Pragmatic: Pragmatic is the study of what speakers mean.

it concerned with the study of

the meaning as communicated by the speaker or writer and interpreted by listener or reader.
it has, consequently, more to do with the analysis of what people mean by the utterances
then what the phrases in those utterances might mean by themselves

Context: Context is the part of a written or spoken statements that proceed of following a
specific word or passage in order to help us understand the meaning.

Types of context:
1- Situational knowledge context: what speakers know about what they can see around
them.
2- Background knowledge context: what speakers know about each other and the world.
3- Co-textual context: What speakers know about, what they have been said.
4- Reference: is the words we use to identify things are in some direct relationship with
other things
5- Inference: is the connecting prior knowledge to text based information to create
meaning beyond what is directly stated. And inference have 3 types:
- Pre-supposition: the assumption prior to make an utterance. It’s something the
speaker assumes to be the case before making an utterance.
 Existential pre-supposition: it’s assumed to be present in possessive
constructions and in any definite noun phrase.
 Lexical pre-supposition: it is the assumption that in using one word the speaker
can act as if another meaning will be understood.
 Factive pre-supposition: it is the assumption that something is true due to the
presence of verbs such as: know, realize, aware….
 Non Factive pre-supposition: it is the assumption referred to something that is
untrue. following words like: dream, imagine, pretend.
 Counterfactual pre-supposition: it is the assumption that what we pre-suppose
is untrue and contrary to facts at the same time.
 Structural pre-supposition: it is the assumption associated with the use of certain
words and phrases like: “where did he leave? “the pre-supposition is that “he
left “.
- Entailment: it is defined as what is logically follows from what is asserted in the
utterance
- Implicature: the third type of inference which is the result of violating or not
respecting (the conversational maxims).

Implicatures: an implicature is a type of inference which accounts for any meaning

conveyed indirectly or through hint. And understood implicitly without ever being explicitly
stated. (what is the meaning behind what we said). Eg: I would like some coffee (meaning
coffee makes me awake) .

Types of Implicatures:
1- Conversational implicature: derives from the cooperative principle of conversation
and a number of maxims expected to be followed by participants in a speech event.
Example: A: do you like linguistics? / B: I don’t jump for joy before the class.
A asked B about his feelings about the class, and B said that he’s not interested in linguistics.
And according to Paul Grice there are several principles which people implicitly obey when
communicate, these principals are called (the conversional maxims):
 Maxims of Quantity: (be precise) don't say too much and don't say too little.
Be as informative as required (as possible).
 Maxims of Quality: (be sincere) Tell the truth and don't lie (be honest).
 Maxims of Relation: (be relevant) stick to the topic.
 Maxims of Manner: (be clear) your speech should be clear, orderly and not
ambiguous.
Cooperative Principles (Conversational Maxims) can either:
Violate (infringe): when the speaker lies on purpose to mislead the listener.
Opt out: when you tell to the interlocutor that you don't want to be cooperative. example:
Student: Tell us about the next exam.
Teacher: forget about it or It's confidential
Flout / exploit: when there are many different purposes to not give direct answers. (in
order not to be embarrassed or hurt someone's feelings).
Characteristics of Conversational implicature:
A/- It can be: cancel / deny or reinforce
Exp1: I'd like a cup of coffee (The intended meaning is Buy me a cup of coffee.) if the
listener said why should I buy you a cup of coffee since I don't know you. Here the listener
denies his request and say I didn't mean that.
Exp2 about reinforcement:
- Did you inform the students about the exam?
 - I didn't meet them (there is no answer and it's not explicit) he can reinforce his saying by
adding:
I tried my best, but it was in vain. or there is no way to inform them or they were all absent
B/- Non-conventional: different interpretations in different contexts.
C/- Non-detachable: the implicature remains true even when we express the utterance
differently.
Exp: Did you inform them about the party?
- I didn't meet them / I didn't see them (by changing "meet" by "see" the meaning is the
same).

2- Conventional Implicature: it is not based on the cooperative principle or the maxims,

it doesn’t have to occur in conversion and do not depend on special contexts for their
interpretation. however, it is associated with specific words and result in additional
conveyed meanings when those words are used: but, even, yet ….
- (but): (A but B) will be based on the relationship between A and B and an implicature of
contrast between the information in A and B
Example: Mary is crying but she is happy = (Mary is crying) is contrast to (she is happy)
- (even): implicature of contrast of (contrary to expectation)
Example: David even helped the old woman to go home = David is not expected to help
the old woman but he did.
- (yet): the present situation is expected to be different, perhaps the opposite, at a later
time.
Example: Mom has not gone home yet = negation of this sentence is (mom went home)
so (mom went home) is expected to be true.