L/O/G/O

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

FROM PRAGMATIC APPROACH

Lecturer : Dr. Huynh Anh TuanPresenters : Pham Thi Thuy Chinh

Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang Le Thi Khanh Linh Duong Thanh Hao

1.• Pragmatic approach to DA

2.• Analysis of Episode 9 of

Extr@ English series

3.• Implications for teaching

EFL

OUTLINE

PRAGMATIC APPROACH

1. Theory of pragmatic approach

I. The definition of pragmatics

II. The main focuses of pragmatics

III. The role of pragmatics in

discourse analysis

The little girl often lift up her dress to display her new underwear

Dad: We don’t DO that. Daughter: I KNOW, Daddy. You don’t WEAR dresses

The definition of pragmatics

• Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics which studies how utterances have meaning in contexts.

(Leech, 1983)• Pragmatics is the study of language from the point

of view of users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction and the effects their use of language has on other participants in the act of communication.

(Crystal, 1987)• Pragmatics is the study of how more gets

commnicated than is said

“John broke the window”= Utterance 1: JOHN broke ....=> Message 1: “You and I are taking it for granted that someone broke the window. I’m telling you that John did.”= Utterance 2: John BROKE ...=> Message 2: “You and I are taking it for granted that did something to the window. I’m telling you what John did

SPEAKERS’ ENTAILMENT = SENTENCE STRESS

Entailment

• It is defined as what logically follows from what is

asserted in the utterance.

• Entailments are communicated without being said

and are not dependent on the speaker’s intention.

• The stress of the utterance express the entaillment

– the message that speakers intend to focus on.

• “You’ll want DomeBeGone, my revolutionary cure for baldness”.

Þ Presupposition: There is a cure for baldness.Þ Presupposition: The cure is revolutionaryÞ Presupposition: I have this cure

Presupposition

• The information that a speaker assumes to be already known.

(The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language, 1987) 

• Implicit meanings conveyed by the speaker through the use of

particular words.

• The presupposition of a statement will remain true even when

that statement is negated.

1- Existential presupposition (definite noun phrase, possessive constructions)

“David’s car is new”2- Factive presupposition: (know, realize, be glad, be sorry)

• Tracy realized Pat ate a sandwich.

3- Lexical presupposition: (stop, again, still... ) • Tracy blamed Pat for eating the sandwich.• Pat stopped eating a sandwich (at 2pm).

4- Structural presupposition: WH-questions• When did she travel to the USA? ( >> she travelled)

5- Non- factive presupposition: (dream, imagine, pretend)• I dreamed that I was rich. (>> I was not rich)

6- Counterfactual presupposition: conditional structures• If I were rich I would buy a Ferrari (>> I’m not rich)

IMPLICATURE

1. Definition

• Implicature is a technical term, which refers to what is suggested in an utterance, even though neither expressed nor strictly implied.

 H. P. Grice • Implicature can be considered as an additional

conveyed meaning. It is attained when a speaker intends to communicate more than just what the words mean. It is the speaker who communicates something via implicatures and the listener recognizes those communicated meanings via inference. (Yule, 1996: 35)

Conventional implicature

• Part of a lexical item’s or expression’s agreed

meaning, rather than derived from principles of

language use

• Not part of the conditions for the truth of the item

or expression.

• E.g. “Joe is poor but happy”

=> Surprisingly Joe is happy in spite of being

poor”.

Conversational implicature

• Implications derived on the basis of

conversational principles and assumptions,

relying on more than the linguistic meaning of

words in a sentence.

• The basic assumption in conversation is that the

participants are adhering to the cooperative

principles.

Cooperative principles

The idea that people cooperate with each

other when making their contributions.(Paul Grice)

Maxims• Quantity: give the right amount of information as is

required for the current purpose of exchange.

+ Not too little

+ Not too much

• Quality: try to say only what is true

+ Don't say that for which you lack adequate evidence

+ Don't say what you know to be false 

• Relevance: make what you say relevant to the

topic at hand. 

• Manner: be clear (avoid ambiguity,, obscurity,

etc.).

+ Avoid obscurity of expression.

+ Avoid ambiguity.

+ Avoid excessive wordiness

+ Be orderly.

MAXIMS ARE ALWAYS OBSERVED?

VIOLATE FLOUT

IMPLICATURE

• Man: Does your dog bite? Woman: No. • The man reaches down to pat the dog. The dog

bites the man's hand.

• Man: Quch! Hey! You said your dog doesn't bite. Woman: He doesn't. But that's not my dog.

=> The maxim of quantity is flouted

Type of conversational implicature• Generalized conversational implicature: Wife: I hope you brought the bread and the cheese. Husband : Ah, I brought the bread.=> No special knowledge is required in the context +a/an X =>not speaker’s X

• Scalar implicature:

I ate some of the cake

=> I did not eat all of the cake

Þ Occur when certain information is communicated

by choosing a word which expresses one value

from a scale of values. From the highest to the

lowest :

+ all, most, many, some, few

+ always, often, sometimes

• Particularized conversational

implicature

Rick: Hey, coming to the wild party tonight?

Tom: My parents are visiting.

=> occur when a conversation takes place

in a very specific context in which locally

recognized inferences are assumed

The role of pragmatics in discourse analysis

• Discourse: none other than a sequence of sentences in

operation -in other words utterances.

• Only pragmatics: “What does this utterance mean?" and

"Why was this utterance produced?“ => helps us to know

successful interpretation of utterances is managed.

=> INDISPENSABLE: Pragmatics offers the possibility of

describing and explaining discourse facts from a linguistic

point of view, in a principled way.

2. Analysis of Episode 9 of Extr@ English series

Extr@ English series : - a language education series in the format of a sitcom- 30 episodes- 4 main characters

Presented by: Le Thi Khanh Linh

2. Analysis of Episode 9 of Extr@ English series

Video: Jobs for the boys(Analyzing the violation of cooperative maxims)

2. Analysis2.1. The violation of maxim of relevance

Nick: To be or not to be, that the question. Whe…,oh no.Annie: Why is it so dark in here? What's going on? Nick, what are you doing? The sun is shining outside.Nick: oh, hi, Annie.

Nick’s answer violates the maxim of relation

Instead of answering the question of Annie, he greets her.

The aim of the violation is his avoidance to answer the question because he is ashamed.

2. Analysis2.1. The violation of maxim of relevance

Bridget: Eunice, what are you doing here?

 Eunice: Long time no

see, Bridget. And how's Nick? Does he miss

me?

Eunice’s answer violates the maxim of relation

She may imply her underestimation to Bridget and tries to delay to inform the news

2. Analysis2.2. The violation of maxim of quality

Annie: What are you doing?Nick: nothing.Annie: Well, stand up thenNick: I can’tAnnie: Why not?Nick: Erm…Annie: Right, I’m coming over.Nick: ……OkAnnie (laughing): Oh, nice outfit, Nick!

Both Nick and Annie violate the maxim of quality

Nick’s answer is a lie

Maybe he feels ashamed

Annie’s praise is untruth

Annie probably wants to tease Nick

2. Analysis2.2. The violation of maxim of quality

Bridget: Nick!Nick: …….?Bridget: Are those my tights?Nick: No. Huh!Bridget: Oh yes, they are.Nick: Oh, those tights. Are they yours, Bridget?

Nick’s utterances are the violation of maxim of quality

In fact, Nick knows clearly that whose the tights are but he pretended not to know it.

The aim of the violation is that maybe he is afraid of getting some punishment from Bridget

2. Analysis2.3. The violation of maxim of quantity

Annie: Did you have a good day at work, Bridget: Oh, I'm so tired. Training with the England football team this morning. Oh, those boys - so cheeky! But they really know what they're talking about.

Bridget’s answer violates the maxim of quantity because it contains too much information.

Instead of only saying: “Oh, I’m so tired”, she adds more information on the people whom she worked with.

Her intended meaning is to show off her job indirectly.

2. Analysis2.3. The violation of maxim of quantity

Annie: Football?Bridget: No. Hairstyles and fashion, of course. Anyway, then I had lunch with Kylie Minogue's agent - lovely man. [Laughs] So funny! I'm exhausted.

Bridget continues violating the maxim of quantity when giving more information than required.

In this situation, correcting the information is enough but Bridget gives more information on her lunch with a famous man.

She probably wants to show off the opportunity on having lunch with a famous man.

2. Analysis2.4. The violation of maxim of manner.

Bridget: I want my tights back- now.Nick: Ok.Annie: You want your tights back?Bridget: They are Versace. The remote, please, Annie.

The answer of Bridget is the violation of maxim of manner.

She doesn’t give the direct answer “yes” or “no”. In stead of that she talks about the manufacturer of the tights.

Her implicature is that she want her tights back because they are very expensive.

2. Analysis

2.5. Findings.

The violations of maxims of quality and quantity are dominant.

Nick often violates the maxim of quality because he wants to hide something.

Bridget regularly violates the maxim of quantity because her characteristics is show-off.

3. INTERGTATING DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AND

PRAGMATICS IN THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR

Developing students' grammatical competence in parallel with a discourse and pragmatic consciousness-raising (discourse and pragmatic competence).=>two areas of inquiry can work co-operatively for instructional purposes.

-It focuses on the grammatical item of 'clause' (declarative, interrogative and imperative) and offers some suggestions, through tasks and activities, to develop these two types of competence.

Dis

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naly

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Cohesion

Coherence

Pragmatic acceptability

Grammar teaching

Raising students' awareness to understand and produce the English clause, formally and

contextually.

-A discourse processing model of language teaching and of grammar in particular has suggestive and heuristic power (Widdowson 1972, 1973, 1978), in that it enables both the

teacher and the learner to have more fruitful insights into the real functioning of the language.

-High level of grammatical competence is not sufficient for students to recognize and produce socially and contextually

appropriate language. The trend is towards a methodology that is consistent with the use of more differentiated spectrum of

discourse and pragmatic lubricants and strategies.

By giving much more prominent place to discourse in teaching grammar and enabling learners to know the conditions whereby

sentences are combined and used to form stretches of connected discourse (Widdowson 1972, 1978, 1979) will help student to

overcome many difficulties. + Not only will they be able to manage discourse development on the level of cohesion (surface linking) and coherence (underlying

relations) but they will also, and more importantly, manage it pragmatically (on the level of illocutionary and perlocutionary

acts). + Learners will be taught how to produce and interpret cohesive,

coherent and pragmatically acceptable written modes of discourse.

 

The pedagogical implications• +It is suggested that the two

modules, Written and Grammar, be taught by the same teacher, who in the course of his/her teaching will instill in students the insights developed along the previous lines. This will remove a great deal of the backwash effect attendant upon module compartmentalization.

• +Teachers will see their role change from that of the 'knower of everything' to a collaborator, a negotiator and to someone who works for nurturing in his/her students the essence of applying cognitive skills in appropriate ways to produce and interpret written and spoken language effectively in various contexts of communication.