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Unit of study_

LNGS3702: Pragmatics - Meaning in Use

Pragmatics explores interactions of meaning and context in discourse. This unit of study introduces students to some important topics in pragmatics research: reference and speech acts, non-literal language, the role of inference and reasoning in discourse, politeness, conversation, and the ethnography of speaking.

Code LNGS3702
Academic unit Linguistics
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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12 credit points at 2000 level in Linguistics
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. to introduce students to some key ideas in the study of pragmatics in linguistics
  • LO2. to encourage students to develop an understanding of how pragmatics fits in the structure of linguistic theory in general
  • LO3. to cultivate a critical and self-conscious approach to problems of empirical enquiry in the empirical study of communication
  • LO4. to appreciate the biases and presuppositions that inform the study of linguistic pragmatics
  • LO5. to appreciate the complexity of communication as an object of theoretical enquiry

Unit outlines

Unit outlines will be available 2 weeks before the first day of teaching for the relevant session.