency Pairs • Politeness and Positive and Negative Face • Context: Setting, Participants, Ends, Acts, Key, Instrumentalities, Norms, Genres

7. Types of Information • Conceptual information: purely factual content of linguistic signals. • Indexical information: information about the speaker / writer. • Interactional-management information: information that allows participants to initiate, participate in and terminate interactions.

8. Interactional-Management Information: • What we know about day-to-day interactions: • How to open conversations • How to hold the floor • When and how to take & yield the floor • How to stay on topic and to change topics • How to close a conversation

9. Conversation Analysis – Tools to analyze interactional-management information • Conversational floor – the ‘shared space’ in which a conversation takes place; participants in a conversation share the conversational floor. • Turn: the distribution of talk across participants; the stretch of speech of a single speaker bounded by the speech of another speaker. • Turn1: - A : How did you like Avatar? • Turn 2: - B: I thought it was great!

10. Conversation Analysis (cont’d) Exchange: Two or more sequential turns. For example, Exchange 1: A: Could you put this letter in the mailbox for my on your way out? B: Sure. Exchange 2: A: Could I ask you a favor? B: Sure, what is it? A: Could you put this letter in the mailbox for me on your way out? B: Sure.

11. Conversation Analysis (cont’d) • Adjacency pair: Two successive utterances or turns by different speakers, where the second is of a type required or expected by the first. • In the previous example, the exchange between A and B constitutes an adjacency pair (question and answer) • Greeting -> Greeting • Apology -> Minimalization • Thanks -> Acknowledgement • Etc.

12. Conversation Analysis (cont’d) • Turn relevance point (TRP) – the potential boundary that marks where a turn could end, marked by one or more of the following: • Phrase final intonation • Grammar • Eye contact • Body movement • Etc.

13. Conversation Analysis (cont’d) • Repair – the conversational work required when a conversationalist fails to respond with the expected turn type • Example: when a speaker fails to respond to a question with an answer • Overlaps – occasions when a second speaker begins before the first speaker has finished • Back-channeling – vocalizations by the listener relinquishing the floor to the current speaker • ‘uh-huh’ • ‘yeah’ • Etc.

14. Indexical Information: Presenting One’s Self • Politeness Principle (Lakoff 1973) • Don’t impose. • Pardon me. • I hope I’m not bothering you, but …. • Give options. • Would you mind …? • Could you possibly …? • May I ask you to …? • Make your receiver feel good. • That color really looks good on you. • I like your new tattoo. • “Little white lies”

15. Indexical information (cont’d) • “Face” (Brown & Levinson 1978): the public self image that every adult tries to project. • Positive face: the desire of every person to be desirable to at least some others; the positive consistent self-image or 'personality' claimed by interactants. • Negative face: the desire of every person to have his/her actions be unimpeded by others; the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction—i.e., the freedom of action and freedom from imposition.

16. Politeness and Face • The specific nature of face varies from society to society, e.g.: • Roles of parents and adult children • Notions of privacy in the home, workspace • The precise way of indicating respect for face may be culture specific, e.g.: • Offer of a drink and initial refusal • Refusal of an invitation • Etc.

17. Speech Acts The acts we perform when uttering sentences 1955 – John Austin’s William James Lectures at Harvard (How to Do Things With Words, 1962) An utterance can constitute an act: I promise I’ll be there on time. I apologize for the way I acted.

18. Austin’s Criteria for Speech Acts The sentence must contain a Performative Verb– a verb that under specified conditions when uttered, constitutes the performance of an act, e.g., ‘I promise you that I won’t be late.’ • Must be in the present tense • *I promised that I wouldn’t be late. • Must have a first person subject • *He promises that he won’t be late. • “I hereby” test • I hereby promise that I won’t be late.

19. Felicity conditions – conditions that must be met for the utterance to constitute a valid act • The person and circumstances must be appropriate: • “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” • The act must be executed completely and correctly be all participant: • “I bet you SJSU will beat Hawai’i.” • The participants must have the appropriate intentions: • “I congratulate you for your good fortune.”

20. Expanding the Notion of Speech Acts • 1969 – John Searle’s Speech Acts: all utterances,, not just those containing performative verbs, constitute speech acts, thus distinguishing between: • Explicit Speech Acts: • “I hereby christen thee ‘The Good Ship Lollipop.’” • “I sentence you to life in prison.” • Implicit Speech Acts: • (I declare that) “I ran into Bill and Tony at the movies last night.” • (I ask) “What time did you get in?” • ( request that you) “Please pass the hot sauce.”

21. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts • Direct: an utterance whose linguistic form matches its communicative purpose, e.g., • Form = statement, Purpose = declaration • ‘An amoeba is a one-celled animal.’ • Form= interrogative, Purpose = question • ‘What’s your name?’ • Form = imperative, Purpose = order • ‘Turn on the lights. • Indirect: an utterance whose linguistic form does not match it communicative purpose, e.g., • Form = question, intent = request • ‘Is that the phone?’ • Form = statement, intent = question • ‘I wonder why you would say such a thing.’

22. How we understand indirect speech acts: Conversational Implicature • To interpret indirect speech acts, we rely on implicature, our ability to understand the speaker’s intention in uttering something e.g., • A: Is that the phone? • Implicature: A wants me to answer the phone. • B: I’m in the bathroom. • Implicature: B wants me to know that B can’t answer the phone.

23. How we make implicatures: The Cooperative Principle • Purpose: To describe in a systematic and consistent way how implicature works in conversation (H. P. Grice) • “In conversations, participants cooperate with each other.” (Wow! What does this mean????)

24. Operationalizing the Cooperative Principle: Conversational Maxims • Quantity – contribution should be as informative as required • Quality – contribution should not be false • Relation – contribution should be relevant • Manner – contribution should be direct Assumptions • We don’t adhere to them strictly. • We interpret what we hear as if it conforms to them. • Where a maxim is violated, we draw implicatures.

25. Violations of Maxims: • Quantity • Letter of reference: • “Bob speaks perfect English; he doesn’t smoke in the office; and I have never heard him use foul language.” • Quality • “Reno is the capital of Nevada, isn’t it?” • “Yes, and London is the capital of New Jersey”

26. Violations of Maxims: • Relation • “What time is it?” • “Well, the paper’s already come.” • Manner • “Let’s stop and get something to eat.” • “OK, but not at M-c-D-o-n-a-l-d-s.”

27. Violations of the Maxims • "Uncle Charlie is coming over for dinner." "Better lock up the liquor.“ • "Do you know where Kendall moved?" "Somewhere on the east coast.“ • "How was your blind date?" "He had a nice pair of shoes.“ • “Spencer is sure he'll get that job." “Yeah. And my pet turtle is sure it will win the Kentucky Derby."

28. Context • Observation: The forms that social interactions take and the meanings they embody are dependent on the context in which they are uttered: • Setting: Where does the interaction take place? • Participants: Who’s involved? • Ends / goals: What’s the purpose of the interaction? • Acts: What speech acts are employed? • Key: What’s the mood / tenor of the interaction? • Instrumentalities: What modes of interaction are employed (e.g., phone, text message, face-to face, etc.) • Norms: What is the norm in this culture for this type of interaction? • Genre: What kinds of genres are found in this type of interaction

29. Activity • Kachru and Smith, Pages 28-29