micropragmatics

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
Micropragmatics and Macropragmatics)
-Micropragmatic:
- Reference
- Deixis
- Anaphora
- Presupposition
The Scope of Pragmatics:

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Micropragmatics and Macropragmatics
Micropragmatics is the study of language use in smaller
contexts. Traditionally the context is understood as
comprising the sentence and its immediate surroundings.
Phenomena such as reference, deixis, anaphora and
presupposition are the topics in this field. E.g:
- I was waiting for the bus, but he just drove by without stopping.
- I saw you with him yesterday.
The Scope of Pragmatics
Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
Macropragmatics concerns with the users interaction in
various ways, and in a number of settings:
-Cooperative principles
-Conversation implicature
-Speech acts
-Indirect language
-Politeness principles
-Cross-cultural communication

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
 In the referential theory (naming theory), it is assumed
that the words we use to identify things are in some direct
relationship to those things. Examples:
(1) A: Where is the fresh salad sitting?
B: He’s sitting by the door.
(2) A: Can I look at your Shakespeare?
B: Sure, it’s on the shelf over there.
Reference

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These examples make it clear that we can use names
associated with things (salad) to refer to people and names
of people (Shakespeare) to refer to things.
 The key process here is called inference. An inference is
any additional information used by the hearer to connect
what is said to what must be meant.
 In pragmatics, the act by which a speaker or writer uses
language to enable a hearer or reader to identify something
is called reference.
Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
 In all languages there are many words and expressions
whose reference depends entirely on the situational
context of the utterance and can only be understood in
light of these circumstances. This aspect of pragmatics is
called deixis, which means “pointing” via language.
 Any linguistic form used to do this “pointing” is called a
deictic expression, or indexical .
 Deixis helps us to identify things in time and space
Deixis

7.  In English, for example, there are some words that
cannot be interpreted at all unless the context,
especially the physical context of the speaker, is
known. These are words like here, there, this, that,
now, then, as well as most pronouns, such as I, we, you,
he, her, them. Some sentences of English are actually
impossible to understand if we do not know who is
speaking, about whom, where and when.
Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
Example
You’ll have to bring that back tomorrow, because they
aren’t here now.
 Out of context we cannot understand this sentence
because it contains a number of deictic expressions
such as you, that, tomorrow, they, here, now which
depend for their interpretation on the immediate
physical context in which they were uttered. For
example, who does you refer to? What time on earth
does tomorrow refer to?

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
Deictic center refers to the deictic expressions that are
anchored to specific points in the communicative event.
- the person (speaker) just giving the utterance.
-the time of the utterance’s time;
- the place of the utterance’s place, the person just giving
the utterance.

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
 “Near speaker” — “Away from speaker”
︱ ︱
Proximal distal
︱ ︱
This, here, now that, there, then
- Here comes the guests.
-This is my uncle.
-She is leaving now.
- I met him there
- That is the criminal.
- I discovered the truth then.

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Classification of Deixis
Types of Deixis
Central Non-central
Person
Deixis
Time
Deixis
Place
Deixis
Social
Deixis
Discourse
Deixis
Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
1) Person deixis: any expression used to point to a person is
an example of person deixis, for example, me, you, him,
them.
2) Time/Temporal deixis: words used to point to a time are
examples of time deixis, for example, now, then, tonight,
last week, this year.
3) Place/spatial deixis: words used to point to a location are
examples of space deixis, for example, here, there, and
yonder.
There are five types of deixis:

13. Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
4) Discourse/textual deixis: any expression used to refer to
earlier or forthcoming segments of the discourse is an
example of discourse deixis, for example, in the previous/next
paragraph, or Have you heard this joke?
5) Social deixis: honorifics (forms to show respect such as
Professor Li, your Majesy, your Excellency) are often
encountered in the languages of the world. They are often
thought of as an aspect of person deixis, but although
organized around the deictic center like space and time deixis,
honorifics involve a separate dimension of social deixis.

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics
• Person deixis:
- “I hate you” ( I-speaker-, you –addressee)
-His highness needs coffee! (his … -addressee [ “irony’])
• Temporal deixis:
-Are you coming now? (now- Temporal)
-See you then. (then – distal)
- If the team won the match, I would.. .(past tense “won”
distal)
-Spatial deixis:
- I am not here now. (here –proximal adverb)
-Go to my room. (go – distal verb of motion)
Examples:

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Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics

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 When we establish a referent and subsequently refer to the
same object, we have a particular kind of referential
relationship. For example:
A: Can I borrow your dictionary?
B: Yeah, it’s on the table.
- Here, the word it refers back to the word dictionary. The
previous word dictionary is called the antecedent, and the
second word it is called anaphor or anaphoric expression.
Anaphora
Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics

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- The process where a word or phrase refers back to
another word or phrase which was used earlier in a text or
conversation is called anaphora.
- Mostly the relation between the antecedent and the
anaphor is direct, but sometimes the connection between
them is indirect. For example:
- I walked into the room. The windows looked out to the bay.
Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics

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The antecedent here is room, and the anaphor is windows.
We would normally expect it to be used for a room.
Obviously there is an inference involved here: if someone is
talking about a room, he assumes that the room has windows.
Those assumed windows are the inferred referents. So, such
kind of anaphora is called indirect anaphora or bridging
reference.
Dr. Hameed Al-ZubeiryPragmatics