Pragmatics

upright=1.5|thumb|Sign of a New Zealand hill with an unusually long one-word name: [[Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu| (85 characters)]]

In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the interpreted. Linguists who specialize in pragmatics are called pragmaticians. The field has been represented since 1986 by the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA).

In semiotics, linguistics, sociology and anthropology, context refers to those objects or entities which surround a focal event, in these disciplines typically a communicative event, of some kind. Context is "a frame that surrounds the event and provides resources for its appropriate interpretation". It is thus a relative concept, only definable with respect to some focal event within a frame, not independently of that frame.

figure of speech in the form of a question, asked to make a point rather than to elicit an answer

thumb|True Politeness. "Your eel, I think, Sir?" ----Cartoon in Punch (magazine)|Punch magazine: 28 July 1920

utterance that serves a performative function

In linguistics, deixis () is the use of words or phrases to refer to a particular time (e.g. then), place (e.g. here), or person (e.g. you) relative to the context of the utterance. Deixis exists in all known natural languages and is closely related to anaphora, with a sometimes unclear distinction between the two. In linguistic anthropology, deixis is seen as the same as, or a subclass of, indexicality.

discipline that studies communication across different cultures and social groups, or how culture affects communication

type of expression whose reference depends upon another referential element

formality distinction feature of some languages

In pragmatics, a subdiscipline of linguistics, an implicature is something the speaker suggests or implies with an utterance, even though it is not literally expressed. Implicatures can aid in communicating more efficiently than by explicitly saying everything we want to communicate. The philosopher H. P. Grice coined the term in 1975. Grice distinguished conversational implicatures, which arise because speakers are expected to respect general rules of conversation, and conventional ones, which are tied to certain words such as but or therefore. Take for example the following exchange:

In linguistics and philosophy, a presupposition is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. Examples of presuppositions include: Jane no longer writes fiction. Presupposition: Jane once wrote fiction. Have you stopped eating meat? Presupposition: you had once eaten meat. Have you talked to Hans? Presupposition: Hans exists.

thumb | right | alt=A linguistic diagram of a cataphora in German | Example of a cataphora in German In linguistics, cataphora (; from Greek, καταφορά, kataphora, "a downward motion" from κατά, kata, "downwards" and φέρω, pherō, "I carry") is the use of an expression or word that co-refers with a later, more specific expression in the discourse. The preceding expression, whose meaning is determined or specified by the later expression, may be called a cataphor. Cataphora is in contrast to anaphora which denotes cases where the order of the expressions is the reverse of that found in cataphora.

In linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and if so, what kind. An evidential (also verificational or validational) is the particular grammatical element (affix, clitic, or particle) that indicates evidentiality. Languages with only a single evidential have had terms such as mediative, médiatif, médiaphorique, and indirective used instead of evidential.

Relevance is the connection between topics that makes one useful for dealing with the other. Relevance is studied in many different fields, including cognitive science, logic, and library and information science. Epistemology studies it in general, and different theories of knowledge have different implications for what is considered relevant.

In the Japanese language, aizuchi ( or , ) are interjections during a conversation that indicate the listener is paying attention or understands the speaker (backchanneling). In linguistic terms, these are a form of phatic expression. Aizuchi are considered reassuring to the speaker, indicating that the listener is active and involved in the discussion.

Performativity is the concept that language can function as a form of social action and have the effect of change. The concept has multiple applications in diverse fields such as anthropology, social and cultural geography, economics, gender studies (social construction of gender), law, linguistics, performance studies, history, management studies and philosophy.

colloquial language

word or phrase that manages the flow of discourse: e.g. oh, well, now, then, you know, and I mean, so, because, and, but, or

socio-linguistic theory

linguistic term coined by J. L. Austin

argument focused on ethics

effect of an utterance on an interlocutor

social and linguistic theory of politeness

sentence which changes social reality

model in semiotics

social status and privilege as a grammatical function in many languages

conveying the meaning of a term by pointing out examples

philosophical paradox concerning the apparent absurdity involved in asserting a sentence like "It is raining, but I do not believe that it is raining" or "It is raining, but I believe that it is not raining"

linguistic theory of semantic description

performance of an utterance in linguistics and the philosophy of mind

theory of cognitive linguistics

set of philosophical theories

Endophora refers to the phenomenon of expressions that derive their reference from something within the surrounding text.

philosophical doctrine

phrase used to reduce the intensity of something said, like "kinda" or "well, I've heard"

In pragmatics, exophora is reference to something extratextual, i.e. not in the immediate text, and contrasts with endophora. Exophora can be deictic, in which special words or grammatical markings are used to make reference to something in the context of the utterance or speaker. For example, pronouns are often exophoric, with words such as "this", "that", "here", "there", as in ''that chair over there is John's'' said while indicating the direction of the chair referred to. Given "Did the gardener water those plants?", it is quite possible that "those" refers back to the preceding text, to s