Pragmatic Idioms

von: N. Hofmeier

Contents

· 1. Introduction

1.1. Fixed Expressions
1.2. Idioms and Idiomacity
1.3. Pragmatics

· 2. Pragmatic Idioms

2.1. Social Formulae
2.2. Discourse-Structuring Formulae
2.3. Expressive Formulae

· 3. Conclusion

· 4. References

1. Introduction

Pragmatic Idioms play an important role in the English language and even more in everyday conversation and comprehension. We necessarily use expressions like How do you do?, Thank you, I am sorry and so on. They are fixed parts in human interaction and “closely bound to a special function or communication situation”1. They are a fixed part in our everyday conversation. This figure2 shows the importance of pragmatics and consequently pragmatic idioms in linguistics:

Phonetics, the study of human speech sounds in the centre. Followed by phonology, the sound patterning, that is surrounded by syntax, the arrangeme nt and the form of words, which also links together the sound patterns and the meaning. Next is semantics (meaning), that together with phonology, syntax and semantics is the “bread and butter”3 of linguistics (grammar). Around the centre of grammatical hub comes pragmatics, which is a relatively new and fast expanding topic that has connections both with semantics, and with the various branches of linguistics. Pragmatic idioms have a great variety of definitions and terms that continuously change. Some of these expressions are: pragmatic idioms 4, conversational routines5, situational fixed expression-idioms6, interactional idioms7, Routineformeln8 or speech act idioms9.

In this paper I am going to use the expression pragmatic idioms (as well as in our presentation in the seminar) to present and illustrate this branch of linguistics. Because of this confusing and enormously wide field of definitions and information, I am going to start with a first overview, some basic definitions concerning fixed expressions, idioms and idiomacity in general before having a closer look at pragmatic idioms in detail.

1.1. Fixed Expressions

[...]

1 Aijmer 1996: 1
2 Aitchinson 1999: 7
3 Aitchinson 1999: 8
4 Roos 2001: 70
5 Coulmas 1981; Aijmer 1996
6 Moon 1998: 225
7 Roos 1989: 221
8 Gläser 1986: 129
9 Saddock 1974: 158