Discussion Details
| Title: | Semantic vs. Pragmatic Interpretation |
| Submitter: | José-Luis Guijarro |
| Description: | 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! |
| Date Posted: | 18-May-2007 |
| Linguistic Field(s): |
Pragmatics
Semantics Cognitive Science |
| LL Issue: | 18.1521 |
| Posted: | 18-May-2007 |
