xxxvii
communicating in a certain culture, one has to follow both norms of interaction and norms of interpretation.
h. Genre G Genre refers to categories such as poems, myths, proverbs, joke,
lecture, sermons, editorials, etc. Genres often coincide with speech event, but genres need to be distinguished from speech events since a speech genre
can occur in more than one kind of speech event. A casual genre is not the absence of any genre, but a genre of its own. Hymes in Fasold, 1996:44-
45.
C. Pragmatics
Pragm at ics according t o Levinson 1983:9 is t he st udy of t he relat ion bet w een language and cont ext t hat are gram m at icalized, or encoded in t he st ruct ure of
language. It is t he st udy of t he relat ion bet w een language and cont ext t hat are basic t o an account of language underst anding ibid, 21. M eanw hile, Leech st at es t hat
pragm at ics is t he st udy of ut t erance m eaning in relat ion t o speech sit uat ion 1983:6. From t his definit ion, it can be said t hat language cannot be separat ed from t he cont ext
of sit uat ion. Pragm at ics is also a st udy about m eaning of ut t erances in regarding t o t he sit uat ion.
In addit ion, Yule 1996:3 st at es t hat pragm at ics is t he st udy of cont ext ual m eaning. He also st at es t hat pragm at ics involves t he int erpret at ion of w hat people
m eans in a part icular cont ext and how t he cont ext influences w hat you said 1996:3.
xxxviii Things t hat are involved in pragm atics according t o him are people’s int ended
m eanings, purposes or goals, or assum pt ions t hat are said w hen t hey speak.
D. Context
Cont ext is an im port ant aspect in int erpret ing t he m eaning of an ut t erance. According t o Leech 1983:13 cont ext deals w it h relevant aspect of physical or social
set t ing of an ut t erance. It is t he background knowledge w hich is shared by t he speaker and t he hearer in underst anding t heir ut t erance. Therefore, cont ext has m any
cont ribut ions in spoken and w rit t en language. It funct ions t o help t he speaker and t he hearer deliver and underst anding t he m eaning of ut t er ance.
M eanw hile, Levinson point s out t he im port ance of cont ext , w hich is included in t he definit ion of pragm at ics, as a st udy of t he abilit y of language user t o pair sent ences
w it h t he cont ext in w hich t hey w ould be appropriat e 1983:24. M alinow sky in Halliday and Hasan, 1985 st at es t hat t here are t w o not ions of
cont ext . They are cont ext of sit uat ion and cont ext of cult ure t hat have an im port ant role in t he int erpret at ion m eaning of language. Cont ext of sit uat ion is t he sit uat ion
w hen speech is ut t ered, including part icipant , t im e, place, and social environm ent . Cont ext of cult ure is cult ure background or hist ory of t he part icipant s. In st udying
language, w e should know and underst and t he cult ural background of language. It includes part icipant s or people w ho are involved in speech, t im e, place, social
environm ent , and polit ical condit ion Halliday and Hasan, 1985:6.
E. Communicative Competence
