Page 60 - Communication and the Evolution of Society

37 What Is Universal Pragmatics?

speech, in which representation, expression, and behavioral ex-
pectation are still one is replaced by differential modes of speech.
I shall come back to this point in the following section. For the
present, it suffices to point out that this level of differentiation of
speech is a precondition for an action’s ability to take on repre-
sentational functions, that is, to say something about the world,
either directly in the form of a statement or indirectly through
mentioning a propositional content in nonconstative speech acts.
Explicit speech actions always have a propositional component
in which a state of affairs is expressed. Nonlinguistic actions nor-
mally lack this component; thus they cannot assume representa-
tional functions. Signaling to a taxi so that I can begin working
in my office at eight in the morning, reacting to the news of mis-
erable marks with the desperate look of a father, joining a
demonstration march, expressing nonacceptance of an invitation
by not showing up, shaking a candidate’s hand after he has
passed the test, and so on and so forth, I observe or violate con-
ventions. Naturally these normative expectations have a propo-
sitional content; but the propositional content must already be
known to the participants if the expressed behavior is to be un-
derstandable as beginning work, a father’s reaction, taking part
in a demonstration—in short, as an action. The nonverbal expres-
sion itself cannot bring the propositional content of the presup-
posed norm to expression because it cannot take on representa-
tional functions. It can, of course, be understood as an indicator
that calls to mind the propositional content of the presupposed
norm.
Owing to their representational function, propositionally dif-
ferentiated speech actions preserve for the actor more degrees of
freedom in following norms. Beginning work at eight in the
morning leaves only the option, to appear or not to appear; in
the former case, to be on time or to be late; in the latter case, to
be excused or unexcused, and so on. Nonverbal actions are often
the result of such “‘trees’’ of yes/no decisions. But if the actor
can express himself verbally, his situation is rich with alternatives.
He can express the same speech act, say a command, in a very
differentiated way; he will fulfill the same role segment, say that
of a German teacher during class dictation, with very different