Chapter 10 Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning and how more is communicated than is said

1 Invisible Meaning

In many ways, pragmatics is the study of “invisible” meaning, or how we recognize what is meant even when it is not actually said or written.

2 Context

The meaning of a word is based on the context it in

• Physical context: the situation, time or place in which words are used

• Linguistic context: the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence

 Deixis:

Def: using words such as this or here as a way of “pointing” with language

3 Reference

Def: an act by which a speaker/writer uses language to enable a listener/reader to identify someone or something

Inference

Def: Additional information used by a listener/reader to create a connection between what is said and what must be meant

E.g: Where’s the spinach salad sitting?

The word spinach salad is preferred to the one who eat the spinach salad 

Anaphora

Def: use of pronouns (it) and noun phrases with the (the puppy) to refer back to something already mentioned

E.g: 

We saw a funny home video about a boy washing a puppy in a small bath. The puppy started struggling and shaking and the boy got really wet. When he let go, it jumped out of the bath and ran away. 

Antecedent: the first mention of someone or something later referred to via anaphora

a boy, a puppy and a small bath are antecedents and The puppy, the boy, he, it and the bath are anaphoric expressions

Cataphora:  

similar to anaphora, but reversing the antecedent–anaphora relationship, often beginning with a pronoun and a descriptive noun phrase later 

E.g: 

It suddenly appeared on the path a little ahead of me, staring in my direction and sniffing the air. An enormous grizzly bear was checking me out.

4 Presupposition

Def: an assumption by a speaker/writer about what is true or already known by the listener/reader

E.g: If someone tells you “Hey, your brother is looking for you”, there is an obvious presupposition that you have a brother

5 Pragmatic Markers

Def: short expressions such “You know, I mean” or “Well”, that indicate the speaker’s attitude to the listener or the utterance

E.g: 

They had been reading something by Charles Wright, you know, the famous poet and well, I mean, he’s famous in America at least, but em they didn’t really understand it.

6 Politeness

Def: showing awareness and consideration of another person’s public self-image 

Your face, in pragmatics, is your public self-image. This is the emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize

• face: a person’s public self-image as described in the study of politeness

• face-threatening act: saying something that represents a threat to another person’s self-image

• E.g: If you use a direct command to get someone to do something (Give me that paper!), you are behaving as if you have more social power than the other person

• face-saving act: saying something that reduces a possible threat to another person’s self-image

• E.g:  An indirect request, in the form associated with a question (Could you pass me that paper?). You are only asking if it is possible. This makes your request less threatening to the other person’s face

Negative and Positive Face 

Negative face:

The need to be independent and free from imposition, in contrast to positive face

Positive face:

The need to be connected, to belong, to be a member of a group, in contrast to negative face

7 Speech Acts

Def: an action such as “promising” performed by a speaker with an utterance, either as a direct speech act or an indirect speech act

To understand utterance used to perform indirect of direct action, we visualize a relationship between the structure of an utterance and the normal function of that utterance

Direct and Indirect Speech Act

Direct speech act:

an action in which the form used (e.g. interrogative) directly matches the function (e.g. question) performed by a speaker with an utterance, in contrast to an indirect speech act

Indirect speech act:

an action in which the form used (e.g. interrogative) does not directly match the function (e.g. request) performed by a speaker with an utterance, in contrast to a direct

speech act