Homophonic Reports and Gradual Communication

Abstract

Pragmatic modulation makes contextual information necessary for interpretation. This poses a problem for homophonic reports and inter-contextual communication in general: of co-situated interlocutors, we can expect some common ground, but non-co-situated interpreters lack access to the context of utterance. Here I argue that we can nonetheless share modulated contents via homophonic reports. First, occasion-unspecific information is often sufficient for the recovery of modulated content. Second, interpreters can recover what is said with different degrees of accuracy. Homophonic reports and inter-contextual communication are often successful because the reporting context does not demand full accuracy.

Not All Speakers are Equal: Harm and Conversational Standing

“…I have argued inPicazo (2021) that communication should be understood as a gradual phenomenon. Here I extend this idea to conversational exercitives.…”