University of Pardubice
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for academic year 2025/2026
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Course: Pragmatics

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Course title Pragmatics
Course code KAA/EPRAG
Organizational form of instruction Seminar
Level of course Master
Year of study not specified
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction English
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Szczyrbak Magdalena Adriana, Dr. hab.
Course content
1) What is pragmatics? Basic concepts in pragmatics 2) Delimitation of pragmatics 3) Deixis and reference 4) Speech act theory 5) Reference and inference 6) Cooperation and implicature 7) Relevance theory 8) Politeness and interaction 9) Conversation analysis 10) Pragmatic markers and interaction 11) Cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics 12) Corpus-based pragmatics

Learning activities and teaching methods
Monologic (reading, lecture, briefing), Dialogic (discussion, interview, brainstorming), Work with text (with textbook, with book), Methods of individual activities
  • Contact teaching - 26 hours per semester
  • Writing a seminar paper - 20 hours per semester
  • Independent critical reading - 30 hours per semester
  • Home preparation for classes - 13 hours per semester
  • Preparation for an exam - 26 hours per semester
Learning outcomes
The aim of the course is to introduce basic pragmatic principles and approaches to pragmatic analysis; to focus on the position of pragmatics as a linguistic discipline with regard to semantics and grammar; and to study differences between general grammatical rules and their application in a particular communicative situation. The course focuses i.a. on differences between semantic and pragmatic meaning, deixis, speech acts, relevance theory, implicit meaning, conversational maxims, politeness theories, pragmatic markers and conversation analysis. During the course students will also have an opportunity to analyse selected discourse-pragmatic phenomena in real-life examples of language use.
Students will be able to differentiate between semantic and pragmatic meaning. They will be able to understand and explain basic pragmatic concepts and apply them when analysing authentic written texts and spoken utterances as well as in their own production.
Prerequisites
unspecified

Assessment methods and criteria
Oral examination, Home assignment evaluation

- class attendance and active class participation (online, MS Teams) - completion of home assignments Final course grade based on: - term paper - oral exam
Recommended literature
  • ALLEN, K., JASZCZOLT, K. (eds). The Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  • ARCHER, D., AIJMER, K. and WICHMAN, A. Pragmatics: an advanced resource book for students. Routledge, 2012.
  • BLAKEMORE, D. Understanding Utterances : an introduction to pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.
  • BUBLITZ, W., NORRICK, N.R. (eds). Foundations of Pragmatics. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2011.
  • CRUSE, A. Meaning in Language : An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • CULPEPER, J. and HAUGH, M. Pragmatics and the English Language. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
  • CUMMINGS, L. The Routledge Pragmatics Encyclopedia. Oxon: Routledge, 2013.
  • CUTTING, J. Pragmatics: a resource book for students. Routledge, 2015.
  • CUTTING, J. Pragmatics and Discourse: A Resource Book for Students. London/New York: Routledge, 2002.
  • GRUNDY, P. Doing Pragmatics. London: Hodder Education, 2008.
  • HUANG, Y. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • HUANG, Y. The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
  • LEECH, G. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman, 1989.
  • LEECH, G. The Pragmatics of Politeness. Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • LEVINSON, S.C. Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press, 1983.
  • MEY, J. L. Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics. Oxford: Elsevier, 2009.
  • PUTZ, M., NEFF-VAN AERTSELAER, J. Developing Contrastive Pragmatics. Interlanguage and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2008.
  • SENFT, G. Understanding Pragmatics. London/New York: Routledge, 2014.
  • SIEMUND, P. Speech Acts and Clause Types. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
  • THOMAS, J. Meaning in Interaction : an introduction to pragmatics. Harlow: Pearson Education, 1995.
  • YULE, G. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • ZIENKOWSKI, J., ÖSTMAN, J-O., VERSCHUEREN, J. Discursive Pragmatics. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2011.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
University of Pardubice, date of update: 15.03.2026 23:50. Data created for academic year 2025/2026