Conventions of language

Yueguo Gu

Table of contents

Lewis (1969) opens his now classic study of convention with an observation to the effect that the thesis that language is ruled by convention is accepted by people who do not bother to give it a second thought. He is perhaps the first philosopher who has opted to do the ‘dirty work’. More than three decades have gone by since Lewis’s study. But his observation, broadly speaking, remains valid. As will become apparent later, although the concept of convention has been given a crucial role in the theorization of both speech acts and implicature, it has received in most cases no more than passing comments. In contrast with its allocated role of importance, it has remained seriously understudied. This article is aimed at the following objectives: (1) to make a critical review of the pertinent literature, with the issue of conventionality of speech acts and implicature as its primary concern; (2) to pinpoint where the difficulties lie in the study of conventions of language; and (3) to explore the potential research directions in the foreseeable future.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Alston, W.P.
1991Searle on illocutionary acts. In E. Lepore & R. Van Gulick (eds.): 57–80. Google Scholar
2000Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning. Cornell University Press. Google Scholar
Atkinson, J.M. & J. Heritage
(eds.) 1984Structures of Social Action. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Austin, J.L.
1980[1962] How to Do Things with Words. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Avramides, A.
1989Meaning and Mind. MIT Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Bach, K. & R.M. Harnish
1979Linguistic Communication and Speech Acts. MIT Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Bach, K.
1994Conversational implicature. Mind and Language 9: 124–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bennett, J.
1979Linguistic Behaviour. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Berlin, I. et al.
1973Essays on J.L. Austin. Clarendon Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Bever, T.G., J.M. Carroll & L.A. Miller
(eds.) 1984Talking Minds: The Study of Language in Cognitive Science. MIT Press. Google Scholar
Bezuidenhout, A. & J.C. Cutting
2002Literal meaning, minimal propositions, and pragmatic processing. Journal of Pragmatics 34: 433–456. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Blakemore, D.
1992Understanding Utterances. Blackwell Publishing.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Brown, G.
1995Speakers, Listeners, and Communication. Cambridge University Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Brown, J.L.
1975The Evolution of Behavior. W.W. Norton & Company Inc.Google Scholar
Brown, P. & S. Levinson
1978Universals of language usage: politeness phenomena. In E. Goody (ed.) Questions and Politeness: 56–324. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Button, G. & J.R.E. Lee
(eds.) 1987Talk and Social Organization. Multilingual Matters Ltd. Google Scholar
Calhoun, C., J. Gerteis, J. Moody, S. Pfaff & I. Virk
(eds.) 2002Contemporary Sociological Theory. Blackwell Publishing. Google Scholar
Carston, R.
1988Implicature, explicature, and truth-theoretic semantics.In R. Kempson (ed.) Mental Representations: The Interface between Language and Reality: 155–181. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Chafe, W.
1994Discourse, Consciousness, and Time. The University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Clark, H.H.
1979Responding to indirect speech acts. Cognitive Psychology 11: 430–477. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996Using Language. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen, P.R., J. Morgan & M.E. Pollack
(eds.) 1990Intentions in Communication. MIT Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Cooren, F. & R.E. Sanders
2002Implicatures: a schematic approach. Journal of Pragmatics 34(8): 1045–1067. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Corliss, R.L.
1981What determines a pragmatic implication? Southern Journal of Philosophy 19(1): 37–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coulthard, M.
1977An Introduction to Discourse Analysis. Longman.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Cranach, M. Von & R. Harre
(eds.) 1982The Analysis of Action. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Cranach, M. Von, U. Kalbarmatten, K. Indermuhler & B. Gugler
1982Goal-Directed Action. Academic Press. Google Scholar
Cruttenden, A.
1997Intonation, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Dascal, M.
1977Conversational relevance. Journal of Pragmatics 1: 309–328. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Davidson, D.
1985Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar
Davis, S.
1980Perlocution. In J. Searle et al. (eds.): 37–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davis, W.A.
1992Speaker meaning. Linguistics and Philosophy 15: 223–253. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1998Implicature: Intention, Convention, and Principle in the Failure of Gricean Theory. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eco, U.
1979A Theory of Semiotics. Indiana University Press. Google Scholar
Engler, R.
1995Iconicity and/or arbitrariness. In R. Simone (ed.): 39–46. DOI logo  MetBibGoogle Scholar
Fann, K.T.
1969Symposium on J.L. Austin. Routledge & Kegan Paul.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Fauconnier, G.
1985Mental Spaces: Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language. MIT Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Furberg, M.
1969Meaning and illocutionary force. In K.T. Fann (ed.): 445–468. Google Scholar
Gazdar, G.
1979Pragmatics: Implicature Presupposition and Logical Form. Academic Press. Google Scholar
Gentner, D. & B.F. Bowdle
2001Convention form, and figurative language processing. Metaphor and Symbol 16(3/4): 223–247. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, R.W. Jr
1998Your wish is my command: convention and context in interpreting indirect requests. In A. Kasher (ed.) Pragmatics: Critical Concepts, vol. 6: Pragmatics: Grammar, Psychology and Sociology: 148–169. Routledge. Google Scholar
Givon, T.
1989Mind Code and Context. Lawrence Erlbaum.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E.
1974Frame Analysis. Harper and Row.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Grandy, R. & R. Warner
1986Philosophical Grounds of Rationality: Intentions Categories, Ends. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar
Grice, H.P.
1989Studies in the Way of Words. Harvard University Press. Google Scholar
Gu, Y.
1994Pragmatics and rhetoric: a collaborative approach to conversation. In H. Parret (ed.) Pretending to Communicate: 173–193. Walter de Gruyter.  BoP DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1993The impasse of perlocution. Journal of Pragmatics 20(5): 405–432. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
1997Five ways of handling a bedpan. Text 17(4): 457–475.  BoPGoogle Scholar
1999Towards a model of situated discourse. In K. Turner (ed.) The Semantics/Pragmatics Interface from Different Points of View: 150–178. Elsevier.  BoPGoogle Scholar
2002Towards an understanding of workplace discourse: A pilot study for compiling a spoken Chinese corpus of situated discourse. In C. Candlin (ed.) Research and Practice in Professional Discourse: 137–186. City University of Hong Kong Press. Google Scholar
2003Towards a multiple-goal neo-Grice. The International Journal of Pragmatics 14(Special issue): 45–70. Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K.
1973Explorations in the Functions of Language. Edward Arnold.  BoPGoogle Scholar
2000[1994] An Introduction to Functional Grammar, 2nd ed. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Google Scholar
2001[1978] Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Heine, B., U. Claudi & F. Hünnemeyer
1991Grammaticalization: A Conceptual Framework. The University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Hintikka, J.
1986Logic of conversation as a logic of dialogue. In R. Grandy & R. Warner (eds.): 259–276. Google Scholar
Hodge, R. & G. Kress
1988Social Semiotics. Polity Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Hopper, P.J. & E.C. Traugott
2001[1993] Grammaticalization. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Google Scholar
Horn, L.R.
1984Toward a new taxonomy for pragmatic inference: Q-based and R-based implicature. In D. Shiffrin (ed.) Meaning, Form, and Use in Context: 11–42. Georgetown University Press. Google Scholar
1991Given as new: When redundant affirmation isn’t. Journal of Pragmatics 15: 305–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karttunen, L. & S. Peters
1979Conventional implicature. In C. Oh & D.A. Dinneen (eds.) Syntax and Semantics, vol. 11: Presupposition: 1–56. Academic Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Kasher, A.
1976Language in Focus: Foundations, Methods and Systems. D. Reidel Publishing Company. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
1977What is a theory of use? Journal of Pragmatics 1: 69–84. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
1984Are speech acts conventional? Journal of Pragmatics 8: 65–69. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
(ed.) 1998Pragmatics: Critical Concepts, vols. 1–6. Routledge.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Keijzer, F.
2001Representation and Behavior. MIT Press. Google Scholar
Kress, G.R.
2001Multimodal Discourse: the Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. Arnold. Google Scholar
Leech, G.N.
1983Principles of Pragmatics. Longman. Google Scholar
Leonardi, P.
1984On conventions, rules, and speech acts. Journal of Pragmatics 8: 71–86. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Lepore, E. & R. Van Gulick
(eds.) 1991John Searle and His Critics. Blackwell Publishing. Google Scholar
Levinson, S.
1987Minimization and conversational inference. In J. Verschueren & M. Bertuccelli-Papi (eds.): 61–129. [Reprinted in A. Kasher (ed.) (1998) Pragmatics: Critical concepts, vol. 4: 545–612. Routledge.] DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1992[1979] Activity type and language. In P. Drew & J. Heritage (eds.) Talk at Work: 66–100. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
1997From outer to inner space: linguistic categories and non-linguistic thinking. In J. Nuyts & E. Pederson (eds.): 13–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000Presumptive Meaning. MIT Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D.K.
1969Convention — A Philosophical Study. Harvard University Press. Google Scholar
Lyons, J.
1985Semantics. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Mcgarty, C.
1999Categorization in Social Psychology. Sage. Google Scholar
Medin, D.L. & E. Heit
1999Categorization. In B.M. Bly & D.E. Rumelhart (eds.) Handbook of Cognitive Science: 99–144. Academic Press. DOI logo  TSBGoogle Scholar
Mey, J.
1993Pragmatics: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishing.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Morgan, J.L.
1998Two types of convention in indirect speech acts. In A. Kasher (ed.), vol. 4: 639–657. Google Scholar
Nuyts, J. & E. Pederson
(eds.) 1997Language and Conceptualization. Cambridge University Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Olson, M.
2002The logic of collective action. In C. Calhoun et al. (eds.): 126–130. Google Scholar
Parret, H., M. Sbisa & J. Verschueren
(eds.) 1981Possibilities and Limitations of Pragmatics. John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Parret, H.
(ed.) 1993Pretending to Communicate. Walter de Gruyter. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Quine, W. Van Orman.
1969Foreword. In D.K. Lewis: xi–xii.Google Scholar
1980From a Logical Point of View. Harvard University Press. Google Scholar
Ramat, A.G.
1995Iconicity in grammaticalization processes. In R. Simone (ed.): 119–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Recanati, F.
1980Some remarks on explicit performatives, indirect speech acts, locutionary meaning and truth-value. In J.R. Searle & E. Kiefer & M. Bierwisch (eds.): 205–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987Meaning and Force. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
1989The pragmatics of what is said. Mind and Language 4(4): 295–329. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Ritzer, G. & B. Smart
(eds.) 2001Handbook of Social Theory. Sage. Google Scholar
Sadock, J.M.
1978On testing for conversational implicature. In P. Cole (ed.) Syntax and Semantics vol. 9: Pragmatics: 291–297. Academic Press. Google Scholar
Schiffer, S.R.
1972Meaning. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar
1987Remnants of Meaning. MIT Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Searle, J.R.
1969Speech Acts. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1979Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theoryof Speech Acts. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1986Meaning, communication, and representation. In R.E. Grandy & R. Warner (eds.) Philosophical Grounds of Rationality: Intentions, Categories, Ends: 209–226. Clarendon Press. Google Scholar
Searle, J.R., E. Kiefer & M. Bierwisch
1980Speech ActTheory and Pragmatics. D. Reidel Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Searle, J.R. et al.
1992(On) Searle on Conversation. John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seiler, H.
1995Iconicity between indicativity and predicativity. In R. Simone (ed.): 141–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simone, R.
(ed.) 1995aIconicity in Language. John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
1995bIconic aspects of syntax: a pragmatic approach. In R. Simone (ed.): 153–170. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Smith, N.
(ed.) 1982Mutual Knowledge. Academic Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Sperber, D. & D. Wilson
1982Mutual knowledge and relevance in theories of comprehension. In N. Smith (ed.): 61–87.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Sperber, D.D. Wilson.
1986Relevance. Blackwell Publishing. Google Scholar
Strawson, P.F.
1969[1964]. Intention and convention in speech acts. In K.T. Fann (ed.): 380–400. Google Scholar
Sweetser, E.
1990From Etymology to Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Taylor, J.R.
2001[1995]Linguistic Categorization: Prototypes in Linguistic Theory, 2nd ed. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Google Scholar
Traugott, E.C. & B. Heine
1991Approaches to Grammaticalization, vol. 2: Focus on Types of Grmmatical Markers. John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Turner, K.
(ed.) 1999The Semantics and Pragmatics Interface. Elsevier. Google Scholar
Turner, S.
1994The Social Theory of Practices. The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar
Verschueren, J.
1999Understanding Pragmatics. Arnold.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Verschueren, J. & M. Bertuccelli-Papi
(eds.) 1987The Pragmatic Perspective. John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Walker, R.C.S.
1975Conversational implicatures. In S. Blackburn (ed.) Meaning, Reference and Necessity: 133–181. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Warnock, G.J.
1973Some types of performative utterance. In I. Berlin et al. (eds.): 69–89. Google Scholar
Wilson, D. & D. Sperber
1981On Grice’s theory of conversation. In Werth (ed.) Conversation and Discourse: 155–78. Croom Helm.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Wright, R.A.
1975Meaningnn and conversational implicature. In P. Cole & J.L. Morgan (eds.) Syntax and Semantics, vol. 3: Speech Acts: 363–382. Academic Press. Google Scholar
Ziff, P.
1975On H.P. Grice’s account of meaning. In D. Steinberg & L. Jakobovitz (eds.) Semantics: 60–65. Cambridge University Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar