8.4英语文学学习.pptVIP

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 It can be also defined as the study of how speakers use the sentences of a language to effect successful communication. 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 knowledge alone and takes into account our knowledge about the physical and social world. 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. 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. II Speech Act Theory As pointed out by the British philosopher Austin in 1962, sentences are not always uttered just to say things, but rather, they are used to do things. Based on this assumption, Austin advanced the Speech Act Theory, which is now generally viewed as one of the basic theories of pragmatics. II Speech Act Theory All linguistic acti