PRAGMATICS AND

DISCOURSE

ANALYSISANALYSIS

LinguisticsLinguisticsLinguisticsLinguistics

Language studies were made basicallyfrom a linguistic point of view

MorphologyMorphologyMorphologyMorphologyIt focused only on

the inner structure of the words (morphemes)

SyntaxSyntaxSyntaxSyntax

These branches couldn’t explain the use of These branches couldn’t explain the use of These branches couldn’t explain the use of These branches couldn’t explain the use of different utterances in real communicationdifferent utterances in real communicationdifferent utterances in real communicationdifferent utterances in real communication

SemanticsSemanticsSemanticsSemanticsIt focused on the

order of the words in a sentence:

It focused on the meaning of the

words

Hungry?The telephone is crying for you!

It’s raining cats and dogs…What was wrong with these analysis?

Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the branch oflinguistics that deals with the studyof language in communication.

It takes into account aspects that were

PragmaticsPragmaticsPragmaticsPragmatics

PragmaticsPragmaticsPragmaticsPragmatics

It takes into account aspects that were cast aside by the traditional branches

How people use their background

knowledge to interpret discourse

How people use and understand

speech acts

How people’s relationship

influence their discourse

The relationship between contextualized sentences

PragmaticsPragmaticsPragmaticsPragmatics

This branch helps us understand:

How different textsare organized and used

The cultural aspects that help or interfere with communication

ETHNOGRAPHY

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

LINGUISTICSPRAGMATICS

Who speaks?, About what?, To Whom?, When?, Where? and with which purpose?

PragmaticsPragmaticsPragmaticsPragmatics

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

How people learn, understand

and produce language

Cultural information about

the speech community

Description of what

people say or write

Discourse, CoDiscourse, CoDiscourse, CoDiscourse, Co----text and Contexttext and Contexttext and Contexttext and Context

DiscourseDiscourseDiscourseDiscourse

it refers to the use of language in realcommunication, within a specificcontext, with a given intention, for adetermined audience. What matters isnot its conformity to rules, but the factnot its conformity to rules, but the factthat it communicates and it’srecognized by its receivers ascoherent

Through discourse, people can…

Engage in actions and interaction with others

Organize thoughts into communicative actions

Convey their identities and relationships

CoCoCoCo----text and Contexttext and Contexttext and Contexttext and Context

CoCoCoCo----texttexttexttext

it refers to the relationship establishedamong all the linguistic units within adiscourse. That is why, one word can havedifferent connotation, depending of the co-text that surrounds it:

May I come in? I was born in May

ContextContextContextContext

it refers to the variables that surround thediscourse, which help us understand thereal message.

May I come in? I was born in May

Contextual information relevant for discourse Contextual information relevant for discourse Contextual information relevant for discourse Contextual information relevant for discourse understandingunderstandingunderstandingunderstanding

Speakers’ characteristics: their sex, age or nationality

Speakers’ relationship: father

and son, two friends, two politicians…

Social context: a party, a class, a TV

interview…two politicians…

The channel: speech, writing, signing, smoke

signs

The communicative purpose: to

entertain, to teach…

The speakers’ knowledge about the topic: totally unknown, very familiar

Tools users of the language need to considerTools users of the language need to considerTools users of the language need to considerTools users of the language need to consider

USERUSERUSERUSER

Languagesystem

GOALGOALGOALGOAL

ContextualKnowledge

Discourse AnalysisDiscourse AnalysisDiscourse AnalysisDiscourse Analysis

it’s a subject that study how utterances inspoken or written language are used to formlarger meaningful units such asconversations or interviews in realcommunicative situations. It’s the search forwhat gives discourse coherence.

1I went to Caracas.My car is broke andthe movie was bad. Youhave to study and therestaurant is closed

2When I went to Caracas mycar broke down. I couldn’tgo to the movie so I stayed atThe hotel studying. At 8:00pm, I went to the restaurantbut it was closed

Discourse AnalysisDiscourse AnalysisDiscourse AnalysisDiscourse Analysis

D.A. is a branch of linguistics that focuses onlanguage use above and beyond thesentence… it’s a way of describing andunderstanding how language is used.

IT IS NOT A METHODFOR TEACHINGLANGUAGE

It serves from differentapproaches to analyzewritten, spoken or signedlanguage use.

Cases for analysisCases for analysisCases for analysisCases for analysis

Analyze the following cases in order to reach anagreement about the necessary information forgiving them a convenient treatment:

Alice speaks English very well in informal situations; theproblem is that when she is supposed to speakformally, she keeps using colloquial expressions thatformally, she keeps using colloquial expressions thatmake her look uneducated.

I don’t know how to explain my students why Americanand Venezuelan jokes are different.

ETHNOGRAPHY

SOCIOLINGUISTICS

LINGUISTICSPRAGMATICS

Who speaks?, About what?, To Whom?, When?, Where? and with which purpose?

PragmaticsPragmaticsPragmaticsPragmatics

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

How people learn, understand

and produce language

Cultural information about

the speech community

Description of what

people say or write

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKbp4hEHV-s

After watching thevideo,

What aspects can youWhat aspects can youconsider to be as some of the most

important ones forlanguage use and understanding?

Discourse AnalysisDiscourse AnalysisDiscourse AnalysisDiscourse Analysis

Aspects influencing language use and understanding

The cooperation between

the interlocutor

The cognitive efforts

Interlocutors do

The backgroundKnowledge

Interlocutorshave