Lexikon und Morphologie

2015

Keine menschliche Sprache kommt ohne Worter aus, und keine sprachliche Einheit geniest so viel offentliches Interesse wie das Wort. So werden »Worter des Jahres« gewahlt, aber auch »Unworter des Jahres«. Jeder kennt einige Worter, die ihm merkwurdig vorkommen: veraltete (hochachtungsvoll, Knabe) oder vollig neue Worter (Handy, taff), Worter aus dem Dialekt (Plinse ›Pfannkuchen‹, Jeck ›Verruckter‹) oder aus fremden Sprachen (viszeral, Karaoke), Worter aus sozialen Gruppen (zeitnah, (voll) krass) oder Worter, die Kinder gebildet haben (abzangen ›mit der Zange abmachen‹).

Expressive compounds in German

2013

German adjectival and nominal compounds like ratten+scharf (‘rat sharp’) sau+schlecht, (‘sow bad’) Hammer+auftritt (‘hammer performance’), Arsch+gesicht (‘arse face’) contain meliorative or pejorative elements as part of their structure. The left-hand evaluative members of these compounds are usually considered as so-called semi-prefixes. Contrary to recent approaches within constructional morphology ( Booij 2009 , 2010 ), I will argue that these elements are still lexemes, but that they have undergone metaphorical extension. Evidence stems from the consideration of right-hand members like Kommunisten+schwein (‘communist pig’), which have never been considered as semi-suffixes in a similar…

Bald-Faced Lies

2018

Abstract Bald-faced lies are utterances that seem to lack the intent of the speaker to deceive the hearer, which is usually assumed in the definition of proper lying. Therefore, the so-called non-deceptionists call the latter assumption into question. The so-called deceptionists, sticking to the traditional definition of lying, argue in turn that bald-faced lies either are no real lies or are connected to an intention to deceive. The chapter gives a concise overview of the main positions in this dispute, discusses the cases typically employed to illustrate bald-faced lies, and summarizes recent experimental findings on how ordinary speakers perceive bald-faced lies. It turns out that ordina…

Slikovnica kao predmet

2019

Based on recent studies on materiality, picturebook research, and cognitive studies, this paper investigates how children may perceive picturebooks as objects and their material properties. In this regard, we emphasise three dimensions of picturebooks as objects and relate them to developmental stages. The first dimension concerns the materials the picturebooks are composed of, such as paper, cardboard, wood, plastics, and cloth. The second dimension refers to the type of book, e.g. hardbacks, sets of cardboard sheets, fanfold books, pop-up books, and even hybrid objects such as books which are toys at the same time. Finally, this study focuses on the types of actions that are associated wi…

Lying and falsely implicating

2005

Abstract This paper analyses falsely implicating from the point of view of Gricean theory of implicature, focusing on the Story of the Mate and the Captain which is a classical example of lying while saying the truth. It is argued that the case of falsely implicating should be included within a general definition of lying. Whether Particularised Conversational Implicatures (PCI), as in the Story of the Mate and the Captain, and Generalised Conversational Implicatures (GCI) behave differently with regard to falsely implicating is discussed with reference to Levinson's theory of presumptive meaning [Levinson, Stephen C., 2000. Presumptive Meanings. The Theory of Generalised Conversational Imp…

On “R” in phrasal compounds – a contextualist approach

2015

Abstract In phrasal compounds of the type XP+Y, one can assume a relation “R” that holds between the head and the non-head just as in ordinary N+N compounds. The paper discusses the question how “R” should be understood. Three recent approaches, i.e., construction morphology, parallel architecture view, and indexicalism are discussed. It is argued that all approaches lack a pragmatic component which is necessary for modeling pragmatic inferencing with respect to phrasal compounds. Thus, an “unspecific meaning” approach to the semantics of phrasal compounds, together with contextualist views on pragmatic enrichment, is a serious alternative to the approaches discussed.

On the Strangeness of Pop Art Picturebooks: Pictures, Texts, Paratexts

2011

As a species of picturebook emerging around 1970, some Pop Art picturebooks were quite successful in their time, but appear strange from today's point of view. This strangeness has to do with multiple transgressions of traditional conventions restricting the notion of a “good” picturebook: transgressions regarding artistic style (influenced by the Pop Art movement), transgressions regarding the stories' content (with their emphasis on weird characters, surprising twists in narration and plot, and a fanciful combination of sceneries), and transgressions regarding the idea that politics and economic and social problems should be banned from picturebooks (displaying an anti-capitalist or anti-…

The Linguistics of Lying

2018

This review deals with the communicative act of lying from a linguistic point of view, linguistics comprising both grammar and pragmatics. Integrating findings from the philosophy of language and from psychology, I show that the potential for lying is rooted in the language system. The tasks of providing an adequate definition of lying and of distinguishing lying from other concepts of deception (such as bald-faced lying and bullshitting) can be solved when interfaces between grammar and pragmatics are taken into account and when experimental results are used to narrow down theoretical approaches. Assuming a broadly neo-Gricean background, this review focuses on four theoretical topics: the…

Lügenerwerb und Geschichten vom Lügen

2011

The acquisition of lying is a complex developmental process, where linguistic, cognitive, emotional and moral aspects are intertwined. It is shown that this developmental process is reflected in children’s literature. Since lying is indeed a very important topic in children’s literature, as is shown with regard to children’s books ranging from picture books to books for children in school age to books for young adults, we argue that this topic cannot be well understood when these developmental aspects are not taken into consideration.

Konzepte des Lügens

2015

Einfachheit, Anpassung und Early Literacy

2014

This essay deals with the notions of ›simplicity‹ and ›complexity‹ as well as ›accommodation‹ and ›transgression‹ with respect to child developments in language acquisition and literature acquisition. Focusing on the period of ›Early Literacy‹, it is argued that language development and children’s literature both start with simple patterns and gradually gain complexity. It is shown that children’s literature is a specific input in language acquisition which is accommodated to the needs of children. Both in language acquisition and in literary input, one finds also transgressions of rules.

Cuteness and aggression in military picturebooks

2016

As a subspecies of ideologically loaded picturebooks, this chapter focuses on military picturebooks. This term encompasses picturebooks dealing with war and the roles of soldiers. In the first part, a taxonomy of military picturebooks is created which is exemplified by telling examples. The second part focuses on a particular narrative problem of military picturebooks that is of interest to a cognitive theory of picturebooks (as pursued by Kümmerling-Meibauer & Meibauer 2013). On the one hand, it is not possible to represent war as a good thing across the board; on the other hand, war is depicted with respect to certain scenarios of self-defence. The narrative solution seems to be that …

Word-Formation and Contextualism

2014

While there is, under the heading of “morphopragmatics”, some research on the relation of pragmatics and word-formation, especially with a focus on diminutives, the major theoretical models of word-formation do not account for the word-formation/pragmatics interface in any systematic fashion. Moreover, in recent contextualist approaches to the semantics/pragmatics interface, the typical grammatical unit referred to is the sentence (including words that constitute a sentence), but not word structure or the morpheme. Drawing on morphological data from German, I will show the influence of pragmatic processes and principles on word-formation, arguing that word structures are also units that may…

A truth that’s told with bad intent

2014

In recent years, a lively debate has emerged about the question of correctly defining lying. Two strands of argumentation have evolved in the philosophy of language: First, the idea that lying is not necessarily connected to an intention of the speaker to deceive the hearer (e.g., Carson 2010); second, the idea that there is a fundamental distinction between lying and mere misleading (e.g., Saul 2012). This paper deals with both assumptions from the vantage point of the semantics-pragmatics interface and relates them to the question of how it is possible to lie while drawing on implicit content of an utterance. It is argued that lying necessarily involves an intention to deceive and that ma…

Neo-Gricesche Pragmatik

2018

Gricesche Pragmatik ist diejenige Pragmatik, die Paul Grice (1989) entwickelt hat oder diejenige Pragmatik, die darauf aufbaut oder anschliest. Neo-Gricesche Pragmatik ist im Gegensatz dazu die Pragmatik, die sich zwar Grice (1989) verpflichtet fuhlt, aber diesen Ansatz in wesentlichen Teilen revidiert. Zu den Neo-Griceschen Ansatzen werden vor allem die Ansatze von Laurence Horn und Stephen Levinson gerechnet. Post-Gricesche Pragmatik ist diejenige Pragmatik, die zwar auch noch einen Bezug zu Grice (1989) hat, ihn aber eher uberwinden mochte. Manchmal wird die Relevanztheorie von Dan Sperber, Deirdre Wilson und Robyn Carston als Post-Gricescher Ansatz bezeichnet.

Maps in picturebooks: cognitive status and narrative functions

2015

This article focuses on the relation between maps, mental representations, description, and narration in picturebooks. It is shown that maps are cognitively demanding, since they presuppose the development of cognitive abilities and the comprehension of complex visual codes, including recognition of the specific combination of signs and names representing land- and cityscapes, geographical abstraction as well as the symbolization, highlighting, and suppression of information. After a survey of findings from cognitive psychology and geography literacy about children’s map acquisition, the article gives an overview on some types of maps in picturebooks that are interesting from a narrative po…

What is an indirect speech act?

2019

Abstract The notion of an indirect speech act is at the very heart of cognitive pragmatics, yet, after nearly 50 years of orthodox (Searlean) speech act theory, it remains largely unclear how this notion can be explicated in a proper way. In recent years, two debates about indirect speech acts have stood out. First, a debate about the Searlean idea that indirect speech acts constitute a simultaneous realization of a secondary and a primary act. Second, a debate about the reasons for the use of indirect speech acts, in particular about whether this reason is to be seen in strategic advantages and/or observation of politeness demands. In these debates, the original pragmatic conception of sen…

Pragmatic evidence, context, and story design: an essay on recent developments in experimental pragmatics

2012

What is pragmatic evidence? In this contribution, I argue that pragmatic evidence basically is connected with pragmatic intuitions related to a context. The context usually is either given as a story, or is left to the imagination of a judge (a linguist, a reader, a test participant). It is shown that stories not only play an important role in pragmatic argumentation and analysis, but also with regard to story design in experimental settings.

Für eine Germanistik der Schnittstellen

2013

Spracherwerb und Kinderliteratur

2011

This paper argues for a close relationship of research into language acquisition and research into children’s literature. Because children’s literature is a specific input for many children, and because children’s literature basically is literature accommodated to the child’s needs and cognitive abilities, an interdisciplinary field of research emerges. The paper sketches several aspects of this field and points to already existing results as well as to future research.

Tautology as presumptive meaning

2008

Ever since the seminal work of Paul Grice, tautologies such as Business is business have been discussed from a number of angles. While most approaches assume that tautological utterances have to do with the operation of conversational maxims, an integrated analysis is still lacking. This paper makes an attempt at analysing tautologies within the framework of Levinson (2000), who proposes a distinction between three pragmatic levels, namely Indexical Pragmatics, Gricean Pragmatics 1, and Gricean Pragmatics 2. It is shown that observations of Ward and Hirschberg (1991) on the exclusion of alternatives, the claim of Autenrieth (1997) that the second NP in nominal equatives is predicative, and …

The folk concept of lying

2019

Lying, Implicating, and Presupposing

2018

Abstract The notions of ‘indirect lying’, ‘falsely implicating’, or ‘misleading’ refer to the phenomenon of lying by deliberately suggesting what is false in order to deceive the addressee. Thus, what the speaker asserts may be sincere and true, while what she implicates may be deceptive and false. This chapter reviews theoretical approaches that deal with untruthful implicature and untruthful presupposition, ‘untruthfulness’ meaning a subjective attitude towards truth. In these cases, an additional proposition is introduced into the discourse with the intention to deceive the addressee. Arguably, cases of so-called misleading can be reduced to untruthful implicatures. If so, untruthful add…

Aspects of a theory of bullshit

2016

This paper addresses the question whetherbullshitis a reasonable pragmatic category. In the first part of the paper, drawing on the insights of Harry Frankfurt’s seminal essay, bullshit is defined as an act of insincere asserting where the speaker shows (a) a loose concern for the truth, and (b) does not want the addressee to become aware of condition (a). The author adds to this definition the condition (c) requiring that the bullshitter expresses morecertaintythan is adequate with respect to condition (a). In the second part of the paper, it is discussed whether the above definition can cope with special types of bullshit considered to be a challenge to Frankfurt’s definition. These areev…

Boris “Ich bin drin” Becker (‘Boris I am in Becker’). Syntax, semantics and pragmatics of a special naming construction

2016

Constructions such as Germ. Boris “Ich bin drin” Becker (‘Boris I am in Becker’) follow a startling pattern. A quotation (“Ich bin drin”) is inserted in between two constituents of a complex personal-name construction (Boris Becker). The quotation relates to the person bearing this name. Therefore, the whole construction cannot be understood without massive contextual knowledge, i.e. knowing when, where, and why Boris Becker said so, and how this is relevant in the interpretation of the construction. In general, N “CP” N constructions such as Boris “Ich bin drin” Becker not only differ from canonical personal-name constructions such as Boris Becker in requiring the import of background know…