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.)