Meaning in Language: Semantics and Pragmatics

Semantics and Pragmatics

In this course, Dr Hazel Price (University of Salford) explores the fields of semantics and pragmatics. In the first module, we provide an introduction to both fields, before turning in the second and third modules to explore each field in more depth, including the concepts of sense relations, vagueness and ambiguity, the cooperative principle and Grice's maxims of conversation, and speech act theory. In the fourth module, we explore three types of inference in language – entailment, presupposition and conversational implicature – before applying some of the concepts we have learnt to a real text: Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003). In the final module, we explore some of Dr Price's own research: the evolution of the phrase 'mental health'.

Meaning in Language: Semantics and Pragmatics

In this module, we provide an introduction to the fields of semantics and pragmatics, focusing in particular on: (i) the different 'levels' of language and the associated fields of study – sound (phonetics, phonology), structure (syntax, morphology) and meaning (semantics, pragmatics); (ii) the definition of semantics and pragmatics; (iii) an example of how context can impact the meaning of a statement ("The window's open!"); and (iv) the concepts of implicature and speech acts.