How does a listener understand a sarcastic 'That was a wonderful speech' when the words point to a positive review? Why do students of introductory logic interpret 'Some cabs are yellow' as 'Not all cabs are yellow' when the meaning of 'some' is compatible with 'all'? Pragmatics aims to explain how listeners draw out a speaker's meaning from utterances, an astonishing feat when one considers that the words in a sentence hardly suffice for fully comprehending what the speaker intended. Given the nature of pragmatics, it is going to take the interdisciplinary firepower of many cognitive sciences - including philosophy, experimental psychology, linguistics and neuroscience - to fully appreciate this uniquely human ability. In this book, Ira Noveck, a leading pioneer in experimental pragmatics, engagingly walks the reader through the phenomena, the theoretical debates, the experiments as well as the historical development of this growing academic discipline.

Explains the phenomena, theoretical debates, experiments and historical development of experimental pragmatics, which investigates how utterances communicate a speaker's intended meaning.

About the Author
Ira Noveck is a Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique's Institut des Sciences Cognitives in Lyon. He is co-editor of the first volume on Experimental Pragmatics (2004), is responsible for creating a European research network of experimental pragmatists (called Euro-xprag), and consults with regional networks, such as xprag.de and xprag.it.

Reviews
'This richly illuminating guide by one of the pioneers of experimental pragmatics offers a unique insider's view of the origins, current state and future prospects of the field. Brilliantly enjoyable, accessible and fair-minded.' Deirdre Wilson, University College London



Book Information
ISBN 9781107446885
Author Ira Noveck
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 420g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 151mm * 16mm