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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Uncancelable meaning

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: bill.rea AT canterbury.ac.nz
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Uncancelable meaning
  • Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 09:19:59 +0100

On 29/03/2007 00:57, Bill Rea wrote:
...
Also, I think you're misrepresenting Rolf on this point. He's talked
about conversational pragmatic implicature over many years and
I think this is what he's on about. I could be wrong on that
point, of course. ...

I suspect you are misunderstanding him here. For Rolf, "conversational pragmatic implicature" is not uncancellable, but is opposed to semantic meaning which is uncancellable. But for him "conversational pragmatic implicature" cannot cancel uncancellable semantic meaning, although it seems that special usages can.

... I personally think that ``uncancellable''
is a poor choice of word to describe what is, I think, what most
people would understand by the dictionary meaning of a word, but
in one sense it is right. One-offs and limited colloquialisms don't
change the dictionary. So, in one sense, the meaning is not cancelled.
It takes a major shift like what has happened to the word ``nice''
to cancel the past accepted usage.

The problem is that major shifts happen gradually. "Bad" meaning "good" is much more widespread than it was in the 1960's, it is now common among young white people here in England, and no doubt it is also included in up to date dictionaries. I'm sure that the meaning of "nice" changed similarly gradually. At what point do we say this has changed from a special usage which can cancel the uncancellable (so not "conversational pragmatic implicature") to semantic meaning? I suppose in English we just might say that this happens when some respected dictionary or book of style accepts the usage, but there was no such books for biblical Hebrew.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail: peter AT qaya.org
Blog: http://www.qaya.org/blog/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/





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