Jennifer Greenwood
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029780
- eISBN:
- 9780262329828
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029780.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter focuses on the common processing mechanisms of literal, metaphorical and loose talk. It is argued that the processing involved is inferential because it is always context-dependent. ...
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This chapter focuses on the common processing mechanisms of literal, metaphorical and loose talk. It is argued that the processing involved is inferential because it is always context-dependent. Analyses demonstrate that language production and comprehension is always context-dependent and that the tighter the world that interlocutors jointly inhabit, the looser their talk can afford to be. Sperber and Wilson’s relevance-theoretic approach is adopted as the primary analytic device. Relevance theory construes all verbal communication as governed by a principle of relevance and not the conventional construal of governance by maxim, rule or convention of truthfulness. Analyses suggest that all verbal communication is a transcranial achievement.Less
This chapter focuses on the common processing mechanisms of literal, metaphorical and loose talk. It is argued that the processing involved is inferential because it is always context-dependent. Analyses demonstrate that language production and comprehension is always context-dependent and that the tighter the world that interlocutors jointly inhabit, the looser their talk can afford to be. Sperber and Wilson’s relevance-theoretic approach is adopted as the primary analytic device. Relevance theory construes all verbal communication as governed by a principle of relevance and not the conventional construal of governance by maxim, rule or convention of truthfulness. Analyses suggest that all verbal communication is a transcranial achievement.
