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. This is an Experiential Learning course.

Readings:

There is one required textbook for the course:
Stephen C. Levinson. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press.
There is also a required reader, available from me.

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 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 will 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

This is an Experiential Learning course, so we will analyse a piece of actual language as a special assignment, to prepare for similar analysis that you will do as a part of your term project.

Grading:

Class participation

10% - obligatory to qualify for a grade

In-class presentation of assigned readings

30% (15% each)

Homework Q&A

10% - obligatory to qualify for a grade

Special analysis assignment

10%

Project planning (intermediate deadlines, meetings, reading summary, etc)

10%

Presentation at the mini-conference

15%

Final paper

15% the rest of the paper)

Schedule of classes:

Note: this is a very ambitious schedule! Thus, there is room to “expand” it by moving papers to “spillover” days.

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

Tuesday, 1/13 Introduction
Pragmatics in linguistics and philosophy
Division of labor: semantics vs pragmatics

Introduction. Conversational Implicature.
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, 1/16 The Cooperative Principle

Sign up for presentations, sign up for meeting with me, start thinking about project topics



Tuesday, 1/20 NO CLASS - Brandeis Monday - catch up with readings!


Friday, 1/23 Implicature II

Last day to sign up for presentations




Tuesday, 1/27 Implicature III





Language as Action: Speech Acts.

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, 1/30 Speech acts I

Meet with me to discuss project topic



Tuesday, 2/3 Speech acts II

Meet with me to discuss project topic



Pointing with speech: Reference and Indexicality
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, 2/6 The Speech Act of Referring

Meet with me to discuss project topic



Tuesday, 2/10 Indexicals and monsters

Last day to meet with me to discuss project topic



Friday, 2/13 Definiteness and the existential construction

Topic and reading list due. Start getting data over break.




Tuesday, 2/24 Cognitive status of referring expressions





Presupposition and Accommodation
Reporter: Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western Civilization?
Gandhi: I think that it would be a very good idea.

Friday, 2/27 Presupposition

Research questions, pilot data, any revisions to reading list due





Tuesday, 3/3 Accommodation

Data analysis assignment given out.





Pragmatic conventions.
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, 3/6 Conventional implicature





Tuesday 3/10 Discourse functions of syntax I



Friday 3/13 Information structure within a sentence

Data analysis assignment due.




Tuesday, 3/17 Marking focus/ground: Overview




Friday, 3/20 Discourse functions of syntax II





Coherence, reference, and the structure of 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, 3/24 Discourse structure: globally





Friday, 3/27 Reference and coherence I: locally



Tuesday, 3/31 Reference and coherence II

Introduction and background section of the paper are due (not more than 8 pages).

Your data report is due.




Friday, 4/3 Reference and coherence III





Tuesday, 4/7 Reference and discourse


Friday, 4/10, Tuesday 4/14 - NO CLASS, Passover holiday


Friday, 4/17 - NO CLASS


Tuesday 4/21 Reference, coherence, and the structure of discourse

Handout draft and abstract due.





Summing up
Friday, 4/24 Potts 2005 'Integrated pragmatic values' (Semantics Archive) or Spillover
Friday, 4/28 Prince 1996 'Constructions and the Syntax-Discourse interface' or Spillover



Mini-Conference
Monday, May 4, at 1pm, location to be determined



Final papers due before midnight on Friday, May 8