pragmatics：an-introduction

•ContextisdynamicItistobeunderstoodasthecontinuallychangingsurroundings;enabletheparticipantsinthecommunicationprocesstointeractinwhichthelinguisticexpressionsoftheirinteractionbecomeintelligible.•Twoviews:“grammatical”context:thelinguisticelementsaredescribedinisolationThepresenceoffoodinthemouthwhilespeakingusingpronouns,propernames,articlesandsoone.g.Johnisapoliceman.机房的窗台上很乱。•“user-oriented”context:howtheselinguisticelementsareusedinthecontextofinteraction.9”MAXIMUMLOOP‘Allow[thetowel]tohangamaximumof9inches’(inSpanish)context•ContextisactionContextisaboutunderstandingwhatthingsarefor;whatgivesourutterancestheirtruepragmaticsmeaningandallowsthemtobecountedastruepragmaticacts.e.g.It’salongtimesincewevisitedyourmother.她还没有来。我想跟你去。Yourboy’s…different.(ForrestGump)--IsthereaMr.Gump,Mrs.Gump?--He’sonvacation.•Registerone’sattitudetowardstheirinterlocutorsformalvs.informal您好！你好！/您请坐。坐吧context•ContextandconventionMeaningcanbenatural,butlanguageisconventional.Thereisnoimmediate,naturalconnectionbetweenawordandwhatexpressed.•Comparison:linguisticmeaningvs.generalparadoxoflanguagenon-naturalnaturalsentencemeaningthedesiretocommunicatepurelyconventionaltheneedtoexpressthemselveswithinrulesofgrammarandcontextcontext•Contextandconventiongeneralparadoxoflanguagevs.Specificparadoxofpragmaticsnaturalsocialconventional,thedesiretocommunicatelinguisticmeanstheneedtoexpressthemselvesexpressindividualintentions•Conclusion•Thecontextdeterminesbothwhatonecansayandwhatonecannotsay;onlythepragmaticsofthesituationcangivemeaningtoone’swords.contextContextandhumor例:爷爷:他在乡里等你呢,哎呀,乡里布置老隆重了,乡长书记都站在那排队等你呢,雇一个大厅,完事儿弄一个大房间,给你弄一个大照片挂中间,周围全是花呀!爷爷:白的黄的都有啊,可漂亮了,真的,老百姓都拿着笔等着,等着都哭啦,等你呢!欢迎会？追悼会？毕老师:老哥,那花都是什么颜色的?implicature•1implicatureisderivedfromtheverbtoimplytofoldsomethingintosomethingelse.•2Conversationalimplicature:somethingwhichisimpliedinconversation,thatis,somethingwhichisleftimplicitinactuallanguageuseimplicationversusimplicature•implication:1,apossibleeffectorresultofanactionoradecision•2,somethingthatissuggestedorindirectlystated•3,thefactofbeinginvolved,orofinvolvingsbinsth,escepiallyacrime•Implicatureisatechnicalterminthepragmaticssubfieldoflinguistics,coinedbyH.P.Grice,whichreferstowhatissuggestedinanutterance,eventhoughneitherexpressednorstrictlyimplied(thatis,entailed)bytheutterance.[1]Forexample,thesentenceMaryhadababyandgotmarriedstronglysuggeststhatMaryhadthebabybeforethewedding,butthesentencewouldstillbestrictlytrueifMaryhadherbabyaftershegotmarried.•Further,ifweaddthequalification—notnecessarilyinthatordertotheoriginalsentence,thentheimplicatureiscancelledeventhoughthemeaningoftheoriginalsentenceisnotaltered.implicationsandimplicatures•Implicatureisanalternativetoimplication,whichhasadditionalmeaningsinlogicandinformallanguage.[citationneeded]•implicationdefinesalogicalrelationshipbetweentwopropositions.•p:youcleantheketchenroom•q:Iwilltakeyououttodinner•pimpliesq,logically,nonpdoesnotimplynonq•logicandeverydaylifedonotalwayslookatthingsthesameway.conversationalimplicature•conversationalimplicatureconcernsthewayweunderstandanutteranceinconversationinaccordancewithwhatweexpecttohear.•Toknowwhatpeoplemean,youhavetointerpretwhattheysay•CPPrinciple:1themaximofquatity2themaximofquality•3themaximofrelation4themaximofmanner•LeechInterpretinganutteranceisultimatelyamatterofguesswork,orhypothesisformation•Thomasinconversationalinteraction,peopleworkontheassumptionthatacertainsetofrulesisinopration,unlesstheyreceiveindicationstothecontraryCaseAnalysis•Forrest:You’reamomma，Jenny.•Jenny:I’mamomma.HisnameisForrest.•Forrest:Likeme.•Jenny:InamedhimafterhisDaddy.•Forrest:HegotadaddynamedForrest，too?•在上述对话中，珍妮同样违反了数量准则，她没有使自己所说的话达到交谈的现时目的所要求的详尽程度。珍妮想告诉阿甘他就是孩子的父亲，可是她没有直说，而是间接地表达了自己的意思。观众可以很清楚地理解其中的会话含义，但是阿甘的智商决定了他没能理解其中真意而是继续询问，这种对于会话含义的不解风情毫无疑问会使了解真相的观众感到好笑。•Lt.Dan:What’swrongwithyourlips?•Bubba:Iwasbornwithbiggums，sir.•Lt.Dan:Yeah，well，youbettertuckthatin.Gonnagetthatcaughtonatripwire.•这是阿甘和巴布到越南参加越战，刚到战地时丹中尉和巴布的对话。巴布天生厚嘴唇，丹中尉对这一点并非不了解，但他用取笑的口吻说“最好把你的嘴唇收起来，否则会拖到地雷上”。这无疑是一种夸张的说法，违反了合作原则中的质量准则，说了自己认为是不真实的话。这种对于质量准则的违反产生了幽默效果，同时让观众从会话含义中了解到越南有很多的地雷，不小心就会一命呜呼。•Forrest：Willyoumarryme?I’dmakeagoodhusband，Jenny.•Jenny:Youwould，Forrest.•Forrest:Butyouwon’tmarryme.•Jenny:Youdon’twanttomarryme.•Forrest:Whydon’tyouloveme，Jenny?I’mnotasmartman，butIknowwhatloveis.•这一对话同样违反了关联准则，珍妮对于阿甘的求婚没有给出直接的答复，而是说了一些不相关的话。珍妮话中的会话含义是显而易见的———她不想和阿甘结婚。从影片中阿甘在求婚之前若有所思的样子观众可以推断出阿甘对于这次求•婚的重视程度，所以这一次阿甘似乎对珍妮回答中的会话含义有所领悟，这个对话并没有产生幽默效果，而是发人深思，观众对于珍妮的拒绝也必须进行思考。husband:letustakethechildrentoeatsomething.wife:OK,butnoti-c-e-c-r-e-a-m违反了方式原则，很显然，妻子用拼写的方法说出这个单词的真实含义是，不要给孩子们买冰淇林，但又不想被孩子听到。conventionalimplicature•conventionalimplicature:themeaningimpliedbycertainexpressionsthemselves.Eg:accent•theveryconventionswhichgovernitsusearehistoricallydeveloped,culturespecificandclassrelatedConventionalimplicature•Conventionalimplicatureisindependentofthecooperat