THE GRICEAN APPROACH TO UTTERANCE FELICITY CONDITIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5840/eps202562110Keywords:
utterance felicity conditions, pragmatics, presupposition, implicature, Gricean theoriesAbstract
The article examines the pragmatical felicity conditions for utterances with implied meanings. Historically, in the discussion of the utterance felicity, two key approaches were formulated in the works of Wittgenstein and Austin. The first is based on the analysis of speech behavior (behaviorist), today it has developed into the theory of commitment. The second approach, refined by Paul Grice, interprets felicity through the speaker‘s intentions. The main goal of the article is to bring the advantages of Gricean analysis over the behaviorist one to this category. To do this, the author focuses on the pragmatics of implied meaning within which it is possible to clearly show how the rules of success are based on the speaker’s intention. The approach being defended investigates three key types of implicit meaning: presuppositions, conventional and speech implicatures. Based on examples analysis, it is shown how the unique semantic properties of these meaning types effect on felicity of utterance. At the end of the article, a critical analysis is given, demonstrating the shortcomings and limitations of the commitment theory as an alternative to the author’s position.
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