pragmatics
/præɡˈmætɪks/
noun
- The branch of linguistics that studies how context affects the meaning of language.
- Understanding pragmatics helps explain why 'Can you pass the salt?' is usually a request, not a question about ability.
- Her research in pragmatics focuses on how people use indirect requests in conversation.
- In pragmatics, we learn that the same sentence can mean different things depending on the situation.