Pragmatics: Crash Course Linguistics #6

Summary

This Crash Course Linguistics episode explores the concept of pragmatics, the study of how context influences meaning in language. It introduces the Cooperative Principle and Grice's Maxims, which are four assumptions guiding communication: quality, quantity, relevance, and manner. The episode illustrates how implicature, indirect language, and politeness strategies such as hedges and qualifiers contribute to conversational cooperation. It also touches on cultural variations in conversational styles, emphasizing the dynamic nature of language in conveying meaning.

Takeaways

• 😀 Communication often relies on context and pragmatics to interpret meaning beyond the literal words used.
• 🕵️ Pragmaticists make four main assumptions about communication: quality, quantity, relevance, and manner of information.
• 🎭 The 'Great job, Sherlock' example illustrates how context can lead to the interpretation of sarcasm rather than a compliment.
• 📝 People generally assume that communicators are providing high-quality information, even when they might be lying.
• 🦆 The 'ducks' GIF example shows how a technically true statement can be humorous due to the violation of the quantity assumption.
• 🍬 Food labels adhere to the assumption of relevance, providing information that is typically of interest to consumers.
• 👔 The 'sugar-free olive oil' hypothetical demonstrates how the relevance assumption can be humorously or misleadingly subverted.
• 👨‍🏫 The advice about the professor suggests that a lack of detail or overemphasis on the obvious can signal that something is amiss.
• 🤝 The Cooperative Principle, or Grice's Maxims, posits that communicators are generally cooperative and contribute meaningfully to the conversation.
• 🍰 Implicature is the additional meaning that arises from context, allowing for indirect communication and politeness.
• 🌐 Politeness strategies and indirectness vary across languages and cultures, affecting how requests and commands are formulated.
• 🗣️ Turn-taking in conversations is influenced by cultural norms, with some societies favoring high-involvement or high-considerateness styles.

Q & A

What is the field of linguistics that studies meaning in context?

The field of linguistics that studies meaning in context is called pragmatics.

Why do we often need to make assumptions about the context to understand each other in communication?

We often need to make assumptions about the context to understand each other because we don't have 100 percent complete information about everything that's going on during a conversation.

What are the four main assumptions that pragmaticists talk about in communication?

The four main assumptions are that people are trying to communicate high-quality information, provide a sufficient quantity of information, give information that is relevant, and say things in a manner that is as straightforward as possible for the context.

Why might someone say 'Great job, Sherlock' sarcastically?

Someone might say 'Great job, Sherlock' sarcastically when the context and the words clearly don't match, leading to the deduction of a more subtle truth like sarcasm.

How does the caption 'look at all these ducks there are at least ten' go against our assumptions about communication?

The caption goes against our assumption that people are giving us a sufficient quantity of information by stating the minimum number of ducks when there are clearly many more.

Why might a food label say 'sugar-free' on a product?

A food label might say 'sugar-free' on a product because we generally assume that people will tell us information that is of relevance, and sugar-free information is relevant when the product does not contain sugar.

What does it mean when someone gives a minimal response like 'Well, it certainly is a class' when asked for advice about a class?

A minimal response like 'Well, it certainly is a class' raises suspicions and suggests that the person is not providing a straightforward answer, possibly due to the class or professor being less than satisfactory.

What is the term for the additional meaning layered on top of the words we say in communication?

The additional meaning layered on top of the words we say in communication is known as an implicature.

What is the Cooperative Principle in pragmatics?

The Cooperative Principle in pragmatics is the idea that we assume people are generally trying to be cooperative with us in communication, following certain maxims to ensure effective understanding.

How does the use of the word ' Lah' in Malay make a command more polite?

In Malay, adding 'Lah' to a command turns it from a demand into something more polite, akin to 'Would you please do that?'

What is the difference between 'tu' and 'vous' in French in terms of politeness?

In French, 'tu' is an informal and singular pronoun, while 'vous' is formal and plural, indicating a higher level of politeness and formality.

What is the term for the flow of words between people in a conversation?

The flow of words between people in a conversation is known as turn-taking.

What are the two ends of the conversational style spectrum in terms of overlap and silence?

The two ends of the conversational style spectrum are high-involvement interactional style, where there is a lot of overlapping and little silence, and high-considerateness interactional style, where there is less overlap and more silence.