Ｒｅａｄｉｎｇ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ Ｖｉｅｗ ｏｆ Ｐｒａｇｍａｔｉｃｓ

【摘要】閱讀是獲取信息的重要途徑之一，也是外語考試的主要考查項目。閱讀能力的好壞直接決定了外語學習者的外語水平，因此，如何提高閱讀能力是外語學習和教學的重點和難點之一。本文從閱讀理解的本質著手，根據意思理解的三個層次，即抽象意義、話語意義、和語勢，提出了一些應對方法。本文提出提高閱讀能力需要擴大詞匯量，掌握基礎的語法知識，宏觀地通讀全文把握上下文，了解文化通俗常識，把領會作者寫作意圖作為閱讀目標。

【關鍵詞】閱讀 語用學 抽象意義 話語意義 語勢

1．Introduction

Reading is a key way to obtain information and enlarge the knowledge of the world. As a learner， reading is a start to learn a language because he usually learns from what he has read. Also reading is a criterion for the command of a language. We always call a person illiterate if he can’t read. We often hear quite a lot of learners complain that reading is too difficult. Reading takes large percentage in many kinds of examinations. Therefore it’s meaningful for learners and teachers to make a lot of effort to study how to read.

Here I apply pragmatics to analyze the comprehension of reading. In pragmatics there are two essential concepts: meaning and context. That is to explore meaning in context. Context has a broad definition， which includes references implied in the article and common knowledge of foreign language speaking countries. Besides what the writer intends to express is very important. When we know well about reading， to find measures to improve our reading ability is accessible.

Ⅱ.the Nature of Reading

Reading can be attributed to cognition. It’s a course of processing information， but it’s more complex than it sounds. Reading begins with reading every word， however， it’s well known that vocabulary and grammar are very important in reading， but it is perfectly possible to understand the sense of every word in an article， yet still not understand what the writer means. According to J. Thomas， she divided understanding meaning into three levels: the first level is abstract meaning (in terms of understanding words or phrases and what a particular sentence could mean in theory). The second level is what the writer actually does mean (that is called contextual meaning or utterance meaning in pragmatics); the third level is to understand a writer’s intention (in pragmatics we use the term force to refer to the writer’s or speaker’s intention). It is frequently the case that we derive force from utterance meaning. In a word， the primary task for readers is to arrive at the three levels.

Ⅲ.Levels of Understanding in Pragmatics

(1).From Abstract Meaning to Contextual Meaning in Reading

Abstract meaning is concerned with what a word， phrase， sentence， etc. could mean (for example， the dictionary meanings of words or phrases). Only if we have a basis of vocabulary and grammar， we are able to obtain the literality， which we call abstract meaning in pragmatics.

But it is perfectly possible to understand the sense of every word while reading， yet many readers still can’t understand what the writer means. Context covers quite a lot of things such as reference in the article， and the common knowledge everybody shares.

There is a text in College English book， I’m going to buy the Brooklyn Bridge， in which the first paragraph may make readers confused.

Not long ago， I received an alumni bulletin from my college. It included a brief item about a former classmate: Kate L. teaches part-time at the University of Oklahoma and is assistant principal at County High School. In her spare time she is finishing her doctoral dissertation and the final drafts of two books， and she still has time for tennis and horse riding with her daughters.” Four words in that description undid me: in her spare time. A friend said that if I believed everything in the report， she had a bridge in Brooklyn she’d like to sell me.

Though we know the exact meaning of every word， it’s very confusing to understand this paragraph. The writer was aroused interest by the description of her classmate’s successful life． But it’s very difficult to follow the last sentence “She had a bridge in Brooklyn she’d like to sell me”. Out of the context， it may mean she is doing business with the writer. But our common knowledge doesn’t allow us to think so. Brooklyn Bridge is such a famous architecture that the individual is by no means able to sell it. Only if we look through the whole article， we can understand that the writer means impossible dream by buying the Brooklyn Bridge.

Many English idioms can’t make sense if we just focus on the words’ meaning. How do we understand “kick the bucket” and “in the closet”?They mean “die” and “scandal” respectively.

Consider the following example， which was taken from an advertisement for an employment agency that used to appear in the London Underground:

If you’re looking for a good job， we’re offering a thousand a week.

Our knowledge of English alone will tell us that this advertisement has at least two possible interpretations: it may be offering a thousand pounds a week， or it may be offering a thousand good jobs a week. The first interpretation to occur to most English readers would be that they are being offered a thousand pounds a week， which is an awful lot of money- too much. But for our Chinese readers who know nothing about culture and customs of English-speaking countries may feel very difficult to identify which interpretation is true. This kind of knowledge of culture and customs， to be exact， is identified by Lewis (1969) as “common knowledge” and by Schiffer (1972) as “mutual knowledge” ．

(2) Force: the Objective of Reading

Force， a concept introduced by the philosopher， J.L. Austin， is the second key component of comprehension. Whenever you read， although you have no problem in understanding the contextual meaning， yet still you might not understand the force behind the article. Is the writer expressing admiration or scorn， negative or neutral attitude? Is the writer offering suggestions or criticizing something? Questions about writer’s objective of writing always appear on many kinds of examination papers.

Ⅳ.Conclusion

For foreign language learners， how to read is very crucial. J. Thomas divided meaning into three levels: abstract meaning， contextual meaning， and force， which are applied to analyze reading comprehension. Reading is a gradually deep course of mind. We get literal meaning from words to sentences， and obtain definite meaning in the context， then dig out the writer’s intention. Based on this analysis， we are able to take suitable measures to improve our ability to read. We can enlarge our vocabulary， focusing on the context in the whole article， growing common knowledge of the foreign language speaking countries， and follow the writer’s intention. I believe those are helpful for our learners and teachers to approach reading comprehension.

References:

[1]Bates， E. ．Language and Context: the Acquisition of Pragmatics， New York: Academic Press， 1976．

[2]Blakemore， D. ．Understanding Utterances: An Introduction to Pragmatics， 1992．

[3]Dascal， M． Pragmatics and The Philosophy of Mind， Amsterdam，1983．

[4]L. Bouton and Y.Kachru Pragmatics and Language Learning， University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign， 1992．

[5]何兆熊．《新編語用學概要》．上海外語教育出版社，2002．

[6]何兆熊．《語用學文獻選讀》．上海外語教育出版社，2003．

[7]張健．《英語報坎佳作精選》．世界圖書出版社，1994．

[8]劍橋大學考試委員會．《劍橋雅思考試全真試題解析》．劍橋大學出版社，2004．

(作者單位：浙江杭州市中國計量學院)