The Goal of Conversation

Abstract Dickie (2020) presents an argument against the traditional, broadly Gricean view of conversation. She argues that speakers must sometimes be more specific than required for sharing knowledge on a topic of common concern. Her proposed solution is to claim that the goal of conversation is not...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Supplementary volume - Aristotelian Society 2020-07, Vol.94 (1), p.57-86
Main Author: Szabo, Zoltan Gendler
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Conversation
Reference (Linguistics)
Semantics
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Summary:Abstract Dickie (2020) presents an argument against the traditional, broadly Gricean view of conversation. She argues that speakers must sometimes be more specific than required for sharing knowledge on a topic of common concern. Her proposed solution is to claim that the goal of conversation is not just sharing knowledge but also sharing cognitive focus. In response, I argue that her proposal faces both conceptual and empirical difficulties, and that the traditional view can handle the problem of non-specificity by acknowledging that in order to sustain mutual trust, conversational participants should be less than optimally efficient.
ISSN:0309-7013
1467-8349
DOI:10.1093/arisup/akaa005