Speech Act Realization
Today, we are going to look at a very interesting topic, that is, speech act realization. Let’s first have a look at the definition of a speech act. We all know that we do things with words. That is, when we communicate, we want to achieve a certain purpose. That is to say, when we say something, actually we perform several acts at once. We say something, we do something, and we produce a certain effect upon the audience. Let’s look at the following examples.
It’s very cold here. When you’re saying this, you perform three acts. You say the sentence. You describe and hint at the hearer closing the window. And the hearer closes the window.
The second example. Could you please close the window? Here, you say the sentence. You make an explicit request. And the hearer closes the window.
You look great! Here, you say the sentence. You pay a compliment. And the hearer feels happy and says something in return.
Next, let’s look at social variables in speech act realization. In order to do things with words, we have to consider all those variables which may place constraints on language use. The most important of these variables are imposition, social distance and power relationship. Each of the variables may affect language use in a certain way. But in a specific communicative context, these variables may interact to influence speech communication in a very complex way. The speaker considers the possible values of these variables and decides on linguistic forms to be used. The hearer makes the same considerations and decides on the possibility of his compliance with the speech act. Let’s first look at the social variable of imposition. When a speech act is performed, it is either for the benefit of the speaker, or the hearer. A universal politeness principle is to maximize the benefit to the hearer, or minimize the cost to the hearer. But very often, the speaker performs a speech act to his own benefit, for example, asking for help. When we’re asking for help, we have to know that, the bigger the favor, the higher the imposition. Let’s look at the following examples.
Example 1: You borrow 5 yuan from your classmate. In this situation, imposition is very low because only 5 yuan is involved.
Example 2: You borrow 500 yuan from your classmate. In this situation, imposition is high because 500 yuan is involved. But in some cultures, borrowing money, no matter how much it is, is an act of high imposition. The speaker can soften a speech act of high imposition by using some downgraders.
For example, Do you have 5 yuan? This is a hint. It can function as a request in this low-imposition scenario.
I’m wondering if you could lend me 500 yuan. I’ll return it to you tomorrow. 500 yuan is too much. So the speaker uses an embedded –if clause, and uses an –ing formto soften his voice.
Next, let’s look at the social variable of social distance. Social distance is a variable that determines how familiar the two persons are. The closer the speaker is to the hearer, the more direct the language might be. Let’s look at some examples.
First, You borrow 500 RMB yuan from your elder brother. The linguistic form might be: Lend me 500 yuan. It is very direct, because you’re borrowing money from your brother.
Next, It’s your first day on the campus. Your wallet was lost. You borrow 500 yuan from a student living on the same floor. The linguistic form might be: Excuse me, but can you please lend me 500 yuan? I cannot find my wallet.
In this case, the speaker first uses an attention getter Excuse me. Then he uses a question in the past tense could you please lend me 500 yuan. Questions are more polite than statements, and past tense is a syntactic downgrader which makes the utterance less impositive. Finally, he uses a grounder I cannot find my wallet, which is an external support move. The speaker invests so much effort in realizing the request because the hearer is a stranger.
Social distance is a variable that is not so much influenced by cross-cultural differences. That is, people from different cultures may perceive social distance in roughly the same way.
Third, let’s have a look at the social variable of power relationship. Power relationship determines who enjoys more power, the speaker or the hearer. Actually, the more power you have, the more direct the linguistic form might be. Actually, power relationship is a variable that manifests major cross-cultural differences. Let’s look at the following examples.
You borrow 500 RMB yuan from your classmate. In this scenario, you and your classmate enjoy equal power. As a result, your request can be more direct. But the following scenario is different:
You borrow 500 RMB yuan from your teacher. Your teacher enjoys more power. And you have to take this into consideration. When you’re making the request, the request should be more indirect and must be modified in a certain way.
The last point on this topic: how social variables interact to influence speech act realization. In authentic communication, these social variables may interact to influence speech act realization in a very complex way. And when the speaker makes decisions, it is actually also a very complex process.
As we know, decision on the interaction of social variables influencing speech act realization is a very complex process and such a process is much influenced by the culture behind the speaker.）Let’s look at the following example, a very typical example in these Chinese settings.
You’re a middle school student. It’s Saturday. Mother doesn’t want you to go out to play before you finish your homework. You’ve been working on it for one and half hour and it’s still unfinished. You want Mother to let you go out to play.
In this case, Mother enjoys more power; there’s no distance between Mother and the student. But in Chinese culture, the student’s request is very impolite, and he has to be very careful in making the request. It may go like this:
Mom, I’ve too much homework, and I’ve been working on it for almost two hours. I’m really tired. Can I go out and play for a while? Just one hour and I’ll come back to it.
Before making the request, the speaker gives reasons (too much homework; working for two hours; really tired). The request is formulated in a conventionally indirect way (Can I…), which is very soft in tone. And it is followed by a cost-minimizer (Just one hour), so that Mother can willingly comply with the request.
