Modality : : issues in the semantics-pragmatics interface / / Anna Papafragou.

• Superior document: Current research in the semantics/pragmatics interface ; Volume 6
• VerfasserIn: Papafragou, Anna,
• Place / Publishing House: Bingley, England : : Emerald Publishing,, [2000]; ©2000
• Year of Publication: 2000
• Language: English
• Series: Current research in the semantics/pragmatics interface ; Volume 6.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

This volume focuses on the interplay between grammatical and pragmatic factors in the comprehension of lexically communicated meaning. It uses a case-study, modality, in order to illustrate how the plasticity of lexically conveyed information can be accounted for without assuming semantic polysemy. The author's approach to the semantics and pragmatics of the English modal verbs is developed within the relevance-theoretic framework of communication.

Table of Contents

Section and chapter headings: -- Preface -- Introduction -- The issues -- Theoretical commitments: relevance theory -- The Semantics and Pragmatics of English Modal Verbs -- Introductory remarks -- Previous analyses -- A semantic proposal -- The pragmatics of root modality -- The pragmatics of epistemic modality -- Concluding remarks -- Removing Objections to a Unitary Semantic Analysis -- Introductory remarks -- Syntax and interpretation -- Truth-conditional behaviour -- 'Speech-act' modality -- Concluding remarks -- The Acquisition of Modality -- Introductory remarks -- Psycholinguistic evidence: a review -- A developmental proposal -- A note on autism and mindblindness -- Concluding remarks -- Implications for the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface -- Introductory remarks -- Options for lexical semantics: monosemy, ambiguity, polysemy -- Inference and the plasticity of lexical concepts -- Historical and developmental perspectives -- Concluding remarks -- Conclusion -- Bibliography.