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Lesson-28 PRAGMATICS I · Topic- 158: Definition · Introduction

Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context. This branch of linguistics is concerned with the relationship of sentences to the environment in which they occur is categorized. The communication depends on not only recognizing the meaning of the words in an utterance, but also to interpret what speakers mean to say. The study of what speakers mean is called pragmatics.

Topic- 159: Invisible Meaning

Pragmatics is the study of “invisible” meaning, or how we recognize what is meant even when it isn’t actually said or written. A lot of shared assumptions and expectations exist when people try to communicate.

HEAT · ED · ATTEN · DANT · PARKI · NG

We can park a car in this place, that it’s a heated area, and that there will be an attendant to look after the car. Our interpretation of the ‘meaning’ of the sign is not based solely on the words, but on what we think the writer intended to communicate. We are actively involved in creating an interpretation of what we read and hear.

Topic- 160: No Text Without Context

There are some very common words in our language that cannot be interpreted at all if we do not know the context, especially the physical context of the speaker. These are words such as here and there, this or that, now and then, yesterday, today or tomorrow, as well as pronouns such as you, me, her, him, it, and them. Some sentences of English are virtually impossible to understand if we do not know who is speaking, about whom, where and when. Look at the following sentence: You’ll have to bring it back tomorrow because she isn’t here today.

It contains a large number of expressions (you, it, tomorrow, she, here, today) that rely on knowledge of the immediate physical context for their interpretation (i.e., that the delivery driver will have to return on February 15 to 660 College Drive with the long box labeled ‘flowers, handle with care’ addressed to Ms. Ruby). Expressions such as tomorrow and here are obvious examples of bits of language that we can only understand in terms of the speaker’s intended meaning. What is pragmatics?

Give an example of invisible meaning.

Why content is important in text?

or what is the role of content in a text?

Topic- 161: Linguistic Context

There are different kinds of context. One kind is described as linguistic context, also known as co-text. The co-text of a word is the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence. The surrounding co-text has a strong effect on what we think the word probably means. We identified the word ‘bank’ as a homonym, a single form with more than one meaning; how do we usually know which meaning is intended in a particular sentence?

We normally interpret on the basis of linguistic context. If the word bank is used in a sentence together with words like steep or overgrown, we have no problem deciding which type of bank is meant. Or, if we hear someone say that she has to get to the bank to withdraw some cash, we know from this linguistic context which type of bank is intended.

Topic- 162: Physical Context

The physical context is the location of the given word, the situation in which it is used, as well as timing, all of which aid proper understanding of the word. (E.g., furniture and how it is arranged, size of the room, colors, temperature, time of day, etc.) If we see the word ‘BANK’ on the wall of a building in a city, the physical contexts will influence our interpretation. We should keep in mind that it is not the actual physical situation ‘out there’ that constitutes the communication events rather the relevant context in our mental representation of those aspects help to arrive us at an interpretation of the given word.

Topic- 163: Social Cultural Context

Socio-cultural context refers to the idea that language is closely linked to the culture and society in which it is used. This means when language is learnt, the socio-cultural context in which it is used needs to be taken into consideration as well. Social-Cultural context still includes factors such as illiteracy rate, population geographic distribution, educational level and the populations’ ethnic composition. All of these factors can influence the organization’s performance, affecting its productivity level and product’s quality patterns.

Social context

Particular social background Social status

Cultural context

cultural setting cultural backgrounds Style, subject matter, and attitudes

Activities that can raise awareness of socio-cultural context include using stories, analyzing newspaper headlines, and looking at slang and idiomatic language. Explain Linguistic context.

What is physical content? Explain with examples.

What are the factors of socio cultural context?

Explain socio cultural context.

Which activities can raise awareness of socio cultural context

Lesson-29 PRAGMATICS II

Topic- 164: Deixis/Deictic Expressions

A deictic expression (or deixis) is a word or phrase (such as this, that, these, those, now, then) that points to the time, place, or situation in which a speaker is speaking. The bits of language that we can only understand in terms of the speaker’s intended meaning. They are technically known as deictic (/daɪktɪk/) expressions, from the Greek word deixis, which means “pointing” via language.

Person deixis: To point to things (it, this, these boxes) and people (him, them, those idiots). Spatial deixis: To point to a location (here, there, near that) Temporal deixis:To a time (now, then, last week)

All these deictic expressions have to be interpreted in terms of which person; place or time the speaker has in mind. We make a broad distinction between what is marked as close to the speaker (this, here, now) and what is distant (that, there, then). Movement is away from the speaker’s location (go) or toward the speaker’s location (come). Here she comes! There she goes! People can actually use deixis to have some fun. Free drink tomorrow

Topic- 165: Person Deixis

Deixis is the phenomena of requiring contextual information to create the meaning of a phrase. The term of ‘deixis’ is used from the Greek word which means ‘to show’ or ‘to indicate’, used to denote the elements in a language which refer directly to the situation. It stipulates what a deictic reference to the participant role of a referent is such as: - The Speaker: The utterer of a message. Deictic center of his/her own deictic references The addressee: The listener of a message The Referents: Neither speaker nor the addressee, might present there but not addresses directly

The deictic center is a reference point in relation to which a deictic expression is to be interpreted. The deictic center is also most typically the present time, location, participant role and so forth of speaker. So, the speaker, the actual location and actual time of the utterance are respectively, the deictic center for the interpretation of ‘I’, ‘here’, ‘now’, e.g.,‘I am here now’.

What is a participant role? This highlights the relation that people have to each other with regards to their involvement in a speech event, e.g.,What is an addressee? What is an audience? What is a speaker? What is a target? etc. Person Deixis concerns with encoding of the role of participants in the speech event in which the utterance in question is delivered.