Comprehensible Pragmatics: Where Input and Output Come Together

Abstract

This chapter relates issues of comprehensible input and comprehensible output to an increasingly prominent field: second-language pragmatics, where the intended meanings often go beyond the literal ones. The chapter will take a close look at what comprehensibility of language at the level of pragmatics actually entails. In looking at both the comprehension and production of pragmatic material, we will consider briefly the negotiation of meaning and conversational repairs—modifications made to the interactional structure of discourse and to words, sounds, and syntax for the purpose of communicating pragmatics. We will first look at what comprehensible input means with regard to pragmatics, whether through language (e.g. lexical items—words and phrases, syntax—e.g. verb tenses, or discourse), through gestures, or through silence. Then we will consider what comprehensible output entails in order that the addressees interpret the intended pragmatics correctly. Finally, we will reflect on the implications for both the learning and teaching of L2 pragmatics in lights of these comprehensibility issues.