This document provides an introduction to pragmatics, which is the study of how language is used in context and how people infer meaning beyond the literal words. It discusses Grice's Cooperative Principle and the four conversational maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner. Examples are given of how these maxims can be flouted or violated in conversation through implicature, irony, sarcasm, and other figurative language. Contextual clues, background knowledge, and logical inference are important for determining intended meaning.

1. E X P L O R I N G T E X T A N D M E A N I N G
14.1 Language, context and
understanding

2. M A K I N G S E N S E O F M E S S A G E S
Introduction

3. What is pragmatics?
 Can you give examples of sentences people could
commonly say that don’t mean exactly what they
seem?
 Have you ever had an argument or
misunderstanding caused by another person’s
words?
 Pragmatics: the study of how people make sense
out of a message in relation to context, and their
knowledge about the speech event and/or world they
live in.
 how language and context interact, and how language
users negotiate meaning while communicating.

4. Class project
 Compliment/complaint examples for Eve?

5.  Malcolm comes out of the bathroom…
 Me: Do you want to wash your hands?
 Malcolm: No thanks.
 Me: Lemme reword that…

6. D E T E R M I N I N G M E A N I N G ,
D E T E R M I N I N G I N T E N T
Some preliminary observations

7. Beyond true/false
 Not everything we say is a simple proposition that
can be evaluated as true or false.
 Language must cover a range of social behavior:
much goes beyond a literal meaning and is not
subject to precise definition(s).
 We often don’t mean what we say, or seem to say
something irrelevant, while still being “cooperative.”
 Listeners must anticipate the needs of the speaker, and
the speaker must take into account the likely
assumptions and reactions of the listener.

8. L I N G U I S T I C A N D S I T U A T I O N A L
Context

9. Linguistic context
 Explain situational and linguistic context.
 Situational context: the features that describe the
particular context of the interaction (people,
relationship, specifics of the situation)
 Linguistic context: when and where the
conversation takes place, and what has already been
said.
 Also, social-psychological aspects relating to how
people think others should behave, how we feel
towards our interlocutors, etc.

11. News headline

12. I N T E R L O C U T O R S W O R K I N G T O G E T H E R
The cooperative principle

13. Cooperative principle
 For communication to work, interlocutors have
to cooperate.
 We recognize ground rules that govern language
use and interpretations of the use of language by
others (for instance, what is assumed and
required within specific interactions).

14. Four Maxims
 Maxim of Quantity Maxim of Quality
 Maxim of Relation Maxim of Manner
 Explain the concept
 provide examples
 Give an example of flouting and violating the maxim
 Violating – speaker intends to mislead/cause
misunderstanding
 Flouting/opting out/suspending (for humor,
ethical/privacy reasons, tact)

15. Maxim of quantity
 Maxim of quantity
 1. Make your contribution as informative as required
(for the current purposes of the exchange).
 2. Do not make your contribution more information
than is required.
 Don’t say too much or too little. Say just enough to
make your message clear.

16. Maxim of quality
 Maxim of quality.
 1. Do not say what you believe to be false.
 2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
 Is a listener able to rely on what the speaker is saying?
It has a ‘supermaxim’ of try to make your
contribution one that is true.

17. Maxim of relation
 The maxim of relation:
 1. Be relevant
 The maxim is intended to provide the means of
dealing with the variety of ways people wind their way
through conversation.

18. Maxim of manner
 The maxim of manner has the supermaxim be
perspicuous (clear):
 Avoid obscurity of expression.
 Avoid ambiguity.
 Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
 Be orderly.
 In other words, be clear, be organised, and don’t be
long-winded. Furthermore, don’t confuse or mislead
your interlocutors.

19. What Maxim is being broken?
 Quantity
 Quality
 Relation
 Manner

20. What Maxim is being broken?
 Bojack Horseman, S1 E1, 6:12

21.  Holding cabinet at McDonald’s
 Chinese Dragon

22. Grandpa Simpson
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yujF8AumiQo

23.  Doctor: It seems as if the patient is suffering from
hypoxia, possibly resulting in anoxia, or respiratory
distress caused by complete obstruction of the
trachea.
 (they’re choking)

24.  X: Does your dog bite?
 Y: No.
 (X reaches down to pet - dog bites X)
 X: Hey! You said my dog doesn’t bite!
 Y: That’s not my dog.

25. What Maxim is being flouted?
 Bojack Horseman, S1 E1, 6:12

26. What Maxim is being flouted?
 My grandfather “going out for pie and a newspaper.”

27. What Maxim is being flouted?
X: Hey let’s go to the movies!
Y: I have a test tomorrow.

28. What Maxim is being flouted?
 BoJack Horseman Season 2, Episode 10, 12:20

29. A final note on maxims
 These aren’t laws, and don’t express values that are
adhered to or accepted across all cultures.
 The maxisms are reference points for language
interchange, or ground rules for getting your message
across to an audience.
 Without the Cooperative Principle, we wouldn’t have
a basis for deciding whether or not utterances made
sense, or what value should be put on them.

30. Extracting meaning from talk

31. Inferencing
 Inferencing involves using contextual clues,
background knowledge, and logic to arrive at a
reasonable interpretation of a text or utterance

32. Presuppositions
 Presuppositions – things speakers assume
 Where is Tom living now?
 Tom exists
 We both know Tom
 Speaker thinks Tom has moved
 Listener might know where
 They are part of the background assumptions both
speakers and hearers must share for utterances to be
considered appropriate in a given context.

33. Inferencing
 Q: Hey, wanna have a picnic? (possible answers?)
 A: It’s raining.
 implicatures - things implied by what the speaker
says.
 Q: Can I have a cookie?
 A: I don’t know, can you?
 (what implicature is being ignored by A?)

34. Making sense
 What are the implicatures?
 Fritz: That’s the door!
 Siggy: I’m in the shower!
 Fritz: OK.
 Inference and implicature are two sides of the same
coin: we typically imply more than assert, and infer
more than is asserted.

35. Cooperation without maxims
 Define irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, and metaphor
 Irony: use of an expression that signifies the opposite of the
literal (usual) meaning.
 Lovely day, isn’t it?
 Sarcasm: ironic remarks that appear to be positive/in praise
but are negative/hurtful.
 This example is just fantastic. Flawless, even.
 Hyperbole: exaggerated language for emphasis.
 The last example was the worst example in the history of examples.
 Metaphor: the use of figurative expressions to refer to
something they do not literally denote in order to suggest a
similarity.
 heart of stone, all the world’s a stage

36. Everyday violation of maxims
 We routinely, probably daily contravene Grice’s
maxims (especially the Maxim of Quality).
 However, irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, and metaphor
are not intended to deceive. Instead, they rely on an
interlocutor's ability to add meaning beyond the
literal, to look for extra significance.
 For instance, our uses of sarcasm are not intended to
be take literally! We are participating, not deceiving.

37. Not understanding metaphor
 https://youtu.be/bikgLIK9OlU?t=22

38.  What maxim is being flouted?
 What is the implicature?
 Bonnie getting ready to go out for dinner...
 Me: How much longer do you need?
 Bonnie: Why don’t you have a beer.