1. ETHNOGAPHY OF COMMUNICATION: SECOND PART

2. Anthropological Approaches to Language as Action
Bronislaw Malinowski (1884—1942)
the native’s point of view
the native’s relations to life
the native’s vision of his world

3. Malinowski’s Ethnographic Theory
1. context of the situation
2. language as a mode of action
Inadequacies of translation
limitations of traditional grammatical analysis

4. Ethnographic Theory of Language
Living among the natives
Coral Gardens and their Magic (1935) in Trobriand Islands
Function of language: Pragmatic, active
Pragmatism typical of all languages
Pragmatics: Verbal acts, Speech acts

5. Speech Acts as Units of Action
J.L Austin (1940’s) Speech Acts
Limitations of declarative sentences or assertions
All men are mortal.
The snow is white.
The king of France is Bald.

6. Types of Speech Acts Locutionary acts Illocutionary acts
Perlocutionary acts

7. A locutionary act the act of saying something:
You are fired, I will pay you back next week, What time is it?

8. An illocutionary Act
the act the speaker can accomplish in saying something by means of the conventional force of the locutionary act.
You are fired: may be used to change someone’s status from employee to unemployed

9. A perlocutionary act
the actual act produced by the uttering of the particular locution
May or may not coincide with illocutionary acts

10. Speech acts: Ways of expressing intentions Ways of expressing goals
Directly or indirectly
Routines: greetings, apologies, complements, etc

11. The Characteristics of Routines
1. similarity of function in social interaction: solidarity, cohesion
2. occur as sequences of exchanges between participants: responses
3. they are formulaic: instances of patterned form used by speakers

12. Speech Acts: Routines Greetings Apologies Formal or informal
Culture specific
Sense of equality or inequality

13. Summary
Speech acts: refer to the ways speakers express themselves based on their intentions
Types: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary
Also routines: greetings, apologies, thanks, complements, etc
Importance of studying language within the context of culture