Definition of Pragmatics Pragmatics
In this case, the speaker assumes that there is certain information which already known by the listener before he produces an utterance. Yule 1996:
26 gives the example, when the speaker says “Mary’s dog is cute” it means
that he assumes that the listener knows that Mary has a dog. The third domain is implicature. Grice in Chapman 2005:102 draws
important and clear distinctions between two points, a speaker meaning and a sentence meaning. There is a distinction between what a speaker means and
what a sentence or another expression means. For example, the speaker utters “Your book” then he puts the book on the table. The expression of “your
book” can mean that the book is the listener’s book. Yet, it is possible for the speaker to convey a meaning more than what he said. The expression of
“your book” can mean “this is your book, I give it back to you” or it can also mean something else. According to Yule 1996:36, implicature is defined as
p rocess of interpreting the speaker’s intention.
The fourth domain is speech acts. Communication is an inferential process. When a speaker produces utterances, the addressee will interpret
those utterances based on the speaker ’s reference. To speak a language is to
express ideas or thoughts in the form of utterances by following a set of linguistic rules. According to Capone 2006:1015, in communication, there
are expressions which have the function to change the current state of things known as speech act.
The last domain is politeness. According to Yule 1996:60, politeness means respecting the hearer’s public self image by being aware of their face
.
Further, he explains that in pragmatics, the public self image is known as “face”. Thus, in communication people try to respect and fulfil the others face
wants in order to maintain a good social relationship.