Pragmatics
- Arts
- 400 level
- 3 credit units
- 147 pages
- 20 units
This course demonstrates how language functions in practical social situations, challenging the view that it is a mere cognitive skill. It explores how speakers and writers make language choices to achieve their intentions, guided by context to encode and interpret meanings beyond words or grammatical structures. The course aims to expose students to the crucial notion of speaker/writer's intended meaning-making process, impacting their language performances.
About this course
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Study hours
- 120 hours
- Maths
- None
- Content
- Theoretical, case study
- Practical work
- Yes
- Assignments
- Tutor marked assessments
- Final examination
What you'll read
The real module and unit structure of ENG432, taken from the course material NOUN publishes.
One paragraph, so you can see how it reads
ENG432 · UNIT 1: MEANING AND SCOPE OF PRAGMATICS
Every unit contains a list of references and further reading. Try to get as many of the textbooks listed as possible. The textbooks and materials are meant to deepen your knowledge of the course.
What you should be able to do
- Explain the meaning of pragmatics and its difference from semantics.
- Describe the influence of context on speakers and hearers.
- Explain concepts such as speech acts, politeness, and implicature.
- Discuss at least one theory of pragmatics and its applications.
- Apply knowledge gained to communicate effectively in different social contexts.
- Participate in further studies and research in pragmatics.
What it prepares you for
- Communication Specialist
- Linguist
- Editor
- Public Relations Officer
- Content Creator
- Education
- Media
- Advertising
- Public Relations
- Communication
Where it gets hard
The units students slow down on, and what makes each one heavy.
- Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 6: Social deixis; Discourse Deixis; Meaning and deictic reference
Understanding the nuances of social deixis requires a strong grasp of cultural and contextual variables.
- Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 9: Conversational Principle: Conversational Maxims; entailment; Implicature
Grasping the nuances of conversational maxims and their violations requires careful analysis of context and speaker intention.
A suggested way through it
13 weeks, about 32 hours in total. Yours will differ.
- Week 1Module 1: Meaning and Scope of Pragmatics
Unit 1: Meaning and Scope of Pragmatics · 2 hours
Study definitions of pragmatics by Leech, Levinson, and Yule.. Identify the common features of these definitions.. Reflect on situations where you interpreted statements pragmatically..
- Week 2Module 1: Meaning and Scope of Pragmatics
Unit 2: Historical Overview of Pragmatics · 2 hours
Examine the contributions of Charles Morris to pragmatics.. Distinguish between Morris's use of 'pragmatics' and modern linguistic pragmatics.. Analyze Carnap's trichotomy of semiotics..
- Week 3Module 1: Meaning and Scope of Pragmatics
Unit 3: Context in Language Use · 2 hours
Define context and describe its features.. Differentiate between linguistic, physical, interpersonal, situational, and institutional contexts.. Discuss Halliday's components of discourse context..
- Week 4Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 1: Tact · 2 hours
Explain tact as a pragmatic concept.. Describe the relationship between tact and politeness.. Analyze forms of illocutionary function and face-saving tact..
- Week 5Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 2: Deixis · 2 hours
Explain deictic reference and differentiate it from anaphoric reference.. Describe person, place, and time deixis.. Analyze how context determines deictic references..
- Week 6Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 3: Deixis Cont'd · 2 hours
Relate deixis to meaning and describe the concept of the deictic center.. Analyze how deixis operates in real-world situations.. Identify shifts in deictic center..
- Week 7Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 4: Reference and Inference · 2 hours
Differentiate between semantic and pragmatic reference.. Explain the importance of intention to communication.. Distinguish between reference and inference..
- Week 8Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 5: Presupposition · 2 hours
Define presupposition and identify clauses that trigger presuppositions.. Differentiate between pragmatic and semantic presupposition.. Analyze presuppositions in everyday speech..
- Week 9Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 6: Conversational Principle · 2 hours
Explain conversational maxims and differentiate them.. Define entailment and implicature and distinguish between them.. Analyze the importance of entailment and implicature in encoding meaning..
- Week 10Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 7: Politeness Principle · 2 hours
Discuss the roles of politeness phenomena in communication.. Describe forms of politeness strategies.. Explain politeness as face-saving..
- Week 11Module 2: Concepts in Pragmatics
Unit 8: Speech Acts · 2 hours
Explain how interactants do things with words.. Describe locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.. Distinguish between direct and indirect speech acts..
Unit 9: Speech Events · 2 hours
Explain the role of utterances in speech events.. Describe formal properties of speech events.. Discuss the relationship between pragmatics and conversation analysis..
- Week 12Module 3: Theories of Pragmatics
Unit 1: Austin's Theory of Pragmatics · 2 hours
Discuss Austin's theory of pragmatics.. Explain performative and constative sentences.. Describe Austin's infelicities condition.. Summarize Searle's contribution to speech act theory..
Unit 2: Grice's Theory of Conversational Implicature · 2 hours
Explain types of conversational implicature.. Describe non-conversational implicature.. Distinguish between implicature and explicature..
- Week 13Module 4: Pragmatics and Its Interfaces
Unit 3: Other Theoretical Contributions · 2 hours
Explain Bach's and Harnish's intention and inference theory.. Summarize Levinson's tri-heuristic theory.. Distinguish between Levinson's theory and Adegbija's balanced and unified theory..
Unit 1: Pragmatics and Discourse Structure · 2 hours
Describe the nature and functions of discourse markers.. Explain non-sentence speech acts.. Identify the pragmatics of figurative statements.. Discuss the pragmatics of language performance..
Preparing for the exam
- Create concept maps linking key pragmatic theories (Austin, Grice, Searle) to their core concepts.
- Practice identifying speech acts (direct/indirect) in various conversational contexts (Units 8-9).
- Analyze newspaper articles and advertisements for examples of implicature and presupposition (Units 5-6).
- Review the different types of contexts (linguistic, physical, interpersonal, socio-cultural) and their influence on meaning (Unit 3).
- Study examples of deictic expressions (person, place, time) and how their interpretation depends on context (Units 5-6).
- Focus on understanding the conversational maxims and how they are violated to create implicatures (Unit 9).
- Practice applying the performative formula to identify performative utterances (Unit 13).
Questions students ask about this course
What is ENG432 about?
This course demonstrates how language functions in practical social situations, challenging the view that it is a mere cognitive skill. It explores how speakers and writers make language choices to achieve their intentions, guided by context to encode and interpret meanings beyond words or grammatical structures. The course aims to expose students to the crucial notion of speaker/writer's intended meaning-making process, impacting their language performances.
How many units does ENG432 have?
ENG432, Pragmatics, has 20 units across 4 modules, over 147 pages of course material. You can read it one unit at a time.
How many credit units is ENG432?
ENG432 carries 3 credit units, at 400 level in Arts.
Is ENG432 hard?
ENG432 is rated intermediate level, with no mathematical content. It is mostly theoretical and case study work, and it has a practical component.
How long does ENG432 take to study?
About 120 hours of study, spread across its 20 units.
How is ENG432 assessed?
ENG432 is assessed by assignments, tutor marked assessments and final examination.
What can I do with ENG432?
Communication Specialist, Linguist, Editor, Public Relations Officer and Content Creator.