Open Access
American Research Journal of English and Literature
ISSN (Online): 2378-9026
DOI: 10.46568/arjel
‘‘I have headache in my stomach’’: The Pragmatics of Utterance, Relevance and Meaning
1Department of European Languages, Federal University Birnin-Kebbi, Kebi State, Nigeria
2Sanniphil Company Limited, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
Acheoah John Emike (PhD), Williams Ocheme, Alonge John Owamerinme, ‘‘I have headache in my stomach’’: The
Pragmatics of Utterance, Relevance and Meaning”. American Research Journal of English and Literature, vol 6, no. 1, 2020, pp.
1-9.
Abstract
The emergence of pragmatics makes communicative competence a crucial subject in the literature of pragmatics, even though linguistic
competence is also instrumental in the effective use of language to communicate messages. To explain the pragmatic underpinnings of an
utterance in terms of relevance and meaning within any given context, this study examines the utterance “I have headache in my stomach”
alongside other samples of expressions gathered from the Nigerian speech community. When an utterance is uttered, the physical (environmental),
psychological, pragmatic or social nuances that generate are inevitable components of the inferential process. A speaker expects the “world
spoken-of” – as Allan [1] puts it – to be inferred correctly. This paper is hinged on a bipartite theoretical underpinning: the Pragma-crafting
Theory; and the Relevance Theory of Communication. The study concludes that: the communicative value of an utterance is immersed in the
ease and possibility of processing it for meaning (its topic relevance).
