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PragmaticsTeachingMaterialbyShermanZHENGSECTIONISurveyChapter1DefinitionsandbackgroundIWhatispragmatics?Readp.3-4Pragmaticscanbeusefullydefinedasthestudyofhowutteranceshavemeaningsinsituations(Leech,1983).Definitionsandbackground(1)Whenadiplomatsay“yes”,hemeans“perhaps”,whenhesays“perhapshemeans“no”;andwhenhesays“no”heisnodiplomatWhenaladysays“no”,shemeans“perhaps”,whenshesays“perhaps”shemeans“yes”andwhenshesays“yes”sheisnolady.(Voltaire)DefinitionsandbackgroundIITheoriginandthehistoricalvagariesofthetermpragmaticsThemodernusageofthetermpragmaticsisattributabletothephilosopherCharlesMorris(1983),whowasconcernedtooutlinethegeneralshapeofascienceofsigns,orsemiotics.Withinsemiotics,Morrisdistinguishedthreedistinctbranchesofinquiry:syntactics(orsyntax),beingthestudyof“theformalrelationofsignstooneanother”,semantics,thestudyof“therelationofsignstotheobjectstowhichthesignsareapplicable”(theirdesignata),andpragmatics,thestudyoftherelationofsignstointerpreters”(Levinson,1983)DefinitionsandbackgroundIIISemanticsandpragmaticsPragmaticsisthestudyofallthoseaspectsofmeaningnotcapturedinasmenatictheory.Or,asGazdar(1979:2)hasputit,assumingthatsemanticslimitedtothestatementoftruthconditions.Pragmaticshasasitstopicthoseaspectsofthemeaningofutteranceswhichcannotbeaccountedforbystraightforwardreferencetothetruthconditionsofthesentencesuttered.Putcrudely:PRAGMATICS=MEANING—TRUTHCONDITIONS.Definitionsandbackground(2)Whatdoesxmean?(3)Whatdidyoumeanbyx?Semanticstraditionallydealswithmeaningasadyadicrelation,asin(2),whilepragmaticsdealswithmeaningasatriadicrelation,asin(3).Thusmeaninginpragmaticsisdefinedrelativetoaspeakeroruserofalanguage,whereasmeaningsinsemanticsisdefinedpurelyasapropertyofexpressionsinagivenlanguage,inabstractionfromparticularsituations,speakers,orhearers.Definitionsandbackground(4)Donkeymeans“ass”.(5)WhenMissTrowoodsaidJanet!Donkeys!shemeantbythisremarkthatJanetwastodrivethedonkeysoffthelawn.Wemaynoteaboutmeaning(5)that(i)Itinvolvesthespeaker’sintentiontoconveyacertainwhichmay,ormaynot,beevidentfromthemessageitself.Definitionsandbackground(ii)Consequently,interpretationbythehearerofthismeaningislikelytodependoncontext;and(iii)Meanings,inthissense,issomethingwhichisperformend,ratherthansomethingthatexistsinteraction(themeaningbeing”negotiated”betweenspeakerandheareronthebasisoftheirmutualknowledge.)Thefollowingthenareoutwardcriteriaforjudgingwhetheraparticulardiscussionofmeaningtakesusintotherealmofpragmatics:Definitionsandbackground(a)Isreferencemadetoaddressersoraddressees,orspeakersorhearers?(b)Isreferencemadetotheintentionofthespeakerortheinterpretationofthehearer?(c)IsreferencemadetoContext？(d)Isreferencemadetothekindofactoractionperformedbymeansoforbyvirtueoflanguage?Iftheanswertooneormoreofthesequestionsisyes,thereisreasontosupposethatwearedealingwithpragmatics.DefinitionsandbackgroundIVAspectofspeechsituations1.Addressersoraddressees2.ThecontextofanutteranceOnewayofembarkingupontheanalysisofcontextistoaskwhatkindsofknowledgeafluentspeakerofalanguagemustpossessinordertoproduceandunderstandcontextuallyappropriateandcomprehensibleutterancesinthatlanguage.Letuslistsomeofthese:Definitionsandbackground(i)Eachoftheparticipantsmustknowhisroleandstatus.(ii)Theparticipantsmustknowwheretheyareinspaceandtime.(iii)Theparticipantsmustbeanbletocategorizethesituationintermsofitsdegreeofformality.Definitionsandbackground(iv)Theparticipantsmustknowthatmediumisappropriatetothesituation.(v)Theparticipantsmustknowhowtomaketheirutterancesappropriatetothesubject-matter;andtheimportanceofsubject-matterasadeterminantintheselectionofonedialectoronelanguageratherthananotherinbilingualormultilingualcommunities.(vi)Theparticipantmustknowhowtomaketheirutteranceappropriatetotheprovinceordomaintowhichthesituationbelongs.DefinitionsandbackgroundV.CurrentinterestinpragmaticsThereareanumberofconvergentreasonsforthegrowthofinterestinpragmatics.Someoftheseareessentiallyhistorical:theinterestdevelopedinpartasareactionorantidotetoChomsky’streatmentoflanguageasanabstractdevice,ormentalability,dissociablefromtheuses,usersandfunctionsoflanguage.DefinitionsandbackgroundButtherehavebeenpowerfulmotivationsofadifferentkind.Inthefirstplaceasknowledgeofthesyntax,phonologyandsemanticsofvariouslanguageshasincreased,ithasbecomeclearthattherearespecificphenomenathatcanonlynaturallybedescribedbyrecoursetocontextualconcepts.Ontheonehand,varioussyntactisrulesseemtobeproperlyconstrainedonlyifonereferstopragmaticconditions,similarlyformattersofstressandintonation.Theperformancetheoryofpragmaticsisassignedthejoboffilleringouttheacceptablesentences.Alternatively,pragmaticsandotherlinguisticcomponentsorlevelscanbeallowedtointeract.DefinitionsandbackgroundTherearealsoanumberofgeneralmotivationsforthedevelopmentofpragmatictheory.Oneofthemostimportantoftheseisthepossibilitythatpragmaticscaneffectaradicalsimplificationofsemantics.Thehopeisbasedonthefactthatpragmaticprinciplesoflanguageusagecanbeshownsystematically