Mtro. Francisco A. Espinoza Moreno
contrastive
pragmatics
Lingüística contrastiva aplicada a la traducción
Introduction
Pragmatics could be defined as a subfield of linguistics which studies how context and speakers contribute to meaning. There are different elements which are taken into account and studied within this subfield:
cotext
context
Text
INTERACTIONS AMONGST TEXT, COTEXT AND CONTEXT
Pragmatics deals with discourse, the combination of text and context. These (text and context) interact in ways perceived as meaningful by speakers and reduce posible ambiguities.
A text is a string of words divorced from the context. But utterances are strings of words in context. An utterance is a specific example of speech, for instance, I saw Jane using binoculars.
Pragmatics deals with aspects of the context. On the one hand, speaker factors include identities, intentions -intended/unintended meaning-; previous interactions, relationships, shared knowledge or beliefs, personal/cultural values and views, and perception of reality. On the other hand, the physical context implies time and space factors or the distance between speakers and objects/places.
The speaker factors could be identified with the iceberg model. Above the water surface, the tip of the iceberg represents what is perceived from outside the speaker: his behavior, cultural phenomena such as food, art or dance, etc. Underwater we find those latent elements; they remain unnoticed but condition the way those represented on the tip of the iceberg manifest themselves.
contrastive pragmatics
Contrastive pragmatics (CP) studies how context contributes to meaning cross-linguistically and cross-culturally. It can also reveal how different speaker and context factors lead to pragmatic failure: misunderstandings in L1/L2 interactions, translations, cultural breakdown, etc. It helps explain stereotypes about particular speech communities, as speakers may be perceived as rude, inconsiderate, carefree, etc.
contrastive pragmatics
Cross-culturally, there are often asymmetries on the context level ('clash of contexts') given different cultural values, views, or assumptions. CP identifies possible clashes of assumptions or interpretations to provide knowledge for mastering intercultural contacts. An example of the importance of speaker factors for linguistics is information structure.
Infiormation Structure
In talking about reality, there is no neutral way of representing a situation in language. As part of the contribution speakers make to utterances, the former always have to choose among a number of options available to put a situation into perspective. In linguistics, information structure refers to the way conceptual material ('information') or is chosen and structured formally within a sentence to refer to reality. Languages differ significantly in the way they express information. As a case in point, languages differ in their use of focus (new/given information & contrast) and expression of path in event construal.
Infiormation Structure
Focus is a pragmatic category that determines which part of the sentence contributes new (non-derivable, or contrastive) information. Anything that is not the focus is part of the background and contains given (or non-contrastive) information in the immediate context of the utterance.
Both in English and Spanish, the stressed (syllable) of the last content word in a tone unit typically carries the 'new' info. That is called the 'tonic' or 'nuclear' accent. However, to express new contrastive information, the tonic in English is placed in some stressed o before the last content word.
Question and answer pairs are often used as diagnostics for focus, as in the following English examples:
In Spanish, new contrastive information is expressed syntactically with fronting, cleft sentences, ellipsis, etc. but the nuclear accent is still in the last content word:
expression of path in event construal
Speakers of different languages describe events in the world differently. This has consequences on how information is encoded in linguistic units. Motion is one area of interest for researcher, particularly in the way that the physical path is described using the language.
When we speak about the path of motion, we are actually referring to the trajectory taken by a moving object/entity whose expression varies across languages. As regards the manner of motion, it could be defined as a type of distinct motion described by a particular verb (run, tumble, crawl, etc.).
The path and manner of motion can be encoded in:
Based on how the path is encoded, languages are classified as
setellite-framed
Verb-framed
speech acts
An important aspect of (contrastive) pragmatics is the study of speech acts. These could be regarded as utterances that have a performative function in language and communication. Speech acts are utterances by which the speaker "acts by means of language", they include acts such as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting, reminding, etc.
According to Searle (1975), there exist five types of speech acts, which are illustrated in figures 4, 5 and 6, namely, assertives, expressives, commissives, directives and verdictives.
expressives
commissives
assertives
veredictives
directives
Locutionary
As shown below, speech acts can be analysed on three levels: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary.
illocutionary
Perlocutionary
Speech acts can also be regarded as direct or indirect.
Dirfect
Indirect
The types of speech acts are the same in English and Spanish. However, cross-cultural differences in assumptions and linguistic practice often lead to misunderstandings and problems and make apparently similar speech acts look different types of acts. Let us concéntrate on two examples: requests & compliments.
request
compliments
quiz!
- What is pragmatics and what is it concerned with?
- How can pragmatics be studied cross-culturally?
- How is information structured across languages? How does this work in Spanish and English? How is the path of motion expressed in event construal in both languages?
- What are speech acts? How many types are there? How can we study them? Are there any differences between English and Spanish?
Thank you!
francisco.espinozamrn@uanl.edu.mx
contrastive pragmatics
Alberto Moreno
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Transcript
Mtro. Francisco A. Espinoza Moreno
contrastive
pragmatics
Lingüística contrastiva aplicada a la traducción
Introduction
Pragmatics could be defined as a subfield of linguistics which studies how context and speakers contribute to meaning. There are different elements which are taken into account and studied within this subfield:
cotext
context
Text
INTERACTIONS AMONGST TEXT, COTEXT AND CONTEXT
Pragmatics deals with discourse, the combination of text and context. These (text and context) interact in ways perceived as meaningful by speakers and reduce posible ambiguities.
A text is a string of words divorced from the context. But utterances are strings of words in context. An utterance is a specific example of speech, for instance, I saw Jane using binoculars.
Pragmatics deals with aspects of the context. On the one hand, speaker factors include identities, intentions -intended/unintended meaning-; previous interactions, relationships, shared knowledge or beliefs, personal/cultural values and views, and perception of reality. On the other hand, the physical context implies time and space factors or the distance between speakers and objects/places.
The speaker factors could be identified with the iceberg model. Above the water surface, the tip of the iceberg represents what is perceived from outside the speaker: his behavior, cultural phenomena such as food, art or dance, etc. Underwater we find those latent elements; they remain unnoticed but condition the way those represented on the tip of the iceberg manifest themselves.
contrastive pragmatics
Contrastive pragmatics (CP) studies how context contributes to meaning cross-linguistically and cross-culturally. It can also reveal how different speaker and context factors lead to pragmatic failure: misunderstandings in L1/L2 interactions, translations, cultural breakdown, etc. It helps explain stereotypes about particular speech communities, as speakers may be perceived as rude, inconsiderate, carefree, etc.
contrastive pragmatics
Cross-culturally, there are often asymmetries on the context level ('clash of contexts') given different cultural values, views, or assumptions. CP identifies possible clashes of assumptions or interpretations to provide knowledge for mastering intercultural contacts. An example of the importance of speaker factors for linguistics is information structure.
Infiormation Structure
In talking about reality, there is no neutral way of representing a situation in language. As part of the contribution speakers make to utterances, the former always have to choose among a number of options available to put a situation into perspective. In linguistics, information structure refers to the way conceptual material ('information') or is chosen and structured formally within a sentence to refer to reality. Languages differ significantly in the way they express information. As a case in point, languages differ in their use of focus (new/given information & contrast) and expression of path in event construal.
Infiormation Structure
Focus is a pragmatic category that determines which part of the sentence contributes new (non-derivable, or contrastive) information. Anything that is not the focus is part of the background and contains given (or non-contrastive) information in the immediate context of the utterance.
Both in English and Spanish, the stressed (syllable) of the last content word in a tone unit typically carries the 'new' info. That is called the 'tonic' or 'nuclear' accent. However, to express new contrastive information, the tonic in English is placed in some stressed o before the last content word.
Question and answer pairs are often used as diagnostics for focus, as in the following English examples:
In Spanish, new contrastive information is expressed syntactically with fronting, cleft sentences, ellipsis, etc. but the nuclear accent is still in the last content word:
expression of path in event construal
Speakers of different languages describe events in the world differently. This has consequences on how information is encoded in linguistic units. Motion is one area of interest for researcher, particularly in the way that the physical path is described using the language.
When we speak about the path of motion, we are actually referring to the trajectory taken by a moving object/entity whose expression varies across languages. As regards the manner of motion, it could be defined as a type of distinct motion described by a particular verb (run, tumble, crawl, etc.).
The path and manner of motion can be encoded in:
Based on how the path is encoded, languages are classified as
setellite-framed
Verb-framed
speech acts
An important aspect of (contrastive) pragmatics is the study of speech acts. These could be regarded as utterances that have a performative function in language and communication. Speech acts are utterances by which the speaker "acts by means of language", they include acts such as promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting, reminding, etc.
According to Searle (1975), there exist five types of speech acts, which are illustrated in figures 4, 5 and 6, namely, assertives, expressives, commissives, directives and verdictives.
expressives
commissives
assertives
veredictives
directives
Locutionary
As shown below, speech acts can be analysed on three levels: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary.
illocutionary
Perlocutionary
Speech acts can also be regarded as direct or indirect.
Dirfect
Indirect
The types of speech acts are the same in English and Spanish. However, cross-cultural differences in assumptions and linguistic practice often lead to misunderstandings and problems and make apparently similar speech acts look different types of acts. Let us concéntrate on two examples: requests & compliments.
request
compliments
quiz!
Thank you!
francisco.espinozamrn@uanl.edu.mx