Pragmatics in practice [a pragmatic analysis of a Friends episode]

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Pragmatics in practice a pragmatic analysis
of a Friends episode

• ALENA KACMÁROVÁ
• INSTITUTE OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES
• PREŠOV UNIVERSITY

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What is pragmatics?

• A study of language
• A study of MEANING in language
• A language study concerned with a SPEAKERS
  MEANING

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A SPEAKERS MEANING

• a speakers communicative intention
• by saying something a speaker can
• ask someone to do something
• warn someone
• offer something
• etc.

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Its raining.

• (1) ask someone to do something
• Could you close the window, please?
• (2) warn someone
• Dont go outside, youre gonna get wet.
• (3) offer something
• I can you give you a lift.
• What helps the listener understand what the
  speaker means?

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context

• Physical (situational)
• Mental (psychological)
• Linguistic
• Knowledge (of the world)
• A So, could you? A I have a baby girl. To
  máš aj bez deda.
• B Sure, why not? B Well, thats all right.
• A I also have a cat.
• B Oh, Im sorry.
• Hell have to bring that back tomorrow, because
  she isnt here now.

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MeaningJ. Furdík (2000)
Stylistic level (TEXT)
coherence cohesion Syntactic level (SENTENCE)
textual usage of morp. phen. morphosyntax Morphological l. (WORD FORM)
Lexical level (MEANING)
phonostylistics suprasegments morpho nology Phonic level (SOUND)
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meaning
Stylistic level (text)
coherence cohesion Syntactic level (sentence)
textual usage of morp. phen. morphosyntax Morphological l. (word form)
WORD-FORMATION Lexical level (meaning)
phonostylistics suprasegments morpho nology Phonic level (sound)
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meaning
Stylistic level (text)
coherence cohesion Syntactic level (sentence)
textual usage of morp. phen. morphosyntax Morphological l. (word form)
SEMANTICS WORD-FORMATION Lexical level (meaning)
phonostylistics suprasegments morpho nology Phonic level (sound)
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meaning
Stylistic level (text)
coherence cohesion Syntactic level (sentence)
textual usage of morp. phen. morphosyntax Morphological l. (word form)
PRAGMATICS SEMANTICS WORD-FORMATION Lexical level (meaning)
phonostylistics suprasegments morpho nology Phonic level (sound)
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Types of meaning

• Lexicology word meaning
• a hotel
• Semantics sentence meaning
• A Do you know where the Savoy Hotel is?
• B Yes, I do. (and walks away)
• Pragmatics utterance meaning
• (speakers communicative intention context)
• A Do you know where the Savoy hotel is?
• B Yes, I do. instructions

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pragmatics

• the study of invisible meaning,
• or how we recognize what is meant when it isnt
  actually said/written ? we depend on a lot of
  shared assumptions and expectations
• the study of intended speaker meaning
• we normally try to understand not only what the
  words mean, but what the writer or speaker of
  those words intended to convey.
• the study of what people have in mind

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Cooperative principle (Grice, 1975)

• first set out by Herbert P. Grice (1913 1988),
  an English philosopher
• His approach to communication
• as any kind of social behavior, the utterance
  itself follows certain rules
• a dialogue is not composed of isolated
  statements. If so, it would fail to carry meaning
• what guarantees its meaningfulness is the fact
  that a speaker and hearer COOPERATE and in doing
  so communicate meaning
• ? there must exist a principle, though intuitive,
  which guides the interaction of participants in
  communication

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Categories of the cooperative principle (1)

• Grice proposed four categories of the CP
• inspired by Kants categories of Quantity,
  Quality, Relation and Manner
• they are supposed to be observed and manifested
  by speakers and hearers.
• The categories became known as MAXIMS
• 1. Maxim of Quantity
• 2. Maxim of Quality
• 3. Maxim of Relation
• 4. Maxim of Manner

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Categories of the cooperative principle (2)

• primarily related to what is said i.e. to
  
• Maxim of Quantity the appropriate amount of
  information,
• Maxim of Quality truthful information,
• Maxim of Relation relevant information.
• Maxim of Manner relates to ? how what is said
  is to be said, to the manner of communication,

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Maxim of quantity

• Give the right amount of information.
• Be appropriately informative
• providing too much information
• and withholding relevant pieces of information
• is perceived as uncooperative
• A What are you watching?
• B A movie.

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Maxim of quality

• Try to make your contribution one that is true
• do not say what you believe to be false,
• do not say that for which you lack adequate
  evidence.
• White lies
• If we did not adhere to this maxim, the
  communication would cease to exist, it would have
  no sense.

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Maxim of relation

• Be relevant.
• Say only what you consider relevant to the
  message communicated or understood by means of
  context.
• A What do you think of my new purse?
• B I dont like yellow.

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Maxim of manner

• Avoid obscurity of expression.
• Avoid ambiguity.
• Be brief.
• Be orderly.
• Will you open the door for me, please?
• vs.
• Im wondering if you would be so kind, would you
  mind opening the door for me, please?

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Research aims

• to study spoken exchanges
• to understand principles of how dialogues are
  built-up
• to study the principles and extent of
  speaker-hearer cooperation in authentic language
  data
• to arrive at the knowledge of how CP maxims can
  be followed and/or violated.

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Research corpus selection

• Criteria
• common standard currently in use by speakers of
  English
• involvement of several parties so a dialogic mode
  can be studied
• real or real-like conversation
• ? Film dialogue (audio-visual text)

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Focal Research corpus

• an episode from Friends
• The One Where No one Proposes
• Part 1, Season 9, 2002/03
• Synopsis
• Rachel is in the post-delivery room (just gave
  birth to baby Emma). In the room, Joey looks for
  some tissue for upset Rachel, picks up Rosss
  jacket, and an engagement ring falls to the
  floor. He kneels to pick it up and turns to
  Rachel, still on his knees and still holding the
  ring. Rachel thinks this is his proposal of
  marriage and accepts. In the rest of the episode,
  Joey strives to explain the misunderstanding.
  

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Description of the selected discourse

• The discourse concerned is an example of
  face-to-face conversation.
• It is socially interactive .
• It is interpersonal.
• It is used in public and in private.
• Vocabulary ranges from informal through neutral
  to colloquial.
• Syntax is less complex, grammar is standard.
• It is inherently rich in prosody.
• For a viewer, the time is not real it is real
  from a viewpoint of the story.
• It is relatively subjective the conversation
  itself is not spontaneous but it is made to evoke
  an illusion of spontaneous speech

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The research premise

• The discourse presented in Friends is
• CONCISE
• PRECISE
• It is assumed that
• the Maxims of Quantity and Manner are adhered to
  throughout the conversation.

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Dialogical structure

• Main characters Other characters
• Rachel Dad (Monica and Rosss)
• Ross Nurse
• Joey
• Chandler
• Monica
• Phoebe
• The whole episode 23 dialogical exchanges

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Violation of maxims

• Out of 23 exchanges (app. 506 utterances), the
  maxims were violated in the following cases

Maxim of Quantity Maxim of Quality Maxim of Relation Maxim of Manner
Rachel Joey
MonicaOtec ChandlerRossPhoebe
Joey Chandler
Phoebe Rachel
Chandler Monica Otec
Ross Rachel
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Example 1 Rachel Joey

• Rachel Joey? Oh, my God. Okay. So... I guess we
  should make it official, huh?
• Joey Look, Rach, I....
• Violation of all maxims (here it serves as a
  platform for the whole story.)
• It is an incomplete conversation.
• Rachel wrongly understands the physical context.
  (Relation)
• Joey does not provide enough information to
  explain what has happened (Quantity)
• Joey does not provide truthful information to
  explain what has happened (Quality)
• No explanation is provided. (Manner)

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Example 2 (A)MonicaDADChandlerRossPhoebe

• Monica Hi. Hey, look whos here.
• Dad Wheres my granddaughter? Ive been
  practicing my magic tricks.
• Chandler He pulled a quarter out of my ear.
• Ross Hey, wheres Mom?
• Dad She went to pick up Aunt Liddy.
• Monica Aunt Liddys coming? That means we get 5
  each!
• Dad So when do I get to meet Emma and show her
  this?
• Chandler Okay, wow.
• Ross Emmas in the nursery. Ill take you now if
  you want.

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Example 2 (B) MonicaDADChandlerRossPhoebe

• Dad So when do I get to meet Emma and show her
  this?
• Ross Emmas in the nursery. Ill take you now if
  you want.
• Violation of Relation Maxim.
• How is the question and the answer related? Are
  they related at all?
• At first sight NO.
• Communicative intention of a speaker to
  cooperate and provide relevant information

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Example 3 (A) Joey Chandler

• Joey Rachel thinks I asked her to marry me.
• Chandler What? Why does she think that?
• Joey Because it kind of looked like I did.
• Chandler Again, what?
• Joey Okay, I was down on one knee with the ring
  in my hand--
• Chandler As we all are at some point during the
  day.
• Joey It wasnt my ring. It fell out of Ross
  jacket... and when I knelt down to pick it up,
  Rachel thought I was proposing.
• Chandler Ross had a ring? And he was gonna
  propose?
• Joey I guess.
• Chandler And you did it first? This is gonna
  kill him. You know how much he loves to propose.
• Joey I know. I know. Its awful.
• Chandler Well, what did she say?
• Joey She said, Yes.
• Chandler Youre smiling.
• Joey No, Im not.
• Chandler Yes, you are. I can tell by the way
  your mouth is.

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Example 3 (b) Joey Chandler

• Chandler Youre smiling.
• Joey No, Im not.
• Chandler Yes, you are. I can tell by the way
  your mouth is.
• Violation of Quality Maxim
• The text itself does not provide evidence for
  violation of Quality Maxim. This is obvious from
  the physical context and the turn to follow
  (Chandlers reaction).

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Example 4 (A) Rachel Phoebe

• Phoebe Hey.
• Rachel Hi.
• Phoebe Are you all right?
• Rachel I think I just got engaged.
• Phoebe Oh, my God! He did it?
• Rachel What? Did you know he was gonna ask me?
• Phoebe Are you kidding? Im, like, the one who
  talked him into it. I like to think of myself as
  the puppet master of the group.
• Rachel And you really think this is a good idea?
• Phoebe I just talked him into it. Dont tell me
  I have to do you too? The puppet master gets
  tired, people.
• Rachel Okay. I dont know. It just doesnt feel
  right.
• Phoebe Why? You two are so meant to be together.
  Everybody thinks so.
• Rachel Really? Even Ross?
• Phoebe Especially Ross.

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Example 4 (b) Rachel Phoebe

• The whole conversation
• Violation of Relation Maxim
• Rachel a Phoebe talk about two different things
  (people), yet they take it they share the view of
  the same person.
• The information is irrelevant to the topic.

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Example 5 (A) Chandler Monica DAD

• Monica Yeah, were trying to get pregnant.
• Dad Oh, my God, this is so exciting. Well, get
  back in there! Ill guard the door!
• Monica Thats okay, Dad, we can wait until
  later.
• Dad Whoa! I dont think so. Arent you
  ovulating?
• Monica Daddy!
• Dad You gotta get at it, princess. When your
  mother and I were trying to conceive you...
  whenever she was ovulating, bam, we did it!
  Thats how I got my bad hip.
• Chandler Thats funny. This conversations how I
  got the bullet hole in my head.
• Dad This one time I had my knee on the sink, and
  your mother was -
• Chandler Seriously, sir, my brains, all over the
  wall.
• Monica I dont think we need to hear the
  specific positions you and Mom had.

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Example 5 (b) Chandler Monica DAD

• Dad This one time I had my knee on the sink,
  and your mother was
• Monica I dont think we need to hear the
  specific positions you and Mom had.
• Violation of Quantity and Relation Maxims.
• Monica considers the information provided by her
  Dad abundant in the given situation. (Quantity)
• Monica considers the information provided by her
  Dad irrelevant in the given situation.
  (Relation)

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Example 6 (A) Ross Rachel

• Ross Look, I know its not a proposal, and I
  dont know where you are... but with everything
  thats been going on and with Emma, Im....Ive
  been feeling....
• Rachel Yeah, I know. Ive been feeling....
• Ross Yeah?
• Rachel Yeah.
• Ross Okay, well, that-- Wow, okay, well-- Then
  maybe at least we can talk about us again?
• Rachel Yeah. Maybe.
• Ross Well, good. Okay. I kind of think, you
  know, if we, if Youre wearing the ring.
• Rachel Whats that?
• Ross And you told Phoebe you were engaged.
• Rachel Im sorry, what?
• Ross When you thought Joey proposed...did you
  say yes?

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Example 6 (b) Ross Rachel

• Ross Youre wearing the ring.
• Rachel Whats that?
• Ross And you told Phoebe you were engaged.
• Rachel Im sorry, what?
• Violation of Quality
• Rachel realizes that Ross is getting what has
  happened. In order to avoid direct answer she
  pretends she does understand and/or has not heard
  what he said.

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A Concluding remark

• The maxims of the Cooperative Principle
• All of them at a time an ideal situation.
• If we did not follow Quality Maxim - the
  communication among people would make no sense
• Violation of some maxims is sometimes necessary
• politeness
• A Im gonna miss you. B Oh, thank you,
  thats nice. ( no mention of missing A)
• irony
• A Who hasnt submitted their essay? B
  Mickey Mouse.

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• Thank you for attention.
• PaedDr. ALENA KACMÁROVÁ, PhD.
• INSTITUTE OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES
• PREŠOV UNIVERSITY
• alenakac_at_unipo.sk