Review

Lesson 1: Terms and Scope

Introduction
Lesson 1
- What is Pragmatics?
- Sociocultural Norms
- Speech Acts
- Face-Threatening Acts
- Review and Reflect
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Conclusion
Portfolio
Resources

1. Which of the following represents the best description of pragmatics?

The structure of sentences and how they are related to the way people think.

How people communicate and interpret intentions, and react to them, in a context of language use.

The study of the brain and how it generates thoughts through language.

How sounds and their meanings are produced by language users.

2. What guides pragmatic behavior?

Speech acts in a conversation.

Face-threatening acts and how to avoid them.

The effect of role plays as they are carried out.

Sociocultural norms of the particular group or society.

3. What are speech acts?

Acts of politeness when people are speaking, like saying 'please'.

Acts of communication that are intended to convey a given intention.

The language that people use when they do role plays.

Any act that does not pose a threat to someone's face.

4. What is a face-threatening act?

Something said to a listener that could cause him/her to be embarrassed or ashamed.

An action that one can do "in the face" of another.

Something said that always conveys a threat to one's life and safety.

A speech act that is never heard in everyday speech.

Clear Answers

Reflect

Think about a situation you may have encountered in learning another language in which you either made a mistake that caused a misunderstanding of intentions (or in which the native speaker caused you to misunderstand his/her intentions). Was it due to a lack of grammar/vocabulary, mispronunciation, or an error in speech act? Did it cause a threat to someone's face? How was the situation resolved?

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