Chapter 7 Context and inference

Chapter 7 Context and inference

1. Deixis and kinds of deixis

   • The deixis is a borrowed term derived from a Greek word, meaning pointing to or picking up.
   • Indexicals: When we indicate something. E.g. now, then, I, come, go etc.
   • Spatial deixis is deictic reference to a location relative to the location of a participant in the speech event, typically the speaker.
   • Person deixis Person deixis is deictic reference to the participant role of a referent, such as: the speaker, the addressee, and referents which are neither speaker nor addressee.
   • Social deixis is reference to the social characteristics of, or distinctions between, the participants or referents in a speech event.
   • Time deixis concerns itself with the various times involved in and referred to in an utterance, such as, tonight, last week, yesterday, before, after etc.

2. Discourse as context

   • Knowledge as Context
     • speaker choosing how to make reference to an entity must make estimations of what her hearers know.
     • Discourse as context
       • the topic is a form of knowledge which then influences the way they interpret the meaning of what they subsequently hear
       • Background as context
         • as context our third type of knowledge has been called many things, including back- ground, common-sense, encyclopedic, sociocultural real-world know- ledge.

3. The Maxims of Conversation

   • The maxim of quality
     • Do not say what you believe to be false. 2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
     • The Maxims of Quantity
       • Make you contribution as informative as is required. (for the current purposes of the exchange)D o not make your contribution more informative than is required.
   • The Maxims of Relation
     • Be relevant
   • The Maxims of Manner
     • Avoid obscurity of expression Avoid ambiguity Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity) Be orderly

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