Definitions And Discuss The Four Fundamental Of Pragmatics

1807 Words8 Pages
To begin with, human communication is the concern of pragmatics which deals with the relationship of the context of the message and its meaning and thus, as stated by Allott (2010), not all the researchers agree on the same definition of the term ‘pragmatics’ and, what follows, their methods and goals concerning the topic differ. Nevertheless, the author points out that despite of the fact that the aims, scope and methods are diverse, all the thinkers agree on the four fundamentals of pragmatics coined by Grice. The first one concerns the relationship between the intention of the speaker who sends the message which is recognised and fulfilled by the receiver in the communication act. The second one touches upon the task of the addressee who must infer the intention of the speaker from the utterance. The subsequent fundamental rule relates to the principles or maxims which govern the communication and derive from the broader principles of cognition or rationality. The last rule presented by Grice is related to the aspect of what is communicated by the author of the message. The philosopher underlines the fact that there is a difference between what the speaker conveys and what he or she implicates. 1.2. ‘Implicature’ Additionally, the term ‘implicature’ is influential and, as Grice, cited by Cole and Morgan (1975) explains, it is not the same as what was said in standard English or literally said by the speaker. The author points out that the knowledge of the language is