What’s wrong with Gricean pragmatics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2019/10/0001/000363Keywords:
Gricean pragmatics, mentalism, communicative intentionsAbstract
The view that human communication is essentially a matter of sharing mental states, especially communicative intentions, has been immensely influential in pragmatics and beyond. Drawing together and elaborating various lines of criticism, I argue that this influence has been mostly harmful; in particular, it has misdirected research on the evolution and development of language and communication.
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