Indicating and referring : a speech act approach to communicative meaning
It is a standard and generally accepted view that semantics deals with context-independent truth-conditional meaning and pragmatics deals with context-dependent non-truth-conditional meaning. This thesis redefines the dichotomy between semantics and pragmatics on the basis of conventionality of meaning, and provides a theory of semantic meaning where meanings are described as what a speaker expresses by means of conventionalised linguistic devices. In Chapter 1, the standard dichotomy of semantics and pragmatics is introduced from a historical perspective concerning how the field of pragmatics has been established, and problems of the dichotomy are discussed. A redefinition of the dichotomy based on the conventionality of meaning is proposed. In the extended semantic domain, not only does a speaker express an assertion about the world, i.e. truth-conditional meanings, but also indicates the speech situation which the speaker shares with the hearer. In the rest of the thesis, a theory of semantic meanings in this extended domain is developed. Chapters 2 and 3 develop a theory which concerns the meanings a speaker expresses in asserting something about the world by means of linguistic conventions. In Chapter
Oishi, Etsuko
Indicating and referring : a speech act approach to communicative meaning. It is a standard and generally accepted view that semantics deals with context-independent truth-conditional meaning and pragmatics deals with context-dependent non-truth-conditional meaning. This thesis redefines the dichotomy between semantics and pragmatics on the basis of conventionality of meaning, and provides a theory of semantic meaning where meanings are described as what a speaker expresses by means of conventionalised linguistic devices. In Chapter 1, the standard dichotomy of semantics and pragmatics is introduced from a historical perspective concerning how the field of pragmatics has been established, and problems of the dichotomy are discussed. A redefinition of the dichotomy based on the conventionality of meaning is proposed. In the extended semantic domain, not only does a speaker express an assertion about the world, i.e. truth-conditional meanings, but also indicates the speech situation which the speaker shares with the hearer. In the rest of the thesis, a theory of semantic meanings in this extended domain is developed. Chapters 2 and 3 develop a theory which concerns the meanings a speaker expresses in asserting something about the world by means of linguistic conventions. In Chapter
indicating refer speech_act communicative meaning standard generally_accept view semantics deal context independent truth_conditional meaning pragmatic deal context_dependent non_truth conditional meaning dichotomy semantics_pragmatic basis meaning provide theory semantic meaning meaning describe speaker express mean conventionalise linguistic device standard dichotomy semantics_pragmatic introduce historical_perspective concern field pragmatic establish problem dichotomy discuss redefinition dichotomy base meaning propose extend semantic domain speaker express assertion world truth_conditional meaning also_indicate speech situation speaker share hearer rest theory semantic meaning extend domain developed develop_theory concern meaning speaker express assert something world mean linguistic_convention