Pragmatics in the Study of Language.pptx

Pragmatics - The Study of Language by George Yule

1. Pragmatics in the Study of Language Context, Presupposition & Politeness Farbod Mousavi

2. Context Do we see this ad and say “Great! I’ve been wanting to get myself a new baby for some time now?” Absolutely NOT !!! So, what’s stopping us from making such interpretation?

3. Context The reason is that based on our social/historical context , we know that people have not been for sale for quite a few centuries and, therefore, we draw the different con- clusion that it has to be “ an item pertaining to a human baby ” like clothes, furniture or toys that are on sale rather than the babies themselves.

4. Context Having a rough estimate of what context can be, we can now move on to its two types : 1. Physical Context ; referring to a collective experience while Interpreting a word, which stems from common past encoun - ters with the word. 2. Linguistic Context ; aka “the surrounding words” , aka “co-text” ; which to words preceding or following a certain wo- rd that help us better define the word. Pretty Confusing. Let’s have an example…

5. Context Let’s suppose we hear the word “ bank ”. What is the first mental image we tend to form of the word? It is definitely going to be “ a financial institution ” since we are common- ly exposed to the word “bank” by this meaning/function of it. This is called the “ Physical Context ”. However, in the sentence “ They came upon the wreckage at the river bank. ” we are quick to interpret the word “ bank ” as “ the dry land stretching along a stream of water ” as it is accompanied by the words “river” and “wreckage”. This reference to the words before and after in determining wh - at a word can mean is called “ Linguistic Context ”.

6. Context Another aspect of studying the context is “ Deixis ” or “ Deictic Expression ” and it essentially discusses the necessity of a firm grasp of the context of speech/writing in order to be able to understand references . To clarify, let’s have a look at this sentence : “We told her not to do that anymore or else she would be banned from the games.” Can we form any clear picture of the words “we” , “her” , “that” , “she” , “the games” ?

7. Context Clearly not. And that’s the point “ Deixis ” tries to address. Furthermore, the term “Deixis” points to the notion that to display dislike, hatred or disgust , we tend to use terms that refer to distance . For example, in reaction to being served “a plate of cold, sloppy tomato soup” , we might say “I can’t eat THAT !” however the plate is probably right in front of us .

8. Presupposition When engaged in a conversation, we are constantly making the assumption that the addressee is on track with the ref- erences in our speech. Such assumption is called “ Presupposition ”. A basic example would be that when we ask a friend “How is your exam coming along?” there is an obvious presupposition that you have an exam coming up.

9. Politeness In order to best understand “Politeness” in the study of language, we first need to discuss the term “ face ”. “Face”, in pragmatics, is the emotional and social sense of self that we all have and expect others to recognize and acknowledge it. Now, the term “politeness” means showing awareness and consideration of another person’s “face”. But, what does it really mean?

10. Politeness ““ If you say something that represents a threat to another person's self-image, that is called a “ face-threatening act ”. For example, if you use a direct command to get someone to do something (Give me that paper!), you are behaving as if you have more social power than the other person. If you don't actually have that social power (e.g. you are not a military officer or prison warden), then you are performing a face-threatening act. An indirect request , in the form associated with a question (Could you pass me that paper?), removes the assumption of social power . You are only asking if it is possible. This makes your request less threatening to the other person's face. Whenever you say something that lessens the possible threat to another's face, it can be described as a “ face-saving act ”. ”” The Study of Language – George Yule ; Page 156