Publications

Publication details [#968]

Auwera, Johan van der. 1981. What do we talk about when we talk? Speculative grammar and the semantics and pragmatics of focus. John Benjamins. 121 pp.
Publication type
Book – monograph
Publication language
English

Annotation

The sense in which language 'is about' or 'reflects' both reality and a mental picture of reality is turned into a cornerstone of a reflectionist or 'Speculative Grammarian' semantics and pragmatics. The 'Speculative Grammar' idea is made concrete in alogico-linguistic account of the way language 'is about' the whole of reality as well as about certain fractions of it. The reflectionist perspective is used for a universalist account of the way speech acts 'are about' their subjects, topics, and foci.