武汉理工大学：《英语言学》课程教学资源（PPT课件讲稿，英文版）I What is Pragmatics

Chapter 8 Pragmatics Language in Use

Chapter 8 Pragmatics Language in Use

I What is pragmatics Pragmatics is the study of language usage from a functional perspective and is concerned with the principles that account for how meaning is communicated by the speaker(writer)and interpreted by the listener (reader) in a certain context

I What is Pragmatics • Pragmatics is the study of language usage from a functional perspective and is concerned with the principles that account for how meaning is communicated by the speaker (writer) and interpreted by the listener (reader) in a certain context

I What is pragmatics It can be also defined as the study of how speakers use the sentences of a language to effect successful communication

I What is Pragmatics • It can be also defined as the study of how speakers use the sentences of a language to effect successful communication

Pragmatics is different from traditional semantics in that it studies meaning not in isolation but in context

Pragmatics is different from traditional semantics in that it studies meaning not in isolation but in context

Example Cats drink the cream Semantic meaning: Domestic felines consume the liquid fat of milk Mike: What happened to that bowl of cream? Annie: Cats drink cream Pragmatic meaning: That bowl of cream was probably eaten by our cat

Example: • Cats drink the cream. Semantic meaning: "Domestic felines consume the liquid fat of milk," Mike: What happened to that bowl of cream? Annie: Cats drink cream. Pragmatic meaning: "That bowl of cream was probably eaten by our cat

I What is Pragmatics In other words semantics focuses on the meaning that comes from linguistic knowledge, while pragmatics concentrates on those aspects of meaning that cannot be predicted by linguistic know ledge alone and takes into account our know ledge about the physical and social world

I What is Pragmatics • In other words, semantics focuses on the meaning that comes from linguistic knowledge, while pragmatics concentrates on those aspects of meaning that cannot be predicted by linguistic knowledge alone and takes into account our knowledge about the physical and social world

Sentence Meaning Utterance Meaning It is context-dependent It is the abstract co t It is the product of independent sentence meaning and entity called context. Therefore. it is richer than the s ma n c proposition meaning of the s e n te n e

Sentence Meaning Utterance Meaning It is the abstract c o n t e x t - i n d e p e n d e n t e n t i t y c a l l e d s e m a n t i c p r o p o s i t i o n . It is context-dependent. It is the product of sentence meaning and context. Therefore, it is richer than the m e a n i n g o f t h e s e n t e n c e

I What is Pragmatics Pragmatics also differs from syntax in that pragmatics is concerned with the appropriateness of naturally occurring utterances. For example the four utterances in the following dialogue are all syntactically incomplete, but pragmatically they are all appropriate"in the particular context

I What is Pragmatics • Pragmatics also differs from syntax in that pragmatics is concerned with the appropriateness of naturally occurring utterances. For example, the four utterances in the following dialogue are all syntactically incomplete, but pragmatically they are all "appropriate" in the particular context

I What is Pragmatics Jane: Coffee? Steve: Sure Jane: White? Steve: White

I What is Pragmatics • Jane: Coffee? • Steve: Sure. • Jane: White? • Steve: White

Like pragmatics, text analysis is also concerned with language used in particular contexts. It is the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected spoken or written texts In other words. it is the study of linguistic units larger than sentences or clauses

• Like pragmatics, text analysis is also concerned with language used in particular contexts. It is the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected spoken or written texts. In other words, it is the study of linguistic units larger than sentences or clauses