Experimental Pragmatics: The Making of a Cognitive Science

by Ira Noveck

Overview

How does a listener understand a sarcastic 'That was a wonderful speech' when the words point to a positive review? Why do students of introductory logic interpret 'Some cabs are yellow' as 'Not all cabs are yellow' when the meaning of 'some' is compatible with 'all'? Pragmatics aims to explain how listeners draw out a speaker's meaning from utterances, an astonishing feat when one considers that the words in a sentence hardly suffice for fully comprehending what the speaker intended. Given the nature of pragmatics, it is going to take the interdisciplinary firepower of many cognitive sciences - including philosophy, experimental psychology, linguistics and neuroscience - to fully appreciate this uniquely human ability. In this book, Ira Noveck, a leading pioneer in experimental pragmatics, engagingly walks the reader through the phenomena, the theoretical debates, the experiments as well as the historical development of this growing academic discipline.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107084902
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/11/2018
Series:	Key Topics in Semantics and Pragmatics
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ira Noveck is a Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique's Institut des Sciences Cognitives in Lyon. He is co-editor of the first volume on Experimental Pragmatics (2004), is responsible for creating a European research network of experimental pragmatists (called Euro-xprag), and consults with regional networks, such as xprag.de and xprag.it.

Table of Contents

1. Defining pragmatics: the what, the how and areas of disagreement; 2. Grice's monumental proposal and reactions to it; 3. The experimentalist's mindset; 4. A consideration of experimental techniques; 5. Early experimental pragmatics; 6. How logical terms can be enriched: exposing semantic-pragmatic divergences; 7. Grammatical or semantic approaches to scalar implicatures; 8. Conditionals; 9. Referring; 10. Speaking falsely and getting away with it: post-Gricean accounts of metaphor and other lexical adjustments; 11. Irony: shifting attention and reading intentions; 12. Pragmatic abilities among those with autism; 13. More topics for experimental pragmatics: an all you can eat buffet; 14. Opinionated conclusions and considerations for the future.

Editorial Reviews

'This richly illuminating guide by one of the pioneers of experimental pragmatics offers a unique insider’s view of the origins, current state and future prospects of the field. Brilliantly enjoyable, accessible and fair-minded.' Deirdre Wilson, University College London

From the Publisher