There are, apparently, many ways to skin cats. In a similar vein, there are many ways of saying the same thing, that is to say, to say the same thing in a different more linguistic way, there are many different locutions that have the same illocutionary force. Oh, I see. You're callin' me out, huh? Don't think I can walk the talk, eh? Think I'm just spouting off? Just mouthin' off? Allow me to drop science.
Scenario: Homeboy borrowed your pen and you want it back. You utter shiznit to get it back i.e. perform utterances with the illocutionary force of 'requesting' or 'demanding' with the hope of the perlocutionary windfall of a returned ball point. Word. How many ways can you say it?
1) Hey, can I get my pen back? (ok, pretty direct but not very inventive?)
2) Man, I could really stand to write some things down right now. If only I had some device which could help me accomplish this goal. (Ya, that's a little too indirect, holmes)
3) *gesture with an empty hand back and forth*
4) Bring up different ways of using illocutionary force to get a person's pen back in class (Good - indirect, but clever enough that the person should get the message eventually)
In class we talked about the take versus bring distinction. How 'bring' goes toward the speaker or hearer and how 'take' means away from speaker or hearer. This made us raise an outraged outcry against the blasphemous sentence: 'Take it here'. This sentence offends the mind. If we are there where here is where we are, then there at that 'here' we would say bring instead of take.
But if we give a context for this sentence that changes the deictic center, it can make sense. If we were spies being given a mission impossible style impossible mission, the sentence could work i.e.
You will infiltrate the base. You will climb through the ducts. Make sure you have the suitcase nuke. Locate the bathroom. Take it here. Get the hell out.
The 'bring' versus 'take' distinction is found in German: 'hin' preposition meets 'out away from speaker' and 'her' means 'in towards the speaker', so you have to be careful when you ask some one to throw a knife 'hin' or 'her'.
I had a dream: to craft the deicticest sentence EVER. Now that dream has been realized. Behold:
Thou o'er yonder, we settle this there tomorrow!
Thou - social deixis - conveys informality normally with speaker, however this is being used ironically as a sign of disrespect here.
o'er yonder - gestural deixis - one has to see where the speaker is pointing/looking to figure out which 'thou' he's calling otu
we - personal deixis - inclusive 1st person plural; both will be settling 'this'
settle - temporal deixis - the lack of past tense markers is a kind of deixis, ya heard.
this - discourse deixis - referring to a past discourse element (whatever it is that needs to be settled). INTERESTINGLY it is referring to something in the past, once again proving Cruse wrong.
there - spatial deixis - straight up, dawg
tomorrow - temporal deixis - sheeit
BONUS: if we can get psychological deixis in there, this will be the undisputed champion.
I am intrigued by performative verbs. Could it be that these magical utterances actually perform their represented action in the very act of speaking them? If so, they are like the magic spells of yore. In the act of saying 'I vow to do my blog post' the 'vow' is done, even if the blog post is done. Who dare challenge this vow? Who dare say 'Nay, you've vowed nothing'? Bring me this knave and I promise you I shall visit many more performatives upon him. I swear I will compile a list of perfomative words (and...the swearing has already happened????!).
I declare this blog post nearly complete.
I warn myself to get some sleep.
I request and pray and beseech the semester will end soon.
I christen this keyboard a granfalloon.
Will I bless or will I curse?
I hereby decree this blog post is done: for better worse.
