PRAGMATICS,

or the study of

UTTERANCE MEANING
MEANING IN CONTEXT from what is said to what is
meant
MEANING IN INTERACTION
WHEN WE SPEAK/WRITE/GESTURE,
OUR INTERPRETATION GOES BEYOND THE
LITERAL MEANING OF WORDS OR
SENTENCES

UTTERANCES UTTERANCE MEANING

(contributions within a certain context) (or meaning in context/in interaction)
Shaped by context + context renewing
WHY? Economy
social + cultural norms
KNOWING A LANGUAGE: language competence (rules + lexis)
pragmatic competence (use L appropriately
 CORE CONCEPTS OF PRAGMATICS

• DEIXIS (PERSON D., PLACE D., TIME D.)

• THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE
• SPEECH ACTS
• CONVERSATION ANALYSIS
1. DEIXIS
USING LINGUISTIC MEANS TO POINT AT EXTRALINGUISTIC ENTITIES/CONTEXTS
DEICTICS . REFER TO PERSONS, PLACES, TIME, SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS,
ACTIVITIES IN A TEXT
. CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD OUT OF THEIR CONTEXT
DEICTIC CENTRE THE PERSPECTIVE FROM WHICH SMTHG IS BEING
COMMUNICATED
PERSON DEIXIS (pointing at persons – pronouns, possessives)
 PLACE DEIXIS
POINTING AT WHERE INDIVIDUALS OR THINGS ARE: this, that,
here, there

PROXIMAL TERMS this, here (close to deictic centre)

DISTAL TERMS that, there (away from deictic centre)

(also psychological or social distance)

That awful book that moron

 TIME DEIXIS (relative to the speaker’s current situation)

• CLOSE TO DEICTIC CENTRE: now, today, this week…

• FAR FROM DEICTIC CENTRE: then, yesterday, next month…

+ VERB TENSE: PRESENT >>> PROXIMAL

PAST >>> DISTAL (also hypotheses)
 THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE (Grice, 1975)

“MAKE YOUR CONVERSATIONAL CONTRIBUTION

SUCH AS IS REQUIRED, AT THE STAGE AT WHICH IT
OCCURS, BY THE ACCEPTED PURPOSE OR DIRECTION
OF THE TALK EXCHANGE IN WHICH YOU ARE
ENGAGED.”

FOUR MAXIMS: QUANTITY, QUALITY, RELATION,

MANNER
THE MAXIM OF QUANTITY
• MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION AS INFORMATIVE AS IS REQUIRED FOR
THE CURRENT PURPOSE OF THE EXCHANGE.
• DO NOT MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION MORE INFORMATIVE THAN IS
REQUIRED.

THE MAXIM OF QUALITY

TRY TO MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION ONE THAT IS TRUE,
SPECIFICALLY:
• DO NOT SAY ANYTHING THAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE FALSE.
• DO NOT SAY ANYTHING FOR WHICH YOU LACK ADEQUATE
MAXIM OF RELATION
• MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION RELEVANT.

THE MAXIM OF MANNER

BE PERSPICUOUS (= BE CLEAR). MORE SPECIFICALLY:
• AVOID OBSCURITY.
• AVOID AMBIGUITY.
• BE BRIEF.
• BE ORDERLY.
IF ONE OR MORE MAXIMS ARE NOT RESPECTED (i.e. THEY ARE
FLOUTED)
CONVENTIONAL
IMPLICATURE CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURES
≠ FROM CONVENTIONAL MEANING
Knowledge of
language/cultural conventions CONTEXT-DEPENDENT INTERPRETATION
INFERRING
SUCCESS A: Can you tell me the time?
B: Well, the milkman has come.
A: Are you going to his party?
(- RELATION)
B: Yeah, and pigs might fly.
A I do think Mrs. Jenkins is an old windbag, don’t you?
=
B Huh, lovely weather for March, isn’t it?
IMPOSSIBLE! (- RELATION)
(but you need to know the
A Where’s Bill?
idiom…) B There’s a yellow VW outside Sue's house.
(- QUANTITY, - RELATION)
 EXERCISES

IDENTIFY THE DEICTIC EXPRESSIONS IN THE FOLLOWING

SENTENCES AND DECIDE FOR EACH EXPRESSION WHICH
TYPE OF DEIXIS IT REPRESENTS:
A) I LIKE THIS SHIRT BETTER THAN THAT ONE.
B) I SAW HIM THERE.
C) I WILL MEET HER HERE.
D) I WILL VISIT THEM THEN.
A) Identify the deictic expressions in the following extract from a British
political novel:
Frank Risf was in the next room. Joseph could even hear that
familiar voice, its staccato syllables drawn from deep in the
larynx. He could not make out the words. (Mcsmith 2001:80)
B) Identify the deictic centre.
C) what does this extract reveal about the relationship between
the two men? Consider the deictic expressions and give reasons.
Which conversational maxims are violated by B in the follow­ing
utterances?
a) A: Are we late for the lesson?
B: The teacher is still in the cafeteria.
b) A: I hate linguistics.
B: Oh, you must see the new Harry Potter film!
c) A: Did you bring the video and the DVD?
B: I brought the DVD.
 SPEECH ACTS
SPEECH ACT: an act that a speaker performs through an utterance
SPEECH ACT THEORY:
J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words (1962)
J.R. Searle, Speech Acts. An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969)
e.g. It’s cold in here. > A statement about the temperature in the room? OR…
Can you close the window?
polite request Could you please turn the heating on?
for action Could you lend me one of your beautiful jumpers?
Hold me tight.
When speaking, we perform acts
 LOCUTION, ILLOCUTION, PERLOCUTION
LOCUTIONARY ACT: the act of making a meaningful utterance
I
(asking a question, describing smthg, giving some info, etc.) N
T
E
e.g. Where did I leave my book? R
N
ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE (or ACT): the speaker’s intent as it is A
L
conveyed through the utterance (informing, asking, ordering, etc.) To
Perform-
ance
e.g. (I want my friend to remind me where I left my book)
There’s a train strike tomorrow.
EXTERN
PERLOCUTIONARY EFFECT (or ACT): the cognitive, emotional or AL to
Perform-
behavioural effect the illocutionary act has on the addressee. ance
 SPEECH ACTS

Representatives Directives Commissives Expressives Declarations

STATEMENTS REQUESTS/ PROMISES/ GREETINGS/ ACTIONS
ABOUT COMMANDS THREATS THANKS PERFORMED
THE WORLD (addressee’s (our future CONGRATS. THROUGH
behaviour) actions) (our feelings) FORMULAE
Italy is part Do me a I’ll write to Hi! I hereby
of the EU favour:… you every Thanks a lot! declare you
day man and wife
FELICITY CONDITIONS: necessary preconditions for a speech act to succeed
A to B: Close the door please. (1. B is able to close the door; 2. A believes that
B is able to close the door; 3. Neither A nor B know whether B will close the
door of his/her own accord)
 DIRECT/INDIRECT SPEECH ACTS
DIRECT S.A. direct relationship between the structure and the
communicative purpose of the utterance
3 syntactic types common to most languages (declarative,
interrogative, imperative)
e.g. Did he pass the exam? // Take me to the station please.
INDIRECT S.A. no direct relationship between the structure and the
communicative purpose
e.g. do you know if he passed the exam?
could you take me to the station?
 CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

FACE-TO-FACE interaction
Phone conversations
Interactions in institutional settings (hospital, court…)
Data recorded + transcribed (incl. Hesitations, repetitions, pauses...)
Turn-taking: constructional units or intonation
Adjacency pairs
Preference and dispreference
Which conversational maxims are violated by B in the follow­ing
utterances?
1) A: Are we late for the lesson?
B: The teacher is still in the cafeteria.
2) A: A hate linguistics.
B: Oh, you must see the new Harry Potter film!
3) A: Did you bring the video and the dvd?
B: I brought the dvd.
IDENTIFY THE DIRECT SPEECH ACTS PERFORMED BY UTTERING
THE FOL­LOWING SENTENCES:

A) Berlin is the capital of Germany.

B) I hereby name this ship Mary Anne.
C) Pass the salt, please.