Searle and Sinclair on communicative acts
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Michael Stubbs
Abstract
John Searle and John Sinclair have worked in very different academic traditions: analytic philosophy and empirical linguistics. Nevertheless, although they work with very different methodological and theoretical assumptions, they both tackle one of the deepest questions in the philosophy of language – the nature of units of meaning – and there are similarities in their models of communicative acts – speech acts and extended lexical units. It is therefore productive to study in how far the two approaches are complementary, and whether their different strengths can be combined. I will give brief examples of how Searle’s model could be strengthened by grounding it in empirical textual and ethnographic data, and therefore – conversely – how Sinclair’s model could be strengthened by giving it a social rationale.
Abstract
John Searle and John Sinclair have worked in very different academic traditions: analytic philosophy and empirical linguistics. Nevertheless, although they work with very different methodological and theoretical assumptions, they both tackle one of the deepest questions in the philosophy of language – the nature of units of meaning – and there are similarities in their models of communicative acts – speech acts and extended lexical units. It is therefore productive to study in how far the two approaches are complementary, and whether their different strengths can be combined. I will give brief examples of how Searle’s model could be strengthened by grounding it in empirical textual and ethnographic data, and therefore – conversely – how Sinclair’s model could be strengthened by giving it a social rationale.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
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Introduction
- On the relatedness of functionalism and pragmatics 1
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I. Methods in the analysis of language and discourse
- Developing comprehensive criteria of adequacy 19
- A method of analysing recontextualisation in the communication of science 37
- Contrastive corpus annotation in the CONTRANOT project 57
- Form and function in evaluative language 87
- Life before Nation 111
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II. Pragmatics and grammar
- A lexico-paradigmatic approach to English setting-constructions 133
- How did we think? 149
- The adverb truly in Present-Day English 169
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III. Current trends in pragmatics and discourse analysis
- Nominal reference and the dynamics of discourse 189
- ‘Pragmatic punting’ and prosody 209
- Besides as a connective 223
- Searle and Sinclair on communicative acts 243
- Strategies of (in)directness in Spanish speakers’ production of complaints and disagreements in English and Spanish 261
- Name index 285
- Term index 289
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
-
Introduction
- On the relatedness of functionalism and pragmatics 1
-
I. Methods in the analysis of language and discourse
- Developing comprehensive criteria of adequacy 19
- A method of analysing recontextualisation in the communication of science 37
- Contrastive corpus annotation in the CONTRANOT project 57
- Form and function in evaluative language 87
- Life before Nation 111
-
II. Pragmatics and grammar
- A lexico-paradigmatic approach to English setting-constructions 133
- How did we think? 149
- The adverb truly in Present-Day English 169
-
III. Current trends in pragmatics and discourse analysis
- Nominal reference and the dynamics of discourse 189
- ‘Pragmatic punting’ and prosody 209
- Besides as a connective 223
- Searle and Sinclair on communicative acts 243
- Strategies of (in)directness in Spanish speakers’ production of complaints and disagreements in English and Spanish 261
- Name index 285
- Term index 289
