语言学--Pragmatics

Have a try Can you explain the following sentence.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. ——Chomsky
In chapter7, this sentence would be regarded as a meaning less one. Idea——inanimate——be not able to sleep Green——specified——not colorless Sleep——a calm period of rest——fury Conclusion : the sentence does not have any proper linguistic property of its own for interpreting its meaning.
8.2 Pragmatic meaning
The interpretatwenku.baidu.comon of meaning of a speech is contextualized, that is, contexts can be generalized into one of words and the other of deeds. eg: Where’s Picasso? It’s on the far wall. The context of words can be lexical and syntactic, as seen generally in paradigmatic (词形变化的） replacement and syntagmatic order respectively.
Pragmatics
Language without meaning is meaningless. ------- Roman Jakobson
Pragmatics
8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Distinction of pragmatics Pragmatic meaning Speech Act Conversation and interaction
When pronouns are often used as subjects or objects in sentences syntactically, it is reasonable to enquire into their meanings in pragmatics before others.
Complex and often implied and indirect
Conclusion
The interpretation of meaning in pragmatics is thus intended for the inference of meaning out of the performance of various aspects in communication. （P171）
True or False (1) When a pronoun refers to some object not explicitly (clearly) , it is said to be bound. (2) Reflexive pronouns are always bound. (3) In English, reflexive pronouns always get their meaning by referring back to an NP antecedent
In Pragmatics —— it can be different.
The properties of ideas could be indentified metaphorically along the spectrum of color A sleep invaded by nightmares could be furious. Accordingly, contexts where the communicative language is used mean a lot in interpreting the meaning of speech in pragmatics
Language also have pronouns that are not reflexive, such as he, she, us ,him, her, you, and so on. Pronouns also depend on other elements for their meaning. If you have the interest in doing a research work on the pronouns, a book named An Introduction to Language may be conductive to you.
Reflexive pronouns are pronouns such as himself and themselves. In English, reflexive pronouns always get their meaning by referring back to an NP antecedent in the above examples.
Pronouns
Pronouns are lexical items that get their meaning from other NPs in the sentence or in the larger discourse. In other words, pronouns are sensitive to syntax and context for their interpretation.
The most interpretation of her is “the women” referred to in the first sentence, whoever she happens to be. But it is also possible for her to refer to a different person, perhaps one indicated with gesture. In such case her would be spoken with added emphasis: Many people think he loves her !
Part 1 Pronouns and Syntax
(1) Jane bit herself. (2) Jane said that Mary bit herself. (3) Herself left. In (1) the NP Jane and herself are in the (same/different) S; In (2) herself is in the embedded sentence Mary bit herself and hence too far from the antecedent Jane. In (3) herself has no antecedent at all, hence nothing to get its meaning from.
Part 2 Pronouns and Discourse In a discourse, prior linguistic context plays a primary role in pronoun interpretation. It seems that the man loves the woman. Many people think he loves her.
8.1 Distinction of pragmatics
Pragmatics, derived from the Greek pragma, meaning “deed”, is another branch of linguistics, mainly studying the meaning of language in use and the contexts in which It is used. Therefore, we may try, if we’d like to look for interpretations of its meaning, to imagine some possible contexts for the use of this utterance.
The context of deeds, by comparison, varies in terms of speakers, hearer, time, place, manner, and result of speech.
Orchestration and the meaning of a speech
The use of pronouns is a stylistic decision, which is part of pragmatics.
Pronouns are deictic (指示的) terms that act to point to specified people in verbal communication . But sometimes, these indexical (索引) would fail to appear genuinely pointing if without a specified context.
Can you figure out clearly who is “I” in the sentence?
eg: I am not here now.
Deixis
A. Definition: In all languages, the reference of certain words and expressions relies entirely on the situational context of the utterance (言辞), and can only be understood in light of these circumstances. This aspect of pragmatics is called deixis. Figure out whom do these deixises in the following quotation point to? “ To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Alder. ” -------- Sherlock Holmes
Meaningful sentence
temporal
spatial
stylistic
The meaningful interpretation of a speech is no longer confined to words. Pragmatics aims, instead, to look into what more and how that more is contextually communicated in deeds than is said in words.