The document discusses key concepts in pragmatics including reference and inference, presupposition and entailment, cooperation and implicature, politeness and interaction, conversation structure and preference, and the role of background knowledge and cultural schemata in communication. Speakers use language with intentions in mind based on assumptions of what listeners know, and listeners use inference to interpret meaning beyond what is explicitly stated. Successful communication depends on cooperation between speakers and listeners adhering to conversational maxims while considering social and cultural contexts.
1. Definition of referents and referring expression.
2. example of referents and referring expression
3. Extension and Intension
4. Some different kinds of referents
4.1 unique and non unique referents
4.2 concrete and abstract
4.3 countable and uncountable
5. Different ways of referring
5.1 Generic and non-generic reference
5.2 Specific and non-specific reference
5.3 Definite and indefinite reference
6. Deixis
7. Example of deixis
8. Anaphora
9. Shifts in ways of referring
10. referential ambiguity
1. Definition of referents and referring expression.
2. example of referents and referring expression
3. Extension and Intension
4. Some different kinds of referents
4.1 unique and non unique referents
4.2 concrete and abstract
4.3 countable and uncountable
5. Different ways of referring
5.1 Generic and non-generic reference
5.2 Specific and non-specific reference
5.3 Definite and indefinite reference
6. Deixis
7. Example of deixis
8. Anaphora
9. Shifts in ways of referring
10. referential ambiguity
Communication in the Real World An Introduction to Communication .docxclarebernice
Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies, v. 1.0
by Richard G. Jones Jr.
3.3 Using Words Well
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Discuss how the process of abstraction and the creation of whole messages relate to language clarity.
2. Employ figurative and evocative language.
3. Identify strategies for using language ethically.
Have you ever gotten lost because someone gave you directions that didn’t make sense to you? Have you ever puzzled over the instructions for how to put something like a bookshelf or grill together? When people don’t use words well, there are consequences that range from mild annoyance to legal actions. When people do use words well, they can be inspiring and make us better people. In this section, we will learn how to use words well by using words clearly, using words affectively, and using words ethically.
Using Words Clearly
The level of clarity with which we speak varies depending on whom we talk to, the situation we’re in, and our own intentions and motives. We sometimes make a deliberate effort to speak as clearly as possible. We can indicate this concern for clarity nonverbally by slowing our rate and increasing our volume or verbally by saying, “Frankly…” or “Let me be clear…” Sometimes it can be difficult to speak clearly—for example, when we are speaking about something with which we are unfamiliar. Emotions and distractions can also interfere with our clarity. Being aware of the varying levels of abstraction within language can help us create clearer and more “whole” messages.
Level of Abstraction
The ladder of abstraction is a model used to illustrate how language can range from concrete to abstract. As we follow a concept up the ladder of abstraction, more and more of the “essence” of the original object is lost or left out, which leaves more room for interpretation, which can lead to misunderstanding. This process of abstracting, of leaving things out, allows us to communicate more effectively because it serves as a shorthand that keeps us from having a completely unmanageable language filled with millions of words—each referring to one specific thing.[1] But it requires us to use context and often other words to generate shared meaning. Some words are more directly related to a concept or idea than others. If I asked you to go take a picture of a book, you could do that. If I asked you to go and take a picture of “work,” you couldn’t because work is an abstract word that was developed to refer to any number of possibilities from the act of writing a book, to repairing an air conditioner, to fertilizing an organic garden. You could take a picture of any of those things, but you can’t take a picture of “work.”
Figure 3.2 Ladder of Abstraction
Source: Adapted from S. I. Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action, 5th ed. (San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1990), 85.
You can see the semanticist S. I. Hayakawa’s classic example of the abstraction ladder with “B ...
It is just a summary from Geoge Yule's book about pragmatics, I forgot where I got this file.. I used this file for microteaching in Univeristy, sometimes this slide is really more understandable than the real / original book.
2. * 1. REFERENCE AND INFERENCE
Reference
Is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses
linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to
identify something.
Referring Proper nouns
Pronouns
expressions Definite nouns
Indefinite nouns
7. * Reference is clearly tied to the speaker’s goals
and beliefs in the use of language.
* Other examples:
- There’s a man waiting for you.
- He wants to marry a woman with lots of
money
- We’d love to find a nine – foot – tall
basketball player
8. Inference
Is connecting prior knowledge to text based
information to create meaning beyond what is
directly stated.
The role of inference in communication is to
allow the listener to identify correctly which
particular entity the speaker is referring to.
We can even use vague expressions relying on
the listener’s ability to infer what is the referent
that we have in mind.
9. * Listeners make inferences about what is said in
order to arrive at an interpretation of the speaker’s
intended meaning. The choice of one type of
referring expression rather than another seems to
be based on what the speaker assumes the listener
already knows.
Examples
- Where is the fresh salad sitting?
He is sitting by the door.
- Can I look at your Shakespeare?
Sure, it’s on the shelf over there
Speakers reference intention
Listeners inference interpretation
10. * 2. PRESUPPOSITION AND ENTAILMENT
Presupposition:
Presupposition is what the speaker assumes to be the case
prior to making an utterance.
Entailment
Entailment, which is not a pragmatic concept, is what logically
follows from what is asserted in the utterance.
Speakers have presuppositions while sentences, not speakers,
have entailments.
11. Jane’s brother bought two apartments
This sentence presupposes that Jane exists and that
she has a brother. The speaker may also hold the
more specific presupposition that she has only a
brother and her brother has a lot of money. All these
presuppositions are held by the speaker and all of
them can be wrong.
* In pragmatics entailment is the relationship
between two sentences where the truth of one (A)
requires the truth of the other (B).
For example, the sentence (A) The president was
assassinated. entails (B) The president is dead.
13. Projection problem
In this case, the meaning of some presupposition (as
a part) doesn’t survive to become the meaning of a
more complex sentence (as a whole).
Example
a)Nobody realized that Kelly was unhappy
b)I imagined that Kelly was unhappy.
c)I imagined that Kelly was unhappy and nobody
realized that she was unhappy.
14. Ordered entailments
Generally speaking, entailment is not a pragmatic
concept (i.e. having to do with the speaker
meaning), but it is considered a purely logical concept.
examples:
1)Bob ate three sandwiches.
a) Something ate three sandwiches.
b)Bob did something to three sandwiches.
c) Bob ate three of something.
d)Something happened.
15. * 3. COOPERATION AND IMPLICATURE
When people talk with each other, they try to converse
smoothly and successfully. Cooperation is the basis of
successful conversations.
Cooperation
Can be understood as an essential factor when speakers
and listeners are interacting, in other words, it is the
expectation that the listener has towards the speaker.
Implicature
Can be considered as an additional conveyed meaning.
It is attained when a speaker intends to communicate
more than just what the words mean
16. Cooperative Principle: Make your conversational contribution
such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the
accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which
you are engaged.
Quantity
1. Make your contribution as informative as is required
(for the current purposes of the exchange)
2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required
B. Quality (Try to make your contribution one that is true)
1. Do not say what you believe to be false
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence
C. Relation
1. Be relevant
D. Manner (Be perspicuous)
1. Avoid obscurity of expression
2. Avoid ambiguity
3. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)
4. Be orderly
17. * hedges: cautious notes to indicate that a speaker is
aware of maxims, but fears not to adhere to them
completely. Speakers are aware of the maxims and
show that they are trying to observe them.
Examples Quality
* As far as I know, they're married
* I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw a wedding ring
on her finger
* I'm not sure if this is right, but I heard it was a secret
ceremony in Hawaii
* He couldn't live without her, I guess
18. * SCALAR IMPLICATURE: when any form in a scale is
asserted, the negative of all forms higher on the scale
is implicated.
If for example an ironic interpretation of ‘John’s a
genius’ (i.e., John’s an idiot’) is forced by flouting, then
it does not matter, if it is worded differently
John’s a mental prodigy
John’s a big brain
John’s an enormous intellect
19. * 4. POLITENESS AND INTERACTION
Politeness
can be defined as the means employed to show awareness
of another person’s face. In this sense, POLITENESS can be
accomplished in situations of social distance or closeness.
Interaction
a linguistic interaction is necessarily a social interaction”.
In order to make sense of what is said in an interaction, one
has to consider external as well as internal factors, which
relate to social distance and closeness.
20. Example:
- Excume me, Mr. Buckingham, but can I talk to
you for a minute?
- Hey, Bucky, got a minute?
21. * 5. CONVERSATION AND PREFERENCE STRUCTURE
adjacency pairs represent social actions, and not all social
actions are equal when they occur as second parts of some
pairs, e.g., a first part request expects an acceptance
acceptance is structurally more likely than refusal
* Structural likelihood is called preference
Preference structure divides second parts into preferred
and dispreferred social acts.
22. First part Second part
Preferred Dispreferred
assessment agree Yes, it is disagree
Isn't that really great?
Invitation Accept I’d love to refuse
Why not join us tonight?
offer accept Yes, please decline
Want some coffee?
proposal agree That'd be great disagree
Maybe we could go for a
walk
request accept Sure refuse
Can you help me?
23. * 6. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Discourse analysis is an attempt to discover linguistic
regularities in discourse using grammatical, phonological
and semantic criteria. It is an effort to interpreter what
the writer or speaker intended to convey with in a
sensitive social context.
Example:
Father: Is that your coat on the floor again?
Son: yes (goes on reading)
24. * 7. BACKGROUND KWONLEDGE CULTURAL SCHEMATA
The ability to arrive automatically at interpretation of
unwritten and the unsaid must be based on pre-existing
knowledge structures.