Pragmatic theory and social relations

Bradley Franks

pp. 107-126

in: Derek Hook, Bradley Franks, Martin W. Bauer (eds), The social psychology of communication, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Abstract

Imagine a situation in which two people are engaged in attempting to blow up the safe of a bank. One says (1) to the other. The literal meaning of (1) is something like, There are members of the police force in the vicinity. But the meaning that the speaker intends to communicate, and indeed that the hearer is likely to grasp, is something like Drop everything and run!