Pragmatics Like a Way to React to Somebody’s Message

Pragmatics deals with utterance; it describes how to express or react to somebody’s message. Pragmatics is an essential part of our language; it describes language within a context in real life situation. Speech acts are also essential to pragmatics and depend on how we should react or say according to the situation. Some reaches has been done on pragmatics and speech acts, and these researches describe how to respond and reply according to time, place, and also the person whom you are talking about.

Pragmatics language has social and affective meanings also. It depends on whom you are talking to, the manner, emotive or affective meanings of the speaker. In our conversation, we use pragmatic language to ask something, convey the message, order or request, commitments or threats, and we ask or say by the action of words.

Speech acts are direct and indirect, we often use indirect speech acts to convey a message, and we want the hearer to understand what we are trying to say. In this type of situation, sometimes the hearer misunderstands the message, and it goes wrong. Direct speech acts are mostly polite, and requests; these kinds of messages give a good impression on the hearer of the speaker. Felicity’s conditions are also required in context, especially in speech acts. Thus all these factors make pragmatics more useful, easy to understand, and convey the message in per-formative words of a language.

Pragmatics

Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics in which we study meaning in context. It is about what we don’t say, but one has to understand the meaning. In daily life, we say, express, and convey our information to others as part of communication; in such communication, there are some speech acts like assertion, question, request, etc. It also includes conversational implicature, entailment, and talking interaction.

The unit of analysis in pragmatics is an utterance made in concert with communicative context. It can be said that pragmatics attempts to analyze how it happens that often more is communicated than said. Pragmatics also contains social and affective meanings and their relation with the speaker and hearer. It also describes how factors such as time, place, and social relations between speaker and hearer affect the ways in which language is used to perform different functions.

For example: Can you pass me the bottle? , in pragmatics, meaning it would be ‘will you pass me the bottle? And this can be in terms of speech acts such as request or politeness. A Pragmatics response to this would be ‘pass the salt to the speaker.’

Pragmatics is the investigation of the parts of importance and dialect utilization that are subject to the speaker, the recipient, and different highlights of the setting of articulation.

The impact that the accompanying have on the speaker’s decision of articulation and the recipient’s translation of an expression:

• Setting of expression
• For the most part, watched standards of correspondence
• The objectives of the speaker

Automatic concerns, for example:

• the treatment of given versus new data, including presupposition
• deixis
• discourse acts, particularly illocutionary acts
• implicature
• the relations of significance or capacity between parts of talk or turns of discussion

David Lodge, writing in” Paradise News,” explains why pragmatics is so important to understanding language. He says that pragmatics is required in light of the fact that it gives people a more full, further, and for the most part increasingly sensible record of human dialect conduct.’ Without pragmatics, there is regularly no comprehension of what dialect really implies or what an individual genuinely implies when he or she is talking. The unique situation is the social signs, non-verbal communication, and manner of speaking. These are things that make expressions obvious or misty to the speaker and his or her audience members.

Pragmatics includes:

• making and interpreting requests
• respond to complaints or apologies
• responding to invitations
• recognizing humor
• managing conversations

What is pragmatic language?

In our daily life, we make conversations in which we express our expressions and respond to questions, requests, etc. All these speech acts are followed by our understanding, hidden meanings, and our way of response to how we react in such situations. Pragmatic language is an essential part of our communication. It helps us to understand what the speaker is saying and how we listen and react. Like when a child asks a question the mother, the mother answers the child in a polite manner and shows her feelings or emotions towards the child. This is how we use our words, gesture, and expression to someone’s message.

Functions of pragmatics

Pragmatics has an important role in our language; without it, it causes a problem between the hearer and the speaker. Pragmatics has different languages, such as:

• it made context easy to understand
• it helps to understand the action of words by the speaker
• it depends on the situation or circumstances
• it establishes the relationship between linguistic environment and situational factors

The problem in pragmatics

Pragmatic language becomes problematic when there is a mismatch between the meaning intended by the speaker and the interpretation of the message by the hearer. This happens when one says an indirect speech act and the other one cannot understand the real logic behind the message.

This causes misunderstanding when one is not completely paying action of word by utterance or often making false statements. For example: when someone says ‘help!’ When the hearer listens to this and thinks there could be two situations for this one is that speaker is requesting help, other one is that speaker is ordering. This causes confusion among the hearer on how to react to such a situation.

Pragmatics implicature and entailment

Implicature is processed in which the speaker adds meaning to the message that he has said already.

For example:

Stella: Are you going to cook today?

Ana: You know, I can’t cook. Ana responds pragmatically, adding her intentions, like she can’t cook, which Stella can infer as the literal message. Pragmatics implicature is defined as different alternative interpretations that are possible.

For example:

Stella: Are you going to cook today?

Ana: you know I can’t cook, but I’ll try.

By saying, ‘but I’ll try,’ Ana cancels the implicature that she won’t cook.

Grice and conversational implicature, Herbert Paul Grice (b. 1913-d. 1988) stressed the refinement Voltaire makes, in our opening citation, between what words mean, what the speaker actually says when utilizing them, and what the speaker means or expects to impart by utilizing those words, which frequently goes significantly past what is said.

I request your lunch, and you answer, ‘I have a one o’clock class I’m not set up for.’ You have passed on to me that you won’t come for lunch, despite the fact that you haven’t truly said as much. You mean for me to make sense of that by demonstrating a purpose behind not coming to lunch, the need to set up your class, you expect to pass on that you are not coming to lunch hence.

The investigation of such conversational implicatures is the center of Grice’s compelling hypothesis. Grice’s alleged hypothesis of discussion begins with a sharp qualification between what somebody says and what somebody ‘ensnares’ by expressing a sentence. What somebody says is dictated by the ordinary significance of the sentence articulated and relevant procedures of disambiguation and reference settling; what she involves is related to the presence of some discerning standards and sayings overseeing discussion (putting aside ‘traditional implicatures’ which we examine underneath).

What is said has been broadly related to the exacting substance of the articulation; what is ensnared, the implicature, with the non-strict, what is purposefully conveyed, however not stated, by the speaker. Think about his underlying precedent: An and B are discussing a shared companion, C, who is presently working in a bank. An asks B how C is getting on in his activity, and B answers: Oh great, I think; he enjoys his associates, and he hasn’t been to jail yet. (Grice 1967a/1989, 24.)

What did B say by articulating, ‘he hasn’t been to jail yet’? Generally, all he truly said of C was that he hasn’t been to jail up to the season of expression. This is the thing that the ordinary sentence importance in addition to relevant procedures of disambiguation, precisification of unclear articulations, and reference settling give. Be that as it may, typically, B would have embroiled more than this: that C is the kind of individual liable to respect the enticement given by his occupation.

As indicated by Grice, the ‘figuring’ of conversational implicatures is grounded on basic learning of what the speaker has said (or better, the way that he has said it), the semantic and additional phonetic setting of the articulation, general foundation data, and the thought of what Grice names the ‘Helpful Principle (CP)’: Make your conversational commitment, for example, is required, at the phase at which it happens, by the acknowledged reason or bearing of the discussion trade in which you are locked in. (Grice 1967a/1989, 26.)

Entailment is the process in which information about something is true or not. But if the first statement is true, then the second one is automatically true. One statement is logically followed by another one. Example: john commits suicide. It entails that ‘John has died.’ Example 2: Richard is ready. It entails ‘Richard is going somewhere.

Illocution and Perlocution

To describe the meanings or message that the speaker wants to convey with utterance or interpretation and for this, a hearer has to understand when listening; this is the term illocution and perlocution. Locution: it is a message by the speaker itself. Example: I am busy. Here the speaker is saying I am busy means he is conveying the message.

Illocution: it is a message which speaker adds or intends. Example: I am very busy. It means the speaker is very busy, and he will not go anywhere. Perlocution: it is the interpretation of the message by a hearer. Example: I am very busy, but I’ll try to come. Here the speaker is saying that he is busy, and the hearer interprets that he’ll try. Misunderstanding is often caused by perlocution and illocution because the content and interpretation make a message.

Speech acts in Pragmatics.

A speech act is an action performed in saying something. There are several kinds of speech acts in our daily life conversation. Speech acts are generally referred to as emotions or actions by the speaker. These acts are also described as ‘language actions.’

Speech acts

Assertion Question Request Order Promise Threat

Assertion means to convey information. For example, ‘I am going to attend a seminar.’ It means the speaker is giving information that he/she is going to attend the seminar.

A question means to ask about something from someone. For example, ‘where are you going?’ means that the speaker is asking and curious about the situation.

A request is a way to ask for something in a polite manner. For example, ‘can you pass me the dish, please?’ Here the speaker is asking for the dish in a polite or request manner.

Order in this act speaker commands or demands someone. For example, ‘come and sit here.’ The speaker is ordering to sit in this case. The promise is the commitment by the speaker to someone. For example, ‘I promise to buy you a new dress.’ The speaker makes the commitment to buy a new dress which is termed a promise.

An action to alert someone or to warn of something. For example, ‘Don’t commit the crime; otherwise, you will go to jail.’ It means that the speaker is warning or threatening with his or her words.

Some other sentence forms or syntactic structures describe speech acts; these are the following:

1. Syntactic structure
2. Declarative Interrogative Imperative
   • Declarative means to declare information. For example, ‘He is going.’ It states information about the going of the speaker.
   • Interrogative is termed as asking something. For example, ‘where are you going?’ It means to ask something or investigate.
   • Imperative describes as giving the order. For example, ‘Go away!’ means the speaker is ordering or commanding.

Reading these speech acts, we can see there is a typical relation between common speech acts and syntactic structure.

Syntactic structure Speech act

• Declarative Assertion
• Interrogative Question
• Imperative Order or Requirement

Direct and Indirect speech act

A direct speech act is termed as saying something informal way and expressing the real meaning in utterance.

Example: Give me the book!

An indirect speech act is described as something in a formal way. Like we do not express what we actually want to say, and speech acts should be in a polite manner.

Example: Can you give me the book?

In the first example, we are giving information, and the speech act is called an assertion. On the other hand, the second example has two kinds of speech acts that are question and request. In the second example, “can you give me the book?” could be a question or a request. This kind of speech act is called an indirect speech act, whereas “Give me the book!” is termed a direct speech act.

Felicitous and In-felicitous

Felicity is described as “to do things with words.” In this case, we are not sure whether the context of a speech act is either true or not.

Example: I am going to the U.S.A

Infelicitous is termed as the context in which meanings are not pre-planned by the speaker and seem illogical.

Example: I am president of the U.S.A

Conditions of felicitous and in-felicitous: there are some conditions in speech acts that depend on felicity conditions. Most are infelicitous when the utterance is illogical; one is requiring something but cannot afford and false statement.

Speech act

Felicitous In-felicitous

• Logical
• Clear statement
• True statement
• Illogical
• Unclear statement
• False statement
• Felicitous conditions

Logical

It is a statement that tells the speaker will make the action of words.

For example: “I will come to see you.” In this example, the speaker will fulfill commitment which is logical

Clear statement

It means the speaker will make a commitment that the speaker will complete, and there is no doubt or excuse for it.

For example: “I will buy you a new dress.” This means the speaker can afford to buy a dress and would complete the requirement.

True statement

It stands for truth value which actually happens or feels by the speaker.

For example: “I am inspired by Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s personality.” It means the speaker is really inspired by a great personality.

In-felicitous conditions

Illogical

It is a statement that has no existence and is senseless.

For example: “The king of America is bald.” The referent’ king of America’ is illogical.

Unclear statement

It is described as either speaker can afford or bear to fulfill the requirement that he has said. It is not sure whether the speaker fulfills the requirement or not.

For example: “I will buy you a new house in the U.S.A.” It means that the statement is unclear, either possible or impossible. We are not sure if the speaker can afford to buy a house in the U.S.A. or not. Even the speaker is also not sure at the time of making the utterance.

False statement

The speaker is lying but pretending that he/she likes to dress or enjoy the party and not saying directly that they didn’t. They are lying and pretending to make sure that they don’t.

For example: “I really enjoyed your company.” This is a lie that the speaker didn’t enjoy company but said that he enjoyed it. Speaker makes a false statement.

Context and Co-text

Pragmatics describes not only the speech acts but also the relation between linguistic signs and placement in the sentence. Term context is classified into two characteristics to describe a relationship in the sentence.

Co-text Context

It refers to the relationship between all. The linguistic unit within a discourse. It refers to the variables that surround discourse which help us to understand the real message. It refers to the relationship between all. The linguistic unit within a discourse. The physical environment in which the word is used. Linguistic environment. Situational factors.

Example: I was born in May.

Example: May I come in?

Context and co-text are defined on the basis of the linguistic process, such as ‘deixis’ and ‘anaphora.’

Linguistic phenomena

Deixis and Anaphora

Context and Co-text

Deixis means ‘pointing’ or indicating. In context, it generally refers to time, place, and person.

For example: ‘Ahmed goes to school at 8 o’clock’. Here Ahmed is a person, a school is a place, and 8 o’clock is time.

Anaphora is the interpretation by the speaker in referentially dependent and independent expression. It replaces the expression from the utterance.

For example: ‘Ali left because he was tired.’ In this case, Ali’s dependent referent and ‘because he was tired’ is the interpretation by the speaker in utterance.

Types of deixis

Deixis is classified into two categories according to changes in denotation.

Deixis

• Central
• Non-central

Person: He, she, I, you.

Social: Madam, Sir, My lord, etc.

Place: here, there, up, down, left, right, near, far, etc.

Manner: this girl, so beautiful, like that, etc.

Time: morning, evening, day, night, soon, later, etc.

Discourse: following, given below, therefore, etc.

Conclusion

Pragmatics means within a context. It is the study of how to do things with words. Pragmatics helps to understand the real meaning of the message. Without pragmatics, it cause misunderstanding between the hearer and speaker. In order to understand the real message, we should need to understand pragmatic language. We use common speech acts in our conversation, and some speech acts are typically associated with syntactic structure. Pragmatic speech acts are direct and indirect also.

In this case speaker request in a polite manner or order direct or indirect. All this depends on the situation, what the speaker is trying to say, and what the hearer interprets in the message. Pragmatics is how we react or deal with when we hear or receive a message; this could be the action of words in reply and also in gesture.

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