Pragmatics
The study of meaning in context — how speakers communicate more than their words literally say, how context shapes interpretation, and how language performs social actions. Pragmatics explains the gap between what is said and what is meant.
16 terms across 4 subcategories
Speech Acts
The actions performed through language — not just saying something, but doing something by saying it. Every utterance has a locutionary (literal), illocutionary (intended), and perlocutionary (achieved) force.
Speaker → proposition is true — truth-committing statement
A speech act that commits the speaker to the truth of a proposition — stating, claiming, reporting, describing, predicting, or hypothesizing. The speaker presents information as factual or probable.
Speaker → hearer should do X — action-eliciting utterance
A speech act that attempts to get the hearer to do something — commanding, requesting, advising, inviting, suggesting, or warning. The speaker tries to influence the hearer's future action.
Speaker → I will do X — self-committing future-action statement
A speech act that commits the speaker to a future course of action — promising, threatening, offering, pledging, or vowing. The speaker binds themselves to doing something.
Speaker → I feel X about Y — attitude-expressing utterance
A speech act that expresses the speaker's psychological state — thanking, apologizing, congratulating, complaining, welcoming, or expressing emotion. The focus is on the speaker's attitude rather than truth or action.
Speaker (with authority) → X is now the case — reality-changing utterance
A speech act that changes reality by being uttered — declaring, pronouncing, naming, christening, or sentencing. Requires institutional authority or social convention to succeed.
Implicature
Meaning that is communicated indirectly — what is suggested, implied, or meant without being explicitly stated. Implicature bridges the gap between literal meaning and intended meaning.
Said X → meant Y via cooperative inference — context-dependent implied meaning
An inference drawn from the assumption that the speaker is following cooperative conversational norms. Not part of the literal meaning but arises from context and the expectation of relevance, truthfulness, informativeness, and clarity.
Word/construction → fixed inference — lexically encoded implied meaning
An inference that is built into the meaning of specific words or constructions, independent of context. Unlike conversational implicature, it cannot be cancelled and does not depend on cooperative assumptions.
Chose weaker term → stronger term does not apply — scale-based inference
An inference based on the speaker choosing a weaker term from an ordered scale, implying the stronger term does not apply. Arises from the maxim of quantity — be as informative as required.
Obvious maxim violation → search for intended meaning — deliberate breach for effect
Deliberately and obviously violating a conversational maxim to generate an implicature. The speaker makes their violation conspicuous so the hearer searches for the intended meaning behind the breach.
Presupposition
Information that is taken for granted as background knowledge rather than asserted as new — the assumed common ground that makes an utterance meaningful.
Definite reference → entity exists — existence assumed by reference
The assumption that entities referred to in an utterance actually exist. Triggered by definite descriptions, possessives, and proper names.
Factive verb + clause → clause is true — truth presupposed by verb choice
The assumption that a complement clause is true, triggered by factive verbs like 'know', 'realize', 'regret', 'discover'. The truth of the complement is presented as established fact.
Grammatical structure → assumed information — syntax-encoded assumption
Information presupposed by the syntactic structure of an utterance rather than by specific lexical items. Certain grammatical forms assume certain facts.
Politeness & Face
The pragmatic strategies speakers use to manage social relationships — protecting others' self-image (face) and navigating the tension between directness and social harmony.
Inclusive language + approval signals — solidarity-building utterance
Language that attends to the hearer's desire to be liked, approved of, and treated as a member of the in-group. Includes complimenting, showing interest, using inclusive language, and claiming common ground.
Hedges + indirectness + options — autonomy-respecting utterance
Language that respects the hearer's desire for autonomy, freedom from imposition, and not being constrained. Includes hedging, apologizing for impositions, using indirect requests, and giving the hearer options.
Hedge + hedge + ... + claim — force-reducing modification
The use of linguistic devices to reduce the force of an assertion, soften a directive, or express uncertainty. Includes modal verbs, adverbs, vague language, and epistemic markers.
Form of X → function of Y — speech act mismatch for social purposes
Performing a speech act through a different, less direct speech act form. A request framed as a question, a criticism framed as a suggestion, a command framed as an observation.