{"id":1121,"date":"2022-04-06T08:13:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T06:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.centreforelites.com\/the-context-of-pragmatics-in-the-language-use\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T23:02:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T21:02:43","slug":"the-context-of-pragmatics-in-the-language-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/support.centreforelites.com\/en\/the-context-of-pragmatics-in-the-language-use\/","title":{"rendered":"The Context of Pragmatics in the Language use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Language use in this article will definitely refer to the use of linguistic codes (words) in the context of social life since pragmatics is the study of language use by individuals in specific social situations and whose actions are actually influenced by these situations. The study of language in its social context began with the rise of popular interests in sociolinguists, pragmatics, discourse analysis and ethnography of speaking in the 1970s, particularly as a reaction to purely abstract linguistics. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars were concerned with a more balanced way of studying language, other than focusing on language structures alone. To them, it was crucial to also examine the relationship between language and society and how language use is influenced by the social context. The goal of this kind of contextual study according to Dell Hymes (1974) is to:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>(i)               <\/span><\/span><\/span>involve language in practical issues such as education, minority groups and language policies<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>(ii)             <\/span><\/span><\/span>show how social function gives form to the ways in which linguistic features are encountered in actual life<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>(iii)          <\/span><\/span><\/span>identify social functions and discover ways in which linguistic features are selected and grouped to serve them (sharing a concern with social realism and validity)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>(iv)           <\/span><\/span><\/span>show that socially constituted linguistics is concerned with social as well as the referential meaning and with language as part of communicative conduct and social action (quoted in Lavandera (1988:4}.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we shall be looking at the features and components of context and how various contexts can influence meaning and language use. We shall also see why context is so crucial in the study and understanding of linguistic or discourse pragmatics.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Table of Contents<\/p>\n