ĐỀ CƯƠNG NGỮ DỤNG HỌC

I. Nhóm CH 1:

Câu 1. Give the definition of deixis. Identify types of deixis and give examples for
illustration.

** Definition:

- Deixis is a technical term (from Greek) which means ‘pointing’ via language.

- Any linguistic form used to accomplish this ‘pointing’ is called a deictic expression
(also called indexical). In other words, indexicals are linguistic forms or expressions
that refer to other things.

- In deixis, the speaker constitutes the deictic center, and then there are ‘near speaker’
or proximal terms (this, here, now) and ‘away from speaker’ or distal terms (that,
there, then).

Deictic center: the time of the utterance’s time; the place of the utterance’s
place, the person just giving the utterance.

** Types:

a. Person deixis: operates on a basic three-part division, exemplified by the pronouns

for first person ‘I’, second person ‘you’, third person “he, she, it, they” corresponding
to three deictic categories of a speaker, addressee, and other(s).

- The proximal forms are ‘I’ and ‘you’. The distal forms are ‘he, she, it’.

For example, personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, they), possessive pronouns (my,
your, his, her, our, their), and reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself,
ourselves, themselves) are personal deictics. The meaning of these words depends on
who is speaking and who is being spoken to. For example, the word “I” refers to the
speaker, while the word “you” refers to the addressee.

b. Spatial deixis: This type of deixis uses words or phrases to refer to the location of
the speaker, the addressee, or other objects in relation to them.

- Proximal form: ‘here’. Distal form: ‘there’.

For example, demonstratives (this, that, these, those), adverbs of place (here, there,
near, far), and prepositions of place (in, on, at, under, over, up, down, north, inside,
top, bottom, etc.) are spatial deictics.

Eg: This book is exciting.

- Some verbs of motion have a deictic sense, such as ‘come’ (movement toward the
speaker) and ‘go’ (movement away from the speaker).

- Location from speaker’s perspective does not always mean physical location.
Sometimes it refers to mental location. This is called deictic projection = speakers
being able to project themselves into other locations, time or shift person reference.

E.g. I’ll come later (movement to addressee’s location).

I’m not here now. (telephone recorded message)

c. Temporal deixis: refers to the time of the speaker, the addressee, or other events in
relation to them.

- Proximal form: ‘now’. Distal form: ‘then’ (which applies to both past and future).

- Other examples of temporal deictic expressions are tense (past, present, future),
adverbs of time (now, then, yesterday, today, tomorrow, tonight, soon, this week, next
month, from now on, etc.), and prepositions of time (in, on, at, before, after, etc.)

- In English, the choice of verb tense is a basic type of temporal deixis. The present
tense is the proximal form and the past tense is the distal form.

Eg: I live here now. /// I lived there then.

- Something that is treated as extremely unlikely or impossible from the speaker’s

current situation is also marked via the distal (past tense) form.

Eg: If I had a million dollars, I would buy a Ferrari.

- So the distal form is used to communicate not only distance from current time, but also
distance from current reality or facts.

d. Discoursal deixis:

- Discourse deixis describes deictic expressions which point to prior or succeeding

parts of the discourse (Kryk-Kastovsky 1995). In other words: “words and phrases [...]
that indicate the relationship between an utterance and the prior discourse” (Levinson
1983).

- Discoursal deixis is used a lot for textual coherence or as a procedural indicator.

 For instance, we use ‘to begin with, first, next, in the following paragraph, last
but not least, etc.’ to smooth the transitions or connections between different
parts of textual units.

- Other examples include: in the next chapter, in the last paragraph, but, therefore, in
conclusion, to the contrary, besides, after all, etc.

E.g.
+ Use of proximal demonstrative “this”:
This is how it works. -> One is about to tell.
+ Use of distal demonstrative “that”:
That is how it should be. -> referring back to the preceding discourse.

e, Social deixis

In some languages (Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean), the deictic categories of speaker,

addressee, and other(s) are elaborated with markers of relative social status (for
example, addressee with higher status versus addressee with lower status).

The discussion of the circumstances which lead to the choice of one of these forms
rather than another is sometimes described as social deixis. An often-cited example is
the distinction between forms used for a familiar versus a non-familiar addressee in
some languages. Eg: the French forms “tu” (familiar) and “vous” (non-familiar),
German (“du/ Sie”), and Spanish (“tú/ Usted”).

(((For example, honorifics (Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc.), titles (President, Professor, etc.),
terms of address (sir, madam, dear, etc.), and pronouns of politeness (you, thou, vous,
tu, etc.) are social deictics. )))

Câu 2. What are reference and inference? Indicate types of reference and give
some examples for illustration.

1. Definition:

- Reference is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a

listener, or reader, to identify something.

- Inference is any additional information used by the listener to connect what is said
to what must be meant.

Eg: Mai: “Look at the sky. Dark clouds are coming.”

Lan: “It is going to rain soon.”

2. Types of reference:

According to Halliday and Hassan (1976), there are two types of reference.
Ø Exophora (exophoric reference): situational

Ø Endophora: textual

+ Anaphora (anaphoric reference): to preceding text.

+ Cataphora (cataphoric reference): to following text.

Anaphora - Anaphoric reference:

- Anaphora is the use of a word or a group of words which refer back to another part
of the text.

Eg: Mai went shopping with her friends last weekend.

- Anaphoric reference can be intrasentential (within a sentence) or intersentential

(across sentences).

E.g.
· Nam is playing soccer with his friends.

· I went out with Jo on Sunday. She looked so stunning.

- Types of anaphoric reference

Cataphora - Cataphoric reference

- Cataphora is the use of a word or a phrase that refers forward to another word or
phrase that will be used later in a text or conversation.

Eg: This is what I want to show you.

It was a dark and stormy night.

- Anaphoric is more common than cataphoric. This is usually because the

reader/listener has to be introduced to something before a reference can be made to it.

- Types of cataphoric reference

Exophoric reference

- There are times when the meaning is not explicit from the text itself, but is obvious
to those in a particular situation. This is called exophoric reference.

E.g.
· Look at that! (refers to something outside the text, such as an object, a
person, or an event, that the speaker and the listener can see or hear.)

· I’m here to help you. (refers to the location of the speaker, which is
not mentioned in the text, but is known to the listener)
Câu 3. Distinguish "co-text" and "context" and give examples for illustration.
(văn cảnh – văn cảnh)

Co-text is a linguistic part of the environment in which a referring expression is used,

such as the words that come before and after it, or the structure and genre of the text.

Context is the physical environment that is perhaps more easily recognized as having
a powerful impact on how referring expressions are to be interpreted, such as physical
context, epistemic context, linguistic context, and social context.

Example

Co-text:

the word “bark” is a noun in “The tree has silver bark.”

and a verb in “I wish that dog wouldn't bark so much.”
Only the co-text allows us to understand which meaning of the word is the correct
one to assume.

Context
“It's cold in the bedroom” means different things in these two contexts:
Context 1: a guest standing at a hotel reception desk talking to the manager
Context 2: someone suggesting a good place to store apples
Many other language items can only be understood if the context is made clear.

4. define the following terms briefly: the cooperative principle and conversational
implicature. What are the four maxims of the cooperative principle?

*The cooperative principle: It refers to a set of principles that govern effective and
meaningful communication between individuals. The cooperative principle suggests
that in conversation, participants generally assume that others will contribute
information that is relevant, informative, and truthful

*Conversational implicature: conversational implicature is an indirect or implicit

speech act: what is meant by a speaker's utterance that is not part of what is explicitly
said.

Eg: Lan: "Do you have any plans tonight?"

Thu: "I have a book I've been meaning to read."

-> The implication here is that the person does not have any plans and intends to
spend the evening reading the book.

(((slide:
Conversational implicature is a non-conventional implicature based on an addressee’s
assumption that the speaker is following the conversational maxims or at least the
cooperative principles.

Conversational implicature promises to bridge “the gap between what is literally said
and what is conveyed.” (Levinson, 1983: 98) )))

* Grice outlined four maxims that are considered to be part of the cooperative
principle:

a. The maxim of Quantity (informativeness)

Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purpose of the
exchange)

a. Not less informative

b. Nor more informative

Eg:Speaker A: 'Do you know if Katie got on okay with her exams?'

Speaker B: 'Yes, I do. She did really well and got an A! '

->Here speaker B could have ended their reply after 'Yes, I do.' However, they shared
all of the information they knew in order not to flout the Maxim of Quantity.

b. The maxim of Quality (truthfulness)

-Try to make your contribution one that is true:

+) Do not say what you believe to be false.

+) Do not say that for which you lack evidence.

Example :A: do you know where Big Ben Tower is?

B: It is in London

c.The maxim of Relation (relevance)

Make your contribution relevant.

Example

In many cases, the relevance of an answer needs to be inferred on the basis of

information from the context. Leech (1983: 94) provides the following example:

A: Where is my box of chocolates?

B: It’s in your room.

can be compared to

A: Where is my box of chocolates?

B: The children were in your room this morning.

B’s contribution in the first example abides by the maxim of relevance, since a direct
and appropriate answer to the question is given. B’s answer in the second example
appears not to be relevant to the question at first sight. However, the second example
could still be relevant to the speaker. A will assume that B abides by the cooperative
principle and will therefore infer that specific implied meanings are being conveyed.
In the example given, such implicatures could be that the children may have eaten the
chocolate, or that the children may know where the chocolate is, as they were in A’s
room.

Ex 2: Waitress: How do you like your steak cooked?

Man: Medium rare, Please.

d. The maxim of manner (perspicuity)

Be clear in what you say,avoid ambiguity or obscurity,be brief and orderly in your
contribution.

Example: Two friends, John and Lisa, are planning to meet up at a cafe. John arrives
late, and Lisa asks him why he was delayed.

Lisa: “John, why were you late”

John: “I apologize for being late. There was heavy traffic, and it was difficult to find
parking”

=> He provides a concise and straightforward answer, focusing on the relevant

information ( traffic and parking) and maintaining clarity in his response.

5.What is presupposition? Identify types of presuppositions and give examples

for illustration.

* Presupposition is the assumption the speaker makes about what the hearer is likely
to accept without challenge. Presupposition is “what a speaker or writer assumes that
the receiver of the message already knows.”

For example:

"Where has Faye looked for the keys?" presupposes "Faye has looked for the keys."

*Types of presupposition

a, Existential presupposition
It is the assumption of the existence of entities named by the speakers. Or the speaker
is committed to the existence of the entities or something

The existential presupposition is assumed to be present in:

+ Possessive constructions

Eg: “Tom’s car is new”-> we can presuppose that Tom exists and that he has a car

+ Definite noun phrases

Eg: “the car was broken”-> presupposes that the existence of the entities it refers to,
in this case, the “car”.

b) Factive presupposition

It is the assumption that something is true due to the presence of some verbs such as “
know, “ realize” and “ glad”

Eg: she didn’t realize he was ill -> he was ill ( factive presupposition)

c) Lexical Presupposition

It is the assumption that, in using one word, the speaker can act as if another meaning
will be understood.

For example:

Lisa stopped cycling at weekends. => Lisa used to cycle at weekends.

d) Structural presupposition

It is the assumption associated with the use of certain structures wh-question

constructions.

->The listener perceives that the information presented is necessarily true, or intended
as true by the speaker.

Eg: when did she travel to the USA?-> ( she travelled)

E) Non-factive presupposition

It is an assumption referred to something that is not true. Verbs like” dream “,

“imagine” and “ pretend” are used with the presupposition that what follows is not
true

Eg: I deamed that I was rich -> I was not rich

f) Counterfactual presupposition
It is the assumption that what is presupposed is not only untrue , but is the opposite of
what is true, or contrary to facts. Some conditional structures, generally called
counterfactual conditionals , presuppose that the information, in the if-clauses, is not
true at the time of utterance

Eg: if I were rich I would buy a Ferrari –> I’m not rich

6. Distinguish and give example of locutionary acts,

illocutionary acts, perlocutionary acts?
Locutionary act:

- A locutionary act is the saying of something which is meaningful and can

be understood.

- To perform a locutionary act is to produce an utterance with a particular

form and a more or less determinate meaning according to the rules of a given
language

o E.g: Your room is messy.

Illocutionary act

- An illocutionary act is any speech act that amounts to stating, questioning,

commanding, promising and so on.

- It is an act performed in saying something, as contrasted with a locutionary act,

the act of saying something, the locution. In short, an illocutionary act is using a
sentence to perform a function.

o E.g: Your room is messy.

→ the speaker is complaining about the room being untidy.

- The illocutionary act (or simply the illocution) carried out by a speaker making
an utterance is the act viewed in terms of the utterance’s significance within a
conventional system of social interaction. Illocutions are acts defined by social
conventions, acts such as accusing, admitting, apologizing, giving permission,
greeting, leavetaking, naming, offering, praising, promising, protesting ...

Perlocutionary act:

- The perlocutionary act (or just simply the perlocution) carried out by a speaker
making an utterance is the act of causing a certain effect on the hearer and others.
In other words, a perlocutionary act is the results or effects that are
produced by means of saying something.

o E.g : Your room is messy.

à the speaker wants the hearer to clean the room.

- If communication is successful, the illocution and the perlocution are alike or

nearly alike.

7. Give the definition of speech acts? Classify speech acts

according to Searle?
Definition

- A speech act is an act that a speaker performs when making an utterance.

- A speech act, is best describe as “in saying something, we do something”

- In speech act theory, utterances have two kinds of meaning:

o Propositional meaning ( locutionary meaning): is the basic literal

meaning of the utterance which is conveyed by the particular words
and structures that the utterance contains ( đây là nghĩa đen của câu,
đc truyền tải bằng mặt chữ, cấu trúc mà câu đó chứa)

o Illocutionary meaning ( illocutionary force) is the effect the utterance

has on the listener. ( hiệu ứng mà câu gây cho người nghe)

e.g: I’m thirsty. à tôi đg khát (propositional- locutionary meaning)

à Bạn rót cho tôi ly nước ( illocutionary meaning)

Classification

1. Commissives: are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to commit
themselves to doing ( cam kết, dự định làm) something in the future.
They are promises, threats, refusals, pleadges, etc. They can be
performed by the speaker alone or as a member of a group.

e.g: I’ll be right back.

2. Directives: are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to get
someone else to do something. They express what the speaker wants.
They are suggestions, requests, orders, commands.

e.g: Could you give me the pen, please?

3. Declarations: are those kinds of speech acts that change the state of
affairs in the world.

e.g: I now pronounce yu man and wife. (priest)

4. Expressives : are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker
feels. They are apologies, complaints, a thank-you, congratulations.
They also express psychological states and can be statements of
pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy or sorrow.

e.g: That was delicious!

5. Representatives: are those kinds of speech acts that state what the
speaker believes to be the case or not. In other words, they describe
states or events in the world. They can be statements of fact, assertions,
conclusions, descriptions, claims or reports. (câu tường thuât)

e.g: The world is flat / that was a sunny day.