LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY LITERATURE REVIEW
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defines pragmatics as meaning in use or meaning in context. It can be said that one should consider the situation in which the conversation takes place.
There are some definitions about pragmatics. Finch 2000: 150 says that pragmatics is concerned with the meaning of utterances. He asserts that it focuses
on what is not explicitly stated and on how people interpret utterances in situational context. Bowen 2001: 8 adds that pragmatics is the area of language
function that embraces the use of language in social context knowing what to say, how to say it, when to say it and how to be with other people.
Another expert gives different definition about pragmatics. According to Yule 1996: 3, pragmatics concerns with the study of meaning as communicated
by a speaker or writer and interpreted by a listener or a reader. He also says that pragmatics is the study of contextual meaning. It is involves the interpretation
of what people mean in a particular context and how the context influences what is said. Pragmatics is also the study of how to get more of what is communication
than what is said and the study of the expression of relative distance. Some other experts relate pragmatics with the condition of the society.
Mey 1993: 42 states that pragmatics is the study of how the conditions of human language uses as these are determined by the context of society. Similarly,
Levinson 1983: 5 defines pragmatics as the study of language use, that is, the study of the relation between language and context that is basic to an account of
language understanding. In this case, language understanding means that understanding the utterance involves a great deal more than knowing the meaning
of the words uttered and the grammatical relations between them. Understanding PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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an utterance involves the making of inferences that will connect what is said to what is mutually assumed or what has been said before.
Another definition of pragmatics focuses on a goal-oriented speech situation, in which the speaker uses the language in order to produce particular
effect in the mind of hearer. It is stated by Leech 1983. He defines pragmatics as the study of how utterances have meanings in situations. He states that pragmatics
function is how language is used in communication. Leech also suggests that pragmatics involves problem-solving both form the speaker’s point of view and
the hearer’s point of view. From the speaker’s point of view, the problem is how to produce an utterance which will make the result more likely, whereas from the
hearer’s point of view, the problem is an interpretative one, where the hearer should interpret what the most likely reason for the speaker in saying the
utterance. This research adopts the combination of Thomas’s and Levinson’s
pragmatic definition. In his definition of pragmatic, Thomas states that it is meaning in context where the speaker should consider the situation in which the
conversation take place. In addition, Levinson states that to understand an utterance, it is about to connect what is said to what is mutually assumed or what
has been said before. As the objects of this study are to find out the pragmatic aspects of conversation and kind of context which produce humor, those two
definitions are appropriate to guide the present researcher to find the answers of the research objectives.