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Don't Go Out With A Skirt. But in This Case We Are Carrying Out A Pragmatic Analysis, We Are Taking Into Account The Words

Pragmatics is the study of language in context and how meaning depends on context. A statement like "It's raining" can have different meanings depending on the context, such as informing about the weather or telling someone not to go outside without a coat. To understand pragmatic meaning, one must understand the context using schemas and scripts - mental frameworks built from experience that represent situations and sequences of events. Pragmatics analyzes language meaning based on context rather than just linguistic structure.

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29 views1 page

Don't Go Out With A Skirt. But in This Case We Are Carrying Out A Pragmatic Analysis, We Are Taking Into Account The Words

Pragmatics is the study of language in context and how meaning depends on context. A statement like "It's raining" can have different meanings depending on the context, such as informing about the weather or telling someone not to go outside without a coat. To understand pragmatic meaning, one must understand the context using schemas and scripts - mental frameworks built from experience that represent situations and sequences of events. Pragmatics analyzes language meaning based on context rather than just linguistic structure.

Uploaded by

Jimena Ferrario
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Pragmatics:

Pragmatics is the study of language and the meaning it takes on in a particular context. When we
study the meaning that language takes on in a particular situation we are in the field of pragmatics.
For example,

“It’s raining” Within a linguistic analysis, the analysis carried out within the system of Language, we
can say that “It’s raining” is pronounced with certain phonemes; that there is a subject, the pronoun
“it”; that “is raining” are verbs, that “is” the auxiliary and “raining” the present participle; and
semantically, it means water falls from the clouds.

But if in certain context someone says “it’s raining”, the purpose of the speaker is not to inform
someone about the weather, it could mean take your coat, take your umbrella, or don’t go out with a
skirt. But in this case we are carrying out a pragmatic analysis, we are taking into account the words
and the situation in which that is said. The same said by the mother when the child wants to play
outside means you are not allowed to play outside, don’t go out.

A pragmatic analysis of language takes into the meaning of what is said according to the context. At
a pragmatic level the same utterance can mean many things and much more than the meaning
derived from a linguistic analysis.

In order to understand the pragmatic meaning we need to have some kind of knowledge of the world.
The understanding of language depends on the culture you live in.

How is this knowledge of the world built up in our mind?

In schema (-ta) and script(s). The schema is like a picture of the situation: the solar system, the
classroom seating, a supermarket and they help us to understand the world in a certain way.

We learn by building up upon old schemata. We modify our old schemata with the new concepts we
learn. Our schemata are constantly changing as long as we absorb new knowledge.

Scripts: a series of dynamic schemata: sequences.

Unit 4: Linguistics: The scientific study of language

Linguistics may be defined as the scientific study of language. By the scientific study of language is
meant its investigation by means of controlled and empirically verifiable observations and with
reference to some general theory of language structures.

It has its own jargon. Every science has its own technical vocabulary: The use of special vocabulary
eliminates a good deal of ambiguity and possible misunderstanding in the discussion of language.

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