INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

STEP 5: PRAGMATICS
Presented By: Yina Paola Enciso Doria
Code: 1063175786
Group: 518017_26
Tutor: Viviana Ospina
Program: Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages with emphasis in english
Date: December 6th, 2019
School of Education Sciences
Open and Distance National University
UNAD
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. Study questions, what are the differences, if any, between sentence and
utterance?
Answer: Utterance is the noun form of utter (verb), which means to speak or say.
So an utterance can be any vocally produced sound -- it doesn't even have to be a
word. Technically, a burp could be considered an utterance.

A sentence (in the context you mean) can be written or spoken. It's simply a group
of words that expresses a complete thought or idea. Sentences typically contain a
subject and a predicate containing a verb.
3. What is context? Why is it so important to pragmatics?
Answer: In linguistics, context usually refers to any factor—linguistic, epistemic,
physi-cal, social, context refers to those objects or entities which surround a focal
event, in these disciplines typically a communicative event, of some kind. Context
is "a frame that surrounds the event and provides resources for its appropriate
interpretation ,It is thus a relative concept, only definable with respect to some
focal event within a frame, not independently of that frame.
The notion that meanings are context-dependent has informed some of the most
powerful views in current linguistic and philosophical theory, context is is very
important to pragmatics because contributes to meaning.
4. 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 can draw some inferences about this,
following utterance: She already knows that she just had a haircut and
can thus infer from the situational context that I am just simplying saying that
she had a new haircut
latter the elements of meaning, in turn, fall on the implicit side of the utterance
5. The concept ‘Linguistic underdeterminacy’ 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
In a sense, pragmatics is seen as an understanding between people to obey certain
rules of interaction. In everyday language, the meanings of words and phrases are
constantly implied and not explicitly stated. In certain situations, words can have
a certain meaning. You might think that words always have a specifically defined
meaning, but that is not always the case. Pragmatics studies how words can be
interpreted in different ways based on the situation.
 Pragmatics," for language teachers, is to do with what is encoded. Languages do
not leave their speakers to grapple unaided with the problem of bridging the gap
between the dictionary/grammar meanings of utterances and their precise value in
communicative contexts. All languages provide ways of reducing the problem by
labelling, in general terms, the typical communicative roles that utterances can
take on. So we can encode linguistically the fact that tha
t we are asking a question, or expressing doubt, or adding information, or showing
respect, or making an objection, or exaggerating. It is these language-specific
features
let's look at some examples to clarify the role of pragmatics in our language.
when what she intends to communicate is that Joan has a very poor sense of
direction, that she is bound to get lost
and that it is laughable to expect her to arrive on time:
With her excellent spatial sense, Joan is sure to find a shortcut and be the
first to arrive.
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
on my personal experience in the language learning process, linguistics it s a huge
part throught out language adquisition,because of the grammar, speech sounds,
semantic or pragmatic level, for teachers and specially translators it’s a huge and
meaningful part of their jobs , such as in the teaching of a new language and in
the translation from one language to another, accuracy and range are crucial as
communications full of errors may be seen as unprofessional.

References
https://journals.openedition.org/asp/4804

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190903-linguistic-fluency-proficiency-second-
language-learning

http://www.sfs.uni-tuebingen.de/~dm/04/spring/201/03-pragmatics.pdf

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Linguistics/Pragmatics