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Thematic predicates and the pragmatics of non-descriptive definition*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Noel Burton-Roberts
Noel Burton-Roberts
Affiliation:
School of English, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
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Extract

The phenomenon that I describe in this paper is a specific class of indirectly conveyed meanings. The meanings involved are definitional, or partially definitional. Though conveyed by the utterance of sentences, they are not part of the meaning of those sentences. To begin with, I shall use the term ‘non-descriptive definition’ to refer to the act of conveying such a meaning by the utterance of a sentence that does not have that meaning. In due course, though, I shall refine the reference of that term.

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Articles
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Journal of Linguistics , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 1986 , pp. 41 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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