Page 56 - Communication and the Evolution of Society

33 What Is Universal Pragmatics?

same language or translating them into context-comparable utter-
ances in a foreign language.
e. Universal-Pragmatic Aspects. The three general pragmatic func-
tions—with the help of a sentence, to represent something in the world,
to express the speaker’s intentions, and to establish legitimate inter-
personal relations—are the basis of all the particular functions that an
utterance can assume in specific contexts. The fulfillment of those gen-
eral functions is measured against the validity conditions for truth, truth-
fulness, and rightness. Thus every speech action can be considered
from the corresponding analytic viewpoints. Formal semantics exam-
ines the structure of elementary propositions and the acts of reference
and predication. A still scarcely developed theory of intentionality ex-
amines intentional expressions insofar as they function in first-person
sentences. Finally, the theory of speech acts examines illocutionary
force from the viewpoint of the establishment of legitimate interper-
sonal relations. These semiotic distinctions are summarized in the
following table.
Theoretical Level Object Domain

Linguistics Sentences
Grammar Sentences of an individual
language
Grammatical theory Rules for generating sentences in
any language whatever
Aspects of linguistic analysis
Phonetic theory Inscriptions (language sounds)
Syntactic theory Syntactical rules
Semantic theory Lexical units
Pragmatics Speech actions
Empirical pragmatics Context-bound speech actions

Universal pragmatics Rules for using sentences in
utterances
Aspects of universal-pragmatic
analysis
Theory of elementary Acts of reference and predication
propositions
Theory of first-person Linguistic expression of intentions
sentences
Theory of illocutionary acts Establishment of interpersonal
relations