PRAGMATICS – George Yule

1. PRAGMATICS – George Yule

5. 1. DEFINITIONS AND BACKGROUND • “Thestudy of contextual meaningcommunicatedby a speaker orwriter, and interpretedby a listenerorreader.” (G.Yule) • “Thestudy of therelation of signstotheirinterpreters.” (Charles Morris) • “Thestudy of therelationsbetweenlinguisticforms and itsusers(…)Onlypragmaticsallowshumansintotheanalysis: theirassumptions, purposes, goals, and actionstheyperformwhilespeaking.” (G.Yule)

7. PRAGMATICS IS… 1- THE STUDY OF SPEAKER MEANING WHAT PEOPLE MEAN bytheirutterancesratherthanwhatthewordsorphrasesmight mean bythemselves.

9. Semantics • It is the study of meaning context free. It says how words literary are connected to things. Semantic analysis makes relationship between descriptions and status of affair in the world. Regardless of how produce that regards.

10. Syntax • It is the study of relationship between linguistic forms, how they are arranged in a sequence and which sequence is well-formed. It takes place without any attention to the reference or users of it (the form).

11. What are the advantages and disadvantages of studying language via pragmatics? • The most important advantages are the clarification of speaker intention, their assumptions, their purposes and kinds of actions (e.g. request) that are performing when they speak. • The main disadvantage is that this is very difficult to analyze all aspects of human in a consistent and objective way.

12. 2- TheStudyof Contextual Meaning • Importance of the CONTEXT: Thecircumstances and theaudienceorpublic.

13. 3-The study of how more getscommunicatedthansaid. • TheINFERENCESmadebylistenersorreaders in ordertoarrive at aninterpretation of theintendedmeaning. • A greatdeal of whatisUNSAID isrecognized as part of whatiscommunicated. • Thestudy of “invisible meaning”

14. 4-The study of theexpression of relativedistance • TheCLOSENESS orDISTANCE of thelistenerorreader determines howmuchneedstobesaid. Forexample: A: there is a store over there (Let‘s go inside) B: no (I don‘t want to go inside) A: why not? (why do you not want to go inside?) B: I‘m tired. (I don‘t want to because I‘m tired.)

15. IN OTHER WORDS… PRAGMATICS studies HOW PEOPLE MAKE SENSE OF EACH OTHER LINGUISTICALLY. Forexample: A: So_ didyou? B: Hey_ whowouldn’t? Twofriends in a conversationmayimplysomethings and infersomeotherswithoutprovidinganyclearlinguisticevidence. So, pragmaticsrequiresustomakesense of whatpeoplehave in mind.

16. REGULARITY • Luckily, peopletendtobehave in fairlyREGULARwayswhenit comes tousinglanguage. As part of social groupswefollow general expectedpatterns of behaviour. Forexample: “I foundanoldbike. Thechainwasrusted and thetyres flat”. Itwouldbepragmaticallyoddtosay: “I foundanoldbike. A bike has a chain. Thechainwasrusted. A bikeaslo has tyres. Thetyreswere flat.”

17. 1.More was being communicated than was being said. 2.Nothing in the use of the language forms is inaccurate, but getting the pragmatics wrong might be offensive.

18. Context • Environment in which a referring expression is used is called context. • For example, when in the center of a city you see the word “Bank” on a building you feel that Bank means a financial institute. Here the physicalcontexthelped you to understand the meaning of the word.

19. Co-text • Co-text of a word is the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence before or after that word. • The surrounding co- text has a strong effect on what we think the word probably means. • For example, in the sentence: ”the bank will be opened soon“ the co-text help us to understand the intended meaning of the word “bank”. • The co-text clearly limits the range of possible interpretations we might have for a word. • Of course, co-text is just a linguistic part of the environment in which a referring expression is used. • The physical environment, or context, is perhaps more easily recognized as having a powerful impact on how words are to be interpreted.

20. 2.DEIXIS and DISTANCE • DEIXIS: “pointingvialangauge” Toaccomplishthispointingwe use deicticexpressionsorindexicals. i.e: “What’sthat?” (usedtoindicatesth. in theimmediatecontext.) Deicticexpressionsdependonthe speaker and hearersharingthesamespatialcontext, in face-tofacespokeninteraction.

22. I played tennis. Then I went to the beach. Each of the utterances above consists of two sentences. Think about the first utterance for a moment and ask yourself who the subject of both sentences is. You'll probably come to the conclusion that it is the same person ('I') in both sentences, but it is not possible to determine who exactly I refers to outside of an actual speech situation. When someone uses I in a real-life chat, you can see and hear that person, and therefore you are able to resolve who the word refers to. But outside of a real discourse situation, this is no longer possible. Words like I, which carry a meaning that can only be retrieved with access to the situation they are used in, are called deictic expressions and the phenomenon of expressions pointing to things in the context is known as deixis.

23. Types of indexicals • Person deixis: usedtopointpeople. (me, you) • Spatial deixis: usedtopointlocation (here, there). • Temporal dexis: usedtopointlocation in time (now, then). i.e: “I’llputthishere, ok?”

24. PERSON DEIXIS There are 3 categories: • SPEAKER (I) • ADDRESSEE (YOU) • OTHERS (HE- SHE-IT- THEY) SOCIAL DEIXIS: formsusedtoindicaterelative social status. In manylanguagesdeicticcategoriesbecomemarkers of relative social status. HONORIFICS: expressionsthatmarkthattheaddresseeis of higher status.

25. Examples of SOCIAL DEIXIS In Spanishthe“Tú”- “Usted” distinction. • Thechoice of oneformwillcommunicatesomething, notdirectlysaid, aboutthespeaker’sview of hisrelationwiththeaddressee. • Thehigher, older and more powerful speaker willtendto use the “tú” and viceversa. • Nowadays, theagedistinctionremains more powerfulthantheeconomicdistinction in manycountries.

26. Usingthe 3rdpersonform • Communicatesdistance and non-familiarity. Also, it has anironicorhumorouspurpose. i.e: Wouldhishighnesslikesomecoffee? • Alsousedtomakeaccusations: “Somebodydidn’tclean up afterhimself” (lessdirectthan “Youdidn’tclean”

27. SPATIAL DEIXIS FormsusedtopointtoLOCATION i.e: “Here” and “There” “Come” and “Go” PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE Whenspeakersmarkhowcloseordistantsomethingisperceivedtobe. i.e: “Thatmanoverthere” impliespsychologicaldistance. DEICTIC PROJECTION: whenspeakersact as ifthey are somewhereelse. i.e: “I´mnotherenow.” (telephoneanswering machine) Recordingis a performance for a futureaudience in which I project my presencetobe in therequiredlocation.

28. TEMPORAL DEIXIS Formsusedtopointtolocationin time. i.e: “now” - “then” In contrasttonow, the distal expressionthenappliestobothpast and future time relativetothespeaker’spresent time. i.e: “I was in Scotlandthen” “I’llseeyouthen”

29. DEIXIS AND GRAMMAR Thedistinctionsforperson, spatial, and temporal deixis can beseen at work in Englishgrammarstructuressuch as DIRECT and INDIRECT (reported)SPEECH. i.e: Are youplanningtobeherethisevening? – I askedher.

30. REPORTED FORM • I askedherifshewasplaningtobetherethatevening There’ s a shiftfromthe “near speaker” meaning of directspeechtothe “awayfrom speaker” meaning of reportedspeech, withthe use of DISTAL DEICTIC forms.

31. 3. REFERENCE AND INFERENCE REFERENCE: anact in which a speaker orwriter, uses linguisticformstoenable a listenerorreader, toidentifysomething. Words in themselves do notreferanything. Peoplerefer. REFERRING EXPRESSIONS: linguisticformslikepropernouns, definiteorindefinitenounphrases, and pronouns. Thechoice of onetype of theseexpressionsratherthananotherisbasedonwhatthe speaker assumesthelisteneralreadyknows.

32. FOR EXAMPLE: “Look at him” (use of pronoun) “Thewoman in red” (definitearticle) “A womanwaslooking at you” (indefinitearticle and pronoun) • So, referenceistiedtothespeaker’sgoals and beliefsaboutthelistenerknowledge in the use of language.

33. INFERENCE • Forsuccessfulreferencetooccur, wemustrecognizethe role of INFERENCE and COLLABORATION between speaker and listener in thinkingwhattheother has in mind. Sometimeswe use vague expressionsrelyingonthelistener’sabilitytoinferwhatreferentwehave in mind: i.e: “Thebluething”, “Thatstuff” Wesometimeseveninventnames.

34. PRAGMATIC CONNECTION A conventionalassociationbetween a person’sname and a kind of objectwithin a socio-culturallydefinedcommunity. i.e: “Can I borrowyour Shakespeare?” “Picasso’sonthefarwall” Giventhecontext, theintended and inferredreferentisnot a personbutprobably a book.

35. THE ROLE OF CO-TEXT Co- text: thelinguisticenvironment in which a wordisused. Theco-textclearlylimitsourrange of possibleinterpretationswemighthavefor a word. i.e: “BrazilwinsWorld Cup” Brazilwouldbethereferringexpression, and therest of thesentencetheco-text.

36. CO- TEXT CONTEXT Thephysicalenvironment in which a wordisused. • Just a linguisticpart of theenvironment in which a referringexpressionisused.

37. GUESS THE CONTEXT FOR THESE REFERRING EXPRESSIONS • “Your ten-thirtyjustcancelled.” • Theheart-attackmustn’tbe moved” • “A couple of roomshavecomplainedabouttheheat”

38. ANAPHORIC REFERENCE Theexpressionsusedtomaintainreferencetosomethingorsomeonealreadymentioned. i.e: “A manwaslooking at us. Hethendisappeared.” Theinitialreferenceisoftenindefinite (A man…) and iscalledtheANTECEDENT. Thesubsequentreferenceisdefiniteor a prononun (He…) and iscalledANAPHORA.

39. PRESENTACIÓN ODT

40. 5. MAXIMS of the COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE 1- QUANTITY: Makeyourcontribution as INFORMATIVE as required. Do NOT makeit more informativethanrequired. 2-QUALITY Makeyourcontribution TRUE. Do NOT saywhatyoubelieveis false. Do NOT saythatforwhichyoulackadequateevidence.

41. 3- RELATION: Be relevant. 4- MANNER: Be perspicuous: • Avoidobscurity of expression • Avoidambiguity. • Be brief (avoidunnecessaryprolixity) • Be orderly.

42. Thesemaximsshouldberecognized as unstatedassumptionswehave in conversations However, there are certainexpressionsspeakers use tomarkthattheymaybe in danger of NOTfullyadheringtotheprinciples. HEDGES: cautious notes abouthowanutteranceshouldbetakenwhengivinginformation.

43. EXAMPLES OF HEDGES: • Hedges of QUALITY: “ As far as I know, they’remarried.” “I maybemistaken, but I thought I saw a wedding ring onherfinger.” “I’mnotsureifthisisright, but I hearditwas a secretceremony.” “He couldn’tlivewithouther, I guess”

44. HEDGES OF QUANTITY: “ As youprobablyknow,I’mterrified of bugs” “ So, tocut a longstory short, wegrabbedourstaff and run” “I won’t bore youwithallthedetails, butitwasanexcitingtrip”

45. HEDGES OF RELEVANCE • “ I don’tknowifthisisimportant, but…” • “Thismaysoundlike a dumbquestion, but…” • Nottochangethesubject, but…” • “ Oh, bytheway…” • Well, anyway…”

46. HEDGES OF MANNER “Thismaybe a bit confused, but…” “I’mnotsureifthismakessense, but…” “I don’tknowifthisisclear at all, but…”

47. CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE • Thebasicassumption in conversationisthat, otherwiseindicated, theparticipants are adheringtothecooperativeprinciple and themaxims. • Thefollowingexamples show a speaker conveying more than he saidviaconversationalimplicature

48. a: “I hope youbroughtthe bread and cheese.” b: “Ah, I broughtthe bread.” • Speaker B assumesthat A infers thatwhatisnotmentionedwasnotbrought. a: “Do youlike ice-cream?” b: “Isthe Pope catholic?”

49. CONVENTIONAL IMPLICATURES • In contrasttothepreviousimplicatures, theseones are NOTbasedonthecooperativeprinciple’smaxims. • They do NOThavetooccur in conversation and don’tdependonspecialcontextsforinterpretation. • They are associatedwithSPECIFIC WORDS and result in additionalconveyedmeanings.

50. Forexample: theEnglishconjunctionsBUT and AND Theinterpretation of anyutterancewiththewordBUTwillimplyanimplicature of CONTRAST and withAND an ADDITION. “Mary suggestedblack, but I chosewhite”. • ThewordsEVEN and YET alsohaveconventionalimplicature. • Evenimpliescontrarytoexpectation. • Yetimpliesthatthepresentsituationisexpectedtobediffererent at a later time.