LinguisticsLesson 1 of 2 in the course Semantics and pragmatics

Pragmatics: Context, Inference, Speech Acts, and Social Meaning

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 4 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Pragmatics examines how people use and interpret language in context. It helps explain why a listener can understand more than the literal meaning of a sentence and why the same words can communicate different things in different situations.

Pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. It considers language in social interaction, including the relationship between speakers, listeners, and what is being interpreted. Specialists in the field are called pragmaticians.

All flashcards

What is pragmatics?
The study of how context, speaker intentions, and interaction contribute to the interpretation of language.
How do semantics and pragmatics differ?
Semantics studies meaning associated with linguistic expressions, while pragmatics studies how users interpret and communicate meaning in particular contexts.
What did Charles Morris propose in 1938?
He distinguished syntax, semantics, and pragmatics as three parts of the study of signs, defining pragmatics in terms of signs and their interpreters.
What is pragmatic competence?
The ability to understand what a speaker intends to communicate, including context-dependent and indirect meanings.
Why are Austin and Grice important to pragmatics?
Austin showed that utterances can perform actions, and Grice explained how cooperative conversational reasoning allows listeners to infer more than a speaker literally says.

Quiz questions

  1. A conversational contribution is expected to address the current topic. Which Gricean maxim does this expectation express?Answer: Relation
  2. In speech-act theory, what is an illocutionary act?Answer: The communicative action performed in saying an utterance.
  3. In the basic Rational Speech Act hierarchy, what does a pragmatic listener (L1L_1) do?Answer: Infers a likely state of the world by reasoning about the speaker's utterance choice.
  4. What is a nonreferential index, or pure index, used to signal?Answer: Social information such as identity, respect, or relationships without changing basic reference.
  5. What is pragmatic failure?Answer: A mismatch between a speaker's intended meaning and a listener's interpretation.

Based on the Wikipedia article Pragmatics, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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