Pragmatics is the social use of language. It involves referential use (knowing what an utterance is about), utilization (understanding language in a context regarding purpose), inferential (understanding meanings through context), and manipulative (understanding how speakers link their conversational contribution).
Social usage includes working with vocal prosody (whether it’s correct to intone an utterance in a particular way), bodily language (acceptable ways of positioning one’s body and physical appearance), and social conventions (determining status, ways of appearing in public, initiating and responding to interactions, and following social rules).
Tests designed to assess pragmatics focus on these six constructs.
Conversational Skills
A hugely important component of pragmatic language is a conversational skill – the ability to initiate, sustain, and terminate a conversational exchange (as in, ‘Hello,’ ‘How are you? I’m fine, thank you,’ and ‘Cheers!’), as well as skills related to turn-taking, topic-maintenance and conversational repair strategies (e.g., calling out ‘Happy Birthday!’). Difficulties in these areas can be revealed by using conversational menus, and specific interventions can be identified.
Non-verbal communication
Non-verbal cues such as gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, posture, and body language add many layers of meaning to a conversation. For instance, smiling at a stranger is likely to be friendly, while crossed arms may indicate defensiveness. Aspects of these cues are evaluated in assessments such as the Clinical Assessment of Pragmatics (CAPs), a unique video-based social pragmatics assessment.
Contextual Use of Language
Another important construct is the capacity to adjust language use according to context or circumstance. This applies to the capacity to modify language use related to restricted contexts, such as formally speaking to one audience and using a more casual approach with a different audience, like friends. The ability to be sensitive to situations and people and change language use accordingly falls under this construct, along with the capacity to be sensitive to and respect social norms and expectations embedded within given situations. In terms of evaluating this construct, patients who struggle with adapting speech to a given context may be seen as having a speech and language impairment.
Narrative Skills
Narrative skills are the set of abilities we use when telling someone the story of an event or the sequence of events that have occurred. These constructs involve an ability to organize information, maintain order in the story, and highlight the critical points of the information to make it interesting and understandable. Narrative skills are essential for social interactions, school learning, and job communication. Instruments such as the Oral and Written Language Scales, Second Edition (OWLS-II) are used to assess these skills and can show us whether someone is a good storyteller.
Understanding and Using Humor
Humor is a complex pragmatic process involving reading and creating jokes, puns, and other playful, communicative behavior forms. The act of being funny necessitates an interpretation of faint acoustic cues, double meanings, and social contexts. Successful use of humor can facilitate social rapport and help with social lubrication. Assessing humor provides a full-bodied metric of top-down control in understanding how individuals perform in their social communicative environment.
Perspective-Taking
Perspective-taking is also a construct that describes one’s ability to infer others’ thoughts, feelings, and points of view and is a cornerstone for empathy, cooperation, and conflict resolution. The proficient communicator steps psychologically into the roles of others, simulates their responses, and sequentially modifies their own behavior. Evaluation of perspective-taking abilities may predict which child will have more difficulty with empathy and understanding others, which informs intervention strategies and attempts to remediate these deficiencies.
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Importance of Pragmatic Assessments
Assessing these six pragmatic constructs provides a thorough understanding of an individual’s social communication skills. Standardized assessments like the CASL-2 and OWLS-II offer valuable tools for evaluating these constructs, helping professionals develop effective intervention strategies.
In conclusion, understanding and assessing the six constructs of pragmatics—conversational skills, non-verbal communication, contextual use of language, narrative skills, understanding and using humor, and perspective-taking—are essential for supporting individuals with social communication difficulties. For more information on assessing pragmatics, visit WPS.
