Editing Pragmatics (section)

==Nonreferential uses of language==
===Silverstein's "Pure" Indexes===
[[Michael Silverstein]] has argued that "nonreferential" or "pure" indices do not contribute to an utterance's referential meaning but instead "signal some particular value of one or more contextual variables."{{sfn|Silverstein|1976}} Although nonreferential indexes are devoid of semantico-referential meaning, they do encode "pragmatic" meaning.

The sorts of contexts that such indexes can mark are varied. Examples include:
* '''Sex indexes''' are affixes or inflections that index the sex of the speaker, e.g. the verb forms of female [[Koasati language|Koasati]] speakers take the suffix "-s".
* '''Deference indexes''' are words that signal social differences (usually related to status or age) between the speaker and the addressee. The most common example of a deference index is the V form in a language with a [[T–V distinction]], the widespread phenomenon in which there are multiple second-person pronouns that correspond to the addressee's relative status or familiarity to the speaker. [[Honorific]]s are another common form of deference index and demonstrate the speaker's respect or esteem for the addressee via special forms of address and/or self-humbling first-person pronouns.
* An '''Affinal taboo index''' is an example of [[avoidance speech]] that produces and reinforces sociological distance, as seen in the Aboriginal [[Dyirbal language]] of Australia. In that language and some others, there is a social taboo against the use of the everyday lexicon in the presence of certain relatives (mother-in-law, child-in-law, paternal aunt's child, and maternal uncle's child). If any of those relatives are present, a Dyirbal speaker has to switch to a completely separate lexicon reserved for that purpose.

In all of these cases, the semantico-referential meaning of the utterances is unchanged from that of the other possible (but often impermissible) forms, but the pragmatic meaning is vastly different.

===The performative===
{{main article|Performative utterance|Speech act theory}}

[[J. L. Austin]] introduced the concept of the [[Performative utterance|performative]], contrasted in his writing with "constative" (i.e. descriptive) utterances. According to Austin's original formulation, a performative is a type of utterance characterized by two distinctive features:
* It is not [[Truth value|truth-evaluable]] (i.e. it is neither true nor false)
* Its uttering ''performs'' an action rather than simply describing one

Examples:
* "I hereby pronounce you man and wife."
* "I accept your apology."
* "This meeting is now adjourned."

To be performative, an utterance must conform to various conditions involving what Austin calls [[felicity conditions|felicity]]. These deal with things like appropriate context and the speaker's authority. For instance, when a couple has been arguing and the husband says to his wife that he accepts her apology even though she has offered nothing approaching an apology, his assertion is infelicitous: because she has made neither expression of regret nor request for forgiveness, there exists none to accept, and thus no act of accepting can possibly happen.

===Jakobson's six functions of language===
{{main article|Jakobson's functions of language}}
[[File:Roma jakobson theory.png|right|thumb|The six factors of an effective verbal communication. To each one corresponds a communication function (not displayed in this picture).<ref name="Middleton">Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). ''Studying Popular Music'', p. 241. Philadelphia: Open University Press. {{ISBN|0-335-15275-9}}.</ref>]]
[[Roman Jakobson]], expanding on the work of [[Karl Bühler]], described six "constitutive factors" of a [[speech act|speech event]], each of which represents the privileging of a corresponding function, and only one of which is the referential (which corresponds to the '''context''' of the speech event). The six constitutive factors and their corresponding functions are diagrammed below.

'''The six constitutive factors of a speech event'''

:::Context
:::Message
Addresser --------------------- Addressee
:::Contact
:::Code
<br />
'''The six functions of language'''

:::Referential
:::Poetic
Emotive ----------------------- Conative
:::Phatic
:::Metalingual
* The Referential Function corresponds to the factor of Context and describes a situation, object or mental state. The descriptive statements of the referential function can consist of both definite descriptions and [[deixis|deictic]] words, e.g. "The autumn leaves have all fallen now."
* The Expressive (alternatively called "emotive" or "affective") Function relates to the Addresser and is best exemplified by [[interjections]] and other sound changes that do not alter the [[denotation|denotative meaning]] of an utterance but do add information about the Addresser's (speaker's) internal state, e.g. "Wow, what a view!"
* The Conative Function engages the Addressee directly and is best illustrated by [[vocative]]s and [[imperative mood|imperatives]], e.g. "Tom! Come inside and eat!"
* The Poetic Function focuses on "the message for its own sake"{{sfn|Duranti|1997}} and is the operative function in poetry as well as slogans.
* The [[Phatic]] Function is language for the sake of interaction and is therefore associated with the Contact factor. The Phatic Function can be observed in greetings and casual discussions of the weather, particularly with strangers.
* The Metalingual (alternatively called "metalinguistic" or "reflexive") Function is the use of language (what Jakobson calls "Code") to discuss or describe itself.