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Chapter 9. Implicitness in the use of situation-bound utterances

  • István Kecskés
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Implicitness
This chapter is in the book Implicitness

Abstract

This chapter discusses the nature of implicit knowledge encoded in situation-bound utterances (SBUs) that are defined as highly conventionalized, prefabricated pragmatic units whose occurrences are tied to standardized communicative situations because they serve as interactional patterns and rituals that usually mean the same to all speakers of a particular speech community. It will be argued that there is a strong connection between implicitness and conventions of usage in language use. Conventional routine expressions like SBUs encode information that is equally available for all members of the given speech community. This information is usually implicit because the functional meaning of expressions is rarely reflected in their compositional meaning. The paradox of the use of SBUs is that although most of them are characterized by a high level of implicitness, they may still represent the most direct way to express some social function.

Abstract

This chapter discusses the nature of implicit knowledge encoded in situation-bound utterances (SBUs) that are defined as highly conventionalized, prefabricated pragmatic units whose occurrences are tied to standardized communicative situations because they serve as interactional patterns and rituals that usually mean the same to all speakers of a particular speech community. It will be argued that there is a strong connection between implicitness and conventions of usage in language use. Conventional routine expressions like SBUs encode information that is equally available for all members of the given speech community. This information is usually implicit because the functional meaning of expressions is rarely reflected in their compositional meaning. The paradox of the use of SBUs is that although most of them are characterized by a high level of implicitness, they may still represent the most direct way to express some social function.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Implicitness 1
  4. Part I. Word and phrase
  5. Chapter 2. What’s a reading? 15
  6. Chapter 3. Pronouns and implicature 37
  7. Chapter 4. Implicitness in the lexis 67
  8. Chapter 5. Zero subject anaphors and extralinguistically motivated subject pro -drop in Hungarian language use 95
  9. Part II. Sentence and utterance
  10. Chapter 6. Implicitness via overt untruthfulness 121
  11. Chapter 7. Lexical pragmatics and implicit communication 147
  12. Chapter 8. Indirect ritual offence 177
  13. Chapter 9. Implicitness in the use of situation-bound utterances 201
  14. Chapter 10. Thematic silence as a speech act 217
  15. Part III. Text and discourse
  16. Chapter 11. The dynamics of discourse 235
  17. Chapter 12. Why don’t you tell it explicitly? 259
  18. Chapter 13. Implicature and the inferential substrate 281
  19. Index 305
  20. Index 305
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.276.09kec

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Implicitness 1
  4. Part I. Word and phrase
  5. Chapter 2. What’s a reading? 15
  6. Chapter 3. Pronouns and implicature 37
  7. Chapter 4. Implicitness in the lexis 67
  8. Chapter 5. Zero subject anaphors and extralinguistically motivated subject pro -drop in Hungarian language use 95
  9. Part II. Sentence and utterance
  10. Chapter 6. Implicitness via overt untruthfulness 121
  11. Chapter 7. Lexical pragmatics and implicit communication 147
  12. Chapter 8. Indirect ritual offence 177
  13. Chapter 9. Implicitness in the use of situation-bound utterances 201
  14. Chapter 10. Thematic silence as a speech act 217
  15. Part III. Text and discourse
  16. Chapter 11. The dynamics of discourse 235
  17. Chapter 12. Why don’t you tell it explicitly? 259
  18. Chapter 13. Implicature and the inferential substrate 281
  19. Index 305
  20. Index 305
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