3.Define a sign as the basic term of semiotics; pragmatic approach to the studies of sign.

A sign is understood as a discrete unit of meaning in semiotics. It includes words, images, gestures, scents, tastes, textures, sounds – essentially all of the ways in which information can be communicated as a message by any sentient, reasoning mind to another.

Semiotics studies signs and sign processes (semiosis): indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication.

Semiotics is often divided into three branches:

• Semantics: relation between signs and the things to which they refer; their denotata, or meaning

• Syntactics: relations among signs in formal structures

• Pragmatics: relation between signs and the effects they have on the people who use them

F. De Saussure: classification and studying sign systems (language, literature, cinema, architecture, music, etc.), conceived of as mechanisms that generate messages;

'The sign is part of organized social intercourse and cannot exist outside it like a mere physical artifact' (V. Voloshinov);

Semantics focuses on what words mean, semiotics is concerned with how signs mean

• 'the medium is the message‘ (McLuhan)

• semiotics seeks to analyse media texts as structured wholes and investigates latent, connotative meanings

Sign in the theory of communication

• exploration of the modes of production of signs and meanings, the ways in which systems and codes are used, transformed or transgressed in social practice - the work performed through signs;

• Meaning is not 'transmitted' to us - we actively create it according to a complex interplay of codes or conventions;

Dyadic signs

According to Ferdinand de Saussure, a sign is composed of the signifier , and the signified.

For Saussure, a sign consists of two entities that cannot be separated from each other. Signifier represents its "form", whereas the signified represents the idea the sign expresses.

Triadic signs

CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE:

-“A sign is something which stands to somebody for something”

- Peirce's understanding of the sign is “triadic”.

SIGN – INTERPRETANT – OBJECT

Peirce explained that signs mediate between their objects and their interpretants in semiosis, the triadic process of determination. In semiosis a first is determined or influenced to be a sign by a second, as its object. The object determines the sign to determine a third as an interpretant.

The pragmatic approach to the studies of sign.

Pragmatics is the study of language which focuses attention on the users and the context of language use rather than on reference, truth, or grammar.

When a diplomat says yes, he means ‘perhaps’; When he says perhaps, he means ‘no’; When he says no, he is not a diplomat. (Voltaire)

• Relationship of the word-meaning and what speakers mean when uttering those words;

• particular circumstances of utterance;

• Intentions (намерение) and corresponding actions of speakers;

• what they manage to communicate.

A pragmatic approach to the study of signs--with a particular emphasis on the effects of signs on audiences--can help individuals to communicate more effectively, to analyze media with greater sophistication and critical awareness, and to design and interpret messages more skillfully and with deeper understanding.

Used in this way, semiotics provides some excellent practical guidelines for improving communication .

• Beware of semiotic overload. Using too much information in the form of icons, symbols, sounds, etc., can actually impede rather than facilitate communication.

• A sign to the wise. Most readers, viewers, and listeners are adept at interpretation and will actively try to "make sense" of your message. Your obligation is simply to present that message as clearly, as concisely, and as effectively as you can.

• At certain times it is prudent to say something twice--especially in a message environment with lots of noise (e.g., "walkie-talkie" radio) or no opportunity for feedback. In such situations a little redundancy may be vital.

• Images and sounds trump words. Readers and viewers are likely to devote several times as much energy and attention to a picture or image than to surrounding text. If you're going to include images or sounds in a written message, make sure those images and sounds convey the main point you wish to communicate-for they will have the most immediate, and lasting, impact on the audience.

4.Define speech acts and speech events. Describe the structure and nature of a speech act.

Actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts and, in English, are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request.

A speech act is an action performed via utterance. Traditional sentence types: statement, negation, interrogative. I am grateful to you for your hospitality. You are fired. The report will be ready on Monday. Apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, request, order, threat.

These descriptive terms for different kinds of speech acts apply to the speaker's communicative intention in producing an utter­ance. The speaker normally expects that his communica­tive intention will be recognized by the hearer. Both speaker and hearer are usually helped in this process by the circumstances surrounding the utterance. These circumstances, including other utterances, are called the speech event.

The circumstances in which the utterances are performed (speakers, noise, channel) are a speech events. The tea is cold.

Structure of speech act:

- locution (the linguistic form of the utterance). which is the basic act of utterance, or producing a meaningful lin­guistic expression.

- illocution (communicative force of an utterance). The illocutionary act is performed via the communicative force of an utterance. We might utter to make a statement, an offer, an explanation, or for some other communicative purpose. This is also generally known as the illocutionary force of the utterance.

- perlocution (the expected response and feedback – the outcome you automatically expect). We do not simply create an utterance with a func­tion without intending it to have an effect. Depending on the circumstances, you utter on the assumption that the hearer will recognize the effect you intended. I will see you later. A promise, a threat, a guess.

A speech event is an activity in which par­ticipants interact via language in some conventional way to arrive at some outcome. It may include an obvious central speech act, such as 'I don't really like this', as in a speech event of 'complain­ing', but it will also include other utterances leading up to and sub­sequently reacting to that central action. In most cases, a 'request' is not made by means of a single speech act suddenly uttered.

Actions performed via utterances are generally called speech acts and, in English, are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request.

A speech act is an action performed via utterance. Traditional sentence types: statement, negation, interrogative. I am grateful to you for your hospitality. You are fired. The report will be ready on Monday. Apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, request, order, threat.

Structure of speech act:

- locution (the linguistic form of the utterance). the basic act of utterance, or producing a meaningful lin­guistic expression.

- illocution (communicative force of an utterance).

- perlocution (the expected response and feedback – the outcome you automatically expect). I will see you later. A promise, a threat, a guess.

One general classification system lists five types of general func­tions performed by speech acts: declarations, representatives, expressives, directives, and commissives.

Declarations are those kinds of speech acts that change the world via their utterance. The speaker has to have a special institutional role, in a specific con­text, in order to perform a declaration appropriately.

a. Priest: I now pronounce you husband and wife. b. Referee: You're out! c. Jury Foreman: We find the defendant guilty. In using a declaration, the speaker changes the world via words.

Representatives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not. Statements of fact, assertions, conclusions, and descriptions are all examples of the speaker representing the world as he believes it is. a. The earth is flat. b. Chomsky didn't write about peanuts.

c. It was a warm sunny day. In using a representative, the speaker makes words fit the world (of belief).

Expressives are those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker feels. They express psychological states and can be state­ments of pleasure, pain, likes, dislikes, joy, or sorrow. They can be caused by something the speaker does or the hearer does, but they are about the speaker's experience.

a.I'm really sorry! b.Congratulations! c.Oh, yes, great! In using an expressive, the speaker makes words fit the world (of feeling).

Directives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to get someone else to do something. They express what the speaker wants. They are commands, orders, requests, suggestions, and, they can be positive or negative. a. Give me a cup of coffee. Make it black. b. Could you lend me a pen, please? c. Don't touch that.

In using a directive, the speaker attempts to make the world fit the words (via the hearer).

Commissives are those kinds of speech acts that speakers use to commit themselves to some future action. They express what the speaker intends. They are promises, threats, refusals, pledges, and they can be performed by the speaker alone, or by the speaker as a member of a group. a. I'll be back. b. I'm going to get it right next time. c. We will not do that.

In using a commissive, the speaker undertakes to make the world fit the words (via the speaker).

5.Explain J.Austin’s approach and classification of speech acts. Explain G.Searle’s approach to speech acts and his classification.

John Austin was intrigued by the way that we can use words to do different things. Whether one asserts or merely suggests, promises or indicates an intention, persuades or argues, depends not only on the literal meaning of one's words, but what one intends to do with them, and the institutional and social setting in which the linguistic activity occurs. One thing a speaker might intend to do, and be taken to do, in saying “I'll be there to pick you up at six,” is to promise to pick his listener up at that time. The ability to promise and to intend to promise arguably depends on the existence of a social practice or set of conventions about what a promise is and what constitutes promising. Austin especially emphasized the importance of social fact and conventions in doing things with words, in particular with respect to the class of speech acts known as illocutionary acts.