《语言学》Capter 6 Pragmatics习题兼答案.doc

语言学 Chapter 6 PRAGMATICS 1. What does pragmatics study? How does it differ from traditional semantics? 答： Generally speaking, pragmatics is the study of meaning in the context. It studies meaning in a dynamic way and as a process. In order to have a successful communication, the speaker and hearer must take the context into their consideration so as to effect the right meaning and intention. The development and establishment pragmatics in 1960s and 1970s resulted mainly from the expansion of the study semantics. However, it is different from the traditional semantics. The major difference between them lies in that pragmatics studies meaning in a dynamic way, while semantics studies meaning in a static way. Pragmatics takes context into consideration while semantics does not. Pragmatics takes care of the aspect of meaning that is not accounted for by semantics. 2. Why is the notion of context essential in the pragmatic study of linguistic communication? 答： The notion of context is essential to the pragmatic study of language. It is generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. Various continents of shared knowledge have been identified, e.g. knowledge of the language they use, knowledge of what has been said before, knowledge about the world in general, knowledge about the specific situation in which linguistic communication is taking place, and knowledge about each other. Context determines the speakers use of language and also the heaters interpretation of what is said to him. Without such knowledge, linguistic communication would not be possible, and without considering such knowledge, linguistic communication cannot be satisfactorily accounted for in a pragmatic sense. Look at the following sentences: (1) How did it go? (2) It is cold in hem. (3) It was a hot Christmas day so we went down to the beach in the afternoon and had a good time swimming and surfing. Sentence (1) might be used in a conversation be