ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the general field of online pragmatics, and introduces the key concepts and frameworks on which later discussions will build. The first half of the chapter focuses on pragmatic frameworks. Two key pragmatic theories are briefly introduced: speech act theory and relevance theory. Discussion then moves to the various components that make up a speaker’s intended meaning. The proposition expressed, higher-level explicatures, and implicatures are defined, and the inferential processes involved in their construction are discussed. The second half of the chapter outlines frameworks for analysing and comparing digital media from a communication perspective. Dimensions, including reach, replicability, interactivity, and temporal structure, are introduced and discussed. The chapter ends with an overview of the content and structure of the rest of the book.
