Pragmatics: some cognitive perspectives

by Daniela Sorea

The book endeavours to familiarise readers with key notions in the field of pragmatics: speech acts, conversational implicatures, face-threatening acts and politeness strategies while anchoring them in the users' cognitive knowledge about the world. The ceaseless interaction between linguistic devices, intentions and purposes is shown to be deeply rooted in the cognitive schemata and cultural models which language users internalise and disseminate. The interface between language, communication and culture is revealed in minute analyses of a wide array of texts, from sitcom dialogues to excerpts from women's mags.

283 pages

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Daniela Sorea is Lecturer in the Department of English (Faculty of Foreign Languages) - University of Bucharest. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Lancaster, UK. Her previous publications include ‘Translation Theory and Practice’ and ‘Language and Social Schemata: Gender Representations in British Magazines’.

Reviews

[K.S.R.]

This sounds like just the sort of book I would pour over. I have always been fascinated by the interplay of language, facial expression and body language. It looks like Daniela touches on all of those things in Pragmatics.