What Is Pragmatics? In linguistics (the study of language), pragmatics is a specialized branch of study, focusing on the relationship between natural language and users of that language. Pragmatics focuses on conversational implicatures—or that which a speaker implies and which a listener infers. To define pragmatics, experts sometimes compare and contrast it with linguistic semantics (the meaning of a sentence) or compare it to syntax (word order) or semiotics (the study of symbols), all of which are distinct terms.