Pragmatics

Oxford Introductions to Language Study

by George Yule

This is an introduction to pragmatics, the study of how people make sense of each other linguistically. The author explains, and illustrates, basic concepts such as the co-operative principle, deixis, and speech acts, providing a clear, concise foundation for further study.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language, School, Philosophy, Read For School, Academics

138 pages, Paperback

About the author

George Yule has worked as an English teacher in Britain, Canada, Jamaica, and Saudi Arabia. He has also taught Applied Linguistics in the Universities of Edinburgh, Hawaii, Louisiana State and Minnesota.

Reviews

[Alma Wahdie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Professor said that this is pragmatics for dummy.
I'm thankful because I am the newbie in this area.
This book is very easy to be understood and after read this book my interest in language is getting bigger and bigger.
I love it

[Guille Osorio · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good introduction to the pragmatics field, but there are some terms which could have been explained better. Specially, when some of them are so similar.

[pəˈteɪtəʊ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only in pragmatics the word negative can't be really negative :')

[Ghada · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is what I can call "pragmatics in a nutshell". An excellent, easy preliminary guide to all the concepts of pragmatics. Not enough though if you want to learn a lot more, but sufficient for novice pragmatists/linguistics students.

[Bookshire Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read chapters 1-7 for my sociolinguistics class. Very good reading, enjoyable style.

[Chadi Raheb · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When two people attempt to have a conversation and discover that there is no ‘flow’, or smooth rhythm to their transitions, much more is being communicated than is said."

[Martina :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Último manual que me leo en Italia!!!! Muy interesante en verdad, nada mas q decir

[Deya M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a great journy with pragmatics this year!
I loved it. (:

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

great overview of basic terms with well-chosen examples - delightfully accessible.

[جوهر علي · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pragmatics by George Yule

The book as the name implies talks about pragmatics, the linguistic field that is concerned with how does people communicate using language or even without using it.

A good lecturer knows what to give to his students, and in our fourth
year as Specialized students of English we had the chance of being taught Pragmatics with Mr.Sirag Shennieb who knows very well what to teach and how to teach it. During the lectures we discussed our actual life situations that reflects pragmatic behavior, after that I read this book as a curious reader not as a student and I found it very delicious!

Yule illustrates the basic pragmatic notions in a clear language that would be easily understood by any intermediate speaker of English, he talks about the cooperative principle, deixis, and speech acts providing examples that makes every concept clear and funny.

This kind of books makes you love your field of study and think seriously about having further studies about linguistic disciplines.

[The_Halfblood_Muslim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly an easy read. Learning about implicit language for one of my classes right now. And this is one of the books. I’ve never read a WHOLE book for school but I was assigned to read the whole thing.Yule made the book an easy read by adding quite a lot of examples which made all the descriptions understandable. It’s not all made of jargon. It’s pretty simple if you know anything about linguistics.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m glad I started on the subject here. While I’ve finished my masters focusing on TESL, I didn’t have any specific classes on pragmatics. I’m no expert, but I do have a bit of experience in the field of linguistics in general. This was right at my level. It’s nice and short and contains enough outside sources for me to continue my curiosity.

[Sadia Mansoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book which helped me a lot to understand the basic concepts of Linguistics in my uni days... Its a very simplified & quick version to grasp the knowledge of necessary definitions for understanding English Language.

[Loki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent introduction.

[Haroon Ur · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is about pragmatics and i want to read the book

[Romy]

Absolute torture.

Interesting, but boy does this make me hate my degree.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as clear and comprehensive as Study of Language, but Yule is still light-years ahead of the rest of academia.

[Paula Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was relatively easy to read, because the examples given for each situation were eas to understand. At times I had to reread sentences several times though, because the language used was a little overwhelming for me.

Overall I think this is a helpful overview if you're just starting to learn about pragmatics. Also, I'm not a native speaker so some of the trouble I had reading this may originate in that circumstance.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has not focused on the cognitive aspect of pragmatics since it is clear in the examples provided that most pragmatic strategies are performed unconsciously. Also, the examples are mainly from English throughout, so the book lacks cross-linguistic examples. Despite minor shortcomings, Pragmatics provides a thorough introduction to the field and as such I highly recommend it to all readers, both novice and advanced. Like all the volumes in Oxford Introductions to Language Study series, it also contains three parts: a collection of key readings, a list of references, and a brief glossary. In this volume, Yule provides copious examples in addition to a great number of concepts that should be known for anyone reading about pragmatics.

[Jonathan Weinand · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to the field of pragmatics. While relying on some base knowledge of common linguistic terms, this book is readily understandable even for someone just discovering the joy of linguistics!
One of the best and most surprising parts of this book is the author's wit. Examples of abstract concepts in pragmatics will be given in a tone that clearly yet humorously illustrates the point.
I would have enjoyed if the book were much longer, but of course it is most definitely an introductory text. All in all a splendid work.

[Paul Auster · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy to read, but it touches only the very surface of each topic. It didn't help me a lot to understand the basic concepts since the introductions were simply too superificial and short. There are better (though longer) introductions out there. However, it gives you a very condensed overview, so it might be useful for some purposes, but generally speaking I wouldn't recommend it.

[Maryam]

کتاب بسیار مفیدیه. نویسنده، مقدمات کاربردشناسی رو خیلی مختصر و مفید توضیح داده. اگر دنبال مباحث تخصصی تر این حوزه هستید باید سایر کتاب‌هایی رو که در این زمینه‌ نوشته شده بخونید اما برای آشنایی با مقدمات این علم، کاربردشناسی یول یکی از بهترین هاست.

[~Lyn~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wanna know understand well what people implicitly mean when they are having a conversation? this book provides good explanation and examples on how to reveal the intended meaning..

[Nazar udin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kuliah semantik yang bener yahhh... Hakakkakkk

[Marcus Lira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice introduction. It didn't delve too deeply into the theory, which is exactly what you expect from an introductory text. The references/notes in the end are also really great.

[Hamdah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have book for linguistics major students! It helped me so much

[Lucila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read and follow. Clear examples. Information to the point.

[Petra Hoskovcová · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a linguistic, academic book it was surprisingly lucid and easy to read. It was not overly scientific or technical.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid and clear introduction to Pragmatics, including a really good and useful glossary.

[Tafan Kareem · Rating 3 out of 5]

my favorite section was about inference and reference :)