CHAPTER 8 PRAGMATICS
A. Pragmatics and Semantics
Pragmatics in linguistics is related to speech and meaning to the speaker.
About English material, pragmatics may deal with functions in English or language functions, namely what language expressions or what are commonly used in certain situations. Talking about function, there are some pragmatic aspects that we should know. Pragmatics is the study of how context affects meaning, such as how sentences are interpreted in certain situations (or the interpretation of linguistic meaning in context). Linguistic context is discourse that precedes a sentence to be interpreted and situational context is knowledge about the world.
Pragmatics is the study of how context affects meaning, such as how sentences are interpreted in certain situations (or the interpretation of linguistic meaning in context). Linguistic context is the discourse that precedes a sentence to be interpreted and situational context, so Pragmatics is the study of aspects of the use of meaning and language that depends on the speaker, receiver, and other features of the context of the speech, such as the following.
Looks pragmatic meaning of words and grammar used semantically, except in context. In each situation, the various listeners in the conversation determine the most meaningful words, based on other clues that will lend the subtext meaning. The term pragmatics is used in contrast to semantics. Semantics has to do with the actual definition of a word or text. Pragmatics refers to how words are used in a practical sense. Words can mean different things, and often the same word can mean something different depending on the context in which it is used. Words can also carry symbolic meaning and in practice, or practical situations, we will apply our understanding of symbols as we read or listen to others. A pragmatic view means that one doesn't think in ideal or abstract terms. For example, words that attempt to explain abstract concepts- freedom, beauty have no meaning in and of themselves. Instead, someone who looks at pragmatics would attempt to understand how they are being used in a
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given, concrete, practical situation. In other words, they look at how we apply these words in practical, everyday language.
Examples of Pragmatics:
1. Will you crack open the door? I am getting hot.
Semantically, the word "crack" would mean to break, but pragmatically we know that the speaker means to open the door just a little to let in some air.
2. I heart you!
Semantically, the "heart" refers to an organ in our body that pumps blood and keeps us alive. However, pragmatically, "heart" in this sentence means "love"- hearts are commonly used as a symbol for love, and to "heart" someone has come to mean that you love someone.
3. If you eat all of that food, it will make you bigger!
Semantically, "bigger" in this sentence would mean larger than you are currently. Think about how this sentence, pragmatically, would mean something different depending on the context. If it is said to a young child, pragmatically, it would mean to grow bigger. If it is said to a grown person who is already obese, it would mean something entirely different.
Semantics is the study of meanings. The term is derived from Greek semanen (to signify or mean). It is concerned with the relation between words or other symbols and objects or concepts to which they refer. As an empirical study of word meaning in an existing language, semantics is a branch of linguistics” (American Encyclopedia: 536). Meaning plays a very important role in any situation of speech acts. Without meaning, all the utterances of a language are useless or without meaning, there will be no language, or if a language is not intended to communicate meaning, there will be no interaction of thought as we do in daily life. Meaning is concerned with the relationship between words and objects to which they refer, this statement leads us to presuppose that :
Meaning is the relation between words and objects to which they refer. If we say chair, we are concerned with an object (a seat with a back or arms).
It is impossible to find meaning in phonemes and syllables because they constitute a hierarchy in phonology and functioning as distinctive features
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in minimal pairs. So, meaning is concerned with words or morphemes. The latter as a minimal meaningful unit will do in this analysis, as a word is a morpheme, is not always a word, like the prefix im – in impossible. Thus we just focus only on words.
Semantics involves the deconstruction of words, signals, and sentence structure. It influences our reading comprehension as well as our comprehension of other people’s words in everyday conversation. Semantics play a large part in our daily communication, understanding, and language learning without us even realizing it, so Semantics is a branch of linguistics that looks at the meanings of words and language, including the symbolic use of language. It also refers to the multiple meanings of words as well. For example, in everyday use, a child might make use of semantics to understand a mom’s directive to “do your chores” as, “do your chores whenever you feel like it.” However, the mother was probably saying, “do your chores right now.” Since meaning in language is so complex, there are different theories used within semantics, such as formal semantics, lexical semantics, and conceptual semantics.
formal Semantics - Formal semantics uses techniques from math, philosophy, and logic to analyze the broader relationship between language and reality, truth and possibility. Has your teacher ever asked you to use an “if… then” question? It breaks apart lines of information to detect the underlying meaning or consequence of events.
Lexical Semantics - Lexical semantics deconstruct words and phrases within a line of text to understand the meaning in terms of context. This can include a study of individual nouns, verbs, adjectives, prefixes, root word, suffixes, or longer phrases or indioms.
Conceptual Semantics - Conceptual semantics deals with the most basic concept and form of a word before our thoughts and feelings added context to it.
For example, at its most basic we know a cougar to be a large wild cat. But, the word cougar has also come to indicate an older woman who’s dating a younger man. This is where context is important. So different between Pragmatics is is the study of words and their meaning in a language with concern to their context, and Semantics is the study of words and their meanings in a language.
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