Week 5 Pragmatics

1. LIN101
Week 5 Pragmatics
DR. RUSSELL RODRIGO

2. What is pragmatics?
 Pragmatics is all about the way context affects meaning.
 What is the underlying or implied meaning of the text, as opposed to its
semantic meaning?
 What shared cultural values are expressed in the text?
 What might the text reveal about power or attitudes to
gender/ethnicities, class?
 Is the text designed to have hidden purpose?

3. 1. Wayne Rooney smoked a cigarette.
2. Wayne Rooney was seen smoking a
cigarette.
3. Wayne Rooney, role model to millions of
youngsters, was seen smoking a
cigarette.
Grammatical differences can impact on the implied meaning.
Making implications (implicature) can be done in many different ways.
That is why pragmatics will always link in some way to other levels/frameworks!

4. 1. We acknowledge that
we made mistakes.
2. We must acknowledge
that mistakes were
made.

5. 1. We acknowledge that
we made mistakes.
2. We must acknowledge
that mistakes were
made.
Active voice implies the
politician takes
responsibility.
Passive voice implies less
responsibility.
Vocabulary choices are also
significant.

6. What about lexis/vocabulary/word class?
Why the collective pronoun “we”? Why not the first person
“I”?
Why the noun ‘mistakes’?
Why verb ‘acknowledge’?
Why the modal auxiliary ‘must’?
Pragmatic meaning is influenced by all the levels of
English!

7. Key Terms
1. Tenor
 The relationship between producer and receiver.
The course of thought or meaning that runs through something written or spoken;
purport; drift.
2. Presupposition
 Knowledge or views the writer/text assumes you already have.
3. Cultural Allusion
 A reference only certain people will get.
4. Intertextual Reference
 A type of cultural allusion to a book, film, or TV programme.

8. Key Terms Cont.
5. Ideology
 The general “world-view” of the writer. This could be a conservative ideology,
or a patriarchal one, or even an optimistic one.
6. Synthetic personalization
 When the text creates a fake personal relationship wit the receiver. This can
involve select cultural allusions, 2nd person pronouns, etc.
7. Gender representation
 The way in which a text represents masculinity and feminity ( less a term, and
more a point of discussion!)

9.  Tenor is key when exploring pragmatics.
 Here the tenor is sensationalist.
 The writer expects us to be shocked.
 The text does not demand much thought
or reflection.
1. Tenor
Make up free Anna Kendrick is anything but
glamorous as she goes wild in the aisles in
Los Angeles supermarket.
The relationship between producer and receiver.
The course of thought or meaning that runs through something written or spoken;
purport; drift.

10.  Here the tenor is comic, ironic and satirical.
 The writer expects us to share certain values.
 It’s only funny if we get the cultural allusions and
intertextual references to the style of tabloid
journalism.
 An ironic tenor often demands much more from
the receiver.
1. Tenor Cont.
Woman buys groceries, remains
5-time academy award nominee.

11. 2. Presupposition
"Tom's car is new."
In the branch of linguistics known
as pragmatics,
a presupposition (or PSP) is an implicit
assumption about the world or
background belief relating to an
utterance whose truth is taken for
granted in discourse.
 Tom exists and that he has a car.

12. 2. Presupposition
1. Jane no longer writes fiction.
• Presupposition: Jane once wrote fiction.
2. Have you stopped eating meat?
• Presupposition: you had once eaten meat.
3. Have you talked to Hans?
• Presupposition: Hans exists.

13. 3. Cultural Allusion
An allusion is a figure of speech that
makes a reference to a place, person,
or event. This can be real or imaginary
and may refer to anything, including
fiction, folklore, historical events, or
religious manuscripts.

14. 3. Cultural Allusion (Cont.)
Irony

16. Types of Cultural Allusion
1. Biblical Allusion
 A statement that refers to
the bible without directly
mentioning it.
 He was a good Samaritan
yesterday when he helped
the old lady cross the
street.
 It’s been raining so long
that pretty soon we’re
going to need an arc.
2. Literary Allusion
 A statement that indirectly
refers to well-known
literary works.
 Are you sure you didn’t eat
the last cookie? Your nose is
growing.
 I went to bed with my hair
wet and I wake up looking
like Medusa.

17. Types of Cultural Allusion Cont.
3. Historical Allusion
 A statement that refers
to history.
 There is a civil war going
on in my family.
 Millions of innocent lives
were lost due to
prejudice views of a
ruthless German ruler.
4. Pop Culture Allusion
 An association of a person,
place, or event within a
specific community or culture.
 She acts like that because
haters gonna hate hate hate
hate.
 Something weird is going on –
my spidey sense is tingling.

18. 4. Intertextual Reference
 The word is said to be derived from the Latin word intertexto, which means to
intermingle while weaving.
 Intertextuality is the way that one text influences another. This can be a direct
parody, pastiche, allusion, or translation.
 It is defined where a text alludes to, or references another text. E.g. image, film, web
content, music, etc.
 The function and effectiveness of intertextuality can often depend quite a bit on the
reader’s prior knowledge and understanding before reading the secondary text;
parodies and allusions depend on the reader knowing what is being parodied or
alluded to.

19. Intertextuality Examples
1. He was lying so obviously, you could almost see his nose
growing.
2. He’s asking her to the prom. It’s like a happy version of Romeo
and Juliet.
3. It’s hard being an adult! Peter Pan had the right idea

20. The simpsons have done a similar
scene but have used a music video
from the beatles.

21. Puss in Boots as the character Zoro.
Disney princesses- Sleeping Beauty,
Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White
and a Ugly Sister.

23. 5. Ideology
 Political parties
embody a range of
ideals covering
government,
economics, education,
healthcare, foreign
policy, and more
The general “world-view” of the writer. This could be a conservative ideology,
or a patriarchal one, or even an optimistic one.

24. E.g. Language Ideologies
 American English VS British English
 African American English
 Indian English
 While most readers will recognize these commonsense assumptions about English as
a global language, it is also easy to see that they are nothing more than beliefs
and feelings and that they are impossible to confirm or refute.
 This is most obvious in the case of value judgments about accents: Whether you
think that Indian English is funny or not depends on who you are and what your
experiences with Indian English are.

25. 6. Synthetic personalization
 This is an excellent term to use when analyzing adverts as almost any
advert uses this technique. But what does it mean?
 Synthetic – meaning something is artificial/fake.
 Personalization – an illusion of a connection with an audience.
Therefore this refers to the method of attempting to mimic a personal
relationship between the product/model representing the product and
the audience.

28. How do the following adverts create
synthetic relationships?

29. 7. Gender Representation

30. 7. Gender Representation

31. Be careful with your written style…
The writer uses pragmatics is not quite right.
In terms of pragmatic meaning, the writer uses… is better!
You are not finding pragmatics: You’re analyzing.

32. Review
1. Tenor
 The relationship between producer and receiver.
The course of thought or meaning that runs through something written or spoken;
purport; drift.
2. Presupposition
 Knowledge or views the writer/text assumes you already have.
3. Cultural Allusion
 A reference only certain people will get.
4. Intertextual Reference
 A type of cultural allusion to a book, film, or TV programme.

33. Review
5. Ideology
 The general “world-view” of the writer. This could be a conservative ideology,
or a patriarchal one, or even an optimistic one.
6. Synthetic personalization
 When the text creates a fake personal relationship wit the receiver. This can
involve select cultural allusions, 2nd person pronouns, etc.
7. Gender representation
 The way in which a text represents masculinity and feminity ( less a term, and
more a point of discussion!)

34. Week 5 Assignment: Short Presentation
(Group)
 Select FOUR types of Pragmatics below. Find ONE example in
each. Short presentation next meeting. Prepare PPT slides.
1. Tenor
2. Presupposition
3. Cultural Allusion
4. Intertextual Reference
5. Ideology
6. Synthetic personalization
7. Gender representation

35. Why learn Pragmatics?
SECOND-LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
 pragmatic and cultural differences can result in negative transfer and inappropriate
behavior and speech for L2 learners.
 In addition, students’ pragmatic competence may lag behind their other skills and
language knowledge; it may also suffer from insufficient input and lack of coverage
in English language textbooks.
 As pragmatic competence is critical for communication in any language, lessons
targeting the instruction of pragmatics through various speech acts should be
incorporated into the L2 curriculum.