Diglossia

I am not gonna say who introduce this term but i am gonna explain this term without
distractions, this term means in simple words that there two varieties of the language
in same area, i’ll give you an example to get the idea:
For example in morocco we have the Arabic Dialect (Darija) and we have the Arabic
Language (‫ )الفصحى‬and the same situation in all arab countries like : Algeria, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia ..etc.
and (darija) is used in the daily conversation and some TV Show and Radio
Programs and Arabic Language (‫ )الفصحى‬is used as a school subject and it’s not a
Mother Language because we have to learn it and we see it almost in all TV Shows,
the religious aspects (mosques - holy Giran .. etc) and it’s the link between all Arab
Countries because they understand each other by the Arabic Language (‫)الفصحى‬, and
of course there are many examples of Diglossia in the world like (German-speaking
Switzerland - The island of Haiti .. etc)
So, as a recap for what i’ve said before, Diglossia is a term that means there are two
types of a same language in a same area or country but one is used in informal
situations and the other one is used in formal situations.

Pragmatics
We have seen this term before in Applied Linguistics but i’ll remind them with its
definition, pragmatics studies language that is not directly spoken. Instead, the
speaker hints at or suggests a meaning, and the listener assumes the correct
intention.
In other words pragmatics is the study of language in relation to its context of use, it
means that - Pragmatics is the study of how words are used, or the study of
signs and symbols.
An example of pragmatics is how the same word can have different meanings in
different settings.
An example of pragmatics is the study of how people react to different symbols.
-The study of the use of language in a social context.
-The branch of linguistics concerned with meaning in context, or the meanings
of sentences in terms of the speaker's intentions in using them.

The Cooperative Principle Henceforth CP

-Philosopher Paul Grice (1975), who proposed a theory of conversation which
consists of a Cooperative Principle (hereafter called CP) declares: “Make your
conversational contribution such as it is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by
the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged”. In
other words, the CP attempts to make explicit certain rational principles observed by
people when they converse. It is so called because listeners and speakers generally
speak cooperatively and mutually accept one another to be understood in a
particular way, unless they have reasons for not doing so. The building blocks of CP
are four conversational maxims that arise from the pragmatics of natural language.
Pragmatics is the study of the context-dependent aspects of meaning which are
systematically abstracted away from the construction of logical form.
-In social science generally and linguistics specifically, the cooperative principle
describes how people achieve effective conversational communication in common
social situations—that is, how listeners and speakers act cooperatively and mutually
accept one another to be understood in a particular way

It means that this term try to give people some guidelines to make their conversation
understandable and effectively and it was introduced by a Philosopher called Paul
Grice (1975) and he gave 4 conversational maxims (rules) and they are:
● Maxim of Quality: Do not say what you believe to be false or that for which
you lack evidence.

● Maxim of Quantity: Say as much as but no more than is necessary.

● Maxim of Relation: Be relevant.

● Maxim of Manner: Be Clear. Avoid ambiguity. Be brief. Be orderly.

of course Paul Grice knew that people will not follow conversational maxims and put
4 four ways in which maxims can go unfulfilled:
1. violate or infringe a maxim
What does it mean to violate a maxim?

Violation of Maxims. Violation, according to Grice (1975), takes place when

speakers intentionally refrain to apply certain maxims in their conversation to
cause misunderstanding on their participants' part or to achieve some other
purposes
2. opt out of adhering to a maxim
- In opting out a maxim, the speaker is unwilling to cooperate with the requirement of
the maxims and it often takes place in public life. Opting out a maxim occurs when
the speaker cannot reply in normal way that is expected
- When the speaker opts out from the maxim, s/he seems unwilling to cooperate in the way the
maxims required (Grice, 1975:71). Moreover, Thomas (1995:74) said that the "example of opting
out occurs frequently in public life, when the speaker cannot, perhaps for legal or ethical reason,
reply in the way normally expected. The speaker usually wishes to avoid generating a false
implicature or appearing uncooperative". Thomas also stated that giving the requested
information might hurt a third party or put them in danger.
For example: If a doctor or a nurse, who has complete confidentiality regarding his/her patients,
is asked by the police or the press to reveal something about the patient that s/he is treating, he
/she will reply:

A: I am sorry but can’t tell you anything.

The doctor or nurse opted out a maxim when s/he prevented from answering. The doctor seems
to be unwilling to cooperate, due to the procedures of the hospital or for the sake of secret
information or something else (Dornerus, 2006:7).

3. encounter a clash of maxims

In simple words it means that when you do not do the appropriate action because
the other side did NOT do his(er) duty.
4. flout a maxim
What is flouting the maxim in linguistics?

A cooperative speaker can intentionally disobey a maxim, as long as (s)he or

the context provides enough indicators for the hearer to notice it. This is called
flouting a maxim and is used to indirectly convey information (e.g., using sarcasm or
irony).

Speech acts
definition of Speech acts:
In the philosophy of language and linguistics, speech acts is something expressed
by an individual that not only presents information but performs an action as well.
in other words doing things with words with a framework and of course according to
social situations

tenet:The meaning of tenet is a belief or idea that is very important to a group.

in there was a famous philosopher who made some research about Speech acts and

◾
he developed his theory of speech acts on the basis of the following observations:

◾
some sentences are not used to make statements;
such sentences cannot be verified to be true or false; Like these statements:
-Good afternoon!
-Is he a republican?
-Come in please
Performative utterance
definition: In the philosophy of language and speech acts theory, performative
utterances are sentences which not only describe a given reality, but also change the
social reality they are describing.
examples: I now pronounce you man/husband and wife.means: pronouncing a
couple married
I promise to come to your meeting tomorrow afternoon.means: promising

Performativity is the power of language to effect change in the world: language

does not simply describe the world but may instead (or also) function as a form of
social action. ... For Austin, performative language included speech acts such as
promising, swearing, betting, and performing a marriage ceremony.

Performative utterances fall into 2 types:

1. Explicit performatives:
or “Performative verbs”: When you use a word like "promise" or "apologise", you are
doing the action by just saying the word. In those cases, use the present simple and
not the continuous.
There is a group of verbs called "performative verbs". When you say these words,
you actually do the action of the verb. If I say, "I apologise", by saying "apologise", I
make my apology.

Compare this to a word like "run". If I say, "I run in the morning", then "run" just
represents an action. Actually running is a different action. I cannot run just by saying
"run".

When we use performative verbs, we use the present simple:

1. I promise I will never do it again.

2. They guarantee the quality of their service.

3. She denies being responsible.

4. We request your cooperation

i got this one, it means that when you make a statement and at the same time you
make the action as well
after i made a definition for explicit and i was about to make the
definition for the second type but i found some stuff that will be
useful to us to get the two types of Performative utterances

Speech act theory

*) Explicit Performatives and Implicit Performatives

* Explicit performative: A sentence which contains a performative verb that

obviously shows the speech act the sentence performs.

* Implicit performative: A sentence which contains no performative verb and the

speech act the sentence performs is determined by the context.

Explicit and Implicit Performative

Speech acts which contain a performative verb are often direct speech acts since
they perform their function in a direct and literal manner. Austin makes a distinction
between explicit performatives and implicit performatives.
- An explicit performative is a sentence which contains a verb that names the
speech act. For example:I order you to shut up. (= an order)

- An implicit performative is a sentence which does not contain a performative

verb For example: Shut up. (= an order, a warning, or an advice)

implicit Performatives VS Explicit Performatives

Implicit performative
what the speaker has in mind by saying it is not specifically indicated
Example:
'Don't say that !', is implicit because of its implicitness, the sentence can be,
depending on the paralinguistic or kinetic cues given by the speaker, and on the
power or status relationship between the speaker and hearer, a warning, a
command, a request or a piece of advice.
Explicit Performatives
A speaker has to indicate the speech act involved by inserting the performative
verb before the clause
Example:
'I warn you not to say that', 'I order you not to say that ', 'I advise you not to say
that', and '/ forbid you to say that', etc
 Explicit and Implicit performatives
An explicit performative (of the | hereby … kind) can now be seen to be a
mechanism which allows the speaker to remove any possibility of
misunderstanding the force behind an utterance.

Properties of performative utterances:

(i) The existence of a performative verb such as request, thank, promise, apologise,
condole, congratulate, etc. A performative verb names the act being performed;
(ii) The performative nature of this verb can be reinforced by adding the adverb
‘hereby’ ;
(iii) The first person singular subject of a predicate verb in the simple present
indicative mood, and active voice.
However, there are exceptions:
- A first person plural subject •
(5) We suggest that you give up smoking immediately
- A second person singular or plural subject
(6) You are fired
- A third person singular or plural subject
(7) Passengers are hereby requested to wear a seat belt.
- Impersonal subject
(8) Notice is hereby given that shoplifters will be prosecuted.
- Passive voice (e.g., (6-8))
• The present progressive aspect
(9) I am warning you not to use your cellphone in class.

Austin’s felicity conditions on performatives

What are the felicity conditions for an offer?
The sender believes the action should be done. The receiver has the ability to do the action.
The receiver has the obligation to do the action. The sender has the right to tell the
receiver to do the action
Austin distinguished 3 types of such conditions:
1) There must be a conventional procedure having a conventional effect;
2) The circumstances and persons must be appropriate, as specified in the
procedure;
3) The procedure must be executed (i) correctly and (ii) completely
- Often: (i) The person must have the requisite thoughts, feelings and intentions, as
specified in the procedure, and (ii) if consequent conduct is specified, then the

❌Violation of any of these conditions will render the performative

relevant parties must do so.

utterance unsuccessful, infelicitous or unhappy

Locutionary/ Illocutionary /perlocutionary acts:
What is Locutionary Illocutionary and Perlocutionary with examples?

perform three acts in issuing an utterance: the locutionary act is the act of. saying
something with a certain sense and reference; the illocutionary act is. the act
performed in saying something, i.e. the act named and identified by. the explicit
performative verb. The perlocutionary act is the act performed.

Locutionary act: the production of a meaningful linguistic expression;

Illocutionary act: the action intended to be performed by a speaker in uttering a
linguistic expression, by virtue of the conventional force associated with it, either
explicitly or implicitly;
Perlocutionary act: the bringing about of consequences or effect on the
audience through the uttering of a linguistic expression, such consequences or effect
being special to the circumstances of utterance.
Locutionary act (LA, henceforth)
Basic act of speaking
• LA itself falls into 3 sub-acts:
(i) A phonic act: the physical act of producing a certain sequence of vocal sounds or
a set of written symbols
(ii) A phatic act: the act of constructing a well-formed string of sounds/symbols
(iii) A rhetic act: the act of assigning reference, resolving deixis, and disambiguating
the utterance/inscription lexically and grammatically.
Illocutionary act (IA, henceforth)
The act of saying something with a purpose in mind, a function a speaker intends to
fulfill.
E.g., apologizing, accusing, complaining, thanking, etc.
• These acts are referred to as illocutionary force (IF) (or point) of the utterance
• The same utterance may perform a variety of speech acts The gun is loaded
▶ A threat
▶ A warning
▶ To give an explanation
• The same illocutionary force may be performed by a variety of language
expressions:
-[At office ticket in railway station]
-A day return ticket to Oxford please
-Can I have a day return ticket to Oxford please?
-I’d like a day return ticket to Oxford please.
Perlocutionary act (PA, henceforth)
▶ The effect an utterance may have on the addressee whether intentional or not
Searle’s Felicity Conditions (FCs) on Speech Acts

Searle developed the original Austinian FCs into four basic categories:
1. Propositional content condition
requires the participants to understand language, not to act like actors or to lie
permanently, e.g. a promise or warning must be about the future.
2. preparatory condition
A preparatory condition is a state of affairs that. must be presupposed by the
speaker in employing a particular illocutionary force, and. is a necessary
condition for the nondefective employment of that force. including any conditions
necessary due to the mode of achievement
3. sincerity condition
A sincerity condition is the psychological state of the speaker concerning the
propositional content of an illocutionary act. The sincere or insincere expression
of this state necessarily accompanies all illocutionary acts, except for an act having a
declarative illocutionary point, so that an act having.
4. essential conditions
Essential condition--This means that you say what you say, that both speaker and
hearer take the utterance to be performative. EX: If you say "I promise to do my
homework" to a teacher, both of you think of that statement as taking the form of a
promise.
Searle’s Taxonomy of Speech Acts
What is Searle's classification of speech acts?

Searle (1979) suggests that speech acts consist of five general classifications to
classify the functions or illocutionary of speech acts; these are declarations,
representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.
1. Representatives
Representatives are speech acts that the utterances commit the speaker to the
truth. of the expressed proposition. The utterances are produced based on the
speaker's. observation of certain things then followed by stating the fact or opinion
based on. the observation.
2. Directives
Directive speech acts. ... It is usually said that directives are the speech acts that
have in common that they are aimed at provoking an action from the addressee:
orders, commands, requests, pleas and so on.
3. Commissives
Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that speaker use to commit
themselves to some future action. They express speaker's intention. They are
promises, threats, refusals, and pledges, and they can be performed by the speaker
alone or by the speaker as a member of a group.
 4. Expressives
An expressive is one of the classifications of speech acts that concerns with the
act of asking for something such as feeling, apology, attitude, utterance of
emotion, and spoken that have a meaning with purpose to do something that the
listener expects the result from the speaker.
5. Declarations
- Speech acts that affect immediate changes in some current state of affairs.
Examples: declaring war, excommunicating, firing from employment,
christening, nominating a candidate, etc
- Directives : They try to make the addressee perform an action. The different
kinds are: asking, ordering, requesting, inviting, advising, begging. Example:
``Could you close the window?''

Speech act types as defined in terms of dimensions of

classification can be summarized as follow:

Illocutionary Direction of fit expressed

point/Speech act type psychological state
Representative world-to-words belief

Directive world-to-words desire

Commissive world-to-words intention

Expressive none variable

Declaratives both none

Indirect Speech Acts

Most languages have 3 sentence types (ST, henceforth):
1) Declarative → stating:asserting
2) Interrogative → asking
3) Imperative → ordering/requesting
• Direct Vs indirect speech acts (DSA and ISA,henceforth)
- What is the difference between direct and indirect speech acts?

Direct speech describes when something is being repeated exactly as it was –

usually in between a pair of inverted commas. ... Indirect speech will still
share the same information – but instead of expressing someone's
comments or speech by directly repeating them, it involves reporting or
describing what was said.
 - What is direct and indirect speech act with examples?

For example,when someone says “it's cold outside”, the direct speech act of
this utterance is to inform the hearer about the real conditions outside, but the
indirect speech act of this utterance is to request or to give command to
close the door, so the cold will not affect the speaker.

- What is the difference between direct and indirect objects?

A direct object answers the question of who(m) or what. ... An indirect

object answers the question of to whom, for whom, or for what

• How can we analyze indirect speech acts?

How do you find the indirect speech act?

It relies on the knowledgeable background information about the conversation

shared by both speaker and hearer. In other words, indirect speech acts is the act
of conducting an illocutionary act indirectly. For example, one might say "Could you
open the door?", thereby asking the hearer if he/she could open the door.
•One last question: why do people use ISA

An indirect speech act, according to linguist John Searle, relies on more

than simply the words of an utterance to convey its meaning. In many
situations, the “propositional content” of an utterance – the surface
meaning of words – does not carry the intended meaning. To discover
that meaning – the utterance’s “illocutionary force” – the listener must rely
on a shared background as well as powers of inference to create a
common, appropriate understanding. In responding to someone’s ideas
in a meeting, for example, we might say, “Your ideas are very interesting,”
when in fact, the force of the words are a dismissal of those ideas: “it’s
not time to hear about those ideas right now.” Typically, we rely on
indirect speech in order to avoid disagreement, but also to avoid
providing directives: “I’m feeling cold,” instead of “turn on the heating.”
Often, however, those assumptions – common background and powers
of inference – do not hold, and research has shown that indirect speech
acts have become the dominant mode of communication in professional
workplaces, to the detriment of clarity, understanding, and satisfaction.
▶One answer is that the use of ISAs is generally associated with politeness
• ISAs are usually considered to be more polite than their DSAs in the performance
of such acts as: requests, and complaints
• However, ISAs may not be considered as polite in the performance of other acts
(esp. in some cultures) like offers, invitations, etc)