18.1521, Disc: Semantic vs. Pragmatic Interpretation

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LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1521. Fri May 18 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 18.1521, Disc: Semantic vs. Pragmatic Interpretation

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1)
Date: 18-May-2007
From: José-Luis Guijarro < joseluis.guijarro at uca.es >
Subject: Semantic vs. Pragmatic Interpretation

 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 12:46:26
From: José-Luis Guijarro < joseluis.guijarro at uca.es >
Subject: Semantic vs. Pragmatic Interpretation 
 


In re: LINGUIST List Query    http://linguistlist.org/issues/18/18-1463.html#2

This is a possible answer to Arash Golzari:

According to Grice, human communication is achieved in a process that he
terms ''reading the mind'' of interlocutors, and THEN, making out the
meaning of what has been said. 

Sperber & Wilson insist on this idea and show us that we look for and
thereafter choose RELEVANT contexts in which the sentences we hear or read
may acquire some sense for us.

So, the real way we proceed is (1) We try to make sense of whatever
stimulus we notice, (2) We decode the meaning of the sentence that may be
the gist of this stimulus, (3) We accept it if it seems relevant for us.

In other words:

We start with pragmatic inferencing from premises offered by (1) our chosen
context AND (2) from those offered by the decoded meaning of the sentence
uttered, checking its relevance and if it's ok, then we don't look for
more. If not, we try again.

I hope this makes sense!

¡Adiós! 


Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                     Pragmatics
                     Semantics





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