Course title:

Pragmatics

Course code: PSL217
Course status: Elective
Course leader: Milena Žic Fuchs
Course instructor:
Language of instruction: English
Total hours: 8S
Form of instruction: Seminar
ECTS credits: 4

Course content by topics:

The Pragmatics course encompasses a wide range of topics, from speech act theory, conversational implicature, concepts such as ‘context of situation’ (Malinowski), to more contemporary approaches such as ‘relevance theory’ and ‘politeness theory’. All these approaches, albeit from different points of view and theoretical foundations, shed light on the multifaceted phenomenon of human communication in all its forms, as well as on the effects that communication may have on language phenomena. Students will engage in discussions on fundamental concepts such as ‘speech acts’, ‘conversational implicatures’, ‘context of situation’, ‘relativity’ and ‘politeness’, concepts that represent the main levers and gears of human communication. Special attention will be dedicated to the concepts of ‘context’ and ‘convention’, not only in face-to-face communication but also in new communication technologies. The course content includes concrete examples from various domains of human as well as technology- mediated communication.

Learning outcomes at course level:

On completing the course in Pragmatics the student will be able to: 1. list and explain the fundamental theoretical interpretations encountered in various approaches to pragmatics; 2. analyse and interpret concrete examples from various domains of human and technology- mediated communication; 3. critically evaluate possible methodological approaches to research in pragmatics; 4. outline and analyse the place of pragmatics in traditional as well as contemporary levels of linguistic description; 5. evaluate the scope of research done so far on pragmatics phenomena in the domain of communication technologies; 6. critically evaluate research texts in the domain of pragmatics

Learning outcomes at programme level:

Reading list:

Austin, J.L. (1962) How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press.; Givón, T. (2005) Context as Other Minds, The Pragmatics of Sociality, Cognition and Communication, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia.; Grice, H.Paul (1975). “Logic and

conversation”. Cole, Peter, Jerry L. Morgan, eds. Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press, 41–58.; Levinson, S. (1983) Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.; Malinowski, B. (1923) “Phatic Communion”- an excerpt from “The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages” in Ogden, C. K. & E.A. Richards, The Meaning of Meaning, Routledge and Kegan Paul.; Searle, J. (1969) Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.; Sperber, D. and D. Wilson (1995) Relevance, Communication and Cognition, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Blackwell.; van Dijk, T. A. (2008) Discourse and Context, A Sociocognitive Approach, Cambridge University Press.; van Dijk, T. A. (2009) Society and Discourse, How Social Contexts Influence Text and Talk, Cambridge University Press.; Žic Fuchs,

1. and V. Broz (2004) “Communication technologies and their influence on language: the

Gricean maxims revisited”. Informatologia 2, str. 143-148.; Žic Fuchs, M., Broz, V. and N. Tuđman Vuković (2013) “Communication technologies and their influence on language: the notion of

convention revisited”. Jezikoslovlje 14(1), str. 65-84. Assessment of student achievement: course attendance Quality assurance mechanism: student survey