Speech situation and its components

We encounter it daily and more than once. In it, we can take both an active part and maintain neutrality. She lies in wait for us at home, on the street, at work, in a store, in transport ... You still have not guessed what or who is being discussed? 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 Eldar Ryazanov's "Office Romance"? In one of the initial scenes, the unlucky, insecure senior statistician, comrade Novoseltsev, during a friend’s party, tries to “hit” her boss, the “heartless” and “callous” Kalugina-mymyra, but all his attempts fail. Why? There are many reasons for this, but one of them is banal simple: the participants in this dialogue simply had a different vision of the question “what is a speech situation”. And now, first things first.

Participants in the speech situation in practice

So, all sorts of situations of speech 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 addressee. During communication, their roles are constantly changing. This is characteristic of a dialogue, conditionally - for a dispute, and impossible - for oratory. Minor 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 his course, which we see in the described example.

Relations

Now about the relationship between the participants. This is another important item on the topic “Speech situation and its components”. Speaking about them, first of all, they do not mean the relationship in the literal sense of the word, but the social roles of the speaker and the addressee. In this case, the relationship between Kalugina and Novoseltsev is defined as a “boss-subordinate”. However, stability is not observed here either. It all depends on the conditions and circumstances. In an official setting, at work, in the office, during business meetings, the emphasized business style of communication should be maintained. But if the “scene” is transferred from the bureau to the usual home environment - to Samokhvalov’s apartment, the scenery changes: music, a festive table, guests ... In a word, the situation becomes unofficial, accordingly, social roles and communication style change.

Incorrect vision

But the “old woman” stubbornly does not notice this, ignores the awkward attempts of courtship by comrade Novoseltsev, and in the midst of general fun continues to maintain an official business tone. The goal of their forced communication is incomprehensible to her. Urgency and perspective, as the main defining goals of business communication, are absent, which means there is nothing more to talk about. However, the timid, shy "senior statistician" - either from experienced fear, or from an accepted cocktail - also goes beyond the limits. After several defiant attempts to charm the interlocutor with his singing, reading poetry and dancing, without receiving due recognition, he openly, in the presence of guests, calls Lyudmila Prokofievna “heartless” and “callous”. The comic situation is obvious. But this, so to speak, is a speech situation, examples. And what does the theory say?

The concept of "speech situation"

One of the sections of linguistics is linguo-pragmatics. This is a science that studies the practical use of the language, that is, how a person uses the "word" to influence the recipient, and what the characteristics of a person’s speech and his behavior in the communication process depend on. And the speech situation in this case is precisely that basic concept of linguistic pragmatics, on the basis of which the basic research is conducted. It consists of several components: participants in communication, their relationship, 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 of the theory, you can use the scheme proposed by N. I. Formanovskaya and supplemented by T. A. Ladyzhenskaya. What constitutes the speech situation and its components is clearly visible in the figure below.

Addresser

As for the participants in the communication, we think that questions cannot arise with this: the addressee and addressee are the one who speaks and the one who listens. In other words, the addressee is the initiator of the speech situation, he is its active participant. It can be either a speaker or a writer, depending on how and in what form the communication takes place - written or oral (the sixth item in the table “Speech situation”). The scheme, as you see, is quite simple. It is believed that the role of the addressee is often tactically advantageous, as he sets the topic, tone and pace of communication. He is the "director" of this action, which means he has special rights: he guides the conversation in the right direction and, accordingly, can regulate its time frame.

Addresser

However, as they say, everything in this world is absolutely and relatively simultaneously. 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-cognitive operations as:

• control the volume of what he is informed
• control of understanding
• generalization
• definition of concepts
• position adjustment.

All of the above points are implemented using mandatory reactive remarks: “Thank you for the information”, “Of course”, “In other words, you think that ...”, “If I understand you correctly ...”. By the way, every speech situation, whether it is an acquaintance, greeting, congratulations, has its own specific set of stable phrases and expressions - this is the so-called “speech situation formula”. With the help of these cliches, the addressee can seize the initiative and further act as the speaker.

The social nature of the relationship

It is impossible to deny or downplay the significance of the social roles of communicants. Imagine that a mother who has just had a warm conversation with her daughter at breakfast an hour later acts in school as her child’s teacher. Relationships are changing. In one case, they act as a "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 own the situation, is doomed to inevitable problems.

Social roles can be constant and variable. The first includes those that are determined by the sex of the participant in communication, his age, family ties, and so on. The second, alternating roles include those that determine the social status and social status of one communicant at the time of communication in relation to another: “teacher - student”, “supervisor-subordinate”, “parent-child”, etc. status are official and social status, merit, wealth.

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 communication process, one can cite as an example the remarks of playwrights in the play. The scene, time, lighting, description of the interior, the surrounding nature - everything that is “outside” will necessarily be reflected “inside” - in every word, sigh, phrase.

Depending on the participation of the spatio-temporal factor, canonical and noncanonical speech situations are distinguished (according to the "Russian language" children even write essays on this topic). Canonical - when the addressee and the addressee are in the same place or, at least, see each other, have a common field of view, and the time of pronouncing the statement of one coincides with the time of perception of the listener. In other words, all participants in the speech situation are in direct interaction. As for the second option, here we see the absolute failure to fulfill all of the above conditions: the coordinates "I-you-here-now" are absent.

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 communication? The goal is the invisible connecting thread between the speaker and the listener. If there is none, the connection is broken, and the speech situation ceases to exist. What can be the goals so that the thin thread does not disappear as long as possible? The first is the desire to inform, tell, describe, give an idea of ​​something. The second is declination, convincing the listener of something with the help of evidence and arguments. Third - suggestion, 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. Used emotional means of influence. Fourth is the impulse to action. In this case, the desired response is immediate action. And the latter - the maintenance of mutual positive emotions, the desire to please yourself and your partner by the very process of communication.

Take, for example, the phrase: "I have an important business meeting." It can be used to refuse. You are planning an important event, and you cannot accept the invitation of friends to go to the cinema: “I have an important business meeting” (therefore, I can’t go with you). Another speech situation is being late for the anniversary of a close friend, another 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 perspectives). As the examples show, the same sentence can sound and be perceived differently. It all depends on the speech situation and intentions of the speaker, conscious or unconscious.