Pragmatics

Pragmatics, as a linguistic discipline, focuses on the study of language use, and the meaning of utterances depending on the context. Pragmatic theories are a natural continuation of the theories of semantics, studying different aspects of meaning, as well as syntax, studying sentence structure. In this seminar, we will focus on different pragmatic principles, such as deixis, inference, implicature, presupposition, as well as pragmatic phenomena such as speech acts and politeness, while also tackling the relevance theory and the cooperative principle, giving us varying contexts in which meaning can be realised. Additionally, we will discover how pragmatic competence differs from linguistic competence, and why it is important for language learners to master pragmatic competence in a foreign language. This will also bring us to the field of intercultural pragmatics, as the study of language used in communication between people who speak different first languages, but who are communicating in a common language, as well as how existing pragmatic norms may impact their communication patterns, and help, or impede mutual understanding.