Week 6 · Semantics and Pragmatics 语义与语用

Oct 19, 2026 · ← Course home

Planned session. Meaning, layer by layer. On the semantic side: metaphor and figurative meaning, semantic prosody, and the difference between what words denote and what they suggest. On the pragmatic side: deixis (who is “here”, when is “now”), politeness, and speech acts — how utterances do things rather than just say things.

These tools let us analyse texts that never state their business outright: poems, ads, public speeches, and the courtesy-heavy genres of official prose. They also feed directly into translation: a deictic system or politeness strategy mis-carried across languages is a silent stylistic failure.

Key concepts: metaphor; semantic prosody; deixis; politeness; speech acts; implicature.

Reading: Simpson’s semantics/pragmatics units; 刘宓庆 on implied meaning (隐含意义) in translation.

Slides and materials will be posted here after class.