Grice, Meaning 格莱斯 意义

Stevenson’s causal analysis. For x to meanNN something, x must have (roughly) a tendency to produce in an audience some attitude and a tendency, in the case of a speaker, to be produced by that attitude (where these tendencies are dependent on an “elaborate process of conditioning attending the use of the sign in communication”).
Grice, Meaning Natural vs. non-natural meaning

There are two kinds of meaning:

Natural meaning. This is the kind of meaning something has when it is a non-conventional sign for something.
PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE 8: Grice
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Counterexample 1. Putting on a tail coat satisfies Steven‟s causal conditions by producing in an audience the attitude that one is going to a dance and by being produced by an attitude in the tail coat-wearer that he is going to a dance; but the wearer meant nothing by wearing the tail coat. Counterexample 2. To say „Jones is an athlete‟ tends to make someone believe that it is true that „Jones is tall‟. But the latter is not part of what is meant by the former. We cannot explain this away by invoking linguistic rules, since that is just to invoke meaningNN. Objection. It‟s not obvious how to extend Steven‟s causal analysis to what is meant by an expression on a particular occasion of use. 1st proposal. S meantNN by x that P iff (1)

„Those three rings on the bell (of the bus) mean that the bus is full‟.

It could just as easily have been four rings! It could just as easily have meant anything else.


Sentence meaning. x meansNN something. Speaker meaning. S meansNN by x something.
What‟s more, Grice believes we can explain a sentence‟s meaning in terms of what speaker‟s mean.

Mike means something by „Snow is white‟. Mike means by „Snow is white‟ that snow is white.

Sentence meaning. Someone S means (meant) by x that …

What is non-natural meaning?


Issues. There are some apparent facts which seem hard for Grice to explain:


2nd proposal. S meantNN by x that P iff (1) (2)





3rd proposal. S meantNN by x that P iff (1) (2) (3)

Reply. I am my own audience!
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PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE 8: Grice

Objection 2. I don‟t always intend to produce any beliefs in you when I utter meaningful sentences—I might tell you a proof for 2+2=4.
From speaker meaning to sentence meaning

S meantNN something by x. S meantNN by x that so-and-so. x meantNN something. x meantNN that so-and-so.

The meaning of a sentence on a particular occasion of use.

In any case, the kind of meaning distinctive of linguistic expressions is nonnatural meaning.

Speaker meaning. Someone S means (meant) something by x.

„Those spots mean measles‟.

The spots are a non-conventional signal for the presence of measles.

Non-natural meaning (meaningNN). This is the kind of meaning something has when it is a conventional sign for something.

„The sentence „Snow is white‟ means that snow is white‟.


It isn‟t quite correct to draw the distinction in terms of conventional/nonconventional signs:

Finally, x meansNN that so-and-so is (roughly) equivalent to what people generally intend to meanNN by uttering x. I might answer a stupid question by grunting in order to get you to recognize my contempt; but I didn‟t meanNN anything by it.

Grice‟s strategy is to explain speaker and sentence meaning in terms of how speakers and sentences may mean something on particular occasions.

What a speaker meant on a particular occasion.

Grice suggests that x meantNN something is (roughly) equivalent to somebody meantNN something by x.

Objection. A red traffic light meansNN stop; but who meantNN stop?




Grice’s analysis of speaker meaning.

S uttered x intending for his audience to form the belief that P. Handkerchief counterexample. If S leaves B‟s handkerchief at the scene of the crime with the intention of getting the detective to believe that B did it, then my leaving the handkerchief meantNN that B was the murderer. But it did not. S uttered x intending his audience to form the belief that P; and S also intended that his audience recognize that that‟s what he intended to do. St. John the Baptist counterexample. Herod didn‟t meanNN that St. John the Baptist was dead by bringing his head on a charger to Salome. Child counterexample. The child didn‟t meanNN that it was sick by showing its mother how pale it is. Broken china counterexample. I didn‟t meanNN that my daughter broke the china by leaving it for my wife to see. To fix this, we need to invoke the difference between showing a picture and drawing a picture—a difference in intent. S uttered x intending his audience to form the belief that P; and S also intended that his audience recognize that that‟s what he intended to do; and S also intended that his audience form the belief that P at least partly because they recognize that that‟s what he intended to do. Objection 1. Audiences aren‟t required—can‟t I soliloquize?