FITTING PRAGMATICS INTO THE MIND - SOME ISSUES IN MENTALIST PRAGMATICS

This article presents a comparative analysis of two recent theories on the representation of pragmatics in the mind, namely Kasher's and Sperber and Wilson's. The main focus of the analysis is their respective claims on what the mental entities are that should be postulated in order to account for pragmatic phenomena. At the more specific level, major similarities and differences between Kasher's and Sperber and Wilson's claims are highlighted. At the more general level, the analysis is aimed at locating Kasher's and Sperber and Wilson's theories in the wider domain of mentalist linguistics, and at clarifying the conceptual foundations of mentalist pragmatics.