Here's the first draft of the presentation. I don't have your emails, so I'll just post it up here. See you guys on tuesday.
Semantics and Pragmatics Group Presentation
The story of our group presentation begins a long time ago in this very classroom when our heroes remembered they had a group presentation to write. Dr. Myers, their ravishing and erudite professor, had just finished class.
MF: Ok, guys. Let’s meet up next weekend on Saturday at two o’clock at the library.
MC: Ok, that sounds good. Let’s get this done. I love semantics so much that I really can’t wait to get started.
A: Ya, let’s start learning!
One week passes. Dr. Myers has just dismissed us from our Tuesday class.
MC: So where were you guys? I was down at the library at 2 o’clock this weekend and none of you showed up.
MF: But we weren’t supposed to meet last weekend, we were supposed to meet this weekend. Remember, I said ‘next’ weekend this past Tuesday.
A: Guys, guys, I think what we are suffering here from a deictic mix-up. We all seem to have different referents for the term ‘next weekend’. Mademoiselle Fennel’s “next weekend” meant the weekend over one week from her time of speaking because she, at the time of speaking, still considered the next upcoming weekend as ‘this’ weekend. The Lady Coulter believed that the upcoming weekend was the next weekend because the past weekend was still ‘this’ weekend.
You know, this reminds me of a blog post I did over this semester. Let me tell you about it….
MC: Oh, okay. That makes sense. Well then, let’s definitely work on the project this weekend. Let’s use a date.
MF: Oh, hey, here’s a note from Shannon, our other group member. Let me read it aloud:
“Hey guys, we should meet to work on our project here on this date”. What you guys think?
A; Ok, sounds great. Let’s start learning!
MC: Ok, it’s a deal.
One week passes. Dr. Myers has just dismissed us from our Tuesday class.
MC: Ok, I’m really getting tired of this. I was here last weekend and none of you guys showed up. We are never going to get this project finished.
MF: You were here? But the deictic center from Shannon’s note was clearly at the William T. Young library, where the note was written. We waited for you there for two hours before we finally gave up.
A: Deixis strikes again!
MC: Arg, where is here anyway?
A: Ok, here. We will meet at the William T Young Library in 5 days at the Rose Street entrance. There. No mix ups anymore.
That weekend they finally met up at the library. Now they are in the lobby trying to get a study room.
A: Ok, guys, let’s get this study room and finally get started on our wonderful project. Here, I know how to handle these library types. Watch my politeness style in action.
So, umm, ya, I was just walking around today, you know, with my backpack on… full of papers and homework to do and, you know, things to study. It’d be really great if there was some sort of room where I could, what’s the word, study(?). Gee, I would really like a room to study in…. Some sort of study room. If only there was some way to get one of those…
Ok, guys, the politness strategy of ‘hinting’ did not work. Maggie, why don’t you give it a shot.
MF: Ok, guess which politeness strategy I’m going to use. I’ll give you a hint. I am going to make sure that the library worker does not lose any face.
Dear Library Student Assistant, if it’s not to much trouble, would you kindly be so kind as to kind of be gracious enough to please allow us, again only if it is not too far beyond the call of duty, to lend us a study room key for just a little while, as long as its not too much of an imposition on you, which I would understand if it is.
Ok guys, that didn’t work either. The Library Student Assistant fell asleep while I was using that negative politeness strategy.
MC: Guys, sometimes a bald request is the best request.
Give us a study room key. Thank you.
See. That worked. This reminds me of a blog entry I once did.
(Maggie Coulter blog)
MF: You know, you’re not the only one to a do a blog entry on politeness. I did one on…
(MF blog)
A: Ok ok guys, there’s room in this library for more than one politeness blogger. Let’s put this behind us and get up there and start LEARNING!
Our heroes finally sit down in their study room to work on the group project.
MC: Ok guys, we should definitely start with something from semantics, because I’m sure we will have plenty of entries from pragmatics. Hey, like my synonyms post.
(Coulter blog bam)
A: Okay, that sounds like a good idea. We should definitely put that in the project. I’m glad we’ve finally started learning. Maggie, what blog entry would you like to contribute to this educational endeavor?
MF: Did you go to 80’s night at the Dame? Just kidding. See, that was an inappropriate response to your question in terms of adjacency pairs. What I should have done was answer your question. See, this reminds me of a blog I worked on.
(Fennel adjacency pair blog)
A: Hmm. Ya, we should put that into the presentation. Oh crap, I just realized that I’ve got to go.
MF: Ya, me too.
MC: But wait, what about the group project? What will we do?
A: It’ll be alright. We’ll just wing it. After all, semantics and pragmatics are all around us.
And now our heroes find themselves in the present moment at the front of the class talking out the final lines of the play they wrote about writing their group presentation.
(Andrew will finish this up and do the final part on either manwhore or grandma)
I thought the article we read about the silence in Japanese language
was very interesting. Initially I thought it didn't seem that
different from the conversations American speakers have. In other
words, I feel like American's use body language once in a while, but
now that we read this article, I have been paying attention and I think
that it is extremely rare for American speakers to be silent.
Silence is usually awkward and filled with a face that represents "this
is awkward, what should we say now." After talking with another
girl in our class who has witnessed Japanese conversations, she said
that they honestly use silence very often and it seems somewhat awkward
to American's listening because it makes you wonder why no one is
speaking when in reality they are using body language, smiles, nods,
etc.. to converse. Just thought I would share my thoughts on that
article. :)
To make sure I understand adjacency pairs, I've decided to give a few examples.
From class:
How are you?
Fine, thanks. How are you?
Hey, there.
Hey!
You're cute.
Thank you.
(would "your're cute too" be expected as an adjacency pair?)
Let's grab a drink tonight.
Okay, when and where?
What time will you be here on Sunday?
11:00.
I missed you so much!
I missed you too!
So preference organization would be the possibility of having a few
different answers to the questions, correct? So for What time
will you be here on Sunday? The Preferred answer would be a
time. The non-preferred would be something like "oh I"m not
coming anymore." Or for You're cute. The preferred answer would
be, "Thanks, you're cute too" or "You're not so bad yourself."
The non-preferred answer would be "No I'm not" or "Wish I could say the
same." Haha.
After reading the article about Japanese silences in conversation it got me thinking about nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is important because it happens continuously and many times people do not realize that they are doing it. It is important to know what each nonverbal act means. It is also important to understand that like spoken language nonverbal language has different meanings from culture to culture. One thing that differs from one culture to another is how close one person gets to another when communicating. People in the eastern cultures might stay further away than those in western culture
I am going to discuss what we learned in class today about responses.
Request:
Could you please tutor me?
Accept: Yes
Reject: I have a lot of work to do so I do not think I would have time
Assesment:
It is really pretty out today
Agree: Yes it was
Disagree: I thought it was a little warm at times
Blame:
You forgot to take out the trash:
Denial: No I did not forget I just have not been back to the house yet
Blame: You were suppose to do it
Offer/Invitation:
Would you like to go to dinner tonight?
Accept: That would be great.
Reject: No thank you. I have to work tonight.
Question:
How are you?
Expected: I am fine you?
Unexpected: Not good at all I have been having a really bad day.
Are all of these correct?
The article of Japanese reminded me of JPN 101 class which reminded me of how Japanese conversational habits demonstrate some of the politeness concepts we’ve been discussing. For instance, Japanese people tend to avoid saying no directly (‘bald’ declining). This is supposed to preserve harmony by avoiding confrontation, at least in theory. Some methods for declining without saying ‘no’ include:
1) Agree, then give a reason why you must say no.
Would you like more food? –Yes, but since I’m already so full…
2) Give an ambiguous answer that might be taken as either positive or negative.
Want to go shopping tomorrow? – Maybe.
3) Say you must consult someone before answering.
Will you buy this? – First I must ask my wife and see what she says.
So the standard way of declining in Japan is to either use indirect hints or to offer ambiguous answers. However these answers are not really ambiguous to other Japanese. They know the other person means ‘no’. However, this can be a problem for Westerners who might interpret the ‘maybe’ as being possibly affirmative. Many American men have been stood up for dates when they didn’t realize that their offer had been politely turned down.
I am going to see if I understand the explicatures that we went over in class
1) Disambiguation
Example: Mary sat down on the side of the bank last night.
bank could either be a place where money is kept or a bank of a river
2) Reference Assignment
Example: Mary told Sarah the she would give her back her book tomorrow.
Could be: Mary told Sarah the Sarah would give Mary back her book tomorrow
Mary told Sarah the Mary would give Sarah back her book tomorrow
3) Enrichment
Example: It was cold out
either this morning or yesterday or when I was outside last it was cold out
Are these correct?
I am going to use the tree that was drawn on the board in class to see if I know the different types of politeness
Wanting someone to turn down the radio
1) You can either Say something or Say nothing (either point to your ear and make and face or you could use your hand to make the motion of turning down the volume
2) If you say something it is either on the record or a hint (Wow you really like to listen to your music loudly)
3) If you say something on the record it can either be bald ( I am not quite sure what this means) or it can be face-saving
4) If it is face-saving it can either be positive politeness (turn down the music I can concentrate) or it can be negative politness (could you please turn down your music a little bit?)
Did I do these correctly? Could you help me with a bald statement?
Clinton should win this Presidency
a.) "No way, a woman couldn't run this country"
b.) "Well, she would make a good leader, but I think McCain would be better."
c.) "I agree."
Order of niceness: c., b., a.
I am finally healed from my facelift.
a.) "It looks great."
b.) "You look so much better than before, you really needed it."
c.) "I can't even tell the difference."
a., b., c.
Rajon Rondo has been such an asset to the Boston Celtics!
a.) He is pretty good, but they have some other really experienced players I think are more well trained."
b.) "He's no Michael Jordan."
c.) "He's amazing, my favorite player to watch, a huge asset to the team and should be breaking records soon."
c., a., b.
"To tell someone you love them"
__________________________
I
I
say something
say nothing
"I love you"
Kiss them, hug them, give them "the eye"
I I
on
record hint
"I love you" "I think we were meant for each other."
I I
face saving
bald
??? "You are the love of my life."
I I
pos. politeness neg. politeness
"Let's make-out." "I think I'm falling for you."
Did I do this right? I couldn't figure out what face saving would
be. Also would the actual words, "I love you" work for say
something, on record, bald, etc...?
"I
