Pragmatics
In studying about language we will meet with two branches of language
science, semantics and pragmatics. Both of that sciences concern at language but in
different side. Semantics refers to the construction of meaning language, while
pragmatics refers to meaning construction in specific interactional context. In other
word, semantics is study of word meaning and sentence meaning without any
relation to context whereas pragmatics also means as the study of utterance
meaning, sentences which are used in communication, between speaker and a hearer
(Wagiman, 2008:63). Context is the thing that makes semantics and pragmatics
different at their basic.
There are some definitions about pragmatics from some researchers.
Pragmatics refers to the study of relations between language and context that are
grammatical, or encoded in the structure of a language (Levinson, 1983:9). It means,
pragmatics is study of the relationship between language and context that are
relevant to the writing of grammars. Based on Mey (2001:6) pragmatics is study the
use of language in human communication as determined by the condition of society.
According to Yule (1996:3) pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning. In other
explanation Yule (1996:4) say that pragmatics is the study of relationship between
linguistic forms and the users of the forms. Lee in his book Principles of Pragmatics
says that pragmatics for the purposes of linguistics, as the study of meaning in
relation to speech situations.
From the definition above, the researcher can conclude that pragmatics is the
study of utterance meaning. It concentrates on aspects of meaning that cannot be
predicted by linguistic form knowledge alone and takes into account the knowledge
about the physical and social world. It is focus on the meaning of speaker‟s
utterance rather than on the meaning of words or sentence.