Prof. dr. habil.

RUXANDRA VIȘAN

Pragmatics. Third year. English Major. Spring Semester 2023

1. Introduction: Pragmatics – definition and scope (Pragmatics/semantics interface;

Pragmatics/discourse analysis; Meanings in context)

2. Traditional Speech Act Theories (Speech act theory; Felicity conditions:

Performativity; Locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts; Austin/Searle;
Speech Act Typology)

3. Indirectness (Sentence meaning/Speaker meaning; Direct Speech Acts/Indirect

Speech Acts; Parameters of indirectness)

4. The Cooperative Principle; Conversational Maxims (Grice’s framework)

5. Interpersonal pragmatics: Politeness theories (Brown & Levinson’s framework;

Culpeper’s impoliteness)

6. Approaches to Irony (A comparison of various frameworks, with a focus on Sperber

and Wilson’s account)

7. Conceptual Metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson’s framework)

8. Revision, Final Remarks and Further Directions of Study/Research (Metapragmatics,

Discourse Analysis)

Short bibliography (Selection)

Sorea, Daniela. 2012. Pragmatics. Some Cognitive Perspectives. Bucharest: EUB
Cutting, Joan & Kenneth Fordyce. 2020. Pragmatics. and Discourse. A resource book for
students. London/New York: Routledge.
Culpeper, Jonathan & Michael Haugh. 2014. Pragmatics and the English Language. London:
Palgrave Macmillan.

Exam requirements: A written exam during the exam session (as scheduled by the Faculty),
based on the topics and exercises taught and discussed during the course and seminar. Any
topic that has been taught and discussed is a potential exam topic.