Linguistic gambits
University of Babylon
College of Education for Human Sciences
Department of English/ PhD Programme
A Theoretical Survey of
Gambits
A term paper
Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of a
PhD course in Discourse Analysis
by
Ahmed Sahib Jabir
May, 2013
1. Introductory remarks
It is an agreed upon fact that language is mainly used to fulfil two basic functions: the first is the transactional function which is related to the communication of information and the other is the interactional function which is concerned with establishing and maintaining social relations between the members of a speech community (Brown and Yule 1983: 1). This latter function, which is also called the phatic communion, is of great importance since it is responsible for harmonizing people’s life.
Trudgill (1974: 1) states that when two English people who have never met before come face to face in, say, a train, they find it awkward not to speak to each other! Therefore, one of them will take the initiative and start a conversation about some general topic, typically the weather. In this regard, there are particular expressions that are usually used by native speakers of English to start the conversation like:
(1) What a lovely day, isn’t it?
(2) What awful weather we’re having today!
Such expressions, in addition to those that are related to other subjects, can be used to start a conversation, respond to others, or to indicate a shift in topic. Expressions like these are in general called gambits1.
House (2010: 569) describes gambits as discourse markers or elements that can occur in “turn-initial”, “turn-internal” or “turn-final” position and which can be viewed as the different ways of telling what the speaker is saying and who is listening to them. For example, when giving an opinion, a speaker may initiate the speech by:
(3) In my opinion… or in telling bad news by
(4) I’m afraid I have some bad news…
Such gambits are found in all
College of Education for Human Sciences
Department of English/ PhD Programme
A Theoretical Survey of
Gambits
A term paper
Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of a
PhD course in Discourse Analysis
by
Ahmed Sahib Jabir
May, 2013
1. Introductory remarks
It is an agreed upon fact that language is mainly used to fulfil two basic functions: the first is the transactional function which is related to the communication of information and the other is the interactional function which is concerned with establishing and maintaining social relations between the members of a speech community (Brown and Yule 1983: 1). This latter function, which is also called the phatic communion, is of great importance since it is responsible for harmonizing people’s life.
Trudgill (1974: 1) states that when two English people who have never met before come face to face in, say, a train, they find it awkward not to speak to each other! Therefore, one of them will take the initiative and start a conversation about some general topic, typically the weather. In this regard, there are particular expressions that are usually used by native speakers of English to start the conversation like:
(1) What a lovely day, isn’t it?
(2) What awful weather we’re having today!
Such expressions, in addition to those that are related to other subjects, can be used to start a conversation, respond to others, or to indicate a shift in topic. Expressions like these are in general called gambits1.
House (2010: 569) describes gambits as discourse markers or elements that can occur in “turn-initial”, “turn-internal” or “turn-final” position and which can be viewed as the different ways of telling what the speaker is saying and who is listening to them. For example, when giving an opinion, a speaker may initiate the speech by:
(3) In my opinion… or in telling bad news by
(4) I’m afraid I have some bad news…
Such gambits are found in all
Bibliography: Brown G. and Yule, G. (1983) Discourse analysis. Cambridge: CUP. Danesi, M. (2004) A Basic Course in Anthropological Linguistics. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. House, J. (2010) “Impoliteness in Germany” Intercultural Pragmatics Vol.7 No. 4 PP 561–595. Keller, E. and Warner, S. (1976) Gambits 1, 2, 3. Ottawa: Public Service. ----------------- (1988) Conversation Gambits: Real English conversation Practices. Hove: Language Teaching Publications. Nattinger, J. and DeCarrico, J. (1992) Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP. Parridge, E. (1966) Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. London: Routledge. Thornbury S. and Slade, D. (2007) Conversation: From Description to Pedagogy. Cambridge: CUP. Trudgill, P. (1974) Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. London: Penguin Books. Yorio, C. (1980) “Conventionalized Language Forms and the Development of Communicative Competence” TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 433-442 Krashen, S Litosseliti, L. and Sunderland, J. (2002) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.