4 posts from March 2008

I am still confused about Maxims so I am going to use this post as some practice.

1) Maxim of quality- regards truth telling

Example: I am a communications major.

2)Maxim of Quantity- the amount of information that a statement tells

Example:

What classes are you taking?

A) Ones I need to graduate

B) LIN 318, COM 462, COM 525, SOC 335, SOC 339

C) On Mondays I have COM 462, SOC 335, and COM 525. One Tuesday I have LIN 318 and SOC 339. On Wednesday I have COM 462 and SOC 335. And on Thursday I have LIN 318 and SOC 339.

A would be not enough information to answer the question, B would be enough, and C would be giving more information than was asked for.

3) Maxim of Relation- the relevance

What is it like outside?

I haven't had class today

~This does not seem relevant because the weather does not depend on if someone has class or not. However, it may be relevant if by "I haven't had class today" they mean that they have not been outside today to know what it is like outside.

4)Maxim of Manner- This avoids obscurity, ambiguity, and unnecessary prolixity but it is orderly

I got out of bed, got dressed and then went to class.

In class we learned that an implicature is "any meaning that a sentence may have that goes beyond an account of its meaning in terms of truth conditions" We also learned that there are two types of implictures, generalized and particularized. I am going to give some examples of both to make sure I understand them.

It starts to get warm in April- Generalized

It was very warm last year in March- Particularize

She loves to read- generalized

His loves the Harry Potter series- Particularize

I have enjoyed most of my classes at UK- Generalized

I have a favorite class at UK- Particularize

For my second blog I am going to continue concentrating on chapter 17. Before class I was completely confused about perlocutionary and illocutionary. Perlocutionary acts are external while illocutionary acts are internal. Perlocutionary someone else must be involved to have it true (the books uses the example of persuade because even though one person is doing the persuading they must have another person who are they trying to persuade do what they are trying to make them do). Illocutionary would be more while I person is saying it happens (the book uses the example of promise because once a person says it a promise is made).

I heard the song today- illocutionary

She complained about her grade to her teacher- Perlocutionary

I ran into my next door neighbor at the store- illocutionary

Can I borrow your book? – perlocutionary

I need to convince her to cover my shift- perlocutionary.   

Are these correct?

While doing the homework Wednesday night I was completely confused on chapter 17 so for my blog work this week I am going to make sure I understand the parts that I that I had the most trouble with.

Performative Verbs:

He ran over the bridge.

This would not be a performative verb because you can not say I herby ran, it would have to be run and it would only work if while the person was saying this phrase they would have to be actually running. This also is not a performative verb because of the tense and the fact that it is not in first person.

I forgive you.

This would be a performative verb because it has all three qualifications of being a performative verb. One can say “I herby forgive you”. Forgive is in the present tense. The sentence is in first person.

I talked on the phone with her.

This is not a performative verb because even though it is in the right person it is not in the right tense. If it was “I talk on the phone” it would work because it would be in the correct tense and one could say “I herby talk”.