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Disourse and PragmaticsLIN 207

Context of situationWeek 6 of 14Pragmaticsis the study of the context-dependent aspects of MEANING which are systematically abstracted away from in the construction of LOGICAL FORM.Discourse analyst takes a pragmatic approach to the study of language useBecause the analyst is investigating the use of language in context by a speaker/ writer, he is more concerned with the relationship between the speaker and the utterance, on the particular occasion of use, than with the potential relationship of one sentence to another regardless of their use.Thus, using terms such as reference, presupposition, implicature and inference , the discourse analyst is describing what speakers and hearers are doing, and NOT the relationship which exists between one sentence or proposition and another.THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN INTERPRETATION1) Pragmatics and discourse contextReferenceReference is described as the relationship which holds between words and things is the relationship of reference; words refer to things. (Lyons, 1968; 404)In discourse analysis, reference is treated as an action on the part of the speaker/ writer.E.g.A: my uncles coming home from Landhoo on Monday. He is coming for a week.B: How long has he been away for?A: Hes lived there for a long time. He was married to my mothers sister. Well shes been dead for a number of years now.A discourse analyst would say:A uses the expressions my uncle and he to refer to one individual and my mothers sister and she to refer to another.An NOT sayhe refers to my uncle.b) PresuppositionDefined as assumptions the speaker makes about what the hearer is likely to accept without challenge (Givon, 1979).an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourseexamples of presuppositions include:Jane no longer writes fiction.Presupposition: Jane once wrote fiction.Have you stopped eating meat?Presupposition: you had once eaten meat.Have you talked to Hans?Presupposition: Hans exists.

c) ImplicaturesTerm used by Grice to account for what a speaker can imply, suggest or mean as distinct from what the speaker literally says.Of greater interest to the discourse analyst is the notion of conversational implicature which is derived from a general principle of conversation plus a number of maxims which the speakers will normally obey (called cooperative principle Quantity, Quality, Relation, Manner.)

d) InferenceSince the discourse analyst like the hearer has no direct access to a speakers intended meaning in producing an utterance, he often has to rely on a process of inference to arrive at an interpretation for utterances or for the connections between utterances.E.g. John was on his way to schoolSo this could meanSomeonne was on his way to schoolJohn was on his way to somewhereSomeonw was on his say to somewehre.

This provides with limited insight into what readers would normally interpret as they read.

d) InferenceE.g. John was on his way to school

Most readers report that they infer that John is a scchool boy among other things.When this sentence is followed by:

Last week he had been unable to control the class.

Readers readily abandoned their original inference and form another. That John is a schoolteacher.

We need a relatively little knowledge of inference based on soci- cultural knowledge.

THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN INTERPRETATION2) The context of situationFeatures of contextConsider two invented scenarios in which an identical utterance is produced by distinct speakersA) speaker: a young motherHearer: her mother in lawPlace: park, by a duckpondTime: sunny afternoon in September 1962They are watching the young mother's two year old son chasing ducks and the mother in law has just remarked that her son, the childs father, was rather backward at this age.The young mother says:I do think Adams quick.

B) Speaker: a studentHearers: a set of studentsPlace: siting around a coffee table in the refectoryTime: evening in March 1080. John one of the group , has just told a joke. Everyone laughs except Adam. Then Adam laughs. One of the students says;

I do think Adams quick.Hymes (1964) Features of contextAddressor: speaker / writer who produces the utteranceAddressee: the hearer/ reader who is the recipient of the utterance.Topic: what is being talked aboutSetting: where the event is situated in place and timeChannel: how is contact between participants in the event being maintained - by speech, writing, signing, smoke signals.Code: what language or dialect or style of language is being used.Message-form: what form is intended- chat, debate, sermon, fairy tale, love letter, sonnet etc.Event: the nature of the communicative event within which a genre may be embedded thus a sermon or prayer may be part of the larger event, a religious service.Key: evaluation was it a good sermon, a pathetic explanation, etc.Purpose: what did the participants intend should come about as a result of the communicative event.