Assertion

Assertion - the act of presenting what we say as true--is at the centre of human social life. Yet what might seem a relatively simple phenomenon has proved difficult to define or characterise successfully. Is assertion just another speech act, on a par with promising, ordering and the like, or is it more fundamental? How is assertion related to belief? Does the declarative mood have a special role to play in the correct analysis of assertion or can assertion be characterised independently of linguistic form? What is the relationship between what a speaker asserts and her main point? All these questions are addressed in this book as the author develops a novel account of the pragmatic processes involved in assertion and the role of the declarative mood in those processes. In doing so, he synthesizes a range of perspectives on assertion, drawing on the work of philosophers, linguists and cognitive scientists.

Year

2010

Language

English

Series

Palgrave studies in pragmatics, language, and cognition

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Editions

1

Pages

224

ISBN

9780230573994

Data source: Wikidata