Pragmatics in Academia: The Role of Gender and Power Relations in the Use of Implicatures

Abstract

“Waiting to see me?” asked Dr. Beebe. Was it an implicature or a speech act? Was the utterance intended as an invitation—Come in—or as a request for information—Are you here to see me? I stood up and followed Dr. Beebe into her office. This very first encounter ushered pragmatics into my life. It was also my first step in discovering many different aspects of interaction, and later on, it allowed me to go in my research where others feared to tread, so to speak. Doctor Beebe’s passion for pragmatics, and her ability to ignite her students’ desire to pursue questions relevant to their lives, has kept many of us in her camp. The findings that will be presented in this paper come from my first research study inspired by Dr. Beebe’s class on pragmatics.