[0:01]Linguistics or study of language, pragmatic, complete chapter, 10. Pragmatics. Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning and how more is communicated than is said. In the late 1960s, two elderly American tourists who had been touring Scotland, reported that in their travels, they had come to a Scottish town in which there was a great ruined cathedral. As they stood in the ruins, they saw a small boy and they asked him when the cathedral had been so badly damaged? He replied in the war. Their immediate interpretation in the 1960s was that he must be referring to the second, World War which had ended only 20 years earlier. But then they thought that the ruins looked as if they had been in their dilapidated state for much longer than that, so they asked the boy which war he meant. He replied the war with the English, which they eventually discovered, had formally ended in 1745. This example of the American tourists and the Scottish boy using the word war illustrates that meaning goes beyond just the words themselves, but also depends on the context and the speaker's intentions. Even if the words have the same basic meaning, the speaker's intended meaning can differ, leading to misunderstandings. The boy's use of the word referred to a specific context (likely the Jacobite risings) that the tourists didn't expect, causing initial confusion. Effective communication requires understanding both the word meanings and the speaker's intended meaning in a particular context. Invisible Meaning. Pragmatics helps us understand how we derive meaning from context and shared knowledge, rather than just the words said or written. The example of a parking garage sign illustrates this point. As the sign's meaning is inferred beyond the literal interpretation of the words. The sign reads "Heated Parking Attendant", but we understand it to mean a heated parking area with an attendant to look after our car, not a place to park a heated attendant! So an effective communication relies on shared assumptions and expectations between speakers and listeners. Context. Physical context is the situation, time or place in which words are used. We interpret the meaning of text, such as signs and advertisements, by combining the meanings of individual words, context, and prior knowledge to infer the intended message. Context plays a crucial role in interpretation of meaning, and there are two types of context: physical or location, and linguistic or co-text. Co-text refers to the surrounding words and phrases that help clarify the meaning of a word or phrase. For example, the word "bank" can have different meanings depending on the co-text, such as a financial institution or, a sloping landform.
[3:18]Deixis. Pointing words such as "this" or "here" are called deixis. Certain words and expressions in English rely heavily on context to get understood. Such as we use pronouns and deictic expressions. For example, here, to place and a thing close to the speaker, and there, also for place and things not close, and temporal adverbs for example now, then, yesterday, today, tomorrow to point time. And we also use deixis to point to people, for example me, our, girl, or us FO point person close to the speaker, and him, and them, that woman, and those idiots, to point out the persons not close to the speaker. Reference. Reference is an act by which a speaker or writer uses language to enable a listener or reader to identify someone or something. Words themselves don't refer to things, but rather people use words to refer to things. The example of "Mr. Kawasaki" shows how a brand name can be used to refer to a person, highlighting the flexibility and creativity of language in reference. Various words and phrases, such as proper nouns, nouns in phrases, or pronouns, can be used to refer to a person, places and things. Inference. Additional information used by a listener or reader to create a connection between what is said and what must be meant is called Inference. You might ask someone, Can I look at your Chomsky? and get the response, Sure, it's on the shelf over there. The responder infers that you are referring to the book of Linguistics by Chomsky, not the writer himself. Similarly when someone says "We saw Shakespeare in London" the listener infers that speaker is referring to the book by Shakespeare, not Shakespeare himself. Anaphora. Anaphora refers to the subsequent reference(Noun phrase with an article) to an already introduced entity(pronoun). For example, "it" to refer to "a puppy" in the example below, "We found a pupy, it was shivering due to cold". Cataphora. Cataphora is a less common pattern where a pronoun is an antecedent or it appears first, and followed by more specific information. For example, "It was sniffing the air, The grizzly bear was checking me out". In some cases, the antecedent can be a verb, and the listener must make an inference to understand the connection. As in, "The victim was shot twice, but the gun was never "recovered". Here the inference is that any "shooting" event must involve a gun. Presupposition. Presuppositions are the things a speaker assumes are true or known by the listener. We communicate, we make assumptions about what our listeners already know, and design our messages accordingly. These assumptions are called presuppositions. If someone tells you "Hey, your brother is looking for you" there is an obvious presupposition that you have a brother. If you are asked the question; "When did you stop smoking?" There are at least two presuppositions involved: you used to smoke and you no longer do so. There is a test for presuppositions that involves comparing a sentence with its negative version and identifying which presuppositions remain true in both. This is called constancy under negation. Whether you say my car is a wreck or the negative my car is not a wreck, there is an underlying presupposition, I have a car, that remains true. Pragmatic Markers. Pragmatic markers are short expressions such as "You know", "I mean" or "Well", that indicate the speaker's attitude to the listener or the utterance. These markers are optional and can be used to indicate shared knowledge, self-correction, clarification, hesitation, or uncertainty. As in; Charles Wright "you know, the famous poet and well, I mean, he's famous in America at least. Here, "you know" can suggest shared knowledge, while "I mean" can introduce a clarification. Interestingly, I don't know, has evolved from indicating lack of knowledge to signaling hesitation or politeness when disagreeing with someone. By using these markers, speakers can convey their intentions and tone, and navigate social interactions more effectively. Politeness. Politeness is showing awareness and consideration of another person's public self-image. One's public self-image means His/her reputation in public. By using face-saving language or politeness we can avoid hurting others' feelings and maintain social harmony. Negative and Positive Face. The concept of "face" refers to the social image or identity of an individual. People have both a negative face (need for independence and autonomy) and a positive face (need for connection and belonging). For example, I'm sorry to bother you, or, I know you're busy, but Face-saving acts can prioritize either negative face (showing consideration to avoid imposition) or positive face (showing solidarity and shared goals).
[9:13]However, cultural differences in politeness norms can lead to misunderstandings, as directness or straight forwardness is valued in some cultures while indirectness is preferred in others considering the politeness as pretensions. Speech Acts. A speech act refers to an action performed through language, such as requesting, commanding, questioning, or informing. When we use language, we perform a speech act, like making a promise when saying "I'll be there at six". To understand how language can be used to perform direct and indirect actions, we need to consider the relationship between the structure of an utterance such as interrogative, imperative, or declarative and its normal function, such as questioning, commanding, or stating. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts. A direct speech act is the use of an interrogative structure such as, Did you?, Is she? or, Can he? with the function of a question. When you seriously want to know the answer to "Is she wearing a wig?", that utterance is a direct speech act. Indirect speech act, is the use of interrogative structures to perform different functions, Making a request (e.g. "Can you pass the salt?"). Using a declarative structures (e.g. "You left the door open"). or a command e.g. "Go home!".
[10:48]Indirect Speech Acts. Indirect speech acts demonstrate the importance of pragmatics in communication, highlighting that understanding language requires considering not only the words and their meaning but also the speaker's intention and context. Chapter Completed. If you find this video helpful in your study, then do subscribe my channel and like the video and encourage me to continue making more. See you again in the next video, Goodbye.
