Ling 140a: Discourse and Pragmatics
Language Use and Meaning


**The Tenniel Illustrations for Alice In Wonderland** Created by Geof Pawlicki and Jim Chamings
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing."

Introduction:

What's wrong with the Mad Hatter?

This and other crucial questions will be raised (and some even answered!) in this course on language meaning in context.

We'll be exploring how sentences are put together into texts and conversations, how speakers and hearers exploit each other's expectations and cooperate (or fail to cooperate) in the process of communication, and how speakers of different languages manage their conversations.
The course has no pre-requisites and satisfies the Oral Communication requirement.

Readings:

There is one required textbook for the course:
Stephen C. Levinson. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press.
In addition, many of the assigned papers can be found in the following reader:
Steven Davis. 1991. Pragmatics: a reader. Oxford University Press.

All readings that are not chapters in Levinson or given as URLs will be posted on LATTE.
The references and much more can be found here: [pdf]

Requirements:

Students will be required to do the assigned readings, and to present some of the assigned papers in class.
They are also required to post questions about the readings to Q & A forums on LATTE, as homework.
In the course of the semester, they will complete a few small quizzes, covering the basic concepts covered in the class.
In addition, there wil be a term research project, culminating in a presentation at a mini-conference at the end of the term, and in a term paper.
The paper should be about 7, and no more than 10 pages long (so, only one paragraph for intro and conclusion). The term project will involve collection of naturally-occurring linguistic data, or conducting an experiment to explore a topic in linguistic pragmatics

UPDATED! - Grading:
Class participation 10% - obligatory to qualify for a grade
In-class presentation of assigned readings 40% (20% each)
NO quizzes
Homework Q&A 10% - obligatory to qualify for a grade
Presentation at the mini-conference 20%
Final paper 20% (5% readings summary; 15% the rest of the paper)

Schedule of classes:

Note: all the jokes below are from the Linguistic humor page.

Tuesday, 1/15 Introduction
Pragmatics in linguistics and philosophy
Division of labor: semantics vs pragmatics

Part One: Language as cooperation - implicature and presupposition
Sign on a repair shop door: We can repair anything. (Please knock hard on the door - the bell doesn't work)
On some Swanson frozen dinners: Serving suggestion: Defrost.
Friday, 1/18 The Cooperative Principle


Tuesday, 1/22 Implicature II
Friday, 1/25 Implicature III


Tuesday, 1/29 Presupposition vs. assertion
Reporter: Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western Civilization?
Gandhi: I think that it would be a very good idea.
Friday, 2/1 Presupposition: the projection problem


Tuesday, 2/5 Conventional implicature

Part Two: Language as Action
Sign spotted in a safari park: Elephants please stay in your car
I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain. (Jane Wagner, 24)

Friday, 2/8 Speech acts I
Meet with me to discuss potential topics for you final project


Tuesday, 2/12 Speech acts II

Part Three: Pointing with speech: Deixis
Source: Courtesy of Joe Schallan
A University of Pennsylvania English prof is vacationing in New Mexico. Having "done" Taos, he heads down U.S. Highway 285 to Santa Fe. Just north of the city, he enters a small town and is greeted by signage:
WELCOME TO POJOAQUE
"What a peculiar name," he notes to himself.
He's hungry and quickly spots a fast food establishment in what passes for the center of the little town. Goes in and is pleasantly greeted by a young lady he assumes is a local resident.
"May I take your order, sir?" says she.
He leans over the counter. "Sure," he says, "but listen, I'm traveling through here. How do you pronounce the name of this place?"
She leans back over to him and says slowly and carefully: "BURG - ER - KING."

Friday, 2/15 Deixis 1
The last day to meet with me to discuss the topic for your final project

Tuesday, 2/26 Deixis 2: monsters

Part Four: Information packaging within a sentence
ADVISORY: The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans.
Contrarily, the French have lots of fat in their diets and also suffer fewer heart attacks than either the British or Americans.
CONCLUSION: Eat whatever you want. It's speaking English that kills you.
(from http://www.american.edu/tesol/Humor3.htm)
Friday, 2/29 Topic/comment I


Tuesday, 3/4 Marking focus/ground: Overview
Friday, 3/7
Submit a list of relevant readings for your final project. Your reading list should contain at least 4 articles Marking focus/ground: Preposing vs. Left-Dislocation and Topicalization <
Tuesday 3/11

Friday 3/14 Marking focus/ground: Gapping and Clefts

Part Five: Marking and tracking entities in discourse
Sign at a conference in Great Britain: For anyone who has children and doesn't know it, there is a day care on the first floor.
Tuesday, 3/18 Reference


Tuesday, 3/25 Definiteness/indefiniteness and givenness hierarchy I
Friday, 3/28 Definiteness/indefiniteness II
You should submit to me a brief (no more than 8 pages) review of the articles on your reading list, indicating for each article (1) what are the main findings, (2) what questions remain open, and (3) how it helps with your project.
Tuesday, 4/1 Entities in discourse I
Friday, 4/4 Entities and coherence: Centering Theory I
Tuesday, 4/8 Centering Theory II
Friday, 4/11 Centering Theory III

Part Six: Discourse structure and reference
Tuesday, 4/15 Discourse structure I


Friday 4/18 Reference, coherence, and relevance
Tuesday 4/29 Spillover

Mini-Conference
Tuesday April 29 at 3pm, Volen 201

Final papers due by noon Tuesday May 6