Chapter 6 Pragmatics【荐】.pptVIP

Chapter 6 Pragmatics Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context or in use. Some basic notions in Pragmatics Context Pragmatics vs. semantics Sentence meaning vs. utterance meaning Correctness vs. appropriateness Context Context---- a basic concept in the study of pragmatics. It is generally considered as constituted knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer, such as cultural background, situation(time, place, manner, etc.), the relationship between the speaker and the hearer, etc.…. Pragmatics vs. semantics Semantics---- is the study of the literal meaning of a sentence (without taking context into consideration). Pragmatics---- the study of the intended meaning of a speaker (taking context into consideration), e.g. “Today is Sunday”, semantically, it means that today is the first day of the week; pragmatically, you can mean a lot by saying this, all depending on the context and the intention of the speaker, say, making a suggestion or giving an invitation… Sentence meaning vs. utterance meaning ---- Sentence meaning: Abstract and context-independent meaning; literal meaning of a sentence; ----utterance meaning: concrete and context-dependent meaning; intended meaning of a speaker; Speech act theory Speech acts is a term derived from the work of the philosopher J. L. Austin (1962) and now used to refer to a theory which analyzes the role of utterances in relation to the behavior of the speaker and the hearer in interpersonal communication. It aims to answer the question “What do we do when using language?” Two types of utterances Constatives (叙述句) ---- statements that either state or describe, and are thus verifiable; Performatives (施为句) ---- sentences that do not state a fact or describe a state, and are not verifiable. Note: Sometimes they are easy to get confused, e.g.“It is raining outside” can be a constative, and also a performative, for by uttering such a sentence, we may not only state a fact, but involve in the act of informing so