Adaptability-顺应论

• Fourth, we have to take into consideration differences in the salience of the adaptation processes. not all choices, whether in production or interpretation, are made equally consciously or purposefully. as said before, some are virtually automatic, others are highly motivated. they involve different ways of processing in the medium of adaptability, the human 'mind in society'. with reference to this issue, the distinction between explicitly communicated meaning and implicit information takes on special relevance. salience is basically a function of the operation of the reflexive (or, as we call it, 'metapragmatic') awareness involved in language use.
• Second, the processes in question have to be situated with reference to the different structural objects of adaptability. since the makin reg of communicative choices takes place at all possible levels of linguistic structure that involve variability of any kind, pragmatic phenomena can be related to any layer or level of structure, from sound feature and phoneme to discourse and beyond, or to any type of interlevel relationship. not only 'structures' are involved, but also principles of 'structuring'.
何为视角——语 顺应论在中国的研 维索尔伦顺应论的 被误解的-顺应-— 言顺应论之视角观解读.pdf 语言哲学观.pdf 究综述.pdf —语言顺应论之深度-误读-反思.pdf
• Third, any pragmatic description or explanation must account for the dynamics of adaptability as manifested in the pnenomenon under investigation, in other words the development of adaptation processes over time. by its very nature, this task cannot be performed without lending full force to the negotiability of choices. it involves an account of the actual functioning of daptation processes. that is, questions have to be answered about the ways in which communication principles and strategies are used in the making and negotiating of choices of production and interpretation.
Three key notions for such a theory
• Verschueren (1999) proposes three key notions for the adaptability theory: Variability: the property of language which defines the range of possibilities from which choices are to be made. this range is not stable but, as the product of adaptation in the more biological sense, constantly subject to change. Negotiability: the property of language responsible for the fact that, in spite of conventions and default options (as described, e.g. by Levinson 2000), choices are not made mechanically or according to strict rules or fixed form-function relationships, but rather on the basis of highly flexible principles and strategies that are both rational and reflexive.
• The adaptability theory was firstly proposed by Jef Verschueren, a famous Belgian linguist and secretary general of IPrA (International Pragmatics Association), in his book Understanding Pragmatics in 1999. • The notion of adaptation or adaptability inevitably triggers associations with evolutionary theory. On one hand, it disusses how we adapt to language(or, in other words, how humans developed a predisposition for language); on the other hand, it aims to explain how language adapts to us, once we have a linguistic repertoire to choose from. The first question is one where language is considered the product of largely causal biological processes, while the second focuses on reasons speakers may have in selecting this or the other form of expression in language use.
Four research perspectives
• First, Contextual correlates of adaptability have to be identified. these potentially include all the ingredients of the communicative context with which linguistic choices have to be interadaptable. the range goes from aspects of the physical surroundings (e.g. distance as an influence on loudness of voice) to social relationships between speakers and hearers and aspects of the interlocutors' state of mind.
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Formation of the adaptability theory
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Three key notions for such a theory
Framework
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Four research perspectives
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Bibllity theory
• Adaptability: language use as choice-making from such a variable range of options in such a negotiable manner would not be understandable without positing adaptability, as the property of language that makes all this possible in such a way as to meet——to a satisfactory degree——human communicative needs.
Bibliography
• • • • 语用学新解，Jef Verschueren.[M] 外语教学与研究出版社 语用学的核心概念，Jef Verschueren.[M] 上海外语教育出版社 语用学引论，Jacob L. Mey. [M] 外语教学与研究出版社 语用学多学科视角，Louise Cummings.[M]. 北京大学出版社
• The adaptability theory of pragmatics started from the observation of choicemaking as the basic activity involved in using language, where the making of linguistic choices must be seen as a process involving all possible levels of linguistic structure, taking place with varying degrees of conscious awareness, in both the production and the interpretation of utterances. • Verscheren generalized the adaptability theory from several aspects: ① making choice; ②variability, negotiability and adaptability; ③four research perspectives.