scholarly journals Computing the meaning of the assertive speech act by a software agent

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Brian Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Software Agent ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Situation Type ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship

This paper examines the nature of the assertive speech act of Irish. We examine the syntactical constructional form of the assertive to identify its constructional signature. We consider the speech act as a construction whose meaning as an utterance depends on the framing situation and context, along with the common ground of the interlocutors. We identify how the assertive speech act is formalised to make it computer tractable for a software agent to compute its meaning, taking into account the contribution of situation, context and a dynamic common ground. Belief, desire and intention play a role in <em>what is meant</em> as against <em>what is said</em>. The nature of knowledge, and how it informs common ground, is explored along with the relationship between knowledge and language. Computing the meaning of a speech act in the situation requires us to consider the level of the interaction of all these dimensions. We argue that the contribution of lexicon and grammar, with the recognition of belief, desire and intentions in the situation type and associated illocutionary force, sociocultural conventions of the interlocutors along with their respective general and cultural knowledge, their common ground and other sources of contextual information are all important for representing meaning in communication. We show that the influence of the situation, context and common ground feeds into the utterance meaning derivation. The ‘<em>what is said’</em> is reflected in the event and its semantics, while the ‘<em>what is meant’</em> is derived at a higher level of abstraction within a situation.

scholarly journals Uncommon ground

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Macagno ◽  
Alessandro Capone
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Logical Form ◽  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
Complex Type ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Presupposition Triggers ◽  
Presumptive Reasoning ◽  
Complex Cases

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to show how microargumentation mechanisms of presumptive reasoning and reasoning from best explanation can be used to explain some cases of presupposition suspension. It will be shown how the relationship between presupposition triggers and pragmatic presuppositions can be analyzed in terms of presumptive and nonpresumptive polyphonic articulation of an utterance, resulting in different types of commitments for the interlocutors. This approach is grounded on the two interconnected notions of presumptions and commitments. In some complex cases of presupposition suspension, the speaker presumes the hearer’s acceptance of, and commitment to, propositions that do not belong to the common ground or that have been explicitly rejected as being commonly shared. This phenomenon triggers a complex type of reasoning that can be represented as kind of abduction, grounded on hierarchies of presumptions and aimed at providing an interpretation that solves this conflict of presumptions. Several cases of presupposition suspension will be shown to result from nonpresumptive polyphonic articulations, in which different voices responsible for distinct commitments are distinguished. By indirectly reporting an element of discourse, the speaker can refuse to take responsibility for the presupposed proposition, and correct the commitments that may result for him or her. This polyphonic treatment of utterances can explain how and why a presupposition is suspended, and can be used to identify the conflicting presumptions that can be further solved through reasoning from best explanation. This reasoning can result in a different reconstruction of the developed logical form or the illocutionary force of an utterance.

Speech Acts in Discourse Context

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craige Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Language Game ◽  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
Semantic Type ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Consensus View ◽  
Grammatical Mood ◽  
The Relationship

This essay sketches an approach to speech acts in which mood does not semantically determine illocutionary force. The conventional content of mood determines the semantic type of the clause in which it occurs, and, given the nature of discourse, that type most naturally lends itself to a particular type of speech act, i.e. one of the three basic types of language game moves—making an assertion (declarative), posing a question (interrogative), or proposing to one’s addressee(s) the adoption of a goal (imperative). There is relative consensus about the semantics of two of these, the declarative and interrogative; and this consensus view is entirely compatible with the present proposal about the relationship between the semantics and pragmatics of grammatical mood. Hence, the proposal is illustrated with the more controversial imperative.

Can Groups Assert That P?

2019 ◽  
pp. 326-344
Author(s):  
Deborah Tollefsen
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Constitutive Rule ◽  
The Past ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Common ◽  
Declarative Statement ◽  
John Macfarlane

When a group or institution issues a declarative statement, what sort of speech act is this? Is it the assertion of a single individual (perhaps the group’s spokesperson or leader) or the assertion of all or most of the group members? Or is there a sense in which the group itself asserts that p? If assertion is a speech act, then who is the actor in the case of group assertion? These are the questions this chapter aims to address. Whether groups themselves can make assertions or whether a group of individuals can jointly assert that p depends, in part, on what sort of speech act assertion is. The literature on assertion has burgeoned over the past few years, and there is a great deal of debate regarding the nature of assertion. John MacFarlane has helpfully identified four theories of assertion. Following Sandy Goldberg, we can call these the attitudinal account, the constitutive rule account, the common-ground account, and the commitment account. I shall consider what group assertion might look like under each of these accounts and doing so will help us to examine some of the accounts of group assertion (often presented as theories of group testimony) on offer. I shall argue that, of the four accounts, the commitment account can best be extended to make sense of group assertion in all its various forms.

The History of Emotions and Nationalism Studies: a Сognitive Turn in Contemporary Historiography

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8 (106)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Olga Vorobieva
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
National Character ◽  
History Of Emotions ◽  
Cognitive Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Individual Consciousness ◽  
The Common ◽  
Constructivist Approaches ◽  
The Relationship

The article considers the cognitive potential of the history of emotions in the study of nationalism in historiographical discussions of 1990—2000s. The authors analyze the works, which criticize constructivist approaches and problematize the relationship between nationalism, “national character”, “emotional mode” and everyday behavioral practices. Based on P. Bourdieu&apos;s concept of ‘habitus’ and its modification in N. Elias&apos;s historical sociology, the article highlights the common ground and productive interaction between histories of emotion and nationalism studies. This reciprocal movement is interpreted as a symptom of the search for a common conceptual platform and vocabulary for the mutual translation of their research practices. The authors believe that a productive trend within this dialogue could be a more active address to cognitive studies advocating a rethinking of the relationship between individual consciousness and collective regimes of knowledge-power of sentimental, modern and “post-modern” eras.

scholarly journals I Do Not Exist. Problems for Dynamic Semantics

2018 ◽  
pp. 393-414
Author(s):  
Eduardo García Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Dynamic Semantics ◽  
Recent Proposal ◽  
Static Semantics ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Existential Constructions ◽  
The Common

According to dynamic semantics, what is said by an utterance of a sentence is determined by how the common ground is affected by the acceptance of such utterance. It has been claimed that dynamic semantics offers an account of what is said by an utterance in a context that excels that of traditional static semantics. Assertions of negative existential constructions, of the form ‘X does not exist’, are a case in point. These assertions traditionally pose a problem for philosophers of language. A recent proposal, owed to Clapp (2008), argues that static semantics is unable to solve the problem and offers a dynamic semantics account that promises to succeed. In this paper I want to challenge this account and, more generally, the scope of the dynamic semantics framework. I will offer a counterexample, inspired by “answering machine” uses of indexical and demonstrative expressions, to show how dynamic semantics fails.  I conclude by considering the merits of both static and dynamic accounts.

scholarly journals INTERPRETING RUH AS AN ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY IN RELATION TO ISLAM AND JAVA MYSTICISM

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Ubaidillah Ubaidillah
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Ecological Spirituality ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ecological Behavior ◽  
Human And Nature ◽  
The Relationship

This research aims to explain about the acculturation of Islam and Javanese wisdom in interpreting ruh (spirit) as an ecological behavior in dealing with natural disaster and exploitative activities. The concept of spirit refers to the awareness to interpret the relationship between human and nature as a living macrocosm unit. The awareness, in Islam, is a dimension of Sufi that blends with nature, such as Javanese philosophy on the principle of the unity of nature. It employs descriptive analytical method by integrating theo-sufistic paradigm to find a turning point in the common ground between Islam and Java in preserving the nature. The analysis goes into three conclusions: 1) the concept of spirit in Islam is a representation of one’s love with nature as the manifestation of love with God in its essence; 2) Javanese beliefs and rituals in ruh as a living and valuable existence signified in mystical mythology for being haunted and sacred serves as theo-sufistic expressions of Islam and Java; 3) spirituality of the spirit generates awareness of the philosophy of Sangkan Paraning Dumadi, to live in harmony and balance between humans and nature. Penelitian ini ingin menjelaskan tentang akulturasi Islam dan kearifan Jawa dalam memaknai ruh sebagai perilaku ekologis dalam menangani kerusakan alam dan aktivitas eksploitatif. Konsep ruh yang dimaksud adalah kesadaran memaknai hubungan manusia dan alam sebagai satu kesatuan makrokosmos yang hidup. Kesadaran tersebut dalam Islam merupakan dimensi sufistik yang menyatu dengan alam sebagaimana falsafah Jawa tentang prinsip kesatuan alam. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif analitis dengan pendekatan integratif dalam paradigma teo-sufistik untuk menemukan titik balik persamaan persepsi antara Islam dan Jawa dalam memelihara alam hayati. Hasilnya,  pertama, konsep ruh dalam Islam adalah representasi dari mencintai alam sebagai manfestasi mencintai Tuhan dengan dzatnya. Kedua, keyakinan dan ritual yang dilakukan masyarakat Jawa atas ruh sebagai eksistensi yang hidup dan memberi manfaat yang mewujud dalam mitologis mistik yang disebut angker dan sakral sebagai ekspresi teo-sufistik Islam dan Jawa. Ketiga, spiritualitas ruh memberikan kesadaran dalam filosofi Jawa tentang Sangkan Paraning Dumadi sebagai makna hidup untuk dapat serasi dan seimbang antara manusia dan alam.

scholarly journals “I’m really sorry about what I said”

Pragmatics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Su ◽  
Naixing Wei
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Corpus Pragmatics ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Local Grammar

Abstract This paper extends the concept of local grammar to speech act studies, focusing specifically on apologising in English. It aims primarily to demonstrate the usefulness of a local grammar approach to account for speech acts and ultimately to contribute to the on-going development of corpus pragmatics. Apology expressions in a corpus of scripted TV conversations are first automatically extracted and then manually examined in order to make sure that all remaining instances have the illocutionary force of apologising and thus qualify for further analysis. The subsequent local grammar analyses facilitate the establishment of a local grammar of apology, comprising 14 local grammar patterns. The analyses show that it is promising to develop a set of local grammars to account more adequately for speech acts in general. The relationship between local grammars, functional grammars, and general grammars is further discussed, which suggests that local grammars can be an alternative approach to functional-pragmatic studies of language and discourse. Directions for future research are outlined; and implications and applications are briefly discussed.

The Difference between Lying and Misleading

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Stokke
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Conversational Implicatures ◽  
The World ◽  
Question Under Discussion ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Prosodic Focus

The notions of what is said and assertion, as relative to questions under discussion, are used to provide an account of the lying-misleading distinction. The chapter argues that utterances are sometimes interpreted relative to the so-called Big Question, roughly paraphrased by “What is the world like?” This observation is shown to account for the fact that, when conveying standard conversational implicatures, what is asserted is likewise proposed for the common ground. The chapter applies the resulting account of the lying-misleading distinction to ways of lying and misleading with incomplete predicates, possessives, presuppositions, pronouns, and prosodic focus. A formal notion of contextual questionentailment is defined which shows when it is possible to mislead with respect to a question under discussion while avoiding outright lying.

Sprechakttheoretische Überlegungen zur Typographie – am Beispiel von Presseüberschriften

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-291
Author(s):  
Rita Finkbeiner
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Illocutionary Force ◽  
General Question ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Using the example of newspaper headlines, this paper develops a speech-act theoretic approach to aspects of meaning that can be communicated through the use of typographic means. After considering, more generally, the relationship between speech act theory and writing, analogies between prosody and typography are discussed and the claim is developed that typographic means, just as prosodic means, may function as illocutionary force indicating devices. Using Gallmann’s (1985) system of graphic means, newspaper headlines are defined, more specifically, as typographic objects indicating the (meta-textual) illocution type of an announcement of the text topic. Finally, the relationship between the grammatically determined illocution of a (sentential) headline and its typographically determined meta-textual illocution is modeled, on the basis of Searle’s (1982b) account of fictional speech acts, as an interplay of „vertical“ and „horizontal“ rules. The paper closes with a discussion of the more general question whether typographic acts are speech acts.

THE MAKING OF CHRONICLES AND THE MAKING OF ENGLAND: THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLES AFTER ALFRED Prothero Lecture

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 65-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Stafford
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Old English ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Continuous Narrative ◽  
King Alfred ◽  
Made In

ABSTRACTBetween c. 900 and the mid-twelfth century, a series of Old English vernacular chronicles were produced, growing out of the text produced at the court of King Alfred. These chronicles are collectively known as ‘the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’. They have long been accorded fundamental status in the English national story. No others have shaped our view of the origins of England between the fifth and eleventh centuries to the same extent. They provide between them the only continuous narrative of this period. They are the story that has made England. This paper deals with the relationship between that story, these texts and England: how they have been read and edited – made – in the context of the English national story since the sixteenth century; but also their relationship to, the part they may have played in, the original making of the English kingdom. The focus is on developments during the tenth and eleventh centuries, when a political unit more or less equivalent to the England we now know emerged. It is argued that these texts were the ideological possession and expression of the southern English elite, especially of bishops and archbishops, at this critical period of kingdom-making. Special attention is given to their possible role in the incorporation of Northumbria into that kingdom. These chronicles were made by scribes a millennium ago, and to some extent have been reworked by modern editors from the sixteenth century on. They are daunting in their complexity. The differences between them are as important as the common ground they share. Understanding the making of these foundational texts has its own light to shed on the making of England.

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