Language, context + understanding (Topic 4)

Grice's Maxims

Guidelines to communicating with one another

Maxim of Quantity

Give as much information as required and no more than is necessary

Maxim of Quality

Be truthful

Maxim of Relation

Be relevant

Maxim of Manner

Be clear and avoid ambiguity

cooperative principle

The assumption that people communicating are cooperating with one another

speech acts

Utterances that intend to make specific changes in the world; an action performed using speech e.g. requests, promises, apologies, warnings, invitations, resignations and assertions

indirect speech acts

An indirect way of expressing intent or a desired outcome; occurs when when the speaker's meaning is not directly encoded in the utterance e.g. "I'm a bit thirsty"

performatives

Utterances that are equivalent to actions, including promises and bets

All performatives are speech acts, but not all speech acts are performatives

inferencing

The process of drawing conclusions or interpreting implied meaning based on context and prior knowledge

implicatures

Inferences that may be drawn from an utterance based on context, implied by what is spoken or not spoken

presuppositions

An assumption that a speaker takes for granted when making a statement

face

The need people have to be well regarded as it relates to to feelings of self-esteem and the social status associated with one's reputation

face-threatening act

An utterance or action that threatens the speaker's face (public image)

politeness

The use of language to show respect, maintain social harmony, and reduce the potential threat of face-threatening acts

formally fitted

An utterance or response that matches the exact structural or grammatical shape required by the preceding discourse

interactionally fitted

An utterance that is shaped or constrained by how it is designed to fit into a specific moment in a social interaction

gestures

deictic, iconic, metaphoric, beat, emblem, pragmatic

deictic gestures

Gestures used to point to people, objects, places or directions

iconic gestures

Gestures that visually represent the object or action being talked about

metaphoric gestures

Gestures that represent abstract ideas

Beat gestures

Gestures that occur in a rhythm that matches the rate of speech

emblem gestures

Gestures that have specific culturally-defined meanings and can function independently of speech

e.g. waving hello and goodbye, nodding your head yes or no, thumbs up

pragmatic gestures

Gestures that help convey the speaker's intended meaning, attitude, or interactional purpose