Which term is used for the study of how utterances function in social interaction to achieve interactional goals?

• A. Pragmatic competence
• B. Metalanguage
• C. Realia
• D. Tautology

Answer: (A)

Pragmatic competence centers on using language in social context to achieve interactional goals. It involves understanding what to say, how to say it, and when to say it, considering the relationship between speaker and listener, the setting, and implied meanings. In practice, this means navigating requests, offers, apologies, turn-taking, and interpreting indirect speech acts and implicatures, all to make communication effective in real situations. This topic looks at language use itself—how people manage meaning and action in conversation—rather than just grammar or vocabulary. The other terms don’t fit this focus: metalanguage is language about language, realia are real objects used in teaching, and tautology is unnecessary repetition. So the best answer is pragmatic competence.