VS: RT list: inference in encoding?

  _____

Fra: Thorstein Fretheim [mailto:thorstein.fretheim@hf.ntnu.no]
Sendt: 22. januar 2009 16:36
Til: 'Mai Zaki'
Kopi: 'relevance@linguistics.ucl.ak.uk'
Emne: SV: RT list: inference in encoding?

Hi Mai,
 
I guess it all depends what kind of referring expression the speaker (S) is
producing. S will choose a linguistic form that can be expected to be
optimally relevant to the hearer (H). So an indexical will be chosen when
there's a good reason to believe H to be able to access the intended
referent via association with an antecedent (working memory), while a
definite description may be interpreted as an act of describing the referent
in the way displayed, and S then presumably expects H to be able to figure
out whether the description contributes to relevance mainly by directing H
to the intended referent (a constituent of the proposition expressed), or
mainly by directing H to a higher-level explicature (like S's attitude to
the proposition expressed), or mainly as a cue to derivation of some
implicature. S's "inferential activity" related to selection of a particular
referring expression will, I think, involve taking H's perspective
(inferences about what to permit oneself to take for granted and what not to
take for granted, etc) -- as always when we consider what the SPEAKER INFERS
in acts of encoding information.
Sorry, I have no bibliographic information to supply.
 
Best,
 
Thorstein Fretheim

  _____

Fra: owner-relevance@linguistics.ucl.ac.uk
[mailto:owner-relevance@linguistics.ucl.ac.uk] På vegne av Mai Zaki
Sendt: 22. januar 2009 15:57
Til: relevance@linguistics.ucl.ac.uk
Emne: RT list: inference in encoding?

Hello everyone,
Does anyone know of any work that has been concerned with the role of
inference during the encoding stage (for the speaker) rather than the
decoding stage (for the hearer)?
For example, what kind of inferential activity is going on in the mind of
the speaker when s/he utters a referring expression?
 
Thanks
 
Mai Zaki
 
Received on Thu Jan 22 15:38:34 2009