We face it every day and more than once. We can take an active part in it, as well as remain neutral. She lies in wait for us at home, on the street, at work, in a store, in transport … Have you still not guessed what or who we are talking about? Not? Then let me introduce: Her Majesty the speech situation! And we will begin our acquaintance, of course, with vivid examples.
Speech situation: examples
Remember the Soviet lyrical comedy by Eldar Ryazanov "Office Romance"? In one of the initial scenes, the unlucky, insecure senior extra comrade Novoseltsev, during a party at a friend’s, tries to “hit” his boss, the “heartless” and “calle” Kalugina-mymra, but all his attempts fail. Why? There are many reasons for this, but one of them is tritely simple: the participants in this dialogue simply had a different vision of the question “what is a speech situation”. And now about everything in order.
Participants of the speech situation in practice
So, all sorts of situationsverbal communication primarily involve participants. They are primary and secondary. In our case, Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev and Kalugina are the main participants, who are usually called the speaker and the listener, or the addressee and addresser. During communication, their roles are constantly changing. This is typical for dialogue, conditionally - for a dispute, and impossible - for oratory. Secondary participants in this speech situation are Samokhvalov and Ryzhova, close friends and colleagues of Novoseltsev, who mainly play the role of observers and advisers. It is believed that the observer is a passive position. However, this is not quite true. Even without participating directly in the dialogue, he can influence its course, which we see in the described example.
Relationships
Now about the relationship between the participants. This is another important point on the topic “Speech situation and its components”. Speaking of them, first of all, they mean not relationships in the literal sense of the word, but the social roles of the speaker and the addressee. In the described case, the relationship between Kalugina and Novoseltsev is defined as “boss-subordinate”. However, there is no stability here either. It all depends on conditions and circumstances. In an official setting, at work, in the office, during business meetings, an emphasized business style of communication should be maintained. But if the “scene of action” is transferred from the state office to the usual home environment - to Samokhvalov’s apartment, the scenery changes: music, a festive table, guests … In a word, the situation becomesinformal, respectively, social roles and style of communication change.
Wrong vision of the situation
But the "old woman" stubbornly ignores this, ignores awkward courtship attempts on the part of comrade Novoseltsev, and in the midst of general fun continues to maintain an official business tone. She also does not understand the purpose of their forced communication. Urgency and perspective, as the main defining goals of business communication, are absent, which means that there is nothing more to talk about. However, the timid, shy "senior statistician" - either from the fear experienced, or from the cocktail taken - also crosses the line of what is permitted. After several defiant attempts to charm the interlocutor with his singing, reciting poetry and dancing, without receiving proper recognition, he openly, in the presence of guests, calls Lyudmila Prokofievna "heartless" and "calle". The comedy of the situation is obvious. But this is, so to speak, a speech situation, examples. What does the theory say?
The concept of "speech situation"
Linguopragmatics is one of the sections of linguistics. This is a science that studies the practical use of language, that is, how a person uses a “word” to influence the addressee, and what determines the characteristics of a person’s speech and his behavior in the communication process. And the speech situation in this case is precisely the basic concept of linguistic pragmatics, on the basis of which the main research is being conducted. It consists of several components: participants in communication,their relationship, the subject of communication, external and internal conditions of communication. The speech situation and its components were presented in detail by us on the example of a scene from a movie, so to speak, in practice. For a better understanding in theory, you can use the scheme proposed by N. I. Formanovskaya and supplemented by T. A. Ladyzhenskaya. What is a speech situation and its components is clearly seen in the figure below.
Addresser
As for the participants in the communication, we think that no questions can arise with this: the addresser and the addressee are the one who speaks and the one who listens. In other words, the addresser is the initiator of the speech situation, he is its active participant. It can be both speaking and writing, depending on how and in what form communication takes place - written or oral (the sixth item in the table “Speech situation”). The scheme, as you can see, is quite simple. It is believed that the role of the addresser is often tactically advantageous, as it sets the topic, tone and pace of communication. He is the "director" of this action, which means he has special rights: he directs the conversation in the right direction and, accordingly, can regulate its time frame.
Addresser
However, as they say, everything in this world is absolute and relative at the same time. Therefore, the role of the addressee in the dialogue is not always a passive position. During the conversation, the listener performs a number of such necessary speech-thinking operations, such as:
- controlling the volume of what is reported to him,
- controlunderstanding,
- generalization,
- defining concepts,
- adjust positions.
All of the above points are implemented with the help of obligatory reactive remarks: “Thanks for the information”, “Of course”, “In other words, you think that…”, “If I understand you correctly…”. By the way, each speech situation, whether it is an acquaintance, greeting, congratulations, has its own set of stable phrases and expressions - this is the so-called “speech situation formula”. With the help of these clichés, the addressee can seize the initiative and continue to act as a speaker.
The social nature of the relationship
It is impossible to deny or underestimate the importance of the social roles of communicants. Let's imagine that a mother who has just had a warm conversation with her daughter at breakfast, an hour later, appears at school as her child's teacher. Relationships are changing. In one case, they act as "parent-child", in the other - "teacher-student". Accordingly, both speech situations and their speech roles will be completely different. Anyone who does not understand or does not see the difference, does not control the situation, is doomed to inevitable problems.
Social roles can be fixed or variable. The former include those that are determined by the gender of the participant in communication, his age, family ties, and so on. The second, variable roles include those that determine the social position and social status of one communicant at the moment of communication in relation to another: “teacher - student”, “leader-subordinate”, “parent-child”, etc. Indicators of social status are official and social position, merit, prosperity.
External conditions of communication
The external conditions of communication include the place and time of communication. To the question of whether they are important and what role they play in the process of communication, one can cite as an example the remarks of playwrights in a play. The scene, time, lighting, description of the interior, the surrounding nature - everything that is "outside" will definitely be reflected "inside" - in every word, breath, phrase.
Depending on the participation of the spatio-temporal factor, canonical and non-canonical speech situations are distinguished (in the "Russian language" children even write essays on this topic). Canonical - when the addresser and addressee are in the same place or at least see each other, have a common field of vision, and the time of pronouncing the statement of one coincides with the time of its perception by the listener. In other words, all participants in the speech situation are in direct interaction. As for the second option, here we see an absolute failure to fulfill all of the above conditions: there are no “I-you-here-now” coordinates.
Internal circumstances
Motives and goals are also important elements of the concept of "speech situation". Why are we talking? Why is this or that phrase pronounced aloud? What are the intentions of all participants in the conversation? Purpose is the invisible link between the speaker and the listener. If it doesn’t exist, the connection breaks, and the speech situation stopsits existence. What can be the goals so that the thin thread does not disappear for as long as possible? The first is the desire to inform, tell, describe, give an idea about something. The second is inclination, the persuasion of the listener in something with the help of evidence and arguments. The third is suggestion, a change in the emotional state of the partner. Here, an appeal is made not only to the mind, but also to the feelings of the interlocutor. Emotional means of influence are used. The fourth is a call to action. In this case, the desired response is immediate action. And the last - maintaining mutual positive emotions, the desire to please yourself and your partner by the process of communication.
Take, for example, the phrase: "I have an important business meeting." It can be used for rejection purposes. You have an important event coming up and you can't accept your friends' invitation to go to the movies: "I have an important business meeting" (so I can't go with you). A different speech situation is being late for the anniversary of a close friend, a different goal is an apology: “I have an important business meeting” (which I can’t miss in any way). This statement can also inspire colleagues at work, help them get things off the ground, hence the new goal - to inspire confidence: “I have an important business meeting” (partners promise us new projects, new prospects). As you can see from the examples, the same sentence can sound and be perceived differently. It all depends on the speech situation and the intentions of the speaker, conscious or unconscious.
