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

.,语言学LinguisticsWeekVIIPragmaticsAGeneralView,.,PartIIPragmaticsChapter1AGeneralViewofPragmatics1.1WastebasketofPragmatics1.2ContextinPragmatics1.3HistoryandDefinitionofPragmatics1.4WhytheNecessityofPragmaticsStudy?,.,Chomskyiandichotomyofsentencestructure:deepstructureandsurfacestructure.,S(1)Isleptbadly.S(2)Colorlessgreenideassleepfuriously.S(3)Flyingplanescanbedangerous.,differentdeepstructuresmaymergeintoasingleambiguoussurfacestructure,.,1.1WastebasketofPragmaticsWhenChomskythrewhis“greenideas”“furiously”intothewastebasketofsemantics,otherswhoclaimthemselvestobesyntacticanalystsorsemanticistscontinuedoingso,eachcontributingnewrulesandassertionstothestudyoflanguageandleavingbehindplentyofwasteforlatecomerstodealwith.“Thesemanticsbasketbeingfilledtothebrim,anotherwaste-baskethadtobecreatedtocatchtheoverflow”(Mey).Andthis“anotherwaste-basket”isPragmatics.,.,1.2ContextinPragmaticsThatscholarshaveleftsuchaplentyofwastebehindseemstosuggestthatthemeaningofasentenceismoreelusiveanduncertainthanwecanimagine.Therefore,whatwevediscussedinPartI,beitsyntacticstudyorsemantics,seemstobemainlyconcernedwith,inasense,thestaticaspectsoflanguage.However,languageinuseisarathercomplicatedmatter,andtheelusivenessanduncertaintyofmeaningrenderallthetheoriessofarmentionedcontroversialandweakunderattack.Meaning,infact,isratherdynamic,andisdependentuponcontext.Sentenceswithoutcontextcanresultinambiguity.,.,Scenario1:A:IjustmettheoldIrishmanandhisson,comingoutofthetoilet.B:Iwouldnthavethoughttherewasroomforthetwoofthem.A:Nosilly,ImeanIwascomingoutofthetoilet.Theywerewaiting.Scenario2:WhatarewegoingtodoaboutBaba,sheasked.Whatdoyoumean?Shecantrememberanything.Didsheaskyouwhethershewastakingmedicine?No.Noshesnotornoshedidntask?Shedidntask.Shewassupposedto,Isaid.Well,shedidnt.,.,Theconceptof“context”inpragmaticsisdifferentfromthatreferredtointraditionallinguistics.Itisviewed,bypragmaticians,asdynamic,too.Adynamiccontextisanenvironmentthatisinsteadydevelopment,promptedbythecontinuousinteractionofthepeopleengagedinlanguageuse.Contextisthequintessentialpragmaticconcept;itisbydefinitionproactive,justaspeopleare.Bycontrast,apurelinguisticdescriptionisretroactiveandstatic:ittakesasnapshotofwhatisthecaseatanyparticularmoment,andtriestofreezethatpicture.Puredescriptionshavenodynamics;theycannevercapturetherichnessofthedevelopmentsthattakeplacebetweenpeopleusinglanguage;thesynchronicsnapshotofthehereandnow,theclassicalhicetnunc,isaphilosophicalabstraction.(Mey,2001:14),.,Context,HeZhaoxiongsClassificationofContext,Linguisticknowledge,Extra-linguisticknowledge,Knowledgeofthelanguageinuse,Knowledgeoftheprevioustextofverbalcommunication,Backgroundknowledge,Situationalknowledge,Mutualknowledge,EncyclopedicKnowledge(CommonSense),Socialnormsofaspecificculture,ConversationalRulesofaspecificculture,Timetherelationbetweenthesignanditsmeaning;therelationbetweenthesignandthesignuser.,.,Afterthat,thestudyofpragmaticsbegantotakeshape.However,foralongtime,pragmatics“canhardlybeconsideredanautonomousfieldofstudy”(Bussmann,2000:374):Itwasoncesubsumedundertheterm“sociolinguistics”.In1970s,pragmaticsbecamealmostexclusivelyidentifiedwithSpeechActtheorysuggestedbyAustinAbitlater:withconversationanalysis.And,thedistinctionbetweenpragmaticsandsemanti