"I order you to yawn."

A look at the communicative competence of the Little Prince and the King

Abstract

This article analyzes Chapter X of The Little Prince (2008) as a tool for developing linguistic pragmatics, focusing on politeness, forms of address, and speech acts in asymmetrical interactions. We highlight the literary genre as a valuable resource for exploring how language integrates power relations, respect, and cooperation, promoting critical reflection on language use in real communication situations. The selected examples allow for classroom work on identifying and understanding pragmatic resources, connecting theory and practice for the development of fundamental communicative skills. The existence of translations of the work into different varieties of Portuguese further enriches the intercultural discussion and highlights the relevance of pragmatics in mediating communicative expectations. Thus, Chapter X proves to be a valuable space for teaching pragmatics, articulating theory and practice and promoting the development of essential skills for effective communication.