SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS

FINAL TEST

Name : NARI WULANDARI

St’s Number : 2223170081

Class : 4-C

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY

UNIVERSITY OF SULTAN AGENG TIRTAYASA

2019
Instructions

1. You have until Monday, June 10th 2019 to complete the assignment.
2. Your answer should be supported by some experts’ opinions and concrete
examples (i.e. novel, film, etc or your own experiences if possible)
3. NO LATE ASSIGMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED for any reason except
special circumstances (e.g. personal health issue with documented medical
emergency).
4. DO NOT CHEAT OR COMMIT PLAGIARISM, otherwise you will receive
the degree of incomplete and possible failure of the subject.

Questions

1. What is Pragmatics (also explain about scope and benefits of studying this subject
in term of language teaching and learning)?
Pragmatics is often described as the study of language use (Sperber and Wilson, 2005:
468). It is one of the branches of Semiotics, a science of signs (Nőth, 1995: 3).

In my understanding, Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics that learns about how

individual can use the language and recognize what is meant when its not actually said
or written.

The scope of Pragmatics

- Implicature, the implied statement in a conversation. For example:

Dinda: Are coming to the party tonight?

Dandi: I’ve got an exam tomorrow.

Dandi’s statement is not answering Dinda’s question because there’s yes or no, but
Dinda immediately know that Dandi’s statement means “no” or “probably not”.
Dandi’s answer is not simply a statement about tomorrow’s activities, it contains an
implicature concerning tonight’s activities.

- Presuppotion
 When we use a referring expression like, this, she or Shakespeare, we usually
assume that our listeners can recognize which referent is intended. Some of
these assumptions may be mistaken but mostly they are appropriate. For
example: if someone tells us, “Your sister is waiting outside,” there is an
obvious presupposition that we have a sister.

- Speech acts

In speech act theory, language is seen as a form of acting (Renkema, 1993).

Speech is described as a form of action and words as instruments with which
actions can be performed. For example: “I promise I will come to your
restaurant tomorrow” for instance, an act is being formed in the form of an
utterance. Something is not only being said, more importantly, something is
being done. By saying “I promise”, a promise is made.

- Reference

The types of words and phrases that display reference include demonstratives
and indexical words and phrases (For example: this table, that cat, I, this), proper
names (Justin Bieber, Canada), and singular definite terms (the woman sitting,
by the table, the author of “Harry Potter”) (Horn and Ward, 2007: 75-76).

- Deixis

Deixis is the study of deictic or indexical expressions in language, like you, now,
today. The word today, for example, has a constant meaning, but systematically
varying reference. It can be regarded as a special kind of grammatical property
instantiated the familiar categories of person, tense, place, etc.

- Definiteness and Indefiniteness (Anaphora)

The prototypes of definiteness an indefiniteness in English are the definite

article the and the indefinite article a/an, and singular noun phrases determined
by them (Horn and Ward, 2007: 122). We usually make a distinction between
introducing new referents (a man) and referring back to them (the man). In this
type o referential relationship, the second (or subsequent) referring expression is
an example of ‘anaphora’ (‘referring back’), while the first mention is called
‘antecedent’ (Yule, 1996: 22-23).

The benefit of Pragmatics

- Using language effectively in a contextually appropriate way.
- Teachers can develop activities through which students use in contexts based on
their understanding of the situation by the activity.
- Cultural awareness.
 2. What do you understand about speech act? Explain as clearly as possible and give
some examples.
Describe
Speech act theory was advanced by J. L. Austin and has been developed by J. R. Searle.
They believe that language is not only used to inform or to describe things, it is often
used to “do things”, to perform acts. It is the action that the speaker hopes to provoke in
his or her audience. Speech acts might be requests, warnings, promises, apologies,
greetings, or any number of declarations. There are 3 types of Speech acts:
- Locutionary act (the act of saying something).
- Illocutionary act (the act of doing something).
- Perlocutionary act (the act of affecting someone).

Give an example of Direct-Literal Speech Act.

There is a heavy rain outside and your mother says “Close the window”.
- It is literal because the mother means exactly what these word say.
- It is direct because an imperative structure is being used to perform illocutionary
act.

Give an example of Direct-Non Literal Speech Act.

Dinda made a very salty soup for Dandi.
Dandi says to Dinda “I swear this is the best soup ever”
- It is non-literal because Dandi doesn’t exactly means what his word say.
- It is direct because an representative structure is being used to perform
Illocutionary act.

Give an example of Indirect-Literal Speech Act.

At the dinner table, I wanted chilli sauce near my mother but it was far from my reach, I
said “I’d like some chili sauce”
- It is literal because i exactly means the word say.
- It is indirect because an declarative structure is being used to perform
illocutionary act.
 Give an example of Indirect-Non Literal Speech Act.
A teacher sees the hair of a male student starting to grow long, he says "behind the
school there is a barber shop"
- It is non-literal because the teacher doesn’t exactly means what his word say.
- It is indirect because the teacher is using an representatives structure to perform
illocutionary act of giving suggest.

3. Grice (1975) proposed that an utterance can imply a proposition that is not part of
the utterance nor does follow as a necessary consequence. He called such implied
statement implicature. Furthermore, implicature may also arise when someone
violates cooperative principles in conversation.
Explain comprehensively examples of this cooperative principle violation and
motivation (implicature) of the speaker in doing so.

Give an example of Quantity Maxim Violation

Dinda: “Do you have class tomorrow?
Dandi: “I have classes all day but I must go to the doctor when I’m finished.”
What is the implicature:
In the example, Dandi violates the maxim because too much information, rather
than providing a yes or no answer.

Give an example of Quality Maxim Violation

Dimas: Is Kipli in Bugis?
Bagas: Sure, and Paris is in France.
What is the implicature:
In the example. Bagas provides incorrect information to Dimas, violating the
maxim.

Give an example of Relevance Maxim Violation

Ansara: Where is my Halloween make up?
Binsar: Mine is missing too.
What is the implicature:
 In the example, Binsar doesn’t provide a relevant answer to ansara’s question,
instead something completely unrelated is said.

Give an example of Manner Maxim Violation

Prabowo: How is Jokowi today?
Sandi: He’s the usual.
What is the implicature:
In the example, Sandi violates the maxim by responding with a statement that is
ambiguous; the 2 perceptions of Jokowi could be different.

4. As a proverb says: “speak politely, then people will respect you”. What would
you say if you were in the following situations?
4.1 You are a doctor. One of your regular patients, who is a bricklayer, asks you to
give a particular type of pain-killer which you are not allowed to prescribe
without special authorization. You do not think his condition justifies the use of
this drug. You say to the patient:

Im sorry, sir, the side effects of this drug if used without a prescription will be
dangerous for your health. Administering doses to patients also should not be
excessive. I can give other alternative medicines that you can use safely. Sure you
can recover quickly. Insya allah.
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4.2 You are a policeman. A young man you have stopped for dangerous driving asks
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you to let him off because he will lose his job if you don’t. You believe that the
law must always be respected. You say to the young man:

We only carry our duties as you work on your job. Law must be enforced. If
you don't want to lose your job, please obey the rules and pay attention of
your safety. In hurry doesn’t mean breaking the rules! If you break the rules
and get ticketed, it will actually hamper your trip. We hope you don’t repeat
it again and be aware of your safety in every situation.
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4.3 You are a student. Your close friend wants to borrow your Oxford Dictionary for
a month because he plans to attend a short English program. You are using the
dictionary at the moment because you are finishing your assignment about
phonetic notation and must be submitted on time. You say to your friend:

I still use the dictionary because it has to be collected on time and I have not
finished working on it. if you need it right away, maybe you can help me to
do it first, and you can borrow the dictionary for your needs. By this, we can
study together. You practice for your goal program, and my assignment is
complete.
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