Journal ArticleDOI
Indirect Speech Acts
Nicholas Asher,Alex Lascarides +1 more
TLDR
It is shown how a formal semantictheory of discourse interpretation can be used to define speech acts and to avoid murky issues concerning the metaphysics of action.Abstract:
In this paper, we address several puzzles concerning speech acts,particularly indirect speech acts. We show how a formal semantictheory of discourse interpretation can be used to define speech actsand to avoid murky issues concerning the metaphysics of action. Weprovide a formally precise definition of indirect speech acts, includingthe subclass of so-called conventionalized indirect speech acts. Thisanalysis draws heavily on parallels between phenomena at the speechact level and the lexical level. First, we argue that, just as co-predicationshows that some words can behave linguistically as if they're `simultaneously'of incompatible semantic types, certain speech acts behave this way too.Secondly, as Horn and Bayer (1984) and others have suggested, both thelexicon and speech acts are subject to a principle of blocking or ``preemptionby synonymy'': Conventionalized indirect speech acts can block their`paraphrases' from being interpreted as indirect speech acts, even ifthis interpretation is calculable from Gricean-style principles. Weprovide a formal model of this blocking, and compare it withexisting accounts of lexical blocking.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
What is an indirect speech act? : Reconsidering the literal force hypothesis
TL;DR: The notion of indirect speech act is at the very heart of cognitive pragmatics, yet, after nearly 50 years of orthodox (Searlean) speech act theory, it remains largely unclear how this notion can be explicated in a proper way as discussed by the authors.
Dissertation
Changing perspectives on syllabus design in ELT: Textbook trends and tertiary teacher decision-making
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the impact that a range of syllabus design proposals has had, directly or indirectly, on a sample of English language textbook writers and English language teachers.
Journal ArticleDOI
Linguistic mechanisms of power in Nineteen Eighty-Four: Applying politeness theory to Orwell's world
TL;DR: The authors analyze conversation exchanges in Orwell's classic "1984" as discourse instances where power, hierarchy and politeness are deeply interwoven, and analyze the range of face-threatening acts performed, the forms of redressive action taken to counter those threats and the reasons and goals underlying the use of such forms.
Journal ArticleDOI
(In)directness and complaints: A reassessment
Sofie Decock,Ilse Depraetere +1 more
TL;DR: It is argued that it is necessary to disentangle both understandings of (in)directness in order to arrive at a clearer understanding, the distinction between linguistic (in]directness and perceived face-threat being key to the classification of complaint strategies.
Dissertation
Re-reading Audre Lorde: declaring the activism of black feminist theory
TL;DR: A re-reading of Audre Lorde's "Use of the erotic" is discussed in this paper, where it is argued that the space and place between the words in "Black feminism is not white feminism in blackface" function as the space between Black and white feminisms.
References
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Book
How to do things with words
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented a series of lectures with the following topics: Lecture I * Lecture II* Lecture III * Lectures IV* Lectures V * LectURE VI * LectURES VI * LII * LIII * LIV * LVI * LIX
Book ChapterDOI
Logic and Conversation
TL;DR: For instance, Grice was interested in Quine's logical approach to language, although he differed from Quine over certain specific specific questions, such as the viability of the distinction between analytic and synthetic statements.
Book
Head-driven phrase structure grammar
Ivan A. Sag,Carl Jesse Pollard +1 more
TL;DR: This book presents the most complete exposition of the theory of head-driven phrase structure grammar, introduced in the authors' "Information-Based Syntax and Semantics," and demonstrates the applicability of the HPSG approach to a wide range of empirical problems.