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In:Patterns of Context: Modelling cultural and contextual influence in utterance interpretation
Edited by Elke Diedrichsen and Frank Liedtke
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 356] 2026
► pp. 190–216

Pragmatic patterns

The inferential role of assigned intentionality

 | University of Flensburg
 | University of Flensburg
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This chapter unfolds the notion of the inferential significance of ascription and attribution (of intentionality) as an analytical concept derived from some crucial remarks of Robert B. Brandom’s normative pragmatism. Significance (not to be confused with meaning) is considered as an associative potential for effecting interpreting inferences related to situated assigning elements. It is regarded as the associative potential of actual utterances, based on associatively linked verbs of social actions and interactions in a broader sense — at this stage, independent of standard classifications of speech act verbs. These verbs of social action and interaction can be functionally analysed as connectors between further discursive units in texts or interactions, potentially realising what we refer to as pragmatic patterns. Such pragmatic patterns can be described as semiosis-based heuristics that explain others’ actions as normative and socially communicative (cf. Section 3). For instance, if the observed linguistic behaviour between two people is interpreted and described as a dispute, the intentionality attributed to individuals remains vague. However, continuous descriptions that attribute intentionality to individual actions during the argument should fall within a range of inferential plausibility — from probable to incompatible.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From Inferentialism to the analysis of pragmatic patterns
  • 3.Pragmatic patterns
  • 4.Third-person descriptions and pragmatic significance
  • 5.Analysis: Significance and the inferential structure of social-communicative action verbs
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
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