ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what second language pragmatic and interactional competence is. Succinctly put, pragmatics is concerned with social language use. It investigates why language users speak differently in different social settings, e.g., a casual chat in a pub, a formal job interview, or a service encounter in a shop. A language user’s sociopragmatic competence is their knowledge of the social rules and norms that govern language use. Sociopragmatic knowledge is largely implicit: language users do not usually have to think about what their relationship with another person is and whether they should be casual or polite. The main reason people adjust the way they talk based on the listener is to maintain social harmony. Sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic knowledge are at the core of pragmatic ability, and connect language with social norms. Language users evaluate social relationships and adjust what they are trying to express accordingly.
