Pragmatics….!
Contents
1.“The Limits of Language”
2. The Sounds of Language
3. Pragmatic Basics
Four conclusions
•
•
•
•
Language is ambiguous by nature.
We must draw inferences about
meaning.
Our inferences tend to be fixed, not
tentative.
Our inferences are drawn very quickly.
Language is ambiguous by nature
• We can never fully control the meanings of
things we say and write  it is
interpreted by our listeners or readers.
• What are the three levels of ambiguity?
Three levels of ambiguity
•
Word-level
•
Sentence-level
•
Discourse-level
Word level ambiguity
• “I watched TV”
•  watched some TV programs (dramas,
movies, or news)
•  not the actual TV monitor itself
Sentence level ambiguity
•
“Do you have any money?”
•
Can have different meanings:
1. Literally, do you have money (just curious)
2. Do you have money to pay for our coffee
3. Would you mind lending me some money?
“Well done!”
• Depending on the context of the situation, it
can have different meanings. Here are two
examples:
• At a party if a woman says this to her husband
after he breaks an expensive dish by accident 
she isn’t praising him for doing it, but rather is
blaming him for his carelessness.
• A teacher says this to her students after good
results on a test.
Discourse level ambiguity
• What is meant by “discourse”?
• Written or spoken communication ;
especially conversation
•
From: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discourse
We must draw inferences about
meaning
• What are the two main sources that we
draw our inferences from?
• The language used
• Our knowledge about the world
Our inferences tend to be fixed,
not tentative
Our inferences are drawn very
quickly
Making inferences
• Inferences also tend to based on our
experiences in our own culture.
• We expect other people to behave
according to our cultural expectations.
TESOL Culture
“The Sounds of Language
and
Introduction to Pragmatics”
The Sounds of a Language
• Discuss with a partner:
• What do we mean by “the sounds of a
language”?
• Are the sounds of a language and
culture related? How?
Pronunciation
• What is involved in pronunciation?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sounds
Vowel sounds
Consonant sounds
Stress
Word stress
Sentences stress
Intonation
Rhythm
Word Stress
 Please read the following words out loud
when you see them:
 record
 contract
 present
Sentence Stress
• Please read the following sentence:
• That’s not my black umbrella.
• Now read the sentence with the word in
red stressed.
•
•
•
•
•
That’s not my black umbrella.
That’s not my black umbrella.
That’s not my black umbrella.
That’s not my black umbrella.
That’s not my black umbrella.
Intonation
• Read the following sentence
• You’re happy aren’t you?
• 1.) with intonation going up
• 2.) with intonation going down
Rhythm
• Read the following sentences and count
the number of syllables and the number
of beats in each.
•
•
•
•
Children eat candy.
The children eat candy.
The children eat the candy.
The children have eaten the candy.
Discussion
• What is pragmatics?
• Pragmatics is the study of the ability of
natural language speakers to communicate
more than that which is explicitly stated.
• The ability to understand another speaker's
intended meaning is called pragmatic
competence.
• Pragmatics deals about how to reach our goal
in communication.
• Pragmatics is regarded as one of the most
challenging aspects for language learners to
grasp, and can only truly be learned with
experience.
Pragmatics Defined
• Pragmatics is the study of the ability of
natural language speakers to communicate
more than than they explicitly state.
• The ability to understand another speaker's
intended meaning is called pragmatic
competence.
• Pragmatics is regarded as one of the most
challenging aspects for language learners to
grasp, and can only be fully learned with
experience.
Discourse
• written or spoken verbal
communication
Conversational Implicature
• The meaning is not explicit in the
sentence but is implied.
• Example: Is it cold in here?”
• Meaning: I’m cold; would you close the
window?
Understanding Implicature
• Conversational implicature is about
making inferences from what is heard.
• According to Grice, there are three
things that listeners must understand in
order to infer, i.e., make sense of what
the speaker is saying.
Three things to understand
• The usual linguistic meaning of what is
said.
• Contextual information (shared or general
knowledge).
• The assumption that the speaker is
obeying what Grice calls the
cooperative principle
Cooperative Principle
• To achieve the goal of communication, speakers
and listeners must speak cooperatively and
mutually accept one another. If speakers and
listeners follow Grice’s Conversational Maxims,
they can be seen as following the Cooperative
Principle of communication.
• The cooperative principle includes a set of
norms or maxims expected in conversation
Gricean Maxims
1.
2.
3.
4.
Relevance
Truthfulness
Quantity
Clarity
Relevance
• Be relevant when you speaking in a
conversation.
• (i.e., say things related to the current
topic of the conversation).
Truthfulness
• Sometimes referred to as the “Maxim of
Quality”
• 1. Do not say what you believe to be
false.
• 2. Do not say that for which you lack
adequate evidence.
Quantity
•
Make your contribution to the
conversation as informative as
necessary.
•
Do not make your contribution to the
conversation more informative than
necessary. Only give as much
information as needed and no more.
(i.e., Don’t talk too much! )
Clarity
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
Also known as the “Maxim of
Manner”
Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief (avoid unnecessary
wordiness).
Be orderly.
Goffman’s Communication Theory:
System contraints
•
Goffman argued that in addition to
Grice’s norms, there are also 7 other
universal constraints.
Goffman’s Constraints
1.Channel open/close signals
2.Backchannel signals
3.Turnover signals
4.Acoustically adequate and interpretable
messages
5.Bracket signals
6.Nonparticipant constraints
7.Preempt signals
Channel open/close signals
• Conversation “signals” or markers that
differ according to the “channel” (type)
of discourse
• What are some examples of different
“channels”?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Question and answer sequence
Identification sequence
Greeting sequence
How-are-you sequence
•
How would these sequences differ
with the different channels? (ex:
phone call to a friend vs. business
phone call)
Backchannel Signals
• Conversation signals that help the speaker know that
you are paying attention to what she/he is saying.
• Back-channel is the practice of giving positive
comments, such as "uh-huh" or "yes" to the other
speaker, to encourage further talk or to confirm that
one is listening.
• Body language (nodding) gestures and facial
expressions (smiling) can also be considered backchanneling.
• In Chinese and particularly Japanese, backchanneling is very common, to the extent that nonnative speakers may perceive it to be excessive or
Turnover Signals
• Signals in a conversation that show that
one speaker is ending his/her
communication.
• What are some examples in English?
• What are some examples in Korean?
Accoustically adequate and
interpretable messages
• Messages in a conversation should be
loud enough to hear (but not too loud!)
and should be clear enough so that
listener is able to understand (no
mumbling)
Bracket Signals
• Signals in a conversation that show the
listener that the conversation has gone off
from and is returning to the topic
(“side sequence”  getting “side
tracked”)
• What are some examples in English?
• Do you have different ones in Korean?
Non participant constraints
• When a person is not a participant of
the conversation and would like to
become part of the conversation.
• What are some ways a person can
become a part of the conversation?
Preempt signals
• Signals that a person uses to interrupt
someone else’s conversation.
• Examples in English:
• “Excuse me”
• “I’m sorry, but…”
• Do you do the same in Korean?
Ellipses
• What is ellipses?
• Websters dictionary definition:
• the omission of one or more words that
are obviously understood but that must
be supplied to make a construction
grammatically complete or a sudden
leap from one topic to another
• What is your example of “ellipses”?
Hedges
• What is a hedge?
• Hedging is a language strategy/device
used to lessen the impact of an
utterance.
• Typically, they are adjectives or
adverbs, but can also consist of
clauses.
Example of a hedge
• “All I know is smoking is harmful to your
health”
• “all I know” is a hedge that indicates the
degree of the speaker’s knowledge instead
of only making a statement: “Smoking is
harmful to your health”.
Discourse Markers
• A discourse marker is a word or phrase that
marks a boundary in a conversation (ex:
turnover signals, bracket signals,
backchannel signals, and preempt signals 
these are all types of discourse markers).
• Common discourse markers used in the
English language include "you know",
"actually", "basically", "like", "I mean" and
"OK".
• What are some common discourse markers
used in Korean?