[OSList] : Speech acts

Sat Oct 26 11:26:37 PDT 2013

Yes, I find that interesting. And, even as a child in school, I found it 
interesting that the written stuff, even if classified, had little to do 
with my perception of reality... all the things that enter into words 
when you hear and see them spoken. Later in my life, as a consultant, we 
would ask a group (we did this with groups of up to maybe 20 people), to 
listen to a particular statetement that one of us consultants would make 
in relation to something that just had happend.
Here is an example: one participant (Charly) entered the room about 5 
minutes after the official opening time. One of us consultants would 
relate to that in saying (very calm stature, hardly any modulation in 
the voice, seemingly emotionless):
"Charly came into the room at 9:05am."

We then asked the participants to write down what they had heard, take 2 
minutes for that, and then read it out loud going around the circle.

Here are some typical responses:
---The consultant scolded Charly for being late
---Usually, Charly is 15 minutes late and the consultant praised him for 
being only 5 mintutes late
---Charly came into the room at 9:05 am
---Charly is really a pain in the neck for disrupting the time schedule
---Here he goes again, had to finish his cigarette before he came in
---I wonder when Charly is going to get his act together
---Charly shows no respect
---Charly just does what he wants to do, a scheduled time does not mean 
much to him
---I also had problems being on time when I was Charly's age

Eventually, everyone broke out laughing.

Does the actual syntax structure of what the consultant said give 
meaning to what he said? Who gives meaning to the sentence? How much 
control do I have over conveying what I as the speaker of the sentence 
actually want to express.

Early in my career as an os-facilitator, at least one participant 
regularly got all upset about the second Fact of Life "Whatever 
happended is the only thing that could have", attacking me: This is 
nihilistic, how can you have such an a-historic view of things, etc.
I actually tried to find a couple of sentences after stating the second 
Fact of Life and, as luck had it, ran into a saying that every person is 
familiar with in Germany (Wenn das Wörtchen wenn nicht wär', wär' mein 
Vater Millionaire...) I find it hard to translate it in english language 
facilitation but Jo helped me with a Russian version(If the dog didn't 
have to take a shit he would have caught the rabbit).
After that, I never had this aggressive reaction that I described earlier.
What had happened?

More discussion in Utrecht!
Who is coming?

Cheers
mmp

---

On 26.10.2013 19:55, Daniel Mezick wrote:
> Michael said:
>
> "Well, Dan, if you feel commanded and directed, imperatively, by "Be
> prepared to be surprised"...how do you feel being confronted by the Law?
>
> I say:
>
> I don't actually feel commanded/directed. I'm just noticing something
> about the actual syntax structure of the slogan.
>
> "Be prepared to be surprised" is in fact structured in English as: an
> illocutionary speech act of type 'directive'.
>
> And I think that's really, really interesting. Do you also think so?
>
>
> On 10/26/13 9:54 AM, Michael M Pannwitz wrote:
>> Well, Dan, if you feel commanded and directed, imperatively, by "Be
>> prepared to be surprised" (In German: "Augen Auf! Mit Überraschungen
>> ist zu rechnen!", even more gruesome), how do you feel being
>> confronted by the Law?
>> And by a facilitator raising his/her voice by saying, as the Law (in
>> German: Das Gesetz) is introduced: "You know about Laws, they have to
>> be obeyed...!!!", followed by the translation of the Law, theatrical
>> pause and then, facilitator stops in his/her tracks (here I am talking
>> of classical facilitators like me that walk the circle): "You honor a
>> group with your absence when you neither learn nor contribute
>> something. If you learn something, stay. If you contribute something,
>> stay. If neither is happening you leave the group by whatever means
>> are available to you and look for a more productive place for you to
>> be in!"
>> Adding, "and this Law is in force right now!", pause.....
>> Somehow, I havent gotten the curve yet, when I introduce the
>> admonition (yes, this is the name for it, in German: Ermahnung) and
>> the Law... invariably participants smile or grin at me!!
>> No respect for authority, let alone age or beauty, and this just at
>> the very beginning of an open space event.
>>
>> Have a great Sunday!!!
>> cheers
>> mmp
>>
>>
>> On 26.10.2013 15:17, Daniel Mezick wrote:
>>> When responding to Jenifer's thoughts earlier, I realized:
>>>
>>> The slogan "Be Prepared to Be Surprised" is a most interesting one in
>>> OST.
>>>
>>> It is actually an illocutionary speech act.... of type "*/Directive/*".
>>>
>>> So, located here in OST, baked into it, we have a specific slogan that
>>> is attempting to *cause* the hearer to take a particular action, e.g. a
>>> request, *commands* and advice. A directive!
>>>
>>> I wonder if the undeniably directive structure of "Be Prepared to Be
>>> Surprised" really aligned with the intention/spirit/philosophy of OST.
>>>
>>> Dan
>>>
>>>
>>> Background links:
>>>
>>> What is a speech act?
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts
>>> A /*speech act*/ in linguistics
>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics> and the philosophy of
>>> language <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language> is an
>>> utterance that has performative function in language and communication.
>>>
>>> What is an illocutionary act?
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act
>>> *Illocutionary act* is a term in linguistics
>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics> introduced by the philosopher
>>> John L. Austin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Austin> in his
>>> investigation of the various aspects of speech acts
>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_acts>.
>>>
>>> What is a Directive illocutionary act?
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illocutionary_act#Classes_of_illocutionary_acts
>>>
>>> *directives* = speech acts that are to *cause the hearer to take a
>>> particular action*, e.g. requests, commands and advice
>>>
>>> More than you asked for:
>>> What is a Commissive speech act?
>>> *commissives* = speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action,
>>> e.g. promises and oaths
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 10/24/13 1:29 PM, Jenifer Toksvig wrote:
>>>> Re: [OSList] The OST Game Dan wrote: >> Consider the man who loves a
>>>> certain woman, and waits for the current trend of her interest in him
>>>> to change. He is goal seeking without controlling. Likewise,
>>>> trend-following market traders do not attempt to create, control or
>>>> make trends. They simply identify & ride them, while seeking wealth. <<
>>>>
>>>> Waiting and seeking are still forms of controlling. Your loving man
>>>> has chosen to wait for his goal rather than (to coin a phrase) being
>>>> prepared to be surprised by another woman. He may not be trying to
>>>> control her, but he’s still trying to control the situation in a way
>>>> that he thinks will allow him to achieve his goal.
>>>>
>>>> Those who seek wealth do likewise: they don’t randomly ride the
>>>> trends, they identify them and make choices about how to ride them, in
>>>> order to obtain wealth. That is control.
>>>>
>>>> I don’t think it’s possible to be goal-oriented and try to exert some
>>>> kind of control over the process, unless your goal is… to have no
>>>> goal. Actually, even being prepared to be surprised is a goal. A sort
>>>> of wonderfully ridiculous one.
>>>>
>>>> Jen x
>>>>
>>>> *Jenifer Toksvig
>>>> *www.acompletelossforwords.com
>>>>
>>>> *The Copenhagen Interpretation
>>>> *www.thecopenhageninterpretation.co.uk
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> OSList mailing list
>>>> To post send emails toOSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>>>> To unsubscribe send an email toOSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>>>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>>>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Daniel Mezick, President
>>>
>>> New Technology Solutions Inc.
>>>
>>> (203) 915 7248 (cell)
>>>
>>> Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
>>> <http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter
>>> <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
>>>
>>> Examine my new book:The Culture Game
>>> <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the
>>> Agile Manager.
>>>
>>> Explore Agile Team Training
>>> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching.
>>> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
>>>
>>> Explore the Agile Boston
>>> <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> OSList mailing list
>>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>>> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>>>
>>
>
> --
>
> Daniel Mezick, President
>
> New Technology Solutions Inc.
>
> (203) 915 7248 (cell)
>
> Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
> <http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
>
> Examine my new book:The Culture Game
> <http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the
> Agile Manager.
>
> Explore Agile Team Training
> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching.
> <http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
>
> Explore the Agile Boston <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>

-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000

Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 415 resident Open 
Space Workers in 72 countries working in a total of 143 countries 
worldwide: www.openspaceworldmap.org