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AS Eng Lang - What are pragmatic features???

Quick Q - can anyone tell me what pragmatic features are? Is it like politeness theories, like the speech theories eg Lakoff politeness principle, Grice's Maxims etc...??

Reply 1

TwinkleToes92

Pragmatics is about meanings, so what is implied.
So for example if you asked where the post office was
and someone replied ''Sunday''
the implied meaning is that it's Sunday so the post office won't be open.

It's more likely to be used in the language development section.

Reply 2

RyanHansell

I understand pragmatics to be how people percieve the meaning of a text, in and out of context.

Grice's Maxims yeah.. Deixis too

Not sure about Lakoff's principle, though :X

Reply 3

mel0n

Uhmm, context. So that could be, who the text is for, what it means, when it was written, where it was written (maybe) etc etc. And also genre/mode/audience/purpose/format which is pretty much the same methinks :erm:

Reply 4

about_my_bow

Grices maxims : Wikipedia

Maxim of Quality
Be Truthful

Do not say what you believe to be false.
Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
Example:
Background: The fathers son has an old car that doesn't always run.
A: Should I buy my son this new sports car?
B: I don't know if that's such a good idea. He already has a good car.
vs.
B: Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, his car isn't very good.

Maxim of Quantity
Quantity of Information

Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange).
Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
Example:
A: Where is the post office?
B: Down the road, about 50 metres past the second left.
vs.
B: Not far.

Maxim of Relation
Relevance

Be relevant.
With respect to this maxim, Grice writes, "Though the maxim itself is terse, its formulation conceals a number of problems that exercise me a good deal: questions about what different kinds and focuses of relevance there may be, how these shift in the course of a talk exchange, how to allow for the fact that subjects of conversations are legitimately changed, and so on. I find the treatment of such questions exceedingly difficult, and I hope to revert to them in later work." (Grice 1989:27)

Example 1:
A: How are you doing in school?
B: Not too well, actually. I'm failing two of my classes.
vs.
B: What fine weather we're having lately!

Maxim of Manner
Be Clear

Avoid obscurity of expression.
Avoid ambiguity.
Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
Be orderly.
Example:
A: What did you think of that movie?
B: I liked the creative storyline. The ending was really a surprise!
vs.
B: It was interestingly done, sir.