Ryen Slaughter

12/4/2025

Pragmatics is the study of language that us humans use in conversations in person

and or talking via text. Usage of words can come from many different points of views on

how they are interpreted, based on the context, intention, or social rules. Which leads

me to my thesis statement Pragmatics shows a mixture of how conversation can go well

but also be misunderstood especially depending on via text rather than in person.

When talking to someone, presuppositions can come up in context for example, ‘’where

is your homework?’’ Which is a question but can imply that you did the homework, but in

reality you didn’t. In some cases of conversation this can be seen as a

misunderstanding especially if the question is not necessarily specific. A better question

for that would be ‘’did you do the homework?’’ Which can be simple for the person on

the other end of the conversation to say Yes or No. Comparing texting to in person

talking can definitely show how there is a pragmatic difference being that in texting

someone you’re not quite sure what the other person’s tone is like via text which can be

a misread. For example if someone says ‘’why would you say that?’’ Via text they might

be upset while texting that but the person receiving that text can see it as a calm

collective question.My texting habits can be very much vague, especially when it comes to when I agree

with things I tend to say things like ‘’Bett’’ or ‘’type’’ short for ‘’Type Shit’’ like for example

I was texting my friend and he was trying to confirm us hanging out. So he said ‘’we

were supposed to go and get matcha.’’ And I replied saying ‘’type’’ which means I agree

basically and he replied saying ‘’wym’’ which stands for ‘’What do you mean?’’ And I

said okay after. He then replied asking if I was okay, which I said yes, and he stated that

I seemed bothered. But I wasn’t bothered. I just think he was having a hard time

understanding the way I text. I say type for a lot of context in things I say. But in his case

this led to a misunderstanding for him..

Texting shortcuts can be misread. For example when I was texting my other friend I

forgot the context of the conversation but he was saying something, and I replied saying

‘’Sureeee’’ with me using double e’s. I am elongating the sure to make it longer which is

implying that a sarcasm type of tone like ‘’yeaaaa right’’ and he replied saying ‘’what you

mean by that’’ which i replied saying ‘’ohhh nothing’’ again in a scream type of tone.

Which connects with the implicature being that he was implying that I was being

sarcastic about something that had to do with him. Which made him feel some type of

way. This shows how texting in this year’s generation, pragmatic shapes meaning to

others but also can shape ways of misunderstanding for us while texting. Because of

things like using vague language it can come across as being ‘’Dry’’ and implying that

the other person doesn’t want to talk.