大三语言学基础Week-VII：Pragmatics-(A-General-View)

语言学LinguisticsWeekVIIPragmaticsAGeneralViewPartIIPragmaticsChapter1AGeneralViewofPragmatics1.1WastebasketofPragmatics1.2ContextinPragmatics1.3HistoryandDefinitionofPragmatics1.4WhytheNecessityofPragmaticsStudy?Chomskyiandichotomyofsentencestructure:deepstructureandsurfacestructure.S(1)Isleptbadly.S(2)Colorlessgreenideassleepfuriously.S(3)Flyingplanescanbedangerous.differentdeepstructuresmaymergeintoasingleambiguoussurfacestructure1.1WastebasketofPragmaticsWhenChomskythrewhis“greenideas”“furiously”intothewastebasketofsemantics,otherswhoclaimthemselvestobesyntacticanalystsorsemanticistscontinuedoingso,eachcontributingnewrulesandassertionstothestudyoflanguageandleavingbehindplentyofwasteforlatecomerstodealwith.“Thesemanticsbasketbeingfilledtothebrim,anotherwaste-baskethadtobecreatedtocatchtheoverflow”(Mey).Andthis“anotherwaste-basket”isPragmatics.1.2ContextinPragmaticsThatscholarshaveleftsuchaplentyofwastebehindseemstosuggestthatthemeaningofasentenceismoreelusiveanduncertainthanwecanimagine.Therefore,whatwe’vediscussedinPartI,beitsyntacticstudyorsemantics,seemstobemainlyconcernedwith,inasense,thestaticaspectsoflanguage.However,languageinuseisarathercomplicatedmatter,andtheelusivenessanduncertaintyofmeaningrenderallthetheoriessofarmentionedcontroversialandweakunderattack.Meaning,infact,isratherdynamic,andisdependentuponcontext.Sentenceswithoutcontextcanresultinambiguity.Scenario1:A:IjustmettheoldIrishmanandhisson,comingoutofthetoilet.B:Iwouldn’thavethoughttherewasroomforthetwoofthem.A:Nosilly,ImeanIwascomingoutofthetoilet.Theywerewaiting.Scenario2:‘WhatarewegoingtodoaboutBaba’,sheasked.‘Whatdoyoumean?’‘Shecan’trememberanything.’‘Didsheaskyouwhethershewastakingmedicine?’‘No.’‘Noshe’snotornoshedidn’task?’‘Shedidn’task.’‘Shewassupposedto,’Isaid.‘Well,shedidn’t.’Theconceptof“context”inpragmaticsisdifferentfromthatreferredtointraditionallinguistics.Itisviewed,bypragmaticians,asdynamic,too.Adynamiccontextisanenvironmentthatisinsteadydevelopment,promptedbythecontinuousinteractionofthepeopleengagedinlanguageuse.Contextisthequintessentialpragmaticconcept;itisbydefinitionproactive,justaspeopleare.Bycontrast,apurelinguisticdescriptionisretroactiveandstatic:ittakesasnapshotofwhatisthecaseatanyparticularmoment,andtriestofreezethatpicture.Puredescriptionshavenodynamics;theycannevercapturetherichnessofthedevelopmentsthattakeplacebetweenpeopleusinglanguage;thesynchronicsnapshotofthe‘hereandnow’,theclassicalhicetnunc,isaphilosophicalabstraction.(Mey,2001:14)ContextHeZhaoxiong’sClassificationofContextLinguisticknowledgeExtra-linguisticknowledgeKnowledgeofthelanguageinuseKnowledgeoftheprevioustextofverbalcommunicationBackgroundknowledgeSituationalknowledgeMutualknowledgeEncyclopedicKnowledge(CommonSense)SocialnormsofaspecificcultureConversationalRulesofaspecificcultureTime&PlaceofcommunicationTopicofcommunicationDegreeofFormalnessofCommunicationRelationshipofconversationalparticipants1.3HistoryandDefinitionofPragmaticsHistoryC.Morris’Formula(1946):M=ME+MP+MFAccordingly,semioticsiscomposedofthreeparts:Syntactics,SemanticsandPragmatics,whichrespectivelyemphasizethreeaspects,therelationbetweendifferentsigns;therelationbetweenthesignanditsmeaning;therelationbetweenthesignandthesignuser.Afterthat,thestudyofpragmaticsbegantotakeshape.However,foralongtime,pragmatics“canhardlybeconsideredanautonomousfieldofstudy”(Bussmann,2000:374):Itwasoncesubsumedundertheterm“sociolinguistics”.In1970s,pragmaticsbecamealmostexclusivelyidentifiedwithSpeechActtheorysuggestedbyAustinAbitlater:withconversationanalysis.And,thedistinctionbetweenpragmaticsandsemanticshasneverbeenclear-cut.Recently,somescholarsevensuggestedthesubstituteof“situationalsemantics”(Gawron&Peters,1990),or“illocutionarylogic”(Vanderveken,1990)forpragmatics.DefinitionPragmaticsisthestudyofspeakermeaning.(Yule,1996:3)Pragmaticsisthestudyofcontextualmeaning.(ibid)Pragmaticsisthestudyofhowmoregetscommunicatedthanissaid.(ibid)Pragmaticsisthestudyofrelativedistance.(ibid)Pragmaticsisthestudyoftherelationshipsbetweenlinguisticformsandtheusersofthoseforms.(ibid:4)Pragmaticsisthestudyofthoserelationsbetweenlanguageandcontextthataregrammaticalized,orencodedinthestructureofalanguage.(QuotedfromHeZhaoxiong,2000:7)Pragmaticsisthestudyoftheabilityoflanguageuserstopairsentenceswiththecontextinwhichtheywouldbeappropriate.(ibid)Pragmaticsis“Asubdisciplineoflinguisticsdevelopedfromdifferentlinguistic,philosophicalandsociologicaltraditionsthatstudiestherelationshipbetweennaturallanguageexpressionsandtheirusesinspecificsituations”(Bussmann,2000:374).Verschuerenhasrecentlycharacterizedpragmaticsas“ageneralcognitive,social,andculturalperspectiveonlinguisticphenomenainrelationtotheirusageinformsofbehaviour”(Mey,2001:9)Pragmaticsisthestudyof“meaningminussemantics”(Levinson,1983:28).Scholarsseemtoallagreethat,inpragmatics,threethingsareimportant,i.e.,meaning,contextand(language)users.Indeed,thesearethekeypointsthatdistinguishpragmaticsfromthatofsyntaxandsemantics.S(4):Conferencemakesareadyman.