语言学第6章习题

Supplementary Exercises

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

1. Both semantics and pragmatics study how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication

2. Pragmatics treats the meaning of language as something intrinsic and inherent.

3. It would be impossible to give an adequate description of meaning if the context of language use was left unconsidered.

4. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered.

5. The major difference between a sentence and an utterance is that a sentence is not uttered while an utterance is.

6. The meaning of a sentence is abstract, but context-dependent.

7. The meaning of an utterance is decontexualized, therefore stable.

8. Utterances always take the form of complete sentences

9. Speech act theory was originated with the British philosopher John Searle.

10. Speech act theory started in the late 50’s of the 20th century.

11. Austin made the distinction between a constative and a performative.

12. Perlocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention.

II. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given:

13. P_________ is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication.

14. What essentially distinguishes s_______ and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered.

15. The notion of c_________ is essential to the pragmatic study of language.

16. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes an u___________.

17. The meaning of a sentence is a_______, and decontexualized.

18. C________ were statements that either state or describe, and were thus verifiable.

19. P________ were sentences that did not state a fact or describe a state, and were not verifiable.

20. A l_________ act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology.

21. An i__________ act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention; it is the act performed in saying something.

22. A c_________ is commit the speaker himself to some future course of action.

23. An e________ is to express feelings or attitude towards an existing state.

24. There are four maxims under the cooperative principle: the maxim of q_______, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maxim of manner.

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

25. _________ does not study meaning in isolation, but in context.

A. Pragmatics B. Semantics

C. Sense relation D. Concept

26. The meaning of language was considered as something _______ in traditional semantics.

A. contextual B. behaviouristic

C. intrinsic D. logical

27. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning _________ is considered.

A. reference B. speech act

C. practical usage D. context

28. A sentence is a _________ concept, and the meaning of a sentence is often studied in isolation.

A. pragmatic B. grammatical

C. mental D. conceptual

29. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes a(n) _________.

A. constative B. directive

C. utterance D. expressive

30. Which of the following is true?

A. Utterances usually do not take the form of sentences.

B. Some utterances cannot be restored to complete sentences.

C. No utterances can take the form of sentences.

D. All utterances can be restored to complete sentences.

31. Speech act theory did not come into being until __________.

A. in the late 50’s of the 20the century

B. in the early 1950’s

C. in the late 1960’s

D. in the early 21st century.

32. __________ is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.

A. A locutionary act B. An illocutionary act

C. A perlocutionary act D. A performative act

33. According to Searle, the illocutionary point of the representative is ______.

A. to get the hearer to do something

B. to commit the speaker to something’s being the case

C. to commit the speaker to some future course of action

D. to express the feelings or attitude towards an existing state of affairs.

34. All the acts that belong to the same category share the same purpose, but they differ __________.

A. in their illocutionary acts.

B. in their intentions expressed

C. in their strength or force

D. in their effect brought about

35. __________ is advanced by Paul Grice

A. Cooperative Principle

B. Politeness Principle

C. The General Principle of Universal Grammar

D. Adjacency Principle

36. When any of the maxims under the cooperative principle is flouted, _______ might arise.

A. impoliteness B. contradictions

C. mutual understanding D. conversational implicatures

I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:

l. F 2. F 3.T 4.T 5.F 6.F 7.F 8.F 9.F 10.T 11.T 12.F

II. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given:

13. Pragmatics 14. semantics 15. context 16. utterance 17. abstract

18.Constatives 19. Performatives 20. locutionary 21. illocutionary

22. commissive 23. expressive 24. quantity

III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:

25. A 26.C 27.D 28.B 29.C 30.B

31.A 32.C 33.B 34.C 35. A 36.D

IV. Define the terms below:

37. pragmatics 38. context 39. utterance meaning

40. sentence meaning 41. constative 42. performative

43. locutionary act 44. illocutionary act 45. perlocutionary act 46.. Cooperative Principle

V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:

47. How are semantics and pragmatics different from each other?

48. How does a sentence differ from an utterance?

49. How does a sentence meaning differ from an utterance meaning?

50. Discuss in detail the locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act.

51. Searle classified illocutionary act into five categories. Discuss each of them in detail with examples.

52. What are the four maxims under the cooperative principle?

53. How does the flouting of the maxims give rise to conversational implicatures?

Suggested answers to supplementary exercises:

IV. Define the terms below:

37. pragmatics: Pragmatics can be defined as the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication.

38. Context: Generally speaking, it consists of the knowledge that is shared by the speaker and the hearer. The shared knowledge is of two types: the knowledge of the language they use, and the knowledge about the world, including the general knowledge about the world and the specific knowledge about the situation in which linguistic communication is taking place.

39. utterance meaning: the meaning of an utterance is concrete, and context-dependent. Utterance is based on sentence meaning; it is realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context.

40. sentence meaning: The meaning of a sentence is often considered as the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of a predication.

41. Constative: Constatives were statements that either state or describe, and were verifiable ;

42. Performative: performatives, on the other hand, were sentences that did not state a fact or describe a state, and

were not verifiable. Their function is to perform a particular speech act.

43. locutionary act: A locutionary act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology.

44. illocutionary act: An illocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker's intention; it is the act performed in saying something.

45. perlocutionary act: A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance; it is the act performed by saying something.

46. Cooperative Principle: It is principle advanced by Paul Grice. It is a principle that guides our conversational behaviours. The content is : Make your conversational contribution such as is required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary:

47. How are semantics and pragmatics different from each other?

Traditional semantics studied meaning, but the meaning of language was considered as something intrinsic, and inherent, i.e. a property attached to language itself. Therefore, meanings of words, meanings of sentences were all studied in an isolated manner, detached from the context in which they were used. Pragmatics studies meaning not in isolation, but in context. The essential distinction between semantics and pragmatics is whether the context of use is considered in the study of meaning . If it is not considered, the study is restricted to the area of traditional semantics; if it is considered, the study is being carried out in the area of pragmatics.

48. How does a sentence differ from an utterance?

A sentence is a grammatical concept. It usually consists of a subject and predicate. An utterance is the unit of communication. It is the smallest linguistic unit that has a communicative value. If we regard a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes an utterance. Whether “Mary is beautiful.” is a sentence or an utterance depends on how we look at it. If we regard it as a grammatical unit or a self-contained unit in isolation, then it is a sentence. If we look at it as something uttered in a certain situation with a certain purpose, then it is an utterance. Most utterances take the form of complete sentences, but some utterances are not, and some cannot even be restored to complete sentences.

49. How does a sentence meaning differ from an utterance meaning?

A sentence meaning is often considered as the intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of a predication. It is abstract and independent of context. The meaning of an utterance is concrete, and context-dependent. The utterance meaning is based on sentence meaning; it is realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context. For example, “There is a dog at the door”. The speaker could utter it as a matter- of- fact statement, telling the hearer that the dog is at the door. The speaker could use it as a warning, asking the hearer not to approach the door. There are other possibilities, too. So, the understanding of the utterance meaning of “There is a dog at the door” depends on the context in which it is uttered and the purpose for

which the speaker utters it.

50. Discuss in detail the locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act.

A locutionary act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology. An illocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker's intention; it is the act performed in saying something. A perlocutionary act is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance; it is the act performed by saying something. For example:

You have left the door wide open.

The locutionary act performed by the speaker is that he has uttered all the words " you,' " have," " door," " left," " open," etc. and expressed what the word literally mean.

The illocutionary act performed by the speaker is that by making such an utterance, he has expressed his intention of asking the hearer to close the door.

The perlocutionary act refers to the effect of the utterance. If the hearer understands that the speaker intends him to close the door and closes the door, the speaker has successfully brought about the change in the real world he has intended to; then the perlocutiohary act is successfully performed .

51. Searle classified illocutionary act into five categories. Discuss each of them in detail with examples.

1) representatives: representatives are used to state, to describe, to report, etc.. The illocutionary point of the representatives is to commit the speaker to something's being the case, to the truth of what has been said. For example:

(I swear) I have never seen the man before.

(I state) the earth is a globe.

2) directives: Directives are attempts by the speaker to get the hearer to do something. Inviting, suggesting, requesting, advising, warning, threatening, ordering are all specific instances of this class.

For example:

Open the window!

3) commissives: Commissives are those illocutionary acts whose point is to commit the speaker to some future course of action. When the speaker is speaking, he puts himself under obligation. For example:

I promise to come.

I will bring you the book tomorrow without fail.

4) expressives: The illocutionary point of expressives is to express the psychological state specified in the utterance. The speaker is expressing his feelings or attitude towards an existing state of affairs, e.g. apologizing, thanking, congratulating. For example:

I'm sorry for the mess I have made.

5) declarations: Declarations have the characteristic that the successful performance of such an act brings about the

correspondence between what is said and reality. For example:

I now declare the meeting open.

52. What are the four maxims under the cooperative principle?

The maxim of quantity

1. Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the exchange) .

2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

The maxim of quality

1. Do not say what you believe to be false.

2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

The maxim of relation

Be relevant.

The maxim of manner

1. Avoid obscurity of expression.

2. Avoid ambiguity.

3. Be brief ( avoid unnecessary prolixity) .

4. Be orderly.

53. How does the flouting of the maxims give rise to conversational implicatures?

A: Do you know where Mr. Smith lives?

B: Somewhere in the southern suburbs of the city.

This is said when both A and B know that B does know Mr. Smith' s address. Thus B does not give enough information that is required, and he has flouted the maxim of quantity. Therefore, such conversational implicature as "I do not wish to tell you where Mr. Smith lives" is produced.

A: Would you like to come to our party tonight?

B: I'm afraid I' m not feeling so well today.

This is said when both A and B know that B is not having any health problem that will prevent him from going to a party. Thus B is saying something that he himself knows to be false and he is violating the maxim of quality. The conversational implicature " I do not want to go to your party tonight" is then produced.

A: The hostess is an awful bore. Don't you think?

B: The roses in the garden are beautiful, aren't they?

This is said when both A and B know that it is entirely possible for B to make a comment on the hostess. Thus

B is saying something irrelevant to what A has just said, and he has flouted the maxim of relation. The conver-sational implicature "I don't wish to talk about the hostess in such a rude manner" is produced.

A: Shall we get something for the kids?

B: Yes. But I veto I - C - E - C - R - E - A - M.

This is said when both A and B know that B has no difficulty in pronouncing the word "ice-cream." Thus B has flouted the maxim of manner. The conversational implicature "I don’t want the kids to know we are talking about ice-cream" is then produced.

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