Pragmatics Flashcards
Define presupposition
The linguistic term for an ‘assumption’ or ‘inference’ behind the text, e.g. The Great Fire of London data presupposed that God started the fire.
Define figurative language
Any form of descriptive language, such as metaphor, personification, simile etc. This will be common in 1600 data due to the effect of the Renaissance and King James Bible.
Define changing attitudes.
How views and ideas change across time.
Define default assumption.
Where something is expected unless told otherwise. This related to societal views of the time, so will require inference.
Define intertextuality.
References to external entities, e.g. to the monarch Charles II or to anything outside the text. There are different types - allusion (reference to something), parody (comical, mocking intertextuality), pastiche (respectful imitation), translation (translating one language from another) and quotation (quoting another source.
Define stereotypes.
Societal stereotypes and hegemony of the time period, e.g. gender roles.
Define audience awareness.
Where relevant, relate to the text being before the 1870 Education Act and thus the text likely targeting literate, wealthy and educated; however, also look to see if there is a specialised demographic, such as anatomists, women, men… other family members etc.
Define dysphemism.
The offensive expressions that speakers or writers use when discussing taboo topics.
Define euphemism.
Least inoffesnive alternatives for expressions that speakers or writers use when discussing potentially taboo topics.
Define metonym/metonymy
A figure of speech in which a thing/concept/person/entity is not called by its name, but by something associated with it, e.g. calling the English football team ‘England’ or referring to the Royal Family as ‘Buckingham Palace.’ A type of metaphor.
