INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS(SESSION 13: PRAGMATICS)

Edi BrataMathl’aul Anwar University

Review to the

Previous Topic

a) Diki eats Donut.b) Donut eats Diki.

• Syntactically, sentence a) and b) are accepted. • Semantically, only sentence a) that is accepted

since sentence b) is illogical.• Sometime, it is possible to use sentence b) when

we want to express donut as a monster. Here, pragmatics plays its role.

SEMIOTICS(Syntactic, Semantics and

Pragmatics)

BABY & TODDLER SALE

Invisible meaning

PRAGMATICS

PRAGMATICS

A : I have a fourteen year old son.B : Well that's all right.A : I also have a dog.B : Oh, I'm sorry.

CONTEXT

Linguistics Contexta) He is standing at the steep bank.b) She has to get to the bank to

cash a check.

Physical Context If you see the word BANK on the wall of a building in a city, the 'physical' location will influence your interpretation.

DEIXIS

Deixis is reference by means of an expression whose interpretation is relative to the extra-linguistic context of the utterance.

• Person Deixis (it, this, me, you, him, them) • Time/ Temporal Deixis (now, then, tonight, last

week)• Place/Spatial Deixis (here, there, yonder)Deictic expressions have to be interpreted in terms of what person, place or time the speaker has in mind. o Here she comes! o There she goes!o Pay now, free tomorrow!

REFERENCE

Words don't refer to anything but people refer. We have to define reference as an act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a listener (or reader) to identify something.

Who do you mean with the man?One man who always went by fast and loud on his motorcycle.

• Kawasaki• Honda

(A brand name for a motorcycle can obviously be used for a person).

• InferenceoWhere's the fresh salad sitting?. oWe saw Shakespeare in London.o I enjoy listening to Mozart.

REFERENCE

ANAPHORA

Anaphora can be defined as subsequent reference to an already introduced entity.

A : Can I borrow your book?B : Yeah, it's on the table.

I was waiting for the bus, but he just drove by without stopping.

PRESUPPOSITION

• The speaker is working with an assumption that the hearer knows which referent is intended.

• The assumption may be mistaken, but they underlie much of what we say in the everyday use of language.

• What a speaker assumes is true or is known by the hearer can be described as a presupposition

• My car is a wreck. • My car is not a wreck.

Notice that, although these two sentences have opposite meanings, the underlying presupposition, I have a car, remains true in both.

• I used to regret marrying him, but I don't regret marrying him now.

• Why did you arrive late? There is a presupposition that you did arrive late.

PRESUPPOSITION

SPEECH ACTS

Visitor : Excuse me, do you know where the Marbella Hotel is?You : Oh sure, I know where it is.

(and walks away…)

The use of the term speech act covers 'actions' such as 'requesting', 'commanding', 'questioning' and 'informing'.

POLITENESS

Politeness is showing awareness of another person's face.

• Give me that paper! (a face-threatening act)

• Could you pass me that paper, please? (a face-saving act)

• Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning. • Pragmatics is the study of contextual

meaning.• Pragmatics is the study of how more gets

communicated than is said.• Pragmatics is the study of the expression of

relative distance.(Yule, 1996:3)

SO, WHAT IS PRAGMATICS?

Understanding how people communicate is actually a process of interpreting not just what speakers say, but what they 'intend to mean'.

PRAGMATICS

Thank You!