Thoughts and utterances : the pragmatics of explicit communication /
Thoughts and Utterances is the first sustained investigation of two distinctions that are fundamental to all theories of utterance understanding: the semantics/pragmatics distinction and the distinction between what is explicitly and what is implicitly communicated. The central claim of this book is...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford, U.K. ; Malden, Mass. :
Blackwell Pub.,
2002.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | Thoughts and Utterances is the first sustained investigation of two distinctions that are fundamental to all theories of utterance understanding: the semantics/pragmatics distinction and the distinction between what is explicitly and what is implicitly communicated. The central claim of this book is that the linguistically encoded meaning of an utterance underdetermines the propositions explicitly communicated by the utterance. The arguments and analyses are developed within the relevance-theoretic framework of Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, so the approach is resolutely cognitive, focussing on the representational levels and mental processes involved in utterance interpretation. However, extensive comparison is made throughout with other pragmatic frameworks, including those of Paul Grice, Francois Recanati and Kent Bach, which are more philosophically based, and that of Stephen Levinson, which has a more linguistic and computational orientation. Finally, this volume assesses and attempts to reconcile the different perspectives of theories of human semantic competence and accounts of the pragmatic processes involved in communication and interpretation. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (418 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 384-407) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780470754603 0470754605 9780470754559 0470754559 |