Pragmatics and Grammar

Download or read book Pragmatics and Grammar written by Mira Ariel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-10 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When using language, many aspects of our messages are left implicit in what we say. While grammar is responsible for what we express explicitly, pragmatics explains how we infer additional meanings. The problem is that it is not always a trivial matter to decide which of the meanings conveyed is explicit (grammatical) and which implicit (pragmatic). Pragmatics and Grammar lays out a methodology for students and scholars to distinguish between the two. It explains how and why grammar and pragmatics combine together in natural discourse, and how pragmatic uses become grammatical in time.