CHAPTER 10:  Pragmatics

Invisible Meaning

How we recognize what is meant even when it is not actually said or written.

Context

Our interpretation of the “meaning” of the sign is not based solely on the words, but on what

we think the writer intended to communicate.

Deixis

Expressions such as tomorrow and here are technically known as deictic.We use deixis to point to people (us, them, those idiots), places (here, over there) and times (now, last week).

Reference

An act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a listener (or reader) to identify something.

Inference

An inference is additional information used by the listener to create a connection between what is said and what must be meant.

Anaphora

Ex: 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.

In this type of referential relationship, the second (or subsequent) referring expression is an example of anaphora (“referring back”). The first mention is called the antecedent. So, in our example, a boy, a puppy and a small bath are antecedents and The puppy, the boy, he, it and the bath are anaphoric expressions.

Presupposition

What a speaker (or writer) assumes is true or known by a listener (or reader) can be described as a presupposition.

Pragmatic Markers

Short forms such as you know, well, I mean, I don’t know, which are optional and loosely attached to the utterance are pragmatic markers and they can be used to mark a speaker’s attitude to the listener or to what is being said.

Politeness

-Politeness can be defined as showing awareness and consideration of another person’s face.

-If you say something that represents a threat to another person’s self-image, that is called a face-threatening act.

-Whenever you say something that lessens the possible threat to another’s face, it can be described as a face-saving act.

Negative and Positive Face

-Negative face is the need to be independent and free from imposition.

- Positive face is the need to be connected, to belong, to be a member of the group.

Speech Acts

Describe an action that involves language such as “requesting,” “commanding,” “questioning” or “informing.”

Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

-When an interrogative structure such as Did you ... ?, Is she ... ? or Can you ... ? is used

with the function of a question, it is described as a direct speech act.

-We are using an interrogative structure to make a request. This is an indirect speech act.