Pragmatics 

About: Pragmatics is an academic journal published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Linguistics & Computer science. It has an ISSN identifier of 1018-2101. Over the lifetime, 528 publications have been published receiving 14213 citations. The journal is also known as: language in use.

The Role of Language in European Nationalist Ideologies

Abstract: In his book on Natiorts and nationalism since 1780, E.J. Hobsbawm concludes that "the phenomenon [of nationalism] is past its peak." (p. 183) Before he gets to this conclusion (apparently written some time in 1989, still before German reunification became a realistic possibility and before the process of fragmentation in some countries of the old Communist Bloc had gained momentum) he shows quite convincingly, and almost prophetically, that a new 'Europe of nations' in the Wilsonian sense (with independent entities such as Catalonia, Corsica, Slovenia, Estonia, etc.) could not produce 'a stable or lasting political system.' (p. 177) For one thing, "the first thing most such hypothetical new European states would do is, almost certainly, apply for admission to the European Economic Community, which would once again limit their sovereign rights, [...]." (p. 177) Indeed, nation-states with highly autonomous 'national economies' probably belong to the past. However, it is far from clear that such a confrontation with economic reality, which will no doubt change the historical content and direction of nation-building processes, has any direct influence on nationalism from an ideological perspective. After all, as Hobsbawm demonstrates equally convincingly, the essence of nationalism from the 19th century onwards has been the definition of imagined communities'along conceptual ines out of touch with 'objective reality' (a theme also developed in Barth ed. 1982 and by Anderson 1983). An assessment of the ideological processes involved requires access to 'the view from below.' But,

Learning To Think For Speaking: Native Language, Cognition, And Rhetorical Style

Abstract: What does one learn when one acquires the grammar of a language? Most chi ld language researchers would probably say that one learns systems of grammatical morphology and synbactic constructions, as described in terms of the researcher's preferred grammat ica l model . I t would be noted that grammat ica l forms re la te to semant ic ent i t ies and pragmatic functions, and, depending on the theory, various roles would be al lolted to semant ics and pragmat ics in the learner 's const ruct ion o f the gran lmar . Here I wish to propose that the chi ld acquires more than a system of grammatical forms and semant ic /communicabive funct ions. In acqui r ing the grammar o f a par t icu lar language, the ch i ld comes to adopt a par t icu lar f ramework for schemat iz ing erper ience. That is to say, the grammabical system also expresses meanings. These meanings are of a general sort, in contrast with the specif ic contents of lexical i tems. Grammatical meanings apply across al l possible lexical contents, putt ing the specif ic confent of any part icular sentence into a framework of bemporal and spatial relat ions, modali ty, voice, i l locutionary force, and so forth. Much recent work in the emerging f ield of cognit iue l inguist ics is concerned with the conceptua l s ide o f grammar. [n an impor tant paper on the semant ics o f grammar, under the t i t le o f \"The re la t ion o f grammar to cogni t ion, \" Leonard Ta lmy proposes that :

Notes on the role of metapragmatic awareness in language use

Abstract: Against the background of a general theory of pragmatics, reflections are formulated on the central role of metapragmatic awareness as a specific manifestation of salience, the status of processes of meaning generation in language use in relation to the cognitive apparatus. First the notions of metalanguage and metapragmatics, as used in linguistics, are discussed. Then metalinguistic and metapragmatic phenomena are presented as reflections of metapragmatic awareness. Two ways in which indicators of metapragmatic awareness function in language use are distinguished: Their functioning as anchoring devices locating linguistic form in relation to context, and their functioning as signals of the language users’ reflexive interpretations of the activities they are engaged in. Finally, some social implications of metapragmatic functioning are discussed, in particular in relation to language ideologies and identity construction.

An Alternative Model And Ideology Of Communication For An Alternative To Politeness Theory

Abstract: Brown & Levinson opened their 1987 commentary on their theory of politeness by reemphasizing not only that their framework presumed “that Grice’s theory of conversational implicature and the framework of maxims that give rise to such implicatures is essentially correct” (p. 3), but also that their theory presupposed “the other great contribution by Grice, namely his account of the nature of communication as a special kind of intention designed to be recognized by the recipient” (p. 7; cf. Levinson 1983: 16-18; 1995: 227-232). Brown & Levinson also closed their 1987 commentary with a projection for future development of their theory: