PRAGMATICS: MEANING IN CONTEXT An Introduction to Language
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PRAGMATICS:
MEANING IN CONTEXT
An Introduction to Language
Pragmatics
What is discourse?
Linguistic vs. Situational context
Pronouns
Deixis
Maxims of conversation
Implicatures
Speech acts
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
how speakers combine sentences into
broader speech units.
questions of style;
Appropriateness;
Cohesiveness;
rhetorical force;
topic/subtopic structure;
differences btw written & spoken discourse
PRAGMATICS
An area of Semantics that is
concerned with the interpretation of
meaning in context,
linguistic or situational
TWO KINDS OF CONTEXTS
Linguistic: Discourse
Amazingly, he already loves her.
Situational: knowledge of the world
John met Mary yesterday.
LINGUISTIC CONTEXT
Discourse:
language oft. larger than a sentence;
a stretch of language (> a sentence), having a coherent and cohesive unit
Meaningful, unified, and purposive
COHERENCE & COHESION
How much sentences hang together
How a text sticks together from sentence to
sentence and from paragraph to paragraph.
Coherence: the text making sense as a whole
as an idea/opinion/thought
Cohesion: a mechanical link or glue that holds
a piece of writing together at linguistic level.
use of pronouns, demonstratives
verb tenses
7
COHESION
Example AOne day her mother said to her, "Come, Little Red Riding Hood, take this piece of cake and bottle of wine and bring them to your grandmother. She's sick and weak, and this will strengthen her. […]
Example BAnd this will strengthen her. Take this piece of cake. One day her mother said to her. She's sick.
COHESIVE RELATION
Anaphoric (referring back to)
Coreferential (refer to the same thing)
=> PRONOUNS
PRONOUNS
Pronouns get their meaning from other NPs (antecedent) in the sentence or in the larger discourse.
Take this piece of cake and bottle of winei
and bring themito your grandma.
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS and SYNTAX
1) Reflexive pronouns always depend on an NP antecedent.
2) The antecedent must be in the same clause.
Janeibit herself
i.
Janei
said that Bill bit herselfi
.
Herselfi
left.*
*
PRONOUNS and SYNTAX
Pronouns are free to refer to an NP
outside the same clause.
Johni believes himi.
Johni believes himk.
Johni believes that hei is a genius.
Johni believes that hek is a genius.
*
PRONOUNS and DISCOURSE
Pronouns
in place of NPs from prior discourse
refer to already known entities
It seems that the mani loves the womank.
Many people think hei loves herk.
Free(Unbound) or Bound
a) Reflxive pronouns are bound
Janei bit herselfi.
b) Pronouns are either free or bound.
Johni believes that hei is a genius.
Hek believes that Johni is a genius.
SITUAIONAL CONTEXT
knowledge of the speaker, the
hearer, the topic, general facts
about the world, the physical
environment, the subject of the
conversation, the time of the day,
etc.
SITUATIONAL CONTEXT
Deixis
Speech Acts
Maxims of conversation
Implicatures
1. DEIXIS
Words or expressions whose reference relies
entirely on the situational context
person deixis (1st, 2nd, 3rd person pronouns)
demonstrative articles (this, that, etc)
time deixis (now, then, tomorrow, etc)
place deixis (here, there, etc.)
directional terms (before, behind, left, right..)
2. SPEECH ACTS (Austin, 1962)
a) Locutionary act: the act of saying sth
b) Illocutionary act: the speaker's
intention behind the speech
c) Perlocutionary act: an act performed by
saying something
performative verbs
Use lg to do sth above the statement
performative verbs
An informal test to see whether a
sentence contains a performative verb
Hearby +
ILLOCUTIONARY force
The illocutionary force of a speech act
depends on the context of the utterance
Band practice, my house, 6 to 8
a reminder
a warning
a promise
a threat
3. MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION
Say neither more nor less than is required.
=> Quantity
Be relevant.
=> Relevance
Be brief and orderly; avoid ambiguity
=> Manner
Do not lie
=> Quality
Assumptions
For successful communication,
we need to follow conversational
maxims.
People in a conversation
are cooperating in terms of
four principles.
Maxim of Quantity
1. Don’t say too little
Make your contribution as informative as is
required
2. Don’t say too much
Don’t make your contribution more informative
than is required
Men are men!
Maxim of Relevance
Don’t say irrelevant thing
Say something appropriate to immediate needs
A: Is Jack dating anyone these days?
B: Well, he goes to Dallas every weekend.
Maxim of Manner
Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief.
Be orderly.
Maxim of Quality
Make your contribution true.
Do not say what you believe to be false.
Do not say without adequate evidence.
You are the jewel of the crown.
He is a fine friend.
Interpreting Hamlet
Violating
Maxim of _________ : Words, Words, words
Maxim of _________: misinterpretation of the
reading matter
Maxim of __________: the run-on text
Maxim of __________: metaphor of comparin
g growing younger with walking backward
quantity
relevance
manner
quality
CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURES
Introduction to Language
Semantics/Pragmatics
Implicatures
deductions made on the basis of the
expressed content and in accordance with
the conversational maxims.
A: Smith doesn’t have any girlfriends these days.
B: He has been going to Dallas a lot lately.
Implicature: Smith has a girlfriend in Dallas.
Implicatures
An additional conveyed meaning (Yule,
1996, p. 35)
The speaker communicates via
implicatures and the listener
recognizes those communicated
meanings via inference.
Implicatures (#25. p. 188)
Tom: Could you give me a ride?
Jane: Sorry, I’m visiting my sister’s.
Implicature: Jane cannot give him a ride..
A: Do vegetarians eat hamburger?
B: Do chickens have lips?
Implicature: Vegetarians don’t eat hamburger.
Implicatures
b. Tom: Do you have the play tickets?
Jane: Did I give them to you?
Implicature: She doesn’t have them.
a. Jack: Did you make a doctor’s appointment?
Laura: Their line was busy.
Implicature: She didn’t make the
appointment.
Implicatures
d. A: How did you like the string quartet?
B: I thought the violist was swell.
Implicature: The quartet was not good.
c. Tom: Does your grandmother have a live-in
boyfriend?
Jane: She’s very traditional
Implicature: She doesn’t have one.
Implicatures
e. Laura: What are Boston’s chances of winning the
World Series?
Jack: Do bowling balls float?
Implicature: Boston has no chance.
f. Laura: Do you own a cat?
Jack: I am allergic to everything.
Implicature: Jack can’t keep a cat.
Implicatures
g. Laura: Did you mow the grass and wash the car
like I told you to?
Jack: I mowed the grass.
Implicature: Jack didn’t wash the car.
h. Laura: Do you want dessert?
Jack: Is the Pope Catholic?
Implicature: Absolutely yes!
Implicatures
Implicatures can be cancelled.
A: Smith doesn’t have any girlfriends these days.
B: He has been going to Dallas a lot lately.
A: He goes to Dallas to visit his mother who is ill.
Cf) Entailment cannot be cancelled.
Corday assassinated Marat.
(Marat is dead.)
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