Gibbs R W, Moise J F
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz 95064, USA.
Cognition. 1997 Jan;62(1):51-74. doi: 10.1016/s0010-0277(96)00724-x.
A central claim in cognitive science is that speakers often say things which underdetermine what they imply by their use of utterances in context. For example, in uttering Jane has three children a speaker might only say that Jane has at least three children and may have more than three, but the speaker's utterance implicates that Jane has exactly three children. Many scholars following Grice have argued from such observations that pragmatics plays only a small part in determining what speakers say, as opposed to what they conversationally imply or implicate. We examined people's intuitions about the distinction between what speakers say, or what is said, and what they implicate by different indicative utterances, such as Jane has three children. The data from four experiments demonstrate that people do not equate a minimal meaning (i.e., Jane has at least three children and may have more than three) with what a speaker says, but assume that enriched pragmatics plays a significant role in determining what is said (i.e., Jane has exactly three children). People further recognize a distinction between what speakers say, or what is said, and what speakers implicate in particular contexts (e.g., Jane is married). These data lend support to theories of utterance interpretation in cognitive science that pragmatics strongly influences people's understanding of what speakers both say and communicate.
认知科学中的一个核心观点是，说话者所说的内容往往不足以确定他们在特定语境中通过话语所隐含的意思。例如，在说出“简有三个孩子”时，说话者可能只是表示简至少有三个孩子，也可能有更多，但说话者的这句话隐含着简恰好有三个孩子的意思。许多追随格赖斯的学者从这类观察结果出发，认为语用学在确定说话者所说的内容（与他们在会话中所隐含的意思相对）方面只起很小的作用。我们研究了人们对于说话者所说的内容（即话语的语义）与他们通过不同的陈述性话语（如“简有三个孩子”）所隐含的意思之间区别的直觉。来自四个实验的数据表明，人们并不将最小语义（即简至少有三个孩子，也可能有更多）等同于说话者所说的内容，而是认为丰富的语用学在确定所说的内容（即简恰好有三个孩子）方面起着重要作用。人们还认识到说话者所说的内容（即话语的语义）与说话者在特定语境中所隐含的意思（如简已婚）之间的区别。这些数据为认知科学中的话语解释理论提供了支持，即语用学强烈影响人们对说话者所说内容和所传达内容的理解。
