Semantics: a coursebook, second edition
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(2) Does A’s statement in line 7 give B any new information? Yes / No (3) When B says ‘Did you?’ in line 8, is he really asking A to tell him whether he (A) went to Spain? Yes / No (4) Is there any indication that A needs to know the information that B gives him about travelling to France? Yes / No (5) Does A’s ‘That’ll be nice for the family’ in line 9 give B any information? Yes / No (6) Do A’s statements in lines 13 and 15 give B any information that he (B) needs? Yes / No (7) At what point does this conversation switch from an exchange of uninformative statements to an exchange of informative statements? .......................................................................................................................... (8) At what point does the information exchanged begin to be of a sort that one of the speakers actually needs for some purpose in going about his everyday business? .......................................................................................................................... Feedback (1) probably not (2) Yes, probably (3) No (4) No (5) probably not (6) Yes (7) with B’s enquiry in line 6 (8) with B’s question in line 12 Comment All the things said in this conversation are meaningful in one way or another. But one must not equate meaningfulness with informativeness in a narrow sense. While it is true that many sentences do carry information in a straightforward way, it is also true that many sentences are used by speakers not to give information at all, but to keep the social wheels turning smoothly. Thus A and B’s uninformative exchange about the weather serves to reassure them both that a friendly courteous relationship exists between them. Even when the sentences produced are in fact informative, as when B tells A about his forthcoming trip to France, the hearer often has no speci fic need for the information given. The giving of information is itself an act of courtesy, performed to strengthen social relationships. This is also part of communication. U N I T 1 About semantics 5 The social relationships formed and maintained by the use of language are not all courteous and amicable. Speaker meaning can include both courtesy and hostility, praise and insult, endearment and taunt. Practice Consider the following strained exchange between husband and wife. Then answer the questions (1)–(8). Husband: ‘When I go away next week, I’m taking the car’ Wife: ‘Oh. Are you? I need the car here to take the kids to school’ Husband: ‘I’m sorry, but I must have it. You’ll have to send them on the bus’ Wife: ‘That’ll be nice for the family. Up at the crack of dawn, (ironically) and not home till mid-evening! Sometimes you’re very inconsiderate’ Husband: ‘Nice day’ (1) This conversation includes three utterances which were also used in the polite bus stop conversation between A and B. Identify these three utterances. .......................................................................................................................... (2) When the wife in the above exchange says ‘Are you?’ is she thereby in some sense taking up a position opposed to that of her husband? Yes / No (3) In the bus stop conversation, when A says ‘Are you?’ (line 9), is he in any sense taking up a position opposed to B’s position? Yes / No (4) When the wife, above, says ‘That’ll be nice for the family’, is she expressing the belief that her husband’s absence with the car will be nice for the family? tải về 1.74 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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