Semantics vs. Pragmatics
Semantics vs. pragmatics
Introduction
The distinction between semantics and pragmatics has received a lot of bad press in recent years. It has been claimed to be faulty, confused, or even nonexistent. However, these claims are based on is conceptions of what the distinction is and of what it takes to show there to be something wrong with it. As I see it, the semantic-pragmatic distinction fundamentally concerns two types of information associated with an utterance of a sentence. Semantic information is encoded in the sentence; pragmatic information is generated by, or at least made relevant by, the act of uttering the sentence. This explains the oddity of such pragmatic contradictions as "I am not speaking" and "It is raining but I don 't believe it." In "The Semantics-Pragmatics Distinction: What It Is and Why It Matters" (Bach 1999a), I develop this conception of the distinction and contrast it with alternatives. Here I will try to clarify the difference between them ,so that you know what are these subfields of linguistics and what their major concerns .
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Table of contents :
Introduction …………………………………2
1.What is pragmatics ?......................................4
1.1 Structural ambiguity …………………….5
1.2 Etymology ………………………….6
1.3 Areas of interest …………………….6
What is Semantics ?...............................7
2. What are the differences between semantics and pragmatics ?..............8
2.1 Differences in Meaning……………….9
2.2 Idioms and Miscommunications………..10
Conclusion …………..11
References …………………12
What is pragmatics ?
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. It encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy,
Introduction
The distinction between semantics and pragmatics has received a lot of bad press in recent years. It has been claimed to be faulty, confused, or even nonexistent. However, these claims are based on is conceptions of what the distinction is and of what it takes to show there to be something wrong with it. As I see it, the semantic-pragmatic distinction fundamentally concerns two types of information associated with an utterance of a sentence. Semantic information is encoded in the sentence; pragmatic information is generated by, or at least made relevant by, the act of uttering the sentence. This explains the oddity of such pragmatic contradictions as "I am not speaking" and "It is raining but I don 't believe it." In "The Semantics-Pragmatics Distinction: What It Is and Why It Matters" (Bach 1999a), I develop this conception of the distinction and contrast it with alternatives. Here I will try to clarify the difference between them ,so that you know what are these subfields of linguistics and what their major concerns .
2
Table of contents :
Introduction …………………………………2
1.What is pragmatics ?......................................4
1.1 Structural ambiguity …………………….5
1.2 Etymology ………………………….6
1.3 Areas of interest …………………….6
What is Semantics ?...............................7
2. What are the differences between semantics and pragmatics ?..............8
2.1 Differences in Meaning……………….9
2.2 Idioms and Miscommunications………..10
Conclusion …………..11
References …………………12
What is pragmatics ?
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. It encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy,
References: ,semantics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics "Semantics." 2009. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press: New York. Griffiths, Patrick. An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics. Edingburgh, Scotland:Edinburgh University Press, 2006