ESSAY PRAGMATICS

Subject :Introduction to Linguistics

Lecture : Ahmad Rizal Abdullah, S.S., M.Hum.

Group 9 :
1. Siti Nurhaliza A. ( 230512500020 )
2. Lila Awalia ( 230512500024 )
3. Bimo Rurie ( 230512500003 )

ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM

ENGLISH DEPARTMEN
UNIVERSITY OF NEGERI MAKASSAR
2023 / 2024
 PRAGMATICS

Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics that deals with the study of language in use. It is concerned with
the meaning conveyed by words and phrases in context, and how they are used to achieve different
communication goals. Pragmatics is interested in how language users understand meaning and how
they use context to interpret what is being said or written.

One of the main areas of interest in pragmatics is implicature. Implicature refers to meaning that is
implied by a speaker or writer, but not explicitly stated. For example, if someone says "It's rather
chilly in here," the implicature might be that they want someone to close the window. Pragmatics is
interested in how speakers and writers are able to convey meaning through implicature, and how
listeners and readers are able to understand the intended meaning.

Another important concept in pragmatics is speech acts. A speech act is an action performed through
language, such as making a request, giving an order, or making a promise. Pragmatics examines how
speakers and writers use language to perform speech acts, and how listeners and readers are able to
recognize different types of speech acts.

Finally, pragmatics is also interested in the role of context in communication. Context refers to the
situation in which language is used, including the identities of the speaker and the listener, the
physical environment, and the cultural norms. Pragmatics examines how context affects the
interpretation of meaning, and how speakers and writers use context to achieve specific
communication goals.

Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics that focuses on the study of meaning in communication, particularly
the relationship between language and context. t is concerned with how speakers use language in real-
life situations to convey meaning and achieve their communicative goals. The scope of pragmatics in
linguistics includes:
 Descriptive Pragmatics: This branch of pragmatics examines the forms of language expression in
relation to utterances in a specific context. It is concerned with the analysis of speech acts, deixis,
pragmatic markers, evaluation, conversational structure, and multimodality.
 Formal Pragmatics: This aspect of pragmatics focuses on the logical and philosophical aspects of
meaning, such as indexicals and demonstratives. It is concerned with the study of meaning in a more
abstract and general sense, rather than specific instances of communication.
 Experimental Pragmatics: This field aims to broaden the scope of pragmatic studies by emphasizing
the complete pragmatics of language use. It focuses on the real-time production and processing of
language in context, considering both linguistic and non-linguistic factors that influence meaning.
 Corpus Pragmatics: This interdisciplinary field combines corpus linguistics and pragmatics to address
core issues in the study of meaning. It involves quantitative research with frequencies and statistics, as
well as the analysis of annotated corpora to identify abstract linguistic patterns.
 Near-side and Far-side Pragmatics: Near-side pragmatics deals with the interpretation of iutterances
and the effects of context on meaning, while far-side pragmatics focuses on the speech acts and
 implicatures that go beyond the literal meaning of what is said. These two aspects of pragmatics are
closely intertwined and contribute to our understanding of how meaning is constructed in
communication.

In conclusion, pragmatics is a vital subfield of linguistics, examining how language is used in context
to convey meaning and achieve various communication goals. Understanding pragmatics can help
language users to better understand how to interpret what others are saying or writing, as well as how
to communicate more effectively themselves. And also, pragmatics is an important field of study that
helps people understand how language is used in different contexts and cultures. It is also a teachable
subject that can benefit language learners.

REFERENCES

 Pragmatics is defined as the correlation between the code of speakers and listeners .
(Rahman, 2019).
 Pragmatics is linguistics science related to language use. (Levinson, 1983 ; Santoso and Yunita
2015
 Pragmatics is the study of ‘invisible’ meaning, or how we recognize what is meant
even when it is not actually said or written (Yule, 2010: 128; in Laaksonen, 2019).