RHETOR 20 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: National Convention, Illocutionary Act, Indirect Speech
Document Summary
Interpretive conventions tied to community (based on norms and ordinariness) Language has no shape independent of context, only encountered in context and never in abstract. If we encounter language in the abstract, it is because we approached it in a specific context. Always have a shape, but which may change. Text, language, meaning and literal meaning are all situational. Contexts entail norms, certainties, notion of responsibilities etc. Usually we think of conventions as consciously constructed rules - un solution toward world crises. But most conventions are unacknowledged and unconscious (ex. In public space you maintain personal space; don"t say anything until someone bumps into you) > still enforced and operative. Pat kelly"s story is not strictly baseball because he brings religion into play - considered unconventional. Literal meaning is the product of interpretative conventions. When reading a book based on an author"s intentions, we are applying the interpretative conventions of authorship to resolve debates between 2 people"s analyses.
