Local pragmatics: Issues and reflection

Authors

  • Qiao Huang

    College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Sichuan University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18063/fls.v3i1.1254

Abstract

Pragmatic effects triggered by embedded structure have caused problems to Grice's Theory of Conversational Implicature. This long-standing view is challenged by local pragmatics proposed by Mandy Simons. As to the theoretical development, Robyn Carston, Francois Recanati, and Emma Borg respectively raise their comments, while Simons positively responds to these commentaries and further elaborates her stance. In this article, the argumentation among these scholars is presented first, and much attention is paid to the value and influence of the argumentation, which would shed light on the current debate between semantics and pragmatics.

Keywords:

semantics and pragmatics; local pragmatics; embedded pragmatic effects; what is said and what is implicated

References

Borg E (2016) Exploding explicatures. Mind and Language 31(3): 335–355.

Borg E (2017) Local vs. global pragmatics. Inquiry 60(5–6): 509–516.

Carston R (2002) Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of Explicit Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.

Carston R (2004) Relevance theory and the saying/implicating distinction. In: Horn LR and Ward G (eds) Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.633–656.

Carston R (2017) Pragmatic enrichment: Beyond Gricean rational reconstruction—A response to Mandy Simons. Inquiry 60(5–6): 517–538.

Carston R and Hall A (2012) Implicature and explicature. In: Schmid HJ (ed) Cognitive Pragmatics. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton, pp.47–84.

Chierchia G (2017) Scalar implicatures and their interface with grammar. Annual Review of Linguistics 3(1): 245–264.

Cohen LJ (1971) Some remarks on Grice’s views about the logical particles of natural language. In: Bar-Hillel Y (ed) Pragmatics of Natural Languages. Dordrecht: Reidel, pp.50–68.

Geurts B (2010) Quantity Implicatures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Geurts B and Rubio-Fernández P (2015) Pragmatics and processing. Ratio 28(4): 446–469.

Grice HP (1989) Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Huang Y (2017) Truth-condition-contributing conversational implicatures, intrusive constructions, and neo-Gricean pragmatics. Foreign Language Teaching and Research 49(5): 643–662.

Levinson SC (2000) Presumptive Meanings: The Theory of Generalized Conversational Implicature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Noveck I (2018) Experimental Pragmatics: The Making of a Cognitive Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Recanati F (1993) Direct Reference: From Language to Thought. Oxford: Blackwell.

Recanati F (2003) Embedded implicatures. Philosophical Perspectives 17(1): 299–332.

Recanati F (2004) Literal Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Recanati F (2017) Local pragmatics: Reply to Mandy Simons. Inquiry 60(5–6): 493–508.

Saul J (2002) What is said and psychological reality: Grice’s project and relevance theorists’ criticisms. Linguistics and Philosophy 25(3): 347–372.

Simons M (2007) Observations on embedding verbs, evidentiality and presupposition. Lingua 117(6): 1034–1056.

Simons M (2010) A Gricean view on intrusive implicatures. In: Petrus K (ed) Meaning and Analysis: New Essays on H. Paul Grice. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.138–169.

Simons M (2011) Dynamic pragmatics, or, why we shouldn’t be afraid of embedded implicatures. Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory 21: 609–633.

Simons M (2014) Local pragmatics and structured contents. Philosophical Studies 168(1): 21–33.

Simons M (2017a) Local pragmatics in a Gricean framework. Inquiry 60(5–6): 466–492.

Simons M (2017b) Local pragmatics in a Gricean framework, revisited: Response to three commentaries. Inquiry 60(5–6): 539–568.

Sperber D and Wilson D (1986) Relevance, Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Walker R (1975) Conversational implicature. In: Blackburn S (ed) Meaning, Reference and Necessity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.133–181.

Downloads

How to Cite

Huang, Q. (2021). Local pragmatics: Issues and reflection. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.18063/fls.v3i1.1254

Issue

Vol. 3 , Iss. 1 (September 2021)

Article Type

Article

License

Copyright © 2024 Trinh Thi Ha, Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Nguyen Thi An, Nguyen Thi Mai Huong

Creative Commons License

This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.