Jakobsons functions of language
Roman Jakobson's "The Speech Event and the Functions of Language."
(Jakobson's terms honored over Yaguello's)
Sue Smith, snsmith@u.arizona.edu
Yaguello, Marina. Language through the Looking Glass: Exploring Language and Linguistics. Trans. Marina Yaguello and Trevor Harris. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
The speech event, an act of verbal communication, brings into play 6 features, closely interdependent. An utterance does not necessarily/usually have only one function.
CONSTITUATIVE FACTORS of a SPEECH EVENT
Addresser
THE FUNCTIONS of
LANGUAGE
PURPOSE
INSPIRING
emotive
conveying
lyric poetry
(first person)
conveying
elegaic poetry
(second
person)
conveying
epic poetry
(third person)
a speaker addresses a message (expressive) function
Addressee
conative
emotion
commands
a hearer who may be absent or implicit (vocative, imperative) function
Context
referential
(informative)
function
information
Code
metalingual
conveying
referent or subject matter of the discourse, what it refers to
fully or partly known to addresser and addressee
Contact
channel or connection between the two parties
Message
focus on the message for its own sake
(metalinguistic) function code analysis
phatic
concerning
function
poetic
function
contact
conveying
play, pleasure
CHARACTERISTICS
>direct expression of the speaker's attitude toward what s/he is speaking about
>interjections, onomatopoeia, swear words, and exclamations
>paralinguistic features: mimicry, gesture, mannerisms, speed of delivery, intonation, volume (example: 40 different interpretations of "this evening")
>not liable to a truth test: "Drink!"--cannot be challenged by "Is it true or not?"
>pragmatic relations which are external to the utterance proper
> prayer, religious or magical formulas: "Let there be light!" "Abracadabra"
>speech-act verbs or performatives, grounded in action, word embodies act:
"I baptize you," "I now pronounce you," "I dub thee"
> transforms or attempts to
(Jakobson's terms honored over Yaguello's)
Sue Smith, snsmith@u.arizona.edu
Yaguello, Marina. Language through the Looking Glass: Exploring Language and Linguistics. Trans. Marina Yaguello and Trevor Harris. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
The speech event, an act of verbal communication, brings into play 6 features, closely interdependent. An utterance does not necessarily/usually have only one function.
CONSTITUATIVE FACTORS of a SPEECH EVENT
Addresser
THE FUNCTIONS of
LANGUAGE
PURPOSE
INSPIRING
emotive
conveying
lyric poetry
(first person)
conveying
elegaic poetry
(second
person)
conveying
epic poetry
(third person)
a speaker addresses a message (expressive) function
Addressee
conative
emotion
commands
a hearer who may be absent or implicit (vocative, imperative) function
Context
referential
(informative)
function
information
Code
metalingual
conveying
referent or subject matter of the discourse, what it refers to
fully or partly known to addresser and addressee
Contact
channel or connection between the two parties
Message
focus on the message for its own sake
(metalinguistic) function code analysis
phatic
concerning
function
poetic
function
contact
conveying
play, pleasure
CHARACTERISTICS
>direct expression of the speaker's attitude toward what s/he is speaking about
>interjections, onomatopoeia, swear words, and exclamations
>paralinguistic features: mimicry, gesture, mannerisms, speed of delivery, intonation, volume (example: 40 different interpretations of "this evening")
>not liable to a truth test: "Drink!"--cannot be challenged by "Is it true or not?"
>pragmatic relations which are external to the utterance proper
> prayer, religious or magical formulas: "Let there be light!" "Abracadabra"
>speech-act verbs or performatives, grounded in action, word embodies act:
"I baptize you," "I now pronounce you," "I dub thee"
> transforms or attempts to