28.05.1998: 5 Information level analysis (semantics, pragmatics)

For detailed overview information on models of semantics and pragmatics, and the associated functions of language, review the first Unit in this series, and also check my summaries of a range of models of language communication:

Functions of Language.

Particularly important are the following approaches:

Bühler, Jakobson, Searle, Grice.

We will concentrate on the Jakobsonian functions:

1. The context: the relation between a message and the context is `representational'.
2. The speaker: the relation between a message and the speaker is `expressive'.
3. The addressee: the relation between a message and the addressee is `conative'.
4. The contact (channel): the relation between a message and the channel is `phatic'.
5. The code: the relation between a message and a code in which messages are formulated is `metalingual'.
6. The message: the relation between a message and itself is `poetic'.

Claudia Sassen will introduce you to the phatic function of language, with particular reference to

• Internet Relay Chat (IRC);
• multiplexed chat threads;
• chat transcriptions as latent hypertext based on chat threads.

Tasks for further discussion:

• For each of the Jakobsonian functions,
  • find one web page on which this function is emphasised,
  • describe the means by which this function is communicated.
• Find a reasonably large professional web site, such as the web site of a well-known newspaper, magazine or periodical, or of a well-known personality, and analyse it in terms of:
  • the Jakobsonian functions,
  • Searle type speech acts,
  • Grice's maxims of cooperation.