Conversational Exculpature

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10702147
AutoresDaniel Hoek (0000-0002-5331-2409, New York University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen127
Número2
Páginas151-196
Fecha de publicación2018-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Philosophical Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0031-8108 • E-ISSN: 1558-1470
EditorialDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00318108-4326594
OpenAlexW2800427342
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20
Referencias citadas40

Conversational exculpature is a pragmatic process whereby information is subtracted from, rather than added to, what the speaker literally says. This pragmatic content subtraction explains why we can say “Rob is six feet tall” without implying that Rob is between 5 ′11.99′′ and 6 ′0.01′′ tall, and why we can say “Ellen has a hat like the one Sherlock Holmes always wears” without implying Holmes exists or has a hat. This article presents a simple formalism for understanding this pragmatic mechanism, specifying how, in context, the result of such subtractions is determined. And it shows how the resulting theory of conversational exculpature accounts for a varied range of linguistic phenomena. A distinctive feature of the approach is the crucial role played by the question under discussion in determining the result of a given exculpature

Contemporary philosophy · Epistemology · Linguistics · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy