Chapter 11: Pragmatics
Consider the following questions
1. Choose three advertisements and three jokes that are linguistically interesting (based on this chapter) and explain what linguistic strategies are employed.
2. Say whether each of the following (italicized) is a performance verb or not. If it is, describe the felicity conditions that must be in place for the sentence to have force. If it is not a performance verb, explain why not.
a. I will challenge you to a debate if you win the nomination.
b. I dare you to fight me for the prize.
c. I nominate Chris Evans, aka Captain America, for President of the United States.
d. David McLetchie resigned as leader from the Scottish Conservative and Unionist.
e. I move that we pass the motion as written.
f. I name this bridge the John Lennon Expanse.
g. I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Suggested Readings
Aarons, D. (2012). Jokes and the Linguistic Mind. Routledge.
Barron, A. (2012). Interlanguage pragmatics: From use to acquisition to second language pedagogy. Language Teaching, 45(1), 44-63.
Beasley, R. (2010). Persuasive Signs: The Semiotics of Advertising. Walter de Gruyter.
Bruthiaux, P. (2005). Language of Persuasion Across Genres: A Linguistic Approach. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Dobrovol'skij, D., & Piirainen, E. (2021). Figurative Language: Cross-cultural and Cross-linguistic Perspectives, (Vol. 350). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Grundy, P. (2019). Doing Pragmatics. Routledge.
Rose, K. R. (2005). On the effects of instruction in second language pragmatics. System, 33(3), 385-399.
Interesting Websites
- Lingthusiasm: weekly podcast about linguistics in real life
- Advertising Standards Authority: The ASA is the UK’s independent watchdog committed to maintaining high standards in advertising for the benefit of consumers, advertisers and society at large.
Handouts
- Language choices in context
