Lecture 9

THE FUNCTIONS OF
ARTICLES IN THE
TEXT
Summary of the previous
lecture
What is pragmatics?
Who is the introducer of
pragmatics?
What is Speech Act Theory?
Who are the developers of Speech
Act?
What is locutionary act?
What is illocutionary act?
What is perlocutionary act?
Answers
 Answers
The term 'PRAGMATICS' was first
introduced by Charles Morris, a
philosopher
 Answers
Speech acts are simply things people do
through language - for example,
apologizing, instructing, menacing,
explaining something, etc.
Speech Act theory says that when we
speak we are also 'acting in the world'.
What we say has a descriptive meaning,
but it may also have an effect on those
around us, causing them to act, or think, or
respond in particular ways to what we say.
 Answers
The term 'speech act' was coined by the
philosopher John Austin and developed by
another philosopher John Searle.
 Answers
1) LOCUTIONARY ACT - producing a
meaningful linguistic expression, uttering a
sentence.
2) ILLOCUTIONARY ACT - we form an
utterance with some kind of function on
mind, with a definite communicative
intention or illocutionary force. The notion of
illocutionary force is basic for pragmatics.
3) PERLOCUTIONARY ACT - the effect
the utterance has on the hearer.
Perlocutionary effect may be verbal or non-
verbal.
 John Searle’s classification of
speech acts
His speech act classification has had a
great impact on linguistics. It includes
five major classes of speech acts:
declarations,
representatives,
expressives,
directives and
commissives:
 G.Potcheptsov’s classification of
speech acts
Another classification of speech acts was
introduced by G.Potcheptsov. It is based on
purely linguistic principles. His classification
includes six basic speech acts:
constatives,
promissives, menacives,
performatives, directives
and questions.
 Maxims of Conversation
It was Paul Grice who attempted to explain
how, by means of shared rules or
conventions, language users manage to
understand one another.
He introduced guidelines necessary for the
efficient and effective conversation.
He defined these guidelines as Cooperative
Principle.
Cooperative Principle presupposes that
conversation is governed by four basic rules,
Maxims of Conversation. There are four of
them:
 Topics under discussion
1. General overview of the article.
2. Functions of the indefinite article.
A.The classifying function
B. The indefinitizing function (generic)
C. The introductory function
D. The quantifying function (numeric)
3. Functions of the definite article
A. The identifying function.
B. The definitizing function
C. The individualizing function
 General overview of the
article
The article is a function word,
which means it has no lexical meaning
and is devoid of denotative function.
The article is a structural word
specifying the noun.
Semantically the article can be
viewed as a significator, i.e. a linguistic
unit representing some conceptual
content without naming it.
 There are two articles in
English
The indefinite article The definite article
The indefinite article The definite article
conveys the idea of conveys the idea of
indefiniteness. definiteness.
Indefiniteness means Definiteness
a more general suggests that the
reference to an object. object presented by
the noun is
individualized and
singled out from all
the other objects of
the same kind.
 Both the definite and the indefinite articles
have developed from notional parts of
speech, whose influence is traced in their
meaning and use

The definite article The indefinite article

The definite article The indefinite
developed from article developed
demonstrative from the cardinal
pronouns this, that, numeral one. The
which account for its numerical meaning
meaning of is evident in such
definiteness. phrases as at a
The demonstrative time, in a
force remains in many moment, not a
phrases, such as at sound.
the time, of the
 Since the choice of articles is determined by
the context or the general situation we should
pay attention to different attributes modifying
nouns. All attributes are generally divided
into ...
 Descritive and Restrictive
attributes
Both descritive and restrictive
attributes can be premodifying
(occupying the position before the
noun), and postmodifying (used
after the noun).
Nouns modified by restrictive
attributes are used with the definite
article, nouns modified by
descriptive attributes are mainly
used with the indefinite article.
Functions of the Article

 what do we
need articles
for?
 Functions of the Article
The answer to the question can't be
too simple. We might have to
enumerate quite a few functions that
articles can be used in. Some of them
are common for all the three articles,
others are only characteristic of
individual function words. The
invariant function of all the articles
(i.e. the function all of them are used
in) is that of determination.
The indefinite article can be
used in four functions
 The classifying function
The classifying function of the indefinite article is
realized in the classifying utterances.
a) structures with the verb "to be", for example:
This is a computer.
b)exclamatory sentences beginning with "what"
or “such”.
e.g. What a long story! He is such a
nuisance!
c) sentences including an adverbial modifier of
manner or comparison, for example:
e.g. You look like a rose! She works as a
teacher.
 The classifying function
In this function the article serves to
refer an object to the class or group
of objects of the same kind.
Somewhere a telephone began to
ring.
I saw a speck in the distance. It
was a boat.
The door opened and a girl
entered.
 2. The indefinitizing
function
2. The indefinitizing function is realized
when the referent of the noun is not a
real thing, but it exists in the speaker's
imagination only. Those are sentences
containing modal verbs or verbs with
modal meaning, forms of the
Subjunctive Mood, Future Tense forms,
negative and interrogative sentences.
e.g. I wish I had a home like you do.
Have you ever seen a living tiger?
 2) Generic function (any,
every).
 In this function the indefinite article implies that what
is said about one representative of the class (a thing,
animal or a person) can also be said about other
representatives of this class. The indefinite article in
its generic function has the meaning of any, every:
 A crane is a tall bird with a very long neck and beak.
 A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines.
 A library is a collection of books.
 A complex sentence has two or more clauses.
 In this function the indefinite article is used in proverbs
and sentences expressing some general truth:
 A friend in need is a friend indeed.
 A hungry man is an angry man.
 3. The introductory
function.
The introductory function. Before
sharing some information about the
object, we need to introduce it to the
hearer. Fairy tales can be used as ideal
illustrations of the use of the indefinite
article in its introductory function.
e.g. Once upon a time there lived
an old man. He had a wife and a
daughter. He lived in a small house.
 4. The quantifying
function
The indefinite article developed
from the numeral "one". The
meaning of "oneness" is still
preserved when the article is used
with nouns denoting measure, like
"a minute", "a year" or "a
pound".
 3) Numeric(al)
In this function the indefinite article
preserves its original meaning of the
cardinal numeral one:
I won’t say a word.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
The idea of oneness is evident with nouns
denoting time, distance, measure: a
hundred, a thousand, a minute, a day,
an hour, a year; after the negative not —
not a word, not a thought.
The definite article may be used
in the following functions
 1. The identifying
function.
When we speak, we may want to point
out to something that both us and the
hearer perceive with our organs of
feeling. There are five different ways of
getting the information about something
existing in the objective reality. We can
see it (Do you like the picture?), hear
it (I believe, the music is too loud),
feel it (The pillow is so soft!), smell it
(What is the name of the perfume?)
or taste it (The soup tastes bitter).
 2. The definitizing
function.
The object or thing denoted by the noun is
presented as a part of some complex. In modern
science the term "frame" is often used. The frame
is a structurally organized system of images. For
example, the frame "classroom" includes a
window, a blackboard and a door. So if both the
speaker and the hearer know what classroom
they are speaking of, the constituents of the
classroom don't need any special concretization,
and the definite article will be used.
e.g. I want to talk to the rector (even if you
have never met the man).
 3. The individualizing
function.
The object may be presented as a unique thing
with the hearer's attention focused on its
distinguishing features, which are represented
with the help of a particularizing attribute. The
object is singled out from the class it belongs
to. The particularizing attribute can be
expressed by:
a) adjectives in the superlative degree
e.g. This is the easiest way out.
b) ordinal numerals
e.g. I have forgotten the first word.
c) attributive relative restrictive clauses
e.g. I need the book I bought yesterday.