Discourse Analysis Lectures of Second Semester

Master One Students

Didactics of Foreign Languages Option

TD session every week by

Dr. Mouna FERATHA

Dr. Meriem BOUHENIKA

Method: students group work/ group presentations

Objectives:

• To get students familiar with the analysis of different linguistic items

• To make students link or approach the macro linguistic discipline “discourse
analysis” with the various micro linguistics branches

Lecture every week by

Dr. Meriem BOUHENIKA

Method: a seminar lecture presented by the teacher

Objective: the scope is on the written discourse and the different studies and
conventions developed in the study and analysis of discourse elaborated by many scholars
through centuries

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 Lecture 1: Written Discourse/Language

The written language is one of the forms of discourse and sometimes it is the
transformation of what is spoken or signed. Written language is basically different from the
spoken one and it requires certain skills and abilities to be achieved; unlike the spoken
language which is naturally and spontaneously produced most of the time. To be successful,
the writer and the receiver must have the necessary skills for the delivery of information; the
writer must be able to write, and the reader must be able to read. Written discourse is often
tied with genre, or the type / structure of language used to imply purpose and context within a
specific subject matter. As any skill, writing has its positive and negative characteristics.

Positive Ones

• More precise as words can be thought through and carefully chosen (choice of words).
• Once written, words can still be changed or rearranged in order to make
communication more precise.
• Tendency to use larger words and more complex sentences to make the message more
interesting.
• Writing can happen over a period of time with much consideration given to the
message and its delivery.
• The receiver can spread reading out over time so as to give full attention to meaning.
• Writing is a permanent record of information.

Negative Ones

• Pace of communication is determined by the reader or receiver of information.

• Audience for written discourse is not always known.
• Meaning might be supported by visual graphics, but there are no nonverbal
communication cues to read.
• Less personable and can be very one-sided. (Rarely do the writer and reader share the
situation together.)
1. Differences between Writing and Speech

Written and spoken languages differ in many ways. However some forms of writing
are closer to speech than others, and vice versa. Below are some of the ways in which these
two forms of language differ:

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• Writing is usually permanent and written texts cannot usually be changed once they
have been printed/ written out. Speech is usually transient, unless recorded, and
speakers can correct themselves and change their utterances as they go along.

• A written text can communicate across time and space for as long as the particular
language and writing system is still understood. Speech is usually used for immediate
interactions.

• Written language tends to be more complex and intricate than speech with longer
sentences and many subordinate clauses. The punctuation and layout of written texts
also have no spoken equivalent. However some forms of written language, such as
instant messages and email, are closer to spoken language. On contrast, spoken
language tends to be full of repetitions, incomplete sentences, corrections and
interruptions, with the exception of formal speeches and other scripted forms of
speech, such as news reports and scripts for plays and films.

• Writers receive no immediate feedback from their readers, except in computer-based

communication. Therefore they cannot rely on context to clarify things so there is
more need to explain things clearly and unambiguously than in speech, except in
written correspondence between people who know one another well. However, speech
is usually a dynamic interaction between two or more people. Context and shared
knowledge play a major role, so it is possible to leave much unsaid or indirectly
implied.

• Writers can make use of punctuation, headings, layout, colours and other graphical
effects in their written texts. Such things are not available in speech. Speech can use
timing, tone, volume, and timbre to add emotional context.

• Written material can be read repeatedly and closely analyzed, and notes can be made
on the writing surface. Only recorded speech can be used in this way.

• Some grammatical constructions are only used in writing, as are some kinds of
vocabulary, such as some complex chemical and legal terms. Some types of
vocabulary are used only or mainly in speech. These include slang expressions, and
tags like y'know, like, etc

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 Therefore, written language (discourse) could be helpful and not equally. As it could
be a sentence, a text, or a sign, it would always serve for the purpose of communication. So,
let discuss the different types of text as one form of written language, but before indicting the
types we should ask a question. What is meant by text?

“Text is a stretch of language, either in speech or in writing, that is semantically and

pragmatically coherent in its real-world context. A text can range from just one word (e.g. a
SLOW sign on the road) to a sequence of utterances or sentences in a speech, a letter, a novel,
etc."(Carter and McCarthy, 2006)

2. Text Types
There are 5 major texts types: Narrative, Descriptive, Directive, Expository, and
Argumentative. Text types are general semantic-functional concepts and are not to be
confused with text forms (advertisements, editorials, sermons, shopping lists, poems,
telephone books, novels, etc.)

2.1. Narrative texts: Narrative texts have to do with real-world events and time.
They may be fictional (fairy tales, novels) or nonfictional (newspaper report). They are
characterized by a sequence of events expressed by dynamic verbs and by adverbials such as
“and then”, “first”, “second”, “third” Example: First we packed our bags and then we called a
taxi. After that we… etc

2. 2. Descriptive texts: Descriptive texts are concerned with the location of persons
and things in space. They will tell us what lies to the right or left, in the background or
foreground, or they will provide background information which, perhaps, sets the stage for
narration. It is immaterial whether a description is more technical-objective or more
impressionistic subjective. State or positional verbs plus adverbial expressions are employed
in descriptions Examples: 1) The operation panel is located on the right-hand side at the rear;
2) New Orleans lies on the Mississippi.

2. 3. Directive texts: Directive texts are concerned with concrete future activity.
Central to these texts are imperatives (Hand me the paper) or forms which substitute for them,
such as polite questions (Would you hand me the paper?) or suggestive remarks (I wonder
what the paper says about the weather). Narrative, descriptive and directive texts have

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grammatical forms associated with them which may be expanded to form sequences of a
textual nature. They are all centered around real-world events and things. In contrast,
expository and argumentative texts are cognitively oriented, as they are concerned with
explanation and persuasion, which are both mental processes.

2. 4. Expository texts: Expository texts identify and characterize phenomena. They

include text forms such as definitions, explications, summaries and many types of essays. may
be subjective (essay) or objective (summary, explication, definition) may be analytical
(starting from a concept and then characterizing its parts; e.g. definitions) or synthetic
(recounting characteristics and ending with an appropriate concept or conclusion; e.g.
summaries) are characterized by state verbs and epistemic modals (Pop music has a strong
rhythmic beat; Texts may consist of one or more sentences) or by verbs indicating typical
activities or qualities (fruit flies feed on yeast). Expository texts can be neutral or contain
evaluative elements (reviews, references, and letters to the editor…) Laws regulate some
aspects of society, directing the behaviour of its members, but also inform on these aspects
(they are both directive and expository)

2.5. Argumentative texts: Argumentative texts depart from the assumption that the
receiver’s beliefs must be changed. They often start with the negation of a statement which
attributes a quality or characteristic activity to something or someone (esp. scholarly texts).
They also include advertising texts, which try to persuade their readers that a product is
somehow better, at least implicitly, than others. Few texts are pure realizations of a single
type: Advertisements may be both argumentative persuasive (this is good because…) and
directive (So buy now!)

These types are cited in (Gramley,S., Pätzold, K.M., A Survey of Modern English,
London, Routledge, 1992). Other text types could be added like informative while sharing or
informing something, Persuasive while convincing or persuading people to do something or
buy an item.

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 Lecture 2: Text Types and Genre

Traditionally, the term genre has been used to “distinguish between drama, fiction, and
poetry. In the 1980’s, as ‘genre’ began to refer to a much broader set of text types (letters,
memos, essays, proposals), it also began to inform the teaching of writing.” A limitation of
these uses of the term genre was that they “simply identified text types and made
generalizations about their usual forms.” So teaching focused on patterns and organizations —
or on what and how to write a letter or a proposal but not why we write these genres. Current
uses of the term genre emphasize instead that every genre of writing “occurs in a situation.”
That situation has an audience, a purpose, a context or setting, a set of expected and
appropriate responses, and a reason for the writer to write (Fox, 2004)

Set of definitions of genre is highlighted by different linguists.

• Genre is a term for grouping texts together representing how writers typically
use language to respond to recurring situations (Hylland, 2004)
• A genre comprises of set of communicative events, the members of which
share some set of communicative purposes (Swales, 1990)
• Genre is a social action and a speech event that has communicative goals
shared by the members of a particular speech community
• Genre refers to the type and structure of the language typically used for a
particular purpose in a particular context
According to Swales and Feaks (2000), genre could be open (public) or supporting
(occluded).
Open/Public Genre Occluded/Supporting Genre
It is very accessible to everyone, often They are very closed not public in nature,
published and easily visible and audible. and often difficult to access
Eg: book chapters, research articles, Eg: job applications, job talks, job interviews
technical support and dissertations. and curriculum vitae.

Difference of Internal and External Criteria of Genre and Text Type

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 One way of making a distinction between genre and text type is to say that the former
is based on external, non-linguistic, "traditional" criteria while the latter is based on the
internal, linguistic characteristics of texts themselves (Biber, 1988, pp. 70 & 170; EAGLES,
1996). A genre, in this view, is defined as a category assigned on the basis of external criteria
such as intended audience, purpose, and activity type, that is, it refers to a conventional,
culturally recognized grouping of texts based on properties other than lexical or grammatical
(co-)occurrence features, which are, instead, the internal (linguistic) criteria forming the basis
of text type categories. Biber (1988) has this to say about external criteria: Genre categories
are determined on the basis of external criteria relating to the speaker's purpose and topic;
they are assigned on the basis of use rather than on the basis of form.

In other words, genre reflects differences in external formats and situations of uses,
and is defined on the basis of systematic non-linguistic criteria. However, text types may be
defined on the basis of cognitive categories or linguistic criteria. Basic differences between
genre and text types are expressed by the work of Hammond et all, (1992).

Genre Text Type

Recipe Procedure

Personal letter Anecdote

Advertisement Description

Police report Description

Student Essay Exposition

Formal letter Exposition

Formal letter Problem-solution

News item Recount

Health Brochure Procedure

Student assignment Recount

Biology textbook Report

Film review Review

Examples of Genres and Text Types (based on Hammond et al. 1992)

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 It is clear from this analysis that more than one genre may share the same type. That
is, the genres of advertisements and police reports may both share the text type of description.
Equally, a single genre, such as formal letters, may be associated with more than one text
type; in this case, exposition and problem-solution (Paltridge, 1994).

Genre is used in order to analyze discourse which is unlimited and genre is limited.
Discourse is the use of spoken or written language which can be found everywhere and
produced at anytime; while, genre is the analysis of a given structure/style of language to
answer some defined purposes according to a given discourse community members. To
analyze discourse through genre a given chain would fit.

Structure →language Features →characteristics →analyzing genres →analyzing discourse.

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 Lecture 3: Coherence and Cohesion

Coherence and cohesion were introduced first in the work of Halliday and Hassan
(1976). They are referred to mainly to speak about text unity in terms of meaning and
linguistic ties.

Coherence and cohesion are essential for aiding readability and idea communication.
Coherence is about the unity of the ideas and cohesion the unity of structural elements. One
way to do this is through the use of cohesive devices: logical bridges (repetition), verbal
bridges (synonyms), linking words, and clear back referencing. If these types of devices are
missing in the text, it does not only become more difficult to read the text, but also to
understand its contents since the reader must guess how the various parts of the paragraph or
text are connected, which will involve re-reading sentences or larger sections more than once.

1. Cohesion

It is the resources within language that provide continuity in a text, over and above
that is provided by clause structure and clause complexes. Halliday and Hassan (1976) claims
that cohesion is formed by the formal ties, which bind one sentence to another. There are five
headings of cohesion based by Halliday and Hassan (1976); substitution, ellipsis, conjunction
and lexical cohesion. Differently put, Cohesion: The property of flow and connection in a
written text that stems from the linguistic links among its surface elements. A paragraph has
good cohesion when each sentence is clearly linked to the next through language.

It is obviously known that texts must have a certain structure that depends on factors
quite different from those required in the structure of a single sentence. Some of those factors
are described in terms of cohesion, or the ties and connections that exist within texts. A
number of those types of cohesive ties can be identified in the followings (Yule, 2006).

The cohesive devices (ties) could be highlighted as the followings

• Reference: the replacement of words and expressions with pro-forms

(pronouns or pro-modifiers). It could be anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric.
It is reached by the use of pronominal (pronouns), demonstratives (this,
those…) and comparatives (the same, similarly, like…..)
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 • Conjunctions: the use of subordinating and /or coordinating conjunctions to
link items (sentences, clauses, words, paragraphs and texts). Conjunctions
could be additive, adversative, causal, and temporal.
• Substitution: the replacement of one item by another, the relation is in
wording rather than meaning. It could be nominal (nouns, one or ones; for
instance, I read this book, but I forget the one on the desk.), verbal (do, did as
verbs; for instance, I called him and I wanted to do.), and clausal (so, not; for
instance, has everyone gone home? I hope not.)
• Ellipsis: Ellipsis (Substitution by a zero element), e.g. Will you be there? I will
(be there). Ellipsis is the omission of a word or part of a sentence. So, it is
simply the deletion of words, expressions, or clauses.
• Lexical Cohesion: it is done by the use of some lexical items like synonyms,
reiteration, hyponyms, and so on.
2. Coherence
Yule claims that coherence is: “The key to the concept of coherence (‘everything
fitting together well’) is not something that exists in words or structures, but something that
exists in people. It is people who ‘make sense’ of what they read and hear. They try to arrive
at an interpretation that is in line with their experience of the way the world is.” (2006, 126)
More specifically, it is the property of unity in a written text that stems from the
relationship between its underlying ideas, and from the logical organization and development
of these ideas. A paragraph has good coherence when ideas are arranged in a logical order.
Coherence always means the way a text makes sense to readers and writers through
the relevance and accessibility of its configuration of concepts, ideas, and theories. According
to Reinhart (1980), coherence is made up of three elements:
• Connectedness: sentences in a text should be interconnected to each other in
terms of semantics and grammar.
• Consistency: no contradiction between sentences.
• Relevance: sentences should be relevant to the context and the topic of the text.

Therefore, Coherence means the connection of ideas at the idea level, and cohesion
means the connection of ideas at the sentence level. Basically, coherence refers to the
“rhetorical” aspects of writing, which include developing and supporting your argument (e.g.

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thesis statement development), synthesizing and integrating readings, organizing and
clarifying ideas. The cohesion of writing focuses on the “grammatical” aspects of writing.

Sometimes, texts are colored by cohesive devices; it means that they are cohesive but
in fact they lack coherence. Consider the following example:

John was reading China Daily. Newspapers published in America usually contain several
pages. The page of this book was lost. The lost child had been found by the police.

In the previous example, sentences are related to each other by some cohesive ties like
references, repetitions, and so on. But the text does not develop one single main idea and
sentences do not share anything in common at the level of meaning. So, this text could be
cohesive but never coherent. In other case, the text may contain no cohesive tie but certain
coherence is felt at the level of sentences, consider the following example.

John bought a cake at the bakeshop. The birthday card was signed by all the employees, the
party went on until after midnight.

Superficially, the text is not coherent and it lacks main cohesive ties. While, the
overall meaning is coherent because people (readers) could understand the main idea that
there is a birthday and their knowledge of the world permits them to understand that birthdays
mean cakes, require cards and celebrated through parties. See the next example.

Cognitive Pragmatic Seminar: Wednesday 26th, May, 2 PM

Place: the meeting hall in the library

Deidre Wilson: Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College, London

In this example, no cohesion was used but the ideas are quite coherent and related.

Coherence is not something that exists in language, it is in people. It is people who

make sense of what they read and listen to. If coherence is the product of paragraph unity and
sentence cohesion, cohesion is the grammatical and lexical relationships within a text or a
sentence. Henceforth, Coherence and cohesion mean that all of the parts are connected
logically and linguistically to form a whole.

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 Lecture 4: The Speech Act Theory

Consider the following sayings and arguments:

• Wittgenstein, it is a game of thoughts: “the meaning of language depends on its

actual use.”
• People follow rules to do things with the language
• Language is a game that consists of rules
• Searle argues: “to understand language, one must understand the speaker’s
intention. Since language is an intentional behavior, it should be treated like a
form of actions.”
• Searle also mentions: “understanding the speaker’s intention is essential to
capture the meaning”. “Without the speaker’s intention, it is impossible to
understand the words as speech act.”
From what has been said, it is quite agreed among linguists and language researchers
that language is made up of essential parts; starting from the intention of the speaker to
utter/produce language, the form of the language used itself, then how that language/message
is going to be understood and interpreted by the hearer. Language is said to perform given
action, in other words, language is not just a jet of words but it is the use of words to be
answered in a series of actions. Speech is action and language is used to perform things not
only to describe a state of affairs.

Getting a glass of water is an action. Asking someone else to get you one is also an
act. When we speak, our words do not have meaning in and of themselves. They are very
much affected by the situation, the speaker and the listener. Thus words alone do not have a
simple fixed meaning.

Historically, language was viewed as a way of making factual assertions (declarations)

and other uses of language were ignored. Wittgenstein came up with idea “do not ask for the
meaning, ask for its use”. The speech act theory hails of the theories of Wittgenstein believing
of the use of language in its speaking situation. The belief was based on the idea that
“Utterances do more than reflecting a meaning, they are words designed to get things done”

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 The speech act theory considers language as a sort of action rather than a medium to
convey and express idea and meaning. The Speech act theory is developed by J. L. Austin, a
British philosopher of language; he introduced this theory in 1975 in his well-known book
‘How do things with words’. Later John Searle brought the aspects of theory into much
higher dimensions. This theory is often used in the field of philosophy of languages. Austin is
the one who came up with the findings that people not only use language to assert things but
also to do things. And his followers went to greater depths based on this point.

The theory emphasizes that the utterances have a different or specific meaning
according to its user and listener other than its meaning of the language. The theory further
identifies that there are two kinds of utterances; they are called constative and performative
utterances. In his book of ‘How do things with words’ Austin clearly talks about the
disparities between the constative and performative utterances.

• Constative utterances describe or denote a situation, in relation with the fact of true or
false.

• Performative utterances do not describe anything at all. The utterances in the sentences
or in the part of sentences are normally considered as having a meaning of their own.
The feelings, attitudes, emotions and thoughts of the person performing linguistic act
are much of a principal unit here.

There are three components of the speech act theory:

• The speaker: what the speaker means/intents to convey (what is meant) (the
Illucotionary act)
• The message: the actual words of message (what is said) (the locutionary act)
• The hearer: hearer’s reaction to the speaker’s message (what happens) (the
perlocutionary act)

The different or the main three acts of the speech act theory are as follows:

1. Locutionary act – This is the act of saying something. It has a meaning and it
creates an understandable utterly to convey or express. Differently put, it is
the act of saying something (the locution) with a certain meaning in
traditional sense. This may not constitute a speech act.

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 2. Illocutionary act – It is performed as an act of saying something or as an act
of opposed to say something. The illocutionary utterance has a certain force;
it is well-versed with certain tones, attitudes, feelings, or emotions. There will
be an intention of the speaker. It is often used as a tone of warning in day
today life. It is always known as the performance of an act in saying
something (vs. the general act of saying something). The illocutionary force is
the speaker's intent. A true 'speech act'. e.g. informing, ordering, warning,
undertaking
3. Perlocutionary act – It normally creates a sense of consequential effects on
the audiences. The effects may be in the form of thoughts, imaginations,
feelings or emotions. The effect upon the addressee is the main characteristic
of perlocutionary utterances. Perlocutionary acts: Speech acts that have an
effect on the feelings, thoughts or actions of either the speaker or the listener.
In other words, they seek to change minds! Unlike locutionary acts,
perlocutionary acts are external to the performance e.g., inspiring, persuading
or deterring.

Austin himself admits that these three components of utterances are not altogether
separable. “We must consider the total situation in which the utterance is issued- the total
speech act – if we are to see the parallel between statements and performative utterance, and
how each can go wrong. Perhaps indeed there is no great distinction between statements and
performative utterances.” Austin. Searle suggested that the basic unit of linguistic
communication is speech act. It can be a word, a phrase, a sentence or a sound; it should
fulfill the task of expressing the intention of the user. Understanding the user’s intention can
lead to complete understanding of the speech act.

Searle (1969) identified 5 illocutionary points. The speaker’s intention or purpose could be:
1. Assertives: statements may be judged true or false because they aim to describe a state
of affairs in the world (convey information). Eg, John is in jailed
2. Directives: statements attempt to make the other person's actions fit the propositional
content (make a request). Eg, Will you take notes for me!
3. Commissives: statements which commit the speaker to a course of action as described
by the propositional content (make a commitment). Eg, I will take you to Disneyland.

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 4. Expressives: statements that express the “sincerity condition of the speech act”
(express an emotion). Eg, I am afraid of the new teacher.
5. Declaratives: statements that attempt to change the world by “representing it as
having been changed” (create a new state of affairs). Eg, we, the jury, find the
defendant guilty.

The illocutionary act could be explicit if performative verbs are clearly used as in “I
order you to leave the city”. But it would be considered implicit if the intention is meant more
than clearly mentioned, eg. “Leave the city”.

Many scholars identify 'speech acts' with illocutionary acts, rather than locutionary or
perlocutionary acts. As with the notion of illocutionary acts, there are different opinions on
the nature of speech acts. The extension of speech acts is commonly taken to include such acts
as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting someone and congratulating.

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 Lecture 5: Felicity Conditions

Why the words “I now pronounce husband and wife” do not create a legal marriage
between two people when uttered in the context of a movie?

Considering the previous situation or question, it is clearly understood and believed

that a sentence can be unsuccessful when we mispronounce it or produce an ungrammatical
sentence. But even a perfectly well-formed sentence can be wrong in the sense that it is
situationally inappropriate. In order to be successful, a speech act needs to be performed along
certain types of conditions. Practically speaking, In order to "do things with words", certain
things must be true of the context in which speech acts are uttered. Therefore, a sentence must
not only be grammatical to be correctly performed, it must also be felicitous. Unlike
constative utterances, performative utterances do not depend on truth conditions in order to be
meaningful, but on certain appropriateness or felicity conditions.

In J. L. Austin's formulation of speech act theory, a performative utterance is neither

true nor false, but can instead be deemed "felicitous" or "infelicitous" according to a set of
conditions whose interpretation differs depending on whether the utterance in question is a
declaration ("I sentence you to death"), a request ("I ask that you stop doing that") or a
warning ("I warn you not to jump off the roof").

Felicitous speech acts are performative utterances that meet felicity conditions or
appropriate circumstances of happy speech acts. Hurford et.al. (2007: 282) claims that:

“The felicity conditions of an illocutionary act are conditions that must be fulfilled
in the situation in which the act is carried out if the act is to be said to be carried out
properly or felicitously. One of the felicity conditions for the illocutionary act of
ordering is that the speaker must be superior to, or in authority over, the hearer.
Thus, if a servant says to the Queen ‘Open the window’, there is a certain
incongruity, or anomalousness, or infelicity in the act (of ordering) carried out, but
if the Que en says ‘Open the window’ to the servant, there is no infelicity”.

These conditions were categorized by the linguist John Searle, who introduced the
term appropriateness conditions respectively felicity conditions

1. Propositional Content Conditions: require the participants to understand

language, not to act like actors or to lie permanently, e.g. a promise or warning
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 must be about the future. Propositional content condition explains about the
illocutionary forces specify the acceptable conditions regarding with propositional
content. In other words, it is the proposed condition of the speaker or hearer. For
the act of promising for example: the speaker should express the promise in his
utterance and should predicate a future action
2. Preparatory conditions: mean that the utterances have clear purpose behind
uttering them. For instance, in ordering you cannot order if the hearer is already
doing or about to do the action. Yule (1996) believes that to perform an act of
warning, we need the following preparatory conditions:
• It is not clear that the hearer knows the event will occur
• The speaker thinks that the event will occur
• The event will not have a beneficial effect

Lyons (1977) argues that preparatory condition means that participants

(speaker) have the right and the authority to perform speech act like in
ordering, someone should be superior in a position to order. Differently
explained, the participants are in the correct state to have that act performed on
them, and so on -- the marriage performed by an utterance like (l) cannot
happen unless the participants are of age, and not already married, and unless
the person who says the words has the authority to marry people.

The preparatory condition requires that the speech act is embedded in a context
that is conventionally recognized, thus, just by uttering a promise, the event
will not happen by itself

3. Sincerity conditions, obviously necessary in the case of verbs like apologize

and promise. It requires that the speaker is sincere in uttering the declaration, for
example: a promise is only effective if the speaker intends to carry it out, or for
apologizing the speaker should believe that the thing which he is apologizing for is
morally wrong.
4. Essential Conditions: It requires that the involved parties (participants) all intend
the result, as for a promise changes state of the speaker from obligation to non-
obligation. It means that in performing the speech act requires the commitment of
both speaker and hearer to do the actions which are expressed by their utterances;
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 the essential feature for the act of “promising” is the understanding of an
obligation to perform certain promise.

Some of the felicity conditions on questions and requests as speech acts can be
described as follows, where "S" = speaker; "H" = hearer; "P" = some state of affairs; and "A"
= some action.

A. S questions H about P.
1. S does not know the truth about P.
2. S wants to know the truth about P.
3. S believes that H may be able to supply the information about P that S wants.

B. S requests H to do A.
1. S believes A has not yet been done.
2. S believes that H is able to do A.
3. S believes that H is willing to do A-type things for S.
4. S wants A to be done.

We can see what happens when some of these conditions are absent. In classrooms, for
example, one reason that children may resent teachers' questions is that they know that there
is a violation of A.1: the teacher already knows the answer. A violation of B.2 can turn a
request into a joke: "Would you please tell it to stop raining?"

These conditions are not always provided and in case they are absent so the situation is
described as infelicitous. Results in a performative ‘unhappy’ or infelicitous performative or a
‘misfire’, here are some examples:

• For instance: a registrar or a priest conducting a marriage ceremony in an

unauthorized place will violate condition, thus committing a misfire.

• If a judge utters ‘I sentence you to life imprisonment’ not in court but in the
shower.
• When a president declares war to another country not via the official
procedures but within an informal setting, when he merely voices his thought
or intentions.
• A command cannot be issued by a particular person of lower status or power
to another particular person of higher status or power.

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 • A promise is usually issued in relation to some future act, while an apology
indicates regret for a past action speaker feels responsible for. In addition, he
formulates a sincerity condition, specifying that the persons must have the
requisite thoughts, feelings and intentions, as specified in the procedure.

If the sincerity condition is violated, there is a case of what Austin calls an ‘abuse’
(DINU, 2012).

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 Lecture 6: Cross-Cultural Pragmatics

Learners and language users can easily learn language from a grammar book, but the
question is, Could they communicate effectively and successfully in all situations and
contexts according to the grammar they learnt?

Cross Cultural Pragmatics takes the point of view that individuals from different
societies or communities interact according to their own pragmatic norms, often resulting in a
clash of expectations and, ultimately, misperceptions about the other group. The
misperceptions are typically two-way; that is, each group misperceives the other. In an age in
which cross-cultural interaction is the norm not only across societies but also within them,
different rules of speaking have the potential to cause stereotypes, prejudice, and
discrimination against entire groups of people. Research in the area of CCP can greatly aid in
ameliorating these consequences (Boxer, 2002).

Cross-culture pragmatics, as a new subject of language study, is based on the

developments of pragmatics theories. It hybrids Anthropology, Translation, Communication,
Sociology and Pragmatics together and gets wide influence on future language study. Scholars
from different countries are always focusing on the problems which language learners always
made in their second language using to compare with their native language comprehension.
Cross-culture pragmatics is the study of interrelationship communication between people who
are from different culture backgrounds. So behind the language usage differences is the huge
diversity of cultures which influence the actions and thinking of people.

Cross-culture pragmatics developed since 1950s in America when Chomsky 1957

developed his grammar-based approach to language acquisition. Lado (1957) had published
his book "Linguistics Across Culture" which can be considered as a milestone to cross-culture
pragmatics.

Pragmatics as a main concept means the study of meaning in context. It deals with
particular utterance in particular discourse and situation and is especially concerned with the
various ways in which many social contexts of language performance can influence
interpretation. In other words, pragmatics is concerned with the way language is used to
communicate rather than the way it is structured.

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 Cross Cultural Pragmatics aims at understanding the extent to which non-shared

knowledge affects and modifies the retrieval of intended meaning (Wanphet, 2013). Language

would not be understood as meaning because of mismatches

• Intention and interpretation

• Limited mutual understandings

• Cultural biases

As a matter of facts, conversant (participants) reply mainly on their own culture when
communicating with others and also when interpreting what is communicated by others. For
communication to be that successful, participants or the users of language should have as
shared as possible. Different approaches, conventions were developed to govern the use of
language and how people from different cultures holding different backgrounds and identities
could succeed their interactions; even within the same culture, misunderstanding and
communication clashes can occur. For that reason and others, linguists introduce some
maxims and principles which could help people communication.

1. Grice Maxims

We often communicate verbal messages somewhat unconsciously, or with certain

unawareness. Other times, we can be acutely aware of exactly how we formulate a phrase,
with a specific goal in mind. Regardless of motive or awareness, Paul Grice
(1975) developed a principle of conversation ( ‘Cooperative Principle’) in which he claims
that in order to effectively communicate, both speaker and listener must adhere to general
principles of conversation referred to as the Gricean Maxims

Each of these states basic requirements that must be fulfilled in order for messages to
be transferred between speakers. When a maxim is violated, communication breaks down.
A maxim can also be ‘flouted’ such that it is violated so flagrantly, that both speaker and
listener understand the covert message being inferred or implied. Below are examples of each
of the four Gricean Maxims, with examples of violations

1. Maxim of Quantity
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The maxim of quantity requires the speaker’s contribution to be as informative as one
possibly can, and gives as much information as needed, and no more.
Example of following the rule:
A: What time do you work tomorrow?
B: Tomorrow I work at 2pm.
In the example, B responds to A’s question without adding other information.
Example of violating the rule:
A: Do you have school tomorrow?
B: I have classes all day but I must go to the doctor when I’m finished.
In the example, B violates the maxim because too much information, rather than providing a
yes or no answer
Maxim of Quality
The maxim of quality requires the speaker to be truthful, and that they do not give information
that is false or that is not supported by evidence.
Example of following the rule:
A: Why were you late last night?
B: My car broke down.
In the example, B gives truthful information that the car broke down and that’s why they were
late.
Example of violating the rule:
A: Is Reno in Mexico?
B: Sure, and Philadelphia is in Florida.
In the example B provides incorrect information to A, violating the maxim
Maxim of Relevance
The maxim of relevance requires the speaker to provide relevant information to the
discussion, avoiding things that are not pertinent to the discussion
Example of following the rule:
A: How is the weather today?
B: It is rainy and cloudy.
In the example, B provides accurate information that is relevant to A’s question.
Example of violating the rule:
A: Where is my Halloween candy?
B: Mine is missing too.
In the example, B does not provide a relevant answer to A’s question, instead something
completely unrelated is said
Maxim of Manner
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The maxim of manner requires the speaker to be clear, brief, and as orderly as one can in what
they say, and where they avoid obscurity of expression and ambiguity.
Example of following the rule:
A: Where was the professor when class ended?
B: She left class and went to her office.
In the example, B responds with orderly information to the question posed by A.
Example of violating the rule:
A: How is Kate today?
B: She’s the usual.
In the example, B violates the maxim by responding with a statement that is ambiguous; the 2
perceptions of Kate could be different

A speaker, who is assumed to be cooperative, can be interpreted as meaning more than

he literally says, either by following the maxims or by intentionally flouting them.

2. Politeness Principles
Politeness concerns a relationship between self and other. In conversation, self is
identified as the speaker and other is the hearer. Besides that, the speaker also shows
politeness to the third parties who may be present or not. The politeness principle (PP) is
introduced by Geoffrey Leech (1983). PP is Minimizing (other things being equal) the
expression of impolite beliefs, and there is a corresponding positive version (maximizing
(other things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs) which is somewhat less important.
PP proposes how to produce and understand language based on politeness. The purpose of PP
is to establish feeling of community and social relationship. Thus, PP focuses on process of
interpretation that the center of the study is on the effect of the hearer rather than the speaker.
There are six maxims of the politeness principle that are used to explain relationship between
sense and force in daily conversation, those are:

1. The Tact maxim: The tact maxim is minimizing the cost to others and maximizing
benefit to others. This maxim is applied in Searle’s speech act, commissives and directives
called by Leech as impositives (imposing, giving orders) (minimizing the maximum giving
direct orders to others). The example of the tact maxim is as follows: “Won‘t you sit
down?”It is the directive/ impositive utterance. This utterance is spoken to ask the hearer
sitting down. The speaker uses indirect utterance to be more polite and minimizing cost to the
hearer. This utterance implies that sitting down is benefit to the hearer.

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 The Generosity Maxim: The generosity maxim states to minimizing benefit to self
and maximizing cost to self. Like tact maxim, the generosity maxim occurs in commissives
and directives/ impositives. This maxim is centered to self, while the tact maxim is to other.
The example will be illustrated as follows: “You must come and dinner with us.” (Being
generous is shown in the use of language, another example, “it is raining out, would you like
to get a ride”). In this case the speaker implies that cost of the utterance is to his self.
Meanwhile, the utterance implies that benefit is for the hearer.

The Approbation Maxim: The approbation maxim requires minimizing dispraise of

other and maximizing praise of other. This maxim instructs to avoid saying unpleasant things
about others and especially about the hearer. Meanwhile, expressive are utterances that show
the speaker feeling. The example is sampled below. A: “The performance was great!” B:
“Yes, wasn’t it!” In the example, A gives a good comment about the performance. He talks
about the pleasant thing about others. This expression is a congratulation utterance that
maximizes praise of other. Thus this utterance is included the approbation maxim.

The Modesty Maxim: In the modesty maxim, the participants must minimize praise
of self and maximize dispraise of self. Both the approbation maxim and the modesty maxim
concern to the degree of good or bad evaluation of other or self that is uttered by the speaker.
The approbation maxim is exampled by courtesy of congratulation. On other hand, the
modesty maxim usually occurs in apologies. The sample of the modesty maxim is below.
“Please accept this small gift as prize of your achievement.” “How stupid was I?” In this
case, the utterance above is categorized as the modesty maxim because the speaker maximizes
dispraise of himself. The speaker notices his utterance by using “small gift”.

The Agreement Maxim: In the agreement maxim, there is tendency to maximize

agreement between self and other people and minimize disagreement between self and other.
The disagreement, in this maxim, usually is expressed by regret or partial agreement. There
example will be illustrated below: A: “English is a difficult language to learn.” B: “True, but
the grammar is quite easy.” From the example, B actually does not agree that all part of
English language difficult to learn. He does not express his disagreement strongly to be more
polite. The polite answer will influence the effect of the hearer. In this case, B’s answer
minimizes his disagreement using partial agreement, “true, but…”

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 The Sympathy Maxim: The sympathy maxim explains to minimize antipathy
between self and other and maximize sympathy between self and other. In this case, the
achievement being reached by other must be congratulated. On other hand, the calamity
happens to other, must be given sympathy or condolences. The example is as follows. “I’m
terribly sorry to hear about your father.” It is a condolence expression which is expressed the
sympathy for misfortune. This utterance is uttered when the hearer gets calamity of father’s
died or sick. This expression shows the solidarity between the speaker and the hearer. (Cited
in Awin, 2016)

Such principle, if they are well respected by the participants (especially speakers) of
language, they would help overcoming the cultural clashes and the linguistic differences
between users of different language in various communities with different cultural
backgrounds.

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 Lecture 7: Speech Event

Speech is used in many different ways among different groups of people and each group has
its own norms of linguistic behavior (language). In order to analyze the language of specific groups, it
is necessary to rely on some clearly defined frameworks for ethnographical study of speech. Hymes
(1974) proposed three levels of analysis, namely, speech situation, speech event and speech acts that
‘speech event’ analysis is the most important one dealing with particular instances of speech
exchanging, like exchange of greeting, enquiry and etc. (Richards & Schmidt, 2002). In order to
analyze speech events, some factors should be considered. One of the most comprehensive lists of

such factors is Hymes’ SPEAKING term which is the abbreviation for setting, participants, ends, act

sequences, key, instrumentalities, and genre; The Analysis of Speech Events and Hymes'...

All social activities, in which language plays an important role, can be referred to
as speech events. However, this does not reduce the term to spoken conversation because it
also includes the wide range of written communication.

Whatever type of conversation we are looking at, we will find that it is always
underlying a certain structure and that people follow certain (culturally specific) "rules" and
rituals. In a conversation, the interlocutors (the people talking to each other) generally face
each other and do not speak simultaneously. Most people start their conversations greeting
one another then continue in a turn-taking way of speaking (without interrupting each other
too often). At the end of the conversation, people have, at the best, finished what they wanted
to say and say goodbye to each other in an appropriate way.

Briefly defined, speech event is the social interactional event involving

communication; how speech resources of the community are largely put to use. Hymes
pointed some basic components of a speech event (mnemonic version):

• Setting- scene situation

• Participants- Speaker, Receiver, other
• Ends- outcomes and goals
• Act sequences- form and content
• Key- manner
• Instrumentalities- Channel, code
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 • Norms- of behavior and interpretation
• Genre- style, e.g. lecture, chat

Speech event is a type of communicative event in which speech is the main

component. We regard meeting, conference, summit, wedding, funerals, elections, party,
primaries, exam, etc, as belonging to a group of ‘complex speech events’. We use this term to
oppose such events as greeting or small talk with evidently less complex structure.

The term ‘speech event’ has been introduced by D. Hymes for the needs of the
ethnography of communication (Hymes, 1972; Gumperz, 1982). In the ethnography of
communication an approach for analysis and interpretation of typical forms of speech
communication in different cultures has been worked out (Coulthard, 1985).

The notion ‘event’ is used in different fields of linguistics and has been discussed a lot
in linguistic philosophy, cognitive psychology, cognitive linguistics, semantics, the theory of
speech genres and the theory of communication (Goffman 1974; Bakhtin 1979; Arutunova
1988; Goldin 1997; Iriskhanova 1997; McCarthy 2001).

D. Hymes (1972) distinguishes between elementary and complex speech events. V.Ye.
Goldin (1997) develops the ideas of D. Hymes and defines complex speech events as
communicative events characterized by a complex structure and which are planned,
controlled, of particular social importance, with a significant speech component.

System of names of speech events in a language is heterogeneous. We divide the

names of complex speech events (and therefore events denoted by them) into groups
according to a particular communicative sphere they belong to. Complex speech events
belong to the sphere of politics (summit, visit, coronation, etc.), business (negotiations, board
meeting, presentation, job interview, etc.), law (trial, cross-examination, etc.), education
(exam, seminar, lecture, etc.), mass media (interview, chat-show, etc.), etc.

Applying the approach of ethnolinguistics (Tolstoj, 1995) to the study of complex

speech events, we may find the following components of a speech event structure:
communicative roles of participants, speech component in the form of different speech
genres, actions (movements of participants – e.g. people stand up to the sounds of a national
anthem or greeting the judge) and ‘symbolic’ objects associated with the event (e.g. a
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wedding dress, a certificate, a flag, etc.). The similar approach to the study was offered in the
ethnography of communication.

Complex speech events are heterogeneous not only due to their different social
encounters but due to the significance of a speech component in them. Thus,
a briefing and debates demonstrate a domineering role of the speech component, while
a reception and a party are characterized also by a number of rituals (Lugovaya. 2011)

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 TD Presentations Schedule

Students go on a presentation every week; each group is made up of three students

Groups of students Topics of presentations

First group Discourse analysis and Grammar

Second group Discourse Analysis and Syntax

Third group Discourse Analysis and Morphology

Fourth group Discourse Analysis and Vocabulary

Fifth group Discourse Analysis and Phonology

Sixth group Discourse Analysis and Semantics

Seventh group Discourse Analysis and Pragmatics

Eight group Discourse Analysis and Contrastive Analysis

Nineth group Discourse Analysis and Error Analysis

Tenth group Discourse Analysis and Translation

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