Dr. Katie Welch LING

 Heretofore, we have talked about the form of language  But, this is only half the story.  We must also consider the function of language. (i.e. How is it used? By whom? In what context?)

 The study of meaning in context ◦ Situational context ◦ Linguistic context ◦ Social context  Utterances not sentences  Felicity = appropriateness  # sign if utterance is infelicitous

 Pointing via language  “placeholder” words ◦ Here, there, 5 minutes, now, he, she, we

 Formulated by H.P. Grice  What we say in a conversation furthers the purpose of the conversation  Developed 5 conversational rules (or maxims) that regulate conversation

Quality ◦ Do not say what you believe to be false. ◦ Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. Relevance ◦ Be relevant. Quantity ◦ Make your contribution as informative as is required. ◦ Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. Manner ◦ Avoid obscurity of expression. ◦ Avoid ambiguity. ◦ Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity) ◦ Be orderly.

 Purposefully breaking the maxims in order to create additional meaning  Different than just breaking [violating] the maxims (lying, rambling, changing the subject)

 Entailment (when x is true, y is true, too)  Implicature (idea communicated based on speakers’ knowledge of language use)

 Performing an act by using language  Felicity conditions  Perfomative verbs  Direct/Indirect Speech Acts ◦ Direct uses a direct, literal utterance or a performative verb