Linguistic Meaning, Truth Conditions and Relevance: The Case of Concessives (Palgrave Studies in Pragmatics, Languages and Cognition)

Many linguists and philosophers of language explain linguistic meaning in terms of truth conditions. This book focuses on the meanings of expressions that escape such truth-conditional treatment, in particular the concessives: but , even if , and although . Corinne Iten proposes semantic analyses of these expressions based on the cognitive framework of relevance theory. A thoroughly cognitive approach to linguistic meaning is presented in which linguistic forms are seen as mapping onto mental entities, rather than individuals and properties in the real world. Researchers and advanced students in pragmatics will find this account lucid, clear and accessible. The traditional approach to linguistic meaning in linguistics and philosophy uses the notion of truth to capture meaning. Most commonly, the meaning of a sentence is captured by stating its truth condition. The meaning of an individual word is then captured by specifying the contribution it makes to the truth conditions of the sentences in which it occurs. This book focuses on the existence of 'non-truth-conditional' expressions, that is, meaningful linguistic expressions that do not affect the truth conditions of the sentences in which they occur and whose meanings cannot be captured in truth-conditional terms. The first part of the book discusses the relationship between language and truth, gives an overview of ways in which 'non-truth-conditional' expressions have been dealt with in truth-conditional theories and argues in favour of the cognitive approach to linguistic meaning of Relevance Theory. The second part supports the arguments of the first with specific analyses of the 'concessive' expressions but, although and even if The main argument of this book is that the notion of truth plays no role in speaker-hearers' interpretation of linguistic utterances and that it is not needed for theoretical accounts of linguistic meaning either. The theoretical argument is developed in the first part, while the second part supports it with cognitive relevance-theoretic, rather than truth-based, analyses of the 'concessive' expressions but, although and even if . Front Matter....Pages i-xi Linguistic Meaning and Truth Conditions....Pages 1-27 Approaches to ‘Non-Truth-Conditional’ Meaning....Pages 28-61 Relevance Theory and ‘Non-Truth-Conditional’ Meaning....Pages 62-105 Denial, Contrast and Correction: The Meaning of but....Pages 106-157 Concession and Denial: The Meaning of although....Pages 158-188 Even and even if....Pages 189-233 Conclusion....Pages 234-238 Back Matter....Pages 239-265 "This book focuses on the existence of non-truth-conditional expressions, that is, meaningful linguistic expressions that do not affect the truth conditions of the sentences in which they occur and whose meanings cannot be captured in 'truth-conditional' terms."--Jacket Iten argues that the notion of truth plays no role in speaker-hearers' interpretation of linguistic utterances & that it is not needed for theoretical accounts of linguistic meaning either