Pragmatic Language Research Paper

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Communication is the process used to exchange information and ideas, needs and desires. Communication is the transfer of information from one person to another and encompasses language, speech, gesture, vocalizations, body movement and writing (Pennington, 2008). Communication is generally defined as the transmission and reception of information and knowledge among participants. It represents a basic need and function of humans and typically uses multiple forms.

Language is a formal system of signs governed by grammatical rules of combination to communicate meaning. This definition stresses the fact that human languages can be described as closed structural systems consisting of rules that relate particular signs to particular

The study of pragmatics is a study of how language is used socially to achieve goals and includes issues such as how communication is affected by different contexts and audiences, how messages are composed most effectively, and how different types of messages are put to best use. Pragmatic language refers to language in its social sense. It involves not only what is said, but why and for what purpose something is said.

The pragmatic aspect of language can be considered from at least three major perspectives:

a. The functions language serves in communicating speaker’s intentions.

b. The alternation in language forms observed in different social contexts, and

c. The organization of language in conversational discourse.

A) Functions in pragmatics:

Language serves a purpose in almost any social context. Even talking to oneself normally serves some purpose such as reassurance, reasoning or rehearsal. The functions of language relate to the speaker’s intention or

Spasticity refers to the inability of a muscle to relax. Spasticity is characterized by hypertonia in which increase in velocity of the movement causes the increase in resistance to passive movements. Spasticity continues to be most common and is generally considered to be present in greater than fifty percent of cases.

Dyskinetic CP (Athetosis, Chorea, Dystonia, Tremors, and Rigidity): It’s a movement disorder caused by injury to the basal ganglia or cerebellum which leads to difficulty in controlling and co-coordinating movement. An involuntary intermittent or sustained muscle contraction leads to twisting repetitive movements and /or abnormal postures. They can have slow writhing or jerky movements of the head, arms, or legs. Athetosis is noted in one-third of cases and has been reduced to 10 percent or less.

Ataxic CP: It results from damage to the cerebellum. Unsteady walk and disturbance of balance can also occur because of poor fixation of the head, trunk, shoulder and pelvic girdles. Ataxia due to a fixed cerebellar lesion is seen in from five to ten percent and appears to be unchanged. Rigidity was thought to comprise about one percent of