In
semantics
Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
,
pragmatics
In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...
, and
philosophy of language
Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...
, the common ground of a conversation is the set of
propositions that the
interlocutors have agreed to treat as true. For a proposition to be in the common ground, it must be
common knowledge in the conversational context. The set of
possible worlds compatible with the common ground is often called the ''context set''.
The concept is fundamental to many theories of discourse. In such theories, the
speech act of
assertion is often analyzed as a proposal to add an additional proposition to the common ground. Similarly,
presuppositions
In linguistics and philosophy, a presupposition is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. Examples of presuppositions include:
* ''Jane no longer writes ...
are taken to be licensed when they are already established in the common ground. While such approaches are typically construed as
pragmatic, the framework of
dynamic semantics treats the semantic
denotation
In linguistics and philosophy, the denotation of a word or expression is its strictly literal meaning. For instance, the English word "warm" denotes the property of having high temperature. Denotation is contrasted with other aspects of meaning in ...
s of sentences as functions which update the common ground.
In many theories, the common ground is one of several elements of the
conversational scoreboard.
See also
*
Illocution
*
Possible world
*
Presupposition
*
Question under discussion
*
Speech act
*
Domain of discourse
Notes
Semantics
Pragmatics
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