- PRINCIPLES of RELAVANCE (Sperber and Wilson) - TEACHING PRAGMATICS

- PRAGMATICS and RESEARCH

Instructor : Dr. Truong Vien Members : 1. Pham Thi Hoang Diep 2. Hoang Thi Lien Giang 3. Ha Hong Xuan Truong

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OUTLINE
Mr.Truong Introduction Ms.Giang 1. Definition of relevance theory 2. The essential principles of relevance theory Ms. Diep 3 . Why teach pragmatics in language classes ? 4 . What pragmatic features should be taught ? 5. How can pragmatic be taught ? Mr.Truong 6. Compliments in Cross-Cultural Perspective .

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A funny clip

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Funny pictures
its bill
No, I have my own bill already bill = mouth

Here is your bill .

A water bill or an electricity bill

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Look at the example below :

Hu tieu nay ngon khong anh ?

A : Ngon lam B : Cho toi to nua nhe C : Toi ma khong benh , cho cung phai khoc day

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Ms. Lien Giang

Definition of Terms

Implicature

Relevance Theory

Explicature

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Look at the example below :
What is the information on the traffic sign explicated? The explicature An angle was parking There was a parking place for angles There is a parking place ahead for those who want to visit the sculpture known as Angle of the North

Angle parking

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Whats an explicature ? EXPLICIT MEANING AN EXPLICATURE

is an inference or series of inferences which enrich the under determined form of the utterance to a full propositional form (Sperber & Wilson, 1995)
AN EXPLICATURE

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Look at the conversation below :
Did the children summer camp go well?

What is the implicit meaning of the conversation?

- Not all the children got stomach flu. - The summer camp didnt go as well as hoped.

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Whats an implicature ?

IMPLICIT MEANING

AN IMPLICATURE

AN IMPLICATURE is an inference which

provides the addressee with the most relevant interpretation of the utterance
(Sperber & Wilson, 1995)

Seminar 9 Relevance theory

Relevance theory (RT) by Sperber & Wilson

(1986): Grices Cooperative Principles and the four maxims can be replaced by one principle of relevance impossible to find instances where relevance is not invoked by the speaker . Rather, the requirement according to RT is that the successful communicator makes his or her intended meaning transparent to the addressee.

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Every utterance produces an expectation that the information in it will be relevant to the addresses, and the addressee seeks the interpretation of the utterance that will generate the relevance to avoid misunderstanding

Seminar 9 Principles of Relevance Theory 1. Determine the relevance of utterances.

Mary : Would you like to come for a run ? Bill: I am taking a rest today. 2. Make some assumptions about the hearer cognitive abilities and contextual resources.
Question: Have you read my books? Context: - The speaker & the hearer are roommates. - The speaker & the hearer are teacher and student.

Seminar 9 Principles of Relevance Theory

3. Require an inferential process from a wide range of logical and semantic relations.
GIRL: If we become engaged, will you give me a ring? BOY : Sure, what's your phone number?

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Ms. Hoang Diep

Teaching pragmatics in language classroom

1. Why teach pragmatics in language classes ? 2. What pragmatic functions should be taught ? 3. How can pragmatics be taught ?

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Look at the conversation below :
No, I wouldnt Would you like a cup of coffee ?

No, thanks

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Look at the conversation below :
What do you want? What would you like ? I want an ice coffee Id like an ice coffee

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Whats wrong with these conversations? Problem of pragmatic failure
good at grammatical competence.

Speaker and Hearer

not good at social linguistic competence.

A pragmatic error may hinder good communication between speakers. (Takenoya)

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Why teach pragmatics in language classes ?
Aim of language learning and teaching Grammatical Communicative competence Sociolinguistic

Discourse
Strategic

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Why teach pragmatics in language classes ?
Language learners:

- Show differences from native speakers in language use. - Not always develop pragmatic knowledge at the same level as their grammatical knowledge.
Language classrooms:

Good places - to provide input and interpretation.

- to interpret language use and practice

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What pragmatic functions can be taught ?
Conversation 1
Teacher : Good morning everyone. Students : Good morning teacher / Mr. How are you ? Conversation 2 Man: Would you like to have dinner out with me tonight ?/ Dinner out with me tonight, Ok? Lady : Id love to. At what time can we meet ?.....

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What pragmatic functions can be taught ?

Greetings
Saying goodbye

Some Pragmatic Functions

Inviting, Arranging Refusing, Accepting

Saying sorry, thanks

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How can pragmatics be taught?
Sources:
Authentic language samples Input ( teaching materials )

Activities:
- Raising awareness through observation tasks

- Offering different pragmatic options for the learners to choose in different contexts - Making pragmatic analysis rather than sentence analysis

Management:
Teachers flexibility

- providing materials - organizing activities.

(group, pair)

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Raising awareness through observation tasks
1. Mary: You look nice in your dress today. Conversations Helen: Thank you. 2. Mai: Trng bn hm nay xinh qu Lan: Vy h ?. Mnh thy cng thng m

Tasks
1. Observe the speakers and hearers talk:
(where are they?, what is the relationship between them? , what does the speaker want to do?, what is the hearers answer?...) 2. Observe the pragmatic differences between cultures Identify the pragmatic problems

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Offering pragmatic options, making pragmatic analysis
- If you want to borrow a pen from your friend, what can you say? 1. Give me your pen 2. I forgot my pen. 3. Lend me a pen , please. 4. Could you lend me your pen ? 5. Would it be possible for you to lend me your pen ?

making pragmatic analysis

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Pragmatic analysis

Sentence :1,2,3 is appropriate for friends Sentence: 4 is most polite and in formal situations. Sentence:1, 5 are not good for superiors, strangers. Sentence: 5 is too formal. Sometimes it becomes unnatural.

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PRAGMATICS AND RESEARCH
1. The production of Speech Acts by EFL Learners Andrew D. Cohen & Elite Olshtain

2. Compliments in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Nessa Wolfson

3. Giving and receiving compliments A cross-cultural study in English and Vietnamese

Nguyen Phuong Suu

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Whats a compliment ?
Whats a compliment ? A favorable judgments or opinion, saying something nice to another individual ( Manes & Wolfson , 1981) Nessa Wolfson

Ex 1 : A : That hat is really good . It suits you very well B : Oh, is that right ? Its warm
EX2 : A :The food is delicious , Im full B : If you come next time, Ill prepare the same food.

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Talking about their study

Nessa Wolfson and her colleague, Manes have been engaged in a thoroughgoing analysis of complimenting behavior in American English. For the purpose of comparison , they included in their corpus a small sample of compliments collected by non-native speakers of English interacting with members of their own speech communities, both in English and in their native English.

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Compliments in some countries
* Some examples need considering A : You must have been tired doing all the shopping B : Is it so ? Now you can do the cooking

A : Youve saved a lot of money in your account, ha ? B : Oh, no. Please dont tease me

Indonesian
It is much more difficult to understand

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Compliments in some countries
* Some examples need considering Ex1 : A : Oh! You have a nice dress on, Mrs. A Ex2 : A : This is nice. Did you buy it in New York ? B : No, its old. There something wrong with the strap.

Japanese
So much similarity between Japanese & American

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Compliments in some countries
* Some examples need considering

A : Your earrings are pure gold, arent they ? B : Yes, they are. They must be pure gold when you put them on. A : Money is a necessary condition to become attractive, indeed. B : I thing so too.

Japanese

American English
Not accept Anothers atractness depends on having money.

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Compliments in some countries
Ex1 : Hey, Whats the occasion ? You look really nice today Ex 2 : Wow! Linda, What did you do to your hair ? I almost didnt recognize you .
Americans Non-native speaker compliments

unsure of their meaning

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Compliments in some countries
* Some examples need considering

A : She is like the moon and she has beautiful eyes

An Arabic speaker
Son : Its delicious Mom. I hope you hands never have pain. Mom : Im glad you like it

An Iranian boy
Americans Not make use of such proverbs or set phrases in giving compliments.

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Adjectives are used with any frequency

nice beautiful

pretty

good

great

American English

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1. The formulaic compliment . explicitly recognized by native speakers of American English

A.

is

B.

is not

2. American do a(an) .. amount of complimenting.

A.

excessive

B.

little

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