Pragmatics is the study of human language and the ways in which it can be used. It involves the analysis of the way signs are understood, the way they are interpreted, and how they are shaped by context. For instance, how a person uses a pronoun to refer to an object, or how a person interprets the meaning of a word. In this article, we look at the various kinds of pragmatics, as well as some of the milestones of pragmatics.
The two main branches of pragmatics are semantics and syntax. Semantics deals with the literal meaning of an idea, and syntax examines the relationship of different signs in a sentence. This is a key element in the understanding of language.
One of the most important fields of formal pragmatics is computational pragmatics. In computational pragmatics, computer algorithms are used to determine how a system responds to incoming data. These algorithms also provide a database of knowledge for a system to use.
Aside from its scientific significance, pragmatics is a topic of interest to philosophers as well. Ariel, for example, wrote Pragmatics and Grammar, while Derrida remarked that some of his own works aligned with the program of pragmatics.
Other approaches include historical and critical pragmatics. The former focuses on how a speaker’s plan can be supplemented by other means of meaning, while the latter focuses on the hierarchy of intentions.
Another important branch of formal pragmatics is the semantics of indexicals, in which the meaning of an indexical is determined by its context. However, there is no agreement about the exact nature of the meaning of indexicals. According to Carlo Dalla Pozza, a semantics of indexicals is a formalized version of Frege’s assertion sign.
In contrast to the other forms of formal pragmatics, relevance theory is a hearer-oriented perspective that takes pragmatics as an investigation into how people understand meaning. While this approach can be taken as an inversion of the prevailing focus of linguistic pragmatics on the speaker’s plan, it is not a complete substitute.
Contextual knowledge is an approximate of how natural human languages are used, and how they are processed. Some of the major features of this type of knowledge are ambiguity resolution, reference resolution, and the study of how natural language systems interact with computers.
Formal pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics that studies how people use words and context to express their intentions. It deals with illocutionary forces, how a speaker’s identity influences the way he or she uses language, and the influence of context on a message.
The other main form of linguistic pragmatics is far-side pragmatics. In far-side pragmatics, the speaker’s plan is a primary source of meaning, and is complemented by incremental meaning and reflexive meaning.
Despite their differences, these forms of formal pragmatics share similarities and are often linked to context dependence. Thus, the boundaries between formal and informal pragmatics are blurred.
The field of pragmatics is important for anyone who wants to understand the meaning of a word. Without it, there would be little to no understanding of how people actually communicate.