scholarly journals Unarticulated constituents and neo-Gricean pragmatics

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Conversational Implicature ◽  
Pragmatic Theory ◽  
Pragmatic Enrichment ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Gricean Pragmatics ◽  
Unarticulated Constituents

Abstract In recent years, the concept of unarticulated constitutes has generated a fierce debate both in the philosophy of language and in linguistic semantics and pragmatics. By unarticulated constituent is meant a propositional (or conceptual) constituent of a sentence that is communicated by the speaker in uttering that sentence, but is not linguistically represented in that uttered sentence. The main aim of this article is to provide a neo-Gricean pragmatic analysis of unarticulated constituents, showing that the current existing mechanism of neo-Gricean pragmatic theory can handle unarticulated constituents in a straightforward and elegant way. Second, I defend the neo-Gricean position that the pragmatic enrichment of unarticulated constituents is nothing but a neo-Gricean, pre-semantic conversational implicature. And third and finally, I briefly evaluate an alternative, formal syntactico-semantic analysis of unarticulated constituents.

“There are no words that are ‘clear’ in and of themselves”: Meta-pragmatic comments and semantic analysis in legal interpretation

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohar Livnat
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Legal Interpretation ◽  
Pragmatic Theory ◽  
Unconscious Processes ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Permit Application ◽  
Interpretation Process ◽  
Pragmatic Interpretation

AbstractLegal interpretation often includes a profusion of meta-pragmatic comments about the interpretation process itself. Thus, while pragmatic theories refer to the interpretation processes as natural, mostly unconscious processes, in legal interpretation the inference processes take on a conscious form. Meta-pragmatic comments provide a glimpse into this process and surface various aspects of it that have been described theoretically. The aim of this study is to examine the possibility of applying theoretical pragmatic terms to the legal interpretation discourse.A semantic-pragmatic analysis of a few cases shows that while the linguistic component of the legal interpretation makes it easy to apply pragmatic theory, some of the procedures performed by judges are incompatible with a semantic-pragmatic interpretation and contradict its theoretical assumptions. The purposive approach to interpretation that has developed in the Israeli legal system raises some serious problems in that sense. Applying the objective purpose of a statute even when it is obvious that the legislators could not have desired that in order to change the law cannot be considered “interpretation” in the pragmatic sense, since the central element of speaker’s intentions has been given a completely different meaning, and the aim of the interpretation procedure, namely identifying the speaker’s intentions, has for the most part been lost. This paper suggests that these cases should be viewed as exceptions to pragmatic interpretation and they do not permit application of pragmatic theory to them, at least not of the types of approaches attributed to Grice’s legacy. Nevertheless, this does not mean that theoretical pragmatic tools are not applicable to judicial opinions and to other kinds of legal text.

A properly pragmatist pragmatics

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-407
Author(s):  
Catherine Legg
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Separate Study ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Pragmatist Philosophy

Abstract Although most contemporary philosophers of language hold that semantics and pragmatics require separate study, there is surprisingly little agreement on where exactly the line should be drawn between these two areas, and why. In this paper I suggest that this lack of clarity is at least partly caused by a certain historical obfuscation of the roots of the founding three-way distinction between syntax, semantics and pragmatics in Charles Peirce’s pragmatist philosophy of language. I then argue for recovering and revisiting these original roots, taking indexicality as a case-study of how certain questions connected with the distinction which are currently considered complex and difficult may be clarified by a ‘properly pragmatist pragmatics’. Such a view, I shall argue, upends a certain priority usually accorded to semantics over pragmatics, teaching that we do not work out what terms mean in some abstract overall sense and then work out to what use they are being put; rather, we must understand to what use terms are being put in order to understand what they mean.

Naming and Indexicality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Bochner
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Critical Survey ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Truth Conditional ◽  
Epistemic Constraints ◽  
Theories Of Meaning

How do words stand for things? Taking ideas from philosophical semantics and pragmatics, this book offers a unique, detailed, and critical survey of central debates concerning linguistic reference in the twentieth century. It then uses the survey to identify and argue for a novel version of current 'two-dimensional' theories of meaning, which generalise the context-dependency of indexical expressions. The survey highlights the history of tensions between semantic and epistemic constraints on plausible theories of word meaning, from analytic philosophy and modern truth-conditional semantics, to the Referentialist and Externalist revolutions in theories of meaning, to the more recent reconciliatory ambition of two-dimensionalists. It clearly introduces technical semantical notions, theses, and arguments, with easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides. Wide-ranging in its scope, yet offering an accessible route into literature that can seem complex and technical, this will be essential reading for advanced students, and academic researchers in semantics, pragmatics, and philosophy of language.

scholarly journals Penggunaan Ungkapan Beri-Terima Bahasa Jepang dalam Novel Shiro no Naka no Hito Karya Hoshi Shin’ichi

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-197
Author(s):  
Ana Wuri Retnaningrum
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Vertical Distance ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Data Source

This paper discusses the use of yari-morai phrase (jujuhyougen) found in a novel data source titled Shiro no Naka no Hito. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of expressions of acceptance using Natsuko Tsujimura's theory. The items analyzed in this study are the function, role, and social distance of each argument. From the data analysis, it is found that when analyzed in a syntactic way, each argument functions as a subject and is a direct object or an indirect object. In semantic analysis, from the use of his verb, every argument plays the role of agent and beneficiary. Whereas from the use of passive expressions, each argument acts as a source and a goal. If pragmatic analysis is used, the use of the expressions is influenced by the vertical distance. However, formal situations are more important than existing vertical distances. So that also affects the use of proper expressions.

scholarly journals The Value Semantics in “Intelligent Travel” Discourse

Discourse ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 92-103
Author(s):  
O. V. Ramantova
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
National Geographic ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Special Value ◽  
Travel Discourse ◽  
Aesthetic Values

Introduction. The present paper aims at describing the results of researching the axiological aspect of the category “intelligent travel” functioning in the English language travel discourse. The relevance of the research is defined, firstly, by continuously developing tourist industry and the emergence of new tourist concepts which are embodied in numerous travel editions and, secondly, by insufficient knowledge of axiological aspect of certain travel-genres. The research is completed within the anthropooriented paradigm of linguistic studies and thus contributes to the development of this approach. The novelty of the study lies in revealing specific values represented in intelligent travel-texts and forming a special value line.Methodology and sources. The research is based on the English language texts about travelling. National Geographic was used as the main source of material. For the selection of travel texts, the continuously sampling method was used. The general methodology of studying the “intelligent/slow travel” concept also includes the method of semantic analysis, the method of semantic-stylistic analysis, elements of communicative-pragmatic analysis.Results and discussion. The results of the study include the description of the content of the intelligent travel category, the review of existing types of values, and the description of basic meanings forming the value picture of the world in travel-texts of this genre – sensory values, aesthetic values, morally-ethical and rationalistic value meanings. Within this research it is important to consider “anti-value” which is represented predominantly in texts about wildlife conservation and which enhances the pragmatic impact of the text on the reader. The result of the study is the conclusion about certain language specific of the category of intelligent travelling which is actualized through special value prism.Conclusion. The study reveals the specificity of the value paradigm of slow/intelligent travel texts. The semantic space of texts about intelligent travelling is filled with certain value markers in total constructing the value picture of the world through the prism o f which the travelling and experiencing author expresses not only his own vision of things, but the moral side of life aspects. The chosen methodology can be applied for further research and similar studies of other genres of travel-discourse.

Gadādhara (1604–1709)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonardon Ganeri
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Philosophical Methodology ◽  
Language Philosophy ◽  
Pragmatic Theory ◽  
Case Grammar ◽  
Pronominal Anaphora

Gadādhara Bhaṭṭācārya was a seventeenth-century Indian philosopher belonging to a school of thinkers, Navya-Nyāya, noted for its extreme realism and its contributions to philosophical methodology. Though Gadādhara’s commentaries on the school’s key texts are recognized as among the latest, most detailed and innovative, his greater claim to fame is due to his composition of a number of independent tracts on topics in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, ethics and legal theory. He may be credited in particular with the discovery of a version of the pragmatic theory of pronominal anaphora. His work on case grammar and inferential fallacies is highly admired in India, while recent translations into English have begun to make him better known outside.

The Multi-Component Model for the semantic analysis of slurs

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-240
Author(s):  
Björn Technau
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Component Model ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Multiple Component ◽  
Analysis Models

Abstract The semantics of slur terms has provoked some debate within the philosophy of language, and different analysis models have been proposed to account for the complex meaning of these terms. The present paper acknowledges the complexity of the matter and presents an analysis model that is inspired by multiple-component approaches to slurs, such as those by Camp (2018) and Jeshion (2018). The Multi-Component Model for the semantic analysis of slurs (MCM) tracks down altogether four meaning components in group-based slur terms: a referential and a pejorative meaning component (being xy and despicable because of it), as well as a scalar component capturing the term’s individual degree of offensiveness, and an expressive component indexing heightened emotions in all contexts of use. The notion of individual offensiveness degrees (that are fed by a multitude of semantic, pragmatic, and/or extralinguistic sources) allows us to account for the differences between slurs for the same ethnic group (such as nigger, negro, coon, darkie for Blacks); and the separation of the expressive component from the pejorative component can (1) explain the high frequency of non-pejorative uses, and (2) correctly describe these uses as expressive.

Expletive Negation

2020 ◽  
pp. 254-268
Author(s):  
Denis Delfitto
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
The State ◽  
Incremental Analysis ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Pragmatic Enrichment ◽  
Temporal Clauses ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter provides the state-of-the-art around expletive negation (EN), by discussing: (i) the relationship between EN and negative concord; (ii) EN as a real negation; (iii) EN as a special formative linked to an additional evaluative/expressive layer in the semantics of language. Moreover, the chapter offers a potentially unifying analysis of EN in comparative, exclamative, and temporal clauses: EN as an operator of implicature denial. This approach derives the fact that EN is logically and compositionally independent from what is said from the fact that EN shifts the semantics of negation to the layer of implicated meaning. Some of the interpretive effects normally linked to the expressive/evaluative analysis of EN can be arguably derived as side-effects of this semantic analysis. The proposal advanced here has a number of implications regarding the relationship among morpho-syntax, pragmatic enrichment, and the non-incremental analysis of negation in theories of negation processing.

Sémantique Et/Ou Roman Feuilleton? Sur Un Style D'Analyse Sémantique Qui Semble à La Mode Aujourd'Hui

1983 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-422
Author(s):  
Jean Molino
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Magic Formula ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics

Semantics and/or Serial About a Style in Semantic Analysis that Seems to be Fashionable Nowadays. In a chapter of his book Les Mots du Discours, O. Ducrot propounds an analysis of the French adverb décidément that seems to us typical of semantics and pragmatics in France nowadays. The detailed discussion of this analysis brings out the difficulties that originate from the author's method; he wants to reconstruct, with comments of a literary and psychological kind, "movements of thought" which is impossible to bear out or invalidate. And these reconstructions come from a conception of linguistics which is based on questionable principles: isomorphism of the signifier and the signified, epistemological irresponsibility, failure to recognize the methods appropriate to linguistics, diachronic and synchronic invariability. In conclusion, there is no magic formula that is likely to explain the meaning of a word, but only differing uses we must try to arrange in homogeneous classes.

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