pragmatics
inference
a conclusion that a person is reasonably entitled to draw based on a set of circumstances
context
a set of circumstances in which an utterance is uttered
utterance
a speech event: a particular occurrence of a person speaking or signing; the content-words, phrases, or sentences-of what is said; represented by the use of quotation marks
speech acts
actions that are performed only through using language: a term that describes the use of speech emphasizing the speaker's intention or goal in producing an utterance
infelicitous
an utterance that is inappropriate in some way
felicitous
an utterance that is situationally appropriate, one that is appropriate relative to the context in which it is uttered
maxims of quantity
concern how much information it is appropriate for a speaker to give in a discourse
performative verbs
denote purely linguistic actions
maxims of relevance
expected to make contributions that pertain to the subject of the conversation; also help us figure out what others mean by a particular utterance
maxims of manner
have nothing to do with the information itself, rather instruct speakers in how they should go about giving that information
entailment
indicates a commitment from the speaker's point of view; allows a conclusion to be drawn very confidently; relationship based on literal meaning
pragmaticists
job is to investigate the relationship between context and meaning
maxims
one of a set of conversational rules that regulate conversation by enforcing compliance with the Cooperative Principle
Cooperative Principle
principle formulated by the philosopher HP Grice, stating that underlying a conversation is the understanding that what one says is intended to contribute to the purposes of the conversation
implying
sending the message without saying it directly
performative speech act
shows that we consider speech action just as legitimate as any other physical action
pragmatics
study of the ways people use language in actual conversation
social context
the aspect of an utterance's context that includes information about the social relationships between participants in the discourse, what their status is relative to each other, and so on
situational context
the aspect of an utterance's context that includes such information as where the speakers are, who is speaking, what is going on around them, and what is going on in the world that all speakers can reasonably be expected to be aware of
felicity conditions
the circumstances required to render a particular variety of speech act felicitous
satisfied presupposition
the participants in the discourse must believe that the presupposed information is true before the sentence containing the presuppositions is uttered
existence presuppositions
the presupposition that an item referred to in discourse exists
presupposition accommodation
the process by which participants in a discourse decide to accept (and not question) information that is presupposed by a sentence uttered in the discourse, even though the presupposition was not satisfied prior to the utterance
maxims of quality
those which solve the aforementioned problem that conversation would never work if we were to tell lies in some haphazard way
flouting
to break one of the maxims, intentionally in order to convey a particular message that is often counter to or seemingly unrelated to what is actually said
presupposition
underlying assumption that must be satisfied in order for an utterance to make sense or for it to be debatable
direct speech acts
utterance that performs its function in a direct and literal manner
indirect speech acts
utterance that performs its function in an indirect and nonliteral manner
linguistic context
what preceded a particular utterance in a discourse
implicature
when a speaker implies something using language, the utterance contains this
deictic
word or expression that takes its meaning relative to the time, place, and speaker of the utterance
presupposition triggers
words or phrases who's use in a sentence often indicates the presence of a presupposition
