pragmatics

noun

1. (uncountable)The study of the use of language, especially meaning, in a social context; it includes extratextual aspects of language including exophoric reference, phatic utterances, and nonverbal channels.

   “Holonym: linguistics”

   “[…] in the clause, only the adjective may be fronted; but if both a past participle and a verbal particle are present, either may be fronted. Topicalization, in which maximal projections are fronted to express pragmatics such as contrast, emphasis, […]”

   “The conversational tone is almost uncanny. But it’s not a sign that large language models are becoming human; it’s a sign that they have mastered pragmatics. […] When a computational linguist told me several years ago about the advances artificial intelligence was making in simulating human language, the first thing I thought was: The hot next step will be getting to pragmatics.”

2. (form-of, plural)plural of pragmatic