B2478 - Pragmatic Linguistics

Learning outcomes

Students will be able to understand the meaning of linguistic acts and events within their communicative context and interpret the discourse strategies involved. They will have acquired an understanding of the relationship between pragmatics and other branches of linguistics, particularly semantics. They will also be able to identify the main pragmatic phenomena involved in communication—including context dependence, speech acts, conversational implicatures, and presuppositions—and demonstrate familiarity with the principal theoretical frameworks developed to account for these phenomena.

Course contents

The course is structured around a set of key questions that guide the pragmatic study of language:

• How is meaning constructed beyond words?
• How do conversations work?
• How do we perform actions through language?
• How does pragmatics help us understand communication in contemporary society?

Through the analysis of examples drawn from everyday, institutional, intercultural, and digital communication, as well as the discussion of case studies and authentic data, the course provides students with the fundamental theoretical and methodological tools needed to analyse the contextual meaning of utterances, interpret speakers' discourse strategies, and understand the role of context in the construction of meaning.

More specifically, the course addresses the following topics.

1. What is pragmatics?

• Definition and scope of pragmatics
• The origins and development of the discipline
• Pragmatics, semantics, and related areas of linguistics

2. How meaning is constructed: what is said and what is communicated

• Literal meaning
• Deixis and context dependence
• Major theories of deixis

3. Saying more than we say

• Grice's Cooperative Principle
• Conversational maxims
• Inference and conversational implicature
• Critiques and developments of implicature theory
• Figurative language and implicit meaning

4. How conversations work

• The organization of conversation
• Cooperation and the negotiation of meaning
• Inferential strategies in interaction

5. What we can do with words

• Language as action
• Austin's and Searle's Speech Act Theory
• Classification of speech acts
• Direct and indirect speech acts

6. Managing interaction: linguistic politeness and (im)politeness

• Linguistic politeness
• (Im)politeness in verbal interaction
• Face, relational work, and communicative strategies

7. Intercultural pragmatics and contemporary communication

• Intercultural pragmatics
• Cross-cultural variation in pragmatic norms
• Pragmatics of digital and multimodal communication

Readings/Bibliography

Preliminary reading (required for both attending and non-attending students):

Mauri, Caterina. 2017. Can We Do Things with Languages? In Francesca Masini & Nicola Grandi (Eds.), Everything You Have Always Wanted to Know About Language and Languages, pp. 161–164. Cesena/Bologna: Caissa Italia.

Required reading (for both attending and non-attending students):

Bazzanella, Carla. 2008. Linguistics and Language Pragmatics: An Introduction – Part II only: "The Pragmatic Perspective" (pp. 101–240). Rome/Bari: Laterza.

Additional required reading for non-attending students:

Non-attending students are required to supplement the course materials by reading the following book in its entirety:

Domaneschi, F. & Penco, C. 2016. Come non detto. Rome: Laterza.

Additional bibliographical references covering specific topics of the course will be provided during the lectures.

Students who intend to take the examination as non-attending students are required to inform the instructor at the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

The course combines lectures providing the theoretical foundations of the subject with seminar-based and workshop activities. In particular, students will take part in seminar sessions involving the presentation and discussion of selected course topics in small groups, following preparation based on the reading materials provided by the teacher. These activities are designed to foster active participation, critical argumentation skills, and peer discussion.

Workshop sessions will focus on the analysis of authentic linguistic data drawn from spontaneous conversations, media discourse, digital communication, and intercultural interactions. Students will also engage in small-group activities aimed at the critical discussion of the phenomena under examination, encouraging them to connect the theoretical frameworks introduced during the course with the analysis of real-world linguistic data.

Assessment methods

Assessment consists of an oral examination designed to evaluate students' knowledge of the main concepts and theoretical models of linguistic pragmatics, as well as their ability to apply them to the analysis of authentic linguistic data.

As part of the examination, students are required to present and discuss an example of linguistic data (spoken, written, or multimodal) selected independently and not previously analysed during the course. The material should be examined by demonstrating the ability to relate the observed phenomena to the key concepts and theoretical frameworks covered in the course. The presentation will be followed by questions aimed at assessing students' mastery of the course content and their ability to establish critical connections between the different topics addressed throughout the module.

For attending students, the final assessment will also take into account active participation in workshop activities and the contribution made during class discussions throughout the semester.

Non-attending students are required to supplement the course materials with an additional reading, as specified in the course bibliography.

Further guidance on the selection and analysis of the linguistic material to be presented will be provided during the lectures and made available on the course online platform.

Limited, transparent, and non-substantive use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is permitted for purposes such as language checking, terminological support, transcription of oral data, and to support individual study. However, the use of AI in any form during the assessment is strictly prohibited.

 

 

The final grade for the Linguistics II integrated course is calculated as the average of the marks obtained in the two module assessments that make up the course: Italian Linguistics (Prof. Marco Mazzoleni) and Pragmatics (Prof. Greta Zanoni).

Students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) or with disabilities that can affect their ability to attend courses are invited to contact the University service for students with disabilities and SLD at the earliest opportunity -- ideally before the start of the course: [https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students] . The University service will suggest possible adjustments to the course work and/or exam, which must then be submitted to the course leader so they can assess their feasibility, in line with the learning objectives of the course. Please note that adjustments to the exam must be requested at least two weeks in advance.

Teaching tools

Resources uploaded to the Virtuale e-learning platform, including supplementary reading materials and the lecture slides presented during the course.

Office hours

See the website of Greta Zanoni