Pragmatic is the part of language that focuses on what speakers actually say and the context in which they say it. It’s the framework that enables us to understand the social and emotional meaning of words, as well as how they combine with gestures, facial expressions, tone, and body language. It’s also how we can understand the intended message that a speaker is trying to convey.
The word “pragmatic” comes from the Greek pragma, which means ‘to do’ or ‘to act.’ In this context, it refers to the idea of being practical and realistic in life, a way of thinking that emphasizes options and courses of action that are likely to achieve results rather than those that rely solely on principle. People often describe themselves as pragmatic when they are described as someone who values efficiency and practicality. I, for example, often tell my clients that I am a pragmatic person because I am always looking at the best possible outcomes for my patients. However, I also value my principles and stick to them no matter what.
There are a number of different ways that scholars define and approach pragmatics. Some view it as a philosophy of language, some focus on its interaction with grammar, and others see it as an empirical psychological theory of utterance interpretation. However, there is a common consensus that pragmatics is omnipresent in human language use and it has an impact on the way we understand the messages that other people send to us through speech or writing.
Regardless of whether scholars focus on linguistic or contextual pragmatics, the current state of research on this subject is extremely complex and highly variable. It is difficult to create a comprehensive theory that can supervene over the myriad of idiosyncratic pragmatic constraints that occur in experimental situations and that influence people’s behavior. This state of affairs is symptomatic of a broader problem in the field of psychology that has been dubbed the replication crisis, with some scholars claiming that any experiment that does not replicate an earlier published finding should be rejected as invalid (Bergman, 2010).
The goal of research on pragmatics is to help clarify and define these various factors that influence pragmatics and its outcomes, as well as how these aspects interact. This will allow researchers to better understand the complexities involved in human communication and to develop more accurate models of the processes that underlie the production and interpretation of pragmatic information. The future of pragmatics is promising, with researchers continuing to investigate the relationship between a speaker’s intended meaning, the context in which they are speaking, and what listeners hear. With these new insights, it is hoped that pragmatics will be able to bridge the gap between speaker and listener in order to enable them to more successfully navigate social interactions. This will benefit society as a whole, as it will enable speakers to communicate with other people more clearly and understand each other better.
