Chapter 7. Figurative reasoning in hedged performatives
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Klaus-Uwe Panther
Abstract
This chapter combines a cognitive linguistic and a pragmatic approach to a specific class of speech acts known as hedged performatives, such as I can offer you a five-year contract, which, despite the modal hedge can on the illocutionary verb offer, conventionally counts as an offer. We demonstrate that analytical tools such as conceptual framing and metonymic inferencing shed light on the meaning and use of hedged performatives. Using corpus data, we show that the target meanings of indirect speech acts, including hedged performatives, are not coded, and therefore not compositionally computable. Rather, they are accessible through cognitive operations that humans perform spontaneously and automatically, making them a challenge to machine-based simulations of such mental processes.
Abstract
This chapter combines a cognitive linguistic and a pragmatic approach to a specific class of speech acts known as hedged performatives, such as I can offer you a five-year contract, which, despite the modal hedge can on the illocutionary verb offer, conventionally counts as an offer. We demonstrate that analytical tools such as conceptual framing and metonymic inferencing shed light on the meaning and use of hedged performatives. Using corpus data, we show that the target meanings of indirect speech acts, including hedged performatives, are not coded, and therefore not compositionally computable. Rather, they are accessible through cognitive operations that humans perform spontaneously and automatically, making them a challenge to machine-based simulations of such mental processes.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Fantastic metaphors and where to find them 1
-
Part I. New methods and digital resources for mining metaphor and metonymy in thought, language, and images
- Chapter 1. MetaNet 23
- Chapter 2. The tripartite typology and the Córdoba Metonymy Database 49
- Chapter 3. Metaphor in the age of mechanical production 75
- Chapter 4. VisMet and the crowd 99
- Chapter 5. MetaNet.HR 123
-
Part II. Reflecting on the risks and challenges involved in building and using repositories of figurative language
- Chapter 6. The lexical vs. corpus-based method in the study of metaphors 149
- Chapter 7. Figurative reasoning in hedged performatives 175
- Chapter 8. Mereology in the flesh 199
- Chapter 9. Metaphor repositories and cross-linguistic comparison 225
- Notes on contributors 253
- Metonymy and metaphor index 255
- Author index 257
- Subject index 261
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Fantastic metaphors and where to find them 1
-
Part I. New methods and digital resources for mining metaphor and metonymy in thought, language, and images
- Chapter 1. MetaNet 23
- Chapter 2. The tripartite typology and the Córdoba Metonymy Database 49
- Chapter 3. Metaphor in the age of mechanical production 75
- Chapter 4. VisMet and the crowd 99
- Chapter 5. MetaNet.HR 123
-
Part II. Reflecting on the risks and challenges involved in building and using repositories of figurative language
- Chapter 6. The lexical vs. corpus-based method in the study of metaphors 149
- Chapter 7. Figurative reasoning in hedged performatives 175
- Chapter 8. Mereology in the flesh 199
- Chapter 9. Metaphor repositories and cross-linguistic comparison 225
- Notes on contributors 253
- Metonymy and metaphor index 255
- Author index 257
- Subject index 261
