More about shared schematic knowledge
Task D – Knowledge about language and of communicative conventions
Part 3 - Our answer
What did you do (what speech act did you perform) when you uttered
this sentence?
This is a prototypical example of the speech act of apology. It counts
as an expression of regret for something you assume/acknowledge you are
responsible for.
What sort of thing must have happened before you uttered the
sentence?
Something must have happened which you are responsible for and which
was not in the hearer’s interests. Typically you will have performed
an action which has hurt or offended the hearer in some way (for example
you may have dropped a heavy book on another student’s foot, or
have accidentally run their cat over with your car). Sometimes the action
might be performed by someone (or something) you feel responsible for
(for example if your small child puts their dirty hands on someone’s
new dress, or if a slate comes off your roof and hits your neighbour’s
cat).
What are you committed to after you have uttered the sentence?
If you have apologised for something you have done, you undertake not
to repeat the offence in the future. If you are apologising for someone
or something you feel responsible for, even though things are not entirely
under your control, you undertake to take action to try to prevent a similar
occurrence (for example by talking to your small child about appropriate
behaviour when near new dresses, or by getting someone to examine and
replace any remaining dodgy slates on your roof).
Overall, it is important to notice that we have intuitive schematic knowledge
about lots of speech acts (e.g. commands, requests, promises, threats,
enquiries),and that they all involve knowing about (a) what utterances
count as appropriate for the particular speech act involved (for example
‘Go away’ can’t be an apology) and (b) what contextual
conditions are appropriate for each speech act (for example ‘I’ll
see you tomorrow’ is a promise if the visit is clearly in the hearer’s
interest but a threat if it is clearly not in the hearer’s interest).
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