Course Info: CS-0264
| Course | CS-0264 Pragmatics |
| Long Title | Pragmatics |
| Term | 2017F |
| Note(s) |
Textbook information |
| Meeting Info | R.W. Kern Center 202 on M,W from 10:30-11:50 |
| Faculty | Daniel Altshuler |
| Capacity | 25 |
| Available | 1 |
| Waitlist | 0 |
| Distribution(s) | |
| Cumulative Skill(s) | Quantitative Skills Writing and Research Independent Work |
| Additional Info | In this course, students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time. This time includes reading, writing, research. |
| Description | Language allows us to express a lot of information in an efficient way. For example, by simply saying,"There is a gas station around the corner," to someone whose car needs gas, I not only convey the belief that there is a gas station around the corner but that the gas station is open. Moreover, when I say, "Juliette is the sun," one ascribes to me the belief that Juliette is very beautiful (and not that Juliette is the star at the center of the solar system). When I say, "I took the train from Paris to Istanbul. I have family there," I convey the information that having family in Istanbul is what caused me to take the train from Paris. The goal of this class was to explore how people make such inferences from what is said. To do so, we studied pragmatic theories of conversational implicature and discourse coherence and applied them to literature, sequential art and film. |