Tema 8

General Linguistics
Pragmatics

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Index Page

8.1.What is pragmatics? 3

8.2.Pronouns and Other Deictic words 3

8.3. Situational Context 6

8.4. Linguistic Context 6

8.5. Implicature 8

8.6 Maxims of Conversation or

Cooperative principles 10

8.7 Presupposition 13

8.8 Speech Acts 14

8.9. Illocutionary force 15

Complementary Resources 16
Bibliography 17

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8.1.What is pragmatics?
Pragmatics is the study of how context affects meaning. e.g. It is hot. I

am thirsty. It comes to be interpreted as “give me some water, please”.

In simple words, pragmatics is how sentences are used in context (Fromkin et

al., 2014).

The literal meanings of words (lexical semantics) is not the only way to

get meaning when we talk to other speakers. “Some meaning is extra-truth-

conditional: it comes about because of how a speaker uses the literal meaning

in conversation, or as a part of a discourse” (Fromkin et al., 2014, 166).

Therefore, pragmatics is the study of extra-truth-conditional meaning.

In semantics and pragmatics, a "truth condition" is a condition under which a

sentence is true. For example, "It is snowing in Nebraska," which is true
precisely when it is snowing in Nebraska. The truth conditions of a sentence
don't necessarily reflect current reality.

What is Pragmatics? Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJsmnpGxlyc

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Examples of Pragmatics:
1. Will you crack open the door? I am getting hot.

Semantically, the word "crack" would mean to break, but pragmatically we

know that the speaker means to open the door just a little to let in some air.

2. I heart you!

Semantically, "heart" refers to an organ in our body that pumps blood and
keeps us alive. However, pragmatically, "heart" in this sentence means "love"-
hearts are commonly used as a symbol for love, and to "heart" someone has
come to mean that you love someone.

3. If you eat all of that food, it will make you bigger!

Semantically, "bigger" in this sentence would mean larger than you are
currently. Think about how this sentence, pragmatically, would mean
something different depending on the context. If it is said to a young child,
pragmatically, it would mean to grow bigger. If it is said to a grown person who
is already obese, it would mean something entirely different.

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8.2.Pronouns and Other Deictic words

A Deictic word is “a word specifying identity or spatial or temporal

location from the perspective of a speaker or hearer in the context in which the

communication occurs” (The Free Dictionary by Farlex, 2021)

Deictic words or deictics are a closed class. Remember that closed class refers

to the category of function words that do not readily accept new members.

Pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and prepositions belong to the closed

class (Nordquist, 2019).

We have a few words which can be used deictically, but some of them

can also be used non-deictically.

There are different types of deictic words according to Fillmore, 1971:

-Person deixis which is based on person reference. Here we have the personal

pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)

-Place deixis which is based on place reference e.g. here, there, over there, etc.

-Time deixis which is based on time reference e.g. now, then, soon, tomorrow,

etc.

However, apart from these 3 types of deictic words we can add demonstratives

(this, these, that, those), adverbs ( here, there, now, today) and prepositions

(behind, before), and deictic expressions.e.g. (Fromkin et al., 2014, 166) It is

now 11:10. She is his mother. This is Jake. That is her boyfriend.

Compare these sentences:

1.a Sue Parker really likes it in Saratoga Springs. On January 26, 2021, there

was a winter farmers’ market. On January 27, 2021 a winterfest will be held in

Clifton Park. The winterfest will be a day of fun and excitement in and out of the

cold.
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1.b. I really like it in Saratoga Springs. Today there was a winter farmer’s

market. Tomorrow a winterfest will be held in Clifton Park. It will be a day of

excitement in and out of the cold.

Paragraph 1a is extremely explicit while paragraph 1.b. uses deictic terms such

as today, tomorrow, I, it. 1b sounds natural because we are used to interpreting

deictic terms as shortcuts.

There are words which have context-independent meanings, i.e. they will

always select the same referents in any context. e.g. Sue Parker and January

26, 2021 (proper nouns).

Likewise, there are words which have context-dependent meanings, i.e. that

their reference is determined in part by the context in which they are spoken.

We say “in part” because deictic words have restrictions. e.g.when we use

personal pronouns like they and she, they have human referent. Here and there

have locations as referents. While then and now have temporal referents.

However, the pronoun “I” always refers to the speaker.

Reference resolution. it is the process in which we look to the context in which

the pronoun is spoken to identify the referent.

The context can be Linguistic and situational. Linguistic context is anything that

has been spoken in the discourse before or along with the pronoun. Situational

context is anything non-linguistic (Fromkin et al., 2014, 167).

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Deixis Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LK-lc0wLf8&t=1s

8.3. Situational Context ( gestures, body

language)
Situational context refers to the gestures, pointing, or nodding when we

talk. e.g. when we say she went that way, we point a direction. Similarly, when

we say come, we move our hand towards us. Contrary when we say go we

move our hand towards the outside. When we agree with someone we nod our

head to say yes, and so on.

If we go to a store and we find a notice saying “We come back in 15

minutes” We would not know when they are coming back because we do not

know what time they left.i.e. we do not have the context.

Speakers of a language to describe situations, events, states orally or in written

form, however sometimes it is not clear. Therefore, context or speech situation

is used to complement Linguistic meaning.

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8.4. Linguistic Context

“ Linguistic context: the linguistic context refers to what has been said

already in the utterance. For example, if I begin a discussion by referring to

Jane Smith and in the next sentence refer to "her" as being a top notch athlete,

the linguistic context lets me know that the antecedent of "her" (the person "her"

refers to) is Jane Smith. Social context: the social context refers to the social

relationship among speakers and hearers. (https://n9.cl/bu5kc )”.

Pronouns can be resolved by the linguistic context in two ways:

sentence-internal linguistic context and sentence-external linguistic

context. Reflexive pronouns e.g. myself, yourself, himself, herself, etc. receive

its reference by sentence- internal linguistics. Reflexive pronouns require that

the sentence have another NP.

(an antecedent) that it can co-refer with. Likewise, a reflexive pronoun must

match the person, gender, and number of its antecedent.

e.g.

a. *Himself came

b. *Jake talks to herself.

Sentence a does not have an antecedent. While in sentence b, the reflexive

pronoun does not match with the antecedent. (Jake)

In addition, a reflexive pronoun not only needs an antecedent which matches

with it. The antecedent must be placed in the right position regarding the co-

referring reflexive pronoun.

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e.g.

a. Herself combed Sue.

Likewise. we can’t place another NP in between a reflexive pronoun and its

antecedent. e.g.

b. Jake said the lady hurt himself.

So, it is evident that pronouns receive their reference from their linguistic

context. Note that reflexive pronouns are picky; their reference can only be

resolved if they have an antecedent nearby in the right sort way.

Subject pronouns (I, you, he, she it, we, you, they) and object pronouns (me,

you, him, her, it, us, them) have their reference resolved via linguistic context.

They can have an antecedent in a previous sentence, or earlier in a

conversation, or even determined by context. Consider the following sentence.

c. Jake loves Italian food. He thinks it is tasty.

The pronoun “He” and “it” have their antecedent in the preceding sentence.

Likewise, in conversations it is unnecessary to have the antecedent in a

sentence spoken by the same speaker. For example, in the next discourse in

NY we have:

JAKE: Do you enjoy living in NY or in Italy?

MAGUS:I like living here not in Italy.

Deictic terms such as you, there, here, now,etc. require knowledge of the

situation (people involved, time, place, spatial orientation) of the phrase to be

interpreted referentially.

Note that we can separate an antecedent from its co-referring pronoun for

several sentences. However, speakers of a language easily can process

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sentences with several pronouns and their antecedents. Consider this

conversation:

JAKE: I am completely sure that the woman hits her husband.

MAGUS: Yeah, neighbors think she hits him.

The natural interpretation of Magus’s utterance is that she co-refers with the

woman in Jake’s utterance and “him” co-refers with her husband in Jake’s

utterance. This conversation shows a classic case of reference resolution via

linguistic context.

8.5. Implicature
Implicature is a technical term. We use it when we give someone to

understand or suggest indirectly through what we say, rather than stating it

explicitly what we think about something. Implicatures are the inferences that

are drawn in a conversation or in an utterance in context.

e.g.

a. If Jake says it is too hot here. The implicature could be Jake wants the

window will be open.

b. When we say Camila is meeting a guy at the mall. The implicature could

be the guy that Camila is meeting at the mall is not her brother, or father.

The guy is someone that she likes.

We provide more examples of conversational implicatures:

JAKE: Could you cook something for lunch?

MAGUS: I’ll order a pizza.

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In this conversation one of the implicature could be that Magus does not want

to cook, or maybe she can’t cook.

ALEXANDER: Do you think that Peter is handsome?

MAGUS: Well. Let’s just say he is not my type.

Here the implicature will be that Magus thinks that Peter is not handsome.

CAMILA: Do you get on well with your cousin?

MAGUS. He is a pain in the neck.

Finally in this conversation the implicature could be that Magus doesn’t get on

well with her cousin. He is annoying.

8.6 Maxims of Conversation or Cooperative

principles
Paul Grice, a British philosopher, formulated pragmatic rules. He

concluded that speakers of a language can understand implicatures because all

of them follow implicit principles. These principles were called by Grice

“maxims” of discourse

Maxim of Quality: Truth

-Do not say what you believe to be false

-Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence

Maxim of Quantity: Information

-Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of

the exchange.
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-Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Maxim of Relation: Relevance:

-Be relevant.

Maxim of Manner: Clarity

-Avoid obscurity of expression.

-Avoid ambiguity.

-Avoid unnecessary wordiness.

- Be orderly.

Speakers of all languages follow these “maxims of conversation” or cooperative

principles in order to communicate sincerely. Since they permit a speaker to

interpret “It’s hot in here” as “Open the windows” or “Turn on the AC.

A maxim of conversation is violated when a speaker does not cooperate with

another speaker in a conversation for whatever reason.

Here are a few examples of conversations in which the speakers do not violate

the maxims of conversations:

JAKE: It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?

MAGUS:Yeah. It’s a wonderful day.

CAMILA: She is a good girl. What do you think, Alejandro?

ALEJANDRO: No. I don’t think so.

Next we have examples of conversations in which the speakers violate the

maxims of conversations.

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CAMILA: What do you cook?

ALEJANDRO: food, food, food.

CAMILA: What are you reading?

DEAN: words, words, words,

In this context, Alejandro does not follow the Maxim of Quantity (Make your

contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of the

exchange). Alejandro is not saying enough to answer Camila’s question. He is

flouting the maxim to suggest that he doesn’t want Camila to know what he’s

cooking.

JAKE: He is an excellent cook, What do you think, Magus?

MAGUS: The food was ok.

Magus knows that the quality of the food isn’t relevant to being an excellent

cook. Jake assumes that Magus knows it and he understands that Magus is

implicating or insinuating that she doesn’t think that he is a good cook.

Considering that implicatures are the result of violation of one or more maxims,

they can be canceled by adding clarifying information. e.g.

JAKE: He is an excellent cook, What do you think, Magus?

MAGUS: The food was ok. David must have been cooking it for hours.

“David must have been cooking it for hours.” cancels or at least weakens, the

implicature that Magus does not think that David is an excellent cook.

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Implicatures are different from entailments. An entailment cannot be canceled. It

is logically necessary. The truth of Alexander is a black guy entails that

Alexander is not a white guy and no one can change it. With respect to

implicatures they can be canceled by world knowledge or verbal clarification.

Maxims of Conversation Retrieved from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnqRJV-

pJS8

8.7 Presupposition
Presuppositions are situations that must be true for utterances to be

appropriate (Fromkin et al., 2014, 177), so that eat some more cake has the

presuppositions “already had some cake”

The sentence Ecuador is located in South America presuppose the existence of

the country and the continent.

A negative presupposition like “I am NOT sorry for my mistakes” still needs “I

made mistakes” to adhere to the maxim of relevance. If you say Don't drink

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more whisky. The presupposition of previous whisky consumption would still be

needed.

Presuppositions are different from implicatures. You can cancel

implicatures however it happens when we cancel the presupposition. oh, she

didn’t fail the semester after all renders the entire utterance “I am sorry that she

failed the semester” inappropriate and violates Grice’s Maxims.

Likewise, presuppositions are different from entailments in the sense that

they are taken for granted by speakers adhering to the maxims of conversation.

Contrary entailments, presuppositions remain when the sentence is negated. In

this example the murdered murdered the president entails The president died,

no such entailment follows from The murderer didn’t murder the president.

Presupposition and Entailment. Retrieved from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Aud2KJxPMAg

8.8 Speech Acts

The theory of speech acts describe how speakers of a language use

language to make promises, lay bets, issue warnings, christen boats, nominate

people for a position, congratulate someone, or swear testimony.

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There are performative verbs e.g. bet, promise, warn, challenge, dare, fine,

nominate, resign, pronounce, etc. When you use these verbs in sentences in

the first person, present tense. You not only say something you warn, promise,

nominate, resign, etc.

Here we present some examples.

I promise to help you.

I resign.

I fine you $50 for forgetting to buy a train ticket.

I nominate Lilian for the English teacher position.

I dare you to be different.

I bet you forty-five dollars our team wins the soccer match.

I apologize for hurting you.

These sentences in first person are performative sentences since when you

utter these sentences some additional action is fulfilled, such as, daring,

nominating, resigning, fining, etc.

In order to identify performative verbs we can begin a sentence with I

with the words “ I hereby” Only performative sentences sound right when begun

this way.

e.g.

I hereby promise to help you.

I hereby resign.

I hereby fine you $50 for forgetting to buy a train ticket.

I hereby nominate Lilian for the English teacher position.

I hereby dare you to be different.

I hereby bet you forty-five dollars our team wins the soccer match.

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I hereby apologize for hurting you.

All these sentences contain performative verbs; so, the insertion of hereby is

acceptable. However, when we insert hereby to other verbs like write it sounds

strange. e.g. I hereby write to you.

8.9. Illocutionary force

Illocutionary force is the speaker’s intent in making an utterance i.e. its

underlying purpose. The utterance can be a reminder, a warning, a promise, a

threat, or whatever the illocutionary force of a speech act. With performative

verbs the illocutionary force is mentioned overtly. While with other verbs it must

be determined from context (Fromkin et al., 2014,177).

Here we provide two examples of illocutionary force.

a “See you tomorrow!” This phrase could be a reminder in friendly terms. or

maybe a warning, if you owe money to someone.

b “Don't come to class late” it could be a reminder or a warning according to the

context. As we see the importance of context is evident. Therefore, speech act

theory is a part of pragmatics (Fromkin et al., 2014, 175).

Complementary Resources

● Video about Pragmatics.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPwpk-YgvjQ

● Video about pragmatics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsPswzOBsK0
● Video about pragmatics.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xc0KUD1umw

Bibliography
Anderson, C. (2017). Chapter 6: Word forms. In Essentials of Linguistics. Press

Books. https://n9.cl/ubkd

The Free Dictionary by Farlex. (2021). The Free Dictionary by Farlex.

https://www.freethesaurus.com/deictic+word

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2014). An Introduction to

Language (Vol. 10th Edition). Wadsworth. https://n9.cl/9406t

Generate Press. (2021). Linguistics Study Guide. Linguistics Study

Guide. https://n9.cl/7ng8o

Glossary of Linguistic Terms. (2020). Glossary of Linguistic Terms.

Glossary of Linguistic Terms. https://n9.cl/y83q

Lingualinks Library. (2003). Glossary of Linguistic Terms. Glossary of

Linguistic Terms. https://glossary.sil.org/bibliography

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Oxford Reference. (2021). Oxford Reference.

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095

415248

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