2. Pragmatic transposition of sentences Sometimes a sentence characterized by formal features of some pragmatic
type in speech acquires illocutionary power of sentences of another type. Such
cases are referred to as
indirect speech acts . Indirect speech acts are commonly
used to reject proposals and to make requests. For example a speaker asks,
“Would you like to meet me for coffee?” and another replies,
“I have class.” The second
speaker used an indirect speech act to reject the proposal. This is indirect because
the literal meaning of
“I have class” does not entail any sort of rejection. Typical
cases include:
o
constative >> requestive:
e.g. It is rather cool here. (Please close the window.) o
quesitive >> requestive:
e.g. Do you have any cash on you? (Please lend me some.) o
constative >> offertive:
e.g. There is some chocolate on the tea table. (Have some.) A sentence used transpositionally still retains its original meaning. The two
meanings co-exist, the indirect one being layered upon the original one.
It is obvious that there are some restrictions as to types of sentences that can
be transposed. A sentence of any pragmatic type cannot be transposed into any
other pragmatic type.
Apparently, pragmatic transposition of sentences is socially motivated. The
choice of an indirect pragmatic type is explained by extralinguistic conditions of
the communicative situation.
