The Study of Pragmatics

2. THE STUDY OF
PRAGMATICS
PRESENTED BY
IMRAN KHAN ABBASI & LAL BAKSHSH
SOOMRO
B.S-III
INSTITUE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE,

3. I.Q FOR GROOMING
• Q: Sonu was born on December 28 yet his birthday always falls
in the summer. How is this possible?

4. BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS
MICROLINGUISTICS
MACROLINGUISTICS
PHONETICS PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
PHONOLOGY SOCIOLINGUISTICS
MOROPHOLOGY NEUROLINGUISTICS
SYNTAX COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS
SEMANTICS DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
PRAGMATICS APPLIED LINGUISTICS

5. WHATIS PRAGMATICS
• Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which deals with language in use including
such a matters as text organization, taking turns in conversation ,speech theory ,
verbal address, religious sermons and implicature.
• Unlike semantics, which examines meaning that is conventional in a certain
language, pragmatics not only depends upon the structural and grammatical
meaning of the language of speaker and listener but also the context of
utterance, preexisting knowledge and tacit intent of the speaker.

6. HISTORY OF PRAGMATICS
• The term “pragmatics” was first coined in the 1930s by the philosopher C.W Morris;
developed as a subfield of linguistics in the 1970s.
• Pragmatics origin is characterized as a reaction to the theory of structuralism by F D
Saussure.
• Pragmatics first engaged as synchronic study , as opposed to historical developments
of language ,however this misconception was removed because all meaning comes
from sign existing in abstract space of langue.
• Meanwhile , historical pragmatics has also come into being.
• This field gained linguists attention in 70s.

7. USES OF PRAGMATICS
• Pragmatics tends to make the meaning of big, abstruse and patchy concepts,
discussions and talks into easy and cozy form.
• As helpful in finding out the meaning of behaviors and speech, pragmatics is not
only helpful in linguistics only but also philosophy, sociology , anthropology,
psychology and so on.
• The most glaring benefit of pragmatics is to dispel the confusion sparked by
Ambiguity.
• Pragmatics is needed if we want a fuller, deeper, and generally more reasonable
account of human language behavior.

8. AMBIGUITY ANDPRAGMATICS
• Ambiguity is uncertainty of meaning in which several interpretations are plausible or a
sentence or word which give two or more than two meanings.
=> Examples
• Sarah gave a bath to her dog wearing a pink t-shirt.
• Life depends upon liver.
• When I went into woods I found bat.
• Miners refuse to work after death.
• Marriage is not a name but a sentence of life sentence.
• Pragmatics is helpful in finding out the proper meaning of aforementioned sentences by
referring to context.

9. TYPES OF CONTEXT IN PRAGMATICS
• 1) Physical context: The physical context is the location of a given word the situation
in which it is used, as well as timing, all of which add proper understanding of word.
• 2) Epistemic context: The epistemic context refers to what speaker know about the
word. For example, what background knowledge is shared
• 3) literary context: It touches upon the context of the speaker and the writer inspired
by the literature.
• 4) Social context: The social context refers to the social relationship among speakers
and hearers.

10. SPEECHACT IN PRAGMATICS
• A sentence is uttered by a speaker and when the speaker utters it,
he or she performs an act this called speech act.
• Pragmatics is also concerned with functions of utterances such as
promising, requesting, informing which are refer to as speech acts.
• Examples. Apology, complaint, promising, invitation, request or
bequeath.

11. NOTE…
• An ability to understand and figure out the meaning of text and discourse with
regards to its context is called pragmatic competence.
A disability to infer the contextual meaning of te text or discourse is called
pragmatic incompetence.

12. YOUR QUESTIONS ARE WELCOMED NOW.