Pragmatics Flashcards
… are an important part of how meaning is generated
Contextual factors
Pragmatics
The area of language study associated with exploring how contextual factors influence meaning
Semantics
Study of meaning
Embodied
Eg
Gives concrete form to an abstract idea
World Cup May evoke different meanings
Schema
A bundle of knowledge about a key concept, person or event
Spain (hot weather, beaches)
Schemas are bundles of _ built up from our experience in the world and are _ in that they can be amended and added
For example going to Brazil would alter and add to your knowledge of it.
Information
Dynamic
Surrounding text/ co text
Other words or phrases surrounding a word in a text (may not be useful)
Embodied knowledge
Knowledge that’s associated with memories of physically experiencing something
Conversational maxim Name them (4)
Any of 4 rules proposed by Grace (1975) Maxim of quantity Maxim of quality Maxim of relevance Maxim of manner
Maxim of quantity
Don’t say too little or too much
Maxim of quality
Speak the truth
Maxim of relevance
Keep what’s being discussed relevant to topic in hand
Maxim of manner
Be clear and avoid ambiguity
Implicaturs
Implied meanings that listeners were intended to infer from speakers’ comments
Positive face needs
Need to feel appreciated and valued
Negative face
Desire to feel independent and not be imposed upon
Face threatening acts
Speech act that has potential to damage someone’s self esteem either in terms of positive or negative face
Politeness strategies
Dinstictive ways in which speakers can choose to speak to avoid threatening face
Deixis
use of general words and phrases to refer to a specific time, place, or person in context
Deictic words
Words that are context-bound in so far as their meaning depends on who’s using them, where they are using them, and when they’re using them
Deictic terms belong to one of a number of …
Deictic categories
3 deictic categories
Person deixis
Spatial deixis
Temporal deixis
Person deixis
Names and personal pronouns
Spatial deixis
Adverbs of place such as “here” and “there”, demonstratives W bowing locations like “this” and “that”, oriental words like “left” and “right” and deictic verbs like “come” and “go”
Temporal deixis
Adverbs of time like “today”, “yesterday” and “tomorrow”
Each of these both locates a speaker in and points from a particular deictic centre
When are deictic expressions used
When speakers share the same time and space since they can point to objects and refer to events that can commonly be understood
Proximal deixis
Near or close to the speaker
Distal deixis
Far from the speaker
Positive politeness
Shared dialect, informal grammar and lexis, emphasises solidarity with friends
Negative politeness
More formal deixis and grammar, to emphasise a social distance and gain respect
Who thought up the politeness theory
Brown and Levison
Politeness theory features (4)
Present a persona
Try to be accepted, liked
Be polite and friendly to others
Get what we want
Antecedent
An expression that gives its meaning to a pro form
Anaphora
repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases, or clauses
Presupposition
What the speaker assumes is known by the hearer
It’s not about what you say, it’s about…
List all features
How you say it Pauses Stress Rhythm Intonation Pitch Volume Pace
Pauses effect
Can be awkward or for effect
Stress effect
Each word/phrase has a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables - called natural changing
