Reasoning with topoi in dialogue

Abstract:

Interacting with others frequently involves making common-sense inferences linking context, background knowledge and beliefs to utterances in the dialogue. We show that topoi are often essential to the production and interpretation of utterances involving inference -- even assuming overarching principles of pragmatic reasoning such as Gricean maxims or the principle of relevance. Drawing on topoi allows a speaker to communicate implicit meaning and sometimes also social meaning.

Research areas:

• Dialogue
• Reasoning

Year:

2021

Type of Publication:

In Proceedings

Book title:

17th International Pragmatics Conference