pragmatics –I definition2012.pptVIP

Pragmatics –I definition By Liu Donglou May 17/23, 2012 Contents Definition of pragmatics Semantics vs pragmatics Sentence vs utterance Context Prelude 1. Two Examples: Example One Situation: A little boy comes in the front door. Mother: Wipe your feet, please. He removes his muddy shoes and socks and carefully wipes his clean feet on the doormat. Example Two: Situation: A father is trying to get his 3-year-old daughter to stop lifting up her dress to display her new underwear to the assembled guests. Father: We don’t DO that. Daughter: I KNOW, Daddy. You don’t WEAR dresses. A poem When a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps’; When he says perhaps, he means ‘no’; When he says no, he is not a diplomat. When a lady says no, she means ‘perhaps’; When she says perhaps, she means ‘yes’; When she says yes, she is not a lady. Voltaire (Quoted, in Spanish, in Escandell 1993.) What is pragmatics? It is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication. (effect vt. = (formal) to make something happen) Pragmatics is the study of the relationship between linguistic form and intended communication. “Pragmatics studies the factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects of our choice on others.” David Crystal Pragmatics is a systematic way of explaining language use in context. Differences between semantics and pragmatics Inherent property of language, coming from purely linguistic knowledge Realized in the course of communication, not to be predicted by linguistic knowledge alone but along with knowledge about the physical and social world Object of study Sentence meaning independent of context; intra-linguistic relationships between linguistic forms and relationships between linguistic forms and entities in the world Utterance meaning dependent of context; relationships between linguistic forms and the users of those forms Goal of study Establishing the relati