Lying at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface

✍ Scribed by Jörg Meibauer

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Year: 2014
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 266
• Series: Mouton Series in Pragmatics [MSP]; 14
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

While lying has been a topic in the philosophy of language, there has been a lack of genuine linguistic analysis of lying. Exploring lying at the semantics-pragmatics interface, this book takes a contextualist stand by arguing that untruthful implicatures and presuppositions are part of the total signification of the act of lying.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Preface
1 Perspectives on lying
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Lying in the private sphere, on the Internet, and in politics
1.2.1 Lying in the private sphere
1.2.2 Lying on the Internet
1.2.3 Lying in politics
1.3 Ethical versus linguistic perspectives
1.4 The acquisition of lying
1.5 Psychological and neurological findings
1.6 Universality of lying
1.7 Lying and deceiving
2 Approaching a linguistic concept of lying
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The semantics-pragmatics distinction
2.3 Lexical semantics: The meaning of to lie
2.4 Interface approach: Lying and sentence types
2.5 The case of relative clauses
2.6 Conclusions
3 Assertion and lying
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Assertion and statement
3.3 The sincerity condition
3.4 Perlocution
3.5 The maxim of Quality
3.6 Assertoric commitment
3.7 Truth, truth conditions, and truthfulness
3.8 Assertion, common ground, and presupposition
3.9 Indirect assertions and explicit performatives
3.10 Expressive meaning
3.11 A simple definition of assertion
4 Defining lying
4.1 Introduction
4.2 A definition of lying
4.3 Intention to deceive
4.4 Bald-faced lies and self-deception
4.4.1 Bald-faced lies
4.4.2 Self-deception
4.5 Lying and falsely implicating
4.5.1 Normativity and cancellability
4.5.2 A definition of conversational implicature
4.5.3 “Lying while saying the truth”: Extended definition of lying
4.6 Falsely presupposing and falsely conventionally implicating
4.7 Underdeterminacy and explicature/impliciture
4.8 Vagueness and imprecision
4.9 Prosocial lies
4.10 Conclusions
5 Interface Problems
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Aspect-sensitivity, or: Did Clinton lie?
5.3 Fiction
5.4 Irony and tautology
5.5 Understatement and overstatement (hyperbole)
5.6 Lying and bullshitting
5.7 Conclusions
6 Lying and quotation
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Lying, direct/indirect quotation, and the verbatim assumption
6.3 Lying and mixed quotation
6.4 Lying and scare quotation
6.5 Fairness and transparency
6.6 The case of the German quotative wollen
6.7 Conclusions
7 Relative lies
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Accuracy and disagreement
7.3 Verum focus
7.4 The assertion of clarity
7.5 The assertion of certainty
7.6 Reliability and selfless assertion
7.7 Conclusions
Epilogue
References
Index