Question 1

What are the three steps to the recovery of total signification for Grice?

Accepted Answer

1) Grasping the conventional meaning.
2) Saturating the indexicals, adding conversational implicatures
3) Calculating the non-conventional implicatures

Question 2

At what stage in Grice's three steps is speculation about the intentions/beliefs/experiences of the speaker involved?

Accepted Answer

Only when calculating the non-conventional implicatures. (Step 3).

Question 3

What is a bottom-up/mandatory/saturating pragmatic process?

Accepted Answer

This is the provision of a semantic value to a context dependent term.

Question 4

What is a ‘non-mandatory’/ ‘top down’/ ‘free’ pragmatic process?

Accepted Answer

This is the modulation of total signification not provided by the syntax or conventional meaning.

Question 5

In the context of pragmatics, what is literalism?

Accepted Answer

The view that a token of a nat lang expression has a literal meaning determined by convention and bottom-up processes. This token serves as input for pragmatic processing.

Question 6

What is a minimal proposition?

Accepted Answer

This is the token recovered by mandatory processing.

Question 7

What is minimalism?

Accepted Answer

A form of literalism which identifies the literal meaning with the mininal proposition recovered from bottom up processing.

Question 8

When does a minimal proposition carry an unarticulated constituent?

Accepted Answer

iff it contains an element which is not present in the logical syntax of the proposition. (Assuming a structured entity view of propositions).

Question 9

What is a hidden indexical/variable?

Accepted Answer

An indexical/variable present in the logical form, but not present in the phonetic form.

Question 10

Can minimalism allow unarticulated constituents?

Accepted Answer

trick question! there are two forms, one which does and one which does not. Some minimalists admit only syntacticallyreal constituents, others allow unarticulated ones.

Question 11

What aspect of Minimalism does contextualism reject?

Accepted Answer

The commitment to the view that a proposition strictly and literally says some thing. Meaning includes non-mandatory pragmatic processes.

Question 12

Cmplete the  argument for contextualism? 

The most straightforward ‘token sentence + saturation in context story’ yields a complete proposition. BUT this is not what is inuitively said AND [blank]. SO, the extra inuitive meaning is whats said.

Accepted Answer

It would be a distortion to treat this as a case of implicature.

Question 13

What recourse does the minimalist have against the example-driven argument for contextualism?

Accepted Answer

To claim that the 'strict and literal sentence' ie. = token+saturation, contains an unarticulated element.

Question 14

Why does the minimalist response to the example driven argument fail?.

Accepted Answer

There are cases where what is inuititely said DOES match what is literally said, without any need for extra augmentation. The minimalist has to explain why non-mandatory pragmatic processes sometimes occur.

Question 15

What warrants the minimalist saying that the 'unarticulated' component/the non-mandatory pragmatic component, cannot be an implicature?

Accepted Answer

Both the speaker and the hearer need to be aware of conversational implication as something seperate and added. It is taken for granted, but it is not at the same level as strict and literal meaning. ("Cancelability").

Question 16

What is the 'appeal to automatic understanding' argument for contextualism?

Accepted Answer

Minimalism's minimal propositions are saturated automatically. But some contextual factors require knowledge of the situition, like the resolution of demonstratives.

Question 17

What is the modularity argument for minimalism?

Accepted Answer

1 Semantic competence is modular (unconscious, encapsulatedm fast, automatic and domain specific).
2 Total signification is global and takes the modules as input. 
3 Minimalism reflects this division of labour.

Question 18

What is the stability argument for minimalism? Starting with:

Observation: There are sentences true in some contexts, but not in others.

Accepted Answer

[FILL IN]

Question 19

What are the relevance theorists two principles of relevance.

Accepted Answer

-> Cognitive
Human cognition seeks to maximize relevance.
> Communicative
Every apparently lingustic stimulus conveys a presumption of its own sufficent relevance.

Question 20

How do the relevance theorists define relevance?

Accepted Answer

"Positive cognitive effect".

PHL451 Q7

PHL451 Contextualism and Minimalism

Question	Answer
What are the three steps to the recovery of total signification for Grice?	1) Grasping the conventional meaning. 2) Saturating the indexicals, adding conversational implicatures 3) Calculating the non-conventional implicatures
At what stage in Grice's three steps is speculation about the intentions/beliefs/experiences of the speaker involved?	Only when calculating the non-conventional implicatures. (Step 3).
What is a bottom-up/mandatory/saturating pragmatic process?	This is the provision of a semantic value to a context dependent term.
What is a ‘non-mandatory’/ ‘top down’/ ‘free’ pragmatic process?	This is the modulation of total signification not provided by the syntax or conventional meaning.
In the context of pragmatics, what is literalism?	The view that a token of a nat lang expression has a literal meaning determined by convention and bottom-up processes. This token serves as input for pragmatic processing.
What is a minimal proposition?	This is the token recovered by mandatory processing.
What is minimalism?	A form of literalism which identifies the literal meaning with the mininal proposition recovered from bottom up processing.
When does a minimal proposition carry an unarticulated constituent?	iff it contains an element which is not present in the logical syntax of the proposition. (Assuming a structured entity view of propositions).
What is a hidden indexical/variable?	An indexical/variable present in the logical form, but not present in the phonetic form.
Can minimalism allow unarticulated constituents?	trick question! there are two forms, one which does and one which does not. Some minimalists admit only syntacticallyreal constituents, others allow unarticulated ones.
What aspect of Minimalism does contextualism reject?	The commitment to the view that a proposition strictly and literally says some thing. Meaning includes non-mandatory pragmatic processes.
Cmplete the argument for contextualism? The most straightforward ‘token sentence + saturation in context story’ yields a complete proposition. BUT this is not what is inuitively said AND [blank]. SO, the extra inuitive meaning is whats said.	It would be a distortion to treat this as a case of implicature.
What recourse does the minimalist have against the example-driven argument for contextualism?	To claim that the 'strict and literal sentence' ie. = token+saturation, contains an unarticulated element.
Why does the minimalist response to the example driven argument fail?.	There are cases where what is inuititely said DOES match what is literally said, without any need for extra augmentation. The minimalist has to explain why non-mandatory pragmatic processes sometimes occur.
What warrants the minimalist saying that the 'unarticulated' component/the non-mandatory pragmatic component, cannot be an implicature?	Both the speaker and the hearer need to be aware of conversational implication as something seperate and added. It is taken for granted, but it is not at the same level as strict and literal meaning. ("Cancelability").
What is the 'appeal to automatic understanding' argument for contextualism?	Minimalism's minimal propositions are saturated automatically. But some contextual factors require knowledge of the situition, like the resolution of demonstratives.
What is the modularity argument for minimalism?	1 Semantic competence is modular (unconscious, encapsulatedm fast, automatic and domain specific). 2 Total signification is global and takes the modules as input. 3 Minimalism reflects this division of labour.
What is the stability argument for minimalism? Starting with: Observation: There are sentences true in some contexts, but not in others.	[FILL IN]
What are the relevance theorists two principles of relevance.	-> Cognitive Human cognition seeks to maximize relevance. > Communicative Every apparently lingustic stimulus conveys a presumption of its own sufficent relevance.
How do the relevance theorists define relevance?	"Positive cognitive effect".

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