Conversationally Relevant Descriptions
نویسنده
چکیده
Conversationally relevant descriptions are definite descriptions that are not merely tools for the identification of a referent, but are also crucial to the discourse in other respects. I analyze the uses of such descriptions in assertions as conveying a particular ~ype of conversational implicatures. Such implicstures can be represented within the framework of possible world semantics. The analysis is extended to non-assertive illocutionary acts on the one hand, and to indefinite descriptions on the other.
منابع مشابه
Reference and Computation
Kronfeld's book attacks the problem of referring: How do speakers reveal what entities they are talking about? How do they choose particular referring expressions in their utterances? These questions are asked from the perspective of a plan-based theory of speech acts and communication. Utterances are viewed as acts that are intended by speakers to have certain effects on the addressees, and on...
متن کاملStructurally De ned Alternatives and Lexicalizations of XOR
In his recent paper on the symmetry problem Roni Katzir argues that “the only relevant factor” for the calculation of any Quantity implicature “is structure” (, ). My rst aim here is to refute Katzir by providing three examples that show that structural complexity is irrelevant to the calculation of some Quantity implicatures. My second aim is to cast doubt on the advisability of assumin...
متن کاملTowards an Infrastructure for Knowledge Communities
In this position paper we summarize our efforts to design, implement, and deploy the infrastructure for conversationally-based knowledge communities. We believe that managing knowledge or expertise really means providing an on-line workplace within which users can engage socially with one another, and, in the process, discover, develop, evolve, and explicate knowledge relevant to shared project...
متن کاملEngaging Conversationally: A Method for Engaging Students in Their Learning and Examining Instruction
Under the principles of the scholarship of teaching and learning and action research this study sought to examine how an instructor created and facilitated engagement in his students. The research was primarily undertaken to further define the middle range theory of mutual engagement. Theoretical sampling was used to analyze approximately 100 pieces of data that included instructor notes, teach...
متن کاملThe first steps towards word combination : The contribution of conversation and of expressive options
The change from single to multiword speech has often been related to lexical growth (e.g. recently, Anisfeld et al., 1998; Caselli et al., 1999) and to children's production of transitional phenomena, in particular, Successive Single-Word Utterances hitherto SSWUs (e.g., Bloom, 1973; Greenfield & Smith, 1976; Ochs et al., 1979; Scollon, 1979; Veneziano et al., 1990). This paper aims to determin...
متن کامل