1. Pragmatics….!

2. Contents
“The Limits of Language”
The Sounds of Language
Pragmatic Basics

3. Four conclusions Language is ambiguous by nature.
We must draw inferences about meaning.
Our inferences tend to be fixed, not tentative.
Our inferences are drawn very quickly.

4. Language is ambiguous by nature
We can never fully control the meanings of things we say and write  it is interpreted by our listeners or readers.
What are the three levels of ambiguity?

5. Three levels of ambiguity
Word-level
Sentence-level
Discourse-level

6. Word level ambiguity “I watched TV”
 watched some TV programs (dramas, movies, or news)‏
 not the actual TV monitor itself

7. Sentence level ambiguity
“Do you have any money?”
Can have different meanings:
Literally, do you have money (just curious)
Do you have money to pay for our coffee
Would you mind lending me some money?

8. “Well done!”
Depending on the context of the situation, it can have different meanings. Here are two examples:
At a party if a woman says this to her husband after he breaks an expensive dish by accident  she isn’t praising him for doing it, but rather is blaming him for his carelessness.
A teacher says this to her students after good results on a test.

9. Discourse level ambiguity
What is meant by “discourse”?
Written or spoken communication ; especially conversation
From:

10. We must draw inferences about meaning
What are the two main sources that we draw our inferences from?
The language used
Our knowledge about the world

11. Our inferences tend to be fixed, not tentative
Our inferences are drawn very quickly

12. Making inferences
Inferences also tend to based on our experiences in our own culture.
We expect other people to behave according to our cultural expectations.

13. “The Sounds of Language and Introduction to Pragmatics”
TESOL Culture
“The Sounds of Language
and
Introduction to Pragmatics”

14. The Sounds of a Language
Discuss with a partner:
What do we mean by “the sounds of a language”?
Are the sounds of a language and culture related? How?

15. Pronunciation What is involved in pronunciation? Sounds Vowel sounds
Consonant sounds
Stress
Word stress
Sentences stress
Intonation
Rhythm

16. Word Stress
Please read the following words out loud when you see them:
record
contract
present

17. Sentence Stress Please read the following sentence:
That’s not my black umbrella.

18. Now read the sentence with the word in red stressed.
That’s not my black umbrella.

19. Intonation Read the following sentence You’re happy aren’t you?
1.) with intonation going up
2.) with intonation going down

20. Rhythm
Read the following sentences and count the number of syllables and the number of beats in each.
Children eat candy.
The children eat candy.
The children eat the candy.
The children have eaten the candy.

21. Discussion What is pragmatics?
Pragmatics is the study of the ability of natural language speakers to communicate more than that which is explicitly stated.
The ability to understand another speaker's intended meaning is called pragmatic competence.
Pragmatics deals about how to reach our goal in communication.
Pragmatics is regarded as one of the most challenging aspects for language learners to grasp, and can only truly be learned with experience.

22. Pragmatics Defined
Pragmatics is the study of the ability of natural language speakers to communicate more than than they explicitly state.
The ability to understand another speaker's intended meaning is called pragmatic competence.
Pragmatics is regarded as one of the most challenging aspects for language learners to grasp, and can only be fully learned with experience.

23. Discourse
written or spoken verbal communication

24. Conversational Implicature
The meaning is not explicit in the sentence but is implied.
Example: Is it cold in here?”
Meaning: I’m cold; would you close the window?

25. Understanding Implicature
Conversational implicature is about making inferences from what is heard.
According to Grice, there are three things that listeners must understand in order to infer, i.e., make sense of what the speaker is saying.

26. Three things to understand
The usual linguistic meaning of what is said.
Contextual information (shared or general knowledge).
The assumption that the speaker is obeying what Grice calls the cooperative principle

27. Cooperative Principle
To achieve the goal of communication, speakers and listeners must speak cooperatively and mutually accept one another. If speakers and listeners follow Grice’s Conversational Maxims, they can be seen as following the Cooperative Principle of communication.
The cooperative principle includes a set of norms or maxims expected in conversation

28. Gricean Maxims
Relevance
Truthfulness
Quantity
Clarity

29. Relevance Be relevant when you speaking in a conversation.
(i.e., say things related to the current topic of the conversation).

30. Truthfulness Sometimes referred to as the “Maxim of Quality”
1. Do not say what you believe to be false.
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

31. Quantity
Make your contribution to the conversation as informative as necessary.
Do not make your contribution to the conversation more informative than necessary. Only give as much information as needed and no more (i.e., Don’t talk too much! )‏

32. Clarity Also known as the “Maxim of Manner”
Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief (avoid unnecessary wordiness).
Be orderly.

33. Goffman’s Communication Theory: System contraints
Goffman argued that in addition to Grice’s norms, there are also 7 other universal constraints.

34. Goffman’s Constraints
Channel open/close signals
Backchannel signals
Turnover signals
Acoustically adequate and interpretable messages
Bracket signals
Nonparticipant constraints
Preempt signals

35. Channel open/close signals
Conversation “signals” or markers that differ according to the “channel” (type) of discourse
What are some examples of different “channels”?

36. Question and answer sequence
Identification sequence
Greeting sequence
How-are-you sequence
How would these sequences differ with the different channels? (ex: phone call to a friend vs. business phone call)

37. Backchannel Signals
Conversation signals that help the speaker know that you are paying attention to what she/he is saying.
Back-channel is the practice of giving positive comments, such as "uh-huh" or "yes" to the other speaker, to encourage further talk or to confirm that one is listening.
Body language (nodding) gestures and facial expressions (smiling) can also be considered back- channeling.
In Chinese and particularly Japanese, back- channeling is very common, to the extent that non- native speakers may perceive it to be excessive or distracting.

38. Turnover Signals
Signals in a conversation that show that one speaker is ending his/her communication.
What are some examples in English?
What are some examples in Korean?

39. Accoustically adequate and interpretable messages
Messages in a conversation should be loud enough to hear (but not too loud!) and should be clear enough so that listener is able to understand (no mumbling)

40. Bracket Signals
Signals in a conversation that show the listener that the conversation has gone off from and is returning to the topic (“side sequence”  getting “side tracked”)‏
What are some examples in English?
Do you have different ones in Korean?

41. Non participant constraints
When a person is not a participant of the conversation and would like to become part of the conversation.
What are some ways a person can become a part of the conversation?

42. Preempt signals
Signals that a person uses to interrupt someone else’s conversation.
Examples in English:
“Excuse me”
“I’m sorry, but…”
Do you do the same in Korean?

43. Ellipses What is ellipses? Websters dictionary definition:
the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete or a sudden leap from one topic to another
What is your example of “ellipses”?

44. Hedges
What is a hedge?
Hedging is a language strategy/device used to lessen the impact of an utterance.
Typically, they are adjectives or adverbs, but can also consist of clauses.

45. Example of a hedge “All I know is smoking is harmful to your health”
“all I know” is a hedge that indicates the degree of the speaker’s knowledge instead of only making a statement: “Smoking is harmful to your health”.

46. Discourse Markers
A discourse marker is a word or phrase that marks a boundary in a conversation (ex: turnover signals, bracket signals, backchannel signals, and preempt signals  these are all types of discourse markers).
Common discourse markers used in the English language include "you know", "actually", "basically", "like", "I mean" and "OK".
What are some common discourse markers used in Korean?