the study of language use the study of linguistic phenomena from the point of view of their usage properties and processes (Verschueren, 1999). the study of meaning in interaction (Thomas, 1995) The linguistic phenomena to be studied from the point of view of their usage can be situated at any level of structure. The question pragmatics asks is: How are the language resources used? example: The level of speech sounds: Most speakers of languages with a significant degree of dialectal variation, who have grown up with a local dialect but who were socialised into the use of a standard variety through formal education, will find that the language they use sounds quite different depending on whether they are in their professional context or speaking to their parents or siblings.

1. INTRODUCTION TO
PRAGMATICS
• the study of language use
• the study of linguistic phenomena from the
point of view of their usage properties and
processes (Verschueren, 1999).
• the study of meaning in interaction (Thomas,
1995)
The linguistic phenomena to be studied from the
point of view of their usage can be situated at
any level of structure. The question pragmatics
asks is: How are the language resources used?

2. BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS
• Phonetics and phonology – unit of
analysis?
• Morphology – unit of analysis?
• Syntax – unit of analysis?
• Semantics explores the meaning of
linguistic units, typically at the level of
words (lexical semantics) or at the level of
sentences or more complex structures

3. PRAGMATICS AND
PHONETICS
• The level of speech sounds: Most speakers of
languages with a significant degree of dialectal
variation, who have grown up with a local dialect
but who were socialised into the use of a standard
variety through formal education, will find that the
language they use sounds quite different
depending on whether they are in their
professional context or speaking to their parents or
siblings.

4. PRAGMAATICS AND
MORPHOLOGY
• The level of morphemes and words: there are
pragmatic restrictions on and implications of
aspects of derivational morphology. Consider the
derivational relationship between grateful and
ungrateful or kind and unkind. The reason why
this relationship is not reversed, with a basic
lexeme meaning “ungrateful” from which a word
meaning “grateful” would be derived by means of
the negative prefix, has everything to do with a
system of social norms which emphasises the need
for gratefulness and kindness.

5. PRAGMATICS AND SYNTAX
• At the level of syntax: the same state of
affairs can be described by means of very
different syntactic structures:
• John broke the figurine
• The figurine was broken by John
• The figurine was broken
• The figurine got broken.

6. PRAGMATICS AND
SEMANTICS
• At the level of word meaning (lexical semantics),
more than what would be regarded as ‘dictionary
meaning’ has to be taken into account as soon as a
word gets used. Many words cannot be understood
unless aspects of world knowledge are invoked.
• E.g. topless district – it requires knowledge about
city areas with high concentration of
establishments for (predominantly male)
entertainment where scantly dressed hostesses or
performers are the main attraction.

7. ‘MEANING’ IN PRAGMATICS
• ‘I promise to be back early’
means a promise on condition a future
action is involved: ‘I’ll come back early’
(SEE the Speech act theory)

8. ‘MEANING’ IN PRAGMATICS
• Meaning is a triadic relation “Speaker
means Y by X”. E.g:
A: Shall we see that film tonight?
B: I have a headache.
The speaker means NO by saying I HAVE A
HEADACHE.

9. ‘MEANING’ IN PRAGMATICS
pragmatics = utterance meaning.
• Utterance meaning consists of the meaning of the
sentence plus considerations of the intentions of
the Speaker (the speaker may intend to refuse the
invitation to go to the film), interpretation of the
Hearer (the Hearer may interpret the utterance as a
refusal, or not), determined by Context and
background knowledge.

10. ‘MEANING’ IN PRAGMATICS
• pragmatics = meaning in context
• ! Meaning is not seen as a stable. Rather, it is
dynamically generated in the process of using
language. Also, pragmatics as the study of
‘meaning in context’ does not imply that one can
automatically arrive at a pragmatic understanding
of the phenomena involved just by knowing all the
extralinguistic information, because ‘context’ is
not a static element.

11. TASK 1
Jacob: Do you know the way back to the
dining hall? We can go in my car.
Mark: Oh, I thought you didn’t know the way
to the campus.
Jacob: I thought you didn’t know!

12. TASK 2
What might be the functions of the following
utterances?
1. It’s hot in here.
2. Can you pass me the salt?
3. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
4. It’s a beautiful day today.