Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics that examines how context influences meaning. It is often contrasted with semantics, which focuses on the meaning of a sentence in a literal sense. The study of pragmatics aims to explain the social, cultural and situational factors that contribute to language meaning. It is this knowledge that allows us to politely hedge a request, cleverly read between the lines, or navigate ambiguity in conversation.
In the earliest definitions of pragmatics, it is stated that the goal of pragmatics is “to study how meaning is acquired and conveyed in natural communication by speakers who are aware of and sensitive to the context in which their utterances are used.” However, there is much debate over whether the goals of the pragmatics field are merely descriptive or whether they also aim to provide an explanation of the phenomena described.
Traditionally, the study of pragmatics has been divided into two subfields: near-side and far-side pragmatics. Near-side pragmatics focuses on the properties of an utterance that contribute to its meaning, such as the nature of certain contextual facts, which are relevant to its semantic content (i.e. the referents it is supposed to designate). This approach was influenced by Wittgenstein, who distinguished between the referential and nonreferential meaning of an utterance. He argued that the latter is not a matter of fact, but of intention. The near-side approach was then complemented by the far-side approach, which is concerned with what happens beyond the utterance itself: what speech acts are performed in or by saying it (or their implication) and what other factors influence its meaning.
More recently, there has been a move towards a third approach, which considers both the near-side and far-side pragmatics in conjunction. This view is known as a holistic pragmatics. It is based on the idea that the pragmatics of an utterance is a complex interplay between several different factors, including the speaker’s goals, the hearer’s expectations, and the surrounding context. This view has been influenced by postmodern philosophy and social semiotics.
Computational pragmatics, a subfield of the wider computational linguistics, seeks to apply the principles of pragmatics to computer systems. One key issue in this area is reference resolution, which is the process by which a computer determines what an incoming piece of data means. Another is how a system uses contextual information to more accurately approximate natural human language and information processing abilities.
A key concept in this approach is the notion of capacity reserves, which are the mental resources that a person has available for dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty. Capacity reserves allow us to make more decisions than we would otherwise be able to, and they can help us cope with uncertainty in the face of incomplete or contradictory information. They are a crucial resource for cognitive pragmatics, and they are likely to be important in autism, where the ability to make such decisions is reduced. This is a rapidly developing area of pragmatics research, and it is an important aspect of understanding how people with autism interact with others.