Field: Corpus: SAVs
Speech act verbs can occur performatively, descriptively and in negotiations. In apologies, for instance, the speech act verb is used performatively if a speaker says “I apologize”. It is used descriptively in “He apologized for his rude behaviour”. And it is used in negotiations about the speech act value of an utterance in a question, such as “Was this an apology?”. Corpus searches can easily locate such instances in large corpora.
The following are examples of the verb “compliment” used performatively.
| (1) | Er, before I call Mr <name> can I <pause> compliment the council on the way that this debate has gone. (BNC JNB 738) |
| (2) | Erm, I would like to particularly compliment the Fire Service on the magnificent job they were doing there, in, in the most appalling conditions. (BNC J3s 337) |
In both cases, the speaker compliments the audience or part of the audience on their achievements and explicitly uses the verb “compliment” for the purpose. In (1), the complimentary nature of the speech act is exclusively carried by the verb itself. If the verb were changed to “criticize”, the impact of the utterance would be completely changed even if the rest of the utterance remains unchanged. Presumably, however, the modal verb would be exchanged from can to must as well. In (2), on the other hand, the verb “compliment” could not be changed into an antonym because that would clash with the designation “a magnificent job”.
In extracts (3) and (4) the term “compliment” is used to describe a particular utterance as a compliment. It is not used to perform a compliment on the occasion of the utterance.
| (3) | The nicest compliment I'm paid, inside and outside the business, is when people say how professional I am. (BNC EVN 58) |
| (4) | Ernie Walker, the SFA secretary, confirmed yesterday that there would be no objections from the authorities if United decide to go. McLean said: "It really would be great if we could fit in such a match. It is a great compliment and a chance for us to find out about Costa Rica." (BNC AAN 126-128) |
In extract (4), the term “compliment” is more than just a description of an utterance. It refers to Ernie Walker’s confirmation mentioned in the previous sentence that there would be no objections from the authorities against a match. McLean describes this confirmation as a compliment and at the same time he actually designates it as a compliment. The addressees of McLean’s utterance might not have interpreted Ernie Walker’s confirmation in such a way.
Extracts (5) and (6) are even clearer cases of negotiations of the status of particular utterances.
| (5) | A: | What did he say? |
| B: | He said, you’re a real roly-poly did you hear him? | |
| A: | Is that an insult or a compliment? (BNC KBL 5076) | |
| (6) | A: | Did we serve you cigarettes before? |
| B: | Yeah. <pause> | |
| A: | Well you don’t look old enough. | |
| B: | I don’t look old enough? | |
| <pause> People tell me I’m twenty | ||
| and I’m seventeen. <pause> | ||
| A: | That’s a compliment. (BNC KP4 2194) |
In (5) speaker A wants to know whether to be called “a real roly-poly” is an insult or a compliment. Thus A is the recipient of the compliment if it was meant as such. The example is also an illustration that utterances can be indeterminate and their status as compliments may be negotiable and it may even be left deliberately open by the speaker. In (6) speaker B is told that he or she does not look old enough to be sold cigarettes. Obviously, B is irritated by this, so A asserts that it is a compliment to look so young.
See also:
For a discussion of this method in connection with a particular set of research questions see: