Chapter 8 语言学-Pragmatics【荐】.ppt

Chapter Eight Pragmatics Teaching Focus 1. Some basic notions 2. Speech act theory 3. The theory of conversational implicature 1. Some basic notions 1.1 The definition of pragmatics 1.2 Pragmatics and semantics 1.3 Context 1.4 Sentence and utterance 1.1 The definition of pragmatics Various definitions: The study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication. The study of language in use. The study of meaning in context. The study of speakers’ meaning, utterance meaning, contextual meaning. 1.2 Pragmatics and semantics Both semantics and pragmatics study the meaning of language. What essentially distinguishes them is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered. If it is not considered, the study is confined to the area of traditional semantics (decontextualized); If it is considered, the study is being carried out in the area of pragmatics. (contextualized) 1.3 Context Context is generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. Various components of shared knowledge: About the language they use; About what has been said before; About the world in general; About the specific situation; About each other. Context determines the speakers use of language and also the hearer’s interpretation of what is said to him. Let’s see how it determines the hearer’s interpretation. It’s cold in here. 1.4 Sentence and utterance A sentence is a grammatical concept, and the meaning of a sentence is often studied as the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of predication. If a sentence is actually uttered or used in the course of communication, it becomes an utterance, and it should be considered in the situation in which it is actually uttered (or used). Sentence → abstract and decontextualized Utterance → concrete and context-dependent The meaning of an utterance is based on sentence meaning; it is the realization