Final answer:
Pragmatics is the aspect of language that relates to the social and cultural aspects of language use, enabling individuals to use language appropriately in varying social contexts.
Step-by-step explanation:
Pragmatics and Communicative Competence
The language system that students use to develop communicative competence and that addresses the social and cultural aspects of language use is Pragmatics. Unlike Syntax which deals with the arrangement of words to create sentences, or Phonology which is about the sounds of a language, or Semantics which is concerned with meaning, pragmatics involves the use of language in social contexts and the ways in which people produce and comprehend meanings through language. It's about how language users are able to overcome ambiguity, how the context influences the interpretation of the meaning, and how speaking a language involves not just knowing its vocabulary and grammar, but also understanding what words mean in different situations and being able to effectively and appropriately use language in a variety of social settings.
Pragmatics encompasses elements such as figurative language, irony, implicature, speech acts, and conversational maxims, all of which require an understanding of the social and cultural context. Effective communication, therefore, entails more than just grammatical correctness; it involves being competent in the cultural and the social nuances of language use that vary from one speech community to another. Pragmatics allows individuals to use their language in a way that is suitable to the norms and expectations of various social interactions, which is critical in both first language acquisition and learning additional languages.