Introduction to Pragmatics (eBook)

Betty J. Birner is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English at Northern Illinois University. She is the author of several books, including The Discourse Function of Inversion in English (1996), Information Status and Noncanonical Word Order in English (with Gregory Ward, 1998), and Drawing the Boundaries of Meaning: Neo-Gricean Studies in Pragmatics and Semantics in Honor of Laurence R. Horn (with Gregory Ward, 2006).

Preface x

Acknowledgments xii

1 Defining Pragmatics 1

1.1 Pragmatics and Natural Language 2

1.2 The Boundary Between Semantics and Pragmatics 9

1.3 Summary 34

1.4 Exercises and Discussion Questions 36

2 Gricean Implicature 40

2.1 The Cooperative Principle 41

2.2 Types of Implicature 62

2.3 Testing for Implicature 68

2.4 The Gricean Model of Meaning 73

2.5 Summary 74

2.6 Exercises and Discussion Questions 75

3 Later Approaches to Implicature 77

3.1 Neo-Gricean Theory 77

3.2 Relevance Theory 91

3.3 Comparing Neo-Gricean Theory and Relevance Theory 98

3.4 Summary 107

3.5 Exercises and Discussion Questions 108

4 Reference 110

4.1 Referring Expressions 110

4.2 Deixis 114

4.3 Definiteness and Indefiniteness 121

4.4 Anaphora 130

4.5 Referential and Attributive Uses of Definite Descriptions 138

4.6 Summary 142

4.7 Exercises and Discussion Questions 143

5 Presupposition 146

5.1 Presupposition, Negation, and Entailment 146

5.2 Presupposition Triggers 152

5.3 The Projection Problem 155

5.4 Defeasibility 157

5.5 Presupposition as Common Ground 163

5.6 Accommodation 167

5.7 Summary 172

5.8 Exercises and Discussion Questions 173

6 Speech Acts 175

6.1 Performative Utterances 175

6.2 Felicity Conditions 183

6.3 Locutionary Acts 186

6.4 Direct and Indirect Speech Acts 191

6.5 Face and Politeness 200

6.6 Joint Acts 202

6.7 Summary 203

6.8 Exercises and Discussion Questions 204

7 Information Structure 207

7.1 Topic and Focus 210

7.2 Open Propositions 215

7.3 Discourse-Status and Hearer-Status 217

7.4 Information Structure and Constituent Order 219

7.5 Functional Compositionality 229

7.6 Summary 235

7.7 Exercises and Discussion Questions 236

8 Inferential Relations 241

8.1 Inferential Relations at the Constituent Level 243

8.2 Inferential Relations at the Propositional Level 260

8.3 Summary 268

8.4 Exercises and Discussion Questions 269

9 Dynamic Semantics and the Representation of Discourse 271

9.1 Theoretical Background 272

9.2 Static vs. Dynamic Approaches to Meaning 276

9.3 Discourse Representation Theory 278

9.4 The Scope of DRT and the Domain of Pragmatics 284

9.5 Summary 290

9.6 Exercises and Discussion Questions 291

10 Conclusion 293

10.1 The Semantics/Pragmatics Boundary Revisited 294

10.2 Pragmatics in the Real World 296

10.3 Pragmatics and the Future of Linguistic Theory 302

10.4 Summary 304

10.5 Exercises and Discussion Questions 304

References 306

Sources for Examples 314

Index 318

"Birner has made an impressive attempt at simplifying the field of pragmatics and connecting it with real-life situations, unprecedentedly foregrounding its great potential in coming to terms with social issues. Thus, the value of Introduction to Pragmatics goes beyond the audience-borders set by the author and the publisher. All pragmaticians, applied linguists, stylisticians, sociolinguists and other scholars who are interested in the way language behaves in society should find the book an asset." (Discourse Studies, 13 May 2015)

"Birner's Introduction to Pragmatics offers graduate students and upper-level undergraduates an accessible introduction that addresses the traditional range of topics within pragmatics through real-life examples." (The Modern Language Journal, 10 November 2014)

"...this book achieves success and relevancy in ways where other texts fall short." (The LINGUIST List, 9 July 2013)



"Indisputably the best pragmatics textbook currently on
the market. It covers all the areas that any modern treatment of
pragmatics should include, replete with end-of-chapter exercises.
My students love it!" - Gregory Ward, Northwestern
University

"A remarkably clear and well-paced exposition of linguistic
pragmatics, covering the classic areas yet also taking a
glance at newer developments, and throughout skillfully infused
with the current debates." - Jonathan Culpeper,
Lancaster University