Pragmatics is the study of what people say, and how they say it, in order to understand their communicative intent. It is a broad field that encompasses the theory of meaning and understanding, speech act theory, politeness, and conversational implicature. The field also deals with how different cultures use language, and the nuances of non-verbal communication. It is a very important field of study because it allows us to better understand how other cultures function and how they communicate with each other, which is key to world peace.
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition with roots in American pragmatists Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, as well as some of their Harvard colleagues such as Josiah Royce and George Herbert Mead. It is a third way between analytic and continental philosophy traditions, offering a pragmatic foundation for social sciences, such as sociology, anthropology, and theology, as well as for humanities such as literature, history and art.
The central theme of pragmatism is that knowledge and reality are relative, rather than absolute, and that the most important question is not what something is, but how it is used. It is a method of evaluating and judging the world around you based on practical experiences and a desire to achieve your goals. It is a practical and useful philosophy to live by, and one that is very easy to apply to your daily life.
A key component of pragmatism is the notion of “M(eaning)-intention,” a term coined by Grice, which is a form of communicative intention that focuses on achieving recognition for your intended meaning. This concept is a core element of pragmatics, and helps to explain how we know what others really mean when they speak.
While pragmatics is a relatively young field, there has been tremendous growth over the years. It is a broad research area that includes formal and computational pragmatics, theoretical and applied pragmatics, experimental and clinical pragmatics, as well as intercultural and interdisciplinary pragmatics. There is even a subfield called neuropragmatics that studies the role of the brain in pragmatics.
In addition to its value for the study of languages, pragmatics is also a valuable tool in the classroom for teaching language skills. It is essential for teaching vocabulary and common phrases, but it also provides the opportunity to teach students about the underlying pragmatic rules of English. It is a very important topic to incorporate into the classroom, and this month’s Teacher’s Corner provides resources and ideas for integrating pragmatics into your instruction.
As the global community becomes increasingly diverse, mastering the pragmatic rules of a language is critical to cross-cultural communication. Understanding how to use a language in different contexts is necessary to avoid offending people and misunderstanding each other’s perspectives. Pragmatics provides a framework for understanding these differences, which is invaluable in our modern world. The following journals publish innovative pragmatic research. They have been selected based on their high impact factor and relevance to the discipline.
