Pragmatics

Meaning in Context

1. shared attitude, beliefs, knowledge between the speaker and the hearer

a. The mayor denied the criminal’s request because he is cautious. (he – mayor)

b. The mayor denied the criminal’s request because he is dangerous. (he –criminal)

Note: Exactly the same sentence except for the adjective

which defines the antecedent of ‘he’ in (a) and (b).

Pragmatics

Linguistics for language teachers/Dr. Jessie Grace U. Rubrico

2. Presupposition

• assumption on belief/knowledge implied

by a particular word

a. Have you stopped exercising?

> stopped presupposes . . .

b. Ninoy Aquino was assassinated in 1983.

> assassination presupposes. . .


• speaker (S) assumption of the utterance to be true or known by the hearer (H)

When did you stop smoking? –you used to smoke

- you no longer smoke

• Constancy under negation My car is a wreck

My car is not a wreck

presupposition: you have a car

3. DEIXIS – forms used and interpreted based on the location of the speaker or hearer

• this, here – near the speaker

• that, there – near the listener

• come – go

a. The cobra is coming into the tent

- towards the speaker

b. The cobra is going into the tent

- away from the speaker


a) spatial deixis– here, there

b) temporal deixis

– now, then, today, yesterday, tomorrow

c) person deixis – him, them, etc.

d) things – it, this, these, that, those

4. Inference

- connection between what is said and what must be meant

a. Jennee is wearing a Calvin Klein.

b. Can I borrow your O’Grady?

Note: (a) Calvin Klein signature design or accessories

(b) O’Grady book on Contemporary Linguistics


5. Anaphora – referring back a. We saw a lady washing a puppy in a small

bath. When she let go, it jumped out of the

small bath.

• lady, puppy – antecedents

• she, it - anaphora

b. I was waiting for the cab, but he just drove

by without stopping.

• antecedent – bus ; anaphora – he

• If X is a bus, then X has a driver – inference

6. Speech Acts

• type of action performed by speaker with the utterance

• command

• request

• promise

• question

• information

Direct speech act

• asks information • Did you dine out last night?

• Are they coming?

• Can they sing well?

Performatives

• direct speech act with verbs whose action is a speech act

• I assert that UM will beat USM in the ranking.

• I promise to take her to the resto?

• I order John to eat the meal.

• declarative, interrogative, imperative

Structure Function

You can drive a car

Declarative Statement

Can you drive a car?

Interrogative Question

Drive the car (please)

Imperative Command/ Request


Identifying performatives Which of these use the verb promise as PERFORMATIVE?

1. I promise to take Zoe to dinner tonight.

2. Zoe promises to take me to dinner tonight.

3. I will promise to take Zoe to dinner tonight.

Hints

(a) subject of the verb must be “I”; performative

is about an interaction between speaker

and hearers.

(b) Performatives must take place in the present.

Felicity Conditions

• allow us to determine under when it is appropriate to ask questions, give commands, and so forth.

S questions H about X (a mutual friend) 1. S does not know the truth about X.

2. S wants to know the truth about X.

3. S believes H may know the truth about X.

Assumptions: 1. if someone asks a question, s/he doesn't know the answer to

the question > inherent in condition #1.

2. If someone asks, s/he actually wants to know the truth. (#2)

3. If someone asks you, they think you may know the truth

(or answer). (#3)

Felicity Conditions: Asking Questions

Felicity Conditions: Promise

S promises H to do Y: 1. S believes H wants Y done.

2. S is able to do Y.

3. S is willing to do Y.

S requests H to do Z (action): 1. Speaker believes that Z has not yet been

done.

2. Speaker believes that Hearer is able to do Z.

3. Speaker believes that Hearer is willing to do Z-type things for S.

Felicity Conditions: Requests

Indirect speech act

a. Can you meet me tonight?

• structure: interrogative

• function: request

b. You left the door open.

• structure: declarative

• function : request

c. Can you open the door for me? - the speaker is requesting, not asking about the ability of the listener to open the door d1. Do you know where the bus stop is? d2. Yes, I know where it is (and walks away)

(1) request for help in finding the bus stop

(2) reads the speech act of (1) as a question, not as a request.

7. Politeness

• awareness of and consideration for another person’s face

• FACE : person’s public image

• emotional and social sense of self everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize

• face-threatening act - threatens a person’s image

Give me that book! – S conveys he/she has social power over the H

• face-saving act -lessens the possible threat

Could you give me that book? – less threatening - removes the assumption of social power

Negative face

• the need to be independent and free from imposition

• face-saving act: show concern about imposition

– I’m sorry to bother you, but …

Positive face

• the need to be connected, to belong • face-saving act

• show solidarity

• rally to a common goal • let’s do this together. . .

• we have the same problem

References

• O'Grady, William D., Archibald, John, [eds.] (2009). Contemporary Linguistic Analysis: An Introduction, 6th edition. Ontario: Pearson Education Canada.

• Yule G. 2006. The study of language. Cambridge: CUP.

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Pragmatics