Elaf's Notes

Hello there, here is my notes for tomorrow's lecture which is about language function:

 -Language serves a range of functions.

 -It is usually adjusted the speech to suit the social context of speech. 

-There are a number of ways of categorizing the functions of speech: 

1-Expressive utterances (express the speaker’s feelings)

e.g. I’m feeling great today.

 2_ Directive utterances (used to get someone to do something)

e.g. clear the table. 

3_ Referential utterances (provide information) 

e.g. At the third stroke it will be three 12 o’clock precisely. 

4_ Metalinguistic utterances (comment on language itself) 

e.g. ‘hegemony’ is not a common word.

5_Poetic utterances (focus on aesthetic features of language)

 e.g. a poem, an ear-catching motto, 

a rhyme, peter piper picked a peek of pickled peppers.

6_ Phatic utterances (express solidarity and empathy with others)

e.g. Hi, how are you, lovely day isn’t it?

_  Any utterances may in fact express more than one function

 _and any function may be expressed by a stretch of discourse which doesn’t exactly coincide with an utterance.

_ They seem to be very fundamental functions of language, perhaps because they derive from the basic components of any interaction

- the speaker (expressive), the addressee (directive) and the message (referential).

REFERENCE 

Allen and Corder (ed.). 1975. Papers in Applied Linguistics Language Teaching. 

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London and New York: Longman. 

http://www.diditlinguist.blogspot.com/2013/05/speech-functions-politeness-and-cross.html

http://www.jlt-polinema.org/?tag=politeness