Semantics and Pragmatics Notes

Levels of Linguistics

• Pragmatics: Meaning in context, discourse.
• Semantics: Literal meaning of phrases and sentences.
• Syntax: Phrases and sentences.
• Morphology: Words.
• Phonology: Phonemes.
• Phonetics: Speech sounds.

Introduction

• Semantics and Pragmatics are parts of Linguistics, focusing on language study from different viewpoints.
• Linguistics:
  • Semantics: Meaning of words.
  • Pragmatics: Language in use (related to meaning).
  • Syntax: Sentences, clauses.
  • Morphology: Words, forms.
  • Phonology: Sound classification.
  • Phonetics: All sounds uttered in a language.

Key Word - Meaning

• What helps a translator understand meaning?
  • Sentence grammar and logic (Syntax).
  • Meaning of separate words and links (Semantics).
  • Context for overall meaning (Pragmatics).
• Example sentences:
  • "Colourless green ideas sleep furiously." (Adj. + Adj. + N + V + Adv) - N. Chomsky, 1957.
  • "Furiously sleep ideas green colourless."
  • "The little green cows were laughing loudly."

Ways of Understanding Meaning

• Meaning is the central concept:
  • Individual words.
  • Words in context.
  • Meaning influenced by group use.
  • Words in a structure (idiom) resulting in changes.
  • Key words in a text/paragraph.
  • Extended/restricted meaning.
  • Meaning of specialized terms (new terminologies).

Definitions

• Semantics:
  • Branch of Lexicology (study of lexical units/words/vocabulary).
  • Focuses on intrinsic meaning(s) of words and changes over time.
  • Semantikós (Greek) = significant.
  • Lexis (Greek) = word.
  • Logos (Greek) = knowledge about.
  • Language is made of words (lexical units) with meaning and function (noun/verb/etc.).
• Pragmatics:
  • Sub-category of Linguistics.
  • Focuses on meaning of words in context.
  • Related to meaning given by the speaker for communication.
  • Elements involved:
    • Intended act of speech.
    • Focus on interaction.
    • Expressing attitudes, preferences.

Meaning, Message, and Context

• Good translation renders meaning of words and message of the source text (ST) through understanding context.
• Meaning: Focus on individual words (Semantics) or relevance in use by the speaker (Pragmatics).
• Message: Deep communicative value intended by the author.
• Context: Elements that help translator detect and replicate text characteristics in the target text (TT).

Importance of Context

• Context: Group of words providing clarity to the meaning of the entire utterance.
• Logic of translated text comes from understanding words in interrelation in a given context.
• Translators need to understand the text's "secrets": vocabulary, grammar, connections between words, logic, and deep meaning.

Types of Context

• Different ways of perceiving contexts.
• Types of context useful in translation:
  • Situational context.
  • Social context (Formal vs. Informal).
  • Cognitive (linguistic) context ("Yes. Right!" vs. "Yeah, right…").
  • Cultural context ("Decade"//"Deceniu"/"Decadă").

Semantics and Pragmatics - Relationship

• Related and complementary fields of study.
• Both concern the transmission of meaning through language.
• Charles Morris:
  • (a) Syntax: Formal relation of signs to each other.
  • (b) Semantics: Relations of signs to objects to which signs are applicable.
  • (c) Pragmatics: Relation of signs to their interpreters.

Semantics vs. Pragmatics

• (a) Semantics: Intrinsic meaning of words. Pragmatics: Words in context.
• (b) Semantics: Linguistic meaning. Pragmatics: Communicative point of view.
• (c) Semantics: What is said/written. Pragmatics: What is intended.
• (d) Semantics: Language as it is (parts of speech). Pragmatics: Use of language (role of each word).
• (e) Semantics: Types of utterances. Pragmatics: Effects of a context.

Approach to Semantics and Pragmatics

• Semantics:
  • Diachronic Semantics: Evolution of word meaning over time.
  • Synchronic Semantics: Study of word meaning at a specific time.
• Pragmatics: Meaning given to words by the speaker with a purpose of communication.

Course 2 - Meaning: Representing Meaning

• Meaning (constant, semantic point of view) vs. Significance (variants depending on context).
• Example: Means (n., plural)
  • (1) method; (2) money; (3) manner; (4) way
• Example: Mijloc (Romanian)
  • (1) middle point; (2) waist; (3) procedure; (4) resources; (5) vehicle.

Multiple Meanings

• Human (noun):
  • (1) male or female; (2) a child; (3) family relations; (4) age categories.
• Human (adjective):
  • characteristic of the human race.
• Meaning is linked to the speaker's/writer's purpose (= Intentional Meaning) and the addressee's interpretation (= Connotative Meaning).

Authors' Quotes

• Hirsch (1984: 202): "Meaning [is] fixed and immutable; the other, significance, is open to change [….] Significance, changeable or not, is the more valuable object of interpretation, because it typically embraces the present uses of texts…"
• Martinez del Castillo (2015: 56-57): Language and meaning "have precedence over the instrumental use of language," acting autonomously. Linguistic content has three levels: "designation, meaning and sense". Speakers use words with meaning whose significance results from use in practice.

Word Meaning vs. Sentence Meaning

• Individual word meaning rarely stays the same.
• Grammatically, there are limited variants for combining words into a sentence.
• Replacing a word in a category can generate variants (Chomsky, 1965).
• Examples:
  • "I wrote a letter to a friend."
  • "I gave a letter to a friend."
  • "I wrote a mail to a friend."
  • "I wrote a mail to my boss."

More Examples

• "He plays soccer every weekend."
• "My cat usually sleeps peacefully."
• "Every day without variation my grandfather ate a plate of cold ham."

Word Meaning vs. Sentence Meaning - Productivity

• Word meaning – listed in lexicons, limited and infrequent.
• Sentence meaning – PRODUCTIVITY:
  • Chomsky: limitless ability to use language to say new things.
  • Speakers make new structures understood if they obey semantic rules.

Productivity Examples

• "Most of the utterances you produce and hear every day have very likely never before been produced by anybody."
• Examples:
  • "A large tear rolled down the little pink dragon's nose."
  • "Peanut butter is a poor substitute for putty."
  • "Luxembourg has declared war on New Zealand."
  • "Shakespeare wrote his plays in Swahili, and they were translated into English by his African bodyguards ."
• Understanding these is easy even if you don't believe them.

Productivity Details

• Productivity applies to forms or constructions (affixes) producing new instances.
• D. Crystal (2008): "A pattern is productive if it is repeatedly used in language to produce further instances of the same type (e.g. the past-tense affix -ed in English)."
• Non-productive patterns lack potential (e.g. "mouse" to "mice").
• Semi-productive forms: limited creativity (e.g. prefix "un-" - "happy" → "unhappy", but not "sad" → "*unsad").

Sentence Meaning - Compositional

• Sentence meaning is not listed; it's compositional.
• The meaning of an expression is determined by its components and their combination.

Sentence Meaning - Recursion

• Sentence formation rules must be recursive.
• Recursion: Grammatical structure repeated within itself.
• Linguistic recursion: Ability to place a grammatical element inside an element of the same kind.
• NP – [ NP NP (and NP)*]
• Examples:
  • I bought [ NP a book].
  • I bought [ NP [NP a book] and [ NP a magazine]].
  • I bought [ NP [ NP a book] and [ NP a magazine] and [ NP some pens]].

Conclusions

• (Halliday, 1994):
  • Formal Syntax rules match items in order (independent of speaker).
  • Semantic rules depend on community meaning based on needs, experience, social/cultural traits.
  • Word meaning is linked to speaker's/writer's purpose (Intentional meaning) and addressee's interpretation/associations (Connotative meaning).

Types of Semantic Meaning

• Semantic viewpoints of word meaning:
  • Words expressing neutral ideas/facts (= LITERAL MEANING).
  • Words used with subliminal/imaginary meaning (= METAPHORIC or FIGURATIVE MEANING) – speaker’s attitude (enthusiasm, irony, etc.).

Examples of Literal vs. Metaphoric Meaning

• a: It is dangerous to put your fingers into a horse’s mouth (literal meaning).
• b: Believe me, I know it all, I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth! (metaphoric meaning, idiom).
• c: Surfing is a national sport in Australia (literal meaning).
• d: Nowadays, children spend long hours surfing the Internet (figurative meaning).
• e: She got frightened when she saw a mouse running around the kitchen floor (literal meaning).
• f: I bought a wireless mouse for my computer (figurative meaning).

Speakers' Attitude Towards Words

• Neutral attitude (no motivation) = NON-MOTIVATED SEMANTIC MEANING.
  • Example: "This is a house."
• Personal interest (a specific purpose) = MOTIVATED SEMANTIC MEANING.
  • Example 1: "That is the house that I intend to buy next year."
  • Example 2: Onomatopoeic references: "Ooops! Yeah! Ouch! Zzzzz…" (cultural value).
  • Example 3: Pet noises: "Purr / Bark / Squeak/ Meow"

Word Meaning - Lexical Semantics

• Word meaning is lexical semantics.
• Purpose:
  • Meaning of each word in a language's lexicon.
  • Rules of inter-relation between words.
• Relationship between words means related meanings.
• Lexical relations construct meaning using pragmatic elements.
• Variants result for each speaker in a sentence.

Meaning Variants

• Example: "Last month he successfully passed his BA degree exams."
• Variants:
  • "He ended his university training last month."
  • "He took high marks at the exams."
  • "He spent his last few years taking courses at the university."
  • "You must pass some exams in order to take a BA degree."
• Individual words are the same; the meaning and purpose differs for each speaker.

BD Graver Examples

• 1 The work should be completed by the end of the month.
• 2 She burned his last letter, in which he had proposed to her, so that no one could ever discover the truth.
• 3 He might have realized that you were pulling his leg.
• 4 She left me to get on with her work.
• 5 After the marathon race the runners were very tired, if not exhausted.
• 6 Will you call on him and tell him?
• 7 We felt sure they would arrive in time.
• 8 It was not well received by the public because it was a play of ideas.

Course 3 - Semantic Fields: Revision

• SEMANTIC MEANING (1):
  • Intentional meaning (speaker’s purpose).
  • Connotative meaning (listener’s associations).
• SEMANTIC MEANING (2):
  • Literal meaning (neutral ideas and facts).
  • Metaphoric / figurative meaning (speaker’s attitude/opinion).
• Meaning of compound words:
  • Hat-trick (magician vs. football).
  • Open source (water spring vs. cyber source).

In a Sentence

• Individual words have one/multiple meanings.
• Lexical relations are established between separate words.
• Meaning is built by individual speakers.
• Relationship between words leads to a meaning relationship.
• Speakers add pragmatic value to words.
• Any change results in variants with meaning for each speaker and listener.

Language Autonomy

• Martinez del Castillo (2015):
  • "Language and meaning have precedence over the instrumental use of language and therefore they act autonomously.“
  • How we perceive language is important.
  • Linguistic context: designation, meaning, and sense.
• Speakers denominate objects/concepts/actions using words with meaning, whose “sense” results from their use.

Class Practice

• Exercise 1: Find semantic meanings of words and use in sentences:
  • Crash Create Young Road Animal Business Grow Short

Compound Words

• Initial meaning of components changes completely.
• Examples:
  • a: Note + book → Notebook
  • b: Mouse + pad → Mousepad
  • c: Hot + dog → Hotdog
  • d: Loop + hole → Loophole

Compound Structures

• Compound structures result from putting together two different parts of speech.
• Examples:
  • Noun + Noun: bedroom, water tank, motorcycle, printer cartridge

Noun + Verb Compounds

• rainfall
• haircut
• train-spotting

Noun + Adverb

• hanger-on
• passer-by

Verb + Noun

• Washing machine
• driving license
• swimming pool

Verb + Adverb

• lookout
• take-off
• drawback

Adverb + Verb

• output
• overthrow
• upturn
• input

Adjective + Noun

• greenhouse
• software
• redhead

Adjective + Verb

• dry-cleaning
• public speaking

Adverb + Noun

• onlooker
• bystander

Time for Practice

• Exercise 1: Separate the meaning of each component of compound words and explain how the meaning of the new word changes; can the new meaning be predicted simply by knowing the meaning of its components?

Class Practice 2

• Exercise: Write your own text using as many compound works as possible from the list below; be creative and have fun!

Semantic Fields

• Words are smallest units of a language in use.
• Parts of the general language corpus // Specialized purpose (=TERMS).
• Intrinsic meaning (words taken separately) - SEMANTICS // Coherent meaning in a sentence (WORDS IN CONTEXT) - PRAGMATICS.
• Words are grouped if they have a common area of use = FIELD.
• A SEMANTIC FIELD groups the words which, from a logical point of view, belong to the same category.

Semantic Field Examples

• Furniture: chair, bed, table, stool, cupboard, wardrobe etc.
• Family: father, mother, brother, sister, aunt, mother-in-law etc.
• Wild animals: lion, cat, dog, panther, elephant etc.
• Domestic animals: cow, pig, sheep, goat.
• Exercise: Give examples from the following fields: musical instruments; humanistic sciences; pastimes; countries, cities.

Words in Context

• Focus lies on WORDS, irrespective of the context, but if we think of WORDS IN CONTEXT (Pragmatic point of view), MEANING differs in each case:
• My chair is brown // The chair I saw in the shop is nice.
• He is a father // Her father is a doctor.

Physical Context and Meaning

• The physical context refers to the time and place when we encounter a specific linguistic expression.
• The physical context is essential for understanding the meaning of an uttering:
  • from a semantic point of view (recognize the words individually, independently).
  • from a pragmatic point of view (understand the meaning in context).

Logical Chains of Words

• We do not utter words separately, but we form logical chains of words with a purpose:
  • We convey information.
  • The conveyed information has a purpose.
  • At the same time, we can identify words, both separately and in sentences.
• In Semantics, this action is called DENOTING or REFERRING:
  • Denoting – neutral recognition of words, as parts of a semantic field / syntactic category.
  • Referring - a speaker’s action to select specific linguistic units or utterances, and giving them a significance and purpose.

Different Semantic Approaches

• Two different semantic approaches to the way we speak:
  • THE REFERENTIAL (DENOTATIONAL) APPROACH
    • Words have a meaning depending on their relation to specific situations (e.g.: positive/negative utterings).
    • "I am a teacher of English."
    • "I am not a teacher of French."
• THE REPRESENTATIONAL APPROACH
  • The meaning of words depends on our mental representations (models) of them.
  • The difference thus comes from the way in which we focus on the same action/process.
  • We can perceive the same situation in different ways: Example: My brother is sleeping / My brother is asleep.

Referential, Denotational and Representational Examples

• Find referential, denotational and representational examples in the following text; also, look for compounds and describe the syntactic value of their components.

Course 4 - Semantic Fields (2): Revision

• We can view the way we speak from two semantic points of view:
  • REFERENTIAL (DENOTATIONAL) APPROACH
    • Words have a meaning depending on their relation to specific situations (e.g.: positive/negative utterings).
  • REPRESENTATIONAL APPROACH
    • The meaning of words depends on our mental representations (models) of them.
    • The difference comes from the way we focus on the same action/process ("he is sleeping // he is asleep // he sleeps at noon every day").

Referential Approach Details

• Certain words do not have a referential quality (they do not refer to something) = NON-REFERRING WORDS Examples: maybe; so; very; if; not; all….
• "Maybe we’ll go back to class in autumn."
• Words which help us to identify an entity, a unit of speech = REFERRING WORDS Example: "My cat loves to play."

Types of Reference

• TWO TYPES OF REFERENCE:
  • Constant reference (units which always remain the same) E.g.: The Pacific Ocean)
  • Variable reference (units which change according to the context in which they are used) E.g.: My/your/his/our/their cat loves to play.
  • Some units of language (words) also may have extensions (their meaning includes similar units): A bird / A flock of birds. Practice: find the extensions to the following: bread, wolf, chess, clothes

Examples of Referential Units: Nominals

• NOMINALS A nominal is a linguistic unit which clearly reveals its function and has a reference. Proper names are the category of nominals easiest to recognize. The name is also a “label” which helps us gain (or remember) information/knowledge about the referent.
• Examples:
  • When I met him, I thought he looked like Brad Pitt.
  • The writer of “Hamlet” is William Shakespeare.
• However, in certain cases we need more information in order to make the meaning clear Examples: The President of France is Emmanuel Macron. ( a definite description) The President of France is elected by free universal vote. ( an indefinite description)

Referential Units - Conclusions

• According to Ruth Kempson (1987; 2004):
  • Proper names denote individuals;
  • Common names denote sets of individuals;
  • Verbs denote actions;
  • Adjectives denote properties of individuals;
  • Adverbs denote properties of actions.
• My added conclusion: All these parts of speech are referential, because they refer to something, and denotational, because they denote certain concepts / actions / grammar categories.

The Representational Approach

• Although reference is an important function of language, denotation is not enough by itself to render the meaning.
• A noun denotes something because it is associated with an object/ action/ concept in the speaker’s mind (Images / Representations).
• Real objects resemble these mental representations.
• Even if speakers may have the same representation for proper nouns (e.g.: geographical names, famous people in history or contemporary ones, etc.) representations may differ for different people in the case of common nouns (e.g.: “house”).

Word Associations

• Certain words (“love”, “justice”, “trust”, “beauty”) may call for a different image for different people, because they are not visual, but abstract. These are called CONCEPTS.
• Concepts can be defined according to their utility, as well as according to a set of necessary and sufficient conditions.
• Example 1: (John L. Saeed, 2004: 35):
• X is a woman if and only if L. L (attributes = conditions): X is human / X is an adult; X is female.
• Example 2: (mine)
• Cat → is an animal / has four legs / barks / is domesticized etc.

Conceptual Knowledge

• Conceptual knowledge has a relational nature. Words appear in a NETWORK of semantic links with other words, and so do concepts.
• We need to find the necessary and sufficient conditions in each case. The resulting NETWORK takes the shape of a conceptual hierarchy.

Conceptual Network Example

Felines
Home
Wild
Animal
pets
Domestic

Making Associations

• We make many associations between words and concepts – that is, we lexicalize concepts. We presume, in our minds, what the meaning of words can be according to distinct levels of representation.
• However, these representations of words and concepts may differ for different persons, because out knowledge is relative and individualized.
• Language mirrors cultural differences; people’s way of thinking is culturally and linguistically determined (different groups include in their language only the categories and concepts available in their culture – for instance, some Amazonian tribes do not have a specific word for “war” “snow” etc.)

Class Practice

• Write the conceptual network of the words: FURNITURE,WATER, LEARNING according to the necessary and sufficient conditions for each term included in this hierarchy.

Course 5 - Words & Meanings (Cont.): Revision

• WORDS
  • Denote (name; class)
  • Refer to (individualize)
  • Represent (mental process – words represent concepts)

Meaning Types

• MEANING
  • Intentional (speaker/writer)
  • Connotative (listener/reader)
• MEANING
  • Literal (neutral use)
  • Figurative (expressing speakers' intention/attitude)

Intrinsic Meaning

• MEANING (what words represent intrinsically)
• SIGNIFICANCE (variable, according to context)

Word Meaning - Lexical Semantics

• LEXICAL SEMANTICS = The study of word meaning:
  • What each word means in different languages
  • Which is the interrelation between words in the same language
  • The meaning of any word is partly explained by its relationship with other words, but it also reflects the images we form about them in our minds.

Understanding Logic

• Due to their interrelation, we understand the logic of a sequence of words, even if some parts of an uttering (e.g.: non- referential words) are missing.
• Example 1: I saw my mother today. (female; family relationship) (semantic element “woman”) (time frame) (semantic element “today”)
• Example 2: Helen has failed her Linguistics exam. Helen has not passed her Linguistics exam. Helen will never become a specialist in Linguistics. (sentence 2 implies/entails sentence 1) (proper noun) (semantic element “Helen”) (semantic element “Linguistics”)

Lexemes

• In Semantics, units are called SEMANTIC WORDS or LEXEMES.
• The same semantic word can have different meanings (or senses).
• This group of meanings is called LEXICAL ENTRY.
• Example: He scored with his left foot. They made camp at the foot of the mountain. She ate a foot-long sausage.
• We can also view words as parts of a class (Animal; Furniture) or with the help of their extensions (Bird/Flock of birds)

Detecting Word Meaning

• Even if we know what a specific word “means”, word meaning often depends on the understanding of that word by each individual.
  • Easier to understand in a context (contextual effect).
  • Some words occur together more often (collocations) – certain nouns / adjectives can only be used with a specific word (noun):
  • Example 1: A pack of wolves A flock of birds, etc.
  • Example 2: Compare strong and powerful:
    • I prefer strong tea. (never ‘powerful”)
    • I have just bought a very powerful car (never ‘strong”)
    • (but) He is a strong / powerful man.

Ambiguity

• Other elements which make it difficult to understand the meaning of individual words:
  • Ambiguity Example (Saeed, p. 60): I go for a run every morning. / The ball -player hit a home run. / We took the new car for a run. / The bears are here for the salmon run.
  • Therefore, when we see the word ‘run’ in a dictionary, we cannot tell which of these meanings (or others) it may have.
  • If each of the meanings in the above sentences is different, it means that the word “run” is ambiguous.
  • Vagueness
  • If in all these examples “run” would mean the same thing, then it would be vague (explained only by context).

Context Adds Information

• In vague examples, the context adds information which is not include in the intrinsic meaning of the word.
• Example (Saeed, p. 61):
  • Duffy discovered a mole on his chest.
  • Duffy discovered a small burrowing animal.
  • Duffy discovered a long dormant spy.
• If we look at words from a Semantic point of view, it is sometimes difficult to discern meaning from the contextual effects. These are explained by Pragmatics.

Semantic Words and Their Meaning

• HOMONYMS (words sounding the same, but with different meanings/senses) Examples: v. To keep / n. Keep; not/knot; (it is a homophone); sole
• POLYSEMIC WORDS (multiple meanings for the same word) Examples: Flat; hook;
• SYNONYMS (different words with the same meaning) Examples: Couch/sofa; boy/lad; lawyer/attorney; toilet/lavatory; naïve/gullible
• OPPOSITES (ANTONYMS) Examples: dead/alive; good/bad; hit/miss; beautiful/ugly etc.

Specific Language Characteristics

• HYPONYMS (words with a general relevance, which include semantic sub-categories) Examples: BIRD (sparrow, crow, lark, duck, etc); TOOL (hammer, saw, chisel, etc.)
• MERONYMS (relationship between pasts and the whole) Examples: CAR (wheel, engine, door, window, etc.) All the above are characteristics of individual languages.

Linguistic Universals

• When we compare different languages, we note that there are differences: some lexical units are “universal” (there is an equivalent for them in all languages) but others are “variable”.
• Example: COLOURS Universals: red, yellow, black, white, blue, brown Variables: shades of each (scarlet for red; chestnut for brown; turquoise for blue; mauve for purple)

Defining Semantic Words

• How do we define semantic words?
  • Orthography (how they are written)
  • Phonology (how they are pronounced)
  • Syntax (the same semantic word can be represented by several grammar variants) – E.g.: He walks/is walking/ walked
  • The word viewed as a “form” representing a conceptual entity
  • Words can function as independent elements – except for non-referential words (a, the, my, our…)
  • Easier to define by context, when it occurs repeatedly (collocations and idioms)
  • Example: strong tea / powerful car (non-synonyms)
  • strong/powerful argument (synonyms)

Words and creativity

• Creativity and semantic shift (same word, different contexts) Examples I go for a run every morning. The skiers ended the first run before noon. We took the new car for a run. The bears are prepared for the salmon run. He was late with the assignment, so he pulled a chicken run before the History class.

Suffixes

• Suffixes often have a semantic effect, by creating new words whose meaning is usually linked to the initial example:
  • Suffixes –er and –or AUTHOR BLAZER DEBTOR MENTOR REACTOR
  • Suffix – ist ARTIST SCIENTIST DENTIST OPTIMIST SOCIALIST NOVELIST PIANIST FEMINIST

Course 6 – S & P Comparison

• Reminder: Both Semantics and Pragmatics focus on WORDS and their MEANING(S), but there are significant differences between the way in which each of them uses its specific tools.
  • Semantics focuses on words seen as individual lexical units (=lexemes), while Pragmatics treats words in a context;
  • Semantics emphasizes the literal meaning of words (as uttered by the speaker/writer), while Pragmatics focuses on the comprehension of utterances (as perceived by the listener/reader);

Part of a Complex Utterance

• In Semantics, words have an intrinsic value, while from the point of view of Pragmatics words are perceived according to their purpose as a PART of a complex utterance;
  • In Semantics, Words DENOTE something (focus on an external element from the surrounding world in general) or REFER TO something (specific focus related to meaning).
  • In Pragmatics, the focus lies on various types of SPEECH ACTS.
  • In Semantics, words have a REPRESENTATIONAL VALUE (they depend on our mental representation of individual units); in Pragmatics, the focus lies on the SUBLIMINAL MEANING – often, when we speak in coherent utterances, we have a hidden purpose which goes beyond words.

Types of Speech Acts

• SPEECH ACTS – a Pragmatic approach In Linguistics, any SPEECH ACT reflects the speaker’s intention and, at the same time, illustrates the effect(s) of that information on the listener(s), as compared to their expectations. From the point of view of Pragmatics, words are meant to present different types of information (about people, objects, actions, concepts) in a logical, coherent structure.
• The Speech-act Theory was proposed in 1975 by the British linguist J.L. Austin. It divides speech acts into 4 categories: Locutionary acts (including simple Utterances and Propositional utterances), Illocutionary acts and Perlocutionary acts.

Speech Act Definitions

• Locutionary Acts: The way in which we pronounce a logical uttering. Purpose = DELIVERING MEANINGFUL INFORMATION
  • They are "the mere act of producing some linguistic sounds or marks with a certain meaning and reference" (Nuccetelli and Seay, Philosophy of Language: The Central Topics - 2011)
• Illocutionary Acts: Speech acts with suggestions for the listener (an order, a promise, answering a question, apologizing, explaining something). Purpose = INTERACTION
• Perlocutionary Acts: Any uttering which has an effect / consequence on the listener(s) (determines emotions, positive or negative feelings or actions; persuasion). Purpose = EXPECTING A RESULT

Graphic illustration of Speech Acts

• ILLOCUTIONARY UTTERANCES
• PERLOCUTIONARY UTTERANCES

Examples of Locutionary and illocutionary Speech

• Locutionary: I am a teacher. I like music.
  • Illocutionary: Being a teacher, I ask you to do your homework. I can help you solve your problem.
  • Perlocutionary: I am your cousin; I will not be your friend!

More Examples of Speech Acts

• Context: I told a friend that I want to move to Britain.
  • Locutionary act: He told me that is not a good idea, I may lose the benefits of being in the EU.
  • Illocutionary act: He advised me against moving to Britain.
  • Perlocutionary act: He persuaded me to give up moving to Britain. He disappointed me. He made me angry by insisting with his arguments.
• Further reading: https://www.wtamu.edu/~mjacobsen/SpActCats.htm

Families of Speech Acts

• According to David Crystal ( Dictionary of Linguistics, 2009)
• Illocutionary acts (having a purpose) can be classified as:
  • Directives (when the purpose is to make listeners do something)
  • Commissives (the speaker