Basic concepts in relation to Pragmatics, Discourse, Co-text, Contextual Variables and Discourse Analysis

1. Linguistics
Pragmatics
Discourse
Discourse Analysis
García, M. 2015
UNIT 1
PRAGMATICS
AND
DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS

2. Linguistics
Language studies were made basically
from a linguistic point of view
Morphology
Syntax
These branches couldn’t explain the use of
different utterances in real communication
Semantics
It focused only on
the inner structure of the words
(morphemes)
It focused on the
order of the words
in a sentence:
It focused on the
meaning of the
words
Hungry?
The telephone is crying for you!
It’s raining cats and dogs…
What was wrong with these analysis?
García, M. 2015

3. Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the branch of
linguistics that deals with the study
of language in communication.
Pragmatics
It takes into account aspects that were
cast aside by the traditional branches
How people use
their background
knowledge to
interpret discourse
How people use
and understand
speech acts
How people’s
relationship
influence
their discourse
Pragmatics
García, M. 2015

4. The relationship between
contextualized sentences
Pragmatics
How different texts
are organized and used
The cultural aspects that help
or interfere with communication
This branch helps us understand:
García, M. 2015

5. ETHNOGRAPHY
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
LINGUISTICS
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
PRAGMATICS
How people learn,
understand
and produce language
Cultural
information about
the speech
community
Description
of what
people say
or write
Who speaks?, About what?, To Whom?,
When?, Where? and with which purpose?
Pragmatics
García, M. 2015

6. Discourse, Co-text and Context
Discourse
it refers to the use of language in real
communication, within a specific
context, with a given intention, for a
determined audience. What matters is
not its conformity to rules, but the fact
that it communicates and it’s
recognized by its receivers as
coherent
García, M. 2015

7. Through discourse, people can…
Engage in actions and interaction
with others
Organize thoughts into
communicative actions
Convey their identities and
relationships

8. Co-text and Context
Co-text
it refers to the relationship established
among all the linguistic units within a
discourse. That is why, one word can have
different connotation, depending of the co-
text that surrounds it:
Context
it refers to the variables that surround the
discourse, which help us understand the
real message.
May I come in? I was born in May
García, M. 2015

9. Contextual information relevant for discourse
understanding
Speakers’ characteristics: their sex,
age or nationality
Speakers’
relationship: father
and son, two friends,
two politicians…
Social context: a
party, a class, a TV
interview…
The channel: speech,
writing, signing, smoke
signs
The communicative
purpose: to
entertain, to teach…
The speakers’ knowledge about the
topic: totally unknown, very familiar
García, M. 2015

10. Tools users of the language need to consider
USER
Language
system
Contextual
Knowledge
GOAL
García, M. 2015

11. Discourse Analysis
it’s a subject that study how utterances in
spoken or written language are used to form
larger meaningful units such as
conversations or interviews in real
communicative situations. It’s the search for
what gives discourse coherence.
1
I went to Caracas.
My car is broke and
the movie was bad. You
have to study and the
restaurant is closed
2
When I went to Caracas my
car broke down. I couldn’t
go to the movie so I stayed at
The hotel studying. At 8:00
pm, I went to the restaurant
but it was closed
García, M. 2015

12. Discourse Analysis
D.A. is a branch of linguistics that focuses on
language use above and beyond the
sentence… it’s a way of describing and
understanding how language is used.
IT IS NOT A METHOD
FOR TEACHING
LANGUAGE
It serves from different
approaches to analyze
written, spoken or signed
language use.
García, M. 2015

13. Cases for analysis
Alice speaks English very well in informal situations; the
problem is that when she is supposed to speak
formally, she keeps using colloquial expressions that
make her look uneducated.
I don’t know how to explain my students why American
and Venezuelan jokes are different.
García, M. 2015
Analyze the following cases in order to reach an
agreement about the necessary information for giving
them a convenient treatment:

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKbp4hEHV-s
After watching the
video,
What aspects do you
consider to be as
some of the most
important ones for
language use and
understanding?
García, M. 2015

15. Aspects influencing language
use and understanding
The cooperation
between
the interlocutor
The cognitive
efforts
Interlocutors do
The background
Knowledge
Interlocutors
have
García, M. 2015
Discourse Analysis