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Pedagogical grammar: on the interface of syntax and pragmatics
Author(s) -
BOUTON LAWRENCE F.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1987.tb00202.x
Subject(s) - pragmatics , linguistics , syntax , grammar , computer science , context (archaeology) , interface (matter) , psychology , philosophy , history , archaeology , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method , parallel computing
The central theme of this paper is that pedagogical grammar must be a marriage of syntax and pragmatics. We illustrate this fact by showing how this marriage is necessary to an effective explanation of two different characteristics of yes/no questions: (1) the relationship between the function that the question serves and the short‐answer forms that are appropriate responses to it, and (2) the interaction of assertive and nonassertive forms with the context in which a question occurs to generate what we perceive as the speaker's purpose in uttering the question and the nature of the answer that he or she expects. Without input from pragmatics these explanations cannot be developed at all. For reasons such as these, it is essential that we develop as thorough an integration of syntax and pragmatics as we can as the source of the pedagogical grammar we use in our classrooms.