Rosales Sequeiros Xosé. Linguistic Meaning and Non-Truth-Conditionality

Peter Lang, 2012 — vii, 258 pages. — (Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics). — ISBN: 978‐3‐0353‐0264‐6.This book offers a new perspective on current semantic theory by analysing key aspects of linguistic meaning and non-truth-conditional semantics. It applies non-truth-conditional semantics to various areas of language and critically considers earlier approaches to the study of semantic meaning, such as truth-conditional semantics, Speech Act theory and Gricean conventional implicatures. The author argues that those earlier approaches to linguistic semantics do not stand up to close scrutiny and are subject to a number of counterexamples, indicating that they are insufficient for a comprehensive and unified account of linguistic semantics.An alternative framework is then presented based on recent developments in the field, demonstrating that it is possible to provide a unified account of linguistic semantics by making two fundamental distinctions between (a) conceptual and procedural meaning and (b) explicit and implicit communication. These two distinctions, combined with the various levels of representation available in linguistic communication, allow researchers to capture the variety of linguistic meaning encountered in natural language. The study includes a discussion of a number of areas within linguistic semantics, including sentence adverbials, parentheticals, discourse/pragmatic connectives, discourse particles, interjections and mood indicators.Traditional Approaches to Non-Truth-Conditional Meaning
Introduction: Linguistic Semantics and Meaning
Truth-Conditional and Non-Truth-Conditional Meaning
Speech Acts and Non-Truth-Conditional Semantics
Conventional Implicatures and Non-Truth-Conditional Semantics
Part II New Developments in Linguistic Semantics
Conceptual and Procedural Meaning in Linguistic Semantics
Explicitness and Implicitness in Linguistic Semantics
Applications of Semantic Theory to Non-Truth-Conditional Meaning
Conceptual Meaning, Adverbials and Parentheticals
Procedural Meaning and Connectives
Procedural Meaning, Discourse Particles and Interjections
Linguistic Semantics and Mood
Procedural Meaning, Interpretive Use and Mood
Conclusion: An Explanatory Account of Non-Truth-Conditional Meaning