Introduction Silva, Daniel N
Pragmatics and society,
2015, Volume:
6, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
My main concern in this introductory article is with the circulation of discourses, a concept that works at both the pragmatic and metapragmatic levels of signification, and that requires closer ...attention to how meaning is embedded in ever-changing and dynamic social practices. To say that discourse circulates is both to say that certain pragmatic devices of a natural language were deployed in moving signs from one particular interactive setting to another, and to say that some regimentation, framing or imagination of that trajectory was simultaneously at play. I intend to delineate a model for discourse circulation in society by drawing from pioneer definitions of the circulation of signs, both linguistic-anthropological (Bauman and Briggs 1990; Silverstein 1993; Silverstein and Urban 1996; Briggs 2007; Agha 2011), philosophical (Derrida 1977, 1997, 2001; Butler 1997) and pragmatic (Borutti 1984; Mey 2001), and from the empirical evidence and theoretical advances that the articles in the current issue shall provide. Adapted from the source document
This new landmark series provides a comprehensive overview of the entire field of pragmatics. It is based on a wide conception of pragmatics as the study of intentional human interaction in social ...and cultural contexts. In-depth articles discuss the foundations, major theories and most recent developments of pragmatics including philosophical, sociocultural and cognitive as well as methodological, contrastive and diachronic perspectives.
In the philosophy of language, there are many ongoing controversies that stem from relying too heavily on an utterance-based framework. The traditional approach of rigidly partitioning the ...utterance’s meaning into what is grammatically determined from what is not may not fully capture the complexity of human language in real-world communicative contexts. To address this issue, we suggest shifting focus toward a broader analysis level encompassing conversations and discourses. From this broader perspective, it is possible to obtain a more integrated view of how linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects dynamically interact and thus reconsider semantics/pragmatics dichotomy as complementary dimensions. Meaning is not confined to linguistic structures alone but emerges from the dynamic interplay of words, sociocultural knowledge, discursive situations, and psychological dispositions of speakers. Substantiating this perspective calls for embracing an interdisciplinary approach that synthesizes research from various domains, including linguistics, cognitive psychology, and philosophy of language. This paper focuses on a particularly compelling case study: aphasia. Speeches produced by individuals with aphasia represent complex scenarios where the balance between linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects is notably compromised, often to the former’s detriment. Aphasics’ productions represent a vivid example of how the interpretation of speeches can be far from involving fixed and static operations. Instead, it entails continuously reallocating cognitive resources toward the most readily available and accessible sources for the speakers. This case study ultimately demonstrates that the influence of semantic and pragmatic processes in shaping and conveying meanings displays remarkable adaptability, continuously adjusting to the ever changing demands placed upon speakers.
Theoretical pragmatics in the post-Gricean tradition argued that metaphor requires understanding of how another person sees the world. Yet, it is unclear what role mindreading plays in developing ...metaphor skills. Here we examined the relationship between metaphor and Theory of Mind (ToM) in middle childhood by using two different tasks. In addition to the Physical and Mental Metaphors task (PMM), based on the verbal explanation of physical and mental metaphors, we revived the Referential Metaphors task for children (Noveck, Bianco, & Castry, 2001), where metaphorical and literal referents are presented in a narrative context. The sample included 169 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old children, assessed also for ToM (via the Strange Stories) and other linguistic and cognitive skills as control variables. In the PMM, ToM supported the understanding of mental (but not physical) metaphors in 9-year-olds only, whereas in the Referential Metaphors task ToM supported accuracy of understanding metaphors (but not literal items) in younger children as well. At age 10, ToM effects were negligible in both tasks. These findings suggest that ToM has a task-specific role in metaphor, linked to the characteristics of the items in the task at stake, being for instance greater for metaphors with mental (compared to physical) content and for non-literal (compared to literal) referents. The findings also suggest that the relationship between ToM and metaphor skills is developmental sensitive, as children start to capitalize on ToM earlier in development when the metaphor context is richer, and these effects fade with age. Theoretically, these data argue in favor of the relevance-theoretic account of metaphor, spelling out different ways in which ToM might support metaphor resolution across tasks, for instance by providing better access to the psychological lexicon (i.e., terms referring to mental states) and better context processing, serving as a springboard to achieve sophisticated pragmatic skills in middle childhood.
•We studied the relationship between metaphor and ToM in middle childhood.•We used the Physical and Mental Metaphors task and the Referential Metaphors task.•The effect of ToM varied depending on type of metaphor, task, and age group.•ToM is a springboard for achieving metaphor competence, yet in a task-specific fashion.
Following recent efforts by Acton (2021) and Eckert (2019) to bridge gaps between pragmatics and sociolinguistics, this study looks at the interplay between pragmatic-functional factors and social ...indexicalities lying behind discourse marker selection in multilingual settings. The case study it proposes is non-English discourse markers in Namibian English, a postcolonial English variety set in a multilingual context. The study's methodological approach proposes to make Schneider's (2021) variational pragmatic framework more compatible with studying variation in multilingual settings by looking at multilingual speech data elicited from informants observed across contexts differentiated according to ethnolinguistic background distribution. The study finds that some discourse markers are overtly or covertly transferred along with their pragmatic functions across indigenous languages, Afrikaans, and English. It also finds that social indexicalities mobilized for social persona construction constitute a potent if not overarching factor in discourse marker selection: As it turns out, Coloured Afrikaans discourse markers rather than indigenous or English ones constitute the common core of non-English discourse markers that symbolically mark specific Namibian English varieties as simultaneously ‘Black’ and urban rather than as ‘traditional ethnic’ or ‘White’.
•Namibian English is marked by a distinctive set of discourse markers.•These tend to be drawn from Afrikaans, the country's other ethnically neutral lingua franca, and to be found across contexts.•They are transferred into English for their identity functions rather than for their semantic content.•Pragmatic transfers into English do occur, however. Whether these pragmatic transfers are covert or overt depends on context.
One of the major tasks of historical pragmatics is to account for the pragmatic mechanisms underlying semantic changes. However, previous research generally ignored the heterogeneity in the pragmatic ...mechanisms of semantic changes. Drawing insights from Truth Conditional Pragmatics, this paper proposes the Lexical Meaning Contextualization model and uses it to analyze the semantic changes of the Mandarin Chinese discourse marker dangran (当然). It is discovered that dangran’s evolution is likely to be motivated by multiple rather than single pragmatic operations. Altogether 4 types of pragmatic operations are involved in dangran’s evolution. They exhibit synchronic cooperation and diachronic divisions of labor. These findings reveal the complexity of the pragmatic mechanisms underlying semantic changes.
•Semantic changes are the byproducts of the contextualization of lexical meaning.•Multiple rather than single pragmatic operations are underlying semantic changes.•There is synchronic cooperation among these pragmatic operations.•These pragmatic operations also exhibit diachronic division of labor.
The upper ranks of corpus word frequency lists are primarily populated by functional items, as well as by other small words characterised by their polysemy that reward focussed attention and ...research. Exploring these items has resulted in rich and fruitful insights from a corpus pragmatic perspective. This paper focuses on the nature and value of there as a discourse-pragmatic marker in Irish English (IrE). We focus on intimate discourse (i.e., the language used between family and friends), and use corpora of IrE to trace and investigate the varietal nuances of there in this context. Our analysis acknowledges the expected existential and locative functions and illustrates that there has specific discourse-pragmatic properties in the intimate sphere in IrE. We argue that there has acquired additional pragmatic dimensions and is used in the language of family and friends as, for example, an involvement marker or mitigator. In the discussion of the development of there as a discourse-pragmatic marker, we consult historical data that matches our focal context, and discuss the processes by which there has come to fulfil a range of discourse-pragmatic functions in IrE.
•Presents the first focussed study of discourse-pragmatic there in contemporary Irish English.•Takes a corpus pragmatic form-to-function approach, moving from raw frequency to detailed discussion of use in context.•Demonstrates a high level of functional variation for there in a contemporary Irish English corpus.•Patterns of DPM there include its use with various time-stamps, as a mitigator and in certain conversational contexts.•There provides a shortcut to a notional, imagined shared space creating an accelerated involvement in interaction.
