Figurative language

Figurative language Activity

1. What type of figurative language is used in the speech act? What other pragmatic aspects are part of it?

The main figurative language used was Irony, because Chandler used expressions like “Really? Right across the street?” to said the supposed surprise to Joey met a girl, also Chandler said Excellent! You know, Ross met somebody too! To laugh of his friends because they had met the same girl, for that reason the main figurative language was Irony, which communicates an opposite meaning; when a speaker says something that seems to be the opposite of what he means.

2. What is the reaction of the listener to the speaker’s expressions of irony?

At first they ignored the irony of the Chandler´s questions, Ross and Joey only said their own experiences, but they found the similar situations in their stories and they noticed that the girl was the same, chandler asked them for the girl name and he only went out. Finally joey and Ross did not have time to reaction to the chandler question, only they were shocked.

3. Mention which utterances should be interpreted literally and which ones should be interpreted pragmatically and explain why.

Literal expressions

·         Laugh all what you want, but she actually left me a message saying that she’d like to go out again.

·         Listen! I’m sorry I didn’t stop by last night, I had a date.

·         Jo, when it’s one o’clock in the morning, and you don’t come by, that’s OK

·         Check it out! I met this really hot girl who just moved in right across the street.

·         Umm… two days ago?

·         Hey! How did it go?

·         Oh, great, we’re going out again on Saturday. But, I just found out that she’s also seeing some other guy.

·         Well… Sort I am. Yeah, this girl is also seeing another guy. But, I don’t know, I’m not too worried about that.

·         Oh, you shouldn’t be. Believe me; I wouldn’t want to be the guy who is up against you!

·         I mean, that dude is going to lose!

Those above expressions are literal because of the intention of the speaker was to communicate the information exactly how it occurred.

Pragmatically expressions

·         So Ross, How was your date the other night? Did you tell her about the magical ride that starts with the flush of every toilet?

·         Because is obvious that Ross did not talk about this topic in a date, chandler means that Ross did not have an interesting topic to talk.

·         Huh!: denotes that it did not happen.

·         And... In fact, I’m going to call her right now, and… I’ll make sure to tell her that my friend Chandler says… huh-huh (mocking Chandler): Ross was just kidding.

·         Really? Right across the street?: Chandler already knew about her, he did not surprised.

·         When did you meet her? Chandler tried to find out more information.

·         Excellent! You know, Ross met somebody too! He was Irony, he knew that they both met the same girl.

·         Really? Jo, what would you do if you were in Ross’ situation? Chandler knew that they already were in the same problem.

·         So… this is nice!  I wish I didn’t have to go. Believe me! But unfortunately I have to.

·         Oh! By the way, what’s the name of the girl that you’re dating?

·         Chandler only wanted that they noticed that the girl was the same and just went out he did not want to take part in the discussion.

Choose some utterances and compare how meaning changes when they are interpreted literally and figuratively.

-          Really? Right across the street? :  Literally, the person met someone near outside. Figuratively, refers to the false impression of “really”, because is already known, also the person met someone in a near place.

-          So Ross, How was your date the other night? Did you tell her about the magical ride that starts with the flush of every toilet? : Literally, the person has a problem of diarrhea, or something like that, figuratively chandler means that Ross did not have an interesting topic to talk.

4. How would you use these videos in your English class? What and how would you teach with them? To what type of students?

-          We can use it to the students become more familiar with a real context of language, the use the language and the intentions of the speakers.

-          Another use of these videos could be learning about the daily day expressions and culture. It is useful, because first the students need to know the vocabulary, second they will use it in a role play, and the conversation could be divided in two or three parts. The focus will be the intonation, body language, gestures and the intentions.

-          The students would do the role play, how they feel, it could be a right way. Then they will watch the video with the dialogue in a paper.

-          At the end, they will do again the role play trying to imitate the characters.

-          The type of the students should be a high level. Also it would be used to teach students to intermediate level, depending to the purpose and the teacher´s intentions. What they want to teach, grammar, expressions, intonation, vocabulary. Etc.