Relevance I
Relevance II
Relevance III
Politeness Theory
Politeness & Facebook
100
TRUE or FALSE? Relevance Theory and Grice's Cooperative Principle are mutually exclusive.
FALSE. Relevance Theory builds off of Grice's maxim of Relevance (Relation).
100
TRUE or FALSE? Relevance is binary: either an utterance is relevant to the interlocutor or it is not.
FALSE. There are degrees of relevance.
100
What do we call the set of assumptions that a participant has in his or her mind at a given moment in a given interaction? (A) background (B) context (C) knowledge (D) stimulus
(B) context
100
Which of the following politeness theories is the best developed and most widely accepted in current day? (A) Lakoff (B) Leech (C) Brown & Levinson (D) Grice.
(C) Brown & Levinson
100
TRUE or FALSE? There were major differences found between men and women in positive and negative politeness acts in Facebook.
FALSE. Thanks and promises = no difference. Wishes and invitations = men slightly more.
200
Explain the significance of contextual effect in Relevance.
The higher the contextual effect the utterance produces in the interlocutor, the more relevant.
200
Explain the concept of cognitive effort as it relates to Relevance.
The less cognitive effort required by the interlocutor to process the utterance, the more relevant it is.
200
Explain the relevance of the following utterance, assuming that I am the speaker and you (all) are the interlocutors. "You are studying Pragmatics this semester."
It doesn't contribute to your context because you already have this assumption.
200
Has politeness been determined to be culture-specific? Explain.
Yes. What is polite in one culture is not in another and vice-versa. These are norms established by each society.
200
In the article on gender and politeness in Facebook, what is the difference between bold on-record and off-record politeness?
Bold on-record: most face threatening, aims for clarity instead of protecting addressee's feelings). // Off-record: indirect, hard to interpret, evasive.
300
What are the two requirements of ostensive stimuli?
(1) That they attract the audience's attention, and (2) that they focus that attention on the communicator's intention.
300
What is optimal relevance?
Lowest possible cognitive effort combined with highest degree of contextual effects.
300
Imagine that I am the speaker and you (all) are the interlocutors. We share a set of assumptions and I say these three utterances to you. Which one is most relevant? Explain. (1) You have your third partial exam on Thursday. (2) On Thursday, July 27th we will have an end-of-the-semester party with snacks and karaoke. (3) Given that there are five weeks left in the semester and by the time we get to the end, we are all so exhausted that we hardly want to work, we will find something to do that doesn't involve reading Levison or discussing Relevance.
(2) On Thursday, July 27th we will have an end-of-the-semester party with snacks and karaoke.
300
Name and describe TWO of Leech's six maxims of politeness.
Tact, generosity, approbation, modesty, agreement, and sympathy (p. 146)
300
Explain how wishes on Facebook are examples of positive politeness.
Satisfy addressee's need to feel appreciated.
400
Explain the notion of productivity or yield as it relates to Relevance.
Cost-benefit analysis: How much work is this going to require? How much will I get out of it?
400
Is context given or chosen? Is it fixed or can it be molded during a given communicative exchange? Explain according to Relevance Theory.
Context is chosen, drawing from the assumptions that most aide us in interpreting the utterance. It can change during an exchange if we realize the assumptions we have chosen for our context are not useful.
400
Explain the concept of encyclopedic information and how it plays into assumptions and ultimately Relevance by using an original example.
Encyclopedic information contributes to assumptions and therefore context. It is all we know about something in question. For example: "I went to Buenos Aires 10 years ago just to hear the accent!"
400
Explain the concept of FACE and the difference between positive and negative face.
Face is the image that we wish to project to others. Positive face is the desire to be agreed with and complimented. Negative face is the desire to be unimpeded.
400
How can tagging photos (and untagging yourself) be acts that are threatening to positive face?
Tagging - if the photo is unflattering. Untagging - you disagree with the one who tagged you.
500
How are Relevance to an individual and Relevance of a phenomenon related? Explain in terms of comparative definitions.
Extent condition 1: contextual effects large // Extent condition 2: processing effort is small
500
Explain ostensive-inferential communication using a real-life original example.
The communicator must produce a stimulus that makes it mutually manifest to both the communicator and audience that the communicator wishes to, by means of the stimulus, make manifest or more manifest a set of assumptions.
500
Name THREE differences between Relevance Theory and Grice's approach.
(1) Relevance Theory is much more explicit than Grice's maxims. (2) Achieving optimal relevance is less demanding than obeying Grice's maxims. (3) Grice's maxims are norms which communicators and audience must know in order to communicate adequately. In Relevance, communicators don't need to know it to communicate. They can't violate it and it applies without exception. (4) Grice distinguishes between explicit and implicit communication, using maxims. Relevance theory explains ostensive communication as a whole, both explicit and implicit simultaneously.
500
Give an example of each of the following: (1) a positive face-threatening act, (2) a negative face-threatening act, (3) an act of politeness that appeals to positive face, (4) an act of politeness that appeals to negative face.
(1) Disagreeing, insulting, (2) Interrupting, (3) Complimenting, agreeing, (4) Listening
500
Does "liking" a post on Facebook appeal to the interlocutors' positive or negative face...or both? Explain.
Both. Desire for approval and to be recognized while at the same time not requiring a response.
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