2) Performative Ss (ps)

~ I congratulate you. I apologize. I welcome you.

These sentences do not report or state anything (in this they differ from CS). By uttering these sentences (I congratulate you.) the speaker actually performs the action of congratulating but doesn’t perform any other action. The communicative intentional content of PSs is accomplished in the action of performing and in the new relation between the speaker and the addressee. The structural forms of PSs are not restricted by sentences in the 1^st person.

~Payment is granted.

~Passengers are requested to cross the line by footbridge only. [They are passive transforms of the corresponding active sentences]/

The problem of distinguishing between performative and non-p. verbs.

~John refused to apologize (a performative verb; not a performative sentence)

A verb can be used performatively under the following conditions:

1) the sentence is present, not past

2) the deep subject is first person

3) the performative verb isn’t in the imbedded clause.

4) there is no modal or aspectual auxiliary

5) there is no adverb of frequency

Non-performative ss:

~John apologizes for his absence,

~John suggested that I apologize (an embedded clause).

~I have apologized (no action of apologizing).

~I always apologize.

3) Directive Ss(ds) : a) injunctions (orders); b) requests.

The communicative intentional content of DSs is directed at inducing their addressee to act.

~Get out! Don’t go! Tell me sth about it.

~Will you fill in the form.

Injunctions (orders) and requests are both aimed at prompting the addressee to act. Only verbs of action can be use in both types of Ss. They differ in the force of inducement and in the degree of compulsion. The action denoted by the predicate in injunctive Ss is compulsory for the addressee. And it is not I

in requests. The lexical indicator of requestive Ss is “please” which removes the imperative character of the directive ss.

~Please, go away. Don’t go, please.

There are some specific types of requestive Ss that neutralize relations between the speaker and the addressee (they’re united in these Ss):

~Don’t let’s do it!

Use of requestive sentences in the form of interrogative Ss ~Would you kindly stop smoking?

The transponed variant of the question.

4) Questions (Q)

are interrogative Ss in their traditional treatment. The informative potentials of the speaker and the addressee are different. The communicative intentional content of Qs is aimed at removing the difference between the speaker and the addressee by getting proper information from the addressee. ~Who knows the way to the station?

Qs have a common feature with Directive Ss: they are used with the purpose of causing the listener to act, but in Qs the response is verbal; in DSs the response is an action (including speech in some situations: ~Tell me about the man).

5) Promises (Ps) and menaces(Ms)

The communicative intention of Ps is affected in the interest of the addressee. The speaker is supposed to guarantee what is promised in the S

~ I’ll come tomorrow. I’ll write to you.

The subject of the Ps is an agent, the predicate – a Verb of action (in the active voice).

Ps with subject-patients don’t exist.

~I’ll be ignored.

Ps are usually realized in Ss where the subject is in the first person. If the subject is in the 3^rd person, the S can be regarded as a promise if it’s accomplishment of the action depends on the speaker.

~ The train will arrive in time.

->Two implied sentences: 1) The train will arrive in time, I promis. [The pragmatic type of promisses] 2) The train will arrive in time, I state. [Constative S]

The communicative intentional content of the menace is opposite to that of the promiss. The addressee isn’t interested in accomplishing the action. The speaker isn’t supposed to guarantee his menace, his threat.

~. I’ll show you. I’ll pay you (Я тебе задам).

Menaces unlike Promises are not restricted by the role structure of the subject.

~ He’ll be bitten up – the subject of this MS is a patient).

Promisses and menaces ave common structural+semantic features. But they differ in positive/negative response of the addressee to the communicative intentional component of the utterance.