Utterer Meaning, Misunderstanding, and Cultural Knowledge

Abstract

All versions of Grice’s theory of utterer meaning couch success in terms of stressing the hearer’s ability to recognize what is intended. This ties naturally to the cooperative principle and the maxims of conversation. A later additional maxim of manner emphasizes that one should always facility the audience’s response in one’s communication. Meaning communication is successful with the right “uptake”, whether seen in the desires or beliefs that Grice addressed in the audience, or the achievement of understanding or comprehension that critics identified. In retrospective reflections, Grice saw the latter necessitated by the former. The point remains that if Grice is correct in requiring audience recognition for the successful communication of meaning, then this poses serious challenges for scholars working in argumentation. It provides, for example, an additional problem when exploring cross-cultural argumentative exchanges where societies have had no prior experience of each other, their norms, or shared beliefs. Moreover, the conditions that it requires makes misunderstanding a central concern. These problems are explored in the paper, beginning with an initial assumption that Grice is correct about meaning, with a view to considering whether there is need for modifications to Grice’s theory.

Keywords

• Grice
• cross-cultural argument
• psychological context
• recognition
• utterer’s meaning