Name: ‫عمر سطام العتيبي‬

Professor: ‫ عبدالفتاح مفتاح‬.‫د‬

Subject: Discourse Analysis
Assignment: No. 4 Summary of Chapter 3
Date: 3/6/2024

Discourse and Pragmatics Summary

1) What is pragmatics
Pragmatics is the study of how meaning is constructed and understood in
communication, considering various contextual factors such as social, situational,
textual, and background knowledge.

2) Language, Context and Discourse

Understanding language within its context is essential for grasping the relationship
between what is said and what is understood in spoken and written discourse. The
context, encompassing physical, social, and mental elements, significantly influences
both the production and interpretation of communication.

3) Speech acts and discourse

Austin's and Searle's works, "How to Do Things With Words" and "Speech Acts,"
challenged the prevailing logical positivist view in the philosophy of language, which
claimed that language merely describes facts or states of affairs. They argued that
language serves various functions beyond literal truth conditions, such as giving orders,
making requests, giving warnings, or offering advice.

4) Presupposition and discourse

Presupposition, a crucial concept in speech act theory and pragmatics, pertains to
shared knowledge assumed between language users, drawn from various sources like
personal experiences or media. Speakers express statements based on assumptions
about what the listener knows or will infer.