Linguistics Seminar Talk - Nicole Gotzner

Title:  Indirect and political speech: On the role of cooperation in pragmatics

Abstract  

The standard Gricean model of communication assumes that humans cooperate: they should make informative, truthful and relevant contributions to a conversation. 

However, we often remain vague and violate these principles to safeguard our social relationships (Pinker et al., 2008; Gotzner & Scontras, 2024) or for selfish and strategic purposes (Lombardi Vallauri, 2016). 

How do we uncover the speaker's true intentions if they routinely remain hidden in the conversation?

The current talk uses vague and political language as a test case for the role of commitment and beliefs in language interpretation.

I will show that hearers calibrate their interpretation via the speaker’s commitment. In cases of conflict, speakers use loopholes to avoid negative meanings. 

We can see a further role of beliefs comparing Trump's and Harris’ statements in Republican and Democrat voter groups. Implied meanings are better understood if beliefs between hearer and speaker align. 

I argue that vague language is an optimal communication system that allows speakers to convey less specific information while pursuing their own goals and managing their relationships.