Book review The Semantics/Pragmatics Interface from Different Points of View

The avowed aim of this first volume in the Current Research in the Semantics/ Pragmatics Interface series is, according to its editor, ‘‘to begin to take some steps to reducing the heat of [. . .] discussions [relating to how linguistically-conveyed meaning should be defined, and therefore studied; M.T.] and to begin to increase the light that might profitably be shed on some of the problems of interdigitating content and context’’ (p. 14). It is in the light of this pronouncement that the current review will assess the contribution made by the 15 articles of this volume to the ongoing debate regarding the boundary between semantics and pragmatics, and whether there should be any such. In the ‘Introduction’, Ken Turner prepares the ground for the volume, if not the entire series, by tracing the development from semantics to pragmatics (and back again). Carnap’s distinction between ‘‘pure’’ and ‘‘descriptive’’ studies, Montague’s model theoretic semantics, Gricean pragmatics, and finally current dynamic semantic approaches serve as intellectual milestones in this broad classification of modern approaches to linguistic meaning. The boundaries of the canvas are thus set out, while the details remain to be filled in. This is no small feat, given the introduction’s intended brevity (implicit in the subtitle ‘‘seven-inch version’’), and it is accomplished in an informative, critical, and entertaining fashion. In Chapter 1, ‘Discourse structure and the logic of conversation’, Nicholas Asher picks up the discussion where the introduction left it, arguing for a way of potentially reconciling (Gricean) pragmatics and (dynamic) semantics. Discourse structure is the key to this, as it can provide evidence for modelling (agents’/systems’) cognitive states, and vice versa, allowing us to re-cast Gricean maxims in Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (SDRT) terms. Meaning construction is incremental, drawing on clues provided by different levels of interpretation: logical forms of sentences, discourse structure analysable in SDRT terms, and agents’ cognitive states. While one may question the fact that one cannot know another’s intention Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 307–313 www.elsevier.com/locate/pragma