Context and culture

1. Context and culture

2. Do you remember this? • Hymes suggests that in order to be able to communicate language, a person should acquire four types of knowledge: • Possibility • Feasibility • Appropriateness • attestedness

3. Context and culture • Hymes has led the study of language in a different direction. His theory views language analysis through the account of other factors other than the words themselves. • These factors are many. All of the following might be involved in interpreting a real encounter: Tone of voice and facial expression; the relationship between speakers; their age, sex, and social status; the time and place; and the degree to which speakers do or do not share same cultural background.

4. Context and culture • All the previous factors are known as context, and they are all relevant to whether a particular action or utterance is appropriate.

5. Systemizing Context: Discourse analysis • Linguists has claimed that the meaning of language in context is so messy and subjective that it is beyond the reach of systematic enquiry. • However, in order to systemize this area of language, applied linguistics developed discourse analysis (the study of how stretches of language in context are perceived as meaningful and unified by their users).

6. Discourse analysis • There are three areas of study that contribute to the field of discourse analysis: • Paralanguage • Pragmatics • genres

7. paralanguage

8. paralanguage • Any meaningful nonlinguistic behavior which accompanies linguistic communication, e.g. gestures and intonation in speech, or pictures and font in writing • Example: • Gestures in an interview

9. paralanguage • Convincing research suggests that paralinguistic messages can outweigh linguistic ones, especially in establishing and maintaining relationships. • For this reason, understanding of paralanguage is relevant in any professional activity involved with effective communication, or developing effective communication in others, such as media training, speech therapy, and language teaching.

10. What about writing? • Writing has paralanguage too. • Words can be scribbled, printed, or painted, and their meaning can be amplified or altered by layout, accompanying pictures, and diagrams.

11. What if we have a mix? • At this time where technology is used to mix writing with visual effects in ways which can be altering fundamentally the nature and process of communication, there is a pressing need to integrate the findings of the role of speech (psychology) and the role of writing (typography). • The study of visual communication and computer-mediated communication are growing areas in applied linguistics.

12. pragmatics

13. pragmatics • Pragmatics: is the discipline which studies the knowledge and procedures which enables people to understand each other’s words. Its main concern is not the literal meaning, but what speakers intend to do with their words.

14. Example • How are you? • In language it is an interrogative sentence; taking literally it asks about someone’s health. • However. It can be answered differently depending on the context • ‘Mind your own business’ • ‘don’t make me sick’ • ‘Deeply depressed’ • ‘Thanks be to God’

15. genres

16. genres • Meaning also changes with the kind of communicative even which words belong to. Example: • Describe a person according to the following situation. • Gossiping about that person • Writing a job reference • Introducing him/her to a friend

17. genres • Genres is a term defined by the applied linguist John Swales as a class of communicative events which share some set of communicative purposes. • Examples • Conversations • Consultations • Lessons • E-mails • News bulletins • Stories • Jokes

18. Communicative competence • In conclusion, all these elements of discourse-interpreting paralanguage, understanding pragmatic intention, and distinguishing different genres- are part of a person’s communicative competence.