Politeness

Lecturer: Asst. prof. Razzaq Nayif Mukheef

Level: B.A Fourth year

Title of the lecture: pragmatics

Subject: linguistics

Summery of the lecture

a- pragmatics is the study of intended speaker meaning

B- In pragmatics, other aspects of meaning is not derived from the meaning of words used in phrases and sentences.

C- We normally try to understand not only the meaning of the words, but what the writer or speaker indented to convey.

D in mamy ways, pragmatics is the study of invisible" meaning which means how we recognize what is meant even when isn’t actually said (or written). In order to achieve this, speakers and writers in order to achieve this, speakers and writers must be able to depend on hared assumptions and expectations. These assumptions and expectations require investigation to provide us with insights about communication

e- The writer gives examples about invisible meaning:

1- Heated Attendant Parking

2- Baby and Toddler Sale

f- He explain the possible and normal interpretations of these examples

g- Context

1- The influence of context in deciding the meaning of the preceding two examples

2- There are two types of context:-

a- linguistic context (co-text)

- The co-context of word is the set of other words,

This surrounding co-text a strong effect on what we think the word means.

b- Physical context which is related to physical location

- Our understanding of much of what we read and hear is tied to the physical context, especially the time and place, in which we meet linguistic expressions.

h- Diesis is words which cannot be   interpreted at all unless the physical context of the speaker is known, e.g.

- Here, there, this, that, now, then, yesterday,

-I, you, him, her, them

E.g. you will have to bring that back tomorrow, because they aren t here one.

- Out of context t, this sentence is extremely vague.diectic expressions are expressions which we can only understand in terms of speaker s intended meaning

I reference is an act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a listeners (or reader) to identify something.

- We often assume that the words we use to identify things are some direct relationship to those things.

- Inference is any additional information used by the listener to connect what is said to what must be meant.

j. Anaphora is a subsequent reference to an already introduced entity. It is the second mention.

-         antecedent is the first mention

Book _____ antecedent

It_________ anaphora

K- presupposition: what a speaker assumes is true or is known by the hearer can be described us a presupposition.

For example

1-       your brother is waiting outside for you

-   There is an obvious presupposition that you have a brother.

2-        Why did you arrive late?

  Thee is a presupposition that you did arrive late

3-       A- the car is wreck

b- My car is not a wreck.

The underlying presupposition, I have a car, remains true in both (a) and (b)

Speaking act theory

 Speech act is an utterance that serves in communication. The term ‘speech act’ covers actions such as requesting, commanding, questioning and informing. It is the case that we use the following linguistic forms with the following functions:

Forms               functions

Interrogative   question

Imperative       command

Declarative      statement

-         we have two types of speech acts:

a-       direct

b-      indirect

E.g. can you ride a  bicycle? (Direct)

      You left the door open. (Indirect)

Politeness

Politeness is showing awareness of another person’s face. There are several ways to think of politeness. These might involve ideas like being tactful, modest and nice to other people

Linguistic politeness: in the study of linguistic politeness, the most relevant concept is ‘face’. Your face, in pragmatics, is your public self-image. This is the emotion and social sense of self that every person has and expects everyone else recognize.

There are two types of face:

a-       face- threatening act

b-      b- face- saving act

In (a) we have more social power than the other person, while in (b) the act removes the assumption of social power. This makes the request less threatening to the other person’s sense of self.

 You have     both a negative face and a position face. You negative face is the need to be independent and to have freedom form imposition. Your positive face is the need to be     objected, to belong, too be a member of the group. Thus, a face- threatening act that emphasizes a person’s negative, e.g.

-         I’m sorry to brother you…

-         I know you are busy, but ….