- •Lecture 1 the essence of language communication
- •1.1 Communication Theory
- •1.2 Methods & Main Lines of Research in Communicative Studies
- •1.3 Defining Communication
- •Main Functions of Interpersonal Language Communication:
- •1.4 Typology of Communication
- •1.5 Models of Communication
- •1.6 Ethnography of Communication
- •References
- •Lectures 2 Language as the Medium of Human Communication.
- •Language from the Standpoint of Culture and Cognition
- •2. Spoken versus Written Language
- •3. Lexical Density
- •4. Indicating Status
- •5. Footing
- •6. Protecting Face
- •Lecture 3 Conversational Communication and Types of Communicative Messages:
- •Verbal, Non-Verbal.
- •The Process of Conversation.
- •2. Managing Conversation
- •3. Maintaining Conversation
- •4. The Nature of Verbal / Non-Verbal Messages
- •5. The Relative Importance of Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
- •Lecture 4 Pragmatic Aspect of Language Communication
- •4.1 Defining Pragmatics
- •4.2 Cooperation and Implicature
- •4.3 Hedges
- •4.4 Speech Acts and Events
- •4.5 Conditions for the Performance of Speech Acts
- •4.6 Direct and Indirect Speech Acts
- •Lecture 5 Language Contact as an Outcome of Language Communication
- •5.1 The Subject Matter of Contact Linguistics
- •5.2 History of Research on Language Contact
- •5.3 The Field of Contact Linguistics
- •5.4 Types of Contact Situation
- •5.5 Language Creation: New Contact Languages
- •Lecture 6 Language Contact and Linguistic Variation: Style, Social Class, Sex, Gender, Ethnicity
- •6.1 Language and Social Class
- •6.2 Style
- •6.3 Style as the Second Main Dimension of Linguistic Variation
- •6.4 Function versus Structure
- •6.5 Overview of Approaches to Style
- •6.6 Language and Gender / Sex
- •Lecture 7 Language Contact and Linguistic Convergence
- •7.1 Sprachbund: Contact Across Contiguous
- •7.2 Substratum, Superstratum, Adstratum
- •7.3 Balkanisms as an Example of Language Convergence
- •7.4 Language Contact and Phonological Change
Lecture 4 Pragmatic Aspect of Language Communication
1. Defining Pragmatics
2. Cooperation and Implicature
3. Hedges
4. Speech Acts and Events
5. Conditions for the Performance of Speech Acts
6. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts
4.1 Defining Pragmatics
Pragmatics is concernedwith the study ofmeaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader). It has, consequently,more to do with the analysis of what peoplemean by their utterances than what the words or phrases in those utterances might mean by themselves [7, p. 12]. Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning.
This type of study necessarily involves the interpretation of what peoplemean in a particular context and how the context influenceswhat is said. It requires a consideration of how speakers organize what they want to say in accordance with who they’re talking to, where, when, and under what circumstances [ibid., p. 12]. Pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning.
This approach also explores how a great deal of what is unsaid is recognized as part of what is communicated [ibid., p. 13].We might say that it is the investigation of invisible meaning. Pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than is said.
As the result we have got the question of what determines the choice between the said and the unsaid. The basic answer is tied to the notion of distance. Closeness (physical, social, conceptual) implies shared experience. On the assumption of how close or distant the listener is, speakers determine howmuch needs to be said [ibid., p. 14]. Pragmatics is the study of the expression of relative distance.
These are the four areas that pragmatics is concerned with. To understand how it has got to be that way, we have to briefly review its relationship with other areas of linguistic analysis.
One traditional distinction in language analysis contrasts pragmatics with syntax and semantics [8, p. 23]. Syntax is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms, howthey are arranged in sequence, and which sequences arewell-formed. This type of study generally takes place without considering any world of reference or any user of the forms. Semantics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and entities in the world; that is, how words literally connect to things. Semantic analysis also attempts to establish the relationships between verbal descriptions and states of affairs in the world as accurate 223]. Pragmatics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the users of those forms. In this three-part distinction, only pragmatics allows humans into the analysis.
The advantage of studying language via pragmatics is that one can talk about people’s intended meanings, their assumptions, their purposes or goals, and the kinds of actions (for example, requests) that they are performing when they speak. The big disadvantage is that all these human concepts are difficult to analyze in a consistent and objective way.
Example (1) is just such a problematic case. We understand what the speakers say, but we have no idea what is actually communicated: (1) Her: So – did you?
Him: Hey – who wouldn’t?
Thus, pragmatics is appealing because it is about how peoplemake sense of each other linguistically, but it can be a frustrating area of study because it requires us to make sense of people and what they have in mind.