Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 30, 2026

Examining Gesture Production in the Presence of Communication Challenges
Published on: January 26, 2024
Experimental pragmatics: a Gricean turn in the study of language
1Laboratoire sur le Langage, le Cerveau et la Cognition (L2C2), Institut des Sciences Cognitives, UMR5230 CNRS-Universite de Lyon 1, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 Bron, France. noveck@isc.cnrs.fr
Abstract:
Discerning the meaning of an utterance requires not only mastering grammar and knowing the meanings of words but also understanding the communicative (i.e., pragmatic) features of language. Although it has been an ever present aspect of linguistic analyses and discussions, it is only over the last ten years or so that cognitive scientists have been investigating--in a concerted fashion--the pragmatic features of language experimentally. We begin by highlighting Paul Grice's contributions to ordinary language philosophy and show how it has led to this active area of experimental investigation. We then focus on two exemplary phenomena--'scalar inference' and 'reference resolution'--before considering other topics that fit into the paradigm known as 'experimental pragmatics'.
Related Concept Videos
Language and Cognition
Components of Language
Agonism and Antagonism: Quantification
To quantify these effects, researchers use a dose-response curve, which provides valuable information about the potency and efficacy of a drug. Potency refers to...
Behaviorism
The core premise of behaviorism is its focus on observable behavior rather than internal thoughts or feelings. This approach argues that true scientific...
Automatic Processing and Automatic Social Behavior
Social Foundations of Self I: Play and Game

