Step 5 - Pragmatics

Student

Luisa Alejandra Torres Flautero

CC. 1053344672

Course 518017A_614

Group 518017_44

Teacher

Henry Lenis

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia (UNAD)

Chiquinquirá Boyacá

2019
 Step 5 - Pragmatics

Activities to Develop

1. Read the document “Introduction”, Chapter 1, pages 1-20, in ‘Huang Y.

Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP Oxford; 2007.; found in the Course Contents, UNIT 2, in the

Knowledge Environment; once you have studied and deliberated on the concepts, please

answer the following analysis:

2. What are the differences, if any, between sentence and utterance?

The main difference between the sentence and the sentence is that the sentence has a

complete meaning, whether oral or written, however, the sentence does not normally convey a

complete meaning.

The propositional content of a sentence is that part of its meaning which can be reduced to a

proposition. This notion allows semanticists to claim that different (types of) sentences may

share the same propositional con-tent, even though they differ in other aspects of meaning. For

example, the interrogative sentence is said to have the same propositional content as the active

declarative sentence and the passive declarative sentence, namely. The difference is that while in

the speaker asserts the corresponding proposition that is, he or she commits him- or herself to the

truth of the proposition, in uttering the speaker questions its truth.

May be known, believed, or doubted, may be asserted or denied, and may be held constant

under paraphrase and translation.

 Regarding the relationship between sentence and proposition, the same proposition can on

the one hand be expressed by different sentences, above. On the other hand, the same sentence

can be used to convey different propositions on different occasions.

In occasions, the use of the same sentence would express two distinct propositions. Finally,

the relationship between sentence, utterance, and proposition .may be represented schematically

in the tree diagram in (adapted Try putting these principles into practice by doing (Exercise 1 on

p. 18.121.)

3. What is context? Why is it so important to pragmatics?

Context: They are the Words and sentences that appear before or after a sentence or word and

give it a particular meaning.

Is important to use context for language comprehension and expression.

Children use context as soon as they start to communicate. Children first comprehend

utterances by relying heavily on the physical context in which the communication takes place,

and their first communicative attempts are thus closely connected with the physical “here and

now”, often based on routine communications with others. (Milosky 1992, Bishop 1997.) When
interpreting utterances young children rely strongly on knowledge of their world rather than the

meaning given by the linguistic expression (Strohner & Nelson 1974, Hudson & Nelson 1983,

Marinac & Ozanne 1999) Shatz (1977) has shown that during a play session even 2-year-old

children are able to respond by performing an appropriate action to indirect requests.

4. Imagine the following situation: a lady friend comes from a beauty parlor; she has a new

haircut. Once you see her you say: “you just had your hair cut!”.

Cleary, you are not saying anything unknown, you friend knows perfectly that she just had

her hair cut… then, what is the function and purpose of your utterance? Explain (Taken

from: Escandell.2011)

We have the general knowledge context. The information derivable from this type of context

explains why is pragmatically well-formed but is pragmatically anomalous. This is because,

given our real-world knowledge,

Is a set of background assumptions shared by the speaker and the addressee? Stalnaker

(1974) called this common ground. The notion of common ground has been further developed by

Clark (1996), who distinguished communal from personal common ground. The former refers to

the set of background assumptions shared by members of a community, and the latter to the body

of background knowledge two members of a community share from their past experience of each

other.

5. The concept ‘Linguistic under determinacy’ it is explained as “a huge gap between the

meaning of a sentence and the messages actually conveyed by the uttering of that sentence.
In other words, the linguistically encoded meaning of a sentence radically underdetermines

the proposition the speaker expresses when he or she utters that sentence” Huang (2017:5),

this concept is pivotal at understanding how pragmatics meaning work; how do you

understand it, give one example.

It is relative to the practice or performance of actions and not theory. It is a discipline that

studies the language in relation to the context where the idea is developed, that is, the sentences

produced a semantic acceptance but its meaning and interpretation depends on the content and

the linguistic context since the same sentence can have several senses in different contexts In the

pragmatic analysis, several variables are studied, such as the situation, the socio-cultural context,

the people, the issuer, among others.

This example is one that you probably use in your own life every day. Say you are in line at a

store to pay for your purchases. The cashier asks, 'How are you today?' Do you immediately go

into an in-depth account of your health issues, varying mood, relationship status, and everything

else going on in your life? Of course not! Usually, you respond with something similar to, 'Fine,

how are you?' with the same expectation that the cashier will not go into full detail of how she

truly is. This interaction perfectly shows pragmatics at work.

6. At a daily basis, in teaching and translating areas, linguistics is used even without

being realized; do an inquiry and explain how this disciplined is implemented in any task at

teaching or translating. Your writing will emphasize in any of the classical linguistic levels:

grammar, speech sounds, semantic or pragmatic level. In your explanation be clear and

concise, avoid fuzzy ideas.

 The role of translation in conventional and post methods had been viewed based on two

important factors First: The role of translation in communication and making communicative

framework to engage learners to learn pragmatics of a new language. Second: To avoid using

translation as interference of first language into second language learning. The followings are

two main reasons to accept translation as an effective item in teaching pragmatics.

First: Pragmatics is extremely interlocked with culture values and during teaching some parts

of lessons it is inevitable to translate the cultural notes to the foreign learners because their

culture values may be are different or even opposite of the lessons cultural points.

Second: Using translation in the form of interpretation (getting sender’s message intention) by

listener or learner and translating into his /her native language simultaneously helps to activate

learner’s mind as a bilingual and also some difficult words or utterances are abstract and

explanation or illustration cannot help to clarify the meanings, so the shortcut in these

predicaments is translation.

Linguistic levels must be taken into account for the correct learning of a second language.

(Grammar, speech sounds, semantic or pragmatic level)

The grammar refers to the compendium of the norms, regularities and restrictions that govern

a specific language. Its radical importance in serving as a query text when in doubt regarding the

use of language, to establish correct forms of expression or to analyze this language. Grammar

first and foremost have a descriptive or prescriptive nature, that is, they focus on unraveling the

way in which a particular language is used, or they focus on establishing how it should be used,

accounting for the most widespread uses in a community speaker.

 Speech is a characteristic of enormous importance within the human species. In effect, it

allows communication with a high degree of complexity and abstraction, the complexity that has

been the basis of the capacity for reasoning in man. This process involves interaction based on

articulated sounds, sounds that have the power to generate complex meaning. It is an innate

condition that is possessed, that is, always where there was a society there was the ability to

speak, to communicate through the use of sounds generated by the sounding device.

Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences. The discipline studies the

interpretation of words individually, the construction of sentences and the literal interpretation of

the text in the written form. Proper understanding of semantics relates all academic disciplines in

all languages, since a clear understanding allows any academic to communicate their message

clearly without being afraid of being misunderstood.

Pragmatics studies the use of language based on the relationship between statement-context-

interlocutors, is interested in analyzing how speakers produce and interpret sentences in a given

context. This shows the importance in the communication of extra-linguistic factors such as the

position of the interlocutors with respect to each other, the knowledge of the world of each of

them, the communicative intention.

It is important for our students, to become familiar with this dimension of language, to be

aware of the fundamental role that all these factors play in communicative exchanges.

The importance of incorporating pragmatics in the teaching / learning process of English as a

foreign language. Many studies have shown that in general second language students are not

adequately developing their pragmatic ability. This is why, despite having a broad knowledge of

grammar, syntax, vocabulary and phonetics, most students still have problems understanding the
language used in certain contexts and also when communicating with native speakers of the

language goal. If the conversations between natives, are not exempt from certain

misunderstandings caused by any of these elements, imagine how much more can occur in

intercultural conversations, between people accustomed to handle different behavioral codes.

Logically, by learning a different language, we tend to apply with it the behavior patterns that

govern ours: when both systems are different, we can fall into misunderstanding. That is why it

is essential to recognize these elements in the discourse of our interlocutors and know how to put

them into practice on our own.

 Bibliography

Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from

http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&db=nlebk&AN=1640096&lang=es&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Hacken, P. (2013). The Semantics of Word Formation and Lexicalization. Edinburgh:

Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved from

http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&db=nlebk&AN=696585&lang=es&site=eds-live

Östman, J.-O., Ostman, J.-O., & Verschueren, J. (2011). Pragmatics in Practice. Amsterdam:

John Benjamins Publishing Company. Retrieved from

http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&db=nlebk&AN=420125&lang=es&site=eds-live

Zimmermann, T. E., & Sternefeld, W. (2013). Introduction to Semantics : An Essential Guide

to the Composition of Meaning. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Retrieved from

http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true

&db=nlebk&AN=604253&lang=es&site=eds-live