How does pragmatics relate to speech acts?

Pragmatics is a subfield of philosophy that focuses on the study of language in context, particularly how language is used to convey meaning beyond its literal interpretation. Speech acts, on the other hand, refer to the actions performed through language, such as making requests, giving orders, or making promises.

Pragmatics and speech acts are closely related because pragmatics provides the framework for understanding how speech acts function in communication. Pragmatics helps us understand the intentions, implicatures, and effects of speech acts, as well as the social and cultural factors that influence their interpretation.

In other words, pragmatics explores how context, speaker intentions, and audience expectations shape the meaning and impact of speech acts. It examines the ways in which language users employ speech acts to achieve their communicative goals and how these acts are understood and responded to by others.

Overall, pragmatics provides the theoretical tools and concepts necessary to analyze and understand the complex dynamics of speech acts in various linguistic and cultural contexts.