TV Series and Research in Pragmatics: From the Discipline to the Object and Back: Humans (Channel 4, 2015-2018) as Case Study

Research in linguistics/pragmatics can be carried out using different methodologies. Clark and Bangerter (2004) for instance mention three ways that they refer to as “armchair”, “field” and “laboratory” research. These designations refer to the location where the linguist/pragmatician undertakes her research; the researcher can remain seated in her armchair and rely on her own intuitions, or move to the very location where data can be collected in natural settings, that is in a particular field, or else in the laboratory where empirical studies are carried out and data retrieved from suitable informants. This paper is an attempt at demonstrating that TV series could be perceived as rich enough to combine these three types of research: they can serve as a laboratory of their own kind that enables the observer to investigate how people’s interactions are represented in a field or and all this while developing in-depth theoretical armchair research.For the pragmatician, TV series are ideal objects on which pragmatic theories can be applied and tested. But the objective of this article is to show how TV series can also contribute to new epistemological avenues of research within the field of pragmatics. The Science Fiction series Humans (Channel 4 2015-2018) is used as case study. This article first shows how Humans can be interesting in its pragmatic staging of humanoid language which by contrast foregrounds the specificities of human language. Second, it demonstrates to what extent pragmatic knowledge can help us make sense of the series before evincing how Humans incites us to consider a renewed pragma-enactive approach to human communication.