This document provides an overview of pragmatics from a lecture. It defines pragmatics as the study of speaker meaning, contextual meaning, and how more is communicated than what is said. It discusses key concepts in pragmatics including invisible meaning, context, deixis, reference, inference, anaphora, presupposition, speech acts, and politeness. Politeness involves face-saving acts that minimize threats to people's self-image and independence or connection to others. The appropriate interpretation of language depends on context and can differ across cultures.

1. Lectures on Semantics and
Pragmatics
Lecture Seven
Pragmatics
Adel Al-Thamery (PhD)
General Linguistics
Basrah University
adelthamery1966@gmail.com

2. Definition
1: “Pragmatics is the study of speaker
meaning.”
2: “ Pragmatics is the study of contextual
meaning”
3:“ Pragmatics is the study of how more gets
communicated than is said”
4:“ Pragmatics is the study of the expression
of relative distance.”

3. Invisible meaning
 Pragmatics is the study of invisible
meaning ,that is how to recognize ,the
underlined meanings which are not
apparently said or written.
For example, an advertisement shows
the following words:
HEATED
ATTENDANT
PARKING
from the apparent meaning different
interpretations can be assumed like

4. “ You take an attendant , you heat him up
, and this is the place where you can
park him, another assumption may be
like this “ It is a place where parking will
be carried out by attendants who have
been heated,” despite these
interpretations on the basis of apparent
meanings , we would normally
understand that you can park your car in
this place, that is heated area and that
there will be an attendant to look after
the car.
We have inferred these meanings by

5.  In fact Pragmatics , is the study of
investigation of such assumptions and
expectations which provide us with the
insights into how more gets
communicated than is said.

6. Context
Linguistic context ( co-text)
Physical context

7. Linguistic Context
 The set of other words used in same phrase or
sentence.
 This surrounding co-text has a strong effect on
what we think the words mean.
 The word Bank is a homonym, a form with more
than one meaning.
 We know about the actual meaning of this word
on the basis of linguistic context.
 If the word “ bank “ is used in a sentence
together with words like steep or overgrown, we
have no problem deciding which type of bank is
meant. Similarly when we hear some one say
that she has to get to the bank to cash a cheque,
we know from the linguistic context which type
of bank is intended.

8. Physical Context
 Physical context ( time and place in which
we encounter linguistic expression) plays a
vital role in making us understand much of
what we read or hear.
 For example, if we see the word BANK on
the wall of a building in a city, the physical
location will influence our interpretation.
 So we know what words mean on the basis
of another type of context i.e Physical
context.

9. Deixis
 It is Greek word which means “ pointing” via
language.
 Certain words like here there, this, that , now
, then, yesterday as well as most pronouns
such as I , you, him, her , them can only be
understood if we know about the context in
which they are used.
 For example, the sentence, “ you’ll have to
bring that back tomorrow, because they
aren’t here”, out of context will be quite
unintelligible.
 Because this sentence contain large number
of certain expressions ( Deixis) which
depend for their interpretation on the
immediate physical context in which they are
uttered.

10. Types of Deixis
 Person deixis : Any expression used to point to a person ( me,
you, him, them) is an example of PERSON DEIXIS
 Place Deixis: Words used to point to a location ( here, there,
yonde) are examples of place Deixis
 Time Deixis: The expression used to point to a time ( now, then,
tonight, last week, yesterday) are examples of TIME DEIXIS
All these expressions have to be interpreted in terms what person ,
place or time the speaker has in mind. There is broad distinction
between what is marked as distant( that ,there, then). It is also
possible to mark whether the movement is happening towards the
speaker’s location( come) or away from speaker’s location go) If
you are looking for someone and he or she appears moving
towards you, you tend to say “ Here she Comes! If , however,
she/he is moving away from you in the distance, you are more like
to say There she goes!
People can actually use Deixis to have fun. The bar owner who puts
up a big sign that reads “ Free Beer Tomorrow( to get you to return
to his bar) can always claim that you are one day too early for the
drink.

11. Reference
The words we use to identify things are
in some direct relationship to those
things. In discussing deixis we
assumed that the use of words to refer
to people and things was simple matter.
However, words themselves don’t refer
to anything. People refer.

12. Inference
 The key process here is called
Inference, it is an additional information
used by the listeners to connect what is
said to what must be meant In the last
example, the listener has to infer that
name of writer of a book can be used to
identify a book by that writer. Similar
type of inferences are necessary t to
understand some who says that
Picasso is in the museum or I saw
Shakespeare in London or I enjoy
listening to Mozart.

13. Anaphora
 Anaphora is a subsequent reference to an already
introduced entity. Mostly we use anaphora in a text to
maintain reference. When we establish a referent( e.g.
can I borrow your book?) and subsequently referee to
the same object( yeah, it’s on the table) , we have
particular kind of referential relationship between book
and it. The Second ( and any subsequent ) referring
expression is an example of anaphora and the first
mentioned is called the “ antecedent”
As with other types of reference, the connection
between referent and anaphora may not always be
direct. For example, In a complaint” I was waiting for the
bus, but he just drove by without stopping” Notice that
antecedent is bus and he anaphoric expression is “ he”
we would normally expect it to be used for a bus.
Obviously there is an inference involved here: if
someone is taking about a bus in motion , assume that
there is a drive. That assumed driver is inferred referent
for “ he” .The term “ inference ‘ has been used here to
describe what the listener or reader) does.

14. Presupposition
 What speaker assumes as true or is known by
the hearer can described as presupposition
 When a speaker uses referring expressions like
this, he or Shakespeare in normal
circumstance, she is working with an
assumption that hearer know which referent is
intended. In a more general way, speaker
continuously design their linguistic messages
on the basis of assumptions about what the
hearer already knows. These assumptions may
be mistaken of course, but they underlie much
of what we say in the every day use of
language.
For example, if someone tell you “ your brother
is waiting outside for you there is an obvious

15. Speech Acts
 Speech acts are the ways through which we interpret meanings and use
actions to convey the meanings. For example, such as requesting ,
commanding, questioning and informing. It is typically the case that we
use the following linguistic forms with the following functions:
 Did you drink milk? Question
 Shut the door ( please). Imperative
 The earth is round. Declarative
When a form such as Did he…………? Are they………? Or Can
you………? is used to ask a question, it is described as Direct speech
act
For example when a speaker does not know something and asks the
hearer to provide the information, he or she typically produce a direct
speech act of the following type:
Can you ride a bicycle?
If we compare this utterance with Can you pass the salt? In this second
example , we would not usually understand the utterance as a question
about our ability to do something. In fact We would not treat this as a
question at all. We would treat it as a request and perform the action
requested, yet this request has been presented in the syntactic for
usually associated with the question. Such an example is described as
indirect Speech Act. Whenever one of the forms in the set above is used
to perform a function other than the one listed beside it (on the same
line) the result is an indirect speech act.
Perhaps the crucial distinction in the use of these two types of speech
acts is based on the fact that indirect commands or requests are simply
considered more polite is based on some complex social assumptions.

16. Politeness
 Politeness in fact is showing awareness of another person’s
face. There are several ways to think of politeness. These
might involve ideas like being tactful, modest and nice to the
other people. In the study of linguistic politeness the most
relevant concept is face. Your face in pragmatics is your
public self image. This is emotional and social sense of self
that every person has and expects everyone else to
recognize.
 Face threatening Act
 If someone says something that represents a threat to
another person’s self image that is called a face threatening
act. For example, if you use a direct speech act to order
someone to do something , for example, Give me the paper!
You are acting as if you have more social power then you are
performing a face threatening act.
 Face Saving Act
An indirect speech act in the form of a question , for example,
Could you pass me that paper please? removes the
assumption of social power .You appear to be asking about
ability. This makes your request less threatening to other
person’s sense of self. Whenever you say something that
lessens the possible threat to another’s face it is called a face
saving act. You have both a negative face and positive face.

17. Politeness
 Negative Face
 In negative face speech act there is the need to be independent
and to have freedom from imposition. Thus a face saving act that
emphasizes a person’s negative face will show concern about
impression.
 For example, I’m Sorry to bother you……
 I know you are busy but…………………..
Positive face
Your positive face is your need to be connected to belong , to be
a member of the group. A face saving act that emphasizes a
person’s positive face will show solidarity and draw attention to a
common goal. For example, let us do this together
………………. You and I have the same problem, so
……………..
Ideas about the appropriate language to mark politeness differ
substantially from one culture to the next. If you have grown up
in a culture that has directness as a valued way of showing
solidarity and you use direct speech acts( Pour me some coffee)
to people whose culture is more oriented to indirectness and
avoiding direct imposition, then you will be considered impolite.
You in turn may think of others as vague and unsure of what
they want. In either case it is the pragmatics that is
misunderstood and unfortunately much more will be

18. Conclusion
 Understanding how people
communicate is actually a process of
interpreting not just what speakers say
, but what they intend to mean.

19. Pragmatics
When a diplomat says yes, he means ‘perhaps’;
When he says perhaps, he means ‘no’;
When he says no, he is not a diplomat.
When a lady says no, she means ‘perhaps’;
When she says perhaps, she means ‘yes’;
When she says yes, she is not a lady.
Voltaire (Quoted, in Spanish, in Escandell 1993.)