LANGUAGE AND

AGREEMENTS/DISAGR
EEMENTS
By
Iqra Aftab
 Functions of Language

– Informative
– Expressive
– Directive
 Informative function of language

■ To communicate information
■ Accomplished by formulating and affirming (or denying)
proposition.
■ Language used to affirm or deny propositions or to present
arguments, is said to be serving the informative function.
■ Information includes misinformation, false as well as true
propositions, incorrect as well as correct arguments.
 Informative function of language
(Cont’d)
Informative discourse is used:

■ To describe the world

■ To reason about the world.
Example of Informative function of
language
 Expressive function of language

■ Language used not to communicate information but to express

emotions, feelings, or attitudes is said to be serving the
expressive function.
■ For example, lyric poetry
Match me such marvel, save in eastern Clime_____
A rose red city___ "half as old as time"
 Expressive function of language
(Cont’d)
■ Expressive language is intended to manifest the poet's
feelings of admiration and awe.
■ Through expressive language, poet or speaker tells
something about the situation/scene before him but
his/her intentions are not to inform or report.
■ Such language expresses the emotions felt by
speaker/writer for evoking similar feelings in the
reader/audience.
 Expressive function of language
(Cont’d)
Expression may be analyzed into two components:
■ When it is used to manifest the speaker's
emotions/feeling, but it is not intended to induce/evoke
similar feelings in listener/reader or anyone else.
■ When the language is used to not only express the
feeling of the speaker but also to evoke similar feelings
in the hearers/reader.
 Directive function of language

■ Language is intended to cause or avoid overt action such as

commands and requests.
■ Not to communicate or report the information or to express or
induce any particular emotion, but to get results/outcomes.
■ Directive discourse in neither true nor false e.g. "close the
window“
■ We may disagree about whether a command/request has been
obeyed or disobeyed, but we never disagree about whether a
command is true or false.
 Discourse Serving Multiple Functions

■ Almost any ordinary communication can probably

exhibit all three functions of language.
■ A document, which may be primarily expressive
discourse, also may have a moral and thus can also
direct the reader.
■ Language serves mixed/multiple functions
Discourse Serving Multiple Functions
(Example)
 Forms of Discourse

■ A sentence is defined as the unit of language that expresses a

complete thought.
■ Sentences are commonly divided into four categories;
– declarative
– interrogative
– imperative
– exclamatory
 Declarative Sentences

■ Declarative sentences make up most of what you read

■ Setting the scene
■ Giving the background
■ Telling what is going on in plain and simple facts.
■ The sentence doesn’t involve asking a question, telling someone to do
something or someone’s excited, emotional statements then it is a
declarative statement.
 Interrogative Sentences

■ The interrogative sentence is one that ends in a question mark

■ Always asking a question.
■ For example, an interrogative sentence is,

“How are you?”

 Imperative Sentences

■ This sentence is one that gives a command to someone about

something.
■ If someone walks into your office and you tell them,
“Please, sit down.”
 Exclamatory Sentences

■ This sentence always ends in an exclamation point

■ This sentence is said when a whole lot of excitement is
going on.
 Form and Function

■ Form often gives an indication of function, but there is no sure

connection between the grammatical form and the use or uses
of language intended.
■ Language serving any one of three principal functions may
take any one of the four grammatical forms.
 Use of emotive words

■ When the sentence expresses an attitude or feeling, it may also

have emotional suggestions or impact.
■ Emotive words are used to refer to things or events
■ To serve an informative and an expressive function through a
sentence simultaneously, its words must have literal and
descriptive meaning.
■ The literal and emotive meanings of a word are independent of
each other.
 Example of Emotive Word

Three terms "bureaucrat" "government official" and "public

servant have almost similar literal meaning but their emotive
meanings are different.
■ "Bureaucrat" tends to express resentment, bitterness, and
disapproval
■ "Government official" is likely to be neutral as compared to
other two terms.
■ “Public servant” tends to express respect and approval.
Kinds of Agreement and Disagreement

■ Excessive dependence on emotively charged language can result in

the disagreement between parties who do not differ on the facts at
all
■ It can easily cover basic disputes under a surface of emotive
agreement
■ The degrees of agreement in belief and attitude are independent of
each other.
Kinds of Agreement and Disagreement
(Cont’d)
■ Disagreement in belief:
Two people may disagree about whether something has in fact taken place,
and when they do, they may be said to have "disagreement in belief"
(disagreement about the facts of the matter, different literal
significance).
■ Disagreement in attitude:
On the other hand, they may agree that an event has actually occurred, thus
agreeing in belief, and yet they may have different or even opposite
attitudes towards an event, this is known as disagreement in attitude (there is
an emotional difference between the disputants.).
 Four combinations/Kinds of Agreement and
Disagreement

■ Agreement in attitude and belief (No conflict)

■ Agreement in attitude but disagreement in belief
■ Disagreement in attitude but agreement in belief
■ Disagreement in attitude and belief
Agreement in belief and agreement in attitude

■ There aren't any problems in this instance

■ Both parties hold the same positions
■ Both parties have the same feelings about them
Agreement in belief but disagreement in attitude

■ This case, if unnoticed, may become the cause of endless (but

pointless) shouting between people whose feelings differ
sharply about some fact upon which they are in total
agreement.
■ Both parties have same belief about the matter of fact but they
have different feelings about the matter
Disagreement in belief but agreement in attitude

■ In this situation, parties may never recognize, much less

resolve, their fundamental difference of opinion, since their
attitude is same.
■ Both have the differing belief but the same feeling towards
something
Disagreement in belief and disagreement in attitude

■ Here the parties have so little in common that communication

between them often breaks down entirely.
■ Both parties have differing belief as well as feelings towards
something
Consider the following four situations
concerning "The Distance to the Sun."
 Consider the following four situations
concerning "The Distance to the Sun.“ (Cont’d)