Presuppositions as pragmemes: The case of exemplification acts
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Alessandro Capone
Alessandro Capone is Full Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of Messina. He is editor-in-chief of the Springer series
Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy, and Psychology and a member of the editorial board of three top international pragmatics journals. Dr Capone has published several papers in many important pragmatics and linguistics journals. He has edited numerous volumes in linguistics and pragmatics.
Abstract
This paper is an example of how contextual information interacts with the interpretation of noun phrases (NPs) in discourse. When we encounter an NP escorted by the definite article or a proper name, the expectation is triggered that the speaker is referring to some referent x that the hearer can normally identify. Strawson and Russell have agreed that a referent must be associated with a definite description so that the assertion containing it can be said to be true. In the case where a description does not refer to anything, the assertion is considered by Russell to be false, while Strawson says that the issue of truth or falsity does not arise. In this paper, we examine a case in which contextual information interacts with the interpretation of NPs in discourse and the hearer is not expected to identify a referent when hearing a proper name. In this case, the issue of truth or falsity does not arise, because the hearer does not identify the referent. In fact, s/he does not intend for the discourse to about a referent at all. These situations are primarily represented by sentences uttered during the course of a grammar lecture, in which the lecturer is explaining a rule of language and does not focus on external reality. The hearers are aware of this focus and do not process the NP (in general a proper name) to identify a specific referent. This discourse is of three types, which will be discussed at the end of this paper.
About the author
Alessandro Capone is Full Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of Messina. He is editor-in-chief of the Springer series Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy, and Psychology and a member of the editorial board of three top international pragmatics journals. Dr Capone has published several papers in many important pragmatics and linguistics journals. He has edited numerous volumes in linguistics and pragmatics.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Impoliteness in negative online consumer reviews: A cross-language and cross-sector comparison
- Intercultural and interpersonal communication failures: analyzing hostile interactions among British and Spanish university students on WhatsApp
- Presuppositions as pragmemes: The case of exemplification acts
- Forum
- How to do things with images: the editor, the cartoonist, and the reader
- Book Reviews
- Karen Grainger and Sara Mills: Directness and indirectness across cultures
- Maria Dasli and Adriana Raquel Diaz: The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Impoliteness in negative online consumer reviews: A cross-language and cross-sector comparison
- Intercultural and interpersonal communication failures: analyzing hostile interactions among British and Spanish university students on WhatsApp
- Presuppositions as pragmemes: The case of exemplification acts
- Forum
- How to do things with images: the editor, the cartoonist, and the reader
- Book Reviews
- Karen Grainger and Sara Mills: Directness and indirectness across cultures
- Maria Dasli and Adriana Raquel Diaz: The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice
