Easy coverage of the main points in pragmatic theory.

1. Conversation

2. Hamlet’s Monolog

3. Monolog

4. Dialog
• A: To be or not to be, that is the question.
• B: Are you sure that is the question? I can
think of other questions …
• A: Shut up.

5. What is communication?
• Communication is …
• …the exchange of information

6. How much communication here?

7. Sometimes conversation is one way

8. Sometimes we have nothing to say

9. Try to think of “ideal” conversations

10. Think of a really good conversation

11. Does Semantics say anything about
conversation?

12. Not just politeness

13. More than one person

14. Not just talking to yourself

15. Conversations have contexts

16. All kinds of situations

17. Although we sometimes talk to non-
humans…

18. Even when we cannot understand
them

19. Try to think about “normal” human
communication

20. Conversation is “Goal-directed”

21. Speakers have intentions

22. Different points of view

23. But still cooperative

24. Is conversation ALWAYS cooperative?

25. Maybe not

26. Remember, we’re talking about IDEAL
conversations

27. Trying to make sense of things in all
kinds of situations

28. Talking about feelings

29. Making plans, solving problems etc

30. We recognize INTENTIONS

31. Figuring out what our conversation
partners MEAN?

32. How about animals?

33. Do animals recognize the intentions of
other animals?

34. Is this like HUMAN communication?

35. Communicative spirit of cooperation

36. What are the principles of
conversation?

37. Deixis: difficult word, easy idea

38. Say you find a message in a bottle on a
beach somewhere

39. • The message reads:
• Please contact me at
messageinabottle@gmail.com
• Tell me where you found the bottle

40. No problem
• You send a message by mail
• Give the information
• You have a dialog

41. Now imagine another bottle with
another message…

42. • The message reads:
• We can do that if you meet me there after this.
• Who is “we”, who is “me”, am I “you”?
• What action is “that”
• Where is “there”?
• What is “this”?

43. Told you it was easy!

44. These words are Deictic Elements
• We can do that if you meet me there after this.
• We
• That
• You
• Me
• There
• This

45. Deixis
• Time
• Place
• Person
• Discourse

46. Deixis elements

47. Local Reference: relative positions

48. The rabbit is in front of the tree

49. Turn taking

50. Slightly idealized view of
communication

51. Sometimes things go wrong

54. The main principle of communication

55. The cooperative principle

56. We’re always trying to make sense of
what people say

57. Even when what people say doesn’t
seem to make sense

58. We remain open and try to understand

59. We follow Grice’s Maxims

60. The Cooperative Principle

61. What am I implying

62. English Conversation textbooks

63. Conversations take place in context
(situations)

64. Do we need to learn about situations?

65. Don’t we already know about
cooperation?

66. Cooperation

67. Grice’s Maxims

68. Be Truthful

69. Don’t say too much or too little

70. Be relevant

71. Be clear

73. We cooperate to find meaning

74. Or to find relevant meaning?

75. So we’re always cooperating

76. Cooperative Principle PLUS

78. Maxim of Quantity
• Don’t say too much
• Don’t say too little

79. Maxim of Quantity
A: Did you steal two of my cakes?
B: I certainly did not steal two of your cakes?
(Actually, I stole four of your cakes)

80. Maxim of Quantity
A: What time is it?
B: It’s four fifty five and twenty seven seconds…
Twenty eight seconds
Twenty nine seconds
Thirty seconds…
A: Shut up!

81. Maxim of Quantity
A: Could you tell me the way to the station
please?
B: I am a student of philosophy who enjoys
playing the piano and it is down the road on
the right.

82. Maxim of Quantity
A: You dropped your ticket.
B: Thank you and my mother has a cold today.

83. Maxim of Quantity

84. Maxim of Quality
• Speak the truth
• Do not say anything that is false

85. Not so easy sometimes

87. What?

88. Sometimes we DON‘T obey these
maxims

89. Maxim of Quality
Do we always tell the truth?
Always?
For example …

90. Maxim of Quality
A: I nearly died?
B: Really?
A: No, not really.

91. Maxim of Quality
A: When I saw the police car, I pooped in my
pants.
B: Really?
A: No, not really.

92. Maxim of Quality
A: I studied so hard my brain exploded.
B: Really?
A: No, not really.

93. Maxim of Quality
A: The teacher is going to kill you!
B: Really?
A: No, not really.

94. Really?

95. Why are these statements NOT really
true?

96. What is our intention?

97. The Maxim of Relation

98. The Maxim of Relation
• Actually, a bit like the maxim of quantity
• So maybe it’s not so relevant

99. Maxim of Relation
• Only say things that are relevant
• Don’t say irrelevant things

100. Relevance theory: finding relevance is
central

101. Relevance is related to cooperation

102. Some people give the same
information over and over

103. Even when it is irrelevant

104. Maxim of Relation.
A: I really like drama.
B: I’m not interested.
A: I have tickets for the theater tonight.
B: I don’t care.
A: Would you like to see it with me?
B: No.
A: I find the quandary the protagonist finds …
B: Shut up and go away.

105. Maxim of Manner
• Keep things simple
• And easy to understand
• Don’t be too complicated

108. Maxim of manner
A: I really like the protagonist in this move?
B: You like the what?
A: The protagonist.
B: What?
A: The main character.
B: Oh.

109. Maxim of Manner
A: I think Jim is overly lackadaisical in his
approach to his academic endeavors.
B: What?
A: Jim is lazy.

110. Pirates: Maxim of Manner

111. Maxim of Manner
Elizabeth: I am here to negotiate the cessation
of hostilities against Port Royal.
Barbossa: What?
Elizabeth: I want you to leave and never come
back.

112. Maxim of Manner
Elizabeth: Leave and never come back.
Barbossa: I am disinclined to acquiesce to your
request.
Elizabeth: What?
Barbossa: No.

113. Maxim of manner: metaphor

114. The maxim of manner and metaphor

115. Grice’s Maxim
• Interesting …
• ... but we almost never ...
• …obey them

116. Grice’s maxims
• We almost never obey them
• We violate them all the time
• Are they useful?

117. We violate them for a reason

118. She is a shining star in her class
• It’s a metaphor
• It’s not literally true
• It’s kind of saying too much
• It may not really be so clear
• But the speaker seems to intend something

119. • He is a big baby
• You’re a chicken
• He is the class clown
• All the world’s a stage
• Life’s a roller coaster ride
• The grey eyed morning smiles on the frowning
night

120. We get relevant implications

121. Simile
• My dog smells like dirty socks
• She is as sharp as a tack
• Her eyes are as blue as the ocean
• You’re a weasel
• No, I’m like a weasel

122. So we’re violating these principles all
the time!
• What’s going on?
• We do it for a reason
• We have intentions

123. Implicature
A: I’m hungry
B: I’ll get my cell phone out.
(I’ll look for a restaurant, or a supermarket,
order a pizza etc.)

124. Implicature
A: Would you like to go for a jog with me?
B: Today is my rest day.
(So I’m not running today)

125. Implicature
A: It’s hot in here.
(Can you open the window)
B: I’ll open the window.

126. Implicature
(The room smells funny because B has been
eating or something…)
A: It’s hot in here.
(It’s not really hot but please open the window)
B: I’ll put the air conditioner on.

127. Implicature
A: When are you going to give me my money
back?
B: Wow! It’s really hot in here!

128. Does the Pope wear a funny hat?

129. Is that relevant?

130. Relevant meaning

131. Meaning in context

132. Words mean what we WANT them to
mean?

133. Quiz
• How is human communication and animal
communication different?
• Maybe humans realize other humans have
intentions
• Maybe humans recognize culture
• Maybe human language is better

134. What is a monolog?
• One person talking

135. What is a dialog?
• Two (maybe more) people talking

136. If I put my fingers in my ears when you
are talking to me …
• Am I communicating?
• Maybe I’m communicating the fact that I don’t
want to communicate?

137. What is Deixis?
• Pointing words such as
• This
• That
• Then

138. Give an example of a good message in
a bottle
• My address is …
• My email address is ...
• (Maybe a monolog)

139. Untruthful statement
• I literally had a heart attack!
• When I saw the police car, I pooped in my
pants!
• What is communicated?
• Emphasis?
• Really surprised, for example?

140. Long (or difficult) ways of saying words
• Find out
• Ascertain
• Determine
• Etc.

141. • Tired
• Exhausted
• Fatigued
• Suffering from extreme exhaustion

142. • Study
• Research

143. • Very
• Extremely
• Excessively
• Exceedingly