In this article we take an Optimality Theoretic approach to interpretation which integrates various factors into a set of typically conflicting constraints of varying strengths. The hypothesis that optimization is a leading principle in natural language interpretation strengthens the connection between linguistic theory and other cognitive disciplines. We will provide further support for this v...

Pragmatics is the study of utterance meaning, and it is well known that prosody or, more informally, ' tone of voice' can contribute crucially to that meaning. Pragmatic effects in speech are thus the product of both what is said and how it is said, and the two are inextricably linked. However, while many working in pragmatics are well aware of the important contribution of prosody, exactly how...

following a thorough survey of the available literature and concentrating on the wax and wane of testing pragmatic competence so far, the present study firstly is an attempt to develop a comprehensive test of inter-language pragmatics mainly focusing on academic situations in the iranian context. secondly, the study aims to investigate the criteria required for the selection of speech acts of a...

Recent discussions of animal communication and the evolution language have advocated adopting a ‘pragmatics-first’ approach, according to which “a more productive framework” for primate research should be “pragmatics, field linguistics that examines role context in shaping meaning linguistic utterances” (Wheeler Fischer, Evol Anthropol 21:195–205, 2012: 203). After distinguishing two different ...

As a prevalent phenomenon in second language acquisition (SLA), crosslinguistic influence (CLI) has attracted ever-lasting attention, as reflected by the publication of several monographs (e.g., Cai, 2021; Jarvis & Pavlenko, 2008; Odlin, 1989; Ringbom, 2007), many edited volumes Alonso, 2016; Gass Selinker, 1983), and numerous research articles. In these books papers, mounting evidence for ...