​Style in spoken discourse

​Consider these requests for information:

1. ​Where were you last night? I had been waiting for you at your house.

2. ​Mrs. Brooke, could you tell us where you were on the night of Friday the first of October?

3. I heard Blackpink was in town last night for a concert, and I know some of you are fans. Did anyone of you go for the concert?

​Are there any variations in the requests for information above?

What do you think influence how the speakers ask for information?​

​Style in Spoken Discourse

​= the range of variations within the speech of an individual speaker

​

how a speaker chooses to express oneself according to:

1. the context

• ​the situation

• ​the topic

​Style in Spoken Discourse

​how a speaker chooses to express oneself according to:

2. ​the person being addressed aka addressee / audience

• the relationship between the speaker and the addressee

• how well the speaker knows the addressee

• how close the speaker feels to the addressee (solidarity and social distance)

• ​age of the addressee

• ​social background of the addressee

​Speaker may adapt a speech style similar to that of the addressee (convergence).

​Speaker may deliberately choose a different language style not used by the addressee (divergence).

​Register in Spoken Discourse

= the level of formality with which one speaks

​Choice of register depends on the audience, topic, purpose, and location.

​5 levels:

1. ​Frozen / Static (does not change, rehearsed through rote learning)

2. ​Formal (impersonal, prescriptive, one-way in nature, avoid slangs)

3. ​Consultative (mutually accepted, professional, formal conversation)

4. ​Casual (informal, uses slang, colloquialism)

5. ​Intimate (private, used by lovers, avoided in public/professional)

​Identify the different registers in this scene.

​Speech Act

= an utterance that serves a function in communication

Proponents:​

• ​John L. Austin (1962)

• John R. ​Searle (1983)

​TWO main speech acts:

​1. performatives

• ​to undertake an action

• ​can be felicitous or infelicitous

​2. constatives

• ​to make a statement

• ​can be true or false

​Felicity Conditions

1. There must be a conventional procedure having a conventional effect.

2. Circumstances and persons must be appropriate.

3. ​Procedures must be executed correctly and completely.

​Three Types of Acts

1. Locutionary act

• ​the words that are uttered

​2. Illocutionary act

• ​the speaker's intention

​3. Perlocutionary act

• ​the intended effect

​Examples:

"​Can you move your arm?"

​"I am not feeling well."

​"I'm sorry."

Classification of Illocutionary Acts​

1. Representatives

• ​commit the speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition

• ​E.g. asserting, concluding, suggesting, claiming, describing

2. ​Directives

• ​attempts by the speaker to get the addressee to do something

• E.g. ​requesting, questioning, inviting, ordering, challenging

​3. Commissives

• commit the speaker to some future course of action

• E.g. promising, threatening, offering, taking an oath, vowing

Classification of Illocutionary Acts​

​4. Expressives

• ​express a psychological state

• ​E.g. thanking, apologising, welcoming, congratulating, greeting

​5. Declarations

• ​effect immediate changes in the institutional state of affairs, rely on elaborate extra-linguistic features

• ​E.g. christening, opening an event, declaring a war, blessing, firing

​Tutorial Task

​Based on the points from the brainstorming session, discuss with your partner(s) on the challenges faced by students. In your discussion, you are expected to provide some suggestions to overcome the challenges.

​

Make sure that you use appropriate style and register in your discussion, and employ the relevant speech acts. Don't forget to speak with appropriate pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and intonation.

​

​You will carry out the discussion in the next Tutorial session.