ENG833

Pragmatics

Arts
800 level
3 credit units
193 pages
21 units

This course provides an in-depth exploration of pragmatics for postgraduate English language students. It builds upon undergraduate knowledge, evaluating theoretical issues and the interaction between pragmatics and society. The course introduces new concepts and examines the relationship between pragmatics and other linguistic disciplines. Students will learn to apply pragmatic approaches to various societal contexts, particularly in multilingual and multicultural settings like Nigeria, and conduct research using pragmatic principles.

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About this course

Difficulty: Intermediate
Study hours: 52 hours
Maths: None
Content: Theoretical, case study, research
Practical work: Yes

Before you start

Undergraduate degree in English Language or Linguistics

How it is assessed

Assignments
Tutor marked assessments
Final examination

What you'll read

The real module and unit structure of ENG833, taken from the course material NOUN publishes.

Module 1 · STARTING POINT: UNDERSTANDING PRAGMATICS

Module 2

Module 3

Module 4

Module 5

One paragraph, so you can see how it reads

ENG833 · UNIT 1: PRAGMATICS: AN INTRODUCTION

Each unit contains a list of reference materials that you can read in addition to the study units. These may be textbooks or journal articles. These references are meant to enhance a better understanding of the course.

Start reading Get the original PDF, if you want it

What you should be able to do

Explain the core concepts and theories in pragmatics
Describe the relationship between pragmatics and other linguistic disciplines
Apply pragmatic principles to real-life situations such as politics, law, medicine, and the Internet
Conduct research using pragmatic principles
Discuss dimensions of pragmatics such as metapragmatics, literary pragmatics, and interpersonal pragmatics

What it prepares you for

Careers

Linguist
Communication Specialist
Discourse Analyst
Editor
Content Creator

Where it is applied

Education
Media
Law
Politics
Healthcare

Tools

Online library databases
Corpus linguistics software

Where it gets hard

The units students slow down on, and what makes each one heavy.

Module 3: Major Theories in Pragmatics
Unit 3: Implicature
Understanding the nuances between different types of implicatures (conventional, conversational, scalar) requires careful attention to detail and contextual understanding.
Module 3: Major Theories in Pragmatics
Unit 4: Relevance
Relevance theory requires a deep understanding of cognitive processes and inferential computations, making it challenging to apply in real-world scenarios.

A suggested way through it

Suggested

13 weeks, about 52 hours in total. Yours will differ.

Week 1Module 1: Understanding Pragmatics
- Unit 1: Pragmatics: An Introduction · 4 hours
  Read Unit 1: Define pragmatics, its history, development, approaches, and scope.. Understand the Greek origin of the term 'pragma' and its focus on meaning in interaction.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 2Module 1: Understanding Pragmatics
- Unit 2: Pragmatics and other disciplines · 4 hours
  Read Unit 2: Identify relationships between pragmatics and semantics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, phonology, and nonverbal language.. Focus on areas of convergence and divergence with other linguistic disciplines.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 3Module 1: Understanding Pragmatics
- Unit 3: Context · 4 hours
  Read Unit 3: Understand the concept of context, its linguistic, social-cultural, and psychological dimensions.. Examine different types of contexts and theories of context.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 4Module 1: Understanding Pragmatics
- Unit 4: Research Methods in Pragmatics · 4 hours
  Read Unit 4: Learn about research methodologies in pragmatics, including data collection and analysis techniques.. Understand the differences between authentic and elicited data.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 5Module 2: Major Concepts in Pragmatics
- Unit 1: Deixis and Reference · 4 hours
  Read Unit 1: Deixis and Reference: How language is used to refer to objects, people, and ideas.. Understand the different types of deixis and referents.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 6Module 2: Major Concepts in Pragmatics
- Unit 2: Inference and Presupposition · 4 hours
  Read Unit 2: Inference and Presupposition: How hearers derive meaning from utterances and assumptions made by speakers.. Understand deductive and abductive inferences.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 7Module 2: Major Concepts in Pragmatics
- Unit 3: Pragmatic Markers · 4 hours
  Read Unit 3: Pragmatic Markers: The role of words and phrases in organizing discourse and indicating speaker attitude.. Study different types, features, and functions of pragmatic markers.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 8Module 2: Major Concepts in Pragmatics
- Unit 4: Politeness and Impoliteness · 4 hours
  Read Unit 4: Politeness and Impoliteness: How interpersonal relations are maintained or threatened through language.. Understand Brown and Levinson's politeness strategies and criticisms.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 9Module 3: Major Theories in Pragmatics
- Unit 1: Speech Acts · 4 hours
  Read Unit 1: Speech Acts: The actions performed through utterances, including locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.. Study Austin's and Searle's classifications of speech acts.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 10Module 3: Major Theories in Pragmatics
- Unit 2: Pragmatic Acts · 4 hours
  Read Unit 2: Pragmatic Acts: A socio-cultural interactional view of pragmatics, emphasizing the role of context.. Understand the features of pragmatic acts and their differences from speech acts.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 11Module 3: Major Theories in Pragmatics
- Unit 3: Implicature · 4 hours
  Read Unit 3: Implicature: The theory of implied meaning, including conventional and conversational implicatures.. Understand Grice's Cooperative Principle and conversational maxims.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 12Module 3: Major Theories in Pragmatics
- Unit 4: Relevance · 4 hours
  Read Unit 4: Relevance Theory: A cognitive pragmatic theory that reduces Gricean maxims to the principle of relevance.. Understand cognitive and communicative principles.. Complete Self-Assessment Exercise 1..
Week 13Course Revision
- Final Revision · 4 hours
  Review all modules and units.. Prepare for final examinations.. Work on assignments..

Preparing for the exam

What to do

Create concept maps linking key pragmatic theories (Speech Acts, Implicature, Relevance).
Practice analyzing real-world conversations and texts using different pragmatic frameworks.
Focus on understanding the nuances of context and its impact on meaning.
Review the different types of implicatures and their applications.
Study the various politeness strategies and their cultural variations.

Questions students ask about this course

What is ENG833 about?

How many units does ENG833 have?

ENG833, Pragmatics, has 21 units across 5 modules, over 193 pages of course material. You can read it one unit at a time.

How many credit units is ENG833?

ENG833 carries 3 credit units, at 800 level in Arts.

Is ENG833 hard?

ENG833 is rated intermediate level, with no mathematical content. It is mostly theoretical, case study and research work, and it has a practical component.

How long does ENG833 take to study?

About 52 hours of study, spread across its 21 units.

How is ENG833 assessed?

ENG833 is assessed by assignments, tutor marked assessments and final examination.

What do I need before starting ENG833?

Undergraduate degree in English Language or Linguistics

What can I do with ENG833?

Linguist, Communication Specialist, Discourse Analyst, Editor and Content Creator.