JL Austin, HP Grice and John Searle are some of the theorists who contributed to the development of pragmatics.
Pragmatics is an area of linguistics that is dedicated to the analysis of language in its relationship with the people who speak it , considering the different circumstances that are part of the communicative process and the statements that are issued in it.
The term comes from the Latin word pragmatĭcus , in turn derived from the Greek pragmatikós . Beyond its meaning as a discipline of linguistics , it has other uses, and can be used as a noun and even as an adjective.
Pragmatics as a discipline
Pragmatics studies how language is used taking into account the relationship that develops between speakers , context and statements . In this way, it examines the way in which human beings create and interpret messages in specific situations.
This makes pragmatics go beyond linguistics since it pays attention to factors such as the intentions and knowledge that the interlocutors have about the world. There is, in this framework, a competence that individuals have to use the language for communicative purposes considering elements that transcend linguistic signs.
Its origins
The origins of pragmatics as a field of study are located in the 1930s . At that time, the semiotician and philosopher Charles William Morris coined the term to refer to the analysis of signs in relation to speakers.
In any case, specialists indicate that there are much more distant antecedents, mentioning the rhetoricians of antiquity as the first thinkers to reflect on these issues. Today it is understood that pragmatics constitutes a way of approaching linguistic phenomena that takes into account aspects of the context .
Thanks to the specificity that it achieved with its historical development, pragmatics currently differs from structuralism and other currents of linguistics. Its outlook, as the name itself indicates, is pragmatic, in the sense of being oriented towards usefulness or practicality.
Pragmatics analyzes both written language and oral language, always in relation to context.
Principles of pragmatics
It can be indicated that pragmatics has the particularity of examining how the context affects when interpreting the meaning of a statement . Thus, it observes components that are not purely linguistic, such as interpersonal ties or the status of the interlocutors.
The discourse analysis carried out by pragmatics considers that speech acts are more than utterances of sentences with semantic content. A correct interpretation requires that the context be appropriately established . In other words: the same expression can be interpreted in different ways depending on the dialogue because, according to the context, it can be a metaphor , irony or have a literal meaning.
The so-called pragmatic knowledge is the competence that allows a subject, starting from an inference or deduction, to grasp the intentionality and achieve the decoding of the statement to interpret it properly.
Pragmatic specialists maintain that the sender , when sending a message, makes a reference that makes the identification of something possible. The receiver, for its part, makes an inference for the interpretation of said reference. This assumes that the reference is not given by the terms themselves, but by how the speaker uses them. Communication is successful when the receiver has the ability to infer what the sender actually wanted to express.
Beyond linguistics, pragmatics pays attention to non-verbal communication and other elements.
The deixis
Deixis is key in pragmatics. This is the name used to refer to an expression, a time, a space or an individual that is specified through certain elements of grammar .
As you can see, deixis is only understood in one context. For example: in the expression "My parents will arrive tomorrow" , the adjective "my" , the verb "arrival" and the adverb "tomorrow" indicate deixis since it uses a point of reference that can only be identified contextually.
The speaker, with deixis, makes the interlocutor able to identify what he is referring to. This association is made possible with inference from all the additional information provided by the issuer. In this interpersonal communication , the speaker makes a presupposition of what the listener knows, something that allows the amount of data shared to be optimized.
Presuppositions according to pragmatics
Presuppositions arise from what is taken for granted. According to pragmatics, these assumptions are about the context and what is needed for the communicative process to be completed successfully.
If someone points out "My boss assigned me a new task," it is assumed that the speaker has a job. It is not necessary to first clarify that you have a job since, when referring to your "boss" , it is understood that at the moment of the message the protagonist carries out some type of work activity under a dependency relationship.
Analysis of contextual factors
The analysis of contextual factors, in short, is the key to pragmatics. As we already mentioned, the language register and other variables mean that a statement can be interpreted in different ways depending on the language.
"Today is nice" is an expression that, pronounced on a sunny day, is interpreted literally (it is accepted at a social level that the sun's rays offer pleasant environmental conditions). But if the phrase is expressed in a conversation that takes place on a day with storms and a temperature of 2 degrees below zero, it reflects sarcasm or the intention of making a joke .
In the media, meanwhile, euphemisms are common. A journalist can comment that a footballer hit another in his "noble parts" so as not to explicitly refer to the genitals. It is not assumed, however, that the legs or arms are not "noble."
A political speech that seeks persuasion must also be analyzed in its context. Former Argentine president Carlos Saúl Menem , in his electoral campaign, cried: «Follow me! "I'm not going to let you down!" . It was easy to infer, in that framework, that "following him" was voting for him. Today a young person who asks to "follow" him is most likely referring to his presence on social networks.