The Semantics-Pragmatics Controversy

Die Sprachkenntnis ist ein überaus ökonomisches Wissenssystem, das zur Produktion und Interpretation von Äußerungen gewöhnlich nur beiträgt, was nicht durch die übrigen konzeptuellen Systeme geliefert wird. Language, Context and Cognition untersucht diese konzeptuelle Unterspezifikation und Kontextabhängigkeit in der Grammatik und Textproduktion in enger Kooperation der Linguistik  mit  Kognitionswissenschaft, Logik und Pragmatik.

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Currently, there is a great number of approaches to the semantics-pragmatics distinction on the market. This book is unique in that it offers a comprehensive overview, comparison and critical evaluation of these approaches. Taking as a starting point the notorious difficulty of differentiating so-called literal from non-literal (or figurative) meaning, it covers a wide range of the key current topics in semantics and pragmatics, e.g., the saying/meaning distinction, minimalism vs. contextualism, unarticulated constituents, indexicalism, (generalised) conversational implicatures, speech acts, levels of meaning in interpretation, the role of context in interpretation, the nature of lexical meaning. Notably, rather than taking a solely theoretical perspective, the book integrates psycho- and neurolinguistic perspectives, considering experimental results concerning the (differences in) processing of the various types of meaning covered. In terms of topics covered and perspectives taken, it is equally well suited for undergraduate as well as postgraduate students of linguistics and/or philosophy of language.