Mentalese

Abstract It is well-known that metapragmatic verbs exhibit leakage between representations of speech, thought and action, but details have remained opaque. The first half of this paper presents an account of the processes through which they do so. The second half describes the consequences of the existence of these processes (in speech) for social life (in general) by giving an account of how genres of “mentalese” are crafted from locutions involving such verbs and derived nominals, and of how these genres, in turn, are used to manufacture social constructs of various kinds. The discussion is organized around the manner in which four influential authors (Locke, Hume, Gibson, and Durkheim) crafted their own constructs through forms of mentalese. The overall goal is to develop tools for the analysis of all genres of mentalese, and of all social constructs fabricated through it, wherever we may find them.