Context and inference

Context and inference

1. Deixis

   • Person
     • You, I, He, She, We, They
   • Time
     • Before, recently, yesterday, later, tomorrow, soon
   • Space
     • There, here
   • Languages vary in the type of semantics information that is obligatory included in deictic terms. When semantic distinctions are obligatory in this way we will say that they are grammaticalized.
   • Social deixis
     • The pronoun systems of some languages also grammaticalize information about the social identities of relationships of the participants in the conversations.

2. Reference and Context

   • Metonymy
     • The cover-up extends to the Oval Office
   • Synecdoche
     • Who were all those suits drinking in the pub last night?
   • Short hands
     • It’s a struggle keeping the barnacles from the crops

3. Inference

   • Listeners actively participate in the construction of meaning, in particular using inferences to fill out the text towards an interpretation of speaker meaning.
     • The plane was late, the hotel wasn’t fully built, there were crowds everywhere she went. I think it really disappointed her.

4. Conversational implicature

   • Maxims
     • The Maxim of Quality
       • Try to make your contribution one that is true .
     • The Maxim of Relevance
       • Make your contributions relevant
     • The Maxim of Manner
       • Be perspicuous, and specifically
     • Flouting

5. Discourse as context

   • The talk itself, often called the discourse, as a kind of context.
     • a: Who moved these chairs? b: Ronan did.