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Pragmatics and Semantics: An Empiricist Theory
by Carol A. KatesWhat is the nature of communicative competence? Carol A. Kates addresses this crucial linguistic question, examining and finally rejecting the rationalistic theory proposed by Noam Chomsky and elaborated by Jerrold J. Katz, among others. She sets forth three reasons why the rationalistic model should be rejected: (1) it has not been supported by empirical tests; (2) it cannot accommodate the pragmatic relation between speaker and sign; and (3) the theory of universal grammar carries with it unacceptable metaphysical implications unless it is interpreted in light of empiricism. Kates proposes an empiricist model in place of the rationalistic theory—a model that, in her view, is more consistent with recent findings in linguistics and psycholinguistics. In attempting to clarify the nature of utterance meaning, Kates develops theoretical perspectives on phenomenological empiricism and produces an account of reference and intentionality directly relevant to empirically based theories of speaking and understanding. Among the major topics addressed in the book are transformational-generative and universal grammar, cognitive theories of language acquisition, pragmatic structure, predication and topic-comment structure, and empiricism and the philosophical problem of universals. An innovative and probing work, Pragmatics and Semantics: An Empiricist Theory will be welcomed by philosophers, linguists, and psycholinguists.
The Pragmatics and Semiotics of Standard Languages (G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects)
by Albert SweetSweet describes the pragmatic foundations of standard logic and applies these foundations to the task of developing a theory of intended models as an extension of standard model theory in which the relevant "intending" is represented pragmatically. Methods of formal logic are used to investigate the structure of the relation between language and the world. The truism which holds that this relation includes the speaker as well as the object spoken about is formally explicated and applied to the problem of illuminating one of the deepest phenomena in standard model theory: the existence of non-isomorphic models of complete theories. To this end it is shown that standard logic admits pragmatic foundations upon which a theory of intended models can be built as an extension of standard model theory. The relevant "intending" is represented by the very forms of verbal behavior which determine the grammatical and logical structure of the sentences whose referential meaning is in question. The uniqueness properties of the class of intended models may then be described.The first section of the book states the immediate goal of standard pragmatics as that of recovering the algebraic structure first-order logic by means of a purely pragmatic construction. The second section, the major portion of the work, then provides the foundation for a semiotic theory of intended models and referential meaning. The theory is then applied to the problem of referential indeterminancy, which has been associated with the phenomenon of scientific revolutions. The theory is also applied to the problem of the apparent synonymy of observationally equivalent theories. Sweet concludes that such theories are not referentially synonymous in any natural sense which is analogous to the paradigm sense in which theories of alternative scales of measurement are referentially synonymous.A novel feature of this book is the formal explication of the idea that the factors, pragmatical in nature, which distinguish the actual meaning of a sentence from among its possible meanings, whose range is defined by the manner in which the sentence is parsed, determine that very parsing. Applicability to natural language of the model-theoretic semantics thereby obtained is made possible by another feature of the book: the development of a theory of locally standard grammar which provides the foundation for representing the structure of natural language as that of standard first-order logic, in a local, as distinguished from a global, sense.This book is intended for scholars in logic, semiotics, and the philosophies of language and of science. Those concerned specifically with such philosophers as Peirce, Martin, and Davidson will also find the study valuable.
Pragmatics: The Basics (The Basics)
by Billy ClarkPragmatics: The Basics is an accessible and engaging introduction to the study of verbal and nonverbal communication in context. Including nine chapters on the history of pragmatics, current theories, the application of pragmatics, and possible future developments in the field, this book: Offers a comprehensive overview of key ideas in contemporary pragmatics and how these have developed from and beyond the pioneering work of the philosopher Paul Grice; Draws on real-world examples such as political campaign posters and song lyrics to demonstrate how we convey and understand direct and indirect meanings; Explains the effects of verbal, nonverbal, and multimodal communication and how the same words or behaviour can mean different things in different contexts, including what makes utterances more or less polite; Highlights key terms and concepts throughout and provides chapter-end study questions, further reading suggestions, and a glossary. Written by an experienced researcher and teacher, this book will be an essential introduction to this topic for all beginning students of English Language and Linguistics.
Pragmatics for Language Educators: A Sociolinguistic Perspective (ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series)
by Virginia LoCastroMaking pragmatics accessible to a wide range of students and instructors without dumbing down the content of the field, this text for language professionals: raises awareness and increases knowledge and understanding of how human beings use language in real situations to engage in social action fosters the ability to think critically about language data and use helps readers develop the ability to "do pragmatics" The book features careful explanations of topics and concepts that are often difficult for uninitiated readers, a wealth of examples, mostly of natural speech from collected data sources, and attention to the needs of readers who are non-native speakers of English, with non-Western perspectives offered when possible. Suggested Readings, Tasks, Discussion Questions, and Data Analysis sections involve readers in extending and applying what they are reading. The exercises push readers to recall and synthesize the content, elicit relevant personal experiences and other sources of information, and engage in changing their own interactional strategies. The activities go beyond a predictable framework to invite readers to carry out real life observations and experiment to make doing pragmatics a nonjudgmental everyday practice.
Pragmatics, Grammar and Meaning in SLA (Elements in Second Language Acquisition)
by Aoife K. Ahern José Amenós-Pons Pedro Guijarro-FuentesThis Element explores the role of pragmatics, and its relationship with meaning and grammar, in second language acquisition. Specifically, this Element examines the generative paradigm, with its focus on purely linguistic aspects, in contrast with, and complemented by, the view of language adopted in the wider perspective on communication that Relevance Theory offers. It reviews several theoretical standpoints on how linguistic phenomena that require combining semantic, pragmatic and syntactic information are acquired and developed in second languages, illustrating how these perspectives are brought together in analysing data in different linguistic scenarios. It shows that the notion of procedural meaning casts light on the range of interpretative effects of grammatical features and how they vary across languages, suggesting ways to complete the picture of the interface factors that affect second language development.
Pragmatics in English: An Introduction (Cambridge Introductions to the English Language)
by Kate ScottPragmatics – the study of language in context, and of how we understand what other people say – is a core subject in English language, linguistics, and communication studies. This textbook introduces the key topics in this fast-moving field, including metaphor, irony, politeness, disambiguation, and reference assignment. It walks the reader through the essential theories in pragmatics, including Grice, relevance theory, speech act theory, and politeness theory. Each chapter includes a range of illustrative examples, guiding readers from the basic principles to a thorough understanding of the topics. A dedicated chapter examines how research is conducted in pragmatics, providing students with resources and ideas for developing their own projects. Featuring exercises, a comprehensive glossary, and suggestions for further reading, this book is accessible to beginner undergraduates, including those with no prior knowledge of linguistics. It is an essential resource for courses in English language, English studies, and linguistics.
Pragmatics in English Language Learning
by Nicola Halenko Jiayi WangWritten by an international team of experts, this groundbreaking book explores the benefits and challenges of developing pragmatic competence in English as a target language, inside and outside the classroom, and among young and adult learners. The chapters present a range of first language contexts, including China, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico and Norway, to provide international perspectives on how different first languages present varying challenges for developing pragmatic awareness. The book outlines cutting-edge techniques for investigating spoken and written pragmatic competence, and offers practical teaching solutions, both face-to-face and online. It also examines underexplored areas of L2 pragmatics research, such as young learner groups, the effects of textbook materials, study abroad contexts and technology-mediated instruction and assessment. Innovative and comprehensive, this volume is a unique contribution to the field of L2 pragmatics, and will be essential reading for researchers, course developers, language teachers and students.
Pragmatics in Korean and Japanese Translation
by Jieun Kiaer Ben CaganThis book explores how the greater amount of pragmatic information encoded in Korean and Japanese can result in pragmatic (in)visibility when translating between those languages and English. Pragmatic information must be added when translating from English to Korean or Japanese and is easily lost when translating in the other direction. This book offers an analysis of translations in Japanese and Korean of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and The Hobbit, or There and Back Again to show how the translated versions crystallise the translators’ interpretations of relationships in the way characters address one another. This book discusses fan translations of Korean and Japanese to English of various popular media, observing that the emotional meanings easily lost when translating in this direction are often deemed important enough to warrant the insertion of additional explanatory material. The book additionally discusses the role of fan translation in the construction of international online communities and a heightened communal commentary on translation. Western translation commentary has historically lacked sufficient emphasis on translation to and from East Asian languages, and these case studies help to address a problem of central importance to translation to and from languages that encode interpersonal dynamics in dramatically different ways to English. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in translation studies, particularly in Korean and Japanese translation. The book will also appeal to students and researchers of the Korean and Japanese languages.
Pragmatics in Language Teaching: From Research to Practice (Research and Resources in Language Teaching)
by Júlia Barón María Luz Celaya Peter WatkinsThis innovative book links theory to practice with regard to teaching pragmatics. In laying out why this is useful, how it is achievable, and what to teach when it comes to pragmatics, this book outlines the theoretical background and offers a wide range of hands-on activities. While offering coverage of timely issues like pragmatics in text messaging, the authors expertly provide further guidance for developing pragmatics curricula for learners of different ages and languages, and at different proficiency levels in a research-based, practical way. This reader-friendly resource gives pre- and in-service FL/L2 teachers the tools and confidence to understand and implement these principles in the classroom and beyond. Advanced students and researchers of applied linguistics, education, and psychology, as well as curriculum developers, teacher trainers, and aspiring teachers around the world – and their students – will benefit from this unique book.
Pragmatics in the Health Sciences (Elements in Pragmatics)
by Maria Garraffa Greta MazzaggioThis Element aims to address a gap in the literature at the intersection of linguistics, particularly pragmatics, and health sciences, such as speech and language pathology. The first section introduces the application of pragmatics concepts in healthcare and neuroscience. Section 2 discusses the development of pragmatic abilities in childhood, focusing on pragmatic communication disorder. Section 3 reviews studies on pragmatic abilities in adolescents, adults, and clinical populations, including assessments of pragmatic skills in ageing. Section 4 broadens the scope by exploring pragmatic impairments in new populations. The final section reflects on the importance of pragmatics in healthcare practice, introducing studies on mental health and intercultural pragmatics. Each section proposes discussion points to contextualise the research within debates on health pragmatics. The Element also includes a glossary (available as online supplementary material) to assist interdisciplinary audiences in understanding clinical pragmatics terminology.
Pragmatics of Conditional Marking: Implicature, Scalarity, and Exclusivity (Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics)
by Scott SchwenterFirst Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Pragmatics of Governmental Discourse: Resilience, Sustainability and Wellbeing (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Ayan-Yue GuptaThis book presents a novel methodological framework for analysing governmental discourse. It involves combining pragmatist perspectives on language with computational sociolinguistics and large language models (LLMs).The first half discusses traditional critical approaches to investigating discursive practices, principally those employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and those based on methods developed by Michel Foucault. These are critiqued in terms of pragmatist views on meaning, which are rarely taken up in this area. It is argued that to understand the grounding of social structures and power relations in discourse, we must begin with a systematic account of how meaning is contextually fixed. It is proposed that a pragmatist reading of Foucault’s arguments about governmentality offers a productive framework for discourse analysis. To illustrate the advantages of this framework, the book presents a case study of the British government’s adoption of resilience, sustainability, and wellbeing discourses in the period 2000-2020. A dataset of 179 million tokens sampled from approximately 170,000 government documents is used to illustrate how this framework can be combined with natural language processing (NLP) to make robust inferences.This study will be of interest to both sociologists interested in language and in the methodological potential of recent developments in NLP. Importantly, the book demonstrates how LLMs can be harnessed to bring new perspectives to long-standing sociological questions.
The Pragmatics of Indirect Reports
by Alessandro CaponeThis monograph on indirect reports offers insights on the semantics/pragmatics interface and a refinement of the notion of explicature. The volume is written in an engaging style and guides the reader through the theoretical problems and their ramifications. The thorniest problem in the study of indirect reports is their polyphonic nature, and how the listener distinguishes between the reporter's voice and the original speaker's voice, either by contextual clues or, in the absence of such clues, by resorting to pragmatic principles. The introductory chapter discusses the main issues that will be addressed in the volume. The next chapters focus on the various aspects of indirect reports, covering both theory and practical applications.
Pragmatics of Internet Humour
by Francisco YusThis book provides a first thorough analysis of internet humour from a cognitive-pragmatic perspective, covering a wide range of discourses that are pervasive online and focusing especially on messaging interactions, social networking sites and memes. Its chapters describe the inferential strategies implemented to turn online coded discourses into meaningful interpretations, which in turn can be devised and manipulated for the sake of humour. Furthermore, and apart from the typical object of pragmatic research (humorous discourses), the book emphasises the importance of the interfaces’ design and of the qualities of the users engaged in humorous interactions (called contextual constraints), additionally highlighting the parallel significance of the various effects, shaped as feelings and emotions, that stem from humorous communication on the internet. In sum, the book delivers a rich and detailed account of humorous internet discourses through dissecting their affordances as a medium, tracking the users’ intentions, and predicting the audiences’ interpretive strategies, with the goal of helping the reader obtain a better understanding of internet humour and its role in today’s online interactions.
The Pragmatics of Literary Testimony: Authenticity Effects in German Social Autobiographies (Routledge Studies in Rhetoric and Stylistics #4)
by Chantelle WarnerIn this book, Warner examines a number of German-language literary autobiographies that are connected to diverse social movements of the last forty years. These books have all received critical attention from the popular press, topped bestseller lists, and have been pivotal in discussions of authenticity, subjectivity, and referentiality. Because of the thematic diversity of these works, scholars within literary and cultural studies have tended to treat them separately under topical categories, such as women’s literature, the post-war generation, migration and multiculturalism, etc. Underlying Warner’s analysis is the belief that the social construction of autobiographical acts is as much a matter of textuality as it is of topicality i.e., how language means, rather than what it means, and that a pragmatic-stylistic approach is well-suited to describing how literary autobiographies come to function as testimonies to certain collective experiences. By presenting a model for an integrative stylistics approach, The Prgamatics of Literary Testimony participates in current discussions within fields of literary linguistic scholarship, as well as autobiographical theory. In its analysis of key examples of German social testimonies from the late twentieth century, this book incorporates insights from discourse analysis, pragmatics, cogntive poetics, and sociolinguistics in order to demonstrate that this diverse body of works constitutes a particular form of textual practice defined by what the author calls authenticity effects—feelings of realism, immediacy, exemplarity, genuineness, and social relevance. Such a study of authenticity as a poetic effect, can help us to better understand the testimonial glamour owned by various types of autobiographical narration.
The Pragmatics of Managing Negative Emotions in a Chinese Context (Routledge Research on New Waves in Pragmatics)
by Rong LeiDrawing from rich, naturally occurring language data and synthesizing insights from the fields of interpersonal pragmatics and Chinese interpersonal communication, this book presents a compelling exploration of the management of negative emotions through an interpersonal pragmatics lens.The volume seeks to answer a number of key questions at the intersection of these two fields, including: how do negative interpersonal emotions manifest in the context of Chinese culture? What connections exist between emotions and interpersonal dynamics? In what ways are these emotions intertwined with the moral framework of Chinese society? How are such negative emotions effectively navigated and regulated? The analysis goes beyond mere examination of emotional expressions, delving into the cultural nuances that shape the understanding and handling of emotions. The book elucidates, for instance, how unmet ganqing expectations can trigger emotions like anger and sadness, and in turn, the employment of rapport management strategies in their mitigation.The book provides profound insights into a previously overlooked and little understood area of study, making it of interest to students and researchers in pragmatics, discourse analysis, communication studies, and psychotherapy.
The Pragmatics of Multiword Terms: The Impact of Context (Routledge Research on New Waves in Pragmatics)
by Melania Cabezas-GarcíaThis book explores the pragmatics of specialized language with a focus on multiword terms, complex phrases characterized by sequences of nouns or adjectives whose meaning is clarified in the unspecified but implicit links between them, with implications for their use and translation.The volume adopts an innovative approach rooted in Frame-Based Terminology which allows for the analysis of multiword – compound terms in specialized language, such as horizontal-axis wind turbine – term formation from an integrated semantic and pragmatic perspective. The book features data from a corpus on wind power in English, Spanish, and French comprising such specialized texts as research articles, books, reports, and PhD theses to consider term extraction and the identification of terminological correspondences. Cabezas-García highlights the ways in which pragmatic analysis is an integral part of understanding multiword terms, due to the necessary inference of information implicit within them, with applications for future research on pragmatics and specialized language more broadly.This book will be of interest to students and researchers in pragmatics, semantics, corpus linguistics, and terminology.
The Pragmatics of Revision: George Moore’s Acts of Rewriting
by Siobhan ChapmanThis book presents the first full-length study of the stylistically experimental and influential novelist George Moore’s (1852-1933) repeated acts of rewriting. Moore extensively and repeatedly revised and re-issued many of his major works, sometimes years or even decades after they were initially published. This monograph provides new insights into how this process shaped and determined his work, and by extension into the creative significance of literary rewriting more generally. It also offers the first sustained application of linguistic pragmatics, the study of meaning in interaction, to the work of a single author, opening up questions about how analytical paradigms developed in pragmatics can explain how rewriting can affect the interactive relationship between a literary text and its readers. The book will be of interest to students and researchers in the areas of pragmatics, stylistics, literary history, English literature and Irish literature.
The Pragmatics of Style (Routledge Library Editions: Linguistics)
by Leo HickeyIn the general area of style study or stylistics there is no shortage of ideas, definitions or published works. It is hoped, in the present volume, to contribute to the prosperity of the discipline mainly by clarifying and exemplifying how pragmatic considerations may be relevant to any study of style, in the conviction that pragmastylistics is more interesting and useful than stylistics on its own. The starting point must be a brief survey of the definitions and style and stylistics. The very form of the latter term suggests a scientific and orderly, rather than an intuitive or impressionistic, investigation of style. There are two separate levels of study: one, a general, methodical and scientific discipline; the other, an application of its methods or postulates to the analysis of the ‘style’ of a specific utterance, text, speaker, writer, movement or period. It is clear that, in order to approach either, we must first attempt to understand style.
The Pragmatics of Text Messaging: Making Meaning in Messages (Routledge Research in Language and Communication)
by Michelle A. McSweeneyThis book provides a comprehensive linguistic exploration of textism use by bilingual young adults, illustrating the function of alternative and creative linguistic features and their role in conveying tone through text. Drawing on a corpus of nearly 45,000 text messages donated by bilingual young adults in New York City, this volume explores the ways in which the use of texting features such as ‘lol,’ emojis, abbreviations, and acronyms is systematic and essential. In part, toward the aim of exposing the tensions bilinguals face navigating a platform that preferences monolingual language practices, the book highlights creativity as a means of both constructing meaning and performing identity for bilingual youths. These findings are extended to explore the role texting plays in communication and identity construction in contemporary society more generally. This volume extends the boundaries of emerging research on language and digital communication, and will be of particular interest to graduate students and scholars in computer-mediated communication, pragmatics, and new media.
Pragmatics Online (Language and Digital Media)
by Kate ScottPragmatics Online examines the use and interpretation of language and communication in digitally mediated contexts. It provides insight into how meaning is communicated online, with a focus on how users negotiate and navigate the constraints and resources of social media sites and other online contexts. The book introduces key concepts in the study of digital contexts and online communication, and discusses how these can be understood from the perspective of pragmatics. Each chapter examines a different topic and includes an overview of key research alongside original pragmatic analyses of data. Topics include sharing and liking, emoji and emotions, memes, and clickbait. Kate Scott focuses on how ideas and topics from pragmatics can be applied to mediated contexts, irrespective of the particular media. The book is an essential guide to the pragmatics of online discourse and behaviour for students and researchers working in the areas of digital pragmatics, language and media, and English language, linguistics, and communication studies.
Pragmatics Pedagogy in English as an International Language (Routledge Advances in Teaching English as an International Language Series)
by Zia Tajeddin and Minoo AlemiPragmatics Pedagogy in English as an International Language aims to bring to light L2 pragmatics instruction and assessment in relation to English as an International Language (EIL). The chapters in this book deal with a range of pedagogically related topics, including the historical interface between L2 pragmatics and EIL, reconceptualization of pragmatic competence in EIL, intercultural dimension of pragmatics pedagogy in EIL, teacher pragmatic awareness of instruction in the context of EIL, pragmatics of politeness in EIL, pragmatic teaching materials for EIL pedagogy, teachers’ and scholars’ perceptions of pragmatics pedagogy in EIL, assessment and assessment criteria in EIL-aware pragmatics, and methods for research into pragmatics in EIL. This book is different from other books about both EIL pedagogy and pragmatics pedagogy. Exploring the interface between different dimensions of pragmatics pedagogy and EIL, it suggests instructional and assessment tasks for EIL-aware pedagogy and directions for research on EIL-based pragmatics pedagogy. Pragmatics Pedagogy in English as an International Language will be useful for a range of readers who have an interest in the pragmatics instruction and assessment of EIL as well as those whose main area of specialization is EIL but would like to know how EIL, with its rich conceptual and empirical background, can go beyond linguistic instruction to embrace the instruction of pragmatic competence.
Pragmatics, Semantics And The Case Of Scalar Implicatures
by Salvatore Pistoia RedaThis book is an advanced debate on the nature of scalar implicatures, one of the most popular topics in philosophical linguistics in the last 20 years. Leading theorists in the field offer an up-to-date presentation of the subject in a way that will help readers to orient themselves in the vast literature on the topic.
Pragmatics, Utterance Meaning, and Representational Gesture (Elements in Pragmatics)
by Jack WilsonHumans produce utterances intentionally. Visible bodily action, or gesture, has long been acknowledged as part of the broader activity of speaking, but it is only recently that the role of gesture during utterance production and comprehension has been the focus of investigation. If we are to understand the role of gesture in communication, we must answer the following questions: Do gestures communicate? Do people produce gestures with an intention to communicate? This Element argues that the answer to both these questions is yes. Gestures are (or can be) communicative in all the ways language is. This Element arrives at this conclusion on the basis that communication involves prediction. Communicators predict the behaviours of themselves and others, and such predictions guide the production and comprehension of utterance. This Element uses evidence from experimental and neuroscientific studies to argue that people produce gestures because doing so improves such predictions.
Pragmatism and Historical Representation (Elements in Historical Theory and Practice)
by Serge GrigorievNo prominent pragmatist philosopher to date has offered us a fully developed theory of history or historical interpretation. Nevertheless, a number of pivotal arguments and suggestions made by the pragmatists appeared to many both insightful and pertinent enough to offer a distinctive promise of a cohesive and distinctive general pragmatist perspective in historical theory. The present contribution is intended to secure some advances in this direction, focusing on the relationships between objectivity and perspective; between representation as an accurate correspondence to reality and the social, cultural sense of representation as being represented and being representative; as well as the relationship between individualizing comprehension and generalizing abstraction in historical contexts.