Pragmatics
Introduction
1 . Definition
“The study of meaning as communicated by a speaker or
writer, and interpreted by a listener or reader.” ([Link])
“The study of the relation of signs to their interpreters.”
(Charles Morris)
Pragmatics is the study of language use. In other words, it is
“the study of the relationships between linguistics form
(language) and the users of those forms (Yule, 1996 : 4). This
meaning is the meaning that a speaker wants to convey
through an utterance in a particular context (context-bound)
and is called pragmatic meaning or speaker meaning.
Pragmatics is thus the study of speaker meaning or the
study of contextual meaning (Yule, 1996 : 3).
2 . Areas of Pragmatics
- The study of the speaker’s meaning: What people mean by their utterances rather than
what the words or phrases might mean by themselves.
- The Study of Contextual Meaning: What people mean in a particular context and how the
context influences what is said
A: Where’s the cheese sandwich sitting?
B: He’s over there by the window
Context: in a restaurant, one waiter brings out an order of food for another waiter and ask
A and hears B in reply
- The study of how more gets communicated than said.
+ How listeners can make INFERENCES about what is said in order to arrive at an
interpretation of the speaker’s intended meaning.
+ How a great deal of what is UNSAID is recognized as part of what is communicated.
- The study of “invisible meaning”
A: Whoa! Has your boss gone crazy?
B: Let’s go get some coffee
- The study of the expression of relative distance
+ What determines the choice between the said and the unsaid.
+ How close or distant the listener is, speakers determines how much needs to be said.
A: There is a store over there (Let’s go inside.)
B: No (I don’t want to go inside)
A: Why not? (why do you not want to go inside?)
B: I’m tired. (I don’t want to because I’m tired.)
PRAGMATICS studies HOW PEOPLE MAKE SENSE OF EACH OTHER LINGUISTICALLY.
For example:
A: So_ did you?
B: Hey_ who wouldn’t?
Two friends in a conversation may imply some things and infer some others without
providing any clear linguistic evidence. So, pragmatics requires us to make sense of
what people have in mind.
3. Pragmatics in relation to Sematics and Syntax
One traditional distinction in language analysis contrasts pragmatics with syntax and
semantics.
- Semantics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and entities in the
world. Semantic analysis establishes relationships between verbal descriptions and
states of affairs in the world as accurate (true) or not, regardless of who produces that
description.
- Syntax is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms, how they are arranged
in sequence and which sequences are well-formed. It takes place without considering
any world of reference or any user of the forms.
- Pragmatics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the users of
those forms. Only pragmatics allows humans into the analysis ([Link])
- The most important advantage is the clarification of speaker’s intention, their
assumptions, their purposes and kinds of actions (e.g. request) that are performing when
they speak. The main disadvantage is that this is very difficult to analyze all aspects of
human in a consistent and objective way.
4 . Regularity
- Luckily, people tend to behave in fairly REGULAR ways when it comes to using language.
As members of social groups we follow general patterns of behaviour expected within
the group.
E.g.: What a beautiful car you’ve got!
Thank you. I bought it last month (English)
No, I don’t think so (Vietnamese)
- People within a linguistic community have similar basic experiences of the world and
share a lot of non-linguistic knowledge
For example: “I found an old bike. The chain was rusted and the tyres flat”.
- It would be pragmatically odd to say:
“I found an old bike. A bike has a chain. The chain was rusted. A bike aslo has
tyres. The tyres were flat.”
- Nothing in the use of the language forms is inaccurate. But getting the pragmatics
wrong might be offensive.
5. Context and co-text
- Environment in which a referring expression is used is called context. For example, when in
the center of a city you see the word “Bank” on a building you feel that Bank means a financial
institute. Here the physical context helped you to understand the meaning of the word.
Note: Bank (noun) /bæŋk/: 1. an organization that provides various financial services, for
example keeping or lending money; 2. an amount of something that is collected; a place
where something is stored ready for use (a bank of knowledge); 3. the side of a river,
canal, etc. and the land near it, etc.
- Co-text of a word is the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence before or
after that word.
- The surrounding co- text has a strong effect on what we think the word probably means.
For example, in the sentence: “The bank will be opened soon.” the co-text help us to understand
the intended meaning of the word “bank”.
- The co-text clearly limits the range of possible interpretations we might have for a word.
Of course, co-text is just a linguistic part of the environment in which a referring expression is
used. The physical environment, or context, is perhaps more easily recognized as having a
powerful impact on how words are to be interpreted.
6 . Pragmatic Competence
Pragmatic competence is ‘the ability to use language appropriately in a social context’
(Taguchi, 2009).
E.g.: ‘Give me your pen, please!’
While this sentence is grammatically correct and the second language speaker has
communicated effectively what he wants, the problem is that the imperative is generally
perceived as being even more impolite than swearing in English (Wierzbicka, 2003).
However, the learner is not being rude; he is merely pragmatically incompetent.
It is appropriate to use the most conventionalized strategy for making the request in
English:
E.g.: ‘Could I have your pen, please?’
This is one example of what is involved in pragmatic competence.