Pragmatics Glossary

A two-part sequence of conversational turns where the first part makes the second conditionally relevant, such as question-answer or greeting-greeting.

The circumstances surrounding an utterance that influence its interpretation, including physical setting, participants, shared knowledge, and preceding discourse.

An implied meaning attached to certain words by convention, independent of conversational context, such as the contrast implied by 'but.'

Mechanisms by which speakers address and correct problems in hearing, speaking, or understanding during conversation.

Grice's principle that speakers are expected to make conversational contributions that are cooperative, informative, truthful, relevant, and clear.

The phenomenon in which the reference of certain expressions depends on the context of the utterance, including who is speaking, where, and when.

The public self-image a person wants to maintain, comprising positive face (desire for approval) and negative face (desire for autonomy).

Any communicative act that potentially damages the hearer's or speaker's positive or negative face.

Deliberately and openly violating a Gricean maxim to generate a conversational implicature, as distinct from violating a maxim covertly.

The communicative intention behind an utterance, such as asserting, requesting, promising, or apologizing.

Meaning that is suggested or implied by an utterance rather than explicitly stated.

An utterance whose literal grammatical form does not match its intended illocutionary force, such as a question used as a request.

The act of producing a meaningful utterance with a particular sense and reference.

The conversational maxim requiring speakers to be clear, avoiding obscurity, ambiguity, and unnecessary prolixity.

The conversational maxim requiring speakers to be truthful and not say things they believe to be false or lack evidence for.

The conversational maxim requiring speakers to provide the right amount of information -- neither too much nor too little.

The conversational maxim requiring that contributions be relevant to the topic at hand.

An utterance that performs an action by virtue of being spoken, such as 'I hereby declare you husband and wife' or 'I apologize.'

The effect or consequence an utterance has on the listener, such as persuading, alarming, or inspiring.

The branch of linguistics that studies how context contributes to the interpretation of meaning in language use.

An implicit assumption embedded in an utterance that is taken as already known or accepted, surviving both affirmation and negation.

A cognitive pragmatic theory by Sperber and Wilson proposing that communication is driven by the search for optimal relevance, balancing cognitive effect and processing effort.

An implicature that arises when a speaker uses a weaker term from an ordered scale, implying the stronger term does not apply.

An utterance considered as an action, such as making a request, giving a promise, or issuing a warning.

The systematic organization of who speaks when in conversation, studied extensively by conversation analysts Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson.