Pragmatics

Description

- Explain the concept of deixis and recognize the importance of distance in relation to the study of pragmatics. - Define reference and inference. - Identify the different types of preseuppositions and politeness strategies. - List the conversational maxims and hedges and identify the types of implicatures. - Classify different types of speech acts and recognize the structure of conversation and preference. - Discuss the pragmatic importance of nonverbal communication as well as the relationship between discourse and culture. - Categorize types of deictic expressions. - Analyze texts to determine the reference and inference. - Distinguish types of presuppositions and implicatures. - Identify types of speech acts and politeness strategies. - Analyze conversations for conversational maxims and preference structure. - Examine the role of nonverbal communication and culture in creating pragmatic meaning. - Apply pragmatic theories to written and spoken texts of various genres. - Employ the pragmatic concepts introduced such as deixis, presuppositions, implicature and inference within a more general framework of communication. - Illustrate instances of pragmatic failure due to culture or other factors. - Employ various frameworks such as politeness strategies, speech acts and conversation analysis to examine different conversations.

Program

Language & Translation Department

Objectives

• This course provides an introduction to pragmatics, an important sub-field of linguistics that studies contextualized meaning. Students learn to examine the relationship between the meaning of an utterance and its context. A wide range of topics are introduced, including conversational maxims, politeness strategies and speech acts. The course touches upon important pragmatic concepts such as presupposition, implicature, reference, and inference. Students are also introduced to the role of nonverbal communication in creating pragmatic meaning. Students engage in analyzing different types of utterances and their meanings as they are shaped by different pragmatic factors.