Importance Of Semantics And Pragmatics

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Chapter One
Introduction

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Purpose of the Study
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Importance of the Study
1.5 Limitations
1.6 Organization

Introduction
Language is a means of human communication whether verbally or nonverbally. In everyday life we use language to express our thoughts, feelings ,attitudes,etc.A great amount of social interactions takes place every day over the telephone ,by online chats, face –to face interaction or at workplaces .We use language of different forms for different functions as in to inform, question , and sometimes to strengthen social relationships or just to keep the social wheels turning smoothly. Moreover, understanding one's own language and even other cultures’ language is important to arrive at a successful and effective communication with others . The study of language can be undertaken in various ways .Semantics and pragmatics are two branches of linguistics which are concerned with the study of meaning.

Semantics and Pragmatics
Meaning can be studied in two ways: semantically and pragmatically. Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences of what the speaker says. The focus is on what the words and sentences conventionally mean. For example, semantic studies are concerned with topics such as metonymy, prototypes and synonyms. However, pragmatics deals with what the writer or speaker of certain words or sentences intends to convey. Leech (1983) defines pragmatics as the study of meanings according to speech situations. Yule (1996) states that pragmatics is the study of what a speaker means of uttering a sentence .In uttering...

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...ions and politeness strategies used by Jordanian speakers in daily communication and the social factors that affect on such choice of speech act.

Research Questions
This study attempts to address the following questions:
1- Are there variation in offering expressions used by Jordanian speakers in different situations?
2-What types of strategies are used for performing offers by Jordanian speakers?
3- What are the most frequently used strategies of offering utilized by Jordanian Speakers?
4-To what extent do social factors such as age and gender affect the type of strategy used?

Limitations
This study is limited to study only one kind of speech acts, namely, the speech act of offering. The researcher will examine the different types and strategies used by the Jordanian Arabic spoken language only. Other Arabic dialects and languages are not investigated.

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