SLHS 300: Exam 3

pragmatics

study of the use of language in real conversations

sentence

isolated phrasal expressions, no context, abstract ideas

utterance

when a sentence is used by a person with context

context

frame that surrounds the event

three types of context

situation, social and linguistic context

situation context

referring to things in the world, dont have to be directly uttered

social context

depends on the people's relationship

linguistic context

talked about what preceded the utterance

deixis

words that replace the original and refer to the same thing

three types of deixis

place, time and person deixis

place deixis

pointing to a location (here, there)

time deixis

pointing to a time (tomorrow, today, now)

person deixis

pointing to a person (he, she, you)

anaphora

a reference that is already introduced

three types of anaphora

surface, inferential/indirect, and cataphora

surface anaphora

it is already stated

inferential/indirect anaphora

it is implied

cataphora

referenced after the anaphora

types of speech acts

assertion

question

orders and requests

promise

threat

felicity conditions

must be satisfied for a speech act to achieve its purpose

felicity conditions for questions

1. doesnt know the info

2. wants to know info

3. believes that the other person can supply the answer

felicity conditions for requests

1. believes that the action hasnt been done yet

2. wants action to be done

3. believes the other personcan do the action

4. believes that the hearer is willing to do it

performative speech acts

action is performed by saying something

performative verb

conveys the type of speech act being performed

felicity conditions for performative speech

1. subject is in 1st person

2. present tense

specialized performative verbs

performing a speech act and changing something about the world

felicity conditions for specialized performative speech

1. person performing must have authority

direct speech act

literal

indirect speech act

underlying meaning

inferential model

people have intentions that exceed what is uttered

cognitive pragmatics

how we build inferences from utterances

theory of mind

understanding other's intentions and mental states

how theory of mind relates to social outcomes

can infer other's emotions, desires, intentions, beliefs, knowledge and important for social interaction

how theory of mind relates to pragmatics

the semantic/pragmatic theory: theory of mind is facilitated by mental states and pragmatics, also it facilitates the development of pragmatic skills in children

relevance theory

a novel attempt at explaining verbal communication

according to the relevance theory, what does utterance mean?

a piece of evidence for the mental state

communication

informative and communicating intent

identifying and manipulating cognitive environments

encoding and decoding

ostentation and inferring

(it is a giving and receiving process)

cognitive principle of relevance

our brain is made to process relevant information in the most relevant way

what is there trouble with people with theory of mind deficits

intention, inference, humor

example of a population with pragmatic disorders

right hemisphere damage

right hemisphere damage characteristics

deficit in social awareness

say things that arent typical

trouble with sarcasm, they are literal

trouble with revising assumptions and garden path sent.

discourse

language beyond the sentence, how language flows

discourse analysis

how we make sense of texts

cohesion

lexical and grammatical linking within texts together, link sentences together

cohesive ties

help make sentences flow

types of cohesive ties

referencing

transitions

substitutions

repetition of words and phrases

coherence

how sentences follow each other reasonably, passage makes sense as a whole

cooperative principles of conversation

both parties agree with meaning

grice's maxims

quantity

quality

relevance

manner

grice's maxim: quantity

want to make information no more/no less to the point

grice's maxim: quality

not going to say a lie or lack evidence

grice's maxim: relevance

talk about relevant things

grice's maxim: manner

be as clear as possible, orderly, brief. avoid jargon and ambiguity

violating maxims

breaking, flouting

breaking a maxim

lying, rambling, changing subject

flouting a maxim

breaking rules in order to create meaning and create inferences

mental models

whats going on in the brain and your understanding of a concept

what is the connection between discourse and memory?

better narratives are more memorable because they have better mental models

construction-integration model

system builds three related representations and a discourse representation is built in cycles

three related representations in the construction-integration model

surface form (cohesion), text base (proposition), situation model (bring everything together)