Pragmatics and anthropology
-
Gunter Senft
Abstract
Bronislaw Malinowski – based on his experience during his field research on the Trobriand Islands – pointed out that language is first and foremost a tool for creating social bonds. It is a mode of behavior and the meaning of an utterance is constituted by its pragmatic function. Malinowski’s ideas finally led to the formation of the subdiscipline “anthropological linguistics”. This paper presents three observations of the Trobrianders’ attitude to their language Kilivila and their language use in social interactions. They illustrate that whoever wants to successfully research the role of language, culture and cognition in social interaction must be on ‘common ground’ with the researched community.
Abstract
Bronislaw Malinowski – based on his experience during his field research on the Trobriand Islands – pointed out that language is first and foremost a tool for creating social bonds. It is a mode of behavior and the meaning of an utterance is constituted by its pragmatic function. Malinowski’s ideas finally led to the formation of the subdiscipline “anthropological linguistics”. This paper presents three observations of the Trobrianders’ attitude to their language Kilivila and their language use in social interactions. They illustrate that whoever wants to successfully research the role of language, culture and cognition in social interaction must be on ‘common ground’ with the researched community.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Sociolinguistics vs pragmatics 11
- Discourse pragmatics 33
- The interface between pragmatics and conversation analysis 59
- Pragmatics vs rhetoric 85
- Narrative studies versus pragmatics (of narrative) 121
- Translation studies and pragmatics 143
- The interface between pragmatics and gesture studies 163
- Pragmatics and anthropology 185
- Integrative pragmatics and (im)politeness theory 213
- Corpus linguistics and pragmatics 241
- The interface between pragmatics and internet-mediated communication 267
- Pragmatics, humor studies, and the study of interaction 291
- Index 311
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Sociolinguistics vs pragmatics 11
- Discourse pragmatics 33
- The interface between pragmatics and conversation analysis 59
- Pragmatics vs rhetoric 85
- Narrative studies versus pragmatics (of narrative) 121
- Translation studies and pragmatics 143
- The interface between pragmatics and gesture studies 163
- Pragmatics and anthropology 185
- Integrative pragmatics and (im)politeness theory 213
- Corpus linguistics and pragmatics 241
- The interface between pragmatics and internet-mediated communication 267
- Pragmatics, humor studies, and the study of interaction 291
- Index 311
