The pragmatics of language between semantics and context

Abstract

In this article we present the concept of pragmatics, epistimologically and historically, through a number of European and American theoretical writings, including the writings of Malinowski and Morris. We first tried, in vain, to know the first user of this term in the Arabic language during the twentieth century. We also concluded that this concept comes from the operations of the analytical and semiotic reading of statements; the latter being the minimal units of the text or discourse. Furthermore, we can only promote the work of Malinowski, the British anthropologist founder of the pragmatic function, which prevailed in private societies (unlike the referential function which was targeted by linguists). Malinowski also raised two central questions in pragmatic analysis: one concerns the performativity of certain verbs in the language used, the other concerns referentiality which still raises debates. It should be noted that the most important element that can be identified from pragmatic theory applied to discourse analysis consists of the notion of illocutionary.