LINGUISTICS 489 PRAGMATICS
Schiffrin
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics that studies meaning, context, and communication.
One of its earliest definitions was proposed by Charles Morris, who envisioned
pragmatics as one ‘angle’ of a semiotic ‘triangle’ that also included syntax and semantics.
Rather than study the formal relation of signs to one another (syntax), or the relationship
of signs to objects (semantics), pragmatics would study the relation of signs to their
interpreters. Contemporary approaches to Pragmatics have built upon the breadth in
Morris’ initial definition by analyzing speakers/hearers’ inferences about situated
meanings and actions in interactive contexts. This breadth puts Pragmatics in contact
with a variety of approaches to language use, including sociolinguistics and discourse
analysis, as well as semantics and syntax.
The goals of the course are the following:
(1) understand core assumptions, concepts, and issues typically covered in the field of
pragmatics
(2) be able to analyze presuppositions, implicatures, deixis and speech acts
(3) learn how meaning and communication are related to texts and contexts
(4) learn about the relationship between language form and meaning and how they
(separately and together) are related to communicative and contextual meaning
(5) become aware of the challenge of relating the philosophical bases of pragmatics to
linguistic theories, and the related challenge of assessing theories through empirical
modes of inquiry
Topics include deixis/indexicals, reference/referring terms, implicature, presupposition,
speech acts, (in)directness, politeness theory, text conventions and genre-based meanings
(narrative, argument, description, instruction, therapy, interview), recipient design, and
talk-in-interaction.
Course Requirements
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4 Exercises 3-4 pages each. 10 points each
The exercises will apply pragmatic tools and concepts to textual data (either
provided by me or collected by you). After the exercises are turned in, we’ll
review our findings, summarize, and discuss strengths and weaknesses of the
analyses. I will offer 7 exercises: you need to do only 4. Late submissions will
lose points.
40 points
Class presentations
Presentation of one extra article or chapter (10- 15 minutes); includes 1-2 page
handout and preparation of questions for class discussion. Summarize the article
by answering the following questions:
What is the issue/problem motivating the analysis?
What key issue (or issues) in pragmatics is (are) discussed?
What kind of data is used?
How does the data shed light on the issue(s)?
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What does the analysis tell you about the issue(s)?
10 points
Presentation of analysis that addresses a pragmatic ‘problem’ within a given data set
(to be discussed in class); 20- 30 minutes, near end of the semester. Presentation will
combine data analysis of text(s) and pragmatic ‘problem(s).
20 points
Take home final
Covers general questions about meaning, communication and action through
language in (con)text and specific means of analysis, applications and uses of
pragmatics 25 points
Class participation
5 points
Required readings
packet of articles and book chapters
COURSE SCHEDULE (tentative)
Week 1 1/10 Meaning, communication and action through language in (con)text
Week 2 1/15 No class
1/17 Defining Pragmatics; Functions of Language; Introduction to Deixis
Read Levinson (1983) Pragmatics (CUP) Chapter 1; begin Levinson,
Chapter 2
Week 3 1/22 Deixis (continued)
Read remainder of Levinson, Chapter 2
Read EITHER Schiffrin, (2006) Theory and method in discourse marker
research: Revisiting ‘and.’ In Kerstin Fischer (Ed.), Approaches to
Discourse
Particles. Elsevier OR Schiffrin (1992) Anaphoric then: Aspectual,
textual and
epistemic meaning. Linguistics (30: 4), pp. 753- 792 [both on
Blackboard].
1/24 Student presentation of Levinson (2003) Chapter 1 of Space in Language
and Cognition CUP
Week 4 1/29 Do Exercise 1: Directions Home
Begin section on Referring and Reference
1/31 Read Green (1999), Chapter 2, “Reference and indeterminacy of sense” in
Pragmatics and Natural Language Understanding, Lawrence Erlbaum
Publs.
Read Brown (1995), Chapter 1 and pp. 56- 66 in Speakers, Listeners and
Communication CUP
Student presentation of Prince, “Toward a taxomony of given-new
information”
Optional: Read Schiffrin (2006) In other words, Chapter 5 “Reactive and
Proactive prototypes” [on Blackboard]
Week 5
2/5 Do Exercise 2: Achieving Reference
Gricean Pragmatics: Maxims and Implicatures
Read Levinson, Chapter 3
2/7 Student presentation on Chapter 3, “Inferences” in Cummings (2005)
Pragmatics, Edinburgh University Press
Week 6 2/12 Implicatures (continued)
Do Exercise 3: Logical Connectives, Conjunctions and Discourse
2/14 Read Gumperz TBA on sociocultural inferences, contextual
presuppositions and situated inferences
Student presentation on Chapter 4, Relevance Theory in Cummings
Week 7 2/19 no class
2/21 Presuppositions
Read Levinson Chapter 3, focus on pp. 167- 198.
Week 8 2/26 Do Exercise 4 What is said and what is meant.
Texts and contexts: Lists and Narratives
2/28 Read Schiffrin (1994) Making a list. Discourse processes 17/3
Read Labov (1972) “The transformation of experience in narrative
syntax,”. In Language in the Inner City. U PA Press
OPTIONAL Schiffrin (2003) ‘We knew that’s it: Retelling the turning
point of a narrative of danger. Discourse Studies
Spring Break
Week 9 3/12 Do Exercise 5 The meaning(s) in and of narrative
Arguments and explanations
3/14 Read, Chapter 6, “Arguments” in Cummings (2005)
Student Presentation on Toulmin TBA
Week 10 3/19 Descriptions and Instructions
3/21 Decide on data for class presentation and discuss topics
Week 11 3/26 Do Exercise 6: Balancing information and inference
Conversation and talk-in-interaction
Readings TBA
3/28 Student Presentation on Ford and Fox, (1996)“Interactional motivations for
reference formulation” in Fox (ed) Studies in Anaphora, John Benjamins
Student Presentation on Goodwin (details TBA)
Week 12 4/2 Speech acts
Selections from Austin and Searle TBA
4/4 Read Rosaldo/Searle discussion TBA
Read Mey (2001) Chapter 10, “Pragmatics across cultures” in Pragmatics,
Blackwell
Student Presentation on Sweetser, E. (1987) “An Examination of the folk
Models underlying a semantic prototype” in Holland and Quinn (Eds.)
Cultural Models in Language and Thought CUP
Week 13 4/9 no class
4/11 Read Brown and Levinson, excerpt from Politeness
Student Presentation Foley, “Politeness, face and the linguistic
construction of personhood”
Week 14 4/16 Do Exercise 7 Variation in Speech acts
Applications of Pragmatics
4/18 Read Shuy, “Analysis of a car sales event”
Student Presentation on Chapter 9, “Language Pathology and
Pragmatics” in Cummings
Week 15/16 Student Projects etc.
4/23; 4/25 Class presentations
4/30 Class presentations/Review and Conclusions