The determination of what is said and what is implied

Is what is said determined by syntax, conventional meaning, and select aspects of context? This thesis— semanticity —seems plausible because what is said can diverge from both what the speaker means and what the addressee understands, and because ordinary speakers know what is said when presented with a novel sentence‐context pair. I argue that semanticity is actually not the best explanation of these properties, because what is implied shares them. I then explain this commonality: What is said and what is implied are similarly determined by the interpretation of an addressee defined in terms of the context.

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Publication Details

Journal
Mind & Language
Published
2026-07-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.70040
Primary Topic
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

The determination of what is said and what is implied

Victor Tamburini
Mind & Language
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
article

The determination of what is said and what is implied

Victor Tamburini
article en

Abstract

Is what is said determined by syntax, conventional meaning, and select aspects of context? This thesis— semanticity —seems plausible because what is said can diverge from both what the speaker means and what the addressee understands, and because ordinary speakers know what is said when presented with a novel sentence‐context pair. I argue that semanticity is actually not the best explanation of these properties, because what is implied shares them. I then explain this commonality: What is said and what is implied are similarly determined by the interpretation of an addressee defined in terms of the context.

Mind & Language
Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CNRST) (MA)
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
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