Handout for the Pragmatics course

Novosibirsk, August 1999

Jef Verschueren, IPrA Research Center, University of Antwerp

[For the full text: Jef Verschueren, Understanding Pragmatics, London: Edward Arnold & New York: Oxford University
Press; Russian version in preparation.]

Version 31 March 1998

To be published by Edward Arnold, London

0. Introduction

Pragmatics: the study of language use, or, to employ a somewhat more complicated phrasing, the study of
linguistic phenomena from the point of view of their usage properties and processes.

0.1. The linguistics of language resources: Components of a linguistic theory

0.2. The linguistics of language use: The pragmatic perspective

Syntactical rules determine the sign relations between sign vehicles; semantical rules correlate sign vehicles with
other objects; pragmatical rules state the conditions in the interpreters under which the sign vehicle is a sign.
Any rule when actually in use operates as a type of behavior, and in this sense there is a pragmatical component in
all rules. (Morris 1938: 35; italics added)

0.3. Pragmatics and interdisciplinarity

By 'pragmatics' is designated the science of the relation of signs to their interpreters. [...] Since most, if not all,
signs have as their interpreters living organisms, it is a sufficiently accurate characterization of pragmatics to say
that it deals with the biotic aspects of semiosis, that is, with all the psychological, biological, and sociological
phenomena which occur in the functioning of signs. (Morris1938: 30)

Pragmatics as a general cognitive, social, and cultural perspective on linguistic phenomena in relation to their usage
in forms of behavior (where the string 'cognitive, social, and cultural' does not suggest the separability of what the
terms refer to).

0.4. The meaningful functioning of language

The notion of meaning generation.

Part 1: The pragmatic perspective

1. Language and language use

(1)

1. Debby: Go anywhere today?
2. Dan: Yes, we went down to Como. Up by bus, and back by hydrofoil.
3. Debby: Anything to see there?
4. Dan: Perhaps not the most interesting of Italian towns, but it's worth the trip.
5. Debby: I might do that next Saturday.
6. Jane: What do you mean when you say perhaps not the most interesting of Italian towns?
7. Jack: He means certainly not the most interesting ...
8. Dan: Just trying to be polite ...

(2) 1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace.

1.1. Common topics in pragmatics

1.1.1. Deixis

1.1.2. Speech acts

1.1.3. Implicit meaning

The impossibility of complete explicitness

Assuming that we are sitting close enough together for you, Dan, having normal hearing capabilities and a workable
knowledge of English, to understand me, I am addressing you. I also assume that we share some knowledge about
where we are, and why we are here. I mean: I assume that you know that I know that you know, etc. Further, I guess
that you, like me, do not want us to sit here silently but that we both want to interact socially and sociably by means
of a conversation. Since we also share the knowledge that it is now dinner time, that the main part of the day is over,
and that during a day like this there are many things one can do, a basic option being either to remain here or to leave,
it seems reasonable for me to start a conversation by asking whether you went somewhere today. So I am asking you:
"Did you go anywhere today?" And I would very much appreciate it if you could say something in response to that question.

Conventional means for conveying implicit meaning

(2)

a. The year of prosperity and peace has ended.
b. I regret that the year of prosperity and peace has ended.
c. The UN managed to bring about peace.
d. A time of prosperity and peace will return.
e. While the UN was keeping the peace in Bosnia, a war broke out in Zaire.
f. It was the UN that brought about peace in Bosnia.
g. What the UN did was to bring about peace in Bosnia.
h. 1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace, and 1997 will be a real disaster.
i. 1996, which was a year of prosperity and peace, will be remembered forever.
j. If 1996 had been a year of prosperity and peace, there would not be so many refugees today.
k. Will 1996 be peaceful or violent?
l. Even 1996 could be called peaceful.
m. If even 1996 could be called peaceful, 1995 was heaven.
n. All of 1996 will be peaceful.

(2)

o. I know that 1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace.
p. He does not know that 1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace.
q. I do not know that/whether 1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace.

(2)

r. When the UN managed to bring about peace, the world changed.
s. Since the UN did not manage to bring about peace, the world will remain a miserable place.
t. If the UN does not manage to bring about peace, the world will remain a miserable place.
u. The UN managed to bring about peace even without trying.
v. The UN announced that it had managed to bring about peace.
w. The UN neglected to announce that it had managed to bring about peace.

(2)

x. This UN soldier is the local peace-keeper.
y. The UN managed to bring about peace and forgot to announce it.
z. The UN managed to bring about peace but forgot to announce it.

(2)

z'. There has never been a peace brought about but the UN will forget to announce it.

Strategic avoidance of explicitness

(1)4. a. It's got a nice cathedral, and a lot of silk.

(i)    presupposition: implicit meaning that must be pre-supposed, understood, taken for granted for an utterance to make
sense;
(ii) (logical) implication, entailment, conventional implicature: implicit meaning that can be logically inferred from a form
of expression;
(iii) conventional or standard conversational implicature: implicit meaning that can be conventionally inferred from forms
of expression in combination with assumed standard adherence to conversational maxims;
(iv) (non-conventional or occasion-specific) conversational implicature: implicit meaning inferred from the obvious flouting
of a conversational maxim in combination with assumed adherence to the cooperative principle.

(1) 4.

b. A city.
c. A stone cathedral and a lot of silk produced locally by millions of silk worms.
d. It rivals Florence.
e. There isn't a greater city in the world.
f. Yes.
g. Thousands of people, each with a nose, two eyes, two ears, a mouth, speaking an Italian of sorts, and going about
their daily business.
h. If you keep your eyes open.

(1) 4.

i. On a clear day you get a nice view of the Alps.

(1)4.

j. Como is a giant silk worm.
k. Como is Italy's Cleveland.

(1)4.

l. If you keep your eyes open - but then you can find real gems.

(1)4.

m. Como is perhaps not Florence, but it's worth the trip.
n. Como is perhaps not a metropolis, but it's worth the trip.

1.1.4. Conversation

(1)

1. Debby: Go anywhere today?
2. Dan: Yes, we went down to Como. Up by bus, and back by hydrofoil.
3. Debby: Anything to see there?
4. Dan: Perhaps not the most interesting of Italian towns, but it's worth the trip.
5. Debby: I might do that next Saturday.
6. Jane: What do you mean when you say perhaps not the most interesting of Italian towns?
7. Jack: He means certainly not the most interesting ...
8. Dan: Just trying to be polite ...

(3)

1. Debby: Have you been to Como yet?
2. Dan: We went last week.
3. Debby: How do you get there?
4. Dan: We went by bus, and returned by hydrofoil.
5. Debby: Anything to see there?
6. Dan: Depends what you're interested in.
7. Debby: I mean, any historical monuments, and maybe some interesting shopping.
8. Dan: It's got a nice cathedral, and lots of silk.
9. Debby: I'd like to go on Saturday. Do you want to join me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4)

1. Debby: Have you been to Como yet?
2. Dan: No, I haven't.
3. Debby: Do you know how to get there?

(5)

1. Debby: Is Como an interesting place?
2. Dan: I hate it.

(6)

1. Debby: Is Como an interesting place?
2. Dan: It's got a nice cathedral, and lots of silk.
3. Debby: Do you have plans on Saturday?
4. Dan: Not really.
5. Debby: I would like to go. Will you join me?

(7)

1. Debby: Are you doing anything on Saturday?
2. Dan: Why?
3. Debby: I'd like to go to Como.
4. Dan: OK.

(8)

1. Debby: Have you been to Cuomo yet?
2. Dan: You mean Como ...

(9)

Debby: Have you been to Cuomo yet?=
=I mean Como ...
I always confuse it with that guy in New York.

1.2. What the common topics have in common

(10)

1. John: Let's go to the movies tonight.
2. Ann: I have to study for an exam.

Sentences in natural language are used for asking questions, giving commands, making assertions, expressing feelings,
etc. [...] We may identify the presuppositions of a sentence as those conditions which must be satisfied before the
sentence can be used in any of the functions just mentioned. (Fillmore 1971b, p. 380)

(11)

When you're down in Como, buy me a silk tie.

(12)

1. Debby: Where did Dan get that new silk tie?
2. Jane: I'm not going to tell you.

(13)

I hate to impose on you, but when you're down in Como, could you buy me a silk tie?

(14)

1. Debby: Where did Dan get that new silk tie?
2. Jane: I know it's stupid, but I promised him not to tell anyone. I did not know you would be interested.

(15)

I should probably get myself one of those silk ties.

1.3. The problem of intentionality

(16)

1. Dan: Como is a giant silk worm.
2. Debby: Yukh! What a disgusting idea!

1.4. Genres of language use

(2)

1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace.

1.5. Research topics

1. In mid-1996, one year before Hong Kong was integrated into the People's Republic of China, a conference was
held in Hong Kong to assess linguistic changes that might accompany the political shift. Papers and debates from
that conference were published in Current Issues in Language and Society (3:2, 1996; 'One country, two systems,
three languages,' edited by Sue Wright). What follows is the published transcript of the opening turn in one of the debates:

Benjamin T'sou (City University of Hong Kong): I think that this idea of cross-border contact implying that there
might be increased use of Mandarin is open to question. You mentioned holidays in your paper and you talked about
cross-border marriages in your presentation. My impression is that cross-border marriage is usually between partners
who speak the same dialect. On the border here it is, of course, Cantonese. I cannot envisage a monolingual mother
tongue Cantonese speaker attempting to marry anyone who only spoke Mandarin. The early negotiations of the
relationship would be too difficult. So what we are dealing with here is most likely the case where a bilingual
Mandarin-Cantonese speaker marries a monolingual Mandarin or Cantonese speaker. I imagine the effect on language
shift is not as significant as you suggest - the language capacity was there already. (p. 152)

Discuss this text in terms of deixis, speech acts, and implicit meaning.

2. Shortly after Israeli commandos had recued (in the middle of the night between 3 and 4 July 1976) the Jewish passengers
of the Air France Flight 139 (from Tel Aviv to Paris), who were kept hostage by members of the PFLP (Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine) at the Ugandan airport at Entebbe, the following telephone conversation took place between
the Israeli Colonel Baruch Bar-Lev and President Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, who had supposedly collaborated with the
hijackers and who, by that time, did not yet know what had happened at the airport:

Bar-Lev: Sir, I want to thank you for your cooperation and I want to thank you very much.
Amin: You know I did not succeed.
Bar-Lev: Thank you very much for your cooperation. What? The cooperation did not succeed? Why?
Amin: Have I done anything at all?
Bar-Lev: I just want to thank you, sir, for the cooperation.
Amin: Have I done anything?
Bar-Lev: I did exactly what you wanted.
Amin: Wh- Wh- What happened?
Bar-Lev: What happened?
Amin: Yes?
Bar-Lev: I don't know.
Amin: Can't you tell me?
Bar-Lev: No. I don't know. I have been requested to thank you for your cooperation.
Amin: Can you tell me about the suggestion you mentioned?
Bar-Lev: I have been requested by a friend with good connections in the government to thank you for your cooperation.
I don't know what was meant by it, but I think you do know.
Amin: I don't know because I've only now returned hurriedly from Mauritius.
Bar-Lev: Ah ...
Amin: ... In order to solve the problem before the ultimatum expires tomorrow morning.
Bar-Lev: I understand very well, sir ... Thank you for the cooperation. Perhaps I'll call you again tomorrow morning?
Do you want me to call you again tomorrow morning?
Amin: Yes.
Bar-Lev: Very well, thank you sir. Goodbye.

(From: Stevenson, William 1976: 90 minutes at Entebbe. New York: Bantam Books, pp. 215-216.)

Describe what happens in this conversation.

2. Key notions

2.1. The making of choices

language use: the continuous making of linguistic choices

- this happens at every possible level of structure
- also strategies are chosen
- any degree of consciousness may be involved
- choices are made both in production and in interpretation
- a language user is under an obligation to make choices
- choices are not equivalent (e.g. preference organization)
- choices evoke or carry along their alternatives

2.2. Variability, negotiability, and adaptability

Variability is the property of language which defines the range of possibilities from which choices can be made.

Negotiability is the property of language responsible for the fact that choices are not made mechanically or according to
strict rules or fixed form-function relationships, but rather on the basis of highly flexible principles and strategies.

Adaptability, then, is the property of language which enables human beings to make negotiable linguistic choices from
a variable range of possibilities in such a way as to approach points of satisfaction for communicative needs.

2.3. Adaptability and universality

2.4. Four angles of investigation

- contextual correlates of adaptability, including any ingredient of the communicative context with which linguistic choices
are interadaptable;
- structural objects of adaptability, including structures at any layer or level of organization as well as principles of structuring;
- the dynamics of adaptability, the unfolding of adaptive processes in interaction;
- the salience of adaptation processes, the status of those processes in relation to the cognitive apparatus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.5. Research topics

Each of the following definitions of or claims about pragmatics may be usefully contrasted or compared with what I have
said so far:

1. "Here we come to the heart of the definitional problem: the term pragmatics covers both context-dependent aspects of
language structure and principles of language usage and understanding that have nothing or little to do with linguistic
structure. It is difficult to forge a definition that will happily cover both aspects. But this should not be taken to imply
that pragmatics is a hodge-podge, concerned with quite disparate and unrelated aspects of language; rather, pragmaticists
are specifically interested in the inter-relation of language structure and principles of language usage." (Levinson 1983, p. 9)

2. "I have mentioned that my principal subject in this book is general pragmatics. By this term I mean to distinguish
the study of the general conditions of the communicative use of language, and to exclude more specific 'local'
conditions on language use. The latter may be said to belong to a less abstract field of socio-pragmatics, for it is
clear that the Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle operate variably in different cultures or language
communities, in different social situations, among different social classes, etc. [...] In other words, socio-pragmatics
is the sociological interface of pragmatics. Much of the work which has taken place in conversational analysis has been
limited in this sense, and has been closely bound to local conversational data. The term pragmalinguistics, on the other
hand, can be applied to the study of the more linguistic end of pragmatics - where we consider the particular resources
which a given language provides for conveying particular illocutions." (Leech 1983, pp. 10-11)

3. "Perhaps we now have a way to distinguish between a theory of satisfaction and a theory of pragmatics. We can say
that the former must give an account of the satisfaction conditions of sentences, including the satisfaction conditions
that certain sentences have relative to a particular context of use. This requirement means that within a specification
of context-relative truth conditions, a theory of satisfaction must mention the speaker's intentions where those intentions
play a role in determining the referent of terms that have no semantic referent given by the conventions of the language.
Pragmatics will have as its domain speakers' communicative intentions, the uses of language that require such intentions,
and the strategies that hearers employ to determine what these intentions and acts are, so that they can understand what
the speaker intends to communicate." (From the introduction to Davis (ed.) 1991, p. 11)

4. "Our task is to show how the principle of relevance explains the interaction between these two types of knowledge in
the interpretation of utterances.

The assumption underlying this task and, indeed, the whole discussion so far is that there is a distinction between a
hearer's knowledge of her language and her knowledge of the world. In this section I shall argue that it is this distinction
that underlies the distinction between semantics and pragmatics." (Blakemore 1992, p. 39)

Part 2: Aspects of the meaningful functioning of language

3. Context

3.1. The general picture

Exactly as in the reality of spoken or written languages, a word without linguistic context is a mere figment and stands
for nothing by itself, so in the reality of a spoken living tongue, the utterance has no meaning except in the context
of situation. (Malinowski 1923, p. 307)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.2. Ingredients of the communicative context

3.2.1. Language users: Utterer and interpreter

The utterer's many voices

(1)

1. Beatrice: Can I go?
2. John: You sure can!

(2)

1. Beatrice: Do you know yet whether I can go?
2. John: I'll check with Ann. Can you come back tomorrow?

(3)

1. John: Can Beatrice go?
2. Ann: She sure can!

(4)

1. Beatrice: Can I go?
2. John: I'm really sorry. Your application was not accepted.
3. Beatrice: So, I'm not good enough.

(5)

1. John: Can Beatrice go?
2. Ann: She's been turned down.
3. John: Why? She's one of our top students this year.
4. Ann: It's just crazy. Another application that wasn't good enough, I guess.

(6)

1. Beatrice: Can I go?
2. John: I'm really sorry. You've been turned down.
3. Beatrice: Why?
4. John: I know it's crazy. You're one of our top students. But they've decided you're not good enough, I guess.

(6)

5. Beatrice: Is that what Ann said?
6. John: Right. She does not think very highly of the Brussels bureaucracy.

(7)

I never said that.

(8)

I am not a crook.

(9)

I'm not a racist, but there are just too many foreigners in this school.

The interpreter's many roles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(10)

Crothers, to Senator Smyth: Well, Joe, what do you think of the New Hampshire stink?
Smyth, to Crothers: It's a goddam mess. If Bill doesn't watch his ass, Bert may take away all his marbles.

(11)

Crothers, to Smyth: Senator Smyth, what do you think of Jones's controversial remarks in the New Hampshire election
campaign last week?
Smyth, to Crothers: They were unfortunate. If Senator Jones does not watch his step, Bert Appleman may get impatient
with him and cut off all his campaign funds.
Crothers, to Smyth: You're speaking of Bert Appleman, the Democratic Party National Chairman, aren't you?
Smyth, to Crothers: Yes, I am.

When utterer becomes interpreter

The influence of numbers

3.2.2. The mental world

(12)  Al, I think you should seriously consider resigning.

(13)  We don't want any more trouble. Al, I think you ought to resign.
(14) Al, as a friend, I really think you should consider resigning, in your own best interest.
(15) The company will suffer greatly if you don't resign while you can still do so gracefully.
(16) You've really messed up. So, I think you should resign.
(17) Al, I really want you to consider resigning.
(18) This may be the time to pass the chair on to someone else.

3.2.3. The social world

3.2.4. The physical world

Temporal reference

(19) J.F.K. visited Bellagio in 1963.

(20) Yesterday I defended my Ph.D. thesis.
(21) I'm planning a party now.
(22) I'll start looking for a job tomorrow.

(23) Just a sec.
(24) Today it is not easy to find a job.
(25) J.F.K. visited Bellagio in 1963. He was not alone that day.

(26) J.F.K. visited Bellagio in 1963. He was murdered later that year.

(27) J.F.K. went to Bellagio and spent one night at the Villa Serbelloni.

(28) J.F.K. visited Bellagio in 1963. He spent one night at the Villa Serbelloni, where his room is now referred to as the
'Kennedy room.' Four years earlier, in 1959, this property had been bequeathed by the late Ella Walker, Principessa
della Torre e Tasso, to the Rockefeller Foundation. He was murdered later that year.

(29) I hope you'll have a nice holiday

(29) I hope you had a nice holiday

Spatial reference

(31)

JV: I want to get out, not in.
Official: OK, it's this way.

Utterer and interpreter in the physical world

'Material' conditions of speech

(32) What shall we have for dinner?
(33) Are you printing?

Riding an omnibus or street railway was a novel experience. For the first time in human history, people other than the very
wealthy could, as part of their daily life, ride in vehicles they were not responsible for driving. Their eyes and their hands
were free; they could read on the bus. George Juergens has suggested that the World's change to a sensational style
and layout was adapted to the needs of commuters: reading on the bus was difficult with the small print and large-sized
pages of most papers. So the World reduced the size of the page, increased the size of headlines and the use of pictures,
and developed the 'lead' paragraph, in which all of the most vital information of a story would be concentrated. From the 1840s,
the 'lead' had been pushed by the high cost of telegraphic transmission of news; now it was pulled by the abbreviated moments
in which newspapers were being read. It is likely, then, that the growing use of illustration and large headlines in newspapers
was as much an adaptation to the new habits of the middle class as to the new character of the immigrant working class.
(Schudson 1978, p. 103)

UNMARKED MARKED

Phase 1 (pre-conquest) ...ih 'deer' O
Phase 2 (early post-conquest) ...ih 'deer' tunim ...ih 'sheep' (lit. 'cotton deer')
Phase 3 (contemporary) ...ih 'sheep' te&tikil ...ih 'deer' (lit. 'wild sheep')

3.3. Linguistic channel and linguistic context

3.3.1. Linguistic channel

3.3.2. Linguistic context

Contextual cohesion

(34) (a) There are two powerful interlocking tendencies affecting contemporary public discourse in Britain and other similar
societies. (b) The first is a tendency to what we might call the 'marketisation' of discourse - the extension of the discursive
practices of commodity markets to, for instance, professional and public service domains. (c) An example is the proliferation
in these domains of forms of advertising discourse. (d) The second is the 'conversationalisation' of public discourse, the
appropriation and simulation in public discourse of features of conversational discourse. (e) These changes in discursive
practices are part of wider processes of social change affecting late modern societies - the incorporation of vast new areas
of social life into markets, and the colonisation of ordinary life by economic and bureaucratic systems. (f) Social change in
advanced capitalist societies is increasingly centred upon cultural change, and cultural change often takes a pre-eminently
discursive form. (g) Consequently, analysts of discourse are in a position to make a substantive contribution to understanding
the fundamental processes of social restructuring which dominate contemporary life, by investigating tendencies such as
the marketisation and conversationalisation of public discourse. (h) This book takes a significant step in that direction in its
analysis of the discursive aspect of major current changes in the ways in which bureaucracy works in modern societies.

Intertextuality

Sequencing

3.4. The generation of context

Oh, look!

Roederer [was] selling a large consignment of Cristal to South America in 1919. Since this was Champagne which had
originally been intended for the Tsar of Russia who, for one reason or another had been unable to pay for the wine of which
his court was the sole purchaser [...].

3.4.1. Lines of vision

3.4.2. The manipulation of contexts

(37) He [Bakhtin] is a figure very much still in the process of becoming who he will be.

(38) I'm the one defined by the Who's Who as What's That?

(39) Many of the simpler peoples see no causal connection between conception and childbirth.

3.4.3. Contextualization

(40)

1. Dave: What should we do now?
2. Mike: Al, I think you should seriously consider resigning.
3. Dave: What good will that do?
4. Mike: It would be a signal that Topcroc is taken seriously. In its reaction, the board can further fuel that perception, even
while rejecting the resignation.

4. Structure

4.1. Languages, codes, and styles

Two flies are copulating in front of a boy and his mother.

Child: Do you know what these two flies are doing?
Mother: No.
Child: Ils font l'amour. [French for "They are making love"]
Mother: OK, OK.
Child: You know, if I'd said this in Arabic, you would have left the room immediately.

(2) Well, I done a li'l observin' now

(3) Turkishmann du? ['Turkish man you?']

4.2. Utterance-building ingredients

4.2.1. Sound structure

(4) 'No, you must have been mistaken. We didn't play it and so you didn't hear it!' The reply was spoken in that frozen
Soviet voice that is less a denial of the actual truth than a rejection of an inconvenient one. (Italics added)

4.2.2. Morphemes and words

(5) Begin [then Israeli Prime Minister] congratulates Sadat [then Egyptian President] on their Nobel [the Nobel Peace
Prize which they jointly received].

4.2.3. Clauses and sentences

(6) We don't manage to sell those shirts.
(7) Those shirts don't sell.

(8) You won't get more money.
(9) More money you won't get (- only more work).

(10) "It's provocative," said Dr. Regina Ziegler, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute. (International Herald
Tribune, Friday, 2 May 1997)
(11) Swastikas and other fascist symbols were scrawled on tombstones in a Jewish cemetary southwest of Zagreb, a
human rights group reported Thursday. (Idem)

[...] the tendency for subjects to precede objects [...] may be explainable in terms of the correlation between subject and
agent, the correlation between object and patient, and the tendency for agents to be more salient perceptually than patients.
(1981, p. 88)

4.2.4. Propositions

(12) Would you be interested in a demonstration of our air cleansing devices in your home?

(13) The you know who will be gone for the weekend. Enough time for us to get the thing finished.

(14) What a poor man!
(15) That man is poor.
(16) That man lives in poverty.

(17) Jack's behavior is not acceptable.
(18) Jack's behavior is atrocious.

(19) We Germans will not let ourselves be divided

(20) Q: Did Czechoslovakia not split up a couple of years ago?

A: Yes.

4.2.5. Suprasentential units

4.3. Utterances and utterance clusters

(21) Ouch!
(22) God!
(23) Sit!
(24) Yes.
(25) This subvocal tracking of the course of sexually climactic experience is a display available to both sexes, but said to
be increasingly fashionable for females - amongst whom, of course, the sound tracing can be strategically employed to
delineate an ideal development in the marked absence of anything like the real thing.

(26) I am sorry that you could not come over last night.
(27) I am sorry that I could not come over last night.
(28) I like this plan.
(29) I like your plan

4.4. Utterance-building principles

(30) Perhaps the biggest gain in the new therapies is that, unlike chemotherapy drugs, their side effects are few and mild.

Thinking about the problem of co-reference, the sudden ringing of the phone startled me.

4.4.1. Sentential utterance building

(32) (a) 1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace. (b) The world will move another notch away from the conventional wisdoms
of the previous generation. (c) The American presidential campaign, which runs from the snows of the New Hampshire primary
until November 5th, will be the setting for the political ideas that will hold sway for the rest of the century: less tax, less
government interference, a drastically reduced welfare state. (d) These are themes that will be taken up on the hustings in
Spain, Russia, India and Australia. (e) (In 1996 over a billion people will go to an election booth, proof that democracy is
energetically kicking dictatorship from the ring.) (f) Watch out for the European Union's inter-governmental conference,
which starts in Italy in the spring, as the last place where the old nostrums of political interference and subsidy have credence.

(33) It is the American presidential campaign that will set the political agenda.

(34)

Q: What was the leading actress' name in 'The year of living dangerously'?
A: The leading actor's name was Mel Gibson.

(35) Mel Gibson's the actor.
(36) Mel Gibson's the actor.

(37) As to the political agenda, it will be set by the American presidential campaign.
(38) As to the political agenda, it will be the American presidential campaign that will set it.

(39) Mel Gibson, he's a great actor.

(40) He's a great actor, Mel Gibson.

4.4.2. Suprasentential utterance building

(41) (g) For this folly, Europe will be rewarded with a slow rate of economic growth in 1996, although Britain, at last, is
surprisingly well placed. (h) The United States will enter its sixth year of growth, the longest period of uninterrupted
expansion since the war. (i) It is towards Asia, however, that the world's wealth and influence will ratchet one more turn in
1996. (j)Year after year, East Asia achieves a growth rate about three times that of the West. (k) Most of the 90m extra
people in the world in 1996 will be Asian. (l) They will be born poorer than the average reader of this article. (m) They will
die richer. (n) The tilt of the world towards the East is scarcely beginning.

(o) The world will be a peaceful place in 1996. (p) Europe's civil wars will finally be over. (q) A Middle East settlement will
fall into place, despite attempts by bombers and bigots to disrupt it. (r) A nuclear test ban treaty will be signed. (s) Armies,
except in China and Africa, will be standing down.

(42) [Two paragraphs omitted.]

(t) These are some of the trends and ideas you will find in The World in 1996, which will appear in 80 countries and in
12 languages. (u) This is our tenth year of publication: put all our mistaken predictions together and we could probably
produce another edition. (v) But along the way much has been right and, I hope, most of it interesting.

I

Figure 8
Example of a rhetorical structure

4.4.3. Building utterance clusters

4.5. Integrated choice-making

5. Dynamics

5.1. 'Locating' the dynamics of communication

5.1.1. The temporal dimension

5.1.2. Dynamics and context

5.1.3. Dynamics and structure

5.2. Activities, events, and frames of meaning

(1) Interviewer: Why did you apply for a job at this particular college?
Interviewee: I have already made 50 applications. This is my third interview. I just need a job.

(2) I can't imagine a better place to work. It's got a great reputation, and it's a friendly place in a beautiful environment.

5.3. Strategies of meaning generation

5.4. The dynamics of interactive meaning generation

5.4.1. The Budapest opera

(3)

1. Woman: [gesticulating] Pause ... pause.
[pointing at watch] How long?
2. JV: [slowly articulating] Ten minutes.

5.4.2. The Berkeley coffee shop

(4) [Situation: coffeeshop in Berkeley, California, in 1981]

1. Customer [just coming in] to waitress: Is this non-smoking?
2. Waitress: You can use it as non-smoking.
3. Customer [sitting down]: Thanks.

(5) No, it isn't.

(6) I'm sorry; we don't have a non-smoking section yet.
(7) I'm sorry; we have not yet decided where to put the non-smoking section.

5.4.3. From Brussels to Frankfurt

(8) Once we are in the air, we'll fly as fast as possible.

5.4.4. From Bellagio to Linate

(9)

1. Secretary: From here you go to Lecco.
2. JV: Hmh.
3. Secretary: Don't go into Lecco, but follow the SS36 to Milano ... superstrada.
4. JV: [looking at the map] How do I find it?
5. Secretary: [after some searching on the map, and pointing] After the second tunnel to the right. First it's a small
road, but then you see signs.
6. JV: OK, sounds easy enough.
7. Secretary: Y'know, it's Valmadrera, Cincello Balsamo, Milano.
8. JV: [searching the map, which is not detailed enough] I'll find it.
9. Secretary: Go on the Tangenziale Est.
10. JV: [pointing on the map at a freeway north of Milan] This one?
11. Secretary: Yes. You look for Forlanini ... that is the name of the place where the airport is.
12. JV: Right.
13. Secretary: The exit for the airport is on your left.

6. Salience

6.1. Mind in society

6.2. Perception and representation, planning, memory

6.2.1. Perception and representation

(1) (a) Archaeologists who don't excavate? (b) Surely that is heresy. (c) Yet surveys are a well-established archaeological
practice. (d) American anthropologists working in the Southwest and in Meso-America refined the technique in the 1960s
and 1970s. (e) Later, British archaeologists picked up the New World habit, wedded it to French modernist theories on
the history of "ordinary" life and brought it to bear on Old World problems. [The Sciences, May/June 1997, p. 12]

6.2.2. Planning

6.2.3. Memory

6.3. Degrees of salience

(3) British voters turned out in heavy numbers under warm, sunny skies Thursday in what pollsters, pundits and politicians
alike predicted right up to the end would most likely prove a watershed election for the Labour Party, ending 18 years of
Conservative rule and handing the keys to No. 10 Downing Street to Tony Blair. (International Herald Tribune, 2 May 1997)

6.4. Metapragmatic awareness

(4) At the end of the year, 31 new cancer drugs will be in the final phase of clinical trials.
(5) Around the end of the year, more than 30 new cancer drugs could be in the final phase of clinical trials.

6.4.1. Indicators of metapragmatic awareness

(6) (From Gumperz 1982, p. 30)

[Following a graduate seminar, a black student approaches the white instructor, who is about to leave the room
accompanied by several other black and white students.]

1. Black student: Could I talk to you for a minute? I'm gonna apply for a fellowship and I was wondering if I could get a
recommendation?
2. Instructor: O.K. Come along to the office and tell me what you want to do.
3. Black student [turning his head slightly to the other students, while they are all leaving the room]: Ahma git me
a gig! [Rough gloss: "I'm going to get myself some support"]

(7)

a. Admittedly, John's a lousy driver.
b. Regrettably / Unfortunately, John's a lousy driver.
c. Frankly / Honestly / Truthfully, John's a lousy driver.
(8)
a. Probably / Possibly, humanity is planning its own extinction.
b. Certainly / Undoubtedly, humans are a danger to themselves.
(9) Reportedly / Allegedly, the royal family is in for more scandals.
(10) I've always had like - lots of nightmares.
(11) He's just - he's just crazy, the captain.
(12) It was already late. So, we went home.
(13)
a. It was already late. But we stayed.
b. It was already late. However, we did not have the courage to leave.
(14) We were the first to leave. After all, it was already late.
(15) We should have left. Instead, we stayed all night.
(16)
1. Do you want to leave already?
2. Well, it will be dark soon.
(17) Incidentally / By the way, John's a lousy driver.

(18) How about staying for the night?
(19) Why not stay for the night?
(20) For Pete's sake, why don't you stay?
(21) By all means, stay!
(22) As a friend, I have to warn you that you should be more flexible.

(23)
a. This Dr. Hammer is nuts, you know.
b. You know, this Dr. Hammer is nuts.
(24) This Dr. Hammer is nuts, I guess.
(25) I mean, he must be crazy.
(26) I believe that hot weather damages the brain.
(27) I think she's a good piano player.
(28) He did not get any pilot training, you see?
(29) He didn't get any pilot training, did he?
(30) He was trained as a pilot, wasn't he?
(31) It's just that I don't like him.
(32) You'd better stay overnight.
(33) (You) know what, Debby's getting married.
(34) Read my lips, no more taxes!
(35) In case you didn't know, Debby's getting married.
(36) I'm a good runner, even if I say so myself.
(37) Rumor has it that more dark clouds are gathering above the White House.
(38) Speaking for myself, your proposal is right on target.
(39) It can be convincingly argued that linguistics is a branch of psychology.
(40) Forgive me, but I cannot possibly accept.
(41) I'm not greedy, but I refuse to work without pay.

(42) He's sort of / kind of crazy.
(43) In a sense, universities are just factories.

(44) Spell shibboleth for me.
(45)
1. He was a bit shaken.
2. A bit shaken? Absolutely terrified he was.
(46) [The phone rings. Eve answers, then turns to Sophie, sitting in the same room.]
1. Eve: It's Jack.
2. Sophie: I'm not here

(47) As was argued above / As will be shown later, linguistics is a branch of psychology.
(48) These are some of the trends and ideas you will find in The World in 1996, which will appear in 80 countries and
in 12 languages. This is our tenth year of publication: put all our mistaken predictions together and we could probably
produce another edition. But along the way much has been right and, I hope, most of it interesting.

(49) "If the Soviets would identify the U-2 as the plane they shot down, we would quit looking for it," Mr. Bonney said.
(50) The report noted that there was no further word from the pilot.
(51) Mr. Khrushchev made his account a story of high drama and low skullduggery interspersed with bitingly sarcastic
remarks about Washington's contention that the pilot was on a regular weather reconnaissance mission and had
probably gotten lost during a blackout due to the failure of his oxygen equipment.

6.4.2. Metapragmatics and the nature of linguistic action

Concepts, practices, and language ideologies

(52)

a. Try to pack more thoughts into fewer words.
b. The speech was filled with emotion.
c. Insert those ideas elsewhere in the paragraph.
(53)
a. Try to get your thoughts across.
b. None of her feelings came through to me.
c. Just give me an idea of what you mean.
(54)
a. Did you find any good ideas in the book?
b. Can you extract a coherent view from that essay?
c. That remark is completely impenetrable.

Simply expressed, the communication process begins when a message is conceived by a sender. It is then encoded -
translated into a signal or sequence of signals - and transmitted via a particular medium or channel to a receiver who
then decodes it and interprets the message, returning a signal in some way that the message has or has not been
understood. (Watson & Hill 1997, p. 41)

[...] communication may be defined as an activity in which symbolic content is not merely transmitted from one source
to another, but exchanged between human agents, who interact within a shared situational and/or discursive
context. (Price 1996, p. 5)

Self-monitoring

At the most salient end of the metapragmatic awareness scale, we find true self-monitoring. Language users always
monitor the ways in which they produce or interpret utterances, being aware of the constant need to negotiate meaning
and of the obstacles that stand in the way of such negotiation. Hesitations and repairs (see 1.1.4.) are only some of the
most visible manifestations of this process. It should be clear from what we have said about salience so far, however,
that utterers and interpreters can never monitor every level of choice-making at the same time and with the same intensity.
This observation will lead to important methodological recommendations later (in 8.2.3.), especially in relation to the
study of discourse as a manifestation of ideology.

6.5. Research topic

Below you find an excerpt from a report on the US State Department noon briefing, 26 March 1998, as distributed by the
United States Information Service. Describe its metapragmatic functioning

TRANSCRIPT: STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, MARCH 26, 1998

(Kosovo, Israel, Iran)

Spokesman James Rubin briefed.

KOSOVO - Ambassador Robert Gelbard has met with President Milutinovic in Belgrade and with Kosovar Albanian
leader Rugova and a student group in Pristinia, Rubin said. In these discussions, said Rubin, Gelbard has emphasized
the importance of dialogue between the two sides and has made it clear to the Serbs that international pressure on them
will continue "unless and until they get the message and begin to focus on dialogue rather than crackdowns as a means
of resolving this problem."

Gelbard reported that Kosovo was calm, but said that the special police are digging in rather than leaving, a situation Rubin
characterized as "ominous." He warned that the international community will "proceed to even harsher measures if the
Serbian authorities don't get the message."

In response to a question regarding an alleged pending Russian arms deal with Belgrade, Rubin said the Russian Foreign
Minister Yevegny Primakov has told Secretary of State Albright Russia will implement the Contact Group decision to impose
an arms embargo against the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" ("FRY"). He also reported constructive negotiations on the
drafting of a UN resolution, targeted to go into effect March 31, which will implement the embargo.

Rubin said the Contact Group recommends that the embargo be unconditional and unlimited, and that it be lifted only when Belgrade complies with Contact Group requirements.

"We have no reason to believe that Russia doesn't understand that an arms embargo is an arms embargo," said Rubin,
"and that means that there will be no transfers of military equipment (to the "FRY") if that embargo is enacted."

Part 3. Some topics

7. Micro-pragmatic issues

7.1. Language resources in need of a pragmatic perspective

7.1.1. The ordering of particles

(2)

1. Student: Zou ik u even kunnen spreken?
(Could I talk to you for a minute?)
2. Professor: 'k Wou net vertrekken. Kun je morgen terugkomen?
(I was just about to leave. Can you come back tomorrow?)
3. Student: 't Gaat over de paper, en die moet morgen af zijn.
(It's about the paper, which is due tomorrow.)
4. Professor: Ga dan toch ook nog maar eens even wat zitten.
(Roughly: OK, do sit down then.)

7.1.2. The problem of performativity

(3) I (hereby) V [simple present, indicative, active] ...

(4) I (hereby) abdicate
(5) I apologize for stepping on your toes
(6) I promise to come on Wednesday
(7) I order you to leave the room

(8) Ker-em a segit-seg-ed-et
[Ask-I the help(V)-Nominalizer-your-Accusative]
(I ask your help/I ask you to help me)

(9) Ker-lek, segit-s

[Ask-I(Subject)you(Object), help-Imperative]

(10) I am asking you to do this for me Henry, I am asking you to do it for me and Cynthia and the children. (Searle 1989)
(11) We pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. (Searle 1989)
(12) Le porteur declare etre majeur. (Cornulier 1980)
(The holder [of this ticket] declares that he/she is over 18 years old.)
(13) Passengers are hereby advised that all flights to Phoenix have been cancelled. (Searle 1989)
(14) Passengers are warned not to lean out of the window.
(15) You are dismissed.

(16) I'm ordering you to get out!

(17) I'd guess there were twenty of them.
(18) I would say that this is completely wrong. (McCawley 1977)
(19) I would estimate/reply/etc. that ... (McCawley 1977)
(20) I will offer you the following alternative: ... (McCawley 1977)
(21) I will (simply) answer you that ... (McCawley 1977)
(22) I'd like to ask you to change your plans.
(23) I'd like to announce the engagement of ... (McCawley 1977)
(24) Let me ask you what bothers you. (McCawley 1977)
(25) Let me conclude/respond/etc. that ... (McCawley 1977)
(26) Let us say that these are semi-explicit performatives. (Cornulier 1980)
(27) Allow me to call you a bastard. (Cornulier 1980)

(28) That's a squirrel, shall we say. (Cornulier 1980)
(29) This is to thank you for ... (Cornulier 1980)
(30) This is to inform you that ... (Cornulier 1980)
(31) (This is) just to say hello [e.g. on a postcard]. (Cornulier 1980)
(32) I am writing/calling to tell you that ... (Cornulier 1980)
(33) If I dare speak here, it is to express my profoundest gratitude ... (Cornulier 1980)

(34) I'll come and see you next week, and that's a promise. (Searle 1989)
(35) My question is, what do you mean by ... (Cornulier 1980)
(36) You will find in this letter my best wishes for the New Year. (Cornulier 1980)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(37) I boast myself a patriot
(38) I promise I'll kill you

7.2. The pragmatics of small-scale interaction

7.2.1. An informal exchange

(39)

1. Daughter: Do you know what time it is?
2. Dad: Yes. Don't you?
3. Daughter: Yes?
4. Dad: So, why do you call?
5. Daughter: Da-ad!

(40) (From Schiffrin 1994, p. 434)

1. Debby: Yeh it's [ the middle
2. Irene: [ That's right.
3. Henry: It's the middle class ...
4. Irene: It's the middle class [ that gives their kids everything.
5. Debby: [ Yeh.

7.2.2. An institutional event

(41) (From Goodwin 1994, p. 617)

Expert: There were,
ten distinct (1.0) uses of force.

...

In each of those, uses of force
there was an escalation and a de-escalation, (0.8)
an assessment period, (1.5)
and then an escalation and de-escalation again. (0.7)
And another assessment period.

(42) (From Goodwin 1994, p. 617)

1. Defense: Four oh five, oh one.
We see a blow being delivered.=
=Is that correct.

2. Expert: That's correct.
The- force has been again escalated (0.3)
to the level it had been previously, (0.4)
and the de-escalation has ceased.

(43) (From Goodwin 1994, p. 619)

1. Prosecutor: So uh would you,
again consider this to be:
a nonaggressive, movement by Mr. King?
2. Sgt. Duke: At this moment no I wouldn't. (1.1)
3. Prosecutor: It is aggressive.
4. Sgt. Duke: Yes, it's starting to be. (0.9)
This foot, is laying flat. (0.8)
There's starting to be a bend, in uh (0.6)
this leg (0.4)
in his butt. (0.4)
The buttocks area has started to rise, (0.7)
which would put us,
at the beginning of our spectrum again.

(44) (From Goodwin 1994, p. 625)

1. Prosecutor: Can you read their mind uh, (1.4) Sergeant Duke.
(1.3)
2. Sgt. Duke: I can, (0.4) form an opinion based on my training,
and having trained people,
what I can perceive that their perceptions are.
(0.6)
3. Prosecutor: Well what's Mr. King's perceptions at this time?
(0.6)
4. Sgt. Duke: I've never been a suspect.
I don't know.

7.3. Research topic

The research topic presented in section 6.6. contained an excerpt from a report on the US State Department noon briefing,
26 March 1998, as distributed by the United States Information Service. The excerpt presented there was written as a regular
report, even though the general heading of the USIS message said "Transcript ...". The same USIS message, indeed, also
contained the official verbatim transcript of the briefing in question. The portion corresponding to the 'report' in 6.6. is printed
below. Study the interactional generation of meaning in this transcribed version.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

DPB # 37

THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1998 12:40 P.M.

(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

Mr. RUBIN: Welcome to the State Department briefing. It's good to see that at least some of you who traveled with the
Secretary managed to make it here today - at least some of you did.

We have a statement on Laos, on the freedom of worship issue, that will be posted after the briefing. Which of the two
AP reporters should get the first question is up to them.

Q: Well, can I pick up on a little something left over from yesterday? There was some question whether Gelbard would be
able to go on to Belgrade. Do you have any further information?

Mr. RUBIN: Yes. I spoke to Ambassador Gelbard about an hour ago. He was, at the last minute, provided flight clearance.
He met with Mr. Milutinovic in Belgrade. He also met with Ibrahim Rugova in Pristina and a group of student leaders there.
He is emphasizing the importance of dialogue and that on the Serb side, that they comply with the four conditions the
Contact Group laid out; that they understand that the message coming out of Bonn was a message that pressure is going to
continue on Serbia-Montenegro unless and until they get the message and begin to focus on dialogue rather than crackdowns
as a means of resolving this problem.

The situation in Kosovo, as far as Ambassador Gelbard was concerned, is calm. However, we do believe that the special
police are digging in; that there is no indication that they're leaving; and that their activities are therefore ominous. What we're
facing if they don't get the message the Contact Group tried to send to them is a situation where the violence will increase
and where the Contact Group and the international community will proceed to even harsher measures if the Serbian
authorities don't get the message.

Q: Is it your understanding that the Russian agreement to the arms embargo will block this alleged Russian arms deal with
Belgrade, which has been written about?

Mr. RUBIN: Well, Secretary Albright did receive assurances from Foreign Minister Primakov, as indicated by the Contact Group
statement. Foreign Minister Primakov told the Secretary that they are going to go forward and implement the decisions to
impose an arms embargo. A deadline of March 31 was set - an objective, rather - to pass the resolution. The discussions are
now ongoing in New York, and our diplomats there report that the discussions are taking place constructively. We have every
reason to think that an arms embargo will be put in place in time. And if not, that would be troubling.

But assuming that it does go ahead, normally an arms embargo would prohibit the transfer of military equipment from the
time the arms embargo went into effect. There was some suggestion that perhaps this arms embargo should be of a limited
time frame. That was rejected by the Contact Group; so it is going to be an unconditional, unlimited arms embargo that will
only be lifted when Belgrade complies with the requirements of the Contact Group. Every arms embargo resolution that I've
ever seen - and I haven't actually looked at this text - would, from the time of enactment, prohibit the transfer of weaponry.

As far as what we do and don't know about what may be going on, all I can say is that we are aware of the possibility of military
to military cooperation between Russia and Belgrade. That is a matter that would, in our view, if it involved military equipment,
be prohibited by an arms embargo resolution. That's precisely the reason why this resolution will be important.

Q: Was this particular deal or issue discussed in Bonn with the Russians by you?

Mr. RUBIN: Well, I'm not in a position to describe every aspect of the discussions between the two ministers; other than to
say that we have no reason to believe that Russia doesn't understand that an arms embargo is an arms embargo - and that
means that there will be no transfers of military equipment if that embargo is enacted.

Q: If this is so clear what are the discussions in New York about?

Mr. RUBIN: Well, as I've indicated to many of you on many occasions, when you write the sentence "arms embargo" in your
stories, then it's over. You said they will impose an arms embargo. But when the diplomats who have to actually conduct the
work, prepare a resolution - and for those of you who have worked in New York or read the elaborate texts that are resolutions -
they are very carefully drafted documents that require a lot of careful preparation prior to enacting a resolution that would
impose such a severe sanction.

So they are now working on the text of a resolution and that takes a number of days; and it is a perfectly normal procedure
for that work to take some time so that when and if it's passed and imposed and can't be lifted until Serbia complies, that
all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed before the resolution is passed, not afterwards.

8. Macro-pragmatic issues

8.1. A pragmatic perspective on language resources at the macro-level

8.2. Macro-processes in language use

8.2.1. Intercultural and international communication

Rocks - just layin' around

(1) Jackson weet met de media om te gaan.
(Jackson knows how to handle the media.)

(2) Met typisch Amerikaanse predikantentruuks weet hij zijn volgelingen in vervoering te brengen.
(With typically American evangelistic tricks, he manages to bring his followers to a state of ecstasy.)

(3) Well, I done a li'l observin' now.

By systematically modulating his performance, sometimes alternately singing and speaking, or, more frequently, shifting
style, the minister speaks with, alternately, his own voice, that of the Lord, and that of the congregation.
(Gumperz 1982, pp. 189-190)

(4) I ... (state your name) ... swear ... that I am ... a registered voter. ... If ... I am lying ... I hope ... that my right arm ...
will never come down.

(5)

1. That's allright!
2. Now, did you, really?
3. Think of that!
4. Bi:g thing!

(6) ... [he] won Illinois in 1980 by 300 000 votes ... there were 800 000 unregistered blacks ... rocks, just layin' around.

(7) Pull your head high Bakersfield. Pick up your slingshots ... use your rocks ... let's sling them ... rocks, rocks,
rocks, just layin' ... around.

Who exploded that land mine under the conference?

(8) With the summit meeting less than a fortnight away, Moscow encouraged the Soviet people today to express their "wrath"
over the incident in which it was charged that Soviet territory was violated by an unarmed United States plane May 1.
(9) Premier Khrushchev set the public tone for his Government yesterday in a bitter speech to the Supreme Soviet.
(10) More deliberate but still angry comment about the incident was given today by most of the seventeen speakers who
followed him to the rostrum.
(11) Mr. Khrushchev made his account a story of high drama and low skulduggery interspersed with bitingly sarcastic
remarks about Washington's contention that the pilot was on a regular weather reconnaissance mission and had probably
gotten lost during a blackout due to the failure of his oxygen equipment.
(12) In a carefully worded statement read at his news conference the President said that the Soviet "fetish of secrecy and
concealment" was "a major cause of international tension and uneasiness."
(13) There was neither regret nor apology in President Eisenhower's statement of the case nor in the firm, measured
tones with which he read it.
(14) The United States Government, many members of Congress and much of the press had been mouse-trapped into
premature denials.
(15) [Front-page title] U.S.-Soviet clash disrupts summit talks.
(16) President de Gaulle made a speech of welcome and then Premier Khrushchev embarked on his tirade.
(17) Mr. Khrushchev's savage attack was responsible for this transformation [from criticism directed against Eisenhower
to sympathy for him].
(18) Nikita S. Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, had leveled a charge of "treachery" against the President of the
United States.
(19) The Soviet Premier bluntly told the United States President that he would not be welcome if he went to the Soviet
Union on his proposed visit next month.
(20) His denunciation of the United States and his imposition of conditions were capped by the brutally frank announcement
that in the circumstances General Eisenhower's visit must be postponed.
(21) After Mr. Khrushchev threw out his thunderbolt at the Elysee Palace this morning, [...].
(22) Some form of internal pressure may have compelled the Premier to come to Paris and explode this land mine under the
conference, British diplomats said.
(23) At the end of his blistering speech, the system of high-level consultation and negotiation seemed wrecked.
(24) Mr. Khrushchev's speech was a devastating and explosive performance.
(25) The reaction of a few experienced and detached diplomats who were not blown over by Mr. Khrushchev's storm [...].

8.2.2. Discourse and ideology

(26) (a) 1996 will be a year of prosperity and peace. (b) The world will move another notch away from the conventional
wisdoms of the previous generation. (c) The American presidential campaign, which runs from the snows of the New
Hampshire primary until November 5th, will be the setting for the political ideas that will hold sway for the rest of the century:
less tax, less government interference, a drastically reduced welfare state. (d) These are themes that will be taken up on
the hustings in Spain, Russia, India and Australia. (e) (In 1996 over a billion people will go to an election booth, proof that
democracy is energetically kicking dictatorship from the ring.) (f) Watch out for the European Union's inter-governmental
conference, which starts in Italy in the spring, as the last place where the old nostrums of political interference and subsidy
have credence.(g) For this folly, Europe will be rewarded with a slow rate of economic growth in 1996, although Britain, at
last, is surprisingly well placed. (h) The United States will enter its sixth year of growth, the longest period of uninterrupted
expansion since the war. (i) It is towards Asia, however, that the world's wealth and influence will ratchet one more turn in
1996. (j)Year after year, East Asia achieves a growth rate about three times that of the West. (k) Most of the 90m extra
people in the world in 1996 will be Asian. (l) They will be born poorer than the average reader of this article. (m) They will
die richer. (n) The tilt of the world towards the East is scarcely beginning.(o) The world will be a peaceful place in 1996. (p)
Europe's civil wars will finally be over. (q) A Middle East settlement will fall into place, despite attempts by bombers and bigots
to disrupt it. (r) A nuclear test ban treaty will be signed. (s) Armies, except in China and Africa, will be standing down.

[Two paragraphs omitted.]

(t) These are some of the trends and ideas you will find in The World in 1996, which will appear in 80 countries and in 12
languages. (u) This is our tenth year of publication: put all our mistaken predictions together and we could probably produce
another edition. (v) But along the way much has been right and, I hope, most of it interesting.

8.2.3. The pragmatics of wide societal debates

(27)

a. ER: Migrants should be sent back to their countries of origin.
b. TM: Migrants should integrate themselves into our society.
c. ER+TM: We respect other people's identity.
d. JB&JV: Neither ER nor TM accept fundamental forms of diversity.
e. TM: JB&JV just don't understand.

(28)

a. ER: It must be possible to revise naturalization procedures which have been completed since 1974.
b. TM: Also for those who have adapted themselves?

(29) TM: The Flemish may be 90% xenophobic, but there is only a small minority of racists.
(30) ER: We are not racists. We only want to guarantee a peaceful and safe life for our people.

(31) ER: In order for them to be able to keep their own identity, migrants should be sent back to their countries of origin.
(32) TM: Migrants should integrate themselves, but they should not give up their identity.

Theses related to empirical ideology research. The first set bears on the nature of ideology.

1.1. We can define an ideology as any constellation of fundamental or commonsensical, and often normative, beliefs and ideas
related to some aspect(s) of social 'reality'.

1.1.1. The commonsense (fundamental/normative) nature of of the beliefs and ideas is manifested in the fact that they are rarely
questioned, in a given society or community, in discourse related to the 'reality' in question, usually across various discourse
genres.

1.1.1.1. The wider the society or community in question, and the wider the range of discourse genres in which a given
constellation of beliefs or ideas escapes questioning, the more successful or 'hegemonic' an ideology can be said to be.

1.1.2. Their not being questioned means that the beliefs and ideas concerned are often (though not always and not exclusively)
carried along implicitly rather than to be formulated explicitly.

1.2. Ideologies, because of their normative and commonsense nature, are highly immune to experience and observation.

1.2.1. Just as there may be a discrepancy between ideologies and direct experience, there may be discrepancies between
the level of implicit meaning and what one would be willing to say explicitly.

1.3. Amongst the most visible manifestations of ideology is DISCOURSE, which reflects, constructs, and maintains ideologial
patterns.

1.4. Rhetorically constructed or supported ideological webs may serve the purpose of framing, validating, or legitimating attitudes
and actions in the domain to which they are applicable.

A second set of theses relates to general methodological requirements.

2.1. Before an aspect of meaning can be seen as an ingredient of an ideology, it should emerge coherently from the data,
both in terms of conceptual connectedness with other aspects of meaning and in terms of patterns of recurrence or of absence.

2.1.1. Types of data must be varied horizontally and vertically.

2.1.2. An appropriate amount of data is required.

2.1.3. Whatever is found throughout a wide corpus should also be recoverable in (at least a number of) individual instances of
discourse.

2.1.4. The quality of the data should be carefully adapted to the precise research goal.

2.2. Counterscreening is required.

The third set of theses bears on practical research procedures,

3.1. Since discourse never occurs in an abstract world, elements of wider context (social, political, historical) may and must
be taken into account.

3.2. Since there are hardly any fixed form-function relationships, there are no interpretation rules that can be applied
mechanically. Therefore it should be a basic principle to distrust all guidelines except for this one.

3.3. The core task consists in tracing the dynamics of meaning construction.

3.3.1. For that purpose (and to satisfy 2.1.1.) a systematic analysis is needed at the level of different structural objects of
adaptability.

3.3.2. Categorization and highlighting are phenomena central to processes of ideological meaning construction (as they are to
meaning construction in general).

3.3.3. In addition to categorization (which involves explicit or implicit contrasts), contrastiveness in general plays a powerful
role in ideological meaning construction.

8.3. Research topic

Return to the examples in 4.6., 6.5., and 7.3., and describe in detail what they reveal about discourse and ideological
processes.

Виртуальная кафедра