Pragmatics and Discourse

Question 1

What is Discourse?

Answer 1

Discourse = the way a text or conversation is structured to communicate with the audience

Question 2

What is Discourse Analysis?

Answer 2

Discourse Analysis = talk analysis (the way people talk)

Question 3

What are Discourse Conventions?

Answer 3

Discourse Conventions = typical features of a genre. They include: style, language, visual features and structure etc.

Question 4

What is a Breach?

Answer 4

Breach = a departure from a discourse convention to create an unusual meaning or effect

Question 5

What are Discourse Markers?

Answer 5

Discourse Markers = words, phrases or clauses that help to organise what we say or write.

Question 6

What are the 3 parts of a Discourse?

Answer 6

1. Adjuncts = non essential elements of clauses (usually adverbials) that can be omitted
2. Disjuncts = sentence adverbs that work to express an attitude or stance towards materials that follows
3. Interdiscursivity = the use of discourses from one field as part of another (similar to intertextuality)

Question 7

What are the 3 References to Discourses?

Answer 7

1. Anaphoric Reference = referring back to something previously identified in a text
   (often using pronouns to refer to an already established reference point)
2. Cataphoric Reference = making reference forwards to something as yet unidentified in a text
3. Exophoric Reference = making reference to things beyond the language of a text itself, perhaps within a speaker’s immediate physical contact

Question 8

What are the 6 parts of a Narrative Discourse?

Answer 8

1. Abstract = the speaker indicates they’re about to tell a story
2. Orientation = telling the listener where and when the story took place
3. Complication Action = getting into the story itself: the “what happened” part
4. Resolution = rounding off the story: how did things turn out?
5. Evaluation = the reflection of the story
6. Coda = “signing off”, perhaps indicating another speaker can now have their turn

Question 9

What are Pragmatics?

Answer 9

Pragmatics = the study of underlying or implied meaning, and of the contribution of context to meaning

Question 10

What is Pragmatics Failure?

Answer 10

Pragmatics Failure = when the implied or underlying meaning is not the meaning understood by the listener

Question 11

What are the 4 types of Context in terms of Pragmatics?

Answer 11

1. Physical Context = this includes: where the conversation is taking place, what actions are occurring, and what objects are present.
2. Epistemic Context = refers to what speakers know about the world and their background knowledge
3. Linguistic Context = what has already been said in the utterance, may also include tone of voice
4. Social Context = refers to the social relationship among speakers and listeners (e.g. friends vs strangers conversations)

Question 12

What are Deixis?

Answer 12

Deixis = refers to words and phrases that cannot be fully understood without additional contextual information

• Deixis can be used sometimes to exclude a person from a group by removing the context so that the person doesn’t understand the conversation
• All English pronouns are deictic

Question 13

What are the 3 Types of Deixis?

Answer 13

1. Personal Deixis = refers to the personal pronouns in the English Language, which all require contextual information to be understood
2. Spatial Deixis = where the speaker refers to adverbs of time or demonstrative pronouns
3. Temporal Deixis = refers to the time the speaker is referring to, usually relates to adverbs of time

Question 14

What might