语言学chapter6pragmatics习题兼答案

Chapter 6

PRAGMATICS

1. What does pragmatics study? How does it differ from traditional semantics?

答：

Generally speaking, pragmatics is the study of meaning in the context. It

studies meaning in a dynamic way and as a process. In order to have a successful

communication,

the

speaker

and

hearer

must

take

the

context

into

their

consideration so as to effect the right meaning and intention. The development

and

establishment

pragmatics

in

1960s

and

1970s

resulted

mainly

from

the

expansion

of

the

study

semantics.

However,

it

is

different

from

the

traditional

semantics.

The major difference between them lies in that pragmatics studies meaning in a

dynamic way, while semantics studies meaning in a static way. Pragmatics takes

context

into

consideration

while

semantics

does

not.

Pragmatics

takes

care

of

the

aspect of meaning that is not accounted for by semantics.

2. Why is the notion of context essential in the pragmatic study of linguistic

communication?

答：

The notion of context is essential

to the

pragmatic study

of language. It

is

generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and

the

hearer.

Various

continents

of

shared

knowledge

have

been

identified, .

knowledge of the language they use, knowledge of what has been said before,

knowledge about the world in general, knowledge about the specific situation in

which linguistic communication is taking place, and knowledge about each other.

Context

determines

the

speaker's

use

of

language

and

also

the

heater's

interpretation

of

what

is

said

to

him.

Without

such

knowledge,

linguistic

communication would not be possible, and without considering such knowledge,

linguistic communication cannot be satisfactorily accounted for in a pragmatic

sense. Look at the following sentences:

(1) How did it go?

(2) It is cold in hem.

(3) It was a hot Christmas day so we went down to the beach in the afternoon

and had a good time swimming and surfing.

Sentence (1) might be used in a conversation between two students talking about

an examination, or two surgeons talking about an operation, or in some other

contexts;

(2)

might

be

said

by

the

speaker

to

ask

the

hearer

to

turn

on

the

heater,

or

leave

the

place,

or

to

put

on

more

clothes,

or

to

apologize

for

the

poor

condition

of the room, depending on the situation of context; (3) makes sense only ii the

hearer

has

the

knowledge

that

Christmas

falls

in

summer

in

the

southern

hemisphere.

3.

How

are

sentence

meaning

and

utterance

meaning

related,

and

how

do

they

differ?

答：

A sentence is a grammatical concept, and the meaning of a sentence is often

studied as the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of

predication. But if we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the

course

of

communication,

it

becomes

an

utterance,

and

it

should

be

considered

in

the situation in which it is actually uttered (or used). So it is impossible to

tell if “The dog is barking” is a sentence or an utterance. It can be either.

It

all

depends

on

how

we

look

at

it

and

how

we

are

going

to

analyze

it.

If

we

take

it as a grammatical unit and consider it as a self-contained unit in isolation

from context, then we are treating it as a sentence. If we take it as something

a

speaker

utters

in

a

certain

situation

with

a

certain

purpose,

then

we

are

treating

it as an utterance.

Therefore,

while

the

meaning

of

a

sentence

is

abstract,

and

decontextualized,

that

of

an

utterance

is

concrete,

and

context-dependent.

The

meaning

of

an

utterance is based on sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract

meaning

of

a

sentence

in

a

real

situation

of

communication,

or

simply

in

a

context.

Now, take the sentence

meaning of the sentence results in the one-place predication BAG (BEING HEAVY).

Then a pragmatic analysis of the utterance meaning of the .sentence varies with

the

context

in

which

it

is

uttered.

For

example,

it

could

be

uttered

by

a

speaker

as

a

straightforward

statement,

telling

the

hearer

that

his

bag

is

heavy.

It

could

also

be

intended

by

the

speaker

as

an

indirect,

polite

request,

asking

the

hearer

to help him carry the bag. Another possibility is that the speaker is declining

someone's request for help. All these are possible interpretations of the same

utterance

“

M

y bag is heavy”. How it is to

be understood depends on the context

in which it is uttered and the purpose for which the speaker utters it.

While

most

utterances

take

the

form

of

grammatically

complete

sentences,

some

utterances do not, and some cannot even be restored to complete sentences.

4. Try to think of contexts in which the following sentences can be used for other

purposes than just stating facts:

a) The room is messy.

b) Oh, it is raining!

c) The music of the movie is good.

d) You have been keeping my notes for a whole week now.

答：

a) A father entered his son

’

s room and found it is very messy. Then when he

said,

“

The room is messy,

”

he was blaming his son for not tidying it up.

b)

A

son

asked

his

father

to

play

with

him

outside.

So

when

the

father

said,

“

Oh,

it

’

s raining

”

, he meant they couldn

’

t play outside.

c)

Two

persons

just

watched

a

movie

and

had

a

discussion

of

it.

One

person

said,

“

The

story

of

the

movie

is

very

moving

”,

so

wh

en

the

other

person

sai

d,

“

The

music of the movie is good

”, he me

ant he didn't think the story of the movie

was good.

d) A person wanted his notes bac

k, so when he said, “you ha

ve been keeping my

notes for a whole wee

k now”

, he was demanding the return of his notes.

5. According to Austin, what are the three acts a person is possibly performing

while making an utterance. Give an example.

答：

According to Austin's new model, a speaker might be performing three acts

simultaneously

when

speaking:

locutionary

act,

illocutionary

act,

and

perlocutionary act.