To learn Pragmatic, first, we must know the definition of Pragmatic. So, I took from some references about it. Here they are:

1.      Cruse (2000:16) said:

Pragmatic can be taken to be concerned with aspect of information (in the widest sense) conveyed through language which are not encoded by generally accepted convention in the linguistic form used but which none the less arise naturally out of and depend on the meaning conventionally encoded in the linguistic form used, taken in conjunction with the context in the forms are used (emphasis added).

2.      Levinson

Pragmatic is the study of those relations between language and context that are grammaticalized or encoded in the structure of language. (Page 9)

Levinson also stated that Pragmatic is the study of the relation between language and context that are basic to an account of language understanding. (Page 21)

3.      Mey (1993:42)

The study of the condition of human language uses as these is determined by the context of society. Pragmatic is needed if we want a fuller, deeper, and generally more reasonable account of human language behavior.

Base on the three definitions above, we can see that the context take a big part in learning Pragmatic because it is the study of language use.

No definition of pragmatic will be complete in the absence of some mention of context. The notion of context extends beyond its obvious manifestation as a physical setting within which an utterance is produced to include linguistic, social, and epistemic factors. (Cummings: 2005-4).

More about Pragmatics…..

1.      Context

Context is a dynamic, not a static concept. It is to be understood as the surroundings, in the widest sense, that enable the participants in the communication process to interact, and that make the linguistics expression on their interaction intelligible. Context is more than a matter of Reference and of understanding what things are about, practically speaking. It also what gives our utterance their deeper. (May: 1993- 38-39).

Context includes the context of utterance and the context of culture.

1. the context of utterance : participant’s identity, role, location, assumption, etc
2. the context of culture: related to the culture

Example: “I brought some sushi and cooked it; it was not bad”

Sushi; Japanese fresh food and without cooked.

2.      Deixis

Cumming stated that deixis is reference to a wider context of discourse or language. This term is used to indicate or point out the personal pronoun, tense, specific time, and place adverb.

            Kushartanti dkk divided deixis into Person Deixis, Time Deixis, and Place Deixis:

Ada tiga jenis deiksis, yaitu deiksis ruang, deiksis persona, dan deiksis waktu. Ketiga jenis deiksis ini bergantung pada interpretasi penutur dan mitra tutur, atau penulis dan pembaca, yang berada dalam konteks yang sama. (Page. 111).

 

 

            Deixis divided into two, Traditional and Modern Deixis.

Traditional divided:

a. Person Deixis: I, We, You

b. Time Deixis: now, this time, yesterday

c. Place Deixis: here, there.

Modern Diexis :

a.       Discourse deixis: cohesion: time, place

b.      Social deixis: honorifics, authorized speaker/recipient, etc.

 

 

3.      Implicature

To imply is to hint, suggest, or convey some meaning indirectly by means of language.

A conversational implicature is, therefore, something which is implied in conversation, that is, something which is left implicit in actual language use

Implicature provides some explicit account of how it is possible to mean more than what is actually said.

Example:

A boy breaks a glass. Then, his mother said:

Mother: Bagus, bagus…terusin aja, pecahin aja terus gelasnya….

Grice’s theory of Implicature (cooperative principle)

1. The maxim of Quality: true information and enough evidence
2. The maxim of Quantity: informative enough, not less or more
3. The maxim of relevance: relevant / have close relationship
4. The maxim of manner: avoid obscurity, avoid ambiguity, be brief and be orderly.

 

 

Implicature exhibits the four major distinguishing properties:

1. Cancellablity: could be canceled
2. Non-detachability: inference base on meaning
3. Calculability: it should be able to construct an argument
4. Non-conventionality

4. Presupposition

Cummings stated presupposition are variously defined but in general constitute assumptions or inferences that are implicit in particular linguistics expression.  (page.29)

Meanwhile, Stalnaker in Cummings (2005:34) stated that presupposition is propositional attitude, not a semantic relation. People, rather than sentences or proposition, are said to have, or make, presupposition in this sense.

It can be defined as an assumption underlying a statement, which remains in force even the statement itself, is denied.

Pragmatic presupposition: the relation between a speaker and the appropriateness of a sentence in a context

To determine what the presupposition, we could see from some triggers:

1. Definite description: see
2. Factive: regret, aware, realize, know, be sorry that
3. Implicative: manage, forget
4. Change of state: stop, begin, and continue
5. Iterative: again, before, return, another time, come back, repeat, restore,
6. Verb of judging: accuse, criticize
7. Temporal clauses: before, while, since,
8. Cleft sentences: it was Andy who…./ it wasn’t Andly…
9. Comparison

Pragmatic presupposition, despite differing terminology, utilizes two basic concepts in particular: appropriateness or felicity mutual knowledge.

A pragmatically presupposes a proposition B iff A is appropriate only if B is mutually known by the participants.

5. Speech Act

Jacob. L. Mey said that the first thing one should notice is that speech acts are action happening in the world, that is, they bring about a change in the existing state of affairs.

Austin’s insistence that” the total speech act in the total speech situation is the only actual phenomenon which, in the last resort, we are engaged in elucidating ( how to do things with words 1962: 147).

Austin differentiates sentences and utterance into:

1. Performative : this group is not only use to describe states of affairs, just to say things, but also to do things.

e.g.: I bet you six rupiah, it will rain

2. Constantive: this group is only used to say things or to describe things.

e.g.: he declares war in Sarajevo.

Austin differentiates utterance into three kinds of acts that are simultaneously performed:

1. Locutionary  act            : the utterance of a sentence with determine sense.
2. Illocutionary act            : the making of statement, offer, promise, etc. in uttering a sentence, by virtue of the conventional force associated with it.
3. Perlocutionary Act        : the bringing about the effects on the audience by means of uttering the sentence, such effects being special to the circumstances of utterance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to some experts, Pragmatics is :

a. the study of the relation of signs to interpreters ( Morris :  1938 – 6)

b. the study of those relation between languages and context that are grammaticalized or

    encoded n the structure of a language (Levinson : 1985 – 9)

c. The study of the relations between language and  context that are basic to an account of

    language understanding (levinson : 1985 – 21)

d. The study of the conditions of human language uses as these are determined by the

    context of society (Mey : 1993 – 42)

Pragmatics is needed if we want a fuller, deeper and generally more reasonable account of human language behaviour (May 993 – 7)

Pragmatics concerns with the uses/ the functions of language :

1. referential
2. emotive
3. conative
4. metalinguistic
5. phatic
6. poetic

Pragmatics is also the study of the relationship between the linguistic forms and the users of these forms. It allows human into the analysis. In this study, I can talk about people’s intended meanings (multi interpretation)

Pragmatics has 4 elements, they are :

1. deixis : a term that used to indicate or to point out the personal pronounce, tenses,

                         specific time and place adverb. Deixis can be defined into 2 categories :

-         time, place or location

-         personal

2. Presupposition : an implicit assumption about the world/background belief

Relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for fixed in speech. A presupposition must be mutually known by the speaker and addressee for the utterance to be considered appropriate in context

3. cooperative principle : concern in strategy of speaking between speakers and

addressee

4. Implicature : it provides some explicit account of how it is possible to mean more

Than  what is actually said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pragmatics is a system way of explaning language used in context. It explains the aspects of meaning which can't be found in the plain sense of word or structures, as explained by semantics. Pragmatics studies the factors that guide our choice of language in social interaction and the effect of our choice on others.

 

Deixis is one of element of pragmatics.

Deixis is a technical term (from Greek) for one of the most basic things we do with utterances (pointing expression).Linguistic form used to accomplish this "pointing" is called deictic expression (indexical).These deixis has the most basic distinction between deitical expression being "near speaker" (proximal terms) and "away from speaker" (distal terms). Their interprectation of deictical expression depends on the context, the speaker's intention, and they express relative distance.

Types of deixis :

1.Person deixis : indicate people ("me","you")

Person deixis clearly operates on a basic three-part division, exemplified by the pronouns for first person (I), second person (you), and third person (he.she,it). Expression which indicate higher status are described as honorifics. (Your Highness). example : Somebody didn't clean up after himself.

2.Spatial deixis : indicate location ("here","there")

The location from speaker's perspective can be fixed mentally of physically. Speaker also semm to be able to project themselves into other locations prior to actually being in those locations (deitic projection). Example : I am not here now.

3.Temporal deixis : indicate time ("now","then")

The use or proximal form "now" as indicating both the time coinciding with the time of the speaker's utterance and the time of the speaker's voice being heard (the hearer's "now"). The temporal deixis has only two basic forms; the present and the past. The present tense is the proximal form and the past tense is the distal form. In the (a). I lived here now           (b) I lived there then