Robyn Carston

Bio: Robyn Carston is an academic researcher from University College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Pragmatics & Relevance theory. The author has an hindex of 34, co-authored 68 publications receiving 6354 citations. Previous affiliations of Robyn Carston include Mersin University & University of Oslo.

Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of Explicit Communication

Abstract: Introduction. 1. Pragmatics and Linguistic Underdeterminacy: Saying and Meaning. The Underdeterminacy Thesis. Eternal Sentences and Effability. Metarepresentation, Relevance and Pragmatic Inference. Underdeterminacy, Truth Conditions and the Semantics/Pragmatics Distinction. Radical Underdeterminacy and the Background. Underdeterminacy of Thought? Summary. 2. The Explicit/Implicit Distinction: Semantics/Pragmatics Distinction. Grice: Saying/Implicating. Sperber and Wilson: Relevance-theoretic Distinctions. Travis and Recanati: Enriched 'What is Said'. Bach: What is Said/Impliciture/Implicature. Pragmatic Meaning: Enrichment or Implicature? Postscript: Hidden Indexicals or 'Free Enrichment? Conclusion: From Generative Semantics to Pro-active Pragmatics. 3. The Pragmatics of 'And'-Conjunction: Preserving the Truth-functionality of 'And'. A Relevance-based Pragmatics of Conjunction. The Semantic Alternatives. Cognitive Fundamentals: Causality and Explanation. Relevance Relations and Units of Processing. Processing Effort and Iconicity. Residual Issues. Conclusion: From Generalized Conversational Implicature. 4. The Pragmatics of Negation: Some Data and Some Distinctions. Semantic Ambiguity Analyses. Strong Pragmatic Analyses. 'Presupposition'-cancelling Negation and Metalinguistic Negation. The Pragmatics of 'Presupposition'-Denial. Conclusion: From Multiple Semantic Ambiguity to Univocal Semantics and Pragmatic Enrichment. 5. The Pragmatics of On-line Concept Construction: Encoded Concepts and Communicated Concepts. A Symmetrical Account of Narrowing and Broadening. Metaphor: Loose Use and Ad Hoc Concepts. Word Meaning and Concepts. Conclusion: The Long Road from Linguistically Encoded Meaning to the Thought(s) Explicitly Communicated. Appendix 1: Relevance Theory Glossary. Appendix 2: Gricean Conversational Principles. References. Index.

A unitary approach to lexical pragmatics: relevance, inference and ad hoc concepts.

Abstract: According to recent work in the new field of lexical pragmatics, the meanings of words are frequently pragmatically adjusted and fine-tuned in context, so that their contribution to the proposition expressed is different from their lexically encoded sense. Well-known examples include lexical narrowing (e.g. ‘drink’ used to mean ALCOHOLIC DRINK), approximation (or loosening) (e.g. ‘flat’ used to mean RELATIVELY FLAT) and metaphorical extension (e.g. ‘bulldozer’ used to mean FORCEFUL PERSON). These three phenomena are often studied in isolation from each other and given quite distinct kinds of explanation. In this chapter, we will propose a more unified account. We will try to show that narrowing, loosening and metaphorical extension are simply different outcomes of a single interpretive process which creates an ad hoc concept, or occasion-specific sense, based on interaction among encoded concepts, contextual information and pragmatic expectations or principles. We will outline an inferential account of the lexical adjustment process using the framework of relevance theory, and compare it with some alternative accounts.

Informativeness, relevance and scalar implicature

Abstract: 1. Introduction The main topic of this paper is the phenomenon of scalar implicature. Typical examples are given in (1)-(4): (1) a. Bill has got some of Chomsky's papers. b. The speaker believes that Bill hasn't got all of Chomsky's papers. (2) a. There will be five of us for dinner tonight. b. There won't be more than five of us for dinner tonight. (3) a. X: I like Mary. She's intelligent and good-hearted. Y: She's intelligent. b. Y doesn't think Mary is good-hearted. (4) a. She won't necessarily get the job. b. She will possibly get the job. The idea is that, in a wide range of contexts, utterances of the sentences in (a) in each case will communicate the assumption in (b) in each case (or something closely akin to it, there being a certain amount of contextually governed variation in the speaker's propositional attitude and so the scope of the negation). These scalar inferences are taken to be one kind of (generalized) conversational implicature. As is the case with pragmatic inference quite generally, these inferences are defeasible (cancellable), which distinguishes them from entailments, and they are nondetachable, which distinguishes them from conventional implicatures. The core idea is that the choice of a weaker element from a scale of elements ordered in terms of semantic strength (that is, numbers of entailments) tends to implicate that, as far as the speaker knows, none of the stronger elements in the scale holds in this instance. The pattern is quite clear in (1) and (2), where the weak/strong alternatives are some/all and five/six respectively. In the case of (3), the stronger expression must be intelligent and good-hearted which entails intelligent; what Y's utterance implicates is that Mary does not have the two properties: intelligence and good-heartedness, so that, given the proposition expressed (Mary is intelligent) it follows, deductively, that she is not good-hearted, in Y's opinion. The example in (4) involves a scale inversion due to the negation, so that the weak/strong alternatives are not necessarily/not possibly; the negation which the scalar inference generates creates a double negation, which is eliminated giving possibly. Accounting for these sorts of examples, and more complicated scalar cases, has been, and still is, a central concern in neo-Gricean pragmatics (see references to Horn, Gazdar, Levinson, Hirschberg, Matsumoto, Welker, van Kuppevelt), but it has received relatively little attention in relevance-theoretic pragmatics. However, in the recent Postface …

打磨Using Language,倡导新理念

Abstract: 人教版高中英语新课程教材中,语言运用（Using Language）是每个单元必不可少的部分,提供了围绕单元中心话题的听、说、读、写的综合性练习,是单元中心话题的延续和升华.如何设计Using Language部分的教学,使自己的教学模式既不落俗套,又能真正体现新课程标准所倡导的教学理念,正是广大一线英语教师一直努力探索的问题.

Presumptive Meanings: The Theory of Generalized Conversational Implicature

Abstract: From the Publisher: When we speak, we mean more than we say. In this book Stephen C. Levinson explains some general processes that underlie presumptions in communication. This is the first extended discussion of preferred interpretation in language understanding, integrating much of the best research in linguistic pragmatics from the last two decades. Levinson outlines a theory of presumptive meanings, or preferred interpretations, governing the use of language, building on the idea of implicature developed by the philosopher H. P. Grice. Some of the indirect information carried by speech is presumed by default because it is carried by general principles, rather than inferred from specific assumptions about intention and context. Levinson examines this class of general pragmatic inferences in detail, showing how they apply to a wide range of linguistic constructions. This approach has radical consequences for how we think about language and communication.

Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of Explicit Communication

Abstract: Introduction. 1. Pragmatics and Linguistic Underdeterminacy: Saying and Meaning. The Underdeterminacy Thesis. Eternal Sentences and Effability. Metarepresentation, Relevance and Pragmatic Inference. Underdeterminacy, Truth Conditions and the Semantics/Pragmatics Distinction. Radical Underdeterminacy and the Background. Underdeterminacy of Thought? Summary. 2. The Explicit/Implicit Distinction: Semantics/Pragmatics Distinction. Grice: Saying/Implicating. Sperber and Wilson: Relevance-theoretic Distinctions. Travis and Recanati: Enriched 'What is Said'. Bach: What is Said/Impliciture/Implicature. Pragmatic Meaning: Enrichment or Implicature? Postscript: Hidden Indexicals or 'Free Enrichment? Conclusion: From Generative Semantics to Pro-active Pragmatics. 3. The Pragmatics of 'And'-Conjunction: Preserving the Truth-functionality of 'And'. A Relevance-based Pragmatics of Conjunction. The Semantic Alternatives. Cognitive Fundamentals: Causality and Explanation. Relevance Relations and Units of Processing. Processing Effort and Iconicity. Residual Issues. Conclusion: From Generalized Conversational Implicature. 4. The Pragmatics of Negation: Some Data and Some Distinctions. Semantic Ambiguity Analyses. Strong Pragmatic Analyses. 'Presupposition'-cancelling Negation and Metalinguistic Negation. The Pragmatics of 'Presupposition'-Denial. Conclusion: From Multiple Semantic Ambiguity to Univocal Semantics and Pragmatic Enrichment. 5. The Pragmatics of On-line Concept Construction: Encoded Concepts and Communicated Concepts. A Symmetrical Account of Narrowing and Broadening. Metaphor: Loose Use and Ad Hoc Concepts. Word Meaning and Concepts. Conclusion: The Long Road from Linguistically Encoded Meaning to the Thought(s) Explicitly Communicated. Appendix 1: Relevance Theory Glossary. Appendix 2: Gricean Conversational Principles. References. Index.