Essays on Pragmatics

Learning a second language can be a challenging experience for a person of any age. The general population typically believes that second language acquisition or SLA is easier for children than adults. Some regard this as a myth while others insist it is true. Studies show that the way people learn languages at different ages can vary and that can affect the ease or difficulty in ability to learn. People learn a second language for many different reasons: a) individuals may be raised with two languages spoken in their home, b) students at school are often required to learn ...

The students have to take an assessment for writing prompts in order to determine their level in their writing skills. Particularly in linguistic abilities, their communicative competence in four areas should be measured. These include speaking, reading, writing and listening. In this case, the writing communicative aspect was assessed. Using the intermediate level as the participants and using the graded and appropriate rubrics, I came to encounter some of their writing strengths and weaknesses. I have to discuss first on their strengths. Most of them have grammatical flaws most especially on the subject and verb agreement. They find it ...

Abstract

The paper presents a study of the functions of greetings in context to different social beliefs and behavior of the people. The paper is based on research that will be conducted by reviewing literature and writings of various philosophers and researchers. The study starts with the theory of Austin’s Speech Act and explains the origin and practical application of the theory in real life. Austin’s Speech Act theory says that actually what we say is what we do. The paper presents all pragmatic functions of greetings and the uses of greetings in social interaction. The paper presents ...

A Comparative Study of Pragmatic Properties of the English and Chinese Language

Introduction Just like humans and knowledge, language is able to evolve. The question to consider is that are these changes good or bad? The establishment of a language take years to perfect and right now, no language in this world is flawless. Two best examples are two of the most spoken language in the world Chinese and English. Fact Monster (2014) uploaded a list of the most spoken language in the world, Chinese took the top spot with over 1,197,000,000 speakers around the world. English only came in third with 335,000,000 after Spanish. One ...

Introduction

This paper seeks to present a detailed outline on the topic Intercultural Communication in Contexts. The main objectives of the paper include the following: discuss the components of language; explain the different position concerning language and perception; describe the function of metaphor in gaining awareness about intercultural communication; recognize cultural variations in the different style of communication; understand the different challenges related to multilingualism; explain the distinction between interpretation and translation; and understand the occurrence of interlanguage and code switching.

Point 1: Social science perspective is focused on the use of language including the components, perception and ...

Causal Factors of Emotional/Behavioral Disorders

The federal definition of EBD (Emotional/Behavioral Disorders) is that it is a situation where a child exhibits certain traits over a lengthy period and to a marked degree resulting into serious effects on a child’s educational performance (Bentham, 2002). The traits exhibited are: failure to learn, which is unexplainable; failure to have social peer relationships; general depression or unhappiness; propensity of developing physical signs of fears; and incorrect behaviors (Bentham, 2002). In defining EBD, the patient is categorized as either being disturbed or having disturbing behavior all of which is because of social neurosis. However, dimensions common to most definitions of EBD are: ...

SubjectDate

Introduction 3 Semiotics 3 Exegesis 4 Structural Semiotics 5 Differences and similarities between semiotic and exegetical preaching 7 Importance of Semiotics in the Bible 9 Importance of exegesis in Bible 10 Proper use of semiotic in effective preaching 11 Conclusion 13 The art of preaching using semiotics Introduction In the religious context, preaching is the duty of every person who has belief in God and scriptures. Some people accept this duty and leave their homes to preach in the way of God; those people are called preachers. It ...

The topic of my experimental study is “Pragmatics of the English fiction and the pragmatics problems of its translation”. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to better identify and comprehensively study the pragmatics of the artistic text and pragmatic problems of its translation. Pragmatic approach to the study of language phenomena contributes to the disclosure of the communicative purpose of a linguistic unit, its use as an instrument of the addressee action, influence and interaction, its correlation with the behavior and activities of the sender. The language of fiction is a special system of signs, common ...

Developmental psychology primarily focuses on childhood development since it is the period within which a lot of changes take place. This field focuses on the interplay of nature and nurture and their influence on individual development; with nature concerning matters of genetic inheritance and maturation whereas nurture focuses on the impact of our environment and experience. As mentioned earlier developmental psychology focuses on a number of areas including language development. Language refers to the expression of human communication through which knowledge, belief and behavior can be expressed using a system of symbols and rules. Language development begins quite early in life ...

Importance of Teaching Pragmatics in a Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract Pragmatics requires a well-defined environment for the learner to grasp the basic concepts of communicative aspects of the target language. The complexity and sophistication most foreign languages are characterized with, a foreign language student would take as long as 10 years to attach quality communicative meaning like the natives; this can be reduced by enhancing the quality of pragmatics for second language learners. Like every learning situation, the environment has a big role to play in the learning process. As a matter of fact, language is tied to culture and socialism and shaped by psychology; therefore, the most appropriate place to ...

Character identity

The movie ‘despicable me’ utilizes Gru as the main character to drive its story line. Gru’s self-concept changes from the super villain outlook on himself to an increasingly soft and children liking super dad. The transformation in his self concept helps build the story of the movie, however, his identity remains the same which helps the audience identify with him and recognize him as Gru, whether in villainy or in good causes. The physical identity of Gru is defined by many aspects. The size of the character is representative of him. Big and imposing, the size complements all ...

Service encounters have indeed received significant attention from various researchers of pragmatics and discourse analysts who have investigated numerous aspects of talk-in-interactions. Service interactions can best be understood as the social interactions that often exist between the customers and service providers. Many scholars have established that service encounter interactions usually ensue from a regular pattern that is systematic and has five stages (Duranti 2009 p 54).The organization of the pattern typically begins with the opening stage, in which communication is paramount. The second is the stage in which the customer requests for the service. The third is the interrogative series ...

It is characteristic of children to violate pragmatic rules, not because they are ill mannered, but rather because they do not understand the tenets of proper pragmatics. According to Cook and Cook pragmatics is the use of language to express feelings and thoughts, accomplish things and communicate effectively with others (262). While this is the case, I violated quite a number of pragmatic rules as a child. Foremost, I was fond of dominating conversations, especially when it was my siblings involved. I could talk endlessly, not giving room for contribution from my siblings, who, as it would be, were introverts. In ...

Code of the Course:

During early childhood, children often master language with respect to the cultural factors associated with it in their respective cultures. This may only be inhibited by physical disabilities or unsuitable environments which deprive them off the chance of learning the language which may lead to a communication disorder. This paper will discuss the steps that children go through in the process of developing language. The steps are pronunciation, syntax, vocabulary and meaning, pragmatics, metalinguistic awareness and partnerships with famines. The first stage in the language development process is the pronunciation stage. At this stage, children try to learn how ...

Introduction

Theory of mind refers to the ability presumption that people or other beings have a mind.This stems from the fact that one can only intuit existence of his/her own mind via introspection and there is no direct link to another persons mind.Theory of mind will always allow a person to have thoughts,wishes,intentions and desires to others,prediction or explanation of other people actions and even elaborate on the intentions of those actions.In most cases,Theory of mind seems to be like innate ability in humans,although one needs social and other much more experience over some period of years ...

Introduction

Szostak (2003) defines world view as an individual’s frame work of ideas and beliefs through which the individuals interacts with the world, and the perception that the individuals has about the world. My world view was shaped during my early childhood days. I grew up in a poor background in Chicago, where my parents were store workers in a local supermarket. My early life was thus coupled with problems of childhood which included lack of decent meals and shelter. To add to the endless list, my parents were in constant wrangles. Later my father passed away after being shot down ...