Chapter 7: Context and Inference

Chapter 7: Context and Inference

1. elements of language that are so contectually bound are called deictic, from the noun deixis

2. deictic elements may also include information about motion towards and away from the speaker

3. when semantic distinctions are obligatory in this way we will say that they are grammaticalized

4. systems of spartial deixis are also used in other domains, we could call them discourse or textual deixis

5. the pronoun systems of some languages also grammaticalize information about the social identities orrelationships of the participants in the conversation is called social deixis

6. the use of technical terms like short-hands, metonymy and synecdoche has the disadvantage that it suggests that there are rhetorical devices

7. while the speaker makes guesses about the knowledge her listeners have, there is no certainity

8. the already present knowledge is called given, and the additional information, new

9. there are other inferential links routinely made between sentences called bridging inferences

10. cooperative principle: a kind of tacit agreement by speakers and listeners to cooperate in communication

11. the cooperative principle often forms an important part of the literal language theory