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Single Idea 18411

[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 5. Pragmatics / a. Contextual meaning ]

Full Idea

An enormous amount has been written about whether 'all', 'know', 'might', 'delicious', 'good', 'if, then', 'and', 'red', 'just', 'justified', 'probable', 'local', 'ready', and 'left-right' are context-sensitive.

Gist of Idea

It is proposed that a huge range of linguistic items are context-sensitive

Source

Cappelen,H/Dever,Josh (The Inessential Indexical [2013], 02.3)

Book Ref

Cappelen,H/Dever,J: 'The Inessential Indexical' [OUP 2013], p.27


A Reaction

The clearest way to approach these things is ask what the (informal) domain of quantification is for that particular context. The domain can shift in the course of a sentence.


The 10 ideas with the same theme [aspects of meaning which are decided by context]:

A good way of explaining an expression is saying what conditions make its contexts true [Quine]
We say there is 'no alternative' in all sorts of contexts, and there are many different grounds for it [Harré/Madden]
People slide from contextual variability all the way to contextual determination [Bach]
'Semantic type coercion' is selecting the reading of a word to make the best sense [Hofweber]
The Naive view of communication is that hearers acquire exactly the thoughts of the speaker [Recanati]
The domain of an assertion is restricted by context, either semantically or pragmatically [Rayo/Uzquiano]
A sentence can be meaningful, and yet lack a truth value [Magidor]
In the pragmatic approach, presuppositions are assumed in a context, for successful assertion [Magidor]
The basic Kaplan view is that there is truth-conditional content, and contextual character [Cappelen/Dever]
It is proposed that a huge range of linguistic items are context-sensitive [Cappelen/Dever]