Pragmatics, discourse and its methodological applications (6 credits)

Profs: Consuelo Montes Granado. (e.mail: cmg@usal.es)

Alfonso Falero Folgoso (falero@usal.es) (seminar of 1 credit)
Course aims and objectives:
The course sets the aim of enhancing students' awareness of the functionality of
language from social, cultural and cognitive perspectives. It will be shown that
pragmatic concepts, theories and frameworks increase our understanding of language in
use and consequently the ability to analyse language in all kinds of contexts.
When students have successfully completed this course, they will be able to:
Understand what is meant by Pragmatics as the study of the functionality of
language use.
Appreciate basic insights of language use coming from pragmatic theories:
presupposition, language as action: speech acts, conversational implicatures.
Develop a thorough understanding of post-Gricean pragmatics, which includes
two main lines of research: politeness and relevance.
Connect the notion of systems of politeness with other dimensions in
communication: gender and cross-cultural interaction.
Analyse the interconnection of politeness with the axes of power and solidarity
in the genre of advertising.
Apply politeness insights to improve the learning process in a pedagogical
context.
Analyse processes of communication from the perspective of Relevance theory.
Apply this model of communication to a pedagogical context and to the genre of
advertising.
From the perspective of the global spread of English, analyse different types of
pedagogy, with special emphasis on heteroglossia as an interactional strategy in
a pedagogical setting.
Bibliography
Brown, P. & Levinson, S. 1987 (2nd ed.) Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cutting, J. 2002. Pragmatics and Discourse. A Resource Book for Students. London and
New York: Routledge.
Grundy, P. 2000 (2nd. ed.) Doing Pragmatics. London: Arnold.
Kasper, G. & Rose, K. R. 2002. Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. 1995 (2nd. ed.). Relevance. Communication and Cognition.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Robinson, D. 2006. Introducing Performative Pragmatics. London and New York:
Routledge.
Tanaka, K. 1999. Advertising Language: a Pragmatic Approach to Advertisements in
Britain and Japan. London: Routledge.
Thomas, J. 1995. Meaning in Interaction. An Introduction to Pragmatics. Essex: Longman.
Verschueren, J. 1999. Understanding Pragmatics. London: Arnold.
Verschueren, et. al. (eds), 2003. Handbook of Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Course contents:
1. Defining the scope of pragmatics.
2. Pragmatic concepts: presupposition, speech acts, conversational implicature.
3. Models of politeness. Gender and cross-cultural dimensions.
4. The axes of power and solidarity. Clear and subtle connections with politeness
strategies. Illustrations in advertising.
5. Human cognition: Relevance theory. Illustrations in advertising.

Methodology:
Classes will first consist of lectures and group discussions of selected texts.
In a second stage, students will be expected to conduct a micro research, either
individually or in groups, and present it orally in class for discussion.
Finally, they will be required to provide an individual written essay as a way to enhance
their writing skills and to personalize what they have learnt, in their unique and creative
style.
Assessment:
A selection of texts will be specified at the beginning of the course for class discussion.
Students are required to read each assigned text before class and come prepared to
discuss it. In addition, students will have to carry out a micro research project on an
issue related to politeness, and present it orally in class. They will also have to hand in
an individual written paper.
Students will be evaluated on a combination of their participation in class, their oral
presentations and their individual written paper.
Participation in class, oral presentation: 40%
Final individual written paper: 60%
Recommended Readings and resources
Students will have to attend the seminars given by visiting speakers and invited guests.
Bibliography
Brown, P. & Levinson, S. 1987 (2nd ed.) Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Caffi, C. 2007. Mitigation. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Cutting, J. 2002. Pragmatics and Discourse. A Resource Book for Students. London and
New York: Routledge.
Grundy, P. 2000 (2nd. ed.) Doing Pragmatics. London: Arnold.
Kasper, G. & Rose, K. R. 2002. Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Oxford:
Blackwell.

Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. 1995 (2nd. ed.). Relevance. Communication and Cognition.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Robinson, D. 2006. Introducing Performative Pragmatics. London and New York:
Routledge.
Tanaka, K. 1999. Advertising Language: a Pragmatic Approach to Advertisements in
Britain and Japan. London: Routledge.
Thomas, J. 1995. Meaning in Interaction. An Introduction to Pragmatics. Essex: Longman.
Verschueren, J. 1999. Understanding Pragmatics. London: Arnold.
Verschueren, et. al. (eds), 2003. Handbook of Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Websites
Handbook
of
Pragmatics
online
http://www.benjamins.com/online/hop/
Bibliography of Pragmatics online
http://www.benjamins.com/online/hop/

(available

(latest

annual

online

release

since

early

2003):

2008):