Formal Language for Business Communication FLBC Formal Language for Business Communication

Using language Language can be used only to describe reality ?

Speech acts To speak is to act

Assertives An assertive is a speech act, whose purpose is to convey information from one agent, the speaker, to another agent, the hearer - the cat is on the mat

Directives A directive is a speech act, where the speaker requests the hearer to carry out some action - Please bring me the salt

Commissives A commissive is a speech act, whose purpose is to commit the speaker to carry out some action - I promise to clean the floor

Declaratives A declarative is a speech act, where the speaker brings about some state of affairs - I hereby pronounce you husband and wife

Expressives An expressive is a speech act, whose purpose is to express the speaker’s attitude - I like coffee

Summary of speech act types Assertives - describe the world Directives - order someone to do something Commissives - promise to do something Declaratives - change the (social) world Expressives - express an attitude

Act decomposition Utterance act Locutionary act Illocutionary act The physical utterance (speech, body language,…) Locutionary act The meaning of the utterance Illocutionary act The act performed by the speaker (assertive, directive, …) Perlocutionary act The effect on the hearer

An example Situation: Peter has asked John if he will buy today’s paper Locutionary act: John buys paper Illocutionary act: John promised to buy the paper (commissive) Perlocutionary act: Peter will not buy the paper OK Peter John Utterance act

An exercise “Forbidden fruit is the tastiest” Explain the difference between illocutionary and perlocutionary act

F(P) The F(P) framework An illocutionary act consists of the expression of the speaker’s attitude toward some proposition F(P) Propositional content Illocutionary force (assertive, directive, commissive, declarative, expressive)

Examples Assertive(it is raining) Directive(pay me $100) Commissive(buy today’s paper) Directive(declarative(convict the thief)) Commissive(directive(declarative(convict the thief)))

FLBC notation Msg (Speaker, Hearer, IllocForce, PropContent) Peter tells John that it is raining Tell (Peter, John, assert, it is raining) Peter promises John that he will cook the food Promise (Peter, John, commissive, cook the food)

Övning lova(pelle, erik, commissive, diska i kväll) be(åklagaren, domaren, request, uppmana(domaren, vittnet, request, besvara frågan)) förelägga(tjänstemannen, bostadssökanden, request, be(bostadssökanden, sambon, request, bekräfta(sambon, tjänstemannen, assert, sammanbott i fem år)

Övning Uttryck följande i FLBC notation: Kunden N.N. begär ersättning för nedbränt hus Skaderegleraren S.S. bestämmer ersättningsbeloppet för N.N.:s nedbrunna hus till 1.000.000 Skaderegleraren S.S. lovar kunden N.N. att be inspektören P.P. intyga att N.N:s hus brunnit ned

Övning Kunden N.N. begär ersättning för nedbränt hus begäraErsättning(N.N., Försäkringsbolag, directive, utbetala för att ersätta nedbränt hus)

Övning Skaderegleraren S.S. bestämmer ersättningsbeloppet för N.N.:s nedbrunna hus till 1.000.000 bestämmerErsättning(S.S., N.N., declarative, ersättningsbeloppet blir 1.000.000)

Övning Skaderegleraren S.S. lovar kunden N.N. att be inspektören P.P. intyga att N.N:s hus brunnit ned lova(S.S., N.N., commissive, be(S.S., P.P., request, intyga(P.P., S.S., assert, N.N:s hus har brunnit ned))

Övning Skaderegleraren S.S. ber inspektören P.P. att intyga att N.N:s hus brunnit ned ber(S.S., P.P., request, intyga(P.P., S.S., assert, N.N:s hus har brunnit ned))

Action workflow loop Request Negotiation Acknowledgment Execution

Action workflow loop Sales order Order accepted Plant order Order Payment Delivery Delivery Acknowledgement

Interaction diagram Customer Sales Plant directive(delivery1) commissive(delivery1) directive(delivery2) commissive(delivery2) delivery2 assertive(delivery2-done) delivery1 assertive(delivery1-done)

Ett scenario En kund begär skadeersättning. Skaderegleraren tar emot denna begäran och meddelar kunden att detta kommer att ske. Därefter ber han en inspektör att undersöka om kundens uppgifter är riktiga. Då detta är gjort beslutar han om skadeersättningens storlek och gör utbetalningen, som skall bekräftas av kunden.

Scenariot i ett interaktionsdiagram Kund Skadereglerare Inspektör directive(betalaErsättning) commissive(betalaErsättning) directive(kontrollera) commissive(kontrollera) kontrollera assertive(kontrolleraOK) declarative(bestämErsättning) betalaErsättning assertive(betalaErsättningOK)

BML diagrams A BML diagram is a state diagram where messages can be added to the arcs. We can use the F(P) framework to describe the messages.

State diagram

State diagram with messages

An exercise Suggest rules of the forms: If a diagram contains an XXX message, than it must be followed by a YYY message If a diagram contains an XXX message than it can be followed by a YYY or a WWW message Or other rules... (XXX, YYY, WWW are illocutionary forces)