Intentionality

Cohesion   : the surface text                 (symbols) 

Coherence : the underlying text           (notions)           Plato’s Cave

Now that they don’t provide absolute borderlines between texts and non-texts there’s a need of another explanation. To be a text language configuration must be intended.

Intentionality designates all the ways in which text procedures utilize texts to pursue and fulfill their intentions.

According to Philosophy intentionality intends the utterance to produce some effect on an audience by means of the recognition of this intention.

Speech Act Theory ( Austin and Searle) : actions which the utterance of a text intentionally or conventionally performs.

Utterance Acts : simple utterance of words or sentences

Propositional Acts : use of content and reference ( I’ll explain it now )

Illocutionary Acts : conventional activities accomplished by discourse ( threatening, promise)

Perlocutionary Acts : achieving of effect on text receivers ( alarming, convincing)

Performatives : verbs for actions ( I promise...)

Grice’s Theory of Maxims : not rules, strategies and precepts

Cooperation Principle : make your conversational contribution such as is required, by the excepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.

Maxim of Quantity : make your contribution as informative as is required giving new or unpredictable knowledge. ( How was your exam ? – “it was O.K”)

Maxim of Quality : truthfulness, not false or inadequate information. ( Is the house sold – “it is partly sold”)

Maxim of Relation : be relevant, knowledge related to the topic, which would be useful in attaining some goal, intentoinal irrelevance diverts the discourse into unplanned direction.

( How was your exam? – “what’s for lunch?”)

Maxim of Manner : be perspicious, be such that the intentions you have for what you say are plainly served, avouid obscurity of expression, avouid ambiguity( not understanding which sense is actually intended, polyvalance : multiple senses intended), be brief, be orderly (present your materials in the order in which they’re required,normal oredering strategies)

Conventional Implicatures : imply, suggest, mean not saying; conventional participants infer the unexpected content.

Text producers are merely trying to communicate with a minimum of needless effort and disturbance, they can even violate the maxims.

 Tuncer Can

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