FINAL PROJECT – PRAGMATICS

CLASS: ĐHSANH21-L2-LD

Question 1 (1.5 points)

Basing on the maxim of quantity, analyze utterances (b), (c) and (d).

The maxim of quantity is concerned with the amount of information (taken in its
broadest sense) an utterance conveys.

- Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes

of the exchange in which you are engaged.

- Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Imagine a conversation between Mother and Daughter:

(a) M: What did you have for lunch today?

(b) D: Rice and chicken.

(c) D: Food.

(d) D: I had 87 warmed-up baked beans (although eight of them were

slightly crushed) served on a slice of toast 12.7 cm. by 10.3 cm. which had
been unevenly toasted...

Question 2 (2 points)

Give two utterances and identify the three dimensions (locutionary, illocutionary
and perlocutionary) of the speech act in each utterance.

Question 3 (2 points)

3a. Give two examples to illustrate that implicatures are context-dependent.

3b. Give an implicature of B’s utterance in each of the above situations.

 (i)

A: What happened to the cockroaches?

B: Helen killed them.

(ii)

A: Where are the chopsticks?

B: They are either in the bottom drawer in the kitchen, or they are next to the
bowl on the dining table.

Question 4 (1.5 points)

What helps identify the referent of a referring expression in an utterance or a

conversation? Give an example.

Question 5 (3 points)

The basis of much humour is the violation of our expectations about how people
should behave. Collect three humorous stories and use your pragmatic knowledge
to analyze the elements that make the stories funny.

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NOTES:
- Plagiarism

No plagiarism will be allowed in your Final Project. Any detected signs of plagiarism
(even among classmate’s products) will be considered as cheating and the Final Project
will be, therefore, eliminated.

- Citation

Your Final Project may include some ideas/numbers/facts from any reliable sources for
its stronger evidence, so your citation must be done in accordance with APA Standard
and a list of reference should be included.