Abstract
If one takes the view that utterance meaning is the product of interactional processes, then intended perlocutionary effects should be receiving more attention; indeed, their occurrence (or nonoccurrence, for that matter) has a direct influence on the circumstances that determine the range of possible language choices for both speaker and hearer. [1] Building on this assumption, this article is concerned with the process whereby the communication of certainty can lead to the intended perlocutionary effect. Using Damasio’s convergence-divergence zone framework, which presupposes an adaptive perspective, I argue that such effects are more likely to come about if certainty is communicated without evidential markers than when such marking is employed. The presumed effectiveness of this mode of communication would be due to the automatic nature of the mechanism involved, which mechanism relies on an interpretive process that may be seen as a simulation of recall.
About the author
Thanh Nyan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Linguistics at the University of Manchester. She has published extensively on discourse markers in French. In the past few years, she has been investigating context construction from an adaptive perspective, drawing on assumptions and findings arising from Edelman’s theory of neuronal group selection and Damasio’s convergence-divergence zone framework. She is currently working on a book on context construction.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to my anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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