English grammar - Roger Berry 2012
Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy
D9 Speech acts
Section D Extension
Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy (2006) reprinted from Cambridge Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 680-684.
The reading below is another extract from the Cambridge Grammar of English (see also D6). It comprises the first part of the chapter on speech acts. It first of all describes the concept of speech act and then goes on to discuss how this relates to the clause types that were discussed in B9. As in the previous extract modals are again involved, showing just how versatile this group of auxiliaries is in English.
Note that ’speech acts’ do not only refer to speech, though they are more obvious there because of their interpersonal nature; they can also be identified in writing.
Introduction 408
This chapter (408-423) is concerned with interpersonal meanings of grammar, that is, how language enables us to get things done by ourselves or by others.
The term speech act refers to what the speaker or writer is doing in uttering a particular form of words. For example, an imperative form such as Come here! usually has the meaning of directing the listener to act in a certain way, and a clause such as Can you pass me that book? is likely to be a request to someone actually to pass the book, rather than an enquiry about the person’s physical ability. Speech acts are concerned with the speaker’s intention rather than the content-meaning of the utterance.
In everyday written and spoken interactions, common speech acts occur such as informing, directing, questioning, requesting, exemplifying, offering, apologising, complaining, suggesting, promising, permitting, forbidding, predicting and so on.
Speech acts may be divided into five broad types:
• Constatives:
The speaker asserts something about the truth of a proposition, associated with acts such as: affirming, claiming, concluding, denying, exclaiming, maintaining, predicting, stating beliefs.
• Directives:
The speaker intends to make the hearer act in a particular way, associated with acts such as: advising, asking, challenging, commanding, daring, forbidding, insisting, instructing, permitting, prohibiting, questioning, requesting, suggesting, warning.
• Commissives:
The speaker commits to a course of action, associated with acts such as: guaranteeing, offering, inviting, promising, vowing, undertaking.
• Expressives (or acknowledgements):
The speaker expresses an attitude or reaction concerning a state of affairs, associated with acts such as: apologising, appreciating, complimenting, condemning, congratulating, regretting, thanking, welcoming.
• Declarations:
The speaker performs the speech act solely by making the utterance, for example: I pronounce you man and wife; I declare this meeting closed; I name this ship x.
This chapter focuses particularly on directives and commissives, as these are the speech acts in which grammatical choices figure most prominently, especially involving modal verbs and clause types (e.g. declarative versus interrogative).
The chapter describes how the clause structure contributes to different kinds of speech act (such as statements, questions, directives, etc.) (^ 410). We also consider the role of modal verbs in constructing speech acts such as requesting (Would you hold this for me?), offering (I’ll carry that for you), promising (I’ll buy you one for your birthday), suggesting (We could stay in a bed-and-breakfast place), permitting (You can stay up till ten o’clock), and so on (^ 411-420).
There are also verbs, referred to as speech act verbs, which a speaker can use to label a speech act explicitly (I promise you I’ll be there; He denied that he was involved in any way) (^ 422). When these are used actually to perform the speech act (e.g. I apologise), they are called performative verbs (^ 422a).
The way speech acts are realised also involves politeness and the efforts speakers make to avoid loss of face, or dignity, for themselves and their interlocutors. For instance, a speaker who says I was wondering if I could have a word with you? will be heard as less direct, more polite and less imposing than one who says I wonder if I can have a word with you, which in turn is more polite and less imposing than someone who says I want to have a word with you. Tense and aspect choices are therefore also implicated in speech acts (→ 423).
On the larger scale, speakers need to perform functions such as opening conversations, closing them, making sure they get their turn to speak, and so on. These are referred to in passing in this chapter (→ 423d) and are dealt with in greater detail in 104-122 ’From discourse to social contexts’.
Speech acts can only be interpreted in context, and so it is often necessary to use quite long examples to illustrate how particular acts are realised, especially in face-to-face conversation, where speech acts such as requests, invitations, advice, etc. have to be carefully negotiated between speakers and listeners and are not necessarily realised in one phrase or clause.
Although we also exemplify speech acts in written texts, and although there are a potentially huge number of possible speech acts which could be discussed, our emphasis in this chapter will be on the performance of the most common, everyday, frequent speech acts which occur in spoken contexts, using grammatical resources. We focus particularly on those speech acts which are interactive, involving getting others to act in a particular way.
Typical speech acts which occur in academic contexts are covered in 140-154 ’Grammar and academic English’.
Ways of realising speech acts 409
Principally, speech acts are realised using the following resources:
• formulaic utterances (fixed expressions conventionally associated with particular speech acts): greetings such as Hi, Goodbye; expressions of reaction to events such as Congratulations, Gosh!, Sorry, Excuse me, Pardon.
• explicit lexical items (speech-act verbs or speech-act nouns) to perform or to label the speech act: I pronounce you man and wife; My advice is not to use olive oil.
• syntax (e.g. clause types, tense and aspect choices): Was I surprised! as an exclamation; Did you want to say something? as a polite invitation to someone to take the speaking turn.
• modal constructions (typically modal verbs): Can I get you a drink? uttered as an offer; You must be patient as a directive.
• prosodic means: a declarative clause plus rising intonation may indicate a question rather than a statement, e.g. A: You’ll be arriving late? B: Yes.
Clause types and speech acts 410
The chapter Clause types (290-303) described the basic types of clause. The clause types most directly correspond to common speech acts as shown in the table below.
Typical correspondences between clause types and speech acts
However, such a direct correspondence is not always the case, and the clause types, especially declarative and interrogative, are used to perform other speech acts too, as shown in the table below.
Other possible correspondences between clause types and speech acts
Declarative clauses functioning as questions 410a
A declarative clause may function in context as a question. Although these are less frequent than interrogative questions, a common type of declarative question is when
a speaker checks an assumption or inference drawn from the ongoing conversation. Initial so and/or final then are common in such questions:
[speaker A is recounting how an elderly relative has found a good place to live in her old age]
A: It’s a little terraced house. And sort of very old fashioned but spotlessly clean and very cosy.
B: Oh well.
A: New kitchen new whatnot.
B: Yeah.
A: And a thousand and something a month.
B: Yeah. So you’re pleased?
A: Oh I’m relieved. Yes. Yes.
A: So you had a good day at work then?
B: Yes it was all right.
The declarative question may also be used as a comprehension check:
[speaker A is on the phone to a printing company to check on the progress of a print job]
A: I’m ringing just to see if everything was okay with the job when Dave got it opened up and printing out and everything.
B: Ah. No, he said this morning there were some fonts missing, Chris.
A: There were some fonts missing?
B: Yes.
→ 430 Declarative questions on the intonation of declarative questions
Modal verbs and interrogative clauses as directives 410b
Because the bare imperative is considered extremely forceful and in many cases impolite in English, many directive speech acts (commands, instructions, requests, etc.) involve interrogative clauses and modal verbs:
Will you look at your handouts, now, please.
Can you shut that door?
These will be dealt with more fully in 412-413.
Interrogative clauses as exclamations 410c
Occasionally, clauses with affirmative or negative interrogative structure can also be used as exclamations:
[speaker is recounting a long and problematic journey]
Oh God, was I exhausted by the time I got home!
[looking at a small child]
Gosh! Hasn’t she grown!
Sometimes life played cruel tricks . . . Didn’t it just!
Imperative clauses as offers and invitations 410d
Friendly offers and invitations, which are commissive speech acts (^ 417-419), often occur in the imperative form:
A: Have another drink.
B: Oh, no thanks, I’ve had enough thanks.
A: Come and see us some time if you’re in the area.
B: Mm, yeah, that’d be nice. I will.
Modal expressions and speech acts 411
When modal expressions concerned with necessity, obligation, permission, etc. (→ 377-407 ’Modality’) are used in declarative and interrogative clauses, they often function as directives (realising speech acts such as commanding, instructing, suggesting, advising, warning, requesting) and commissives (promising, offering, inviting).
The modal verbs can/could, will/would, shall/should, may/might, must, ought to are used frequently in this way:
[swimming instructor to learner]
You shouldn’t be looking at me Joseph, you should be looking out of the window. (should is heard as a directive: the swimmer must do what the instructor says)
Could you just hang on a second, Joan?
(could is heard as a directive; Joan can hardly refuse to do what the speaker asks)
Here, I’ll carry that for you.
(’ll is heard as an offer)
We’ll get it done for you by Friday, no problem.
(’ll is heard as a promise)
It is not just which modal verb is used but which clause type it occurs in that affects the speech act being performed. In the subsequent sections on modal verbs (412-420), declarative and interrogative uses are distinguished as the speech acts they signal may vary.
Each type of speech act is described in terms of its modal verb choices and its occurrence in declarative and interrogative clauses.
Questions, suggestions and issues to consider
1. Are speech acts really part of grammar?
2. What is the difference between declaratives and declarations in the above text?
3. Take a speech act such as suggesting and try to think of all the possible ways of realising it in English. Then analyse them according to their clause type.
4. Think of all the ways in which a modal auxiliary such as can can be used and think of all the possible speech acts it can be involved in.