{"id":1612,"date":"2011-06-17T10:00:04","date_gmt":"2011-06-17T08:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=1612"},"modified":"2011-06-17T08:47:21","modified_gmt":"2011-06-17T06:47:21","slug":"cognitive-pragmatics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=1612","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive pragmatics"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cognitive pragmatics<\/strong>: The mental processes of communication. By Bruno G. Bara<\/strong>. <\/strong>Translated by John Douthwaite<\/a>. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010. <\/strong>Pp. xii, 304. ISBN 9780262014113<\/a>. $38 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan<\/strong><\/a>, State University at Campinas, Brazil<\/em><\/p>\n

This book is a translation of Bruno G. Bara\u2019s earlier work published in Italian and titled Pragmatica cognitiva: I processi mentali della comunicazione<\/em> (Milan: Bollati Boringhieri, 1999). \u00a0The author\u2019s starting premise is presented in the very opening sentence of the book: \u2018Communication is a social activity that requires more than one participant for it to take place\u2019 (1). It is both intentional and conscious. \u2018The intention to communicate must be a conscious one: no unconscious intentions exist in communication\u2026\u2019 (ix). Communication is an all-encompassing term here. It covers both linguistic communication as well as nonlinguistic (or extralinguistic) types of communication. Thus, language in the sense of a code is neither necessary nor sufficient for there to be communication.<\/p>\n

B proposes a theory of communication and seeks to formalize it with the help of logic and to validate it using experimental data (whether culled from existing literature or his own research). He further correlates it with findings from the neurosciences. For instance, as B explains, \u2018\u2026 failure comes about either because the partner does not follow the inferential chain when he was meant to, or, conversely, because he follows the chain he was not supposed to, since the actor had proposed a nonstandard mode\u2019 (171\u201372).<\/p>\n

Crucial to B\u2019s theoretical approach is a distinction he draws between standard communication, where all participants \u2018consciously and intentionally cooperate to construct together the meaning of the interaction\u2019 (1) and nonstandard communication (exemplified by deception, irony, and so forth). The latter is analyzed as a deviation from the former and the author offers possible solutions. In his analysis, B departs from a cognitive standpoint. He claims that his is not the point of view of an external observer; rather, it is that of the individual, presumably an insider.<\/p>\n

The book is presented in six chapters entitled \u2018Not just language: A taxonomy of communication\u2019 (1\u201354), \u2018Tools for communicating\u2019 (55\u201392), \u2018Behavior games and conversation games\u2019 (93\u2013130), \u2018Generation and comprehension of communicative acts\u2019 (131\u201370), \u2018Nonstandard communication\u2019 (171\u2013202), and \u2018Communicative competence\u2019 (203\u201376).<\/p>\n

The last chapter is \u2018devoted to the evolution, development, and decay of communicative competence\u2019 (203). B\u2019s approach to the first is confessedly Darwinian-oriented, while his arguments regarding the second is experimental. In regards to the third topic, the decay of communicative competence, he attributes it tentatively to physiological reasons (e.g. old age) and pathological causes (e.g. brain injuries and Alzheimer\u2019s disease). The book ends with a brief but thought-provoking section entitled \u2018Silence\u2019, in which the author distinguishes between three types of silence: noncommunicative silence, nondeliberate and aware silence, and intentionally communicative silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cognitive pragmatics: The mental processes of communication. By Bruno G. Bara. Translated by John Douthwaite. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010. Pp. xii, 304. ISBN 9780262014113. $38 (Hb). Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan, State University at Campinas, Brazil This book is a translation of Bruno G. Bara\u2019s earlier work published in Italian and titled Pragmatica cognitiva: I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1613,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions\/1613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}