Pragmatics

The course deals with pragmatic theory, with a special focus on Relevance theory. Central topics are the division between semantics and pragmatics, the relationship between truth-conditional and non-truth-conditional content, the relationship between explicit and implicit communication, and the relationship between descriptive and interpretive use of language.

The content and focus can vary somewhat according to the composition of the class.

After having taken this topic, the students should

- Have thorough knowledge of at least one pragmatic framework, for instance Relevance Theory

- Have thorough knowledge of phenomena within pragmatics and the interface between pragmatics and non-truth-functional semantics

- Have good awareness of cross-linguistic differences regarding which aspects of meaning are linguistically coded and which ones are based on pragmatic inferences.

- Be able to retrieve relevant data and test out theoretical predictions

Lectures and group instructions. More on assessment: Obligatory exercises must be approved before students are allowed to take the take-home exam. The size of the exercises must be between 4-6 typed A4-pages each (line spacing 1.5). The size of the take-home exam depends partly on the subject, but is usually between 8-15 typed A4-pages (line spacing 1.5).